Invercargill

Heavy shower prevented us from skiing in Queenstown L Even seeing Treble Cone – the biggest ski field around Wanaka failed due to poor road and visibility – our Yaris simply couldn’t climb up this mud…

We swapped skiing for shooting in Wanaka’s “Have a shot”. It was surprisingly successful on 22 caliber – we both got 1200 points out of 1250, but Andriy was better in last recordable 20 shoots and even got to the hall of fame J Claybird shooting was not as good, and this time I won 7:6.

Late at night we arrived to Invercargill – my favorite name of the town J It was an excellent driving practice, sometimes a bit scary – darkness, winding roads, mountains, heavy rain… Awesome…

Next morning we quickly stopped at Bluff – the southern of point of the southern island. It’s 19K to London from there. Then we drove to NZAS for an excursion around aluminum plant.

As Michael said – some big toys and pretty serious shit that can easily explode, if you do it wrong… The plant is massive! Consumes 14% of New Zealand power and releases massive fraction of CO2 in return J Great fun to walk around and feel this massive production process, which I know nothing about, but it’s created by humans J

Fiordlands

It’s been a hard, but very enjoyable day. We had an exhausting 600km mountainous drive to Te Anau, Milford Sound and back. Some turns were really bad and we switched seats with Andriy, as I didn’t feel confident enough…

90-minute cruise around the Fiord was amazing! I expected something like a regular circle between the rocks, but we went under the waterfall and watched three dolphins playing with the boat and jumping from the water just in front of the nose. Also we went into the sea and jumped on the waves for a bit. On the way back we played with dolphins again, watched the seals and penguins, and went under the biggest waterfall, which was 163 meters high!

The actual drive in Fiordlands from Te Anau to Milford Sound is very exciting both as driving experience and as thrilling landscape. It’s very hard to transfer this feeling on to the picture. Snowy tops changing forests, tunnels from the trees, one real town in the rock, which looks more as a cave, beautiful valleys with huge ranges around, mirror lakes, kea birds and many more things… You feel so small, but so thrilled in this wonderful panorama!

Face is red. Eyes are tired. Knee is still in pain. But it was so damned good! J

Ohau & Queenstown

Early morning we headed towards Ohau – small ski slopes 40km from Wanaka. We had to do a good bit off-road in the mountains to reach the one and only ski lift of Ohau J Luckily, Yaris survived…

Ohau was about 10 tracks and some bits of free-ride. Andriy got to learn the snowboard, and I decided to practice my skiing again. It’s been good, except couple of falls and nice bump on my knee J Otherwise enjoyed it a lot and really looking forward to some nice snow in Alps next winter.

We finished the day in Queenstown – the touristic center of New Zealand, where one can hardly meet a Kiwi on the streets – only tourists around. We had a nice sip of Speight’s and a limp around town J

Mount Cook & Tasman Glazier

We thought of going to Mount Cook just for an hour, but ended up spending the whole day there. The views are astonishing and Tasman Glazier has just had a massive piece falling down into the water.

We hiked down to the water and then all around the glazier, which was a nice exercise for lazy asses that are driving all the time for last three weeks J We thought about flying around Mount Cook as well, but it was too expensive, so we saved some money for two days of skiing around Wanaka.

Closer to the evening we went to a small salmon farm to fish and cook the salmon back in the B&B. The owner says that in a month time the temperature will jump from +9 to +38 and they will have the peak season for fishing…

Salmon in milk was delicious! Bravo, Andriy!

