Vegtibbles

Koalas, the getaway plan & a new start...

Vegtibbles — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

...

No worries mate, its bonza

Vegtibbles — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

So here i am, the 6th Capital city in so many months. Keep an eye out for when i get out my 'sight-seeing' mode and update this bloody thing! Wont be long now!

Thank god for Jebadia Springfield (see comment below) i have made a complete fool of myself by calling Sydney the capital of Oz**. It is, in fact (as everyone knows) Canberra. Please note i have been out drinking for 14 nights solid now and blame this for the lack of brain cells! Apologies if offense was caused xxxx

* Ive had a little time to think about this, and actually i have been to 6 capital cities in so many months... I dont believe i said Sydney was a capital! London being my first Capital - the day i left for my travels... So Jebadia, if you are reading, HAH i am right!***

** (see 2nd comment) Oh i have a follower, but not of the friend variety! Hope this little lot is entertaining you Jebadia (by the way, is your real name too good to put on the comment entry?)If you knew me or anything about my travels, then you would already know the last statement of travelling the east coast is again incorrect! Good luck with the 'travelling' of your own, maybe send me a link to your site so i can anazyse that? Have fun! xxx

Mother of god...

Vegtibbles — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The sunny sunny place of Christchurch, what a delightful city this is. And that is all i have to say on the matter...

ONLY JOKING!! Just havnt updated yet, blah bllah blah same old excuse i know

Whale done, you can fly a plane!

Vegtibbles — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Still a bit hungover from the week(s) drinking in Queenstown (my liver may never recover), Martin and I head off to Kaikoura via a quick stop at Lake Tekapo & Christchurch.

Now, i am already ashamed to admit that i wasn't even that bothered on coming to Kaikoura... But this has turned out the be one of the nicest places i have visited in New Zealand. For starters, we arrived early afternoon from Chirstchurch in an attempt to go Sperm Whale watching off the coast of Kaikoura - the Pacific Ocean. Unfortuantly luck was not in our favour and our trip was cancelled. Thus resulting in a blessing in disguise, when i have a bright idea... 'I want to pilot a plane'. To Martin's dispair (he knows about my driving skills, or lack there of) he reluctantly drove me to the nearby flight centre we drove past on the way in. In true Top Gun style, fully equipt with earphones and aviators, before i know it i am piloting a light aircraft over Kaikoura. I luckily managed to see some whales in the bay below, fly across to the mountains in the distance and pilot down into a valley over a very enjoyable half an hour. Tom, the 'co- pilot' decided to scare me by doing three almost full loops down into the valley - new underwear for Laura... Before i knew it, the experience was over and i am now one lesson closer to being able to pilot a plane of my own!

Note to self, possible job route once back from travels, see i am thinking about the future mum!

As if that wasn't enough fun for one day, we took a trip to the local winery where we sample some of the best Sauvignion Blanc in New Zealand in an underground cellar. Being a learner driver sometimes pays off, i got to sample all 12 of the wines on offer. An hour later and we are back at our new hostel, the Dusky Lodge for a sauna, Jakuzzi and a much needed Thai meal before bedtime and the following days adventures.

The next day we were successful enough to get onto the Whale watching cruise that was booked for the previous day. The 2 and a half hour cruise resulted in us seeing 5 Sperm Whales, a pod of Dusky dolphins, Albatros and seals which were breathtaking. Not content with just a morning on the sea, the afternoon was spent deep sea fishing. The local fisherman & pal took 4 of us out to fish for Blue cod, Sea Perch and Sharks. All were caught ( i do apologise for the fishing attire, but is it a crime to look good while fishing?), a star fish was plonked on my head followed by shrieks of utter amazement, and crayfish were collected to be taken home to cook. All in all a very good sea faring day.

To top off the day, i got to drive our small boat back to shore, mostly. These silly friendly people are putting their lives in my hands not knowing i have the co-ordination of a blind goldfish! Tsk!

