Our time in Bali has come to and end! We spent the last week taking in as much of Bali as possible. Echo Beach and Old Man beach, both near our hotel in Canggu, have seen a lot of us for both lounging and surfing. Renting a board is only 50 000 IDR ($5.00) for 2 hours! The ocean feels like bath water, the downfall of swimming in Bali is the heaps of plastic hitting you in the face with each wave. The plastic problem in Bali is really disheartening, there were quite a few people cleaning the beaches and we did our small part to reduce waste but it's pretty awful. We saw this problem throughout Bali and it's the major draw back for this country when it comes to tourism. People just leave their plastic bottles and cigg butts all over the beach and streets, really disgusting way to treat a country you're visiting. Despite the state of garbage we made the most of our time. We hit the gym and the pool at our hotel most mornings, working off the Bintangs from the day before. Our hotel had a nice gym with glass walls overlooking rice terraces. The glass walls turned the gym into a greenhouse however which made the pool that much more welcoming! Bali's rainy season starts in late October so we've been treated to lightening storms almost every night and the odd afternoon shower. The rain doesn't last long and helps to lift the humidity at least. A rainy afternoon is also the perfect excuse to get a massage which we've been doing every other day. The Kirana Spa is excellent and super affordable. The south of Bali is filled with excellent beaches and temples so Chris and I arranged a driver for the afternoon to check some of them. Unfortunately for us we booked a cookie cutter itinerary from the hotel which turned out to be a bit hit and miss. The first stop was a water sport park. We knew going in we probably would regret this one but hoped it'd be a nice beach and a fun place to hang out for a bit in the morning. It turned out to be a 30 minute sales pitch until we finally gave in a did one of the paid activities. We chose the sea-dooing largely because it was the least expensive thing to do and Chris had never done it. It was 20 minutes of fun which we took full advantage off but in the end probably would have rather skipped it. Our next stop was better, we stopped at the Bali Cultural Park. It's a large park that was constructed to show the story of Wisnu with sculptures and also a place for worship. The sculptures are immensely big and there are more going up as we speak. The park itself has an odd landscape of carved out hills. It was an odd park and worth the visit. After this we stopped for a quick lunch and headed to Padang Padang Beach. This place is pretty cool, you walk through a small temple complex down a steep stairwell lined by boulders until you reach the beach. The beach has rock formations scattered around the beach revealed at low tide. The only down side is how touristy it is. There was an endless parade of selfies and burnt tourists walking through the small beach but was still pretty nice little spot. After an hour of tanning and swimming we headed to Blue Point Beach just up the road. We preferred this beach over Padang Padang for sure. It was filled with surfers, excellent sand, and some fantastic cliff side bars overlooking the beach. Great place to hang out, meet new people and watch surfers go for it. By this point is was around 5pm so we headed to Uluwatu Temple. Uluwatu is an active temple built on a cliff over looking the ocean. At sunset it makes for a spectacular view. They do cultural dances here as well but we skipped these in favour for a more secluded section of the cliff side that gave us an uninterrupted view of the sunset, temple and the rain coming in. We were here on the full moon (super moon in fact) so there were tons of locals here praying and having festivals for the full moon. Our last stop was Jimbaran Bay. It's a section of beach filled with outdoor restaurants. There are dozens of restaurants with candle lit beach tables set up. Each restaurant had a small stage as well where they would have short cultural dances take place as your eating. It's supposed to be the best place for seafood in this part of Bali, unfortunately we were extremely let down. The calamari was tougher than liquorice and the crab, fish and clams weren't that fantastic either. The real kicker is how freaking expensive it was! Up to this point we've been getting a full dinner and drinks for two for under $30.00 per night no problem. Here was over $100 and it wasn't good. Definitely a let down but at least we had ocean views with lightening, fireworks and the large full moon to enjoy. We loved Bali and can't say enough good things about it but we are excited to move onto somewhere new. Next stop is Kuala Lumpur where we have a few days before heading to Cambodia, can't wait to take advantage of our time there!
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Bet you can't read the title without singing the song in your head! Before leaving Kampung resort we headed back into Ubud where we were able to catch a Yoga class at the Yoga Barn and take in a cultural dance. It was Chris' first yoga class ever! Aside from being extremely hot and sweaty he crushed it (as I knew he would). Yoga Barn is a highlight in Ubud whether you're a yogi or simply a casual yoga participate like us. It's set in a garden oasis walking distance to downtown Ubud. They also have a raw food restaurant and press juice cafe making for a healthy afternoon. After class we wondered the streets of Ubud as the sun set until we found a fun restaurant, Nomad. It's is fantastic eatery for a fare price, there are so many places to choose from in Ubud you can't go wrong. Ubud is hopping at night with tons of tourists and locals hitting the streets for dinner and drinks. After dinner we headed to Ubud Palace for a cultural dance! Ubud palace hosts a cultural dance every night starting at 7:30pm. We caught the Legong dance which is a series of performances telling short stories. The costumes were incredible and the way the dancers use their eyes and hands was beautiful to watch. The live band playing traditional instruments was really neat as well. If you're in Ubud is definitely worth catching one of the dances, people sell tickets on the street for around 100000 IDR (approx $10.00). Last Wednesday we said goodbye to Ubud and headed to Canggu. Unknown to us November 9th was an auspicious day for a wedding according to the Hindu calendar so our 1 hour drive took 4.5 hours! Our poor driver lives in Ubud and had to make the drive back as well so we left him an extra tip for the trouble. It's tradition for wedding guests to drive back and forth from the brides house to the temple a few times with an average 15 cars per wedding! Every other temple seemed to be hosting a wedding. The streets are congested on a good day so this really clogged things up. Thankfully we weren't trying to get to the airport or we would have been screwed! Kirana hotel in Canggu is beautiful. It's about 10 minute walk to three different beaches (including Echo Beach) and set between rice fields. Canggu is starting to get really built up, there is tons of construction and quite a few big brands lining the streets but still considerably quieter than Seminyak. The major reason people come here is for the surfing! The waves are great for everyone not too big in most areas and some good breaks for experienced surfers. If you're not into surfing you can rent a lounger for a couple bucks and grab a beer and relax in the shade. We went into Seminyak a couple days ago to meet up with a friend we'd met a year ago while on a cruise! Seminyak is very built up with tons of designer stores and fun restaurants. It's not as conservative as Ubud and much more touristy and Canggu. It still made for a fun afternoon of window shopping and dinner at Ultimo with great food at a good price. Our drive over was a bit unnerving after our driver hit a motorbike. Thankfully they were okay but it left a huge dent in his car causing us to switch drivers.
