tomrendell

Tom...on tour !
Hong Kong (historical), Hong Kong
THURSDAY
...Epic 10 hour flight.....
At first I thought "Hey loads of leg room...this is great"
7 hours later im in agony as there is no comfortable position to get into especailly as the massive fat guy sat in front seemed to be pressing his chair as far back as possible into me !!
FRIDAY
Anyway I get to Hong Kong relatively ok,
as soon as I get off the airport bus I get lost on this massive Road (Nathan Road) and cant find my hotel, according to the guide it was next to the bus stop but it turned out to be a 15 min walk away, a nightmare when the place is crawling with a million Chinese people all running around at full speed.
Crazy Street
Street Scene
I eventually get to the hotel absolutely knackered as its now 4am UK time...
thankfully they let me check in early even though im 3 hours before normal check in time.
anyway I have a sleep for a few hours then im out on the town checking it out,
I get measured up for some clothes..for the wedding, Im off to pick them up later today, about 50 quid for custom made trousers and shirt, think ive been ripped now as ive seen them for half the price off a bit but bit late for that.
Anyway then I find a cheeky little Chinese place with some cute chicks serving up noodles so I decide to eat there, and am sat next these 3 western guys, virtually the first western people I've seen, so I start chatting to them they turn out to be from Norway and Australia...
I hang around with them for the rest of the evening, we got some beers from a corner store and sat out on the bay watching the sights and having a good laugh, and even start chatting with some Chinese guys who were all sat around drinking
near by
SATURDAY
Next day meet up with the Norwegian and Australian guys again, and went over to the other island where the Peak tram is, which takes you to the highest point in Hong Kong with brilliant views of the place ! got some great pics.
Me and the boys in HK
View from the peak
Then just hung around in the Japanese quarter for a while, had some Japanese food and stuff,
then we got the star ferry back over to Kowloon where we were all staying..was on the ferry at 8pm when the laser light show starts on both sides of the water so that was awesome !
finally ended the evening having some Korean foods in a funky place where they bring you raw food and you have a little BBQ in the middle of your table...and you get to sizzle the whole thing up your self, which was cool!
SUNDAY
Anyway its Sunday morning now...
And my final day in HK....and its been amazing ! everyone should think of coming here, I think its as cool as New York!
Night Scene
Harbour Views
The City
written by  tomrendell on November 10, 2006 from Hong Kong (historical), Hong Kong
from the travel blog: The begining...Hong Kong

Visiting Jules & Pascal
Perth, Australia
Monday
So I arrive in Perth after flying over from Hong Kong on the Sunday night, a 8 hour flight this time, and I got some extra leg room as I was sat in the emergancy exit area so that was pretty cool, the girl at the desk said I could sit there if I helped out in an emergancy, I thought I’ll probably be asleep the whole way so who cares!
The only problem was it was an old plane so no interatve movie choice this time!
Anyway I get to Perth, and Julie comes to pick me up at the airport and head back to their place, I didn’t sleep much on the plane nor on my last night in HK so Im very tired, but Battle through the day to go to bed at a normal time…
That first day is spent with a whirl wind tour of Perth, which is a really nice city, really clean and looks great!
Then I attend the wedding rehersal with them out in Swan Vally where they are getting married, Its so hot and im so tired, Im beginging to think Its all gone a bit pear shaped,
But in no time we are in a brewery called Mash which is great beer brewed on site which is fantastic, and some great food…Im realy falling asleep now though.
That night I sleep for 13 hours…about time too !
Tuesday
Today we shoot off to one of their local beaches they seem to live between Perth centre
and Freemantle or Freo as they call it.
This is a really chilled out bohemian quarter…. imagine Princess Ave with all the new bars but scrap the other side of the road and stick an amazing beach there instead…ideal !
So first swim in the sea, at Cottosloe beach really warm with fine golden sand, and clear warm water, Great!
We finish the day with a traditional Aussie Barbie…but not a shirp in sight, just steak & beer…by this time im beginging to think their beers kick ours into touch!
Wednesday
Do nothing as I feel like crap, didn’t sleep to well the night before, and did a work out leaving me feeling awful all day, so im in the lounge with the air con, and a few dvd’s 
Thursday
The others arrive from England mainly from Hull…so spend the day chatting to them and having a few drinks.
The wedding pace is picking up so its fever pitch with Best men and Bridesmaides flying about the place!
The bride to be and all her entourage disapeer leaving the boys to have a mini bucks night with menay beers and another Barbie.
Friday
The Wedding….all get up about mid day and get ready…
It all kicks off at about 4, so it’s started to cool off a touch; the wedding is pretty good, with the service on the lawn at a big country house next to the river…nice spot!
The Groom
Then we board this huge boat for the reception wich is realy cool…free beer too!!
So it’s a great party and we al have a really cool time, and Im chatting away to everyone, having quite a lot of beers.
Even met a really cool girl there who I was having a laugh with pretty much all of the night!
Sunset on the Swan River
Kannara, Donna & Julie
Saturday
Head off to the beach with the girl I met at the party, she drives us up to Scarbrough beach, a far cry from Scarbrough on the East Cost of England, this one is is like fistral beach in Newquay and is hot..damn hot!…Fish and chips arnt bad too !
Me at scarborough beach
Life Guards at the beach
Scarborough Beach
Anyway later that evening we drive out away from the coast and go to a Rodeo night, like a litte bit of the Wild west in Australia! didn’t think they had that stuff over here
Anyway tomorrow we are off to Kalbarri I’ll update you on that soon enough!
written by  tomrendell on November 13, 2006 from Perth, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!

Back in the West
Perth, Australia
Flew back to Perth Via Ayres Rock, Which was great to see...
Am now back in Perth, and have been staying at Kannara house, found a job in the city which is great!
The CBD
Perth at night from Kings Park
Have been out and about with Kannara and have been getting behind the wheel of her car which is awesome! (actually driving round Perth...not just sat in the driveway making enjine noises)
in the sandpit
sandpit
We went to Cirque du Soleil which is down here, very impressive, best show of any type I've ever been to...apart from Doncaster Vs Hull 1998.
Only 3 weeks until we fly out together to Singapore to start our trip around Asia, so a couple of days ago we had to move out of her house, and have just moved in with her Sisters family for the remainder.
Kannara and Pasc !
Little Pascal & Me
They have a nice place out in the sticks, close to the beach, and next to a lake, ideal for a morning jog!
Kannara and Terri
The Park
written by  tomrendell on September 5, 2007 from Perth, Australia
from the travel blog: The Last Leg

Everybody loves Melbourne!
Melbourne, Australia
The blog is back by overwhelming public demand!
The river Yarra at night
I’ve been in Melbourne for a few weeks now so its about time to update you on what its all about and what ive been up too!
Arrived in Melbourne back in April and for the first week or so I stayed with Bonnie and her family whom Id previously met in Western Australia back in the good old Coral bay days!
Spent that week investigating Melbourne and getting my bearings, as I planned to be there for a couple of months at least!
La Trobe St
Central Station
I also needed to look for work so was incredibly lucky when the first job I applied for I got, I sent the e-mail on the Monday afternoon and by Tuesday lunchtime I’d got the job, which was awesome...Had the rest of the week to explore then I was to start the following Monday.
This week was the final week of the Melbourne international comedy festival, so along with Bonnie went to two shows, which were unbelievably funny, the second was so harsh on people in the front row, but I couldn’t stop laughing all night!
We also visited Matt who id met along with Bonnie in Coral Bay who was an English guy living in Perth, but unfortunately he’d been sent back to the UK for work so it was a fleeting visit, 2 nights out with Matt and he was back in the UK…
Towards the end of that week, I moved into a hostel nearer the town centre as this was closer to the office, hoping this would help me find a place to stay on a more permanent basis and meet some more traveling kids in the city!
So I had one week in the hostel which was cool, nice place great people, but being in a dorm was annoying while getting up for work in the morning…
St Kilda beach...Melbourne
St Kilda beach front market
I was dead lucky again when I looked into an advert on the net, for a house share, I ended up moving in the day after I looked at the place…as it was pretty much ideal.
The Job.
So the job was going well, for those who care im temping for a e-learning company working with a CMS of Video website working importing metadata and helping the team to get the site live..
That project is almost complete and ill be moving on to another involving compiling a report on user interface use on their e-leaning assets…
Anyway enough of that..
The House
The house is a big, open plan style one story house, (think Carl Kennedy’s house in Neighbors)
And there are 6 of us, who share the place, Auriel a French guy, Anders is Danish, then Kay and Sharm are Aussie’s…plus little Elvis the dog…and myself!
the gang - Martin Sharm, Me, Kay, Elvis and Aurel
Kannara, Kay and Sharm
We have a really good time in the house, and it’s really sociable which is exactly what I was looking for; the last thing I wanted was a flat for one or sharing with some grumpy hermit…
Elvis takes Kannara for a walk
Carlton Park
Football
Also been involved in a football team, which is cool to be back playing, played a few matches of 11 a side for JFG FC, and hopefully ill be back there this weekend!
Melbourne!
Melbourne has so much to shout about, it’s a great looking city, and looks very different to Perth, as its much older so it has a lot of character, and reminds me of different places when catch it at different times,
Cliché time…but being on the South-bank at night you could be in London, Walking through the tree lined streets in the morning past the Towering skyscrapers in rush hour echoes New York
Bourke street
Melbourne at night
Plus the some of the tightly packed side streets packed with continental cafes that spill onto the pavements stir memories of Paris!
Street life
Street scene
There are also seemingly hundreds of restaurants, each seems to be from a different part of the world, this is down to fact that Melbourne is the most composition place ive been to…my favorite at the mo is Saigon Inn, a Vietnamese place near the office.
Martin and Sharm at "Lentil as anything"
Degraves street
And a crazy bar is the Ice Bar, which is minus 15, and everything including the glasses and the bar its self is made of ice…even the furniture!
This is great but very cold…great if you want to be reminded of England’s weather…visited this place with Kannara when she came over for the weekend...she only lasted 10 mins...before she started to frezze over...
Ice Bar with Kannara
Grrrrrr
The Great Ocean Road
on the beach on the Great ocean road
Great Ocean Road
This long weekend we did the “Great Ocean Road” Road trip, drove down with 4 others, it’s basically a really long coastal drive culminating in the ‘Pièce de résistance' which are the 12 apostles, of which only about 6 remain, that are dramatic pieces of the coast that the sea has eaten around, and is slowly eating away at…within a few years to be eroded away completely...
the Gang on the Great Ocean Road
"the twelve apostles" Great ocean road
Elvis
written by  tomrendell on June 13, 2007 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Melbourne and the East coast

Auckland Avenue
Auckland, New Zealand
First day in Auckland was totally knackered from the jet lag; 4 hours time shift, plus a 6.5 hr night flight with little or no sleep! Screaming kids and Finding Nemo on the TV!
Anyway get in to Auckland and go straight into town, I didn’t want to fall asleep like I did in Hong Kong and mess up my sleep pattern for a week.
Spent the day I a walking around …really tired, bought some hiking boots for the trip and basically just wandered about in a daze…no change there then!
Me at one tree hill !
Mt Eden
The next day went out for a walk with Will a guy from the hostel I met the night before, did part of the coast to coast walk from Mt Eden to One Tree Hill then caught the bus back! Got great views from the top of these ancient Mauri sites and inactive volcano’s, weird to see them in the middle of a suburban area! But a pretty good day out!
One tree hill
Auckland
Tower at night
Reflections at night
Sky tower at night
at the waterfront...if only
Mauri carving....sky tower in background !
Harbour
Did a free bus tour laid on for the backpackers, got to climb the Harbor bridge for free which was ace, got some amazing views of the city, then it took us over the water to a part of Auckland called Davenport…had fish and chips…all good!
Went to go out for a beer with a guy from the tour but he reckoned he was too tired! What a feeble effort! So just wandered about on my own got some good night shots, then went back to the hostel with a couple of cans!
View from the harbour bridge
Windswept on the bridge
City of Sails
Sky Tower
The Harbour at night
The City at Night
Met up with James from My Coral Bay days earlier on my trip, went up the Sky tower got some more pictures, and chilled out got some great Vietnamese food in the market
The Auckland Harbour Bridge (that I climbed)
Me at the Sky tower
Auckland seems to rely on the Sky Tower for its source of identity; and without it its Skyline would be unrecognisable from a 1000 other cities.
Its really expensive to do anything in the city, alienating its self from the backpackers even though it’s the gateway to many of the tours the backpackers will embark on!
Food, drink and activates are unbelievably highly priced, bottled water more expensive than petrol, and food…pasta that cost 69c in Oz is $4 over here…I’m glad my trip has food included!
Auckland is nice, but that’s all it is, plus it lacks the cutting edge other major places either the style of London, the romance of Paris, or the magic of New York, I was left slightly disappointed with my first taste of New Zealand…close but no cigar!
Me & James at the top of the Sky Tower
Reflection of the sky tower
....Give me Huddersfield anyday !!
written by  tomrendell on February 4, 2007 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand

Sunshine Coast - Queensland
Maroochydore, Australia
The adventure continues.......
Have arrived in Queensland, flew in to Maroochydore from Melbourne, got up late and wash a bit of a dash to the airport, as id been out on the lash with Kay and Sharm the night before…for a few last Melbourne beers !!
But anyway got there in time and a couple of Powerade’s washed away the hangover...
The Sunshine Coast
Mooloolaba beach
I'm staying with my Uncles brother and his family for a couple of days in a place called Twin waters which is where the Queen stayed a coupled of years ago…so if it’s good enough for old Liz then its good enough for me, it’s been really great, have been out to 2 places on the coast in the local area, Mooloolaba and Noosa
Maroochy River at sunset
The first swim in 3 months
Went over to Noosa today with Colin, Ann & Elliott, and had my first swim in the sea for a while, and checked out the Noosa Nt Park…which was all great, was sitting on the beach in my shorts…not bad for the middle of winter.
Main Beach
Colin, Myself & Eliot
The area around here is really tropical, so is really lush and looks great on camera! So theres plently of wildlife, and I saw a Koala up a tree
Noosa Nt Park
Me in the trees
Koala in the tree
Perfect Noosa
written by  tomrendell on July 28, 2007 from Maroochydore, Australia
from the travel blog: Melbourne and the East coast

Singapore Sling
Singapore, Singapore
The Start of the Last leg of the journey through south east Asia, started with Kannara and myself flying into Singapore, we had one night to spend there and then on to Thialand so it was a flying visit, great to be heading off but also a shame to be leaving Australia behind!
Scarlet our hotel
Scarlet
Started out by staying the one night in Scarlet a 4 Star hotel, which was posh as ! We went over to Raffles to famous hotel in Singapore for dinner and a Singapore Sling ! Before heading back to China town for a wander round and a beer in a random cafe!
Raffles
Kannara at 5 star Raffles
The next day we jumped on the tour bus, and riffled round all the sights in a day, China Town, Botanic Gardens, Orchard road, Little India etc.
Singapore
Tree hugging
Got to late in the day so we shot back to hotel, grabbed our bags and went to the airport to fly on to Phuket!
Singapore is unbelievably humid, and hits you like a brick wall ! Your sweating within 5 mins!
The city is a cool place to be but probably the most expensive place i've been on my trip so far, really nice, but feels ultra clean and sterile not quite the experience you get in the rest of Asia !
The Chopsticks
Tarzan
written by  tomrendell on October 1, 2007 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: The Last Leg

Up the west Coast !!
Kalbarri, Australia
As we head up the coast towards Kalbarri, looking at it on the map..looks like you'd be there in a couple of hours but its over 6 hours later that the convoy rolls into town after one burst tyre and several service stations later !
We set up camp at a beach front campsite, really nice place, in this sleepy beach front town on the edge of the outback,
Its very green for such a dry place, really nice and warm too ! approx 28C
That evening is spent with a few beers round the camp with fish and chips,
the next day we shoot off in the cars down a 30 km dirt track to the gorges,
Z Bend Gorge
This however is hot ! I reckon its 40 over in the gorge, away from the coast...Im almost passing out !
Natures Window
At the Gorge
After an hour of checking this place out we drive back up to the coast to find a great beach where we play beach football and go for a swim...nice to think I'm doing this while your all shuffling about in the rain !
That evening we all go out for a spot on meal, and have all sorts...crock....kangaroo etc !!
Julie & Pascals Friends
First thing in the morning, we pack up our campsite, and they all get ready to head back to Perth, they drop me off at the sea front, and as they drive off leaving me looking out over the sea, for a moment I just stood there thinking..sh1t I'm completely on my own in the middle of nowhere !
But I find the hostel in no time, and waste no time checking in, and getting my bunk sorted.
Within an hour I was chatting to some guys in my dorm, a couple of Sweedish guys and a German, after chatting for a while discovered we were all making a similar journey up the west coast, they told me they were going snorkeling, so I tagged along..bought a snorkel along the way and headed out to the Blue Pools, some large rock pools just a short walk down the coast, an amazing deserted beach where we dived into the pools and started checking out the marine life trapped in these large rock pools.
Me Snokeling
Where the river meets the sea
...anyway so after a bit of that, we walked back down the beach back to the hostel.
where I chilled out most of the afternoon chatting some other travelers...Julia a Liverpool Fan informed me Liverpool won and Chelsea lost so that put a smile on my face...shame I wasn't in the office to rub Kev's nose in that one !!
Blue Pools
That eveing I had a couple of beers with Torston the German guy on the beach... really feel like im traveling now,
The next day I pretty much stayed out of the sun and just read my book, the heat was pretty unbearable today, I packed my bag as I was heading up the coast to Denham later,
With that the bus was here, and I was leaving Kalbarri !
Kalbarri Sunset
written by  tomrendell on November 19, 2006 from Kalbarri, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!

Bay of islands
Paihia, New Zealand
First day out of Auckland set off on the Flying Kiwi bus...We set of to the Bay of Islands in the north region know as North Land !
as we get on the bus I see to be the only bloke, the driver laughs and says "its you and the ladies this trip mate" Immediately I think cool ! but actually no that might be pretty annoying ! turns out we picked up two other guys round the corner who have girls names ! and confused the staff ! so it turns out to be 3 guys and about 10 girls ! that's more like it...some one to play beach football with !!
Bay of Islands Hills
Bay of islands...from a moving bike
Head up into Northland, and first bit of riding kicks in, dropped off a few Km from the campsite, three of us ride in to the campsite via a waterfall, round it not through it !
Just 8k today, to ease into it !!
Get to the campsite...pitch up...cook up some food ! and have a beer or two !
More of the bay of islands
Near our campsite !
The next day most of the gang had opted for a sailing trip, costing $125 I gave that a miss and took my bike out and did a massive ride, from our site down to the coast, took ht ebike on a ferry over to russell, rode down through the island, back on another ferry and back up to camp, about a 30k round trip...but very hilly, non stop up and down hills ! a lot of hard work ! but worth it for the downhill runs!
thats me driving !
Russell
Start to really see some of NZ's great scenery from the ride, shame it was a bit over cast, wont make for the greatest of pictures, very green and great looking down atythe water from up the top of the hills !
Beach at Russell...first capital of NZ
bay of islands harbour
Its a great start, really enjoying the trip !! great people too !
written by  tomrendell on February 10, 2007 from Paihia, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand

Sandboarding !
Opononi, New Zealand
The next day we set off to Opononi, and get there early about 10am, we shoot over the water on a speed boat, and go sand boarding which was awesome ! so cool to be bombing down the huge dunes on a body board and then flying into the water !
Quite a hike to the top but worth it for the ride down...this is becoming a trend in this place!!
Climb up....flydown
sandboarding...hitting the water !
Saw Tane Mahuta the largest tree in NZ...pretty cool forest, so green ! full of Kauri trees the same type as in Walpole in Oz.
Tene Mahuta - biggest tree in NZ !
Kauri Forrest
Camped at the beach in the afternoon, and went to a Thermal Pool water park, with some cool slides ! and a Hot tub with a movie screen !! stayed there all night swimming and messing about.
Us boys couldnt get enough of the Black hole water slide, and kept going back for more action ! shame I couldnt get any pictures of the place..
Awesome view the following morning over the sea
Good morning !
Sand boarding dunes
written by  tomrendell on February 12, 2007 from Opononi, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand

Dolphin-tastic
Denham, Australia
So I arrive in Denham quite late on Wednesday night, So I hit the sack as its an early start to Monkey Mia in the morning !
7.45 the next moring we are on the local bus with the Sweedish guys to the place known as Monkey Mia, where they feed and research the Dolphin from this beach front national park,
I got the chance to take a fish out into the bay and feed one of the dolphins, this was really amazing !!
Dolphins
The Dolphin I fed !!
There is sorts of wildlife in this place I saw Pelicans on the beach and saw a stingray in the sea while I was snorkaling...
Pelican
Amazing Beach
...Anyway seems like a long day as you have to wait unitl 4pm for the return bus, but get back to the hostel, and meet up with a bunch of people from another coach tour that I met the previous night in Kalbarri, Its about this time, I notice the Sweedish guys have no sense of humor so I kind of give them the slip and have a few games of pool and a few beers with a few guys and girls staying in the hostel!
they show a film each evening in this open air cinema, at the hostel, everyone was pretty shocked to see them put on Wolf Creek, a pretty gory horror film about backpackers..not the best chioce !
the next day I do some serious chilling out ! just lounging around watching England getting a schooling in the Ashes, and go for a quick snorkel, before the bus comes to take me up to Coral Bay at sunset!
Denham Sunset
written by  tomrendell on November 22, 2006 from Denham, Australia
from the travel blog: Western Australia !!!

Nai Yang
Phuket, Thailand
Phuket,
We arrived in Phuket and stayed on the west coast in Nai Yang for 2 nights, the area was hit by the Tsunami so they were still rebuilding some parts. Our Hotel and pool were great though,
as were the restaurants on the beach were we were getting to grips with the great Thai food
Our Pool
Sundown
It was pretty quiet we felt like the only ones there at times, which suits us!
When we came to leave we decided tp rough it, and catch the a local bus instead of the thousand taxi offers we had. Felt like a total tourists on the bus as we weren't sure exactly where to get off as the signs are basically all in Thai !
written by  tomrendell on October 2, 2007 from Phuket, Thailand
from the travel blog: The Last Leg

Fraser Island...Lets Off Road !!!
Fraser Island, Australia
Fraser island is made entirley of sand, and is approx 100 miles long, has over 100 lakes and creeks, the higest concentration in Oz after Tasmania...and are reported to be the cleanest fresh water lakes in the world.
The trip to Fraser island stared at Rainbow beach, a really small town on the coast that has access via a ferry to Fraser island, I chose this over the more commercialised Harvey Bay...
Anyway, basically I arrived on my own and am told to convene in the lounge at 4PM to meet people and attend the 4WD briefing, everyone frantically looks around to form their groups, which will be there Fraser island team for the next few days...I was really lucky and just fell into this group of people that was all sat near by, we quickly realised there were plenty of dodgy chavs kicking about so were keen to avoid being in their group, which turned out to be a good job really but ill get back to that.
Our group of 11 consisted of Andrea & Eva (German) Adelaide (Belgian) Geoffrey & Vincent (French) Martijn & Esther (Dutch) Sinead & Michael (Irish) Dunan (Scotish) and Myself (Australian :-)
The Ferry...
The Gang
Happy to be in a seemingly normal group we saw the other two groups, one looked well dodgy with the biggest bunch of Irish Townie/Dero/Deano/Chavs ive seen in my life!
we have a few beers getting to know each other and sussing out who's driving etc and then early to bed as were off at 7am the next day !
early doors the next day we load up the 4WD Land cruiser (big enough to fit 11) with our bags, booze, tents, food etc and have a briefing from the 4WD company, No going over 60 Kph on the sand, no driving here...blah blah blah!
anyway as we set off at literally 7.45 there is the Chav gang in there 4WD all drinking cans of beer and smoking pot...so we all have a good laugh at them and their inevitable fate...
so we set of on the ferry and are soon on the island, we hit 4WD mode and are on the sand, and with Michael our 4X4 expert we are quickly off to a good start and leave the chavs stuck in the sand and eating our dust !
we start off with a inland track away from the coast line, and head for a walk through the rain forest which was great, the rain forest on Fraser island is amazing as it is the only one in the world that has managed to grow on sand, the whole of the island is nothing but sand, so apparently is a a miracle this has managed to grow, but its there.
Jungle Life
Rain Forest
anyway after that, we riffle through the dense forest on very rough tracks in Low 4, the most effective 4WD setting, it burns the juice and is slow, but gets you through some tricky spots !
this tracks leads us up to 80 meters above sea level, the highest point on the island, and arrive at Lake McKenzie, possibly the most beautiful thing ive ever seen, even managing to beat some of NZ's wonders.
Lake McKenzie
Me and Mike in Lake McKenzie
The lake is 150 square hectares and but is only 5 meters deep, anyway its so amazingly clear and is brilliant for swimming in, so we all jump in to cool off...the lakes are the only plac to swim as the sea has Box Jellyfish and Great White sharks in abundance
That afternoon we drove back down to the beach and decided to camp within a few hundred meters of the ship wreck which lyes in the surf halfway up the island,
so we camped on the beach, and cooked up some food and had a few beers and some good laughs!
after quite a cold night in our dodgy tent ! I got up before dawn to go and photograph the wreck at sunrise, which was well worth it ! as you can see.
Shipwreck at sunrise
breaking through
the next day we visited Eli Creek, which you can jump in and float down to where the water meets the sea ! which is a good way to spend the afternoon
Cruising down Eli Creek
The beast !
We drove up to the top end of the Island and walked to the top of the cliff face, and saw Whales jumping in the sea, they pass this way for the winter migration so it was amazing to see so many jumping out of the sea as they migrated north.
The gang at Indian head
View from Indian Head
we also saw a few dingos hanging around, you are warned several times about the dingos before and during the trip, as they can kill and be aggressive, a couple of years ago they "took" a boy, carried him away and killed him, so you have to be pretty careful.
Dingo
Me
Then it was my time behind the wheel, never driven a 4WD before especially on sand, so was a bit unsure but it turned out to be awesome fun, blasting down the beach what made it even better was having Australia by the Manic street preachers on blasting out the stereo...that song was made for this
we camped again on the beach and finished off the beers under the full moon.
Camping it up
Full Moon Rising
the next day we went to Lake Wabby which is massive hike for what seems like over 45 minutes, over hugh sand dunes, seemingly in the middle of the desert with nothing but sand and the occasional sign post, we all trudged across until magnificent lake Waby appears out of no where ! surrounded by rain forest its like something out of a film...I literally dropped my things on the sand and ran down the sand dunes and dived straight in...pretty cold after walking across the desert dunes...but pretty refreshing, the lake is good enough to drink which was a good job as we'd run out of water
6 am
crossing the desert
Eva and Myself swam across the lake, and most of the others followed, I was blown away by Lake Wabby which i thought was nicer than Lake McKenzie. but sadly its vanishing and in 4 years will have been swallowed up by the advancing sand dunes for ever
Lake Wabby Sand Dunes
Drying off by the lake
After that we had the trip back to the ferry, with all the other 4X4's realising they were running late at the same time, the bottle neck of the southern tip of the island became something out of a wacky races cartoon, everyone trying to take little shortcuts, getting stuck, driving round rocks into the sea...etc...but we made it on to the ferry in time !
Cracked open a beer each as we handed back the 4X4 and settled down for a great night, Free BBQ and Beer all night in the hostel thanks to a mix up
the after party
Pi$ed as.... with Goeffrey and Adelaide
A bit sad next day for the group to break up and head our seperate ways, definitely one of the very best things I've done and one of the very best groups of people I've met!
written by  tomrendell on July 30, 2007 from Fraser Island, Australia
from the travel blog: Melbourne and the East coast

