New Zealand: Home

So I am now at home... and have been here about a month. Home is indeed as sweet as they say it is and I am loving being out here on the farm with my family. Mums cooking is still the best ever and Cookie Time's are still super tasty.

So from India we popped into Singapore and saw Rowan for a few days, sneaked up to Malaysia for a little peak and spent a small amount of time with Dave in Melbourne exploring the Great Ocean Road. Then to Auckland for a couple of fantastic nights with the extended family and talking with the US Consulate.

View of Whiterock (left) and Mt Thomas (right) from Mt Karetu (grass at the bottom)

Back in White Rock I have just been climbing the local hills (Mt Karetu, Mt Thomas), swimming in the best swimming hole ever at Foxes Creek. Just been chillin' out really, getting all my stuff in order, trying to avoid exerting myself too much.

Foxes Creek, best swimming hole in the world, 3m deep some places!

The last six days was spent down south doing a bit of tramping. Started off with an over night to Welcome Flats on the Copeland Track, near Fox Glacier. After that we spent a night in a pub in Haast... classic kiwi stuff.

Some rainforest on the Welcome Flats track.

Then we embarked on the Motatapu walk, which is on Shania Twains property. It was a really good walk. A little hard on my poor IT feet and we didn't have nearly enough food but the challenge was well worth it. I then hitch hiked back to the beginning from Arrowtown to near Wanaka very successfully.. hitchin in NZ isn't so bad. More pics here.

View from the Motatapu Track

My plan now is to hang out and absorb as much New Zealand as I can before I head off to the United States of America in early Feburary.

Sunrise from Mt Karetu summit

Now I am just going to sip on this Monteiths and try and avoid the hot sun... you needn't worry about me though, I have already had one swim today. Life is sweet.

India: Final Leg

So after Allepey we headed up into the mountains to Munnar. It was a nice little town surrounded by thousands of hectares of TATA Tea Plantations. We spent a few nights here walking around, watching people pick tea, drinking tea, smelling tea leaves and generally enjoying the cooler tea atmosphere.

 

Tea Pickers and lots of Tea

From Munnar we took a long bus all the way to Ooty. We stopped off in Coimbatore... had my wallet stolen and couldn't find anything cheap... so we were happy to get out of there and on to Ooty, which was another nice mountain station. Established by the British, so there was a surprising amount of Pine and Gum trees. 

Pine trees and fresh mountain air... just like home, aside from the Monkeys!

From Ooty we went to Mysore for a few days, mostly just eating coconuts and eating our last meals. Mysore is a easy town to navigate and has a big pretty palace in the middle... our last taste of India really. From there to Bangalore airport and 47 layers of security. Apparently a direct threat was made against a major airport in India for the time we were flying, lucky we got to the airport 6 hours early.

Our last taste of Rickshaws and general Indian-ness in Mysore.

So, contrary to what others say, we have now got India done.... done in the sense that I understand that its a massive country with many, many different cultures, languages, tastes and  types of monkeys. It took two months to see what we saw, and we barely scratched the surface. 

Now we are relaxing in Singapore. Tonight we go to Melbourne, then Auckland to spend some time with the extended family... then home to WHITE ROCK to be with the family for Christmas. I am looking forward to getting back to New Zealand...

India: Down the middle

So we carried on to Mumbai after Ahmedabad. Mumbai was a massive city with a few nice bits. I am sure you are all familiar with the main sites after watching the news recently. We were there a good 2 - 3 weeks before all the current action.

From Mumbai we went to Aurangabad and spent some time exploring a type of cave city that was carved out of a hill side about 800 years ago. It was neat exploring the caves, seeing massive Buddahs and having bats run into my chest... it was a really hairy bat.

'The Cathedral' - One of the larger caves in Ellora.

From Aurangabad to Hyderbad. Another cool indian city. Here, with the help of couchsurfing, we managed to see a more contemporary side of India. We went to a sports bar and an english style pub for some beers, meat snacks and sports. Was a nice break from all the culture we have been getting.

We then hit Hampi. An old Hindu town that is now in ruins amongst some cool looking boulders, it was pretty darn incredible. We went off the track a bit and almost lost a jandal, but it all turned out all right... must have been the blessing we got from an elephant the day before!

The river running beside Hampi.

From Hampi to Goa. We stayed 4 days on Agonda beach. It was rather idyllic really. Just sitting in the sun (well, for the first 2 hours of the first day... then I got so sunburnt I hid under coconut trees, in the hut, in the sea or at a bar). Got a scooter and explored the coast too which was nice.

View from out palm leaf hut, right next the ocean... and an ants nest.

From Goa by a 16 hour train to the town of Alleppey in Kerala. On the train we got our first (second, third and fourth) taste of deep fried bananas... I love some indian food. Here we got ourselves a guide and a canoe and explored the backwaters behind the town. Lots of canals, coconuts palms, women washing clothes, water snakes... it was nice and relaxing.

View from the canoe in the back waters.

Right now we are in Alleppey, my feet are getting bitten by mosquitos and we are excited about getting out of this crazy humidity up into the mountains tomorrow to see some tea plantations. 7 days left in India before we head to Singapore... these last two months have flown by. Bring on Christmas with the family!