Today we had a good relax day, Chris did a bit of surfing in the afternoon and we watched a rain storm come in. Bali is incredible, we're loving every second and still have a few more days to enjoy! We're having a fantastic time in Bali so far and staying at the Kampung Resort has made our stay near Ubud extra special. The scenery, staff and quality of food has been outstanding. On top of having a fantastic resort to relax in we're in the cultural hub of Bali. Since our last post we've done a lot of exploring. Yesterday we decided to hire a driver to take us to some of the most popular places around Ubud. He was absolutely fantastic and explained a lot about Balinese culture. Each village is divided into three parts; at the top is a village temple where big celebrations take place, in the middle is where the people live, and at the bottom is the cemetery. Top and bottom here are very literal (at least in Ubud) as the land is all hills and mountains. The three sections represent the spirit, life, and death. Driving down the street almost every other building is a temple. Our guide explained how every family has it's own temple where they pray in addition to the the village temple. It's no wonder they call Bali the land of temples! It takes multiple generations for family temple to be paid for a built and its extremely important to them. They also build shrines and temples in places of businesses, farms and more each with a specific manifestation of god in mind so that offerings may be given to promote good fortune and happiness. After our short drive through some villages our first stop was at the Holy Spring Water Temple, Tirtha Empul. This temple is located by natural spring water ponds and is used by Hindu to purify the mind and body from bad thoughts and influences. Visitors are welcome to use the spring as long as they wear a sarong and give an offering. This temple was founded in 962 AD and has grown since to include 2 pools with 30 showers, several temples and koi ponds. It's a beautiful temple and very peaceful despite dozens of other tourists wandering around. When visiting temples in Bali men and woman should wear a sarong. I bought a beautiful sarong near our hotel for $15.00 you can find some as cheap as $2.00 though. Chris borrowed one from our guide. Our next stop was at the Satria coffee plantation. I love coffee! This was one of our favourite stops. Our driver took us through the gardens explaining the uses for various plants and how Balinese people will use these natural remedies to heal themselves. When we reached the coffee making demonstration a lovely young woman showed us how they produce their organic coffees and teas. We had the chance to taste 15 different types of teas and coffees for free! Here they also produce Kopi Luwak. It's going to sound awful but Luwak coffee is made from the excrement of the luwak (a catlike mammal). During the night the luwaks' go around having their fill on only the best and ripest coffee berries. The next day locals go through the forest collecting the luwak droppings which look like little bean clusters. At some point in history coffee farmers realized during digestion a type of fermentation happens to the bean that concentrates the flavour and cuts the bitterness making really excellent coffee. This process makes the coffee extremely rare and fetches a pretty penny internationally costing around $600 US per pound! We can honestly say after tasting the Luwak coffee along side regular Bali coffee it's a stunning brew. You need to be careful where you purchase Luwak coffee however. There is a practice in Bali of capturing, caging and force feeding the luwaks in order to keep up with demands. Unfortunately the Satria coffee plantation did have a couple of luwaks caged and on display so visitors could see the animals that produce the famous coffee. When we asked if they used only wild luwaks for making their coffee they said they do and they pay local people for the excrement they bring in to the plantation. Whether or not it's entirely true we'll never know but it was a interesting experience regardless. We were pretty hopped up on caffine by this point so our driver took us to a well known waterfall, Tegenungan Waterfall, just outside of Ubud City. It was worth the stop to see the beautiful waterfall. As we climbed down the steps towards the water it became more and more clear how much garbage the river had accumulated. It was really unfortunate to see all the rubbish washed up everywhere. Despite the conditions tons of people were still swimming around and playing in the water. We decided against it and enjoyed the views for a while instead. After climbing back up to civilization we continued to our last stop, the Elephant Caves locally known as Goa Gajah. It's not the biggest temple you can visit in Bali but it's certainly one of the more unique ones. It dates back to the 11th century built as place for meditation. Inside the cave there are small areas for shrines and offerings. The site wasn't discovered until 1929 and many years later in the 1950's a bathing spring was found near to the cave mouth buried under the ground.