James Bond Island, Monkeys and Cockroaches
Phangnga, Thailand
We arrived at Phang-Nga and found a guest house in the centre of town. The room was clean and air conditioned, although we had to cohabit the room with a cockroach which Tom did not take to very well :)
The rain is extremely efficient here in Phang Nga, it doesn't waste time with showers and drizzles and just pours down!
Downpour
Cruising
It was an early start the next morning, we took a ride on a long tail boat through the mangroves which was a little eerie but splendid at the same time. Amongst other places, the boat took us to Panak Island where we were given a torch and told to march into a dark cave. After we made it back without being eaten by the cave monster, we were given a picnic lunch and spent some time swimming in the cove, and once again it started to pour!
Heading into the Abyss
Long tail boat
The guide then collected us and took us to James Bond Island where we were to do a trek in the National Park. Although the trek basically meant walking up some steps, the view from the top was breathtaking. Apparently, this is the Island where they filmed “The Man with the Golden Gun”.
K&T at James Bond Island
We spent the night at a floating fishing village that was built on stilts and set in front of a mountain backdrop. You could see the lots of squid swimming from the window of our room. After settling in, we went for a walk into the floating village where both the experienced explorer and a mistaken native got conned by a monkey in a nappy! We learned - don't trust cocky's ........or monkeys.
Kannara at the floating village
Fishing village
The view from our bungalow restaurant was picturesque. Sleeping on water, and waking up to the river and mangroves, it was sweet.
Riding the Tuk Tuk
James Bond island
...by Kannara
written by  tomrendell on October 4, 2007 from Phangnga, Thailand

Coral Bay !
Coral Bay, Austria
About high time I updated you on Coral Bay…pretty much the last leg on this trip and the furthest point north I will travel for quite a while
Leaving Denham to come to Coral Bay was ment to take about 7 hours, however due to Greyhound buses being driven by complete monkeys, we arrive 11.5 hours later…(that’s longer than Manchester to Hong Kong)
This includes a stop at a Road House (service station) for over 2.5 hours at 2am…& as this place is away from the Coast…its damn hot, even at 2am its almost 30C
Anyway finally get moving, and arrive in Coral Bay at 5.30 am…
At this point I just need to sleep, so I find my room…a 4 bed dorm with 3 girls in it asleep….I have to make the top bunk while a girl is asleep below…I’m thinking
“if she wakes up and I’m stood at the foot of her bed this is really gonna freak her out”
So I basically don’t make the bed very well, and clamber all over her as there is no ladder…clearly waking them all up in the process…but who cares…I’m finally in bed
So Next day up about 11, go for a little explore, check out the beach, the pub, etc, all looks nice, Beach looks like the best so far…
Spend most of the day just reading and chilling out, and rustle up a spag bol.
Later on the People I met in the previous Hostel arrive on their bus, so we have a few beers in the evening, and then later head on down to the beach about 11pm armed with a box of beer and spend the next couple of hours sat by the waters edge drinking many beers and having a good laugh!
All the kids..
The next day I’m pretty hung over so miss the morning at the beach with the rest of the gang, I prefer to stick on the air con, draw the curtain and roll over!
I finally get my self up and about in the afternoon, Meet up with them down on the beach, we walk down the coast to a shark nursery where the young sharks seem to “hang out” there’s probably about 50 of them in a small concentrated bay, as they are all reef sharks and fairly harmless we wade into the water scaring most of them away, but as we stand still, in time they swim back around us…being surrounded by sharks is pretty freaky even if they are reef sharks…. later we find out threes the occasional Tiger shark in there with them…Doh!!
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That evening we head back down to the beach at sunset to check that out before we walk back to the Hostel and prepare out massive BBQ…
The Gang at Sunset
Chris.....putting another shrimp on the barbie
Everyone getting stuck in at our BBQ
A few beers, burgers and hotdogs later…. We are down on the moonlit beach again…you’ve guess it…. having some more beers…
The next day we had decided to do a Manta Ray tour, we are taken out in a boat a mile or so of shore, while a spotter plane locates a Huge Manta Ray, when spotted we dive in with our guide and snorkel over to them, unbelievable creatures, never seen anything like it…the huge Manta is jet black and over 4 feet wide…(No Owstie that’s not your friend Zit)
Manta Ray
Me...looking like a Pro !
Swimming just above them was awesome, the most amazing thing ive ever done, even surpassing the off shore swimming we did in Greece a couple of years ago
After swimming with them twice, we sailed over to a turtle sanctuary, and then out deeper to a dense coral reef where they let us snorkel for another hour or so…saw some amazing colours in both the coral and a thousand type of fish, even saw a reef shark vanishing into the abis…and clown fish like Nemo…think its safe to say everyone was in awe of the ocean that day! !
Nemo
Some Fish
The next couple of days was spent chilling out, with a bit of a swim and run down the beach late on around 5pm after it cooled down…
Sun set over Coral Bay
The day after that I was off back to Perth…only 2 of us on the bus, my self and Bonnie, A long 1 and a half-day journey ahead. at least we had a laugh though.
We spent the night in Spooky Geralton, not the best place in Australia, very creepy town, even the people in the hostel were o
written by  tomrendell on December 5, 2006 from Coral Bay, Austria

Hot Water Beach !
Coromandel, New Zealand
Drove back down into Auckland momentarily, to pick up some new people, 2 guys & 3 girls...
I was dropped off with some others and we rode a grand total of about 30Ks to camp, not before taking a couple of stop offs at Hot water beach and cathedral cove, before eventually free wheeling 2K down a hill almost directly into our campsite...again right by the beach !
The ride was excellent, great weather, blue skies and 25C warm sunshine !! started off on a hard uphill, but got some awesome views of what was to come further along the trip.
View from the bike ride
Hotwater beach was a great way to cool off, and I was right into the sea for a swim, and then flaked out for 20 mins before setting off again on the ride,
River at Hot Water beach
Hot Water beach
Cathedral cove...our last stop was amazing, probably the most stunning scenery I've seen on my trip so far, Its just a shame the pictures don't seem to do it justice, I just had to stand and soak it up for about an hour, as did the others I was with, Paddy and Chris!
Cathedral cove
the "cathedral "
sting ray bay
A great night at the camp, a curry and we sat around with some music on wityh a few beers looking up at the stars, and had a great time, although one too many tequilas made me feel pretty ropey when I woke up!
JP & John our guides
the gang at dinner
written by  tomrendell on February 13, 2007 from Coromandel, New Zealand

Tropical Queensland
Cape Tribulation, Australia
5th-12th August
Flew up to Cairns from Brisbane. Arrived late on, had one night in a hostel and caught the bus first thing in the morning, which heads further north into Tropical Queensland, met a few nice people on the bus having a few chats with them all on the way up!
The bus stops to let us on the Daintree River cruise, where we got the chance to see Crocodiles live in the wild, Saw some slither out of the river and onto the banks, we saw the alpha male croc, who was massive, apparently they can both swim and run faster than an Olympic sprinter, so you don’t want to be anywhere near them in the water.
Mossman Gorge
Croc City
Got up to Cape Tribulation, which is basically completely covered in rain forest, the place I was staying PK’s jungle village, is set within the forest and literally meters from the beach!
Met some other people who were on the bus, and who were staying there, went to the beach with them! And then decided to hang out by the pool, after we see signs on the beach warning people about the crocodiles! :-/ (Apparently some drunken Belgian guy swam up the creek off the beach at night and was attacked! So we played it safe.)
Cape Trib
Tiny beware of the Croc sign top left of sand dune
Spent the evening in the bar with some of the girls, Hannah, Kelly and Myra, playing Cards and eating and drinking!!
The next day we had our day on the Great Barrier Reef, went out with Hannah and Kelly, on the Rum Runner it spends about 2 hours heading out towards the reef felt well rough on board, didn’t puke though, unlike a few others!
The great barrier reef
Me on the reef !
Swam on the reef, did a scuba dive in the morning, and went snorkeling in the afternoon, absolutely amazing, saw so much colour in the coral, and saw so many fish, the water is so clear and it all looks great as the sun streams right through to the bottom.
Kelly and Me on the reef
The cape
The Rum Runner
coming into shore
The next day we had a morning horse riding, which was pretty crazy, the guy let us race off on the horses, seemed pretty dodgy at the time, lots of fun though
Kelly was never happy with Silver in Sydney 2002
Me and Han on horseback !
Spent plenty of time, with Kelly and Hannah, playing plenty of cards in the bar each evening.
The Gang: Bazza, Me, Kelly, Hannah, and Myra!
some muppet
Headed back down to Cairns, stopped off on the way at Port Douglas and a few other places.
close to where Steve Irwin copped it !
who are you to me
Kelly and Hannah...SHUT UP
I was staying in a really rowdy hostel and could hardly get any sleep, due to pissed up Scottish backpackers who seemed to have spent their entire trip in a drunken state.
The next day did a daytrip to the Atherton Tableland Mountains, which was excellent, especially as the girls I did Fraser island with were there to also do the day trip.
Swam in some beautiful lakes, rivers and even under the huge Milla Milla waterfall… (that very one used by Peter Andre)
Riding down
Me doing a crazy back flip spin down the falls
Atherton Tablelands
The Atherton Tablelands gang
The Milla Milla Falls
Behind the Milla Milla Falls
Spent my last night with Andrea, Eva, and Adelaide having some beers in town
Andrea, Me, Eva, & Adelaide
When i finally returned to rowdy central! saw the scottish backpackers all still up drinking goon (sh1t wine) thought if you cant beat em...join em...so had a few drinks with them... I Hit the sack about 2am, had to be up at 7 for my flight to Perth Via Aryes Rock so that probably wasnt the best idea!
The trip was a flight to Ayres Rock, 2 hours there then back on a plane and over the rest of Oz, to Perth! pretty cool to see The Rock from the air and the ground!
Ayres Rock
The Rock
written by  tomrendell on August 6, 2007 from Cape Tribulation, Australia

Jungle treehouse
Khao Sok, Thailand
We rolled into Khao Sok in the mid afternoon on a crazy local bus to find our perfect jungle hideaway :-) a tree house type thing on stilts set on the edge of the Ridge with stellar views over the jungle! It rained quite a bit when we first arrived but suited us as we just chilled in the large hammock on our balcony!
The next day we did an elephant trek through the jungle, met by several guys who couldn't speak a word of English we were taken deep into the jungle in a 4x4, we finally get there and there is an elephant waiting for us, after climbing on top, we set off down the track, the elephant ignoring the young guy who was leading us and seemed more interested in eating anything it could wrap its trunk around! So slowly but surely we made our way deeper into the jungle.
The Jungle
Our Elephant
The elephant swaying from side to side as he walked down the hill into the river, the crappy seat that were strapped into started to swing from side to side a bit, seemed pretty dodgy as it was only held on by some old rope! But it held us in...just
Riding the Elephant
View from our treehouse
It was awesome to be on the elephant as it waded down the river, eventually reaching an amazing little waterfall, where our little guide, (he must have been about 15) showed us the way to jump in from the top, climb behind the waterfall and jumping in, climbing the vines...and all sorts of Tarzan-esq jumping around.
K&T in the waterfall
Jungle waterfall
plodded back to Elephant HQ, and just climbed off Dumbo as it started tipping it down monsoon style...so dived in the car and went back to our tree house!
written by  tomrendell on October 7, 2007 from Khao Sok, Thailand

