Sydney & Cairns

We have been in Australia now for about 5 or 6 days...you kinda loose track of time out here. haha. Flew into Sydney and stayed at the Park Hyatt, which is an absolutely AMAZING hotel! It felt sooo good to stay in a bed after 7 days of sleeping in our car. Justin got the hotel for free through his points. The shuttle driver didn't believe us that we were staying there. Haha we weren't exactly looking our best either. lol. We could see the opera house from both of our balconies. Lived the life for a day and then flew to Cairns and went back to staying at hostels. As of now we are staying in an apartment type of room, which is super nice because we can cook our own food and we have our own shower...saving money that way. Two days ago we went on a boat to see the Great Barrier Reef. Justin scuba dived for 20min and then snorkelled the rest of the day and I just snorkelled. It was amzing to see all of the fish and coral! I couldn't believe how much you could see and how close we got to so many fish. Justin even saw a sleeping shark while he was scuba diving. Amazing experience!
Yesterday we got up at 5:30am to go white water rafting on the Tully for the day. It was only a grade 4 but it was still a really good day! This one was good because we got to raft for the entire day as opposed to just a couple of hours. We didn't get home until about 7:00pm.
Today we are both a bit sun burnt so we are taking it easy, probably check out the market today. We fly to Brisbane tomorrow morning and will be there for atleast 4 days. Tell you more later.
Take Care,
Justin and Amanda

Quick

Presently at the Aukland airport getting ready to go to Sydney. Looking forward to a good shower and clean place to sleep...other than the car haha. Will be flying to Cairns tomorrow.

Taupo, Rotorua, Aukland

Thanks to Laura and Mitch we found a free campground in Taupo which was situated beside a beautiful river next to Huka Falls. Along with the travelling gypsies we called this site home for the last 3 nights as we slept in the Datsui. We thought we should post a picture, which is in the fliker link to show you just how cozy our compact campervan really is. While in Taupo we bathed in some thermal water and went on many hikes to see the different thermal activity. We even had time to post and explain some of our pictures so if you are interested they are in the link at the top right corner of the page.
After Taupo we drove to Rotorua where we did some class 5 white water rafting. We went down the highest commercial waterfall in the world. Despite spilling in the water it was AMAZING! Great experience!
We are presently in Aukland and will be flying to Sydney tomorrow morning, where we will stay at the Park Hyatt hotel. After 8 nights of sleeping in the car we are looking forward to a nice hotel.
Hoping all is well,
Justin and Amanda

Oct. 22nd

Since the last time I wrote, which happened to be our last day in Queenstown we have traveled quite a bit. That night we drove to Wanaka and stayed the night then continued on to Franz Joseph. The drive was beautiful with lots of hikes to do along the way. Unfortunately, we were only able to do a couple short hikes. Once we found a hostel in Franz Joseph we ate supper and waited for dark. That night we went for a night hike to find the Glow worms. The hike in the dark was better than the actual Glow worms but neat nonetheless. The next morning we drove down to the Franz Joseph Glacier and did some hikes around it be we were not allowed on the glacier since the rivers were changing directions and we were not with a guide. Then we drove to Greymouth and relaxed at the most amazing hostel before going on our Monteiths brewery tour. We got to taste all of their beer and pour a glass of our choice. The next day we drove to Nelson, which turned out to be a nice little beach city with amazing clear water. The following day we did some kayaking in the Abel Tasman Sea. Justin did the steering, which he admitted was farely easy and I did the navigating. We went through some pretty rough water but the sea kayak was pretty stable. Arrived in Picton late that night and stayed at a small, old fashioned YHA. Finally, caught our fairy to Wellington and drove that night to Taupo, where we are right now. Very nice geothermal town. Lots of hot pools around here.
Take Care,
Justin & Amanda

Oct. 18th

We are presently in Nelson, New Zealand. It is a little city in the North part of the South island. Beautiful place with wonderful, clear water and white sand beaches. We tried to go to the water today but it was a bit cool. We are going Kayaking tomorrow then probably hopping on the ferry to the North island in the next couple of days. Last night we stayed at the most amazing hostel I have ever been at! We took lots of pictures we will post at another time when we are not paying for internet access.
We have tried to do something every day, which hasn't been too hard. There always seems to be something to do around here. I will post more details at another time.
Having a great time!
Take care,
Amanda

Great couple of days!

After making our last post Justin and I decided to drive to Milford Sound for a day or two. It took us about 4.5 hours to drive the incredible trek through the mountains. The driving our around here is a little tricky but Justin is doing a great job doing everything on the other side.
After arriving in Milford we stayed in a dorm room, which we ended up getting to ourselves and had a nice hot shower and cooked a hot meal. In the morning we went on a Milford cruise through the Fiords which is indescribable! The most amazing sights I have ever seen. After our cruise we started our trek back to Queenstown which was a little less stressful seeing as how we were getting used to the winding roads. We stopped and did a few hikes along the way. Touched some New Zealand mountain snow after Homer's Tunnel and then found the most amazing hike beside a waterfall. It was uphill and only really worked because the tree roots sort of made steps to help us climb the mountain. Once we arrived back in Queenstown we found a nice little hostel and called it a night.
Today though was an action packed day! Immediately after breakfast we booked a bungy jump over the Kawarau River. We decided to do it Tandem which turned out to be GREAT! I was a bit worried when all they wrapped around my legs were a normal old towel and an elastic rope but it seemed to work just fine. It was definately an adrenaline rush! Loved every minute of it though! Then we climbed one of the mountains to do a bit of luging. (Almost like go-carting but without a motor and just a break as you go down the mountain)
As for tonight I think we are going to start our trek out of Queenstown towards the Franz Joseph Glacier.
Hope all is well,
Justin and Amanda

Queenstown

Hey Folks,
After spending 2 days in Aukland we took a flight to Queenstown and have been hanging out here for the last day and a half. Queenstown is a very cool little city. Lots to do and see. We rented a little compact hatchback car which has become our home. Spent the night in it last night right beside a sheep farm. Beautiful view of the mountains in the morning though. We are heading to Milford sound today to do a cruise that we have a 2 for 1 voucher for. Supposed to be beautiful. Might even stay in a hostel or lodge tonight...treating ourselves to a shower :) Since there is only one road in and one road out we will be returning to Queenstown tomorrow to do some adventures...we will let you know what those are after we do them :) After that we should be heading North towards Christchurch.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Amanda