Hiring a private driver for the day was definitely the way to go, we had a fantastic time! There are literally hundreds of temples to visit in Bali though many are off limits to visitors so having a guide suggest where to go was super helpful! We have a few more days here before heading to Canggu so more adventures to come! I don't even know where to start describing how much we're loving Bali! We had been looking forward to getting here for some time. New Zealand and Australia were fantastic but basically extensions of home in culture and language. After 2 months roaming New Zealand and Sydney we were missing the exotic factor with the exception of our short stay in Fiji. Bali has filled every expectation and more in our first few days here! Upon arriving we made our way to the hotel on an adventurous 2 hour drive from Denpasar airport weaving between cars and dozens of motorbikes. Our driver was extremely skilled at maneuvering the roads whilst telling us about the best places in Bali to visit, what food to try and a little about the culture. For our first 9 days we are staying just outside of Ubud at the Kampung Resort. It's an unbelievable place to stay only a few minutes walk from the famous Tegalalang Rice Terraces. Our second floor room is larger than our Vancouver apartment with a wall of glass doors over looking the lush forest and rice terraces. Directly below our room is a beautiful pool and further down through the property are little gardens with fish ponds, shrines and grassy areas for relaxing. Even the screeching bugs, birds and chirping geckos can't ruin the zen vibes of this place. During our drive to the hotel we were advised to take advantage of our location and jet lag to visit the Rice Terraces. The driver was spot on with this advise. We were up at 6am (9 am for us Sydney time) the next morning and decided to head over. We only had to walk a few minutes down the road until we came upon the rice terraces. This early in the morning nobody else was walking around giving us an uninterrupted view. It's not an easy walk through the terraces with steep steps and slippery surfaces but well worth it for the extraordinary views. There are donation boxes everywhere and a small fee is expected to enter (usually 10 000 IDR approx 1 dollar Canadian). There are locals around the terrace who will suggest you take their photo and expect money in return, you can politely say no and carry on however. There are plenty of rest stops and even a few cafe's, though nothing was open so early in the morning. The irrigation system used in the rice terraces is called "suback" and is said to have been passed on from a holy man as early as the 8th century and hasn't changed much since. Before tourism took over Bali, rice was big business and the village where our hotel is located was predominantly farmers. There are still local farmers but many have switched to selling their arts and crafts to tourists along the roadside leading up to the terraces instead. As with most beautiful attractions the rice terraces can be a bit of a tourist trap. As we prepared to leave around 8:30am bus loads of people started to pass by us and make there way to the terraces. I image as the day progresses it gets even worse. After a fun morning we headed back to Kampung for some breakfast. The food at Kampung Cafe is incredible and cheap! Breakfast is included in our room rate so we've been gorging ourselves daily on fresh fruit, juice, local coffee and teas and a big breaki. Lunch was even tastier, with tempura spinach chips, corn fritters, curried veg, spring rolls and more all for $5.00 washed down with a $2.00 Bintang Beer!! The hotel only has 9 rooms but tourists visiting the rice terraces keep the restaurant busy for lunch and dinner. After a $7.00 lunch we thought it was high time to spoil ourselves some more and got $20.00 1 hour massages in our room. Bali is truly a place where anyone can live like a Queen. On top of spoiling ourselves we're here for the culture so today we headed into Ubud City Centre and the Sacred Monkey Forest. The Sacred Monkey forest is incredible. There are around 600 Balinese long-tailed monkey's roaming freely through the grounds and temples. The park was created to provide an escape from bustling Ubud so one can find spiritual and physical well being. On top of being a spiritual and mental escape from the city it's a conservation area for rare plants used in rituals and the monkeys are protected. It's also an important space for research programs, particularly ones on the monkey's social interactions. There are some guidelines to consider for interacting with the monkeys such as not feeding them human food and not forcing an interaction with them. You can however buy bananas inside the park for a small fee and hold out you arms for them to climb on you to retrieve it. They're very friendly little beasts and extremely clever so watch you belongings! Ubud city is an endless parade of yoga stores, art and clothing shops and cafes. It's a haven for vegans, yogi's, hippies and fun for everybody! It's crowded and hot so we were glad to have packed some water but also made a few stops as we walked to have a beer and coconut water.
So far we are completely in love with Bali. Everyone we've met is incredibly friendly, they try very hard to speak English with us and teach us about their village and culture. We're only a few days in and still have a ton of exploring to do so I'm sure we'll have lots to write about in a few days from now! Our Sydney visit was short and sweet! Not wanting to blow our budget we found a few excellent free and cheap ways to enjoy Sydney! Here is a quick recap of our week. We stayed at a quaint AirBnB in Potts Point, a trendy little neighbourhood with tons of eats and drinks to enjoy and a great night life at Kingscross. This was by far the least expensive way to stay in a good location in Sydney with hotels starting at $200 a night. Having a full kitchen and washer dryer also helped us keep costs down by cooking most of our meals. From our AirBnB we were able to walk most of the city. We started by taking the classic walk through the Royal Botanical gardens, along the sea wall until you turn the corner and get the full view of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It's a good 45 minute walk and well worth it for the views. The Royal Botanical Gardens are incredible, an excellent place for a romantic walk or picnic. We were lucky to be here in October/November and catch the Jacaranda Trees in full bloom offering beautiful blue flowering trees lining city streets. The gardens are also home to beautiful looking (mind you awful sounding) cockatoos and the even more beautiful Rainbow Lorikeet. We continued walking all the way to the Opera House and got a good close up. It's a marvelous building looking like huge orange wedges carefully balanced against one another. You can pay a good sum to get an insiders tour or catch a show. We chose to pass on this opportunity and instead sat on the harbour overlooking the bridge and Opera House with a beer. The sea side restaurants aren't cheep with $9.00 beers but it's worth one so you can sit and take in the sights and sounds. Watch out for seagulls if you order food however, they're fearless and will seize any opportunity to steal your meal! Another day we strolled through Hyde Park which is a nice escape in the city centre with beautiful gardens, next to St. Mary's Cathedral. Hyde Park has fun cafes and an over-sized chess board which we caught a group of older people playing an intense game that had drawn a good sized crowd. If you continue walking past Hyde park it'll lead you to Darling Harbour which is another incredible area for soaking in the sun. The harbour has something for everyone with restaurants, a children's park, Chinese Garden and Maritime Museum. Around the corner from Darling Harbour is Paddy's Market which is a massive warehouse of booths offering everything imaginable. You can also visit the Fish Market and get a catch of the day and a great meal, if you can find it that is! It's not actually hard to find we just happened to fail miserably during our walk about to pin it down. Our favorite day was spent on Manly Beach. It's a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay near the Opera House and well worth it! When you land in Manly Harbour it's an easy 10 minute walk to the beach down a street lined with shops and snack stops. We chilled on the beach watching beginner surfers struggle to stand and soaked in the sun. Once the sun left us we hit a beach side bar for another $9.00 beer before taking the return ferry. It's a beautiful little town and an excellent day trip from Sydney!