Rotorua
Rotorua, New Zealand
Morning view
Give us a wave JP !
Drive down to an cool beach, forget its name ! I'll look it up...
at the beach with Annis !
ganbg on the beach
Half way through the journey my hang over kicks in, last nights tequila kicks in and I feel shocking, feel like staying on the bus, but a bottle of powerade sorts me out and Im playing beach Football with Annis in minutes, he's an Morrocan ex professional footballer, so he's damn good! its ages since I kicked a ball, so glad we have one now !
Swam in the sea, best beach for swimming so far in NZ, went for a run with Aniss, Paddy, and Chris, did a mile down to the caves and back !
Had lunch then shot off to Rotorua, which stinks...no not like Grimsby...but because its a thermal area that has an volcano in the town, don't think its active, not sure my tent would withstand boiling lava !!
Whiratoa
Does it get any better than this ?
Everyone was lapping up the beach!
Olie
About to shoot off and ride the remaining distance about 20k to the campsite...tonight its a bush camp so no facilities at all !!
bye for now
written by  tomrendell on February 14, 2007 from Rotorua, New Zealand

Dive Dive Dive
Taupo, New Zealand
Today another busy day on the FK express...we were up early and off to see the Geothermal features at the Taupo volcanic zone, saw a bubbling mud pit, a geezer erupt 30 ft into the air...and all sorts...it stunk though...a bit like Rory’s room in the flat!
Bubbleing mud pits
what a Gezzer !
Later on we shot over to the River Rapids, saw the Hukafalls the water flowing through is around 220,000 litres per second. Its grade 6, so its incredibly dangerous, apparently some crazy white water kayakers tried to paddle it, and died in the process!
Me over the Rapids
Grade 6 Rapids
a few of us walked down the river to meet the bus, and shot over to the airfield for the SkyDiving!!
The River from Lake Taupo
Me, Lisa, Gus, Paddy, John, Aniss, Gina, Nina.
Which in short was the best thing ive ever done, everyone was bricking it as we were waiting, apart from me obviously, that is until they open the door at 12,000ft up thats over 4 km in the air!
Sky team Alpha
Sky Team Bravo
The view over the lake and the feeling was phenomenal, I can’t put it into words, so I wont even try!
Better check that !
Getting on board
The free fall from 12000ft to 5000 lasts 45 seconds then the canopy opens and your slow right down and cruise to the ground, my instructor was chatting to me the whole way down, I thought my eyes were going to pop out as my goggles began to slip off!!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
On the way down
That night we spent the night in cabins as we were up at the crack of dawn to head of on a epic hike...the Tongariro Crossing...one of National Geographics “top 10 one day walks” in the world!
written by  tomrendell on February 15, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand

Back in the Big City !
Perth, Australia
Riffled back down to Perth…to spend a few more days checking out the big city.
The trip back was the equivalent of Lands end to John O Groats
It really is a fantastic city, not too big, very compact, but has the High Rise look of Docklands in London, but right in the heart of the city centre…its unbelievably clean, has a enormous & impressive river called the Swan, which they make the most of, unlike the rather grim looking River Hull
Park in the City Centre
View from the clock tower over the Swan
Friday evening. Just back in Perth, and head up to Kings Park with J&P went up there with some KFC and a couple of beers, to watch the sun set… makes for a great picture.
Perth at night from Kings Park
Tree in Kings Park at Dusk
Had some drinks out in the garden with some of their neighbours...Ironically one of them looks just like Toadie!
On Sunday I spent some more time with Kannara, we went over to the movies, and saw Borrat. Matt – Great recommendation, I’ve never laughed so much in my life…. that’s probably to do with watching virtually no TV for a month though!
Couple of days later…
I’m up in Perth. And I catch a sightseeing tram begin to regret it immediately, as it seems to be full of 70yr old pensioners…and to make matters worse…the bus driver thinks he’s funny, the only thing worse than that was the pensioners were lapping up his crappy jokes…I got off the tram pretty sharpish… (I can Imagine Helen laughing at that one)
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City and Trees
The Bell Tower
Spent the next day up in Perth centre again…just get back in time to turn the TV on see Hussy riffle off a shot to claim the winning run in the 2nd Test!
Spent Friday day in Fremantle, went to the harbour and went on a submarine! And to check out a Shipwreck exhibition at the near the beach…later I shoot off to the beach with Pascal and go body boarding …Surfs up…I catch a few decent waves, but also get wiped out by an absolute massive ‘un
Boadyboarding's cool...but its no football !
Julie comes to meet us after we’ve finished, and we grab fish and chips on the seafront,
Back to house...Pascal as per usual cracks opens the beers…happy days!
Saturday we go out for some drinks in the evening, have a good laugh; even meet some English people…always good to chat about the football!!
Sunday morning…more Bodyboarding at 8am..most of you lot are still in V Bar…I’m hitting the waves…some excellent conditions make for the best Bodyboarding yet…at a place called Secret Harbour!
Yesterday, head up to Kings Park again, this time with Kannara we took some food up there for lunch, and just chilled out all afternoon in the shade. Later on we wandered down to Matilda Bay, a cheeky little bay where you can hang out on the bank of the river…ideal with a cold one!
Kannara Vs the Magpie
Kings Park
The Park
That brings me up to date…
Tomorrow, I leave on another leg of the trip from Perth round Via Dunsborough, Margaret River, Denmark, Albany, Esperance and everywhere in between, and yes that’s the same Esperance where some fifteen year old kid had his leg bitten off by a great white last week..
Adios.
written by  tomrendell on December 12, 2006 from Perth, Australia

THE Beach!
Ko Phangan, Thailand
Arrived in Ko Phangan after missing the ferry after the bus we were travelling on started to catch fire on the motor way !
So we arrived later than planned and ended up staying in a nice resort for the night, but as the staff were pretty rude and useless when we complained about the dodgy air con, we decided to Split in the morning and jumped in a jeep with another couple who seemed to have half a plan and took a dirt road in a 4x4 to the other side of the island and found our Paradise ! a quiet beach set out with idyllic beach bungalows just a stones throw from the calm waters !
Spent the next 2 days lounging on the sands and swimming around in the bay, diving off the rocks into the deep green gorgeous sea !
Than Sadet Beach
Our beach Bungalow
written by  tomrendell on October 9, 2007 from Ko Phangan, Thailand

Underwater world
Ko Tao, Thailand
Hopped over from Ko Phangan on the ferry to the island of Ko Tao, and went to a quiet corner of the island that had been recomended. The ride over was crazy in the back of a truck over terrain more suited for a tank! It was worth the ride though as we landed a beachfront bungalow, this time on stilts overlooking the bay of Leam Thian.
view from above
Beach treehouse
If Ko Phangan is for swimming then Ko Tao is for snorkelling. The rocky beach makes for a perfect dive and plenty of coral and fish literally from the shoreline. We both spent most of our time snorkelling and brave Tom was not deterred from the water despite being bitten by little viscious cute tropical fish (k - hehehehe).
The Raft
Laem Thian cove
We took the raft out to explore deeper waters and saw some awesome marine life.
Our View
Bedroom window
written by  tomrendell on October 13, 2007 from Ko Tao, Thailand

Bunbury and Bussleton
Bunbury, Australia
Bunbury & Bussleton
I arrive in Bunbury mid morning and grab the last dorm in the hostel...bit of luck as I hadn't booked !!
after checking in I have a chat with some of the people in the hostel, bit of a mixed bunch, bit of an older crowd than the 20somethings in the previous hostels up the coast, this is pretty much a working hostel so most of the people are there long term as they have jobs in the town, which makes for a good atmosphere in the place as they all have a good laugh with a few beers in the evening. all sorts in this hostel, French, Spanish, Korean, American, Australian..etc...I feel I'm the only English person there baring Jenny from Newcastle.
After a movie night in the Hostel everyone gears up for the weekly karioke sesh down the local, I sail on down the pub with them, and roll out my crowd pleaser Johnny B Good...a classic from the uni days....Remember those quality Karioke nights at Uni Rich ;-)
the next day went to the beach with my French room mate Xavier, went for a snorkel, but didn't see much, so just ended up swimming !
Pool competion in the evening crashed out in the 2nd round though...no suprise there !
Next day up early doors, went down to the beach with Jenny to see the Dolphins, as they came in early each morning, bit like at Monkey-Mia up the coast.
chilled on the beach after that, and cooled down with a swim !
Got pretty wasted in the evening a cheap bottle of wine, then a few beers playing pool in the pub finished me off, cant remember getting home !!
Next morning jumped on the bus...adios Bunbury !
Busstleton..
The shocker...checking into to this hole is not exactly what I had in mind, what are Lonely planet thinking, they make this place sound tip top, using words such as "comfy", "cozy", "welcoming"...yeah for the Mice maybe !!
but as the old chestnut goes..."Its not where you are its who your with" and I was with about 10 Japanese people in this place......a bit overwhelming at first, but basically I've never met a group of people who made me feel part of their well established group so quickly.
within half an hour I was rocking up to the beach with them and was swimming about in the amzing sea down there, we swam out to the jetty and dived off, having a great time, wanted some pictures of that, so went back, walked back down the pier with my camera, and got these...I had such a good time this afternoon !
later that evening again went back down to the pier with the Japanese kids and went fishing we caught heaps of fish, and the next day they cooked it all, the best fish I've ever tasted, they sure knew what they were doing.
Its not the easiest thing in the world having a conversation with someone if there is a big language barrier, a lot of people will give up to soon, but these guys have taught me that its worth the effort. Special mention to Shizuka thanks for the origami crane fly :-) hi to all the others Yoichi, Mio, Vanessa...and Tomo thanks for the fishing lesson :-)
All this plus the good weather and scenery made up for the grim hostel !! as Shizuka called it...Bed bug backpackers ha-ha
Anyways...just like some sort of mysterious helpful dog...I disappear into the distance almost as soon as ive arrived...
written by  tomrendell on December 13, 2006 from Bunbury, Australia

Mt Doom
Taupo, New Zealand
The Tongariro Crossing is an 8 hr Hike taking you across and past Mt Ngauruhoe, Mt Ruapehu and Mt Tongariro known to the Lord of the Rings fans as Mt Doom and Mordoor, spectacular scenery! A real climb.
Me at the start !!
8 hours to go !
First thing ! 8 am !
Lisa and Julia on the way up
Was with the girls at the start, but they were far too slow, so I caught up to the lads and did most of the walk with Aniss and Paddy
"No your too close to the edge"
Just before I pushed Julia over the edge
Finished the trip in less than 6 hours!
Boys at the top
water feature !
The weather changes dramatically, nice & warm by mid morning, but by the time your at the top its Freezing!
Just keep on walking !
Mt Ngauruhoe...or Mt Doom to you LOTR geeks
Totally excellent day, and we had a great time doing the hike, or Tramp as they call it over here!
Got some great photos too !
Lake Taupo
Emerald Lakes
Paddy, Myself and Aniss...Mt "Doom"
Aniss and I, knackered !
is it going to blow ?
The view from Mt Ngauruhoe
written by  tomrendell on February 16, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand

Surfs up
Dunsborough, Australia
I Arrive in Dunsbourgh, hoping the hostel is a better bet than before...but if the Hostels were Football teams this would be Liverpool, making the previous hostel Macclesfield...
What a choice for Christmas, this place is the business, I could actually live here !! its big, clean, full of cool people who are also staying till Xmas, has Skysports, free bodyboards, and the back garden meets the beach...Ideal...
...
Spent 9 days here, have just left Dunsbourgh, and had the best time possible, I was gutted to leave the place, everyone was so friendly & chilled....well and truly had the time of my life !!
the kids in the hostel
Me Bobby and the girls !
Spent Most of my time with Adam, Heather, Bobby, Will, Debs, and Mikeo..
Debs, Adam & Heather
Bobby, Lauren, Ruth, Heather...off to catch some waves
Anyway...Most days we would jump into the car and roll down to the surf beachs either Smiths or Yells early doors around 8, as Adam had to be at work for 12, so we'd get chance to catch some decent waves before lunch....
Adam and Me ! on a wave
Some dude on a tube (is it Adam)
That left the afternoon free to chill out, in the hamock or watch a DVD...or in Wills case..sleep all afternoon !
Heather & Dave
One afternoon we pilled down the beach and went to Yallinup for the first time, the surf was of this world...never seen anything like it....didnt stop Me, Adam and Bobby from getting wiped out big time on some killer waves. Miko and Heather got no further than getting their feet wet ! dont balme them really !!
Me and Bob !
The next day Dave took us on a tour of the cape, where we got to see the dolphins again, Heather just saw them diving through the waves as we were driving away, an amazing sight, almost better than seeing them up close they were better at catching the waves than us !!
the coast
the cape..where we saw the Dolphins surfing the waves
Surf master Dave then took us back down to Smiths beach where we tried to learn to surf, Bobby, Heather and Myself had a go out on a long board...didnt really get it though, Heather was trying to show us how to stand up on the board, but kept falling off herself ! some teacher :-) we just got back on the bodybords for some user friendly action !!
Ruth and Lauren gave it a miss...I think they thought it was too cold..ha..ha
That day evening we had the BBQ at the hostel, and discovered our cheapo way of drinking, value box's of wine...5 littles for $10 thats about 4 quid !! ha-ha we got lashed !!
Christmas kind of crept up on us, as there is not much of a build up here, like back home..so before we knew it it was Xmas Eve, but it was just another day down the beach...pretty cool xmas eve though !!
We had a massive Chritmas eve meal that evening in the garden with everyone !
Then the following morning, we were all up and on the beach which is just 5 secconds from the hostel garden...to have our Christmas brunch on the sand...the classic Aussie Xmas !
Ruth, Heather, Lauren on xmas day
Ester & Heather xmas day
Pretty warm xmas day...think it was 32 in the shade at about 11am...
After the food I went back in side to cool off...and as the premiership highlights were on foxtel !!
Everyone xmas day
Happy Days !
Anyways...Spent the rest of the day with the gang, ended the day playing cards...with a very pi$$ed Bobby and Miko..
Heather, Adam, Me, Bobby, Miko on xmas day
Boxing day we spent...yep youve guesed it at the beach, with Adam, Debs, Heather and Dave came over to join us too ! Shame though as there were no waves even at Yells..the place where the monster waves were only a few days before...
And as it was my last night in the beach house hostel, we had a bit of a massive night out !
the Gang in the 3 bears
Debs took one for the team and took the car so we didnt faff about with cabs...(what a trooper)
We all had a great time, even though Dan the cave man was there !! #@#% YEAH
I can just see Adams face when we saw Dan on the dance floor !! haha !! what a muppet !!
everyone down the pub on my last night
Back at the hostel after the pub, finished off the last of the wine, not a good move when I had to be up and ready in the morning,
anyway, Big thanks to the beach house for being the best hostel in WA, everyone who does this coast should stop over here,
Ill miss all the beach house kids heaps...Adam, Bobby, Heather, Miko, Will, Dave, and all the others that were there for xmas, Even Dan (haha
written by  tomrendell on December 21, 2006 from Dunsborough, Australia

