Below is an itinerary of all the places I managed to visit on my trip to the Southern Hemisphere in 2010/2011.
I had less than two weeks to get myself back up to Auckland on the north island of New Zealand in time for my flight to Fiji. This trip started with two days travelling from Dunedin to Christchurch. On the first day we made our way up the coast stopping at a few nice spots including the picturesque Moeraki Boulders before heading inland for a lunch stop and then onto our night stop at the base of Mt Cook. After the previous night in Dunedin and limited sleep I was feeling rather rough that day and spent most of my time with my eyes shut in the bus, but not actually managing to sleep. Add into the fact that it was scorching hot outside meant the hangover took a while longer to clear than normal. As we made our way towards Mt Cook the weather changed to really overcast and wet. Slightly annoying as the area would have made for some great pictures, but really I wasn’t so bothered and used it as an opportunity to get an early night and some much needed eye shutter. Read the rest of this entry »
So the past week I’ve made it just about as far as you can make it before hitting Antarctica, at least whilst your in Oceania anyhow. This meant visiting the party hotspot of Queenstown, the stunning scenery in Milford Sounds and the Catlin Shoreline, the remote Stewart Island and the town of Dunedin. Read the rest of this entry »
So my trip across New Zealand has continued onto the South Island for the past week. An 8am Ferry from Wellington to Picton on the south island meant a rather uncomfortable 5.30am wake up call. That said it was nowhere near as bad as it was for some of the others. A bit of a night out had gone on the previous evening and whilst I headed back around 11pm, others stayed out for much longer! So much that when they racked up at the ferry terminal they’d had about an hours sleep and were now very much tired and still very drunk! As we had to get there so early to check in breakfast was forsaken and I ended up grabbing a McDonalds for breakfast instead. I’m not much of a fan of them, but it was required really! Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes when travelling you just need a reset every now and again. That was very much what I needed this past week. I was being too down about things and unable to enjoy my time in places as well as suffering from exhaustion a lot. In New Zealand I am presently on Stray Travel’s hop-on and hop-off bus, and I’m pretty certain this is what has helped with the reset. Having a lot of people around all the time certainly helps anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
So I’m writing this up before I forget. It’s been one of those evenings which make travelling all worthwhile. So my arrival in New Zealand hasn’t had much of note happen. Auckland is a pretty bog standard city with nothing much really to write home about. My flight over was delayed for an hour whilst we were just about to a leave and they came over the intercom and said there’s a light lit up and we need to get it sorted. Anyway it got sorted and the flight went fine and didn’t crash. I got speaking to the Scottish couple next to me, but not until my usual 5 minutes before the thing ends after I’d have a couple of glasses of wine. But that’s the way it goes. Read the rest of this entry »
So I have under 3 weeks until I’m off on a 7 month trip around the world on my own, with just a few friends who I’ve met for a few days on past adventures to visit along the way. If you’ve never been travelling alone before I guess that sounds quite daunting, but having spent 2 and half months travelling North America in the summer of 2009 it doesn’t feel like such a big deal. At least not yet anyway.
So how do you go about planning for such a trip? There are various things you need to be aware of and prepare for, the most important are obviously are those that concern money and health. Being properly vaccinated and having the right medication as required is obviously really important, and anyone going on a trip to places which aren’t anything other than the most developed countries you are likely to need some vaccinations. I’ve had to have a Hepatitis A vaccination at the doctors, and also got to go to a private clinic to get a Yellow Fever vaccination for travelling in South America. It’s also not 100% clear if I need malaria tablets for my time in South America, I’ll be getting clarification when I go to get my Yellow Fever vaccination. Additionally good travel insurance is to be blunt a pain in the arse to find. In the end I’ve got mine from Essential Travel and works out at £160 for 7 months, which is pretty reasonable and seems to have good coverage on the key factors. However you only ever find out if these insurance companies are worth while when you need to claim. Here’s hoping I don’t have to find out. Read the rest of this entry »
So for a while I’ve been planning to do some more serious travelling. Ever since I got back from America last summer I’ve had the urge to get back on a plane at the first possible opportunity. During that time I’ve gone from wanting taking a short break in Europe visiting 3 or 4 cities to a rather ambitious 6 month plus trip across the Southern Hemisphere! Read the rest of this entry »
Cities I’ve Visited