Southern Hemsiphere...LET'S SEE YA!: June 2012

10 - Part of that world :)

April 2012

The super incredible thing I did in Thailand for 3 days?

SCUBA DIVING!

Claire and I now have our PADI open water diving qualification.

Thailand is probably the cheapest place in the world to learn to dive, so Claire and I figured 'when in Rome' (or Thailand, as the case may be).

So we spent 3 days learning a heap of technical stuff about diving, practising in the pool and doing tests in the classroom.

We also did 2 beach dives and 2 dives at a place called Sail rock, which is arguably the best dive site in the gulf of Thailand.

I was blown away by the beach dive, it's so calm and beautiful down there, no one can talk to you and you just SEE.

I saw a clown fish and its baby playing in an anemone ... I actually saw Marlin and Nemo :)

It felt like a whole new world..

As I said I was totally blown away by the beach dives, but they were nothing in comparison to our dive at Sail Rock!! After a pretty sketchy start on the boat - it was VERY stormy and I was sick twice - we got all our gear on and jumped in. It was so rough on the surface but as soon as we were under the water it was a different story.

As cheesy and cliche as it sounds, I actually felt like Ariel from the little mermaid. There is so much to see and so many colours, and so many fish just swimming right by you, close enough to touch!

Sail Rock has a natural 'chimney' in it, where you can enter into the middle of the rock and swim right up to the surface. Being such a Disney fan, it felt like that's where the inspiration came from for Ariels' grotto - where she keeps all her 'gadgets and gizmos'.

Scuba Diving in Thailand was one of the best activities I have ever done, bring on the Great Barrier Reef!

The 'Chimney'

9 - Khop khun kha Thailand, I had a blast!

April 2012

And so it was time to live New Zealand ... only temporarily of course! My destination? THAILAND.

I met up with Claire in Auckland, and stayed with her for a night. For a huge portion of her time here in New Zealand she lived with 2 lovely women called Helen and Lucy, who knew her mum from England. They are very hospitable and had me to stay a couple of times.

Claire and I had no real plan for Thailand, we booked a couple nights accommodation in Bangkok for the first 2 days, but beyond that we were just going to see what happened ...

We flew to Thailand with a brief airport stop in Kuala Lumpur.

On arrival to Bangkok, we managed to hail down a Tuk Tuk (typical transport, in Bangkok anyway) and after having a chat with a dude, we headed to the International Booking Office to see about what we fancied doing.

We decided on Southern Thailand, to an Island called Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand. The overnight coach, return ferry rides, hotel transfer and 7 nights accommodation cost us the equivalent of 97 GBP. Honest.

We made the most of our time in Bangkok, although I quickly decided it wasn't my kind of place. We visited the Palace and a lot of temples, ate some wonderful food and were regular visitors to Khao San Road - the main 'backpacker' street.

Bangkok was busy, dirty and a bit overwhelming. Our lack of Thai knowledge probably made it harder too, and as much as I am very glad I visited, I'm in no rush to get back.

Southern Thailand on the other hand ... Wow.

After one heck of a wait for our overnight bus (which arrived 3 hours late to pick us up ... I genuinely though we had been scammed!) a ferry ride and a hotel transfer, we arrived at our accommodation in Koh Phangan: A resort named Hacienda, run and owned by an English guy called Dave.

When we booked, we asked for basic accommodation. Basic is not the word!! It was a shed on stilts. With a bed, a mosquito net and a toilet and cold shower out the back. Claire was not impressed in the slightest, but after a couple of days we both actually really enjoyed it :)

Koh Phangan is one of 3 main Islands in the Gulf and it is just so beautiful.

There was a night time food market on every night and MAN WAS IT INCREDIBLE. I think it was my favourite place.

Claire and I grew fond of a place called Blue Vanilla which served delicious fresh fruit smoothies for less than 1GBP...

I could actually write a whole blog on my food experience alone, but I wont. What I will say is that I had a wish granted when I was able to eat an authentic Thai green curry. And it was all I ever dreamed of! :)

We lay by the beach, swam, read books and explored. We spent 3 days doing something unbelievable but I'll save that for another post.

We did a days tour with an awesome guy called Hans, where we did a jungle trek, played in a waterfall, visited some very special temples, had a fabulous lunch and went for a snorkel at Koh Mah beach.

The 2 weeks were up far too quickly, and I was very disappointed to be leaving after having such a great time.

Over the holiday, obviously I spent a lot of time with Claire. She is such a funny person, and I hope to see her when we have both finished our current adventures.

Thailand was such a cool place to go to, and I cannot wait to go back!

Our first Tuk Tuk ride

Khao San Road

My first Pad Thai (first of MANY)

The Grand Palace

In the Palace

Claire ... :)

Feeding the pigeons!

Our 5 star accommodation...

Koh Phangan at night

Thai green curry ... <3

The beach

THE most delicious food I have ever eaten.

The sign says it all really ...

Me, Hans and Claire

Claire and I

I spent the majority of our days doing this while Claire complained at me for being antisocial!

Playing in the waterfall pool in the Jungle :)

8 - Queenstown to Auckland ...

End of March 2012

While in Queenstown I met up with Isabel and Therese, and I also met Emily and her parents who were over on Holiday. It was so good to see them all :) It's interesting how quickly you consider new friends to be good friends.

So my new friend Eve left Queenstown (and Lizz was absolutely broken hearted, they had spent the last 10 months together!) and then I left to continue my Stray travels.

I headed down South, visiting Invercargill, Bluff, Te Anau, Gunns Camp in the Hollyford Valley and the incredibly beautiful Milford Sound.

Milford sound is possibly my highlight so far. Words and pictures just don't do it justice.

I stayed in an awesome place called Gunns Camp in the cutest little building, It reminded me of a farm house from the 1940's ... It was almost enough for me to whip the red lippie out :)

After my Southern loop I headed back to Queenstown for a night and Stayed with Lizz, who was all settled with a job and a house, only to carry on my trip back up the East coast of the south Island, and eventually back to Auckland.

On the way up I stopped at Mount Cook (which I never actually saw due to the clouds!), Rangitata, Christchurch, Kaikoura, Wellington, Taupo and Rotorua.

In Wellington I bumped into Andrea, my boss from the bar in Stratford. We had a wander around together and a good catch up. I spent St. Paddys night in Wellington, with 2 dutch boys, first at a rugby game and then in the bars. I had such a great time with them.

In Rototrua I met up with a gentleman that I had met previously on Stray, and we went for a yummy dinner. Everyone is in the same boat, and so you're never short of company hsould you want it.

The amount of people you meet and bump into is weird! New Zealand has a small population anyway, and the route of travellers is often the same, so it's no surprise really, but it's still weird when it happens!

I met some wonderful people on this leg of my journey, and generally just had a fabulous time seeing more of New Zealand.

I had a couple of nights in Christchurch, which was a really great city. They are definitely making the best of a bad situation, and I learnt a lot from the local museum.

What a whirlwind few weeks that was!

I got back up to Auckland on 21st March, and checked into a hostel. Adam had travelled down to Auckland from the Northland, so I waited for him at the hostel. It was so so so exciting to see him again!

I also met up with Therese and Cate from Paihia which was also lovely :)

So after a couple of nights in Auckland it was time to pack my bag for Thailand.....