Over and Out

The final day has arrived and it feels how I expected it to feel. It has been quite an unbelievable journey over the three months (four including India), and will be unrecognisable to life in England, which is good to really appreciate it. To be good things must come to an end otherwise they would not have been a good thing. ("Death is the best invention in life" - Steve Jobs.) And they say "time flies when you're having fun", but this journey felt nice an epic both in duration and stature. I don't think time can really run away from you if you focus on this moment, since at any time it is only this moment that exists. The world may run dynamically through this moment, but the concept of this moment can be seen as static. I have found time goes slower that way. And I like it. 

That being said, this morning I listened to a couple of songs that have recurred during the trip and I began the reminiscing! I am very grateful to circumstance that I got the opportunity to experience what I have experienced. Over the last few days a couple of people at the hostel asked me what the highlights of my trip were, and without thinking much I came up with Tongariro Crossing (trying not to fall in a live volcano), Ayers Rock (trying not to pass out from dehydration), the night dive at The Great Barrier Reef (seeing sharks by torchlight), and The Full Moon Party (surviving that second bucket). Danger is the theme here! 

Through my experiences, sightseeing and learnings in the last four months, I think I have attained what I wanted to achieve on this trip. A couple of days ago I was able to sit and do nothing for two-and-a-half hours waiting for a train, entirely calm and happy. Now this is on the back of a hectic few months and I am yet to prove it to myself in 'normal' conditions, but it does exhibit some of what I believe I have learnt during my trip: depend on nothing material for contentedness. This may make no sense without explanation, and probably will still make no sense even then. 

Staying largely in the hostel for these two days in Bangkok has highlighted the traveller community and the hostelling element that I really liked throughout my trip. "The traveller" is a different people to those in the real world: he/she is relaxed, very friendly, adventurous, and goes with the flow whatever it may be. That is generalising a little too far, but I was a big fan of such people that did make up a large proportion of the people I met. It has opened my eyes to a new world of people!

It has been fun. (I wonder if I will now continue to narrate my life?) Thanks for tuning in. Goodnight and Godspeed. 

xoxo 

The Grand Palace

Okay so I lied in my last post. I remembered some advice given by a poster in New Zealand (see attached photo). I did a little exploration in the direction of the ferry to the Grand Palace, and saw no signs of carnage! My journey was not cut short by Suthep (the protest leader) and his clan. The Grand Palace (the home to Kings and the government between 1782 and 1932) was richly ornate and resembled a series of giant temples. It was architecturally impressive and I am glad I went for it, but after seeing what I have seen (particularly the temples in Chiang Mai and the Nizam Palace in India), I was by no means blown away by this must-see attraction of Bangkok. 

State of Emergency

Interesting. A State of Emergency has just been declared in Bangkok in accordance with the escalation to violence of the anti-government protests! There have been a couple of explosions and a few night-time shootings in the last week since the 'shutdown' in Bangkok begun. No one knows whether the violence is by the so-called 'corrupt' government or from the protestors' side. The State of Emergency means that the police can arrest people without charge, ban group gatherings and make certain zones off-limits. The last time I read the words 'State of Emergency' was in Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom! 

I was always planning on keeping a low profile for these final two-or-so days in Bangkok, but I think I shall now just hide out in the hostel (beside collecting my suit)! Luckily, the hostel is exceedingly nice for a Thailand budget accommodation and there seem to be friendly people here. According to the reports and people's experiences, most tourist areas are unaffected, but I believe it is not worth the risk on the final day of my travels! It only really means not seeing the Grand Palace, and I think I have already seen more spectacles than I can absorb during this travelling spree anyway! 

Diving Koh Tao

(Written 18/01, 18.10)

After a nasty ferry ride over, on which many people chundered everywhere, I arrived at Koh Samui to Ban's Diving Resort. It is like a little village of divers, and it seems this part of the island (Sairee beach) is just full of dive centres! I actually felt quite strange here at first having been in a very personal and homely guesthouse in Koh Samui where I knew everyone to being the loner! 

I had my two dives this morning, and I can see why Koh Tao is such a popular diving area! The first dive (where we hoped to see a whale shark!) was not so spectacular, but the second one rivalled the Great Barrier Reef. With vast numbers of big and colourful fish, and seemingly fluorescent coral, it was quite the underwater habitat! 

