Tahiti on a Budget?

Tahiti conjures up images of azure seas and large expanses of coral and sealife. In one word: paradise. It's also quite remote and very expensive to reach, even if you live in New Zealand. And even after you've shelled out hundreds of US dollars for the return flight, the costs on the islands can be exorbitant. But according to Lonely Planet, it's possible to do French Polynesia on a budget. It's worth noting that the French Polynesian franc (XPF) is pegged to the euro at 1000 XPF = 8.38 EUR.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20120820-island-hopping-french-polynesia-without-breaking-the-bank

Sydney to Byron Bay

After taking care of a few last minute errands in Sydney like going to the bank and buying an esky, we set off north up the east coast. I've never owned a GPS device before so it was quite handy to have one to direct us how to get out of Sydney. Even as the city gave way to suburbs to farmland I still didn't feel like I had left Sydney yet. Maybe it's because I had literally just left my home for the last 12 months or because I still don't feel like a traveller yet, but regardless I still felt like I was at home.

The weather over the last few days has been less than ideal. On the way to Port Macquarie the weather alternated from cloudy with a few streaks of sunshine to torrential downpours. All of which doesn't make for comfortable driving when you're still getting re-acquainted with driving a manual transmission. The car is still full of red outback dirt from the previous owners but thankfully the odour has gone away. Port Macquarie itself is more posh than I imagined. There are international standard hotels and residences all around the waterfront. We parked up by the town beach, made use of the public barbie area to cook dinner, and then settled in for the night in the carpark. It's rather nice to fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing in the distance the smell of sea blowing in through the crack in the car window. And the rap music from the campervan parked next to us. '

After a morning surf and quick brekkie we headed up to Coffs Harbour to get new tyres and a general checkup done on the car. Since that took a few hours we explored the town a bit and decided to spend the night there. The beach just north of the jetty beach has an excellent surf break so I gave it a go. Almost was able to stand up on the new board (7' shortie) but in the end was unsuccessful. We found a commonly used area for overnighting on the south side of the jetty beach and spent night there, again listening to the sea. 

In the morning we woke up to see loads of cars pulling near us to look out at the sea. The night before there were loads of cars out there too, including a fire engine that was shining its search light at the rough surf. We couldn't figure out why but soon a local shouted out to us to have a look at the dolphins. There was an entire pod of dolphins not far off catching a few waves and playing. That was a wonderful thing to wake up to. 

It started raining again not long after so we took off for Byron, taking the coastal road via Ballina. Unfortunately a good chunk of it was being worked on but we still managed to get some nice views in. We made quick stops at Crescent Head and Lennox Head on the way up. Crescent Head has an amazing surf break but you've got to walk over some very slippery rocks to get to it. And it's not for beginners so I passed on getting in. Lennox Head has a beautiful long beach that is lined by very upmarket housing. It was raining all day so we didn't spend much time at either of them. 

The Great Aussie Road Trip

I resigned. My last day of work was on 14 March, 2012. Since then I've moved onto the air bed in the common room aka "the pit" and packed away all my belongings. In a 1970s second-hand suitcase which cost me a whole 8 aussie dollars I've deftly packed away about 21.5kg worth of footwear and clothes. The most important thing to remember when packing clothing is to roll everything up tightly to conserve space, not even my suit jacket was spared. In another bag are some odds and ends which I'll sort out before I leave Australia. Everything else is in a 25 litre daypack and a 74 litre backpack. Considering that I've been living here for a little over a year, that's not a lot of stuff.

Tomorrow Fintan and I will be driving up the east coast of Australia. We picked up a 1994 Toyota Camry off some French backpackers who very recently completed their travels. The car is in good shape but it looks like we'll need to replace the front tyres pretty soon as well as clean it out. One guy has been living in it for a couple of weeks now and even though he said he was showering daily the odour in the car doesn't reflect that... The Camry is a manual transmission so driving it today was pretty nerve racking since I haven't driven a manual since last Jan/Feb when I learned how. Considering the rain, darkness, and big city traffic I was surprised that I got back in one piece and only stalled two times. It's been a few hours but my heart rate is still above normal.

