Back in Time

Cook Islands - Rarotonga

I left Auckland on Thursday, and was soon passing the international date line - so I was instantly transported back in time 24hours to Wednesday - damn I wish I'd taken notice of the sports results to make some extra cash betting!

So the jet touched down on Raro - the capital island of the Cook Islands - there's a whole bunch of islands which are all quite far apart - like 40mins flying time each. Raro has about 8,000 inhabitants I believe so it was never gonna be too busy or stressful here. I came here in the twilight of my world tour hoping to find paradise one last time. I'd heard of the islands surrounded by lagoon, coral reefs and pretty fishes, I'd even seen the sunset pics of the beaches. What I got first though was a completely out of the blue culture shock.

I walked into the terminal building at the airport and a little guy on a stage was plucking away and singing his heart out on the Eukalele. Cute I thought. I left with my baggage and saw many passengers getting the floral reef around the neck treatment - though since I was going budget - there would be no such festivities for poor old Luke!

I hopped in a taxi with a woman from my hostel who chatted to me the whole way there - with an accent not too dissimilar to Jar Jar Binks! It was dark so I couldn't gauge what the climate would be like but it felt nice and warm so that was a good start.

The morning came, and pretty soon, I realised I wasn't in my comfort zone, Cook Islands time is about as reliable as a raft made of biscuit. The money was funny, and there weren't very many people around. Especially in my creepily empty hostel. Thankfully after a day walking many miles just for something to do once the sun had gone in, I met Al, a dive master staying at my hostel.

The following days I took a bike out about town to see a little more and pick up my flight vouchers for my upcoming excursion to another of the Cook Islands.

Friday night rolled around so Al and I hit the town - quite a unique experience really since the clubs and bars actually havea good mix of locals and tourists - unlike anywhere I'd been previously to my recollection - it's usually all of one or the other. We soon got chatting to some local and had a great night partying to all of 1993's greatest hits.

As luck would have it, my final day saw a group of lads land in my hostel. Luckily they would still be there when I returned 4 days later...

End of the World

Auckland

My original plans for New Zealand were to spend a couple of months here exploring and maybe even working before carrying on my trip. Though since I've now used up 11 of my 12 months away, I have been forced to abandon these plans for the time being in order to do some justice to my final few stops before returning back to the UK.

So it was a pleasent surprise that I was able to get so much out of my little 4 day city break in Auckland. On my first day I met up with Flee again, completely unexpected until a few days ago as we realised we would cross each others paths for one last time on these tours of ours. She introduced me to her new mate Dan and soon we were eating at a Gelato on the harbour side.

We had a wander round the city before winding up at the base of the sky tower. Myself and Flee took the high speed elevator ride to the top to take in the sunset from 220metres up. It's amazing that Auckland is home to a third of the entire NZ population yet still remains so quiet. Even rush hour seemed like bliss!

Later on that evening the 3 of us met up for a meal - one I'd been owed for another bet we'd made back in Sydney - almost worth losing the hair on my leg all those months ago!

With Flee making an early morning exit from New Zealand for Fiji. I was left to my own devices. I checked out and hit the pavement armed with my little tourist map and a renewed enthusiasm now some sun was actually shining down on Auckland.

I hit the pavement and found a route that went from coast to coast passing by several of Auclands 40+ volcanoes. The first stop was Albert Park - flowers, fountains, benches, statues and trees - very nice. Then I wandered past Auckland Uni and into the Auckland Domain. The domain is home to the Main museum and WinterGardens that I passed by.

The weather was now warm enough to lose my jacket. I eventually found my way to the base of Mt.Eden - the tallest Volcanic hill - at 192metres that gave me some great panoramas of Auckland, and more impressive, allows you to look 50metres down into the volcanic crater - now very grassy rather than black, smokey and full of lava!

By this point I'd already walked a fair distance and was half way through the walk, so decided to double back into the city. So I picked a different route to get back for a bit of variation. The way back down was nice and was the first real feeling of 'being in New Zealand' - by this I mean, the lush Green pastures coupled with that Lord of The Rings feel; even if I'm actually a long way from where all that stuff was filmed.

I got back into the city and checked out some of the backstreet shopping before it was time for me to go meet Nick. Last time had been Sydney, Perth before that, and Ko Lanta, Thailand before that. Together with Lucy, we wandered back to their apartment and spent the evening catching up.