All in all we loved our time in Sydney and have every intention of coming back to Australia one day to see it in more depth. Sydney is not the most budget friendly place we'll visit in the 8 months we're traveling but the people were kind, the weather was great and lots of cheap and easy things to keep us busy made it an excellent few days! It's been a wild 38 days, here are some of our top tips and highlights from New Zealand. 10. Getting Around It's small and it's a bit smelly but it's home. Getting around by motorhome is one of the most popular ways to see New Zealand and for good reason. Not only is it cost effective but it offers complete freedom to see the country on your own terms. We definitely recommend getting a self contained certified motorhome. This will allow you to take advantage of the many places around New Zealand that are free to spend the night so long as you have the certification sticker on your vehicle. Also be sure to get the free phone app, CamperMate. You can load an offline version to your phone which shows where to find gas, dump stations, freedom camp spots, paid camp spots, things to do/points of interest and full road maps. The best part of the app are the reviews so you know exactly what to expect. We would have been completely lost without the app it was extremely helpful! If you can't stand the idea of living out of a van than still consider driving. The scenic routes around the country are outstanding. The roads are in great condition, lots of signs and it doesn't take long for your brain to swap to driving on the left. Be prepared for tons of switch back roads, and wind especially on the south island. Our advice is to take your time, there are lots of passing lanes so traffic can move past you. Whatever you do don't speed! We went under the speed limit in many cases where 100 kph felt too fast for the curvy cliff side roads. They have 0 tolerance for speeding and drunk driving so don't test your luck. 9. Natural Wonders On top of some of the most scenic driving in the world there are many natural wonders to take your breath away. There are too many to name but here are a few we loved that are worth going out of your way for. Hot Water Beach: Beneath the sand at Hot Water Beach lies a natural hot spring which is revealed at low tide. Bring a spade with you to dig out a personal jacuzzi for yourself and relax in your muddy hottub. You'll only have about 2 hours before the water comes back in so time your visit well! Cathedral Cove: Just a short distance from Hot Water beach is a 45 minute hike that leads to a hidden white sand beach with a unique cave formation. You can also canoe yourself in or scuba dive the area on a calm day. Waitomo Caves: One of two places in New Zealand where you can see thousands of Glowworms light up the caves. The other places is near Te Anau on the South Island. Here we repelled down into the cave, tubed down the river and climbed up and over waterfalls! An absolutely thrilling and enchanting experience. Rotorua: This city is a geothermal hot bed with dozens of geothermal parks and several geysers to view. Note that most of the geothermal parks have an entrance fee anywhere $30.00 per person to $55.00 per person! Geothermal Wonderland is the most colourful and cheaper than Te Puia and other geothermal parks found in Rotorua we recommend this one. Huka Falls: Found near Lake Taupo, Huka Falls is a magnificent rush of water ending with a powerful waterfall. You can see it for free at a viewing bridge or pay for a powerjet boat to take you up close. Sandfly Bay: Found in Otago peninsula outside Dunedin you take the Highcliff road to reach the beach. The views are spectacular with sand dunes, seals, sea lions, powerful waves and if you're lucky a penguin or two. Curio Bay: Found in the Catlins on the South Island. On one side is a huge beach with excellent surfing the other side is a rocky bay with powerful waves smashing the rocks and home to a 180 million year old petrified forest. Milford Sound: An absolute must do while on the South Island. The National park is a dramatic landscape of mountains, waterfalls and flowing water. Take a boat ride out through Milford to get the full experience and hope for a clear day. Even in the rain it was worth the visit though! There are tons of other natural wonders we didn't get to like glaciers, national parks and lakes. You wont be bored if you're outdoorsy that's for sure! 8. Sea Life New Zealand has no shortage of sea life and Kaikoura is one of the best places in New Zealand to enjoy it. Along the sea side road leading up to the small town of Kaikoura there are several spots where large colonies of fur seals like to spend their days laying on the rocks while pups play in the protected pools behind them. You can get right up close to the seals here though you should give them at least 5 meters to avoid disturbing them. Kaikoura is also home to sperm whales, orca, dusky dolphins, giant royal albatross and many other whales throughout the year. It's located along the whale highway and also has a large underwater gorge where sperm whales like to hunt so it's a perfect location for taking a whale watching tour. Further down the coast of the South Island you can easily find sea lions and hectors dolphins as well. Less easy to find are the 3 species of penguin that call New Zealand home. Hohio (Yellow Eyed Penguin), Korora (little blue penguin) and the Tawaki (fiordland crested penguin). These can be found on the south island but require a good amount of patience. If you don't have the patience or time you can do a day tour in Dunedin and a few other places where they have special protected viewing areas. 7. Birds New Zealand is a birders paradise. Both colourful and diverse it's easy to fall in love with the birds of New Zealand. The kiwi bird is the first bird that comes to mind but you'll have a hard time seeing one in the wild. In fact few New Zealanders have ever seen a wild kiwi bird. The best way to view these hilariously lovable creatures is by visiting a sanctuary where day and night have been reversed so you can enter a dark room to view them. The birds in captivity usually have an injury which is why they've been kept in captivity. If you're absolutely set on seeing one in the wild the best way to find one in the dark forest is to listen. Kiwi birds have nostrils at the end of their long beaks for smelling out bugs. Because of this they are constantly sneezing as they eat which you can easily hear. Aside from the Kiwi Bird and Penguins you can easily find the Tui, Kea, Yellow Head, Black Billed Gull, Kakariki (small green parrot), Pukeko and many others while driving around New Zealand. 