So again, the health spa...Thai food and the days catch were eaten beside the pool in the very lovely town of Kaikoura. And i wasnt even going there!

Franz Josef Glacier (and more caves, yippee!)

Vegtibbles — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Thats right, more caves, climbing & cold! Extreme

Caving, climbing, abseiling, crawling.

Vegtibbles — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This is the start of something beautiful. The events that occur from the times 8:30 am - 2:pm on the second of September 2006 is the very beginning of what hopefully will be my new hobby. Thats right kids, its Caving. The definition of caving is simple: Climbing around in the dark & wet in a boiler suit, wellies and a head lamp & harness around natural caves, some of which dates back almost a million years old & some parts may never had been discovered before being entered by the group. Abseiling down a few 15 metre waterfall, crawling under, over and around tight rock spaces (sometimes under water to get to the next cave), swinging and dangling down sheer drops & climbing back up waterfalls is the long and short of the whole affair.

It was awesome, sweet as cous, no worries, the bees knees, effing brilliant & Jamaica!! (one for Pete).

The zorbing, Jet-boating, Rafting & falling down a 7m waterfall...

Vegtibbles — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This place is stinky

The band

Vegtibbles — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The band,

Queenstown (Party-town), will i remember a thing?

Vegtibbles — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Party capital of New Zealand, and they mean business. To rise to the challenge, i have gone out drinking for 7 days in a row. Its was an experiment, im not sure what the goal was yet... Minigolf, luging, sampling the highest canyon swing in the world, climbing & drinking were on the cards.

Batman, Robin & Batgirl

The meeting of many random people, a few Irish lads and an event that resulted in me getting back to my hostel at 1pm following a very good evening out.

Give it some Welly

Vegtibbles — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

What a lovely capital city Wellington is. Hold on, the internet money has run out. BBL = Be back later x

The famous four

Vegtibbles — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The beginning (another one) of the famous four adventures. This story, like many others, involves fishing, drinking, camping, Rugby and freefalling over the largest lake in NZ... OH yes, and the meeting of a band. Im now a goupie.

Road trip

Vegtibbles — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Tuesday the 15th of August was the birthdate of our collection of the 'Wicked' camper and the beginning of an interesting 'road trip'.

The night of six stories - Back end of Cuzco

Vegtibbles — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Veg is back, thats right, back. After just about completing the 5 day trek our thoughts turned quickly to letting our hair down & beer. Well, i say that as if we hadnt had a drop of the good stuff for 5 whole days, which isn~t actually true. What i mean to say is that we couldnt wait to get away from each other and back into civilization... This entry really should be attached to the previous one, but so much happened that night it has been upgraded to an entry of its very own.

Farewell South America...

Vegtibbles — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In a nutshell...

Favourite food in South America: Empanada
Items lost/stolen: SD memory card, white cardigan, memory card reader, turbie towel, camera (twice) but found both times.
Place that will be most missed: Machu Picchu
Items purchased: Where do i start bowler hat, dvds, souvineers* 1000s of postcards, 2pairs of trainers, spiderman pillow, pashmina*
Favourite saying: Besame* (kiss me)
Spanish words learnt: Besame* (kiss me), Con Calme* (easy tiger), banos* (toilet), quesiera* la quenta por favor* (could i have the bill please), perdon (sorry), comes das* (how are you), Quanta es*? (how much is this)
Snow-capped mountains sighted: Shit loads
New hobbies: Horse-riding, drinking beer, partying hard, surviving on no sleep
Funniest quote: i am very unhappy about this situation
Most random event: The night of six stories, Pisac
Outfit of the continent: Has to be the Pashmina
Favourite mode transport: Snow Mobile
Scariest event: Bus journey from Potosi to La Paz
Favourite country: Bolivia
Friends made: Too many to speak of, special mentions to Philippa, Andrew, James, Stefan, Hoar (Nick)...
Tune of South America: Hips don't lie, Shakira (not by choice, it was just overplayed).