My final full day in Auckland would be about sorting out the remaining weeks of my trip and planning the next, then getting some culture in me - and we ain't talking yoghurt here. I met with Dan for lunch and then headed to the New Zealand Art Gallery to check out the free exhibits.

The final stages of the afternoon were spent getting the last of my flights confirmed for my route back to the UK and then having a final dinner with Nick and Lucy. We again commented on how weird it had been to bump into each other at all these remote destinations around the world - now, Nick and I have seen each other in Europe, America, Asia and Australasia (though not all on this trip) - but we've become surprisingly blase about it. It's with this that I realise that my final post from as far ahead in time as I can get (+11hrs) will soon be followed by my first post from one of the places furthest back in time (-11hrs)...

La Femme d'Argent

Cairns

Back in Cairns I soon met back up with Kat, Iona, Luke, Shawn, Dave & Julian who had become the new crew travelling up the East Coast of Australia with me. Between us, we had a bunch of special offers to get free or cheap food and drink at a classy establishment called the WoolShed. I'd been awoken at 5am and managed to keep my 27yr old carcass bumpin till between 3 &4am since it was afterall, our last night all together on Australian soil.

In the morning, I said my farewells to Kat & Iona as they flew back toward Sydney and homeward bound flights. I had no other option than to chill and relax on my penultimate day in Australia before going back out in the evening to have a few more beers whilst watching some English Premiership action on TV. Though the night turned out to be way more fun than I'd imagined in my sleepy hungover mind earlier that day.

So with my final day I had just to make sure my tan was at it's best so I could stick out like a very red sore thumb when I hit Aucklands crazy low temps! I met up at the Lagoon with Karine, Dave & Julian as my skin accelerated to a darker hue.

The Sun went down on Cairns and we met up for my farewell beer.

So it's been since February 2nd that I've been able to call Australia a home of sorts, and now this epic part of my story is over. Just before midnight on September 10th I departed Cairns airport destined for Auckland. I was quite tired and grouchy by the time I realised the plane would be so full, and kids started screaming, I'm not sure if it was the lack of sleep or just testament to how much I've come to love the land down under. As Arnie said - I'll be back.

Ocean Spray

Great Barrier Reef

Still with hairs on end, I'd boarded the Greyhound from Mission Beach to Cairns and was in another of Australias cities. Though in fairness it's pretty small and serves as a home to many tourists from around the world. Here is the start point for most who come to see one of Australias favourite tourist pulls - the Great Barrier Reef.

After an early night, I got up bright and early to meet my dive tour in the city. I'd alightly apprehensively made a fairly rushed booking for the trip so was really hoping that I'd have a good time. Pretty soon we were at the dockyard in Cairns and jumping on (another) boat to transport us to the Live-aboard boat out on the reef.

Things were looking good - especially in retrospect to my past couple of voyages. The sea was calm and before I knew it, I'd curled up and fallen into a daydream slumber.

The engines cut, and a slight bump awoke me as we had arrived at the Kangeroo Explorer on the reef. I stood up and took in what I saw. The reef was crystal clear and even more amazingly, I could see to the bottom of the ocean under the boat - around 23metres. Batfish and RedBass were gathered under the hull of the boat and made for a great little intro to life on the reef.

By 1pm I was in the water at a place called Milln Reef. The visibility was some of the best I've ever seen, and the fish species also went a long way to improve the experience. The guide showed us some coral that you could touch before it was time to surface and move on to the next dive site.

On to the 3 sisters. Dive no.2 and I finally got to see one of the most feared species of animal life on earth. the 1.5metre reef shark I spotted was pretty inactive and very much uninterested in us. It was still amazing to come within a few feet of one of Earths infamous killing machines. Just as I was getting over seeing the shark, I saw another famous killer. I wasn't too far from where Steve Irwin lost his life 2 days previously when I saw a 2.5-3metre long sting ray. It was the largest thing I'd ever seen in the ocean depths.

Just as we were chilling out after a freshly caught seafood BBQ, schools of flying fish - approximately 50-60, were leaping out of the water below in unison.

Dive 3 was one I'd been looking forward to since it was the only night dive of the trip. 8pm rolled around and armed with torches me & my Kiwi buddy Mike took a giant stride entry into the black. The problem with night diving, is that the Red Bass here on the reef have learned over the years that divers torches are usually pointing at something interesting - ie. little fishes. This was kinda fun almost playing god, but the bass are pretty slow so never actually took any lives.

Under a full moon I could finally crack open a beer on the sundeck and enjoy the last of the evening with the people I'd met on board.