6. Cost of Living New Zealand is not a cheap place to eat, sleep or drive. On the North Island gas averages around $1.30 per litre. On the South Island gas was over $2.00 in most places! We drove a diesel van so our cost was a bit lower with about $.90 on the North Island and $1.36 on the South Island. Ouch! Food can also be costly, especially for things that are organic, free range or fresh. Usually we don't mind spending a bit more to buy free range eggs over caged and so on however for twice the price it wasn't an option. $7.00 for a dozen free range vs. $3.50 for caged is no comparison. Seasonal veg weren't too bad such as pumpkin, potatoes and parsnip but fresh peppers and tomatoes and meat were very costly. We saved money by cooking almost all of our meals with a couple exceptions and spent around $700 on food for the two of us in just over a month of living here. Wine, thankfully, is not bad, you can easily get a decent bottle for $10.00 or a box for $14.00. Beer and Cider were quite expensive in general though so wine is the way to go! If you're going out for a drink and a meal you can expect around $8 to $10 per pint of beer and around $20- $30 for a dinner. We splurged once while in Queenstown at the Pub on Wharf for a proper Lamb Dinner with a good NZ brew and it was excellent! Paying for campsites is very odd because they charge per person even though we only use one campsite for one van. I guess taking 1 shower each is worth doubling the price? The average powered site cost about $20.00 per person but it's worth it once and a while for the hot showers, laundry (more $$) and power to recharge everything. You can easily get away without having to stay at any paid camps however since the BP petrol stations offer free dump stations and water plus free wifi and power up stations inside! We used these more than once. 5. Best Towns and Cities We feel that with a few exceptions a city is a city no matter where it is. Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin, while each had their own charm, were all cities non the less. Our favorite places were much smaller, easier to get around and extremely friendly. Queenstown is less of a city and more of a ski village not unlike Whistler and Squamish. Unofficial adventure capital of the world it's filled with expats, adventure travel stores, outfitter shops and pubs. It's a fun spot for a few days for sure! Make sure to try a Fergburger and taste some fudge at The Remarkable Sweet Shop! Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city and is worth a day to soak in the port cities charm before heading into the Catlins or onto Queenstown. Kaikoura is small but worth a few days. A small downtown, lots to do and beautiful scenery it's a great town to recharge and see some sea life. Make sure to book a whale watching tour here. Napier is a blast from the past with tons of Art Deco architecture and flare to make you feel like you're back in the 1930's. After a powerful earthquake 1931 the city was rebuilt in the style of the age and has maintained it since. It's a beautiful sea side city in the heart of Hawkes Bay wine region and we would have happily spent a few more days here. It is also home to New Zealand's national aquarium, great on a rainy day! If it's sunny head up to Te Mata Peak for stunning views, you can drive or hike up. Rotorua is a geothermal town well worth the visit but be prepared to spend some cash. It's heavily visited and most of the decent geothermals have been converted into paid parks. Despite the commercialization it's still a great stop with some fantastic spas and geothermal parks to enjoy. It's also a great spot for enjoying Maori Culture with several villages available for Hangi dinners and cultural performances. Taupo is beautiful, home to Huka Falls, geothermal spas and a beautiful lake. It's worth a stop here in the winter but best enjoyed in the summer. It rained the entire time we were here so we didn't enjoy the lake much but there is a ton to do here on a nice day. It also happens to be home to the worlds coolest MacDonalds. 4. Adrenaline Junkies Bungee, skydiving, water rafting, heli skiing, glacier trekking, zorbing and so much more is easily found in New Zealand. You can jump off the skytower in Auckland or skydive over Wellington, you name it it's here. New Zealand has a long history of adrenaline fueled fun but really made it's name after a kiwi named A J Hackett popularized bungee and commercialized the activity. It took off after he took a bungee off the Eiffle Tower in 1987 (illegally). In Queenstown you can visit the AJ Hackett bridge bungee and take a leap yourself off the Kawarau bridge. He is hailed as starting the Adventure Tourism in New Zealand also giving Queenstown is unofficial title as adventure capital of the world. 3. Wine! With wineries found all over the country it's no wonder why NZ wine is known around the world. Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Waiheke Island, Cantebury, and central Otego and some of the wine regions we made our way through. Marlborough is one of the better known regions in Canada with wineries like Oyster Bay consistently being a Canadian favourite. Tasting trails are easy to find if you're up for riding a bike or booking a tasting tour. Don't be surprised if a tasting costs you $15-$20.00 for a sampler of 4. I imagine because of the number of tourists doing wine tours and not actually buying bottles this is common practice in NZ. It's absolutely worth doing a wine tour while in NZ, the rest of the time though you can easily find a nice wine for under $15.00 at the supermarket. We liked Stoneleigh quite a bit and the price was very reasonable. 2. Lord of the Rings As you drive from the north island to the south Island it's hard not to feel like Frodo and Sam. Peter Jackson didn't have to look too hard to find the perfect settings for the movie. You can visit many sites from the filming some free and some not so free. After the filming of the Hobbit they left the set intact for visitors to come see. It sounded really great so we checked it out to learn it is an $80.00 entrance fee per person. The idea of being cattle herded around the set with 40 other tourists with a 15 minute stop at the Green Dragon Pub didn't interest us for such a fee. The drive up to the set looks like the shire with rolling green hills and a lake, it's very beautiful! If you really want to see the dramatic landscapes used in Lord of the Rings you need to head south. On the app 'CamperMate' they've included little film reel dots on the map highlighting different areas where filming happened so you can go see Fangorn forest and Isengard if you have a car and some time plus dozens of other sites. 1. Kiwi Culture
