Airport

22 Mar 2007. Curt flew out late last night ...so we thought that lots and lots and lots of drinks were needed. Hence a very drunken check in....
Curt and I worked out some interesting dates, it was our 18mth anniversary the night he left, also 18mths to the day that he flew on exactly the same flights to leave Melbourne.
I miss Curt so much already...sigh.......assistence

Leaving Drinks

Leaving Drinks - Curt's Last Post

Guess the time has finally come for me to Depart. I'm off to London for a week to catch up with friends before I head on over to Santorini, Greece to manage a Juice bar for six months.
I'm Really going to miss Celia on a massive level and it is hard to leave her after we have spent the last year and a half having a fantastic adventures in so many countries.
Ill leave you with some Pictures from my leaving party in Melbourne, thanks so much to Deano, Rob and Fran for putting up with the both of us for so long, we really appreciate you guys giving us a room. Come to Greece.
For those in Australia - ill see you when I see you next, for those in the UK - Pints G'day.

See ya soon.

Sky Diving - Wanaka

Sky Diving - Wanaka - Curt's View


I wanted to go Bungy Jumping off the the highest Jump on the south Island Nevis Wire (143m), but Celia had other ideas. To help her on the quest to get better, she thought that Jumping out of a small Plane at 12000 feet would help, I had to agree.

So for a mere $270NZ we did, at a place called Wanaka (1 hour out of Queenstown). We where originally going to go in Queenstown but decided against it with company's there because all there advertising seemed a bit of a wank with lines like "embrace the fear". What a load of bollocks.

So we drove up to Wanaka and headed for a great little family owned and operated company called Skydive Lake Wanaka (www.skydivenz.com). The guys that you jump with where great, really relaxed (although they do 17/18 jumps a day) and made us feel very comfortable and excited.

Celia opted for a DVD filmed by the guy she was attached too for a little extra money, I on the other hand chose to be a tight ass. However my guy was a ginger and since gingers have a special relationship he said he would film for me anyway, get the DVD made up and if I liked then i could by it. On the way out to the plane, he told me that the boss wasn't in today and maybe if I didn't tell the girls at the front counter, he could get it for me half price. I thought - why the hell not, (you got to reward the guy for trying to make a buck)


Well there's not much to tell about the actual skydive that you cant now see from the DVD. So we have put them on Youtube and the links are below.

Oh this picture is off my feet and how I had to tape my thongs on.

Check out Curt's Jump
Check out Celia's Jump

Land of the Long White Cloud

New Zealand , March 2007 Celias View

So its March. In Australasia. Curt and I are desperate to get away for 10days to some little tropical island but unfortunately everywhere and I mean everywhere is raining.

Fiji? In the middle of a cyclone. Hawaii? 7 day forecast of thunderstorms, Darwin, Cairns, Whitsundays? Rainy season. Soloman Islands, New Caledonia? Pretty much closed for the season.
So in the end we turn our eyes to somewhere a little different. Which is how we ended up in Christchurch on New Zealands South Island last weekend.

I was a bit worried about the flight but it went perfectly and we arrivied late into a little tiny toy town which is Christchurch. We had a cruisy day, hanging in the park nothing amazing, eating yummy food before we picked up our car and heading west to Glacier country.

This scenery was incredible! Seriously...we have both been blown away by the sheer size of the mountion ranges we have passed through and how incredibly beautiful and untouched they are.Parts of the scenery reminds me of Canada but its even more empty, more stark.

One cool thing we discovered about the South Island is that its pretty much devoid of any kind of animals but that there used to be a bird, a flightless bird here that was 3.5m high and used to just graze in paddocks like a cow.

I have spent almost the entire trip so far wishing it was still alive and that I could just look out the window at huge crazy looking birds as tall as houses hanging out and fighting each other. Way better than cows.

Hokitika and a special symbol....
On our way down in into Glacier country Curt and I passed through Hokitika which is famous for its jade and bone maori carvings. We bought each other the maori design, Koru, which is a single twist Jade carving.