5am the next morning, we were woken up for some quick tea before dropping back in the water for a 6am sunrise dive. At this time of morning, most of the marine life are waking up for another days hard graft doing whatever it is they do best. As such, the corals were absolutely littered with fish - I couldn't quite believe the amount of fish I saw - and the amount of fish I'd only ever seen in fish tanks!

Dive no.5 followed at 8am after breakfast. My muscles had taken a very unfamiliar battering and so it was getting to be real hard work swimming on the surface againt currents. However it was well worth it, getting to see the mutlti venoumously spined Lion Fish. Again, the fish were absolutely teaming the reef but it was a crustacean that won this dives most impressive 'thing' award - it's tentacles were probing the water in front of it's cave dwelling. I got in close in the swim through and saw the biggest lobster I ever saw.

By Dive 6, I'd seen just about everything I'd wanted to, except some of the other guys had seen turtles and I was feeling a little left out. So it was a nice relief when we moved on to Moore Reef and found an old fellow down on the sea bed who entertained a little back rub before we swam onward. We spotted another reef shark, and a puffer fish.

I was a little bummed to be leaving the water for the last time so I jumped back in armed with fins and snorkel. Its really cool how much you can see from the surface, I managed to find this huge yellow, white and black fish that had a team of cleaner Wrasses going to work on it's gills and tail - it wasn't too shy so I managed to float in to about 3ft.

I boarded the KE in time for lunch very content with my 2day 6 dive experience. Though I was in for one last surprise as we travelled back to the main land. Chatting to a guy I'd met, I spotted a couple of Dolphins shotgunning out of the rough waters behind him. They were really playing to the crowd before the boat got a little too fast for them and we left them and the reef behind in our memories.

Man on a Mission

Mission Beach

Lukes eager approach to his travels had worn off of me so much so that I opted to follow he and Shawn to Mission Beach - somewhere between the last and the next stop of my trip. We checked into a humid Scottys hostel for the night and were soon having gladiator style fights balancing a log spread across the hostels pool.

In the evening we decided to give the national emblem a taste - skippy was on the menu. Looks like steak but has a stronger taste - I thought a little like Aromatic Duck but maybe that was just the plum sauce. Regardless it was delicious.

Luke Jnr struggled to sleep that evening, his nerves were a little jangly though myself and Shawn managed a good nights kip before our flight to 14,000ft the next day.

The afternoon rolled around and pretty soon I found myself clipped to some guy I just met, sat between his legs crammed in a bright green prop plane with a big teethy grin on the front. Down the runway, above the hill and tree tops, soon we were also above the clouds. I look out the window; we looked pretty high, but only 6000ft on the altometer. My nerves were now making me feel ever so slightly sick.

I could see parts of the Barrier reef from where I was sitting when the door of the plane beside me started sliding backwards. The cabin got really windy really quickly. A guy videoing me steps out onto the outside of the plane and soon after I'm also being nudged to get out too. Forward, back, forward again and thump - the biggest rush of adrenaline I've ever known and probably ever will. Barely able to breath I'm freefalling toward the earth 120mph. My lips being blown all over the place but unable to lose the huge grin that had quickly appeared.

Spinning and tumbling added to the 60second buzz, the camera guy once again coming into my view just for a second as the chute is pulled above my head. He drops away faster than I could grasp. Then a new kind of buzz. Floating, gliding in pure peace and quiet with time to appreciate the beach below, the deep blue sea surrounding the nearbye islands. 3-4 minutes of this and we could make out the people on the beach, and then what actually seemed like one of the quickest moments of the jump, we skimmed the sand to a standing halt.

Awesome. Immense. Amazing. I couldn't even think of these superlatives for an hour after jumping. I just can't wait till the next one.

Apple Blossom

Magnetic Island

After going at the partying pretty hard for a little too long, my new travelling posse and I decided to head off North and off the coast at Townsville to a place called Magnetic Island - which offers not much more than some rocky rolling lush green hills, plenty of beaches, rental cars, kayaks, scooters and bikes. The island, as well as the coasts of Australia are now blossoming for Spring which means lots of pinks, purples, oranges and blues bursting from the undergrowth. Perfect in the sunshine. Though the clouds had followed us from the Whitsundays , and we had another roller coaster ride ferry ride over to the island. The next 36 hours are really not really worth mentioning as we struggled to kill time while the weather outside was cold and miserable.

