After the overnight bus from Sydney we were a little tired checking in to the excellent YHA hostel in Byron Bay. Added to this was the disapointment of it still being a little cold and cloudy. Still after some breakfast the Wallace's informed us we were going Zorbing or should I say Zoorbing (something to to with a trademark) in the afternoon. I being of no bravery whatsoever was a little scared. No need to worry the Zoorbing company was of the highest professio...

Well we made it to Sydney but after the fiasco of the Chinese visa in Canberra our first port of call was the Chinese embassy in Sydney. This time we did not even make it through the front door before being told we need to go to London or Edinburgh if we want a visa for China. Putting it behind us we changed our flights, canceled our trip and tried to forget about it; after all we are in Sydney. Unbeknown to us it was world youth day in Sydney and there were tho...

Right short and sharpe bolg here as I have the whole East coast of Oz to get through. We got the first of our many Greyhound buses overnight from Melbourne to Canberra as that was the capital city and the place where the Chinese embassy was to collect our visa for China. Getting there very early we caught up on a couple of hours sleep and then headed straight to the embassy to apply for the visas. On arrivalwe find out that the rules have changed and to get a vis...

Following a slightly bumpy four hour flight from Auckland we landed safely in Melbourne and headed for our South Yarra hostel.After six months or so in New Zealand, Melbourne seemed like a really big city with lots going on and lots of people (and lots of shops, oh no!).Getting there quite late the first night we didn't do much but explore South Yarra's main street. The next day we were in full sight seeing mode and were pleasantly surprised to find a FREE touri...

After saying an emotional fair well to the flat, never been so happy, we set off from Wellington in our hire car amidst bad weather warnings for the central north island.This was both good and bad.Bad, we needed to drive to Auckland and many of the roads were being closed.Good, we had a day skiing at Mt Ruapehu and the Turoa Terrain Park. We should not have worried about the weather as we got a fantastic, sunny day on the mountain with fresh snow from the night ...