New Zealand is as similar to Australia the same way Canada is to America. Kiwis we met often made this comparison and the better we got to know the country the more it rang true. Like Canada, New Zealand is the quieter, modest counterpart. The similarities don't stop there, with a cute, passive animal as it's national symbol. Also like Canada, although to a greater extent, indigenous culture and New Zealand's national identity are synonymous in many ways. Maori is an official language in NZ with English being the other. There are many dialects of Maori but the most commonly used is because it was the dialect chosen to translate the bible back in the 1840's. Don't be surprised to struggle with street names as most are Maori, as are lakes and mountains. Maori is a beautifully rich culture with gorgeous arts so it's worth visiting a Maori village or museum to learn more. You can visit Maori villages and meet Maori people who will teach you about their customs and history and you can pay to enjoy a Hangi dinner as well. If you've ever seen the All Blacks play rugby than you'll have seen the Maori war dance, the Haka. Women dance Poi, which is a ball on a string swung intricately around the body. It's not uncommon to be welcomed with, "Kia Ora", which is a Maori greeting. Kia Ora is also farewell and thanks so it's said often. The relationship between the Maori and the government could teach Canada and other nations a lot about how to work with indigenous people for the improvement of the country as a whole. You'll be hard pressed to met a nicer nation of people than the Kiwis. Not only are they friendly and accommodating but have an great sense of humor never taking life too seriously, except when it comes to rugby of course. It's been nearly a month since we started our life in a motorhome. It's small, a bit smelly but has served us extremely well!The motorhome lifestyle has allowed us to experience some amazing places in this country with absolute freedom and despite the discomfort we wouldn't change a thing. That being said we're both super excited about next week when we'll have warmer weather and a lot more space. Since our last blog we've covered a lot of ground. We headed up to Otago peninsula and Dunedin. We had very little interest in the city of Dunedin and headed straight into the peninsula and up the aptly named High Cliff Road which offered some spectacular views. We headed to Sandfly Bay (also aptly named) which was said to beautiful with lots of wild life including the rare Yellow Eyed Penguin. When we arrived we found ourselves with quite a few other tourists, several surfers and dozens of fur seals and sea lions. We were really hoping for the chance to see some penguins which nest in the dunes beyond the beach but with so many people there was little chance of any coming ashore. Instead we chilled with the sea lions in the sun until the sun went down. That night we stayed just outside of Dunedin in the town of Brighton. The next morning we were greeted by a $200 parking ticket for not having a self contained certified sticker. Luckily we do in-fact have this sticker (2 infact) so we quickly got the ticket waived. Side-note to future travelers it's worth upgrading to a self contained motorhome so you have the option to freedom camp. Most freedom sights require that you are self contained and have hefty fines if you're not. With our patience for the city being tested due to traffic and poor sleep we decided to get out of Dunedin and head south. We went all the way south to New Zealand's southern most city Invercargill. The city was made known from an Anthony Hopkin's movie 'The World's Fastest Indian" which retells of a Kiwi man who traveled to the USA and broke a speed record with his Indian Motorcycle, decent movie! It's a neat little town with lots of art deco architecture and many small streets with shops and restaurants to explore. We enjoyed a day in Invercargill refueling and relaxing before heading further inland to the Catlins and Curio Beach. Curio Bay was one of the coolest places we've seen in NZ. On one side is beautiful Curio Beach filled with surfers and a resident Hectors Dolphin Pod. We caught a glimpse of their black dorsal fins here and there but difficult to spot in the waves. One other side of a high cliffs is Curio Bay which is come to Yellow Eyed Penguins, the odd fur seal and a 180 million year old petrified forest. It really neat to walk around the trees laying about hard a stone with massive waves crashing up on the rocks and cliffs surrounding the bay. We were very determined to see a penguin so along with few other people we positioned ourselves behind large rocks along the bay and waited 2 hours until finally a penguin came up. It had a serious journey to make from the crashing waves pounding the bay across rocky terrain until it reached the bushes. It took over 30 minutes for the little guy to make the journey. When it finally reached the bushes it seemed a bit lost and started calling out in search of the correct nest. It finally seemed content and headed into the bushes for the night leaving us cold, tired but thoroughly happy. After a couple days in Curio Bay relaxing we headed towards Queenstown with a night stop along Lake Wakatipu. This was by far the worst night with incredibly strong winds pushing us around. It was so bad we though might tip right over. After a dramatic night we finally reached Queenstown! The last leg of our journey is complete. Now we have a week to enjoy the city and the scenery of the area. Queenstown has a very Whistler/ Squamish vibe with ski and adventure shops on every corner. We spent the day wondering the town taking in the sights. After a beer we ventured into the Queenstown Haunted House, Fear Factory, where the actors can actually touch you! Gave us both a good scare and some laughs. Halloween isn't really popular here but apparently it's starting to pick up. We spent the night at a much small and much quieter lake just outside of Queenstown that sadly has a 2 night max. We would have happily spent the whole week here. Yesterday we paid for a Milford Sound day trip which included a harsh 5am wake up call followed by a 5 hour bus ride one way. We were less than thrilled about this prospect but it was better than us having to do the drive ourselves. The drive to Milford is beautiful and having a guide along telling us interesting NZ facts was a nice change of pace. I could go on about NZ agricultural business but to sum it up farmers don't receive any government subsidies which differs from most other countries. Instead they relay solely on the quality and efficiency of their business. Subsidies came out during the great depression and NZ was the first and one of the few to end to the subsidies once the economy recouped. At first farmers were of course against this but apparently you talk to them now and no farmer would want them reinstated. There is much more to it but coming from a farm family I found this interesting. Wool is a major business here (hence more sheep than people!), grass fed beef is another major export as is venison with a lot of deer farms found throughout NZ especially in the south. After our long bus ride we finally reached the famous Milford Sound. A great way to see Milford is by taking the Milford Track which is a 3 ish day hike. The track wasn't open yet, opens up in November, but if we had wanted to do it we would have had to book up to a year ago because it's so popular! We drove through valley's, lush rain forest and mountain ranges before we reached the port where we took a 2 hour boat ride through Milford Sound. It was absolutely pouring buckets during our time here so the fog was thick. Despite this set back it was still absolutely stunning with dozens of waterfalls, dramatic cliffs and mountains to gaze at. The boat took us under a few water falls giving those brave enough to stand outside a good soaking. It was a long a wet day but in the end we were really glad to have done it!