Monday saw the sun come out again giving us cause for cheer. Luke and I took a kayak around the bay, whilst Kat & Iona tried their hardest to do the same before we all put in some hard work by the pool - for the rest of the day. The resort we stayed at transformed over night to be one of the most relaxing and gorgeous places I've stayed in a while.

The final night of my stay, was a quiz night - I was hoping to continue the success from back in Sydney, but even after I came in second place in the limbo contest, our teams talley only got us to 3rd place; missing out on the golden prize of free beer.

Wish you Well

Airlie Beach & Whitsunday Islands

Several hours North of Hervey Bay, I arrived in Airlie Beach - part of Tropical Queensland. The sun sure felt tropical, and I went about my first day with a real degree of relaxation.

Within a couple of hours it was time for me to head inside after baking sufficiently. Kat and Iona, the girls I'd met a few times up the coast came and found me at my hostel and another crazy night followed. I was the support crowd at a pretty quiet pub, and managed to gain enough support for the girls to win a pole dancing competition and $200 cash. This meant a nice cheap night!

The following day the girls left on their Whitsundays sailing trip, so with some more sunbaking out of the way, the boys and girls from the Fraser trip rolled into town. We met up and before we knew it, their were shapes being thrown in all directions down at Mama Africas.

The following two days were a little spontaneous; expecting to do nothing but turn black and crispy, Luke (another Luke, not just me talking in the third person) had a catching effect on me. One moment we were all in the travel agents booking bus journeys, then the next we were being picked up and driven to the jetty for some parasailing! After watching some others drift skyward, it was then Luke, Shawn & my turn to go. An awesome experience made by the speed, height, turbulence and beautiful blue seas and coastal views we could see. Once we'd gotten used to floating a couple of hundred feet abover the water, we gained confidence and dangled upside down from the rigging. Hanging like a fruit bat, the drivers of the boat decided to dunk us all in the drink below before going full throttle to make us rise Phoenix stylee. Awesome.

Midweek came, and it was the day our sailing trip around the Whitsundays started. Not content with this though, the 3 parasailers decided to jump in a helicopter for a scenic tour around the beach and out over South Molle Island.

The views were amazing and the thrill amplified by the fact the chopper had no doors. A few patches of turbulence made the three of us feel our tailbones briefly but soon we were using the choppers intrercom system for comic reason. I think the pilot may have wondered what we were on. We touched down at about 8.20am buzzing for the rest of the morning.

Sun shining, the boys of the group playing keepy-uppy by the Airlie Marina entrance when we are finally called on board the 'Pride of Airlie' - a catamaran with the capacity for 60 people. We set off. Beer and goon in everybodies hand.

We arrived on South Molle island at around 5pm, with just enough time to get in some golf before the sun set. We managed around 5 holes to be exact before heading back to get showered and have a night partying with the drew and of course everyone else on the boat. I remember falling asleep looking forward to the day ahead lying on board the boat in the sun heading out to Whitehaven beach - a beautiful, bright white sand stretch of sand; home to many kinds of marine life. I woke up to grey skies.

Everyone stumbled back on the Pride hoping the skies would clear, but as we set sail, we soon found some new fun. The seas were choppy and the boat was rising and falling quickly - so much so you could jump in the air and experience extra long hang-time! 30minutes of this was of course hilarious, until the seasickness caught up with everyone. About an hour in and the back of the boat was getting a little crowded with people bowing to the wake. Myself included.

To a lot of relief, we finally arrived at Whitehaven, I jumped straight in the water to freshen up, and quickly forgot about the bad experience when I snorkelled into shore following a turtle. It was too cold and wet to hang around on the beach so I headed back on board. The real highlight here was seeing a HUGE turtle float by.

Everyone was dreading the return trip, though fortunately it was much easier going, and so DJ Luke took his iPod to the boats PA and rocked the afternoon session. We had more time to ourselves today, so managed a swim in the resort pool, a chillout session in the hot-tub followed by a full nine holes on the golf course. Another session in the bar saw me and Luke doing a cover of James' Sit Down on the karaoke before falling asleep dreaming of better weather.

The sun rose, but sadly still behind clouds. So some sore heads boarded the Pride for our homeward journey with a quick snorkelling stop thrown in. The seas were calm, so the beers and goon (the worst possible kind of cheap wine) were flowing from about 8.30am - the tunes once again rocking the boat.

We jumped overboard at Hook island for my first look at the Great Reef, saw some beautiful angel fish but not much else.

Friday night back in Airlie was everybodies farewell party, Morocco's and Mamas again the venue - another great time had.