The Long White Cloud - Kia Ora!

Here I am, finally, in New Zealand! As much as I like Australia, it's good to arrive in a new country with just the thought of traveling in mind. And I already know that this country will blow my mind. I know I shouldn't expect too much, risking to be disappointed, but seriously, it's New Zealand! The country that always figures in EarthPorn on Reddit. There's no way I'm not going to get excited about this! Also, I'm finally doing what I craved to do in Australia: a Road Trip. Actually, 2, to be more precise. One from South to North, and one from North to South. A bit repetitive? We'll see...
Actually, I didn't know how to handle this blog post, if I needed one post per island, but as you can see, my discovery of this country is going to be non linear, so I decided to go simply with a timeline.
So first, I have a couple of weeks on my own, and here's what I found out...

Arrival in Auckland
First impression, from the plane: The country is so green and curvy!

Second impression, out of the plane: the country's bloody cold! I mean, of course, it's just spring, but even Sydney went up to 28 before I left, while Auckland was struggling with a mere 18°C...
Auckland in itself looks like a great city, with a beautiful coastline, islands in the horizon, a great harbour, and, yes, volcanoes. I mean, a city built on volcanoes is bound to be epic, right? My first thought when I think about Auckland is: don't worry about getting fat enjoying the delicious food around, because Auckland will take care of that for you: the city is so hilly, you can actually work on that fabulous bum you always wanted to have. I knew San Francisco, but I think Auckland is another level. One example: to get from YHA Auckland City to YHA Auckland International, you have to go down Liverpool St, a street so steep you can't see the end of it. I was litterally pushed by my suitcase on the way down.

But Auckland has so much more to offer, as I soon discovered when I finally had the time to enjoy it.

Orewa
Orewa will always mean "I am" in Japanese for me. It is a beautiful small beach town, with a gorgeous rocky coastline, it has Silverdale and SnowPlanet at its south, Waiwera and its hot pools up north, and is part of the Great Auckland region. I didn't stay long, unfortunately, but the beach itself with its dark gold sand is worth a detour. I think the whole Hibiscus Highway is worth the drive.

Auckland again
Ok, when you look closer at this city, Auckland seems to say to Sydney:
"Oh you have a nice harbour? We do too, and there are 50 volcanoes!"
"Oh you have a Sky Tower and a Harbour bridge? We do too, and we can jump out of them!"
"Oh you have a Opera House? Well, we don't have that, too posh for us..."

but we have this, does it count?

Anyway, among all the must-dos of Auckland, I decided to focus on its volcanoes, since I couldn't climb the ones in Bali...
First on the list, Rangitoto Island.

A good thing to know, on the week end, you can catch the first ferry at 7:30 and pay a lower "early-bird" rate. And on the way to the island, if you're lucky enough, you can encounter playful dolphins jumping in the wake of the boat!
The climb to the top of the crater takes an hour, with a breathtaking view on Hauraki Gulf and the CBD.

The crater itself is massive, and you can walk on its rim in 15 minutes. It was really impressive. You can also see some lava caves, which are more like small alcoves of collapsed lava layers, but still add to the alien quality of the island. Next to it is a kiwi reserve which is also worth seeing.

The next on the list is Mangere, that you can reach by several buses going from downtown to Mangere City, but the stop you're looking for is Mangere Bridge village, and more specifically Coronation Road, as it is the road leading to the summit walk.

After that, I did a part of the Coast to Coast Walkway, specifically the part between Mount Eden and One Tree Hill. Mount Eden offers some impressive views of the CBD.

But I think my favorite for the day was One Tree Hill, and the whole of the Cornwall Park. During spring, the trees are blooming, and when you get to the second part of the park, you can see cows and sheeps grazing all around you! Yes, in the city... In the heart of one of the biggest city in New Zealand, you find cattle... For me, this is just so New Zealand!

And the view from the summit is also spectacular, a brilliant 360° of the surroundings.

Just at the end of the park, the Stardome offers a small exhibition on the universe, quite educating. And for those like me too lazy to walk back, several buses go from the park exit to downtown.

The next day, I took the ferry to Devonport. There are actually 2 volcanoes in Devonport. North Head and Mount Victoria. Both are rather easy to climb, and while the first offers apart from the view a tour of the military premisces, the second one's entrance is harder to find, next to a primary school and "No Entry" signs, but the view would be much better if some devastating real estate project hadn't put a building between the summit and the Harbour Bridge... But anyway, it was worth the walk.

After that, I went to Waiheke Island to spend a week in one of HelpX host's house, with a beautiful view on the sea. Waiheke Island itself is a chunk of Paradise dropped from Heaven. Seriously, I could live there for the rest of my days and never get tired of the views, the bays, the coastline, the hilly paddocks, everything here is picture perfect (Hum, I shouldn't start using those terms, as I can imagine that I will use them quite often for the next 2 months...)