In the Maori culture , the Koru symbolises " the joining together of two people for eternity. Even though they sometimes move away from each other on their own journeys, they will always come together again sharing their lives and blending to become one. It tells how the strength of bond of friendship, loyalty and love will last forever"

ICE CLIMBING IN SOME SERIOUSLY HIDEOUS CONDITIONS

Being complete amteurs and slack backpackers, Curt and I hadn't even considered the weather when we signed up for a Ice trek on the Franz Josef Glacier. The Franz Josef Glacier is a very strange , very cool glacier on the the south islands west coast. Its huge and basically runs all the way from very tips of the snow capped southern alps right down to the temperate rainforest where the little town of Franz Josef is.

Now to get some idea of the scale we are talking about here, take a look at the picture on the right.

You can just make out the little people trekking up the glacier yes?

Well if you look directly behind then theres a brown patch, then another brown patch and then a lighter grey patch? The lighter grey patch is about twice the height of the Eiffel tower

So the glacier is big but its cool and we were both looking forward to trekking up it. We had decided against the helicopter rides to the top and had settled for a simple 4 hour climb. We geared up , got used to our spiked shoes and gathered behind our guide and her big ice pick. By this time it had already started to rain but we stupidly thought it would pass. NO such luck. It bloody well rained and by rained I mean a non stop thunderstorm for the entire 4 hours we wandered over the ice. The conditions were so bad that it meant every two steps took ten minutes as the ice was extremely slick and dangerous and there was also a really nasty wind coming in.

So basically kids, Glacier very cool and all, saw some amazing caves and shelves but being rained on for four hours, moving four inches every ten minutes and having ice and hail blow into your eyes and being basically freezing is pretty damn hideous !

Somewhere around the third hour when all the people who had gone on longer hikes then us were being pulled off the mountion early Curt and I were started to get very very frustrated. We were making up chants more or less to the tune of get us off the f**king ice. About this time, this mad gush of black water starts surging down from a waterfall high on the canyons side. Something higher up had been dislodged in the storm and was sending this huge rush of black water down the slope. This meant we couldnt go back the way we came as it was now a river....which meant ..thats right kids...more time on the ice!

We finally made it down and back to our sauna blessed hostel and got straight into red wine, hot punpkin soup and lying around in bed.

Tassie home of the brave

Tassie home of the brave - Curt's View

Cant say we were originally planning on putting this part of the trip up, since most would not consider it traveling, and of course it is Tassie. But anyway - We went to Tassie for a week to catch up with the family and rest our failing feet. It was very nice to be put up by Celia's parents at their house, after India/Mumbai it was great to have our own space and room.

Good to see all the family(s) and since nether of us have meet the others parental units, we were long over due for a Roast Dinners and BBQ's. Like anyone who has family in Tassie will tell you, you spend all your time catching up with old Friends and Family and relaxing sort of falls to the the bottom of the list. But we did manage to do both for once.

So here are a couple of photos with catch ups and dinners.

Truly the most liveable city in the world!

Celias View Melbourne Feb 2007

I love Melbourne ......I always have and although I've been to many very very cool cities ( New York, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Istanbul, Bombay, Seattle and of course Londres are probably my favourites) I've never really found a place as instantly liveable as Melbourne.

Something about being able to walk to the city from any cool inner city suburb, through huge parks, to be able to have your pick of literally hundreds of great bars, restaurants, cafes, clubs, to be able to catch cabs anywhere because they cost absolutely nothing and to be able to hang out with your friends as much as you like cause they all pretty much live around the corner. Melbournes not a little city, its bigger than Rome or Barcelona but it feels like a completely manageable size. Just big enough to be interesting....not big enough to be annoying, have traffic Jams or be too expensive.

Actually that last bit is a lie...Melbourne has become disgustingly expensive, espcially rental properties and alcohol but aside from that I stand by everything else!

And Melbournes been pretty kind to us , I found a job on my second day there without even looking ( Working on STAS website in Faraday St in Carlton with one of my best friends from London) and Curt went straight back to The Croft to fill in some weekend shifts behind the bar.
We also loved a few weeks of money for nothing courtesy of the Australian government. Perfect for settling in for summer!

We've had less luck with houses , moving between Emma Bs, Adeles, Bonnie and Aarons and finally Deano, Frans and Robs but I've finally decided to move in with Bonnie and get our own place.