Today we've decided to explore the region outside Queenstown. This morning we took a quick stop at at location used in the filming of Lord of the Rings which is also home to a popular bungee. We thought about doing a Bungee or some other adventure sport while here but decided in the end there were better things to spend money on down the line of this trip. Our plan is to relax most of this week and enjoy the lake views before we set off for Sydney Australia on Wednesday! South Island is where it's at for nature lovers! We've been here a week and checked must sees off our nature list! Kaikoura is a special place with ocean on one side and mountains on the other. As we mentioned in our last post our fist day here we chilled with wild fur seals and that was just the start. Our 3rd day we went whale watching with Whale Watch Kaikoura. The boat they use is a badass catamaran designed for whale watching and speed. Once we got out to sea it didn't take long for word to come in that a sperm whale had just come up for air 15 minutes away. Unfortunately by the time we arrived he had dove back down so we waited. They know it's male because only males live in cold water, females prefer warm waters, who can blame them! Sperm Whales are the the largest toothed mammal in the world and also the record holders for holding their breath with the longest known being 3 hours! The area where we waited for him to resurface was home to an underwater gorge over 2000 meters deep where this particular sperm whale spends most of his time and thankfully tends to stay down 45- 60 minutes at a time. Using a hydrophone to listen for the whales clicking sound the boat slowly repositioned us so we'd be nearby when it came up for air. While we waited we were treated to seeing several royal albatross birds flying around. These birds are absolutely massive! There were also several other small sea birds playing around the boat. After 45 minutes he finally came up! It wasn't a dramatic sighting but it was awesome to be so close to such a huge animal. He spent the next 10 minutes re-oxygenating giving us a lot of time to view him. The sperm whale has small lungs for his body so it stores oxygen in it's blood and muscles to allow such extreme dive times. We got a few great photos of him on the surface and just as he was about to dive under and I had my camera lined up perfectly and clicked the button. Instead of getting that perfect whale tale shot I got 'battery exhausted'. Absolutely choked. Thankfully Chis had the gopro running so later we'll get a video put together. Once the whale was down we set out in search of other marine life and came across some dusky dolphins who seemed fairly uninterested in the boat but did play around us for a bit until our time was up and we headed back to the marina. We had originally planned to continue on that afternoon further south but decided instead to spend on more day in Kaikoura at a freedom site not far from town. There were no seals at this spot but great ocean views. The next morning we had breakfast with dusky dolphins hunting outfront our campervan and massive swarms of birds diving in and out of the shallows by the hundreds! What a great way to wake up! As much as we loved Kaikoura it was time to continue the journey south so we headed to Christchurch. The drive was quite nice though windy at times! We decided as we approached the city we had no interest in seeing another city and bypassed Christchurch completely finding a small freedom sight just outside of the city. The next morning we continued to Oamaru, a large town on the ocean with fantastic character but more importantly to us they had a colony of rare Yellow Eyed Penguins! The yellow eyed penguin (hoiho is the Maori name) spends all day at sea and then returns to their nest in the evening which are hidden in bushes along the beach. There is a reserve set up by the town where you can access the beach anytime before 3pm where fur seals like the hang out. After 3pm the beach is off limits because the penguins are very sensitive and if they even sense a person nearby the wont come out of the water. This makes the extremely difficult to view so what they've done is set up a free viewing platform. When we arrived around 3pm we only waited 5 minutes before the first penguin emerged from the ocean, extremely cautiously, before it took off for the bushes as fast as it's little legs would take it. We decided to wait around and try and see a few more. Unfortunately after 1.5 hours nothing. Dusk is the best time to view the birds emerging but we were getting tired, hungry and a thunder storm was making it's way towards us so decided one penguin would have to do for today. Today we're on our way to Dunedin and the Otago peninsula where more penguins and seals await! Along the way we decided to stop at the Moeraki Boulders. On the beach there are a dozen or so spherical boulders with bizarre looking veins running through them. It is also a great spot to stop for tea, ocean views and free wifi at the cafe next to the beach ; ).
We've got 2 weeks left in NZ, our camper van is organized the way we like it, routines in place, driving down pact and lots left to see! The next 2 weeks should be the best yet! We've arrived to the South Island! After 3 nights in Wellington we hopped on the ferry and made the 3 hour journey to the South Island landing us in Picton. It's a beautiful ferry ride especially if you're lucky enough to catch a sunset on the cruise. Our 2 1/2 days in Wellington weren't particularly exciting apart from the fact we finally got some sunshine! We spent our first day soaking in the sunshine on Cuba Street a hip little section of Wellington with a bohemian feel filled with funky shops, street art, cafes and restaurants. After a quick stop for a drink in the sun we continued to the harbour front. The harbour front offered street art, bike rentals, and pubs galore. We were happy to tuck in for lunch at a brewery, one of the few places we've come across in New Zealand that seemed to know anything about the beer they served. They throw the word 'craft beer' around a lot but when you ask about the beers all they can tell you is that they're brown. Our approach to combat this is to simply try them all throughout our journey. After lunch our hopes of a sunny afternoon were dashed as the clouds moved in so we decided to head to the Te Papa Museum, located next to the pub. We entered fully expecting to pay $30.00 each but were delighted to learn it's completely free! Te Papa is a really well curated museum with exhibitions on Maori art, Kiwi Culture, natural history and 2 special exhibitions one of volcanoes and one on Gallipoli. We're starting to see a trend with the Volcano exhibitions,each offering pamphlets on how to prepare for an eruption because it's a real concern here! Not something we worry about in the Great North. The Gallipoli exhibition impressed us the most, taking us through the history of the war with letters and voice recordings from Kiwi soldiers. This combined with several impactful large scaled sculptures made it a really emotional and educational experience. I found it even more interesting because I recently visited Turkey with a stop in Gallipoli and ANZAC Cove. Today when you visit this area in Turkey it's filled with war memorials and graveyards where New Zealanders, Australians and Turkish soldiers are buried together. Over 130 000 total lives lost between April 25 1915 and January 09 1916. Each side had their own reasoning for the battle so it was interesting to read the letters in the Te Papa