The plan is to drive from Sydney to Perth via the top end (appx 11000km) in about 8.5 weeks. I'm hoping to surf in Byron Bay, sail the Whitsundays, go off road on Fraser Island, dive or snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, see an outback sunset, bushwalk in Kakadu, swim with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, not get punched by a wild kangaroo, and not get bitten by a shark or croc. I'm sure there's plenty more to see and do but because of time and money we won't be able get to everything. We may not even get to Perth. Anyone ever seen the film Wolf Creek?

Cremorne Reserve, North Sydney

I finally got my road bike sent over to Sydney and went for a ride over the Harbour Bridge on Sunday. I didn't have any destination in mind but after looking at google maps for a while it seemed like the southern tip of Cremorne Reserve would have provide a great view of the harbour. What I didn't know was that the road leading there was full of hills. Wycombe Road is a massive hill and I had to stop a few times to rest my legs. After not riding for a year I really felt the burn! After a sweaty ride and a short stroll from the ferry landing to the tip, I found what I came for :

For those who aren't keen on climbing hills on a bicycle, Cremorne Reserve can be reached by ferry and bus. There's a children's playground, plenty of grassy areas, park benches, and a short nature walk through the reserve. 

My Australian Broadband Saga

When I told my mate Ariel back home that it took me 23 days to get my broadband connected her response was "where the f*ck are you? the jungle?". In terms of telecommunications, I may as well be in the jungle. I got free high speed internet in the middle of the Thai jungle; you'd be hard pressed to find free high speed in Sydney.

The main reason why it took so long to get hooked up is because of Telstra. They have a monopoly on all physical lines and has done a great job overcharging Australians as well as stunting the advancement of telecom technology in the country. As as result of this, the telecom situation in Australia is horrible. My provider TPG put in an order to Telstra to setup my phone line on 12 April, the day I ordered my broadband service. Telstra didn't respond till 18 April to inform TPG that the installation would be done on 28 April. There are two things that really bother me about the initial order:
1) It took Telstra 6 days to respond
2) TPG is perfectly fine with that fact that it takes Telstra 6 days to respond to an order

When I called to inquire why it was taking so long TPG had the audacity to tell me to call Telstra and find out what the hold up was. Hello! I'm not Telstra's customer, I'm yours!!! To this day, TPG has yet to respond to my written inquiry which I lodged back in April. TPG is not the only provider at fault here. It's like Telstra has them all in headlock that no provider can break free of. Everyone's scared of challenging Telstra. It's pathetic.

Finally Telstra did their bit and despite TPG's verbal guarantee that we would be connected on 28 April, we were NOT connected. What followed after this was me negotiating with TPG to get us connected. Seriously, I had to negotiate with them to get them to complete the installation job that they had already billed us for back on 12 April. I don't understand why no provider will take ownership and simply say "you do business with us and we'll guarantee that we'll connect you". It's such a simple concept that would easily make your business look more attractive and yet no one will do it. In Hong Kong it takes 1 day to get connected. In Bangkok it takes about 10 days. Sydney, 23 days.

While most travelers won't have to go through this ordeal, those with working holiday visas be aware if you get your own flat!

Vivid Light Show, Sydney

Video of skydive over Lake Taupo, NZ

Finally...here's the video from my skydive:

First World Country, Developing World Telecommunications

The telecom situation in Australia is appalling. Some things you can't help like the size of the country versus the population distribution. But seemingly simple things like setting up a landline are absolutely infuriating. I've done a bit of research and it's pretty obvious to me that there are 2 parties to fault for this sad situation, Telstra and the government. Telstra used to be the government owned national telecom company. Over the past 15 years or so Telstra was privatised in stages. The Australian government still owns a share in Telstra today. I can't say whether it was the craftiness of Telstra or the general failure of the government but today Telstra has a monopoly over all physical telecom lines. If you want a line setup, you have to call Telstra.

You would think that since the government owns a part of Telstra and the fact that Telstra has a monopoly the government would implement some oversight and regulatory authority over Telstra but that hasn't been the case. It seems that Telstra merely does whatever it wants when it wants. And due to this situation, Australia is extremely disconnected due to Telstra's monopoly and exorbitantly high rates. The government here has authorized billions of dollars to build out a national broadband network (NBN) with one of the big mandates that it connect over 93% of the Australian population. Telecoms were invited to submit proposals to win the bid to participate in creating the NBN. Telstra's proposal only included 90% of the population so they were not included in the final list of proposals that were accepted. Ever since then Telstra has been making moves to stall the NBN and screw over customers further by raising rates.