Steamy Bangkok
Bangkok, Thailand
Fake DVDs, football shirts, jeans, sunglasses.......and even fake degrees and driving licences......there is no end to the fake stuff you can buy in Bangkok. If you do come here, spend as little time as possible in Bangkok. As we found out later, Chiang Mai has everything Bangkok has and is smaller and less polluted.
Despite the above, it was still good fun hanging on for dear life in the back of a tuk tuk weaving in and out of rush hour traffic.
Big Bhudda
Marble Temple
Good points - great street food and a good travel agent - the G-Meister!
Bad points - prevalence of scams and pollution
tuk-tuk
written by  tomrendell on October 17, 2007 from Bangkok, Thailand

Trekking, Cooking & Bartering
Chiang Mai, Thailand
We went to Chiang Mai on an overnight train narrowly avoiding a scam bus from Bangkok which we foolishly bought tickets for, regarldess we arrived safe and sound on the train.
We did a few things in Chiang Mai. First was a cooking course for one day, which involved us and 6 other backpackers learning how to cook some classic Thai dishes. Tom stole the show with his unique Spring roll that looked like a kebab more than anything! Tom wowed the cameras with a flaming display of some natural cullinary talent and became Chef Tom.
Cooking School
Hot and Spicy
Next was trekking through mountainous terrain with a guide and another group of about 6 backpackers where we walked through the hills and stayed the night in a hill tribe village high in the Mountains...
Trekking group
Wet feet
got a little drunk on some local brew and went bamboo rafting on the way back to civlisation along with a quick elephant ride.
Waterfall
River Crossing
Another Elephant
BFS
Word of advice, baby elephants are stronger than they look!
Rice field
Kannara Vs Baby Elephant
Also did some bartering whist shopping at the night markets. Tom soon acquired some Jedi Powers, he was able to convince the stall attenders that his price was "the right price".... and so with a quick "talk to the hand" guesture and a bit of attitude, he managed to get three football shirts for the price of one.
night market
...written by K
written by  tomrendell on October 19, 2007 from Chiang Mai, Thailand

Wine Region !!
Margaret River, Australia
27-29 Dec
Moving on anywhere after Dunsbough was going to be a hard act to follow, & Margaret River with all its hype was no exception.
Didn’t think to much of the place at first, your based in the town and its simply one long street of tourist style shops and pubs, your 10k from the beach, and the “Margaret River” is nothing more than a small stream!
The Margaret River
So its not going to blow you away like some of the other places on the coast or in the forest.
They were pushing wine tours at the hostel as the place is Australia’s famous wine region, but as that’s no fun on your own, I didn’t bother.
Spent the day wandering around didn’t get up to anything interesting...and didn’t meet any interesting people in the hostel, apart from one English guy, who I watched some of the cricket with until his nagging wife dragged him away !! : Note to self!
Saw the beach on the way into the area though as the bus stops their briefly and we had chance to check it out, and its the West Coasts No.1 surfing location, you could tell that back up the road in Dunsbourgh/Yallingup but down here the waves are even bigger.
"The Box" Surf spot
Surfers Point
Didn’t get chance to sample the waves personally just shot them from the shore this time!
The next day got ready and moved on to Augusta where I was to meet up with Kannara again for a few days, So I waddled out of the hostel with my ever increasing luggage…I need to ditch some stuff.
Some cheeky cove
written by  tomrendell on December 27, 2006 from Margaret River, Australia

Bushfire Fairytales
Kaikoura, New Zealand
Shot down to Wellington for the crossing over to the South Island spent the day here, chilled out, during the day then crossed over on the ferry !
Great views at sunset !
Top Deck
Sunset crossing
Spent the morning driving down to Kaikora, went to the beach, not as nice as the North Island beaches as beach was stoney, and the water was extremely cold, a shock from the warmer North Island...still warm sunshine and great views of the Alps if you spun around so not all bad!
The Beach !!
The Alps
Cycled the afternoon into the beachside campsite, did some Irish Gallic Football training with Paddy...that finished me off after our biking!
Football by the camp
Fire starters
Spent the evening on the beach with a campfire...!
Bushfire fairytales
Campfire
written by  tomrendell on February 18, 2007 from Kaikoura, New Zealand

Little Britain
Christchurch, New Zealand
Next day spun through to Chrichchurch which is the regional capital of Canterbury, New Zealand. It is the largest city in the South Island,
Nice little City, has a look of York, and is the most English of all the cities in NZ so far ! has a real student vibe too as the University had just kicked off for Fresher's week !!
Christchurch
the River
had a great afternoon after we left Christchurch I biked along with Paddy Aniss and a couple of others the 30k to our camp by the Rangitata river, with stunning views over the Alps !
Rangitata
while Biking tot he camp, we must have spooked some deer, as a heard of deer galloped over a small hill out of view then back into view as they came up the other side, amazing thing to see...think Jurassic Park... but we were the ones doing the chasing !
written by  tomrendell on February 19, 2007 from Christchurch, New Zealand

Happy New Year !
Augusta, Australia
29 Dec -2 Jan
Arrived in Augusta to find the Baywatch YHA…expected to see the Hoff running the place, but no such luck!!
I get here before Kannara, So check in, Check it out, grab some food, the Youth Hostel has won best Hostel in Australia every year since 1997 so you know its going to be good!
It’s more like a hotel compared to some places.
I cooked us steak which she rated at only 6/10!! The cheek!!
The next day checked out these famous wineries as Augusta is so close to Margaret River, We went to a few, and a few wines, they taste so much better than some of the rats pi$$ we’d been drinking the week before in Dunsbourgh. Checked out a few of them and a brewery in the area, The Bootleg Brewery…which did some great beers! But all this alcohol was a bit much in the afternoon! Spent some of the late afternoon at Hamlin Bay!!
Hamlin Bay wines
Hamlin Bay Beach
Took a forest drive felt like the absolute middle of nowhere they could have filled Return of the Jedi here, Kept thinking the Ewoks were going to come crashing threw the trees !
the forrest in Augusta
More Forrest
Even more wine first thing! Bought my first bottle of decent wine at Hamlin’s! Superb!….Mum; Ones in the post!
Then a afternoon on the beach, we found one called “cozy corner” its not so cozy on the 6km unsealed road to find it !
the path to the beach
Cozy Corner beach
Worth it when we got there, hardy anyone else there, was really nice with loads of mini islands a few hundred of meter into the sea, made for good snorkeling, although my mask is pretty crap think I need a new one!
Spent New Years Eve in the hostel with some of our wine, can’t believe how quiet this hostel was, It was more of an old peoples home, compared to the Holiday style resort of Dunsbourgh over xmas.
But that didn’t matter as we had a great time anyway, Had a really cool time here and a really good laugh, but it was a good job we had the car here, as you need to drive a bit to see the bits and pieces!
Top of the world !
View from the lighthouse
Anyway the next day, checked out the lighthouse, and the point at which the two oceans meet, you can see the waves crashing against the rock in different directions so you can see the exact location, was hoping t would have been a calm bay so I could have swam across two oceans…but far too choppy !
Me and Kannara at two oceans point
Southern ocean to the left Indian ocean to the right !
After Lunch Kannara had to shoot back up to Perth, So I was home alone, Literally, felt like I was the only one there after that, but was moving on first thing in the morning so hit the sack early doors as I needed a good nights sleep!
Cape Luewin
written by  tomrendell on December 29, 2006 from Augusta, Australia

The Road to Angkor
Siem Reap, Cambodia
We set off on the road to Angkor, from Bangkok early one morning,
It was a long trip, possibly the longest and hardest day of the trip so far,
The bus from Bangkok to the border seemed ok, until the ticket scam kicked in, where we are kind of forced to buy over priced visas from a “friendly café” near the border, after a bit of faffing about we got into Cambodia,
Crossing over into Poipet is like stepping back in time, a wild west like town with dusty roads, very dodgy border guards, and a mix of run down shops!
We catch the 2nd leg of the trip, which is the oldest bus in the world, heading off on roads that are so bumpy and full of pot holes the bus feels like the bus is going to collapse at any moment…this is real travelling!
Almost 16 hours later, we arrive in Siem Riep, and are dropped off at a guest house, we literally crashed out, and thankfully the rooms were fine.
The next day we explored the town of Siem Reip, and checked out all the markets.
The day after we are up at 4am, and jump into our tuk-tuk that we had pre-booked, $20 for the day…
Our driver sped us into the Temples of Angkor, an ancient city built over a 600 year period from 802AD the vast city was lost to the Jungle some time back in 11th Century,
Untouched and covered in deep jungle until French explorers discovered it in the 1860’s
And discovered by Kannara and I in late 2007,
We spent all day walking around the ruins, taking literally hundreds of photos, and had a great time, we sped away in our tuk-tuk as the heavens opened late in the day and a tropical downpour ensued!
Well worth the bumpy trip from Bangkok…
written by  tomrendell on October 23, 2007 from Siem Reap, Cambodia

in the Forest
Nannup, Australia
So Nannup… 2nd-4th Jan
Its basically the furthest inland ive stayed so far, its based in the middle of the Blackwood forest, a little town about pop 400.
The place I stayed was called the Black Cockatoo and is an “Eco Retreat” with no internet or TV it’s a hippy’s paradise, there is a huge organic garden, and its very green !
The Hostel
It wasn’t like the other hostels I’d stayed in, I was pretty much the only backpacker, there was a hypnotist with his 5 yr old daughter, a weird bloke who looked like Bad guy from Ghostbusters 2 and he had this spaced out hippy in tow, couldn’t figure them out, He said they were friends, but they seemed very odd, but harmless…
An enormous old English guy, who was an ex chef and basically lived there, he insisted on cooking everyone’s meals…fine by me !
And then a couple of friends from Sydney, who drove over during their Uni summer break…
Lucy and Duncan, they were sound, I went out on the Blackwood River with them in some Canadian kayaks which was great, even though it was a fairly cool day.
Kayaks
We also found a massive spring water pool that had eucalyptus trees all around it so the water was mixed with that…the area surrounding it smelt amazing!
We dived into the pool, which we were later told is bottomless, I kept diving in to try and reach the bottom, but to no avail !
The Spring Board
It was really friendly and everyone sat around the fire in the evening having a drink together playing a few games, really different from some of the previous hostels.
This place is very cool, very chilled, it was really relaxing, when I was just hanging about it felt ok to jut laze around, If you get the chance spend the night there…very unique place
Lucy, Me, Porcha & Duncan
written by  tomrendell on January 2, 2007 from Nannup, Australia

Pancakes & Rapids
Rangitata, New Zealand
To say this was a great day would be an understatement...it was amazing..one of the very best!
I woke up early doors, because of the white water rafting trip, around 6:45 and this was the view that I saw as I poked my sleepy head out of my tent !
Rangitata sunrise
Early Doors
Had breakfast, packed up my tent, and went up to the hut with the others to go Rafting !
They explained it was a two hour trip coasting down the river at first going through, grades 1-4 then climaxing with two grade 5 rapids, the highest grade rapids you can take people down on commercial trips !
Full speed!!
the trip was awesome, and we managed to stay afloat the entire trip, at one point we were seconds from being sucked into a grade 6 which would have meant certain "flippidge" and everyone going overboard !!
Riding the grade 5 rapids
Survived !!
We had seen grade 6 rapids at the Hukka falls the other day, and I love ferice water but I wouldn't have wanted to go though that on a boat !
after the trip down the river we went for a short hike around part of the Tekapo Lake, with amazing views of the Alps and the first look from long distance of Mt Cook...
All the gang hiking in Tekapo
Lake Tekapo
after the Hike, a few of us biked the rest of the way in to camp, as this was a bush camp and had no showers, so we dived into the lake when we got there to cool down!
Swimming in lake Pukaki !
The Alps (mt cook)
totally knackered, Rafting, Hiking, Biking and Swimming all in one day !
JP and his pancake !
pancakes!
we topped the day off with Pancakes, a cold beer and the best sunset I have ever seen.
The Southern Alps at sunset
Sunset at lake Pukaki
written by  tomrendell on February 20, 2007 from Rangitata, New Zealand