exhibition from NZ soldiers commenting on how they couldn't blame the Turks for protecting their land to the death. The Turkish military was well trained and well positioned on higher ground making the war an incredibly difficult battle and so deadly. After several hours in Te Papa we took an extremely overpriced taxi, note to self use Uber next time, back to our motorhome. We decided to stay at a Freedom site at Evans Bay Marina because it was only an 8 minute drive (or $22.00 taxi ride) from the city centre. The noise, street lights and wind that came with this location probably weren't worth it in the end however. Our second day in Wellington we were thrilled to see the sun again and decided to head out to the Wellington Zoo. It's located very near to the city centre and as a result has no parking of it's own. Driving an RV around Wellingtons narrow curvy streets is bad enough made only worse when you're also trying to find decent parking. In the end we did find a spot and walked up to the zoo. It's a really nice zoo with lots of local rescued wildlife to view. They also had a small Australia section where wallabies and an emu roamed freely with visitors. We really enjoyed the group of Chimps which we caught just in time for their afternoon snack. They also had some big cats, sun bears and various tons of various types of monkeys. We also got another chance to see rescued kiwi birds which had their own private nocturnal sanctuary to run around undisturbed by visitors. After 3 noisy nights we were more than ready to head South and out of the city. Our ferry was delayed a couple hours so we got in around 8pm, in the dark. Not wanting to pay money for the night we attempted the nearest freedom spot to find it was already full. Continuing onward we decided to attempt a site that had many reviews calling it difficult to find but we figured why not try. Turned out this meant driving down several small back roads which led to a pot hole riddled dirt road which led to a wetland reserve. We managed to find what seemed to be a parking spot with no concept where the heck we were. We were rewarded for our efforts with a sky full of stars and lots of privacy. The next morning we woke up to the sound of several fishermen making their way down the dirt road discovering we were near the ocean! We liked it here so much we decided to stay an extra night and chill on the beach that day. After a chill day on the beach we headed to Kaikoura to another freedom spot that suggested to be near a seal colony. Was it ever! We drove in and parked only a 5 meters away from several seals and this is where we spent the night. During the afternoon we got some great pictures of the seals but mostly just sat back and relaxed with them. The Seals mostly slept the afternoon away with the youngsters splashing and playing in a shallow pool nearby. Seems like a nice life expect when they're woken up by pesky tourists who, one after the other, decide they want a selfie and get way too close. Your camera has a zoom on it for a reason, don't disturb the wildlife. The day passed by and we settled in for the night. It was very peaceful until a seal thought 1 am was a good time to sing a bass solo of belly grunting and sneezing outside our door. We woke the next morning to discover this seal had decided the bushes a foot from our camper was the perfect spot to sleep and sneeze all night. We said goodbye to our new seal friends and carried on to Kaikoura town to see about some whale watching. As we drove into town the clouds got more and more ominous until we found ourselves in a downpour. We booked a 10am whale watching tour for tomorrow morning and decided today would be a good day to pay for a camp site, charge up, take a much needed shower and hunker down for the day. The weather is meant to clear over night so we're keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow!
![]() What better way to usher in Chris’ 40th year than with a trip around the world! The last few days we’ve had the pleasure of relaxing in Napier. Napier is a cool little town on the east coast of the North Island right on the ocean. In the 1930’s Napier was hit by a massive earthquake that took down most of the city and as a result they rebuilt the city in Art Deco style popular at the time. Since then they've maintained these buildings giving visitors a blast from the past. Napier is also conveniently, located in one of New Zealand's best and most diverse wine regions, Hawkes Bay! Driving into Hawkes Bay from Lake Taupo is incredibly scenic and offers a smattering of wineries as you near Napier. Our first day in the city we finally found some sunshine and went straight to a harbour side patio to soak it with local cider and beer before heading to our oceanfront freedom site. This is one of the few freedom sites we’ve found that offered toilets, water and garbage so unlike other freedom sites it wasn’t restricted to self contained vehicles. Pretty quickly after our arrival it filled up with other nomads many of whom were calling the back seat of their car home. We realized shortly after parking for the night that our fridge had been awfully quite the last 24 hours. After checking it we realized it had not been working since the previous day. The really unfortunate part is just 24 hours earlier we had purchased $40.00 worth of ground beef, sausage and chicken plus a half litre. of coconut ice-cream. We ate what we could for lunch and dinner that day, including the entire ½ litre of ice-cream. By the next morning we ended up binning the rest of the meat since it was smelling pretty off and getting a powered site in Napier, with the hopes it would fix the fridge, was more costly than the meat. Despite some bad luck with the fridge and the return of the rain we managed to enjoy our 3 days in Napier doing a good walk about the city, we also hit up the National Aquarium during a rain storm and the rest of the time we just sat back and enjoyed the ocean views from the comfort of our Motorhome. The National Aquarium wasn't bad though a bit rough around the edges. The highlight was definitely the 2 kiwi birds housed in the nocturnal section of the aquarium and the group of rescued penguins. They also have a large aquarium tunnel to walk through but we found it sad because the sharks were so badly injured on their snouts from smashing into the walls. We've been to many other aquariums and you do see this occurring in captivity to some extent but these guys were particularly beat up looking. ![]() After a couple nights in Napier we decided to change the scenery so we headed towards Cape Kidnappers about ½ hour south of Napier and home to a large colony of Gannet sea birds. On route we took a detour to the Te Mata Peak. It’s an amazing stop with absolutely breathtaking views at the top. We drove most of the way up and hiked the remaining 2km, If you aren’t up for the hike you can drive to the very top and be rewarded with the same view. After some time we headed down and sought out a paid campsite for the night. The thought of a hot shower, laundry and the hope that power would get our fridge working was enough to convince us to drop $36.00. We weren’t disappointed, as soon as we plugged in our fridge came back to life! With all our meat tossed and no grocery stores nearby we ended up making a sad looking vegetarian pasta dinner for Chris’ 40th birthday however the ocean views and a gorgeous sunset easily made up for it! Tomorrow we will head to Wellington for a few days before ferrying to the South Island! |
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