(Written 20/01, 13.06)

I have really enjoyed my stay on Koh Tao. The whole place is just full of dive schools, and bars and cafes on the beach. In the dorm I met three cool Aussies, a Canadian and a Swede to form something of a crew for these last couple of days - pretty entertaining bunch! I went for probably my final hike of the three month trip to find a mountain-top viewpoint at the southernmost point of the island. The walk was pretty dirty down the main road until I reached the mountain when it suddenly became challenging, but highly picturesque. However, I think my main of Koh Tao will be sitting on beanbags on the beach, sipping a Chang beer and being entertained by people playing with fire (once more)! 

Islands and Fire

(Written 16/01, 12.51pm)

Having seen so many magical things in the last two months or so, I think Thailand is going to serve a very different purpose in my travels. Koh Samui is a great island with a nice beach to relax on - exactly what I wanted to slow down the back end of my travels. I do not seem to tire of sitting on that beach in the stormy weather. The owners at Penzy guesthouse, where I am staying, treat us like their kids! Now I have only seen two islands so far, but to me Thailand is all about the islands.

The Full Moon Party was everything I expected and wanted: lights, fire and music on the beach! I made some nice Dutch friends at the guesthouse, which meant I was not a total loner at the party! The whole event was a lot of fun, from the guesthouse pep talk to the bumpy speed boat rides in the dark (to and from Koh Pha Ngan) to finding myself safe and sound this morning! I liked it a lot. 

I seem to be verbalising (but luckily not vocalising!) all of my thoughts these days. I am not sure if I always do that and it is just that I have noticed it now, or it is because I have done much less talking than usual in the last twenty days! Let's see when I get back.

On to the small island of Koh Tao tomorrow for a few days. It is meant to be special for diving, so hopefully will see some cool things beneath the surface!

Onwards & Southwards

(Written 13/01, 09.00) 

My final two days in Chiang Mai involved further temple visiting and enjoying food! I did not mention the famous Chiang Mai night bazaar before, but I found myself there on a couple of occasions. With bright lights and sections of different styles, it was one of the more impressive markets I have seen on my travels! Yesterday I took the iconic Chiang Mai red-taxi-come-shuttle-bus to Doi Suthep, a temple at the top of a mountain. It was majestic, big and very golden! Contrasting to what I expected, it seems Buddhism (in Thailand) has fallen into the human-trap of making religion into a spectacle: gold statues, donations for the monks, professional photos, and the likes. I thought Buddhism had held truer to the spirituality than other religions, but in Thailand that does not seem to be the case. 

At 6am this morning I reached Bangkok on my overnight bus. This was a pretty fun experience! Everyone was lugged onto the double-decker "VIP" bus, which had suitably reclining seats (almost to the horizontal!). After about half an hour of taking in the experience, I took out my book and settled in for the 10-hour journey. Then they swithed off the lights! That made me chuckle a little. Everyone started setting up shop for bed, and surprisingly some reasonable sleep was had! However, they did occasionally turn on the excessively bright lights at which everyone awoke thinking UFOs had landed on their face. No kidding, the brutal awakenings did feel like the apocalypse, and each time it took a few moments before it became funny that everyone was in the same boat. After our 2am stop, I began speaking to the guy next to Mr and discovered that he was a professional Muay Thai fighter down from Canada! With 11 knockouts in his 12 fights, he sounded like quote a serious guy. He proceeded to tell me he was going surfing in Australia, and he planned on carrying a knife while surfing so he could kill the sharks. Nutter.

I have not seen much so far, but from what I have seen Bangkok seems like a bit of a hole*. Nothing except MacDonalds and Starbucks was open before 8am, and I have already been approached by several 'masseuses'. Nice. I probably won't see the best of the city on this visit, however, as I am keeping on the down-low to avoid the massive protests and shutdown starting in Bangkok today. Quite the adventure! Overnight train and morning ferry to get to Koh Samui tomorrow. The islands should be rather different (hopefully)! 

*I apologise if this sounds rude, but this is MY blog! 

Chiang Mai Nature Crash Course

(Written 12/01, 11.44am)

On my second day in Chiang Mai, I went for a 'one-day trekking' excursion at Doi Inthanon National Park. This was effectively an all-in-one of the activities that Chiang Mai's nature has to offer and one of just few ways to explore the nearby national parks. It was actually a very good day. The elephants blew me away, looking fit and healthy although there was a bit of hook action (no more elephant riding for me please!), the bamboo rafting was quite an authentic, peaceful way to explore the forests, and the hike at the end was long and challenging enough to constitute a good hike! The hill tribe people were probably set up for us to see, but it was not turned into a circus, and I reckon, closely reflected the genuine hill tribe people. 