Telstra is known throughout the country for charging outrageous rates and having very poor customer service. They also have the most reliable service and best mobile coverage, however this mainly due to their monopoly and never-ending efforts to make it extremely difficult to use other service providers who are forced to use Telstra's lines since there is no other option. I really can't see why the government hasn't broken up Telstra's monopoly already.

I've been trying to get broadband access in my flat for weeks now and finally was able to one setup without having to contact Telstra. The order was put in on 12 Apr, our provider then requested Telstra to setup our phone line. Telstra didn't respond till 18 Apr and said the earliest they can setup the line is on 28 Apr. 6 days till Telstra responded only to say that they couldn't come for another 10 days! WTF! The fact that this is standard practice in Australia is downright appalling. I know people who live in developing countries who got their broadband lines setup in half the time.

Telstra, thank you for screwing over the Australian public and leaving the country's telecom infrastructure in a very sad state. 

Singapore to Sydney...The Long Way

Back in Hanoi in October I spent some time one day researching how I'd get from Singapore, where I planned on spending Christmas, to Sydney where I would spend the New Year. The straightforward thing to do was to fly directly to Sydney however this proved to be very expensive at around US$450 for a one way flight. So I did some digging and eventually found a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne for about US$195 followed by a flight from Melbourne to Sydney for US$102. Combined with the cost of transport from Singapore to KL I was going to save about US$100. The downside was that I was going to have to get from Singapore to KL by early evening, then take a redeye flight from KL to Melbourne, then spend about 4-6 hours in the airport before finally catching a flight to Sydney; total time in transit would be about 36 hours. Compared to an overnight flight direct to Sydney from Singapore it was a no-brainer...I would save the money and spend 36 hours to get to Sydney.

It all started with a bus ride and short walk to the unofficial bus depot. All the buses to KL departed from here and there were passengers everywhere. I would've rather taken the train (even cheaper than the bus when a return ticket is purchased in Malaysia) but it was fully booked. Passengers on my bus were told to check-in by 07:30 but there was quite a bit of anxious confusion since the check-in window for Starmart (I know, it sounds like a supermarket but it's actually a bus company) was closed until 08:00. Finally someone showed up and opened the check-in window. The bus was scheduled to depart at 08:30 but the actual time of departure was 08:50 and unfortunately we got caught in the massive traffic buildup at the border. The border crossing took over an hour because of the sheer volume of cars and buses. Once we crossed into Malaysia the going was pretty smooth.

We got caught in some more traffic as we entered KL but we eventually made it to the drop-off point in the middle of the city. I went back to the hostel I stayed at to store my bag and make use of the free wifi, got a meal, then got to KL Sentral station a bit too late to catch one of the many US$2.5 shuttle buses to the airport. Since I was in a rush I had to pony up and pay about US$33 to get a taxi to the airport. Very very upset about my timing error and about having to take the bus instead of the train to KL. Oh and I was in such a rush I forget to collect my change at the taxi stand. The only redemption was that the taxi driver did an excellent job and get me to the airport in time.

The flight was delayed for quite a while but we took off with no problems. Since I was flying on Air Asia, not even the water is free so I didn't eat or drink for the entire flight. However since it wasn't full I was able to stretch my legs and take up the seats around me. I landed in Melbourne at around 10:00 extremely tired, hungry, and thirsty. After passing through immigration I went to straight to Virgin Blue to check in for my flight to Sydney, scheduled for departure at around 17:00. I passed the time eating and watching movies on my netbook. After many hours of sitting on the floor next to a power outlet it was finally time to check in. Upon arrival in Sydney I collected my bags and then walked about 2km from the domestic terminal to the Mascot train station to save AU$10. The ride to the city from Mascot costs about AU$5 compared to AU$15 from within the airport. In the end, I didn't save as much money as my initial calculations predicted but I still saved a bit!