Lake Tekapo & Lake Pukaki

On August 22^nd we started our new drive. This time – around South Island, this time – on Toyota Yaris, this time – really short and civilized…

The scenery is so good and so diverse that you can’t really write about it… We have passed lakes Tekapo and Pukaki with wonderful blue and white colors on the sky, snow, water and clouds. Within 100km of driving it felt like we passed Ireland, Scotland, Austria, Norway…

Many more “Lord of the Rings” landscapes on the way… It’s hard to describe really…

Christchurch, Capital of Rugby

We arrived to Christchurch at 3am in the morning – it was freezing cold compared to +30 at Gold Coast beaches J I actually didn’t expect that New Zealand can be so cold and that we will actually ski later on…

Having browsed some cafes in the morning we went to meet Andriy’s friend Andrew with his wife, 7-months old daughter, and wife’s mom. “How’s your work?” – “It’s average.” – the attitude is so hilarious… Who cares about it? It’s just a temporary stuff and it will fix itself at some point J

Our evening was full of Rugby. First we went to see New Zealand Warriors playing in the National Rugby League – very tight game, Warriors lost by one point in last minutes, and I have got some good knowledge on Rugby League rules. Good enough to enjoy the game J

Peak of the day or more of the night was All Blacks vs. South Africa. We woke up at 2:30am to see an amazing game! All Blacks were losing 14:22, before the late equalizer and winning try 30 seconds before the final whistle… Such a turnaround! Such an atmosphere! I really started enjoying Rugby…

Day 15 - Brisbane

August 20^th was our last day in Australia. We traveled 6,145km in total, burned around 800 liters of diesel, spent $1,325 on fuel, another $1,350 on a camper van, which all rounded to about $2,600 per person.

Tour around Brisbane has failed permanently due to the first rain in these 15 days. We returned the Wicked van being a bit shocked with the amount of vans at the car park and the size of this business. Then we had a short walk to the City in the rain, watched sea gulls and ibises wondering around cafes for the rests of food and lively skyscrapers and motorways in the middle of the day.

Rainy day is good for thinking, researching and simply accounting for the previous trip J New Zealand will be cold, so we better get used to this now. From beaches to snow – everything is here! And we gonna go to Warriors vs. Broncos game next weekend J

Day 14 – Gold Coast

On August 19^th we traveled our last 200km to Gold Coast – this time a massive touristy place for internationals just 100km north of Brisbane. Multiple skyscrapers with holiday apartments, shops, restaurants, etc. Very touristy, but at least with waves J

We rented surf boards and wet suits and went to catch some waves. Andriy actually managed once, while I was very far from even attempting… Don’t know for which reason, but it was so much easier to catch the wave and stand up in Ireland… Anyway, my farmer’s tan got even worse after wetsuit and I was happy to get smashed by couple of waves J

After the surf we went for electronic games. A bit of air hockey, basketball, vampire shooting, motorcycles and of course couple of songs with Guitar Hero J But the best time at Gold Coast was visiting Roberto – Andriy’s teacher and coach from New Zealand, Aaron’s father…

In his nicely decorated house, which is average size by Gold Coast standards, but quite big from what I saw in Ireland, Roberto was sharing that new life starts, when kids leave the house and now they have all this time with his wife to explore and enjoy.

Very wise man. I enjoyed his thoughts on opportunities in Australia, on economy, and mostly on relationships… Especially, how parents see relationships of their sons, and how they analyze girlfriends. The story continued in Aaron’s house, where we could see the other side… Very good learning…

Day 13 – Noosa

On August 18^th we traveled 450km to see the Sunshine Coast – biggest recreational spot for locals. We hoped to surf, but this dream never happened – the ocean was flat that day and we ended up having a bit of sun on the beach, a bit of swim and a bit of hike to the cliff.

Noosa was a nice place with all the touristic conveniences, but without overselling touristic culture. I hoped to fix my farmer’s tan, but I think it got only worth after a day of driving and hiking in the t-shirt J

In the evening we arrived to Brisbane and stopped at Andriy’s old friend Aaron. Was cool to see them catching up and discussing all the old friends from New Zealand times. I should visit my old friends more often as well J And just realized that almost no one visited me in Ireland within these four years L

Day 12 – Bundaberg

August 17^th was the last long driving day – we covered 554km to Bundaberg – the home of Australian rum J Too bad that the road doesn’t go along the coast with ocean views and reefs… We have had the same scenery as in the Outback, but more greenish and mountainous.

Rockhampton was the only interesting town on our way. Not that the town was interesting, but the person, who used to live here in the early days… Rod Laver – the most famous tennis player in the world, who managed to win all Grand Slam tournaments in one season twice – in 1962 and 1969.

The town was not particularly full of Rod Laver stuff – just one monument… Could do it better J Actually, Mount Isa was home to another famous tennis player – Pat Rafter. Both towns could actually use these names much better…

Finally, we arrived to Bundaberg and managed to catch the last tour around Rum Distillery. I think at this stage I am just missing Vodka factory excursion for the full alcohol industry package J Couple of pictures with a bear… Dinner at RSL – veterans place with commemorative lights out at 6pm… And another camping night before we catch some waves at Noosa…

Day 11 - Carmilla Beach

On August 16^th we traveled 281km towards Carmilla beach. At around 2pm we already arrived to our destination, where we agreed to meet Emmas, and things got a bit boring. So we went for an off-road drive along the beach and bought some fishing gear to kill time.

Carmilla was totally different from Whitsunday – no roads, no tourists, no flashing signs – just campers, fishermen, caravans and automatic BBQ spot J

Emmas arrived closer to five and we placed our vans on the beach. This was the best camp fire of the trip – in the middle of the beach overlooking the ocean, with half moon shining at Victoria and Betsy – our dusty vehicles J

In the morning we have planted the tree at the beach – compensation for Andriy’s accidental drop of the plastic bottle during Whitsunday cruise. Pollution has been compensated…

Day 10 – Whitsunday

A day without driving – can you believe it? J From the early morning we went for a cruise around Whitsunday islands. Our boat “Camira” with 30 people on board went around Hook, Whitsunday, Daydream and pass Hamilton islands.

We have got to snorkel in amazing places and play a bit of football, water polo and tennis ball diving on the White heaven beach. Everything followed by a nice lunch of the boat and interesting chat to two Emmas that continued in the bar till late evening.

The girls travel around Australian coastal line for 7 months driving about 300km per day and then staying couple of days in each new spot. They took a year off university studies and their trip will finish in a month in Sydney.

It’s amazing how different people look from the first look and later on after a good bit of conversation. We chatted about medicine, environment, high school and university choices, traveling, future plans, surfing, haircuts and many more.

Very good day, although we are totally burnt and “red” is a polite way of calling my face, neck, arms and legs. Back on the road tomorrow…

Day 9 – Airlie Beach

On August 14^th we traveled only 280km. Most of the day we stayed in Townsville trying to see the difference between the Outback and the beach paradise. Not that you need to try hard – the difference is obvious – just nice to wonder around beach summer houses, run along the beach, stair at bikinis (although not much to see there J)…

We climbed the hill with panoramic view of the Townsville. Oh, and totally forgot, that everything in the morning was empty! People in the hostel were probably resting after yesterday’s Mad Cow party, other half probably went for cruises to Magnetic Island. And it was hot!!! I can only imagine how hot it gets in summer…

The only disadvantage of this paradise – you can’t swim in the ocean because of jelly fish and stingers L Swimming pool and condition are your only treatments from summer heat…

Happy driving again… Tomorrow we are waiting for the other highlight of the trip – Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday region. Airlie beach is the place to start…

Day 8 - Townsville

Friday 13^th was our record breaking day – we traveled 914km finishing in Townsville. Our cold nights, outback, farmers and bombs are finished. It’s warm here even in the evenings, it’s full of tourists and locals drinking in the clubs, and it’s on the ocean with Great Barrier Reef just minutes away.

We have had the most comfortable sleep in all these days J The hostel was amazing and we had loads of fun watching four Italians trying to book a room in a hostel with all the private facilities and multiple other conditions for the hostel price range J

The Outback trip totaled 4,380km with 1,600km more left to Brisbane along the east coast. We have spent $1000 for fuel alone and another $500 for food and sleeps.

Our last day could easily be called “the bloody road” as we saw dead kangaroos every ten kilometers with crowds of crooks enjoying their fresh breakfast. The biggest town on the way was Julia Creek with 500 people J I finally started noticing Australian overweight problems, which was a bit of a surprise at the beginning.

And, of course, dressing style in the clubs is as ugly, as in the UK and Ireland. It’s funny to watch all these ladies…

Day 7 - Mount Isa

On August 12^th we traveled 430km finishing in Mount Isa. That was our second day of driving without any landmarks or interesting places. Since we left Alice and Red Center it’s all about driving.

Mount Isa was the first big town on our way (around 30,000 people), but we could feel that it was big. Probably all the miners were out at work and the town looked very boring and empty. There were stores, cafes, clubs, cinema, but they were so empty!

Many miners work on temporary contracts having a week break after a week of work or having a two-week break after two weeks of work. Probably for this reason we didn’t find loads of private housing.

Change of scenery was the only interesting thing in our driving. In the east direction we have had last bits of red and green desert, which changed with green trees, yellow grass and huge termite houses. Then we have passed infinite flat areas and farmlands covered with yellow grass, then mountains, then yellow valleys again… The scenery kept changing every 100km…

We ended the day in a camping watching the moon and Al Pacino movie.

August 11^th was all about driving – 660km and nothing special on the way. The only interesting place that we saw was Devil’s Marbles with loads of big egg-shaped stones forming various piles.

We have passed Wycliffe Creek – for some reason the UFO capital of Australia, and Tennant Creek – the only major town on our way from Alice to Mount Isa. Major town meaning 3,000 people in total J Tennant Creek felt totally aboriginal with the same feeling that we had in Alice… Don’t know whether to sympathize or simply accept…

Another 300km from Tennant Creek – we started heading East towards Great Barrier Reef. The only person we have met on the way was German backpacker Carolin traveling on her own in a van towards Alice Springs. Another person, who apparently got bored by Sales job in IKEA and left to travel for a year… Probably so much time for reflection… I wouldn’t stand traveling on my own…

Day 5 – Alice Springs

On August 10^th we traveled only 150km. Most of the day we just chilled out in Alice Springs eating cakes, sending postcards and booking tickets to New Zealand.

Alice is very touristy with shopping centers, tourist shops, tour bookings, etc. Seems like no one is working here for real… There are plenty of aboriginal people, who stay in groups and walk pass us, as we do not exist. They all look sick, depressed and a bit disorientated – people that just waste time on the streets. Many of them are limping and having extra weight. And they do seem to look for more alcohol… Don’t even know, whether to sympathize or simply accept their choice…

Around 4pm we left for a one-two hour drive towards Tennant Creek and stopped for the first time at the organized camping spot with 5 other caravans. Nice campfire, cigars and road train hunting – those were the highlights of the evening. We discussed Andriy’s triathlon training and half iron man competitions. It’s actually a nice sport that I really feel like trying… Maybe I should move to Australia for this… J

Day 4 - Ayers Rock & King’s Canyon

August 9^th is marked another record-breaking day in terms of driving – 726km with 100km off road at a speed of 20kmh. We started 30km from Ayers Rock – the most sacred aboriginal place in Australia. Huge red stone with caves, water pathways and aboriginal paintings looked especially thrilling in the sunrise. We took a Mala walk to have a close look at caves and rock structure.

Later on we drove to Kings Canyon area, which happened to be 300km away from Ayers Rock. But what is 300km in our 6,000km drive J King’s Canyon ranges stretch for kilometers with multiple red rock castles – they all were sand dunes ages ago, while strong winds have made them solid, similarly shaped rocks with notable red color. Canyon was not impressive from the first look, but at a different angle…

Two-hour hike around King’s Canyon finished with meeting French hitchhikers from yesterday. We wished them luck for the rest of the trip and went for a 334km run to Alice Springs.

Ayers rock was a major tourist place, and one could see this from fluctuation of fuel and burger prices J Fuel jumped from $1.30 to $1.93, and burger – from $8 to $15. We have already spent $500 on fuel and probably another $1000 is waiting for us ahead…

We traveled another 100km on the highway and took an off-road 100km shortcut to Alice Springs… That was the best driving experience so far! Kitchen appliances at the back added some drums to our music. The car shook in all the directions with average speed of 25kmh. We have made it to the highway in 3 hours in the dark seeing kangaroos, wild horses, cows, loads of small animals and dodgy road train drivers.

Midnight. We finally arrived to Alice Springs (it took us 5.5 hours) – connected to Internet and mobile again, and first shower in 5 days J Chilling out at Day 5 and then back on the road!

Day 3 - Uluru

Record breaking day with about 600km covered. We started with sunrise in the Breakaways, passed several small villages. In Cadney Homestead we had a classic breakfast from toasts, eggs and sausages. Also met a German guy from Hamburg working as a cashier – interesting choice… Working in a 30-people town…

In 83km we passed Marla – the last stop in South Australia, and in 160km more we entered Northern territory, which is considered to be the real Australia. Landscape didn’t change much, except maybe soil getting more red and temperature getting a bit higher. Actually, we started at +3C in the morning and reached +29C during the day in the Northern territory.

On the way to Uluru we have met two interesting couples. The first one stopped in the same resting area on their very old bus. They were John and Beverly in their 80s traveling for three months on the very north. They do these strolls around Australia for the last 17 years… All on the same old bus!

The second couple was hitch hiking at the Uluru turn – Fred and Leticia from Western France. They took one year break from work and are now traveling around Australia and New Zealand. Fruit picking jobs to earn some money, camping all over the place and hitch hiking, when transportation gets really bad. We gave them a 120km lift, which will hopefully speed up their way to King’s Canyon.

Having dropped the French we missed the sunset at Ayers Rock and had to stay overnight 30km before the sacred aboriginal place. This time with camp fire next two the burnt car… If there is a fire on the news tomorrow, you know where we are… J

Day 2 - Coober Pedy

On August 7^th we have covered 550 km. From the very start at 125km south of Pimba we noticed lack of fuel and last 70km the arrow was below 0 – really hoping that below zero will be enough at least for a hundred. Oversized truck taking both lanes ahead of us was really on time J Last 20km at a speed of 50kmh with annoying truck… We’ve managed… J

Pimba had nothing except petrol station, so we moved on to Glendambo – an exciting local town with 22,500 cows, 2 million flies and 31 humans! Having had a nice bite and having watched the road train with explosives we continued towards Coober Pedy – the opal capital of the world.

This has been the longest non-stop drive for today (252km) rewarded by opal catacombs, four drunken aboriginals, interesting story about opal mining from local jewelry store owner and amazing sunset in the Breakaways.

Tomorrow we’ll see these rocks in the sunrise as well. In the meantime, camping next to an aussie couple in 50s from Newcastle, who are traveling around Australia for 6 months.

Day 1 - Port Augusta

On August 6^th we have covered the first 350km. After nice pastries in Chinatown of Adelaide we picked up the wicked camper van – really nice sweet bomb with paintings and colorful stickers all over the place. And it’s an automatic diesel J, so we are like real farmers now J.

Our new idea is to take pictures of sweet bomb cars in small towns and villages. The first on the way was Redhill, SA with population of 221 person, 7 out of which have died in World War I – this probably the highest rate of military recruitment in the country J.

Next one was Dublin – no kidding – real Irish town with a smiley leprechaun welcoming you on the road… We didn’t stay too long here, but it seemed like Andriy is visiting me, and not vice versa…

200km more and we stopped in Port Augusta – the crossroads of Australia. We think the name comes from the town being a border between South Australia and Northern Territory, but we are not sure… Nothing special, except the power station and outback center.

40km more and we stopped in the outback – it was getting dark and the goats around were just right to spend the night here… Sunset was amazing – such a mix of colors! Blue sky, red sun, green trees and bushes, red soil, brown stones and wicked chameleon car… And it’s so flat all over the place… It seems huge… And it is…

Our next proper stop is Uluru, which is 1229km straight from here… And it is straight at least for another 1000km… J

Searching for a Sweet Bomb

TradeMe portal is the best place to search for sweet bombs in New Zealand. Car are much cheaper than in Australia for the tax reasons and generally people don’t mind driving old cars, as one never know, if he stays for a long time and it doesn’t make sense to invest in expensive new cars.

As Andriy explained, Sweet Bomb is something under $500 that looks totally different from a normal car and hopefully drives good enough to last for another 4,000 km. Rust, holes, broken windows are must have features for the Bomb!

Some of the options looked amazing! For example, old jeep form 70’s with description “brand new alloy wheels, sunroof, air conditioning, power steering, cruise control… yeah, right! J”. Or Morris from 60’s saying “Stereo: R U Kidding Me?”. Or pink BMW from 80’s with playboy sign at the front, obviously sold by a girl, as she kept selling the pink color J

There are so many options! Although it’s hard to find something that actually drives and has a valid registration, we keep hoping and searching… In the worst case we can always go for an old Mini, as it’s easy enough to push it downhill J.

Adelaide

After evening waffles in Subiaco with Kirsty & Vadik, morning chocolate brownie treats from Kirsty and 3-hour flight with Qantas, we found ourselves in Adelaide, South Australia – as car plates say: “SA, The festival state!”. Adelaide seemed to be larger and more packed, although statistics shows the opposite. Probably, defense and electronics industries leave their stamp and the city seems more occupied…

After landing in a backpackers place we decided to check tomorrow’s driving route and meet up with Andriy’s old friend. We will have to drive on average 4 hours per day, which is less than we initially expected. And only one part of the road seems to be dodgy and actually disappears from Google Maps half way to Mt. Isa – we gonna try it anyway :D

More Aussies that we met today – Brendan, Michelle and Alyssa – medical family from Adelaide. We stopped by their house near the beach, with strangely flat ocean, nice pier and stories about sharks. I liked the flat a lot! The rent is similar to Dublin, but much more space! Two motor bikes hidden in the garage – now we know, how Brendan spends his free time J

Seems like no one here is determined to stay in one place, and movement between big cities and states is quite common – at least on the consideration stage. Would be nice to get to know Brendan and Michelle better, as it’s hard to judge family life here from a single bite in the restaurant and short tour around the apartment…

Later on we went to search for sweet bomb car in New Zealand – had a big laugh and quite a lot of options… But that is worth a separate story…

Perth

My 30-hour trip is over, or let's say my 7200-hour trip has started. After 10-hour super comfort flight to Singapore watching "Stilyagi", 10-hour working time in Singapore and another 5-hour flight of almost RyanAir standard I landed in Perth, Western Australia.

As Andriy says, people from here like to say they are from WA, as it's so far from everything else. Perth is probably the most isolated city on Earth. As one captain said "It's the worst damned hole...". And quite expensive one due to mining and other nice businesses around :)

On the very first evening I have met 5 new people with an interesting mix. And uncovered "Sweet bomb" term, which I will keep in a secret till the very end of the trip :) So, the apartment with pool is being shared by Vadik, Andiy's brother, who is serious about Track&Field with five pairs of running shoes hanging on the wall; Colm - Irish guy from Tyrone, who moved to Perth two weeks ago as an architect and already managed to find a Gaelic team here; and Kirsty - australian girl with mix of chinese and british, working as physio and complaining about income :) And of course, Andriy and Fiona, who picked me up from the airport.

After a good sleep and long-waited shower we went driving around the town. Andriy showed me their old house, small brewery "Little creatures", King's park with a 750-year old Boab, the beach and much more. I liked that animals are not afraid of people, and in the middle of the country it should be even better :) And water in the port is good enough to see someone's long-waited luggage :)

Tomorrow we fly to Adelaide. But there is still some time pastry today in Perth!