Mt Cook
Fairlie, New Zealand
This is the closest my map would go to My Cook, its a bit inland from here...
On the road
one of the Indiana Jones swing bridges
Anyway...We drove out to Mt Cook Nt Park which is basically the highest Mountain in NZ and is the centre piece of the Southern Alps,
Me and Paddy on the bridge
We didn't climb it ! we just did a walk through a pass across a few rope bridges across the icy streams that flow through the gorges, and then down the valley to the lakes, which have small ice bergs floating in them, the water looks warm, as it was bright sunshine and a warm day, but the water was as fresh as it comes !!
Hannah, Emma, Me, Jenna and Jolanda in the icy lake !
Happy feet !!
We had our lunch by the lake and all tried to stand in the lake for the longest before the water almost froze them off !!
A frezzing Paddy
Me, Paddy and Aniss
written by  tomrendell on February 21, 2007 from Fairlie, New Zealand

Fiordland
Te Anau, New Zealand
Arrived in the most stunning part of Nz so far, we arrive in the Fiordland Nt park famous for the Milford Sound, we saw the amazing Fiordlands in the late afternoon after a long drive to get there.
Fiordland National Park
Camped up in the area but they had had rain the night before so the infamous sand flies were out in force and our feeble insect repellent was about as much use as a chocolate teapot !
the Backseat gang !
River runing through Murchison Mountains.
Murchison Mountains.
Anyway the nest day we did "the best bike ride in the world" the 12 km downhill ride from the Homer Tunnel down to the Milford Sound, it didn't take long as we flew down the hill, slowing up only to see the amazing scenery along the way !!
The Bikers !
on the Homer tunnel down hill ride !
We biked down to the Sound, and took a boat cruise on the water, the only way to fully see the scenery, really amazing and totally un-photographable, brilliant weather too, considering this is the wettest place in NZ, We had great sunshine !
Me Aniss and Paddy After the 12k downhill !
Mitre Peak - Muilford Sound
Sounds good !
Milford Sound
One of the most amazing places in the world, if you visit NZ you have to get down to this neck of the woods!
Carol, Cat and Jenna
On the Milford Sound !
Jp and Paddy...Arch enemies !
Waterfall
written by  tomrendell on February 23, 2007 from Te Anau, New Zealand

Vally of the Giants
Walpole, Australia
4-6 Jan
My trip to Walpole or "the vally of the giants" as its called due to some of the worlds largest trees being in the surounding forests..
Left Nannup on the EasyRider bus, got picked up around 10, Bobby who I met in Dunsbourgh over xmas was on the bus heading to Walpole with me which was cool !
The bus took us into a Winery on the way, I tasted a few wines, and felt a bit ropey right away, think it was to close to breakfast time !!
Me and Bobby at the winery...to early !
Another stop of on the way was the Gloucester Tree, the world largest climing tree at over 60 meters, the driver told us only 2% of people who intend to climb the tree actually do it...I wasnt letting that stop me, even though about half way up the tree starts to sway as the weather was pretty grim, very windy, had to pass a few people fozen with fear about 3/4 of the way up...anyway worth it when I got to the top, amazing views of the forrest. it used to be used as a fire lookout, so its the tallest one for miles.
Gloucester tree
View from the top
our first night in the hostel was pretty messy, we endned up sharing 4 bottles of wine, Im not used to wino hangovers, the next day we both felt like absoloute death so just watched premiership re-runs on foxtel all day...
Had a tee-total night the evening, couldnt even look at a bottle of wine without feeling sick :-(
the next day, went on an eco cruise, which everyone was raving about, even lonley planet gave said it cant be missed, so we gave it a shot.
The guy running it was a total comedian, it was like a comedy show and eco tour at the same time !
another bloody beach
at the Beach
Saw the Walpole inlet, which is amzing and untouched by the logging industry.
the inlet
The boat took us the most stunning beach, (im running out of superaltives here) unreachable by foot, not a sole on it, the waves were some of largest ive seen, and the forrest came down to meet the cliffs !
Amazing Beach
The Beach
After the cruise, spent the afternoon at the beach topping up my amazing tan (yeah right)
The tan or lack of it...what a joke, 8 weeks in Australia and I still look like the milky bar kid !
at least I havnt burnt though..unlike some people, Ive seen a few people who needed hospitalising...grim...
The River
Me and Bob on the tour !
anyway, that evening one of the girls in the hostel had a party, for her 19th, so we had a few drinks...quite a few..
tried to stay up for the football, Liverpool Vs Arseanl, swapped the wine for the coffee at about 2.30am, waited for ages for it to start, then must have passed out, woke up to see them go 2-0 down, then must have passed out again, woke up in the morning to find out they lost 3-1, not the best !
anyway the next day rolled on to Denmark.
written by  tomrendell on January 8, 2007 from Walpole, Australia

At the river
Denmark, Australia
Denmark 7th-11th Jan 07
On the way from Walpole to Denmark we visited the Valley of the giants Tree Top Walk, which was pretty cool, but not so good with a hangover from last night,
Tree top walk
its tough at the top
Walked through a walkway suspended above the Karri Tree forest,
up top
up at the top
This was another stop off on the Easy Rider Bus, something I would have missed otherwise !
Next stop the best beach so far…Greens Pool, for a quick swim…and diving off the rocks, then look at Elephant Rocks.
Greens Pool
Elephant Rocks
A really nice spot, great swimming area, and top rocks to dive off, if your feeling brave
After that the bus rolled on into Denmark where I was the only one jumping off, which was fine as I wanted a few days to chill out and rest up again.
Ate fish and chips by the river as I was far too tired to cook !
The next day relaxed by the beautiful Denmark river a minute away from the hostel, and did a little chilled out river walk.
At the River
Up the creek
Got a call from some friends I met in Dunsbourgh that they were coming over to Denmark for a night, so that evening met them in the pub, Adam Heather, Debs and Jo.
The next day was pretty ropey, dark and gloomy, hammered it down with rain in the morning, we went out in their car to Greens Pool for a swim, and were the only people there as the weather kept changing warm and sunny one minute, cold and grim the next.
Greens pool/ Elephant rocks
The Sea
At one point had to dash back to the car during a torrential downpour, see the three drowned rats in the car
the gang
3 drowned rats
Escaped the English style rain with a cup of tea in a random café that seemed to pop out of the bushes when we needed it most, even if a weird guy was running the place trying to sell us the contents of 5 years worth of car boot sales junk as well as a pot if tea !
get the kettle on
Denmark River
After that in the howling wind, we walked up the track to Monkey rock ! With some stunning views, well worth it
Adam, Heather, Jo, Debs & Me @ Monkey Rock
View from Monkey Rock
then we found some horses, in a random Field !
Debs with new pal
Jo & Heather
Drove back through to Denmark and with that the gang had to move on to Albany, I could have gone with them but wanted to stay and explore Denmark and to find time to relax for at least 5 minutes..which is proving harder than I’d thought !!
The next day awoke to find Bobby and his girlfriend had arrived and had hired a car and wanted to go out for the day…so no rest for the wicked! Off out on another day trip….
Went to some feeble zoo with them both, now wouldn’t have chosen to do this on my own, but felt I might as well, it was pretty lame, and couldn’t get out of the place quick enough…feeding muesli to donkeys not quite what I had mind when I set off travelling!
But …got to see a Koala…albeit asleep….so not all bad…that’s another box ticked !
Felt I needed some exercise after seeing those caged donkeys…So got Bobby to drop me off near the beach and I ran the 6k back to the hostel…running the only thing that comes close to fill the big void of playing football, I’m really missing that (Dan cant wait to set up our new team when I’m back)
The next day explored some more beaches, Waterfall beach…with the most pathetic waterfalls I’ve ever seen, but a really nice beach, water was a bit rough for swimming though!
Next morning shot through to Albany.
written by  tomrendell on January 9, 2007 from Denmark, Australia

The Routeburn track
Te Anau, New Zealand
Set off on the Routeburn track...
The Start !
Hollyford Valley
A three day hike from the Divide through to Queenstown,
we stayed in these huts that were just concrete tents ! we had to carry everything, sleeping bags, gas cookers, food you name it we carried it !!
the best waterfall yet !
Me at the Darran Mountains
JP even managed to sneak a rock into Paddy's back which he then carried the whole first day and only found in the evening !! ha-ha everyone including Paddy was laughing at that one !!
Everyone looked the part, apart from Paddy who looked like he was running away from home rather than going hiking for three days !
Amazing view of the Darran Mountains
Lake Mackenzie Hut
Had a great time, & good weather, the first day was really warm and sunny, I was in a different hut to most of the party so I walked on my own for a couple of hours to reach it, really amazing walking through the rainforest alone ! total silence, a strange thing when your with 20 people every minute of the day!
got some guy who I passed at this 80 meter waterfall to take my photo !
Reached my hut chilled out !
In the morning it was lashing it down with rain, I just waited around for the others to catch me up who stayed in the previous hut, they were pretty wet, but we set off...loads of mist and humidity but no more rain for now...So hiring that Gore-tex jacket was a waste of time !!
Jenna on the track
Me @ the waterfall
Had a good hike, probably good it was a cold day as it was a long trek, over 8 hours most of it uphill !!
Crossing the waterfall
We reached the hut !!
Spent the night in another hut, with only a 2 hour walk the following morning to finish off !
had a really good laugh in the hut all huddled round the fire ! trying to burn all our rubbish as we had to carry everything out of the route, so our bags were starting to stink !
Clear Skies
Morning glory
Final day greeted us with awesome sunshine from daybreak, although it was still a bit cool until mid-morning !
Bridal Veil Stream
The sun rises over Routeburn Gorge
Reached the End ..Tired..and Hungry for something other than Porrige or Dried Pasta !
The Final Morning
The Finishing Post
written by  tomrendell on February 26, 2007 from Te Anau, New Zealand

Deep South !
Albany, Australia
Albany 12th-14th Jan '07
Struck gold as I checked into my room, met a girl from Scotland who had a car and was about to go out on a mission exploring the area…so I rolled out for the day with her and saw some pretty amazing places,
The Blow Holes, a Geezer style thing that blew water out of a hole on the cliffs.
The Gap !
Albany
The Bridge a massive natural beam of rock suspended between two points.
The Bridge
Mind the Gap
The Gap, a huge gorge caved out by the unbelievably powerful waves.
All good…then drove quite a way to Two Peoples national park to find a “Little Beach” probably the most amazing beach ive seen to date.
Little Beach
Little Beach - Amazing !!
Little Beach - Albany
...and then on the way back some sort of feeble thing called Dog rock, see for your self !
Dog Rock
Went for a walk yesterday with Bobby & Miko a 15K round trip in preparation for the hike up we have in store in Stirling Ranges national park in a couple of days… walked to the top of Mt Adelaide great views of Albany!
Spent an hour trailing the pubs trying to get one to put the Liverpool v Watford game on Fox Sports, no one was interested….nightmare, ended up just watching a movie at the hostel!
written by  tomrendell on January 14, 2007 from Albany, Australia

Stirling Ranges
Wooganup, Australia
Stirling Ranges 15-16 th Jan 07
Moving on from Albany on the bus, Bobby, myself and a few randoms headed to Stirling Ranges National Park to climb the infamous Buff Knoll, the highest peak in Western Australia,
It’s quite a drive to the National Park, so we get there early afternoon and head on up the peak, its not such a hot day, which makes the climb pretty good fun.
On the way !
Bluff Knol
Although 20 minutes later everyone’s roasting as we start to warm up on the steep climb!
Greg our ever-dependable guide is lagging behind, we can see him haling his fat ass up the Montanan so we keep going!
The views are amazing, really enjoying the hike, gives me a taste for potential hikes in New Zealand.
View from Bluff Knol
Stirling Ranges from Bluff Knol
As we start to get to the top the clouds start coming in, and rapidly cools down
so its on with the fleece, and keep pounding away until we reach the top.
Feels really good to be out hiking again, makers me realise this sort of stuff is why im here.
At the top we chill out (literally) get some food, and catch some more awesome photos of the National Park…and wait for Greg to meet us up at the top!
at the top
Me and Bobby at the top
On the way down, its worth taking your time to appreciate the view…don’t think I’ve seen anything like this before of my any of my other hikes from the past!
As we gat back to the bus, we roll a mile or so down the road to a café and have a well earned Jim Beam and Coke! Bliss!
Then we check into the hostel across the road, have a swim to cool down, and then cook and eat…and watch the best sunset yet…over the mountains!!
Stirling Ranges at night
What a great day!
written by  tomrendell on January 15, 2007 from Wooganup, Australia