Numbers Numbers Numbers

# of Days Traveling: 263
Highest altitude: 5416m above sea level at Thorung La Pass, Nepal
Lowest depth: 18m below sea level at Koh Tao, Thailand
Longest plane ride: 13hrs from San Francisco, USA to Seoul, South Korea
Longest bus ride: 24.5hrs from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam
Longest train ride: 34hrs from Xi'an, China to Lhasa, Tibet
Most consecutive days without a shower: 3 during the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal
Longest time spent in one place: 2 weeks in Anjuna, Goa, India
Most consecutive benders: 4 in Koh Phangan, Thailand
Longest time in transit: appx 40hrs from Hampi, India to Bangkok, Thailand
Longest single day of trekking in km: 26km on the Abel Tasman Coast Track, New Zealand
Longest trek in days: 15 days for the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal
Fastest speed driving a motorbike: 90kph in Thailand
Fastest speed driving a car/van: 140kph in New Zealand
Consecutive days tubing in Vang Vieng: 2

Coincidence?

The day I flew into Christchurch on 5 Jan there was an earthquake which struck a few hours before I landed. It was a small one but everyone felt it. The day I left New Zealand on 22 Feb a massive earthquake struck Christchurch hours after I took off from Auckland. Strange coincidence?

Waiheke Island, New Zealand

Waiheke Island is a popular getaway for Aucklanders. It's a 35 minute ferry ride from Quay Street right along the harbor. The island's north shore boats several beautiful deserted beaches in addition to loads of wineries. Wine tasting tours are very popular. A return ferry + unlimited bus pass costs about 42 NZD. I went here for the day and spent most of my time over at Onetangi Beach, about 11km from the ferry terminal. The beach is picture perfect!

After some unsuccessful attempts at body surfing ( the wave breaks weren't really strong enough to do it right) we stopped at the beach cafe for a couple of cold beers and green-lipped mussels. These were the biggest mussels I've ever seen and surprisingly enough I was pretty full on just a dozen of them.

On the way back to the ferry we stopped off at the Saratoga Winery and had an express wine tasting for 5 NZD. It was express cause by the time we sat down we only had about 10 minutes till the next bus came along. If we missed that one we would have had to have waited about 1 hour for the next one. The tasting was good although because we did it so fast we couldn't savor the wines as much as we would've liked. Luckily for us we ran down the driveway and caught the bus we wanted and got to the ferry terminal in time for the sunset and the 8pm ferry back to the Harbour. The sunset was quite nice despite a low lying cloud coming in at the last moment. All in all a good day!

A Quick Glimpse of Queenstown, New Zealand

The Remarkables (mountain range)

The beach

Paragliders

Rotorua, New Zealand

Rotorua lies in a very active thermal area. Within the town itself are several natural hot pools, many of them located in Kuirau Park on the west side of town. A large portion (over 30%) of the population here is Maori and that fact is evidenced by the plethora of Maori cultural show offerings. It's possible to see a cultural show at just about any time of the day and evening. The evening shows also include a traditional hangi meal but they generally cost about 100NZD. Hangi meals are cooked using the steam from the natural hot pools. I opted to go for the more "authentic" show at Whakawerarewa Village located about 2km from the town centre. It's a living village which offers up tours and a cultural show for about 30NZD. Their commercial neighbor Te Puia costs about 60NZD and has a more polished look but in the end the geysers are the same. You literally see the same set of geysers from both Te Puia and Whakawerarewa so in my opinion I made the right choice by going with Whakawerarewa. Rotorua also has loads of mud pool spas and mineral water spas but being on a budget I decided to save my money since they can get quite pricey.

Kuirau Park

Tongariro Alpine Crossing, New Zealand

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is easily one of the best day walks in the world. You've probably seen its best known highlight Mount Ngauruhoe starring in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as Mount Doom. But there's more to this walk than tracing Frodo's steps. Starting just above 1000m you're already in an alpine climate zone devoid of any large plants. As you steadily hike up even higher vegetation all but completely disappears and all you see is a beautiful alpine landscape. Looming in the distance is Mount Doom and Mount Tongariro.