Aside from that we've had some wicked parties, Daves 24th Birthday at Prudence ( where I seemed to see heaps of people I hadnt seen in forever including Eyal my whole inspiration for travelling in the first place and Robbie Harkness who was there on a complete coincidence) Rohs birthday in Fawkner Park complete with never ending botchi, The opening of the new Yelza with Bonnie and Aaron, A boozy weekend to welcome Netty back to Australia with her and Cam The St Kilda festival weekend and best of all Curts 26th Birthday which we had at La La Land......but he can tell you about that...................


Curts View- Melbourne
La La Land and Birthday 2.6

Well not much to say on the subject of Birthdays, It was a quiet one with just a few friends with outjobs and no money left from traveling.Surprisingly there are a lot of people back. But here are a few Pics for you guys that are not yet back in the country. The older you get the less there is to say on the matter.

THE LAND OF OZ...SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Perth Jan18th 2006 Celias View

So we make it back to Australia. Almost three years for me....about 18months for Curt.
Its not quite the entrance I was expecting, several months too early and on a complete different side of the country then planned.

But thats travelling, thats what makes it interesting....
Just to make it different we have flown into Perth, a city neither of us have ever been to.
Out lovely friends from India, Ben and Bianca have offered for us to come and stay with them for a few days. They turn out to be seriously cool hosts, completely fun to be with and so generous lending us cars mobile phones even snorkelling gear.

This turns out to be fantastic as they show us all around the Perth that they know and have grown up with. We love Bens parents who are completely comforting for me since Im sick and a bit miserable and we really like Perth.

More like a huge friendly town than a city, Perth is home to quite seriously the coolest beaches I've seen since travelling. Just long stretches of empty white sandy beaches. Admitedly the sea is a lot colder than we have gotten used to in Asia but its empty and clean!

We spend the next few days having dinner with ben and bianca and one day exploring nearby Rottnest Island by bike. This is a cool island off the coast of Perth where no transport other than bikes are allowed and its beautiful. We try snorkelling which is crystal clear but freezing cold.

We also spend a boozy afternoon at a local vineyard where we get introduced to well...a genuine Aussy...lets put it that way....
He was gearing up for Australia Day and the proud owner of the tattoo below...

What more can I say?

Rottnest Island - Curt's View Jan 2006

Well what can you do in Perth or Fremantle for that matter? Check out Roti the locals love to talk it up.
Having just spent 2 and a bit months on the SE Asian beaches, we did not expect much to come home too in OZ, but I have to say this Island contains some off the most beautiful beaches I have ever been on. Not only that, they are untouched and deserted as well. The water is the most amazing shade of blue/green and if it was not for the wind, there would have been some excellent snorkeling action as well.

Unfortunately the wind and the sun did end up getting the better of us and caught us out nicely painting us both a bitter shade of red for the next week.
The only real way to see most Rottnest Island is to hire Mountain bikes and get stuck in. Now we are not the fittest people on the planet but it was very manageable to get around.

After spending most of the day checking out various beaches and Celia did end up doing a bit snorkeling we headed to the bar for the locally brewed Little creatures. Cracking day in the Sun and a nice way to work our way back into AUS.

Oh and a Big thanks to Bens Parents and Ben & Bianca for letting us crash, drink, cook and wash in your home. Cheers.

A touch of Class and the return to OZ…

It’s no easy journey to get to the Land of Oz from India the land
Of roundabouts.
Everything that you do in India must be done in
a roundabout back the front sort of fashion. Curt calls it the land of opposites
because you have to think back the front to enjoy it.

Therefore I suppose it makes sense that we had to bribe someone to actually be able
to buy tickets to Singapore and it involved a mad bus ride downtown, some baksheesh and complicated transferal of funds.

But we did it and then suddenly , all too quickly we found ourselves
No longer in India but in the picture perfect, cardboard city of Singapore.
It didn’t help our arrival in Singapore that I was strung out on valium and Curt was horribly drunk or that we both simply didn’t want to be there and wanted to be in India still desperately. But what did help was the rather lovely five star hotel we had booked to ..you know …ease the pain.
God Damn. Showers! Endless hot water. A huge bathtub that needed to be soaked in several times by me.
What also helped was some serious shopping on Orchard Rd, at the Singapore outlet for Topshop, which helped ease the pain of not returning to London as soon as I had hoped.Several hundred singaporan dollars later and we were feeling much better.
What helped even more than that was the seriously kind offer of Ben and Bianca our lovely friends from Christmas in Gokarna to come and stay with them.