We had a bit of fun with a tiny monkey running around, and an equally small dog chasing it! The monkey climbed my arms and legs like branches on a tree to escape the dog! There were also some chickens in the mix being bullied by the monkey, and it was just an all round bizarre sight! The fun, however, came to a sincere end when the monkey was placed in a cage fit for a baby mouse and the chickens were locked away. I came across some like-minded Germans, who also disliked the touristy nature of the excursion and the lack of free wildlife. We finally decided that we did the trip because it was actually the only was to see elephants (the Elephant Nature Park was fully booked), paying money probably improves conditions for the wildlife, and there were no other real options for exploring the national parks on one-day trips. But the highly diverse (almost random!) day was fun overall, and I'd say a good trip to do in Chiang Mai. 

Chiang Mai Clothes

(Written 09/01, 07.20)

After a few days in transit - flying Ayers Rock to Sydney, a night at Sydney airport, flying Sydney to Bangkok, sleeper train Bangkok to Chiang Mai - I awake to the sun rising over the mountains of Northern Thailand. That sounds a bit like travelling the world to me! 

I am a big fan of the sleeper train. I first got on the train and saw only regular seats thinking "oh dear, this is going to be a pretty bad sleep!" But then after I had some dinner (quite concerned about how my stomach would fair with the train food!), the train transformed into a long series of bunk beds. I forgot how sleeper trains work! While you ride you can look outside and see the country, where as on a plane I had to remind myself that I'm flying across the world! That reminder held reality a little closer. Although on this occasion I could see The Red Centre from the sky (awesome!), you obviously see very little from the plane on the whole! Especially reading Robinson Crusoe at the moment and appreciating tribal living in general, I feel like the old-school means of travelling (e.g. sailing) would have been very cool, if a little dangerous! 

(Written 09/01, 07.55)

On arrival at Chiang Mai, I did a quick scan of the city and thought it was fairly ordinary (i.e. nothing new from Kuala Lumpur and parts of India). However, when I went back out and started having a look beneath the surface I found lots of quirky cafes and shops. I started understanding why it is a cool place to chill for the travelling type. Last night I had a great dinner at this tiny little cafe (which had letters from people all around the world saying it's the best food ever!), and chilled at Tea Tree cafe, a hippy tea room where there was a jam night happening. I hung out with some travellers who were studying Thai Massage, and had a nice discussion about alternative and conventional medicine!

My second exploration effectively included a pilgrimage, as I went from Buddhist temple to temple around the city. I do like the simplicity of Buddhism, but it surprised me that they were carrying out some rituals in the temple. I thought Buddhism was less ritualistic. It is cool to see such a strong Buddhist presence (e.g. monks roaming the streets). In contrast there are the money-minded. I experienced my first hustle yesterday, as I trusted that friendly people are friendly! He basically tricked me into going to his affiliated tourist agency by pretending to be a well-educated stranger. It was a pretty solid bit of acting! I think it only cost me a few pounds and was a good lesson to learn at this stage! TiT - This is Thailand. 

Today I have a one-day trek of elephant riding, bamboo rafting, and hiking in the jungle. Yes, I somehow ended up booking onto elephant riding again after much debate with principles. Apparently this is the iconic activity to do in Chiang Mai, so might as well check it out! 

Final Moments in Ayers Rock

(Written 06/01, 21.53)

I am lying on this lookout bench once more staring out at a night sky full of stars while listening to The xx. Shooting stars are a norm. Mars and Venus chilling. Warm with a breeze. No one to be seen. Nature is the best. 

(Written 07/01, 11.20)

One final perfect moment in Ayers Rock: morning sun over Uluru and Kata Tjuta from the lookout listening to The Circle of Life.

Note (c.f. Ayers Rock Landing): I met a lady from Hong Kong doing a project on how the behaviour of people is affected by the weather. Apparently the magnetic field is very strong at Uluru, so the one-with-nature girl may have been accurate saying it's an energy hotspot. Who would have thought?

The Red Centre

(Written 04/01, 17.27)

I think 'The Red Centre' is a great name for this place. I feel it captures both the danger of the heat and the sacred significance. 

I have just awoken after a beauty of a nap. It's a really nice long day when you wake up at 4am for sunrise! This morning I got the bus in the dark to the viewing point at Uluru (traditional name for Ayers Rock), and they were not joking, the change in colour of The Rock across sunrise is dramatic! My mind was further blown during the 10km walk around the base of Uluru that followed. I believe the base walk gives one more of an educaion and more opportunity to absorb the setting than the climb would have. I decided against it because it is disrespectful to the Anangu (the traditional owners of the land), and to reconfirm my decision, it was closed due to "Strong winds at the summit". This made me chuckle reminiscing about the madness at Tongariro Crossing!

The Anangu Law is called Tjukurpa, and though there is some education of this during the walk, apparently it is very private and so not much information can be disclosed to the public. This also included many sites around the rock that you could not photograph. There was a sign saying "It is inappropriate for images of this site to be viewed elsewhere", which I actually like a lot. It makes it more special to actually be there if you can't just Google Images it! Maybe this should have been applied to more places around the world? Maybe not?! 

Similar to religions and other cultures they have simple stories depicting the laws of Tjukurpa. Such laws include he who does wrong must be punished, but the punisher has the responsibility to look after the criminal until he is well enough to look after himself again. I guess that is the purpose of prison too in a way: to punish by taking away time, and to make the human correct in mind again ready for the real world.

I am quite a fan of tribal living I must say! Having walked ridiculous amounts across the last two months, I like the Anangu's emphasis on traversing land. They also have a great admiration for wildlife despite hunting being a big part of their lives (e.g. the boy's transition to man is largely based on hunting skills). This from afar seems to make little sense, but their hunting feels more natural and like it fits into the foodchain better, given the lack of advanced weaponary. 

Anyway, I was impressed at Uluru today in several ways, and I loved the warning signs everywhere about dehydration and 'extreme temperatures'! But at least with this one, it is pretty much in your control to stay safe by drinking water every 15mins, etc. Tomorrow I'm heading to Kata Tjuta, the other significant rock formation in The Red Centre, to do a couple of walks. Apparently it is even more spectacular and, interestingly, many of the evil characters in the Uluru stories came from Kata Tjuta!

(Written 06/01, 12.40pm)

Another 4am start yesterday to see sunrise lighting up Kata Tjuta, and that it did! I also saw sunset at Uluru yesterday, but sunrise is much more impressive. Effectively you are waiting for the colours of The Rock to fade with sunset, but at sunrise, the sun suddenly pops up and the rusty red of the rock begins to glow! 

Valleys of the Wind (7.5km) certainly lived up to its name! Kata Tjuta (meaning 'many heads') is a series of domes separated by valleys and gorges. It apparently used to be the same as Uluru, but cracks formed and eroded into the valleys it exhibits today. It actually allows a very different walking experience, because rather than walking around the massive rock, you walk through and are surrounded by towering (200-300m) redness. I forgot to mention before, but the surface of both Uluru and Kata Tjuta look exactly how I expect Mars to look close up! 

The valleys have a tunnel-effect with the wind. Standing in the valleys being feeling the cool breeze, looking out at lush greenery between the massive red domes was magnificent, and continued to remind me how we are all small packets of energy in a universe of energy. "We're all the same person when you turn out the lights" - some rap song I can't remember. 

The Valleys of the Wind was more challenging than the base walk, with some steep sections and the track primarily being loose rocks. It gave rise to awesomely unique views with the bright red and green as mentioned above, but unlike Uluru, there was no educational side. Apparently it is so sacred that no one outside the Anangu can be told what they believe about it! I did one more walk at Kata Tjuta (the Walpa Gorge walk) in the evening before going to Uluru for sunset (made the absolute most of my two-day shuttle bus pass!), but this had nothing on the first two. It was still spectacular to walk between the humongous domes, but beyond that it was neither challenging nor picturesque. 

I have one more day to chill out in this place that I have fallen for so hard, and then onto Thailand via Sydney. I'm sure it will be a little different to Australia and NZ, but will it compare?

For me:

During this walk I experienced I think my first lapse in two months - the first time I got annoyed at anything since beginning the travels. But encouragingly, I recognised that I was getting annoyed and stepped back to witness how silly I was being - getting annoyed at the incessant flies on my face, a couple of the people walking nearby, and the fact that I seemed to be getting a cold! (I believe I did well to be mostly unphased by the flies up to this point!) I literally chuckled when I realised that there was nothing to get annoyed about and continued calmly and happily! Being witness to yourself is the key! 

 

Ayers Rock Landing

(Written 02/01, 12.27pm)

I just got off the plane from Sydney to Ayers Rock, and the heat gave me a good smack in the face! Now this generally happens in a hot country, but from freezing my ass off in the air-conditioned plane to 42℃? Like plunge pool to jacuzzi, that felt good! I caught brief glimpses of red-orange sand from the aeroplane. Different to anything I've seen before, I think this is going to be fun (also). 

(Written 02/01, 21.35)

Stargazing again, and they are out in full force! Unlike the cold of the Mount Oberon and Mount John stargazing sessions, the night temperature here is perfect for this. Besides the distant hum of music from the hostel bar and the blowing of the warm breeze, it feels like stillness and silence reign for many miles surrounding this bench where I lay. Earlier this same spot gave a beautiful panoramic of Ayers Rock, the sunset, fluorescent clouds, and the red desert. Apparently the red is the rusted iron that remains from the sea that covered this land many years ago. I bumped into a girl from Melbourne who is on the back of a ten-day meditation retreat, and she is definitely one with nature - talking about how trees are calling her and how this land is an energy hotspot. It has been interesting hearing her life philosophy, and how it largely overlaps with my new-found and increasingly solidifying outlook. But I am still battling her with da Physics! 

The heat of the day was intense, but I like it! It adds to the experience of the desert and actually does make it feel like more of a sacred place, as the indigenous people believe. My mind's debate continues as to whether I should climb the rock or not - apparently the people of the land prefer tourists not to so maybe I should respect that. Let's see what unfolds in the next few days. This is The Outback for real. 

New Year's Day is Bonsai Day

(Written 01/01/14, 17.50)

Bondi Beach on New Year's Day? Cool.

On the approach to Bondi Beach from Bronte Beach, I looked out and thought "oh dear, this is a pretty ordinary beach rammed with people". I was wrong! Only when I walked through it could I appreciate how many cool things were going on on the beach and its surroundings. So many mad skills in show in the form of skateboarding, beach volleyball, graffiti, surfing, and I'm pretty sure a few others. The skateboarding in the dried-up-swimming-pool-looking hole in the ground particularly blew my mind. They were all supporting each other and there were so many different looks being rocked by the skaterboarders, which made it even cooler. I just could not stop watching! 

Bondi Beach seems like the epitome of the Australian Dream! It is quality that this is so close to central Sydney, which is also capturing, but for much more luxury-driven and corporate reasons in contrast to Bondi's quirky surfer-dude vibe. 

Fire Works

(Written 31/12, 14.40)

I am currently in a seemingly never-ending queue fir the Sydney new year fireworks. I rocked up at 11am thinking I had done well to find this massive hoard of people after my 8km walk to the site. The queue itself was very well organised and it seemed it would be a calm, but long, wait to get to Lady Macquarie's Chair - an awesome place with a view of both the opera house and the harbour bridge. Wrong! After about two hours of queuing I had reached the middle point when carnage broke out. No one was quite clear on what triggered it, but everyone started running forward! The queue that now seemd like a mere fabulation of the mind was replaced by first a stampede, and then just a disorderly and unruly crowd. The spaghetti had been overboiled. 

Now, after several near-fights ans some pretty good work by the stewards, order has been restored and I am nearing the front of the queue. Four hours later! Calm and composed, the whole ordeal (thus far) has been pretty amusing! 

Oh and I forgot to mention, it is a glorious day. I'm sure in England the heat of this blazing sun alone would have responsible for a few scuffles! 

(Written 01/01/14, 17.34)

So after the 4-5 hour queue, there was still much awaiting to do! A quick scan of the 17,000 people site later, I found myself parked on a steep hill wih trees obstructing my view of the bridge! After eating time (and sandwiches) chilling with some Brazilians, the family set began at 9pm. Now they were big and all, but they lasted about ten minutes and barely used the bridge (not that I could see the bridge!). However, this impression was replaced at game time, and the whole of the Sydney sky was on fire. The rockets off the Harbour Bridge and the synchronisation of fireworks across at least four points in the city made it an epic set of fireworks. The finale wih the bridge completely covered was massive. Unbelievably, though, I think the actual fireworks and "musicography" (but obviously not the setting) at Trinity and St John's Colleges' May Balls in Cambridge were better! Proud of that Cantab. Repping my stripes. 

A very very long day, but definitely worth itand certainly a memorable way to welcome 2014! 

On Christmas, Jesus was (Mel)Born

(Written 29/12, 12.00pm)

I am on the train to Sydney after an incredible and very memorable week in Melbourne with the Dhingra's - the family away from home. The week was full of a huge variety of activities from a Onesie Party to the Boxing Day Test to the most heavenly view on Mount Oberon! I did not expect to fall for Melbourne like this.

Detailed account (STOP NOW if you have anything useful to be doing!):

Sunday

On day one, I settled in briefly before being whisked away to choose myself a onesie (a one-piece pyjama-like outfit) from apparently the Southern Hemisphere's largest shopping centre, Chadstone. There was no escaping wearing a onesie later that week it seemed. The rest of the day was nice and relaxed with a coffee stop back in Glen Waverley and a much appreciated home-made Indian meal - the first in two months!

Monday

We headed off in a mini roadtrip to Mount Dandenong where the William Rickett's Sanctuary is situated. The sanctuary was comprised of sculptures of the indigenous people's culture scattered across the foresty mountain. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, and seemed like the perfect activity for that morning enhanced by the cool and crisp air. 

We then headed on a city exploration, which made me fall for Melbourne just a little. People had mentioned that Melbourne has character, but I find "character" is one of those things that means very little until you have experienced it. But they were right! For me, it boiled down to the awesome graffiti, the Yarra river and its banks, the absence of a sky filled with building-tops, and the many quirky areas dotted around the city. We chilled on a hill, had a nice dinner at Chinatown and finally set up shop at a rooftop bar. 

Tuesday

I finally got some exercise under my belt in this day with a bike-ride exploration of Melbourne. Struggling to keep up with my partner in crime, we travelled from near the Dhingra's place to the city (~14km) through greenery, under a freeway, and along the river. It really was a great track for exploration. The weather was also bike-riding perfection.

In the evening we had a Christmas Eve barbeque on the river bank. 

A Christmas Eve barbeque? 

Yeah, you?

Carols by Candlelight made for fitting background music as we tucked in, and at home time we honed our Djenga skills. I guess that was the end of Djenga for the week... Or was it? 

Wednesday

Kismat day! Now I had forgotten what all the fuss was about, but this is where children have their use. Santa Claus was certainly alive in that house! The kids' buzz for the presents almost rivalled the adults' excitement over the food! Shocking! A viewing of the Polar Express followed, and then THE MOST EPIC GAME OF DJENGA OF ALL TIME!! Rajan and I doubled the height of the tower with fearsome intensity before it came crashing down signalling the end of the night. Strange not being home for Christmas, but maybe necessary for the Christmas to be uncancelled for the Glebelands Kids?

Thursday

Well surely now all the fun for the week had been used up? Wrong! MCG for the Boxing Day Test! Horribly slow cricket from England, but the atmosphere was intense! The fire from the Australian crowd drove me to my strongest support for England. It required much brainwork to transition from test cricket to the onesie party! Great party with both intimacy and liveliness, and the jungle was massive.

Friday

After a struggle of a wake up, we set of to Wilson's Prom National Park on what was to be possibly my favourite roadtrip of all time. Between the scenery and the perfection roadtrip DJing by Rajan, we forgot that life exists outside of the car! 

But it does. After much difficulty, but powerful persistence, we set up our tents. Dip in the Tidal River, beach cricket and a climb of Mount Oberon into the sunset and a bed of beautiful heavenly clouds. Oh yes, that was some view. On the way up, Rajan picked out a nice shortcut for us. It was steeply uphill on less than sturdy rocks and led to a dead-end. Murphy's Law: The shortcut is the longest possible way to get from A to B. Bang on. But certainly no complaints for adventure is the spice of life? Something like that. The stargazing that followed was damn spectacular too. Camping under a sky full of stars - hashtaglifeisdecent. 

Saturday

And on the seventh day, we beached. It was a beautiful day at Norman Beach, and the heated soccer game was perfect for building up an appetite ahead of our campsite barbeque - a thoroughly enjoyed meal. The drive home was excellent once more, and some nice Daal Makhani hit the spot before I returned to the wild and PB&J sandwiches. 

Christchurch Farewell, Sweet As

(Written 22/12, 23.58)

After a beautiful sleep and some porridge in Tekapo, we headed onto Christchurch. Most of the coach ride was spent passed out, but in our refreshment break we managed to cause much distress to the driver by spending five minutes too many grabbing free samples at a condiment shop! We hadn't booked accommodation in Christchurch so we planned to check out the twin, grab food and drink, and then play a marathon game of Golf at the airport. Christchurch came across as something of a ghost town (as we had expected), still a long way from returning to its former glory after the earthquakes - the other side of powerful Mama Nature's tectonic plates. 

With a feeling of finality in the air, Chief Bash and I hopped on an empty public bus to the airport as night time descended upon us. The time was spent repacking, Golfing, and drifting in and out of sleep on the steel chairs we called bed. A last supper (Burger King breakfast) and a solid bromance handshake later, and the Crash and Bash tour of NZ came to its end. Sweet as bro. 

I have now settled in Melbourne with the highly welcoming and entertaining Dhingra family (family friends from birth). It sounds like it's going to be a jam-packed week of Christmas and Melbourne fun. 

Ah yeah?

Sweet as. 

Torch Gazing on Mount John

(Written 21/12, 00.30)

When I wrote my last post sitting on Lake Tekapo I did not imagine that one of my favourite parts of the trip was around the corner! We decided to spend a night at Tekapo to stargaze on Mount John (the site of one of the world's best observatories), but it was a seriously fun evening despite the clouds impeding our view of the stars! 

Chief Bash and I were about to set off to Mount John when we picked up a Korean girl to add to the party. The walk to Mt John was longer than expected, and the walk up Mt John was way longer and steeper than expected! The Chief was not happy, but I was loving it. I did not expect the view from the summit to rival the unbelievable ones we had previously seen in NZ, but it did! At the top we met a guy (pretending he was a soldier in a war!) who had been hiking for several months. He had some crazy stories to entertain us from sunset to twilight, such as being stuck in a swamp for two days! We had it easy! 

The stars were not too impressive, but chilling on top of a the mountain was the perfect final night in NZ. That being said, we hadn't quite thought through descending the mountain in the pitch black of the night! Luckily between the hiker and myself we had four torches, and climbing down the mountain by torchlight was a great adventure! We did not hols back our imagination on all the different scary movies that this situation could turn in to! One of these included the elusive NZ possum that we found ourselves facing off against! 

This adventure was one of my favourite parts of New Zealand!  

Bhavesh: "One of the worst bits of my trip!" 

Birthday Queenstown & On

(Written 20/12, 18.00)

I am writing this in a setting that I believe cannot be beaten for calmness. I am on a rock on the Lake Tekapo front, staring out into tranquil blue water and Mount Cook (the tallest in NZ) and its surrounding snow-capped mountains. Not cold, not hot, sight breeze = beauty. My aim is to reproduce this calmness regardless of externalities! 

The last four days in Queenstown were a lot of fun, and it felt birthday celebrations of Chief Bash for the whole period: two big nights out, one adrenaline-fuelled activity day (Canyon Swing bungee for Bhavesh (intense) and Shotover Jet Boat for both of us (not exciting)), and a final relaxed day lapping up the picturesque Queenstown. The relaxed day also included through surprisingly fun Luge (engine-free go-karting down a massive hill) and some gondola rides. Playing Golf (card game) at the top of the hill was a pretty special moment, I must admit! Queenstown certainly is an awesome town, but given that the two big nights followed the same route (bar: The Find, club: Buffalo), and the fact that between the two of us we covered most of the iconic attractions, I think four nights was the ideal duration. It is small! I think Chief Bash and I agree that we have played these three weeks in NZ impeccably, getting to see everything we wanted to across both islands! Solid game, but sleep sounds good. 

Pride of Ilford & Queenstown Beginnings

(Written 17/12, 20.15)

Wow. A long but easy day, and New Zealand is definitely the most spectacularly natural country I have ever seen. Today we ventured to Milford Sounds via The Fiordlands (yet another national park). The trip was in the form of a coach ride, boat trip, and then return coach. The drive from Queenstown to Te Anau allowed for a much needed catch-up sleep before the wonders began! The Fiordlands gave seemingly endless landscapes of foresty mountains, which were not actually as mind-blowing as yesterday's views of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea (which were up there with the best) on the drive from Franz Josef to Queenstown. But when we reached the boat ride of Milford Sounds, we quickly understood why this is a one of the major highlights of NZ. The Milford Sounds is in fact a fiord, which is a lake in a valley that has been carved by a glacier. (Sounds are valleys created by dried up lakes.) 

Cool story bro. 

Thanks.

The fiords of Milford Sounds meant we were cruising over a beautifully still lake (that eventually joined the Tasman Sea) between awesomely-shaped mountains towering at 2000m. The powerful waterfalls down from the Alps became a normal sight! This was a special corner of the world, and it is understandable that Peter Jackson chose to film there!

The coach driver was also extremely knowledgeable about NZ (as most of the drivers have been), and I learnt a lot of interesting things about people and nature. It turns out that all of the land mammals in NZ now were actually introduced by Europeans (including the sheep!). Apparently it was only birds and realise before because previously NZ was largely underwater. So Europeans introduced "wildlife" either for farming or hunting, and also some plants and trees. Well it turns out that nature's balancing of the universe is very necessary, and most of these introductions have turned into pests! Now the humans have to hunt them to save the forests and birds, and are encouraged to do so by the Department of Conservation! Baffling. Probably should refrain from messing with nature in the first place, eh? The more I learn, the more I start to think that evolution made a mistake when it got to humans! 

NZ South Island is supremely well conserved beyond this, and Queenstown is very cool. Located at the end of Lake Queenstown and surrounded by mountains, it is strange to think that this is also the party central of New Zealand! Beauty of a town - almost seems like living material? 

Ice Ice Baby

(Written 15/12, 15.06) 

We have just returned to our hostel from "The Ice Explorer" hike on Franz Josef. It was yet another incredible experience! 

On arrival to Franz Josef town - another town that seems to exist due to its proximity to a natural spectacle - we had been warned that rain was coming and this meant any helicopter trips were likely to be cancelled. Given our tight schedule on this trip, any postponement would mean missing something else at the back end of the trip. Luckily (again!) we awoke to no rain, a cloud line higher above the mountains, and the sound of helicopters flying! Let the good times roll...

When we arrived at the shop, we were kitted up with waterproofs, boots, woolly hats and gloves, and crampons (spikes that attach to the boots). Next stop, the helicopter field! I never really appreciated how cool an invention the helicopter is until I had been up close and sat in one today! The take-off and acceleration were rapid, and then suddenly we were flying in the clouds through the mountains to land on the glacier! And, oh boy, the first sight of the glacier was mind-blowing: a huge expanse of steeply declining ice filling a valley between the towering snow-capped mountains. 

Only when we got out of the helicopter and onto the ice did we understand how effective and how necessary the crampons actually are! It took a little while to trust their grip on the otherwise very slippery ice! We began our ice exploration and it was a great deal of fun. On our climb of the glacier we traversed narrow tunnels, ice caves (one of which was particularly memorable due to the depth and darkness), and seriously steep natural staircases! Our guides actually had to carve out some of the staircases with axes because so much structural change occurs each day - at the top point Franz Josef moves 5 metres per day! The higher we climbed, the more impressive the blue of the ice (due to greater density higher up). You had to really stomp your feet to dig into the more dense and more slippery blue ice at certain stages! Apparently in some of the deeper caves the ice even starts looking purple! The tunnels also became tighter higher up - by the end we were having to actually squeeze and balance on the walls at obscure angles to get through! Definitely not a party for claustrophobics! Throughout the exploration the spectacular ice forms against the backdrop of the fold-mountains did not fail to impress.

As we returned to the helicopter landing site, the rain amped up and the clouds descended upon us. We caught the last two helicopters down to ground before a temporary suspension of helicopter service due to the weather! Lucky, lucky! The helicopter ride was again awesome - possibly even more so with the rain beating down and the low misty clouds. Through our exploration of New Zealand, it feels like we are living the movies! 

For me:

One more thing. Seeing all of these huge natural feats - volcanoes, lakes, beaches, glaciers, rainforests, islands - ties in nicely with the perspective that the Soul of the Universe (i.e. energy) exists in everything and changes in the manifestations of said energy mean nothing except in the material plane that we stigmatise. Father Physics is god and Mother Nature is demigod. But of course we might as well play in the material world and try to do good by it while we are here.