I did not learn how to spell on this trip. Sorry mum & dad & Mrs Crocker (English teacher from school)

So our flight from Cuzco to Santiago via Lima went to plan. All of us on edge as we know what we are like with flight dates. Looking forward to a good day out in Lima turned out to be a let down and ended up surfing the net, eating cake and watching Pirates of the Carribean 2 on a proper screen. The flight was quite pleasant, the 12 hr wait from the previos flight wasnt, but the less we talk about that the better. We arrived back in Santiago at 1am, not thinking to book any accomodation for our last three nights in South America and end up walking the streets for around an hour with my 100kg bag barely hanging from my shoulders. Spotted a few drag queens, but the lack of sleep from our escapades left me cross rather than amused by the men/she's attire. Naturally Tuesday, Wednesday and even the day of our flight were spent shopping for the final crappy gifts to send home.

I managed to upset a shop assistant at the Falabella department store, when rudely i asked if i could have a plastic bag without purchasing anything. I know, how rude of me to ask such a ridiculous question on such a lovely Wednesday afternoon. The assistant proceeded to call her manager over and discuss the situation she was in, who in turn curled up his nose and denied me of the luminous carrier of joy. You can tell i was gutted. Still hurts a little now, so ill say no more.

All in all, apart from my total lack of Spanish vocab & ability to read a street map we managed to end our visit to South America in one piece. Once at the airport, after a three way hug with the boys & a few more purchases from the gift shops, we said our final farewell to our Spanish experience. This place was absolutly awesome.

I want ´that day´ back.

Vegtibbles — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Im not liking the idea that we leave South America on a Thursday, and arrive in Auckland NZ on Saturday morning. This means, for those of you sharp enough to work it out, that i have lost a whole day of my life crossing the date line. As i was not really aware of this before i bought my STA round the world ticket, i feel somewhat robbed of 'a day in the life'. I do feel very unhappy with this situation, but i am told that i get to collect the hours back as i work my way back to the UK. Phew. So keep an eye out by the end of this trip for bonus hours of fun that should have been here. Enough waffling done,

The climax, Salcantay Inca Trail

Vegtibbles — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

So, here we are. Only 10 days left in South America and what better way to end it than a 5 day excruciating Salcantay trek, climaxing at the grand Machu Picchu ruins. It starts tomorrow, the 31st July, so ill update the blog (and the rest, tsk) upon my return. The thought of another 5 days without a wash and camping in freezing conditions excites me so much, i can hardly contain myself.

Bowler hats VS Boaters? The Peruvian experience

Vegtibbles — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

I miss fashion, so i was glad to notice on my bus journey crossing from Copacabana in Bolivia to Puno in Peru, that the Bolivian/Peruvian ladies enjoy different types of hats. Im going to look into the reason for each selection of hat, being so random im sure i wont be disappointed by the result of the research. Bolivian women go for the bowler hat perched on the very tip of the head (much like Mr Benn), im still very interested how they get their has to stay on as there is no evidence of a clip or glue. Another avenue of research maybe. The Peruvians prefer the more casual boater.... These are the kind of questions that float around my mind in an attempt to pass time on the oh so horrfic ordeals i call public transport. A far cry from the full Cama bus mentioned in previous blogs.

Jungle Boogie - The Amazon Rainforest

Vegtibbles — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Do you know the song by Kool and the gang? I dont know what jungle they were talking about, but it certainly wasnt the one i was in.

To infinity...AND BEYOND!

Vegtibbles — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Not content on visiting the southern-most city in the world, i thought it best to fit in the Highest Capital City in the world. Now ive done this (arriving in La Paz in the early hours of Sunday), what can top this? Youll soon find out...

Champagne Backpacker, whats wrong with looking good in the desert?

Vegtibbles — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Sorry guys, ive been really slack with the blog updates. Hopefully i will have ample time to fully update my previous blogs tomorrow, so look forward to that! Love to you all xxx