About 1.5 hours into the walk the turnoff for the Mount Doom summit track starts. The hike up to the summit takes about 2 hours and there is no well formed track. You can follow in other's footsteps or do your own route finding. I found out later that it's best to stay to your left going up and coming down. At the summit you're treated to a large volcanic crater and stunning views if the sky is clear. The clouds flew through the valley really quickly so it's worth spending some time at the summit if have it. It's also worth it to walk around the summit at least halfway so that you can get a nice view of the Emerald Lakes. The path down requires you to almost slide down a steep side of the volcano. It's much easier than it looks so long as you let the loose volcanic ash take you down.

The next bit of the track is flat then starts going uphill to the Red Crater. From near here you can either summit Mount Tongariro or carry on to the Emerald Lakes. I didn't have enough time to do the Mount Tongariro sidetrip so I carried onto the lakes. The view from above the lakes is really stunning and the path down is really steep. It's another slide down loose volcanic ash which I was used to by now.

After the lakes you come across the Mount Ruapehu Crater Lake. It's worth it to stop here for a look back at the Red Crater and Mount Doom. If the sky is clear you can get an incredible view of them lined up. It's truly breathtaking. From here the track climbs a bit up to a rest hut then steadily decends down below the tree line to the end point. This bit accounts for nearly half the track and I didn't find it nearly as interesting as the first half so I practically ran through it. The buses generally give you 8 hours to do the walk, which, if you walk quickly, is just enough time to summit Mount Doom and finish the track in time for your pickup.

Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand

Abel Tasman National Park is the most popular national park in all of New Zealand based on the number of visitors annually. The main draw are the excellent secluded beaches and range of outdoor activities available. The most popular of which are kayaking, tramping, and camping. The park is located about 1.5 hours from Nelson and there are numerous tourist buses waiting to take you there and back. Since I'm not much of a kayak person I opted to do the Coast Track. I arranged a water taxi to take me from the nearest town of Marahau to the beach Tonga. Since I had a car I had all day to do the walk from Tonga to the carpark at Marahau, a total distance of about 26km.

The track itself is mostly flat with a few hills and hugs the coast. I stopped off at just every beach and took a quick dip into the cool water which was really great after getting sweaty from tramping. The water this time of year is approximately 20C, which is really refreshing. The water taxi dropped me at Tonga at 10:30AM and got back to the carpark in Marahau at around 7:00PM. I could've gotten back sooner but I took my time at each beach soaking up some sun, enjoying the cool seawater and taking in the incredible views. All in all it was a great day and I would highly recommend a visit to anyone who's going to New Zealand's South Island.

Kaikoura, New Zealand

Kaikoura is a beautiful little town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The road into and out of the town hug the rugged eastern coast and has some very sharp turns. The town is famous for its abundant wildlife. There are several seal colonies within a few km of the town centre, all easily accessible by road. The main activities are whale watching via sea and air, swimming with dolphins, and swimming with seals. Since the former 2 are really expensive, I went for the seal swim (70NZD). It started with a quick drive to the seal colony then we walked along the coast to another colony and went into the water armed with snorkels, fins, and very thick wetsuits. The seals were very playful and warmed up to us immediately. They were zipping around us and were just as curious with us as we were with them.

The one thing in Kaikoura that is a must-do is the Peninsula Track. It's a 2-4 hour return walk from the town centre. It's a very easy walk and the views you get are simply stunning. If it's a clear day it'd be a shame to not do it.

Nugget Point, Catlins, New Zealand

I got really lucky when I arrived at Nugget Point with the weather. The sky was clear and beautiful and there was plenty of wildlife out and about as well. Nugget Point is located a few kilometres south of Kaka Point in the southeastern part of the Catlins region. Pictures are worth a thousand words so here they are:

Sea Lions

Loads of birds

Curio Bay, Catlins, New Zealand

Curio Bay is a small town in the Catlins region of the South Island in New Zealand. It's very remote and very beautiful. The scenic southern route passes right through this area. There are no stores nor any mobile reception in Curio Bay. The people who live here have to drive about 1 hour to the closes large settlement to buy groceries so it's important to stock up in Invercargill or in Balclutha before heading into the Catlins.

The main attraction here is the Fossilised Forest and the yellow-eyed penguins who live there. The penguins make their nests in the bushes bordering the forest and come out about 2 hours before sundown. You can see them emerging from the bushes and also coming in from the sea. The adults are quite tall at about 50cm and appear to be quite playful and social. They were practically posing for us!

Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand