Queenstown, NZ

view of Queenstown from our friends apartment balcony

Its hard to believe that we are on the last leg of our trip now that we have arrived in New Zealand. It is too spooky to try and figure out where all the time went. 

Since we only have 17 days in New Zealand, Briana and I decided to only travel the south island. We started off our NZ adventures with Queenstown. A beyond scenic landscape filled with mountains and acquamarine coloured lakes. 

Our first couple of nights in queenstown we stayed with some friends of ours who had extra room in the apartment they rented. It was a great way to introduce ourselves to the island as they had already been there for a few days and where able to show us arround and take us to great restaurants.

These guys are called the "Green-Lipped" Mussels and are local/famous to the region

out for dinner with our friends

Since Briana and I had such a great time road tripping Australia in a campervan we decided to do it again in New Zealand. We figured it was the most effecient way to see as much of the island as possible. Not to mention it is convient not worrying about where we are going to stay on a given night. The main difference on this road trip is that we decided to treat ourselves to a nicer (and much cleaner) campervan. The only down side is that our campervan is not covered in spray paint :( haha. 

Don't be fooled by Briana's expression, she is actually really excited haha. It must be the sun in her eyes

On one of the days we decided to hire a wakeboard boat and driver to take us out riding on the main lake in town. It was a really neat experience to ride with such an amazing landscape. As much as we like wakeboarding in the beautiful lakes of Ontario, it was really special to have the mountains in the background and the different coloured water. It is most certainly something neither of us will forget and we are hoping to do it again before we leave.

Today Briana and I boarded a small plane that took us the coastal town/fiords of Milford Sound. It is about rougly a 300km drive through winding mountains from Queenstwon however, it only took us 30-40 minutes by plane THROUGH the mountains and glaciers (our plane was flying lower the mountain peaks [not over them haha]). I don't mean to sound repetitive but the scenery was like something out of this world. Jagged mountain peaks, bright green glacial lakes in the mountains, rivers, waterfalls and canyons are just some the sights we saw from the plane. Once we landed in Milford Sound we went on a kayaking tour through the fiords. I am running out of ways to describe the scenery and landscape so I will let some of the pictures speak for themselves. Once again, I  must mention that I can only upload so many photos and it was really hard to only a pick a few from Milford, as we have so many more beautiful photos. 

While kayaking we came across so many sea-lions. Some of them swim so close to us. Others were taking a nap on the rocks

After a many hours of kayaking. We needed to refuel. Nothing like a massive rack of ribs and lamb!....photos by Briana

More Photos from Oz

Hey Everyone

Hey Everyone,

Sorry that it took me a while to post again. I uploaded some more photos from our road trip that where on Briana's Camera. 

Below are photos from the night we spent at the Great Barrier Reef on the floating pontoon. As you can see it was a gorgeous day.

The other photos are from an animal sanctuary we visited.

3,040 Kilometres Later.... Sydney to Cairns

For the record the trip from Sydney to Carins (along the coastal highway) is supposed to be 2,700km, however due to detours and other miscellaneous adventures Briana and I ended up making it to Cairns after 3,040 very enjoyable kilometres.

Sydney to Brisbane (which is almost the halfway point) was mainly made up of surfable, inviting, beautiful beaches. We took our time throughout this portion of our drive to swim and surf the various beaches along the way as we warned the closer you get to Cairns, the more water predators there are in the water such as sharks, jelly fish and salties. Making the ocean slightly more intimidating. For those who are asking, a “Saltie” is nickname for salt water crocodiles that can reach up to 25 feet in length!

Some nights we stayed at designated camp parks that had all the luxuries of kitchens, showers and toilets but, most nice nights we "free-camped" on or next beaches as they were the most beautiful and windy spots. Wind was definitely our friend on this road trip as it protected us from the mosquitoes and provided us with much needed ventilation in our non air conditioned van. Its sort of funny to think that we have not spent as much time in any place as we have in our van, making it the closest thing to a home since we have left haha. 

Our first night of the trip we spent at a beautiful camper-van park located on a salt water lake

 Below are pictures from our first surf lesson at a small coastal town called Pacific Palms

Bri and I looking for the next wave

look at her go!

our sleeping quarters

cooking an epic meal of Kraft dinner on Emerald Beach, a beach just north of the small town of Coff's Harbour

becoming more and more accustomed to the surfers life. We grew a strong appreciation for the sun blocking capabilities of zinc

 After Brisbane we headed to Fraiser Island. A famous tourist attraction just north of the Sunshine Coast. It is supposed to be one of the  most beautiful destinations on the east coast. Briana and I definitely liked it, and saw the beauty, however we experienced awful weather. It consisted of non stop rain and heavy winds. We were supposed to be on the island for two nights but we had to call it quits after one. After our tent got ripped open by dingos (all our stuff was scattered all around our tent), the entire inside of our tent was flooded implying that our clothes and sleeping gear were soaked. But don't let that mislead you, we had an amazing time there. Since there are no roads there, we rented 4x4 which was heaps of fun. There were tons of off road tracks through the rain forest and we did lots of beach driving to various different locations on the island.

picture inside our tent before it was ripped open by dingos

famous ship wreck on the eastern beach

"champaign pools" 

Briana running from the dry warm 4x4 only to come outside to the cold , wet, windy outdoors. 

inspecting the beach creek for crabs before crossing

the closest thing to a shower/bath in 4 days

all though are 4x4 seemed rather capable it was no match for the wet sand. Unfortunately we were bogged 

Thanks to some good Samaritans we were pulled out :)

 Since Fraiser Island had such crummy weather we decided to make the best use of our time and head to Airlie beach earlier then anticipated. Airlie beach is part of the Whit Sundays, which is renowned for their 74 beautiful islands bordering the great barrier reef. (I suggest googling them if you feel inclined). Because we got there early we are able to participate in an excursion out to the great barrier reef where Bri and I spent the night on floating pontoon. It was an absolutely amazing experience. We got to do some of the best snorkelling we have ever experienced not mention we got to do some amazing scuba diving. (It was also the first time sleeping in a bed in ten days haha). The sunset and stars were also beautiful.

due to the very possible presence of jelly fish we were advised to wear "stinger suits" 

giant clam

big emperor angel fish

Neemo! ( dont be fooled by the poor lighting. The sea anenomies were bright green  and purple and neemo was bright orange)

 For those of you who read this before I wake up tomorrow. It is really late here so I am going to upload this blog post pre maturely so you can see some the photos. I will put the finishing touches on the post tomorrow and upload some of the pictures from Briana's camera. I am way to tired to finish but I understand its been a while since I have been in touch. Please check back again later for the complete post!

Below are photos from Cairns, please enjoy and I'll fill in the descriptions tomorrow!
Love,
Stephen and Briana

Pineapple Sea Cucumber