Ice Age
Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
Our Trip to the Glacier region on the west coast of the South island, the blog wont recognise the Fox Glacier we visited, so its mapped to the Franz Josef Glacier, only 30 mins away....
The Day before we got frosty with the Ice Glacier, we visited a small place called Hasst, a the town was a right dive, I biked into to town with Paddy and Aniss, cycling over 50 miles to get there....before that we visited the blue pools, an idyllic spot off the beaten track and had a stone skimming contest....
A bridge too far
En route to the Glacier
The we left the town as quick as possible and went to the beach, the weirdest beach ever, so strewn with an unbelievable amount drift wood it looked like some sort of mahogany apocalypse, enough tree trunks and logs to build 20 houses...Paddys bright idea was to take it all back to Ireland and sell it...
Rolled on into the town of Fox, to visit the Glacier, we walked 2 hours through some of the temperate rain forest to get to a spot where the Glacier is assessable, its one of only 2 places on earth where there is a Glacier accessible to the public like this, and the only place it is surrounded by rain forest !
The Fox Glacier
Ice cold !
Stuck our Crampons on and then jumped onto the ice...walked halfway up...didn't get the chance to see the Ice Caves, as they are too far, you need the helicopter ride for that...maybe next time...
The Boys... on the rocks !
Flying Kiwi on ice
Had a great time ice climbing/hiking, and got some great photos...
the dirt you can see on the ice, is Stone and rock that is ground into a fine dust by the ice as it moves slowly but unstoppably through the valley...
Top of the Glacier
written by  tomrendell on March 1, 2007 from Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

Passing through
Hokitika, New Zealand
Rolled through Hokitika on our way to Punakaki, on the way through we saw the valley full of mist and low lying cloud, with the sun shining through...
11am
Village in the Mist
Mirror Lake
written by  tomrendell on March 3, 2007 from Hokitika, New Zealand

Wave Rock
Hyden, Australia
Hyden - 16th Jan '07
A quick trip to this place called “Wave Rock” in my opinion a massive pointless detour, but it’s on the lientery, so we stuck to it,
Basically a huge rock shaped like a wave formed over thousands of years over water running over the edge and running down. Not sure where this running water is, this place is dryer than your mouth on a Sunday morning after a massive night out.
There was a dam, which held a massive amount of water for the local inland, totally arid area! Aparantly back in the day little kids used to swim in it, now its all fenced off and secure! Water seems more valuable the gold around here.
Precious water @ the Wave rock dam
Anyway quick photo op, and a quick shufty around and were back on the bus headed for Esperance…
Me & Bobby @ Wave Rock
Greg showing us the way
written by  tomrendell on January 16, 2007 from Hyden, Australia

Esperance
Esperance, Australia
Esperance 16th - 21st Jan '07
The Diving Board
Stuck in a moment
Arrived in Esperance and we immediately went to Twilight cove, a popular beach in the town area, but was deserted at 4pm when we arrived, maybe thats because of the alleged sharks..
Swam straight out to the huge rock a couple of hundred meters off shore, climbed up and jumped off a few times, slowly at first, but the three of us we were doing triple jumps from the top, really good fun especially id you land in a wave as it passes by…
Managed to get a action shot, see the 3 figures caught in mid flight, see above.
Spent the evening eating the biggest portion of fish and chips, with a few beers & playing pool.
Easy Rider Bus
Frenchmans Peak
Greg climbing Frenchmans peak
View from Frenchmans peak (Cape Le Grande Nt Park)
Next morning at 7am we shot out to Cape Le Grande National park about 30km out of town, climbed Frenchman’s peak, a steep climb, but not as tough or as long as the hike the other day up Bluff Knoll…but not before I set fire to my socks first thing trying to dry them out in the microwave...DOH
Lucky Bay
Hellfire Beach
Learning to body surf
Awsome Waves - Hellfire Beach
After that we hit Lucky bay for a look at this sunning beach, but choose to spent our time at Hellfire beach had lunch, and Greg taught a few of how to body surf…the next best thing when you don’t have a body board!
After that the Easy Rider Bus rolled on, but as I was staying in Esperance I had 5 days to my self until the next bus…
Beach side bike ride with Helen.
Beach
During which I did the great ocean drive, but on a mountain bike with a Helen a French Canadian girl from the Hostel, brilliant cycle track right along the coast, 20k return, went all the way back to twilight cove for a swim…and a dive.
Woddy island cruise
Did a cruise to Woody Island one of over a hundred islands that form the Recherche Archipelago, basically these islands helped two French ships shelter from a storm back in the day, and then allowed them to discover Esperance! Saw sea eagles and sea lions and heaps of other stuff on this cruise and did a short walk on Woody island.
Went running in the evenings along the coast, chilled out, watch Liverpool Beat Chelsea 2-0…basically had a great time !
Esperance at dusk
written by  tomrendell on January 17, 2007 from Esperance, Australia

Pancake Rocks
Punakaiki, New Zealand
Stayed in Punakaiki for 2 nights, had 2 great nights in the pub playing pool and having a few beers...
saw the Pancake rocks...and did a mountain bike trail with Dagmar...we rode up through a track in the forest to a place called Cave Canyon...one of the most unbelievable sights I've seen this trip...
The canyon was deep down beneath two sides of the valley, and only fills up during a flood, so it was a dry river bed, that had become overgrown with some of the stunning flora and fauna from the surrounding forest. it was cold as it was shaded from the sun, so even on a red hot day we could see our breath in the air..the place was errie and very mysterious..could easily have been used in a film...there was a plaque warning that 10 people drowned here 12 years before from the flood water raging through the caves then into the canyon...so we didn't hang around too long...
written by  tomrendell on March 4, 2007 from Punakaiki, New Zealand

Abel Tasmen Nt Park
Port Motueka, New Zealand
Appletree bay
Close up
Arrived at a camp site just outside of Abel Tasmen Nt park, ideal place...called Old MacDonald's farm...cycled the 40k into the camp with my biking buddies for the last time...we arrived hot and sweaty and jumped right into the river to cool down !
played volley ball in the evening until the sun went down! Oliver had my in stitches with his usual French laugh and stupid jokes while we were playing !!! the fact that Keith was hit in the face twice by his own team mates made it all the more amusing...
Anchorage bay
The swim around the island
Went out in the morning with Paddy and Birgeet !and got a water Taxi up to Bark bay, the most amazing beach I've seen on my travels, we dived right into the water on landing at the beach !
then started our 6 hour walk back to the camp...stopping a couple of times for a swim to cool off !
all got wet feet crossing the "low tide" short cut, Paddy got blisters soon after & carried on in bare feet...I mean who goes on a six hour walk with no socks...
Bark Bay - Paradise at last !
Diving around - Bark Bay
Got back to camp and went for a meal and drinks for the last time as a group !
The following morning we drove up to Picton where several of the gang got of the bus and went their separate ways...we'd had 4 quality weeks the best bits of my trip so far, shame to break it all up, but all good things have to come to an end!
Have been offered a job on the next tour though, as one of the guides, which I've accepted should be a great way of earning a few dollars...and beats sitting in an Office temping...
I've had to sacrifice something else in Australia for that and have had to let someone down big-time...but the lure of a job was to great when Im pretty much skint after over 4 months without working...& its not every day you get offered a job without applying for it, so I couldn't walk awayfrom this opportunity! plus its a pretty cool job touring NZ hiking, camping, swimming in the sea etc...and the occasional sky dive for free wont go a miss...
written by  tomrendell on March 5, 2007 from Port Motueka, New Zealand

Theres gold in them there hills
Kalgoorlie, Australia
Kalgoorlie at dusk...cool at last
Spent almost all day driving from Esperance to Kalgoorie, get there around 6pm, and went out and had some dinner and a few beers in the pub! It’s a bit of a rough and ready place full of miners that look like they could wrestle a bear, and full of girls that look like they do anything for money.
Money talks in Kal, the gold mine is the biggest open cut goldmine in the southern hemisphere, and makes almost $5 billion dollars year so the workers who work in this red hot inland desert heat trap are paid very well.
In the wild West
Kalgoorlie
We had a look at the Super pit at night and during the morning, as it runs 24/7 churning out gold non stop…
Looks miles wide, impossible to photograph in one shot !!
All the equipment is massive, bigger than anything ive seen before…
All the pubs in Kal have topless barmaids, and later in the evening are simmering bar room brawls waiting to happen, and look like something out of the Wild West!
On the Scoop @ the goldmine
"The Super Pit" Gold Mine
It was great fun, as there was a few of us, and we had some drinks then went back to the hostel to have a few more, before bed, then off early doors as it’s a full day drive back to Perth, but pretty hellish when the air-con conked out mid morning!
written by  tomrendell on January 21, 2007 from Kalgoorlie, Australia

Back to Perth...again
Got back to Perth and among other things have celebrated Australia day in 41C with hair dryer heat style heat wind & watched the fireworks but they were over shadowed by a lighting storm at the same time, (no rain of course) needless to say I cant claim credit for this first picture, spent most of time back in Perth with Kannara, went up to Hillary's boat harbour last night with her...ultra posh area and had top seafood...happy days !
Me !
Kannara at Hillarys boat harbour
Kannara
fire works and lightning storm
Lightning vs fireworks
written by  tomrendell on February 2, 2007 from Perth, Australia

Paraparaumu & Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand
Rolled on into Paraparaumu, the lonely Planet made it sounds like an idyllic location and the flyer made the beach sounds awesome...
I thought a few days R&R by the beach would do the trick , before I started work...
The beach was awful, grey sand, full of drift wood, and the sea looked less than inviting, suddenly 2 days here seemed too long...
until I met these 3 girls from England ! Liz, Lisa and Naomi who I got on really well with and had some beers and played cards with that night, had a good time,
saw them in the morning at breakfast, and as it was tipping with rain of biblical proportions, I thought a crap town is bad enough, a crap town in the rain is even worse !
So they offered my a lift into Wellington, jumped at the chance, and rolled onto Welly with them, even though it was grim there there's heaps more to do...
Wellington
Welly with the girls, went to the Museum, sat drinking tea while the rained poured down, but had a good laugh with the girls, went to the movies, went swimming with them, great crap weather mates !
Had a good time for a couple of days, cheered me up before worked started !!
The next day work started for the first time in 4 months !
Started by picking up the guys and driving onward and upwards through the North Island towards Auckland and then North towards the Bay of Islands and Pahia !
Had a brake down to cope with, but my first few days of work were going just fine!!
written by  tomrendell on March 14, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand

Hard Graft !
Taupo, New Zealand
Bay of Islands & Taupo
First few days were getting better, had had a few freebies too a ride on a jet Boat, a Maori concert ,the morning sand boarding...this jobs a doddle...
A flash of work and loads of freebies...fair enough the hours are long, Sunrise till well after sunset, but I'm loving it !
Spent a day or so heading down from the Bay of islands to get to Taupo, went via Coromandal and Cathedral cove, got to see them again this time drenched in amazing early morning sunshine !
Swam out to a rock just off the shoreline at hot water beach and collected a few mussels, sparked a trend as this group of girls spotted me, 5 minutes later they were, then 5 minutes after that everyone on the beach was gathering them, we cooked them in the evening, really fresh had them the next night too ! new fave food !
spent the next day at my one of my favourite spots, the kick ass beach Whiratoa, the amazing place where there was no one on the beach, I just ran down from the board walk...pulled of my t-shirt, and just jumped right into the sea, instantly deep enough to swim in, and clear enough to see with your eyes open...a true slice of paradise ! looking back as I float on my back all I can see are rolling green hills, and amazing cliffs covered in temperate rain forest...and a Golden beach with no one apart from the advancing members of our bus party !
Whiratoa
Does it get any better than this ?
Rolled in Taupo another sun-dreched day, took one of our passengers up to bungy jump, a young japansee girl, dont think she knew what she was doing, she seemed to brick it as they strpped her in, and I could hear her scream right down the vally as she plummed towards the lake from the platform 50 meters above !
Spent the afternoon Skydiving ! the ultimate perk...any future job must live up to this...this time I did 15,000 ft and it was even better than before as I could take it in from the second I left the plane, and had a longer free fall ! awsome !!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
2nd time around
Just before the skydive I went for a dip in the river fed by a thermal water fall, so freezing river water mixed with steaming water from a hot spring, makes a nice bath water style temp !!
Dolphins - Kaikoura
Through onto the South island, the job is still going really well, spent some time in Kaikoura and went Dolphin spotting, ment getting up at 4.20 am...
but got to see over 150 Dusky Dolphins all playing in the water just off the shore, many jumping doing all sorts of back flips etc...
really cool to see them, in full flow at top speed !
Dusky Dolphons
Kaikoura - 'Dolphin Friendly'
...and Hannah...there is no back seat gang this time, they aviod that part of the bus, must be sacred ground now...I'm up at front with JP now...
written by  tomrendell on March 22, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand

Amazing Queenstown
Queensbury, New Zealand
This time around in Queenstown, I had far more energy than the last time, as i hadn't come right off the 3 day Routeburn track...
So got to get out and see so much more of the place, Did 3 amazing activities, The Shotover Jet, a Jet boat ride at 85kph through canyons along the Shotover river ! the boat pulls off amazing 360 spins at breakneck speed ! really cool !
Shotover Jet !
85 KPH !!
Also got to go Bungy Jumping, AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge, really differnt feeling falling off the bridge compared to Skydiving ! id say scarier as you can see the river so close, My upper body even hit the water before the cord pulled me back up almost just as quick !
BUNGIEEEEE
Bungy Jumping, Kawarau Bridge
Queenstown gave us the chance for a massive night out, us boys had planned to go out dressed up as the rock band 'Kiss' but as ever the planned descended into chaos as we were all off bungee jumping, jet boating or river boarding or some other crazy activity right up until we needed to head out, so we just donned the wigs which made us look more like the 80% of the Jackson Five than anything else...
Afro night out !
Steve with some Hen party granny
We had a great time, got lashed and caused a lot of commotion which ever bar we ended up in next !
I requested Run DMC "Its Tricky" remembering a old night out from Uni a few years back and within seconds we were doing the "road trip dance" and had all the girls & a hen party up on the dance floor...talk of the town if only for a few minutes !
Some guy even bought us a round of drinks as we reminded him of his "crazy days" before he got married, not quite sure what he was on about, but we accepted the drinks never the less...Great effort !
View from above
Lake Wakatipu
On our final day we went luging which involves a cabel car up to the top of the moutain then several luging runs later we were tired and crashed out ! and went down into town for a burger !
...Just another tough few days at the office...
Pre Race Photo
...and its Rendell through the corner first
written by  tomrendell on April 2, 2007 from Queensbury, New Zealand

Wild Stallions
Punakaiki, New Zealand
Rocked up the west coast for a couple of day passing through Fox the town where last time I climbed on the Glacier, this time just chilld out in the town with JP while the others did the climb...
Arrived in Punakaiki for 2 nights, started feeling a bit rough, must have been coming down with something ! not surprising its been non stop for so long !
Did a Horse trek into the rain forest then down onto the beach with some of the group, they guy at the stables got me a spare Horse out as I was a late entry, he said it used to be wild but they had trained it up a bit...I could tell as mine was a bit frisky while all the other horses where half asleep !
Rawhide !
River crossing
anyway went treking for a bout 3 hours, had a great time, I could tell my horse 'Billy' was a wild one, as he kept running off and charging through the river crossings, such a good time really hope I get the chance to do it again!
Punakaiki Rainforest valley
Me & Billy at lunch
Riding off into the sunset !
Punakaiki Sunset
Finished the night off with a campfire a few beers and the News that Liverpool had won...Brilliant !
camp fire
Our two day stop in Abel Tasman Nt Park, was my last 2 nights camping on the tour !
The amazing backdrop of one of the best looking coastlines you will ever see !!
in addition to that I got to fly the Pitt Special a stunt plane that can do acrobatic stunts like loops, barrel rolls, and flying straight up until it stalls then free falling !!
Totally awesome ! even beats skydiving for pure adrenalin !
I did a 15 minute flight and it was just unbelievable as the pilot takes off and hands control over to you...he just says loop it, spin it, fly upright etc...
He said afterwards all you could hear on the radio frequency was me laughing as we did loops at 180mph
Anchorage bay
Close up
ACTION
Ready for take off
....Lift off
written by  tomrendell on April 6, 2007 from Punakaiki, New Zealand

Bangkok sunset

Destinations

tuk-tuk

night market

miles from anywhere

that makes sense

Rice field

Trekking group

Wet feet

Waterfall

River Crossing

at the waterfall

BFS

Hill Trek

Chiang Mai

Kannara Vs Baby Elephant

Another Elephant

cheeky

The little one

Making a mess in the kitchen

Cooking School

tuk tuk

Marble Temple

Lucky Bhudda Temple

Big Bhudda

The Raft

Laem Thian cove

Our View

view from above

Bedroom window

Backpacking

Fire Dancing

Night shot

Than Sadet Beach

Beach bar

Our beach Bungalow

Longtails on Ko Phangan

Than Sadet

Ko Phangan

Jungle waterfall

Riding the Elephant

swimming on Ko Phangan

Our Elephant

Sunset

The Jungle

K&T in the waterfall

View from our treehouse

Riding the Tuk Tuk

Long tail boat

Cruising

Kannara at the floating village

Fishing village

James Bond island

Downpour

Sundown

K&T at James Bond Island

Heading into the Abyss

Our Pool

The Chopsticks

Raffles

Tarzan

Scarlet

Tree hugging

Botanic Gardens

Kannara at 5 star Raffles

Singapore

Scarlet our hotel

Kannara and Terri

Kannara

Little Pascal & Me

Kannara and Pasc !

sandpit

in the sandpit

Quantas flight back to Perth

The Rock from the sky

The Rock

Ayres Rock

Andrea and Eva

The Atherton Tablelands gang

Behind the Milla Milla Falls

The Milla Milla Falls

The falls

Me doing a crazy back flip spin down the falls

Atherton Tablelands

who are you to me

close to where Steve Irwin copped it !

some muppet

The Gang: Bazza, Me, Kelly, Hannah, and Myra!

Me and Han on horseback !

Kelly was never happy with Silver in Sydney 2002

Cape Tibulation from the boat

coming into shore

The Rum Runner

The cape

Island on the Reef

The great barrier reef

Tiny beware of the Croc sign top left of sand dune

Cape Trib

Croc City

Mossman Gorge

Pi$$ed as.... with Goeffrey and Adelaide

The Gang

the after party

Lake Wabby

The Dunes

Alone in Lake Wabby

Drying off by the lake

Lake Wabby Sand Dunes

crossing the desert

Dingo

Camping it up

The gang at Indian head

Full Moon Rising

The beast !

Me

View from Indian Head

Morning Stroll

Cruising down Eli Creek

Shipwreck at sunrise

breaking through

6 am

Lake McKenzie

Me and Mike in Lake McKenzie

Rain Forest

Jungle Life

The Ferry...

Perfect Noosa

Noosa coast line

Koala in the tree

Me in the trees

Noosa Nt Park

Colin, Myself & Eliot

Main Beach

The first swim in 3 months

Maroochy River at sunset

Mooloolaba beach

The Sunshine Coast

Street life

Melbourne at night

Cafe at night

The river Yarra at night

Central Station

Elvis

Great Ocean Road

the Gang on the Great Ocean Road

on the beach on the Great ocean road

"the twelve apostles" Great ocean road

Elvis takes Kannara for a walk

Grrrrrr

Ice Bar with Kannara

Kannara, Kay and Sharm

Martin and Sharm at "Lentil as anything"

Middle of the road

Degraves street

Bourke street

Flinders Station

Carlton Park

St Kilda beach front market

St Kilda beach...Melbourne

the gang - Martin Sharm, Me, Kay, Elvis and Aurel

BUNGIEEEEE

Ready for take off

ACTION

....Lift off

camp fire

Punakaiki Sunset

Riding off into the sunset !

Me & Billy at lunch

Punakaiki Rainforest valley

River crossing

Rawhide !

Luging in Queenstown

...and its Rendell through the corner first

Pre Race Photo

View from above

Lake Wakatipu

Queenstown

on the way into QT

Queenstown...Lake Wakatipu

Kaikoura - 'Dolphin Friendly'

Dusky Dolphons

Appletree bay

Close up

Anchorage bay

The swim around the island

Frenchmans bay

Bark Bay - Paradise at last !

Diving around - Bark Bay

Bark Bay - Abel Tazmen Nt Park

Flying High !

Awsome !

Abel Tasmen Coast Line

In the Abel Tasmen water taxi

Split Apple Rock

Paddy on the high seas !

Village in the Mist

Early morning Punakaiki...Pancake Rocks

view from my tent

Camping in the rain forrest

Mirror Lake

West Coast sunset

Hokitika sunset

Top of the Glacier

Flying Kiwi on ice

Our Ice climbing guide

Take your pick

The Boys... on the rocks !

Ice cold !

Edge of the Glacier..getting cooler !!

The Fox Glacier

En route to the Glacier

Thunder Falls

The Finishing Post

The Final Morning

The sun rises over Routeburn Gorge

Bridal Veil Stream

Morning glory

Clear Skies

A wet Routeburn Gorge

We reached the hut !!

Crossing the waterfall

Rocky doorway

Hollyford Valley

Keep on trucking

Jp and Paddy...Arch enemies !

On the Milford Sound !

Carol, Cat and Jenna

Milford Sound

Sounds good !

Mitre Peak - Muilford Sound

Me Aniss and Paddy After the 12k downhill !

on the Homer tunnel down hill ride !

The Bikers !

Murchison Mountains.

River runing through Murchison Mountains.

the Backseat gang !

Fiordland National Park

Survived !!

Riding the grade 5 rapids

Full speed!!

steepest street int he world

Lunch

Dunedin

Moeraki Boulders

Rangitata

Early Doors

Rangitata sunrise

Christchurch

the River

Bushfire fairytales

Campfire

Fire starters

Football by the camp

The Beach !!

The Alps

Sunset crossing

Top Deck

Reflection of the sky tower

Me & James at the top of the Sky Tower

Me at the Sky tower

The Auckland Harbour Bridge (that I climbed)

The City at Night

The Harbour at night

Sky Tower

The City from Davenport

City of Sails

$80 down the drain in 5 secconds !

Windswept on the bridge

View from the harbour bridge

Harbour

Mauri carving....sky tower in background !

at the waterfront...if only

Sky tower at night

Reflections at night

Auckland

Tower at night

One tree hill

Mt Eden

Lightning vs fireworks

fire works and lightning storm

Kannara at Hillarys boat harbour

Stuck in a moment

The Diving Board

Me & Bobby @ Wave Rock

Greg Hasslehoff

"The Super Pit" Gold Mine

On the Scoop @ the goldmine

Digger at Night

Kalgoorlie

In the wild West

Kalgoorlie at dusk...cool at last

Kalgoorlie, Australia

Woddy island cruise

Beach side bike ride

Beach

Easy Rider Bus

Frenchmans Peak

Learning to body surf

Awsome Waves - Hellfire Beach

Lucky Bay

Hellfire Beach

View from Frenchmans peak (Cape Le Grande Nt Park)

Greg climbing Frenchmans peak

Esperance at dusk

Twilight cove

The pink lake - Esperance

Wave Rock

Greg showing us the way

Me and Bob at wave rock

Precious water @ the Wave rock dam

Stirling Ranges at night

Top of Bluff Knol

Bluff Knol

View from Bluff Knol

Stirling Ranges from Bluff Knol

Me and Bobby at the top

at the top

On the way !

Greg the monkey

Bluff Knol in Stirling Range

Tree top walk

its tough at the top

up top

up at the top

Brunch !

Greens Pool

Elephant Rocks

Dog Rock

Little Beach

Little Beach - Amazing !!

Little Beach - Albany

The Gap !

The Bridge

Mind the Gap

Albany

Dead Trees

Albany, Australia

Me at the blow holes

Denmark River

At the River

Up the creek

The Sea

Debs with new pal

Jo & Heather

Adam, Heather, Jo, Debs & Me @ Monkey Rock

View from Monkey Rock

get the kettle on

the gang

Me and Bobby at the winery...to early !

The River

the inlet

Amazing Beach

The Beach

Me and Bob on the tour !

another bloody beach

at the Beach

Gloucester tree

View from the top

Lucy, Me, Porcha & Duncan

the forrest in Augusta

More Forrest

Southern ocean to the left Indian ocean to the right !

Top of the world !

View from the lighthouse

Me and Kannara at two oceans point

Kannara's trusty tin can

Cape Luewin

the path to the beach

The bech

Surfers point

Hamlin Bay Wines

Hamlin Bay Beach

The Margaret River

"The Box" Surf spot

Some cheeky cove

Surfers Point

Debs, Adam & Heather

Bobby, Lauren, Ruth, Heather...off to catch some waves

Ruth, Heather, Lauren on xmas day

Debs, Me, Heather, Ads..no waves at the mo

Ester & Heather xmas day

the Gang in the 3 bears

everyone down the pub on my last night

the cape

Surfs up

Bob and Miko

Me and Bob !

Heather & Dave

Taku and Me

the kids in the hostel

Xmas dinner on the beach

Me and Adam catch a wave

Heather, Adam, Me, Bobby, Miko on xmas day

Everyone xmas day

Adam and Me ! on a wave

the coast

the cape..where we saw the Dolphins surfing the waves

Me Bobby and the girls !

Tree in Kings Park at Dusk

Perth at night from Kings Park

Kannara Vs the Magpie

Kings Park

The Park

City and Trees

The CBD

View From Kings Park

View from the clock tower over the Swan

View from the Clock Tower

City Centre

The Bell Tower

Park in the City Centre

Nemo

Some Fish

Reef Shark

Manta Ray

Me...looking like a Pro !

The Ningalo Coral Reef @ Coral Bay

Everyone getting stuck in at our BBQ

Chris.....putting another shrimp on the barbie

The Gang at Sunset

Sun set over Coral Bay

All the kids..

Denham Sunset

Pelican

The Dolphin I fed !!

Dolphins

Kalbarri Sunset

Me Snokeling

Where the river meets the sea

Blue Pools

Julie & Pascals Friends

The Gorges

Natures Window

At the Gorge

Z Bend Gorge

Rodeo

scarborough

Me at scarborough beach

Life Guards at the beach

Scarborough Beach

Boys at the Wedding

Kannara, Donna & Julie

Sunset on the Swan River

Julie and her Sister

Wedding

The Groom

Perth

Night Scene

Harbour Views

Amazing Tree

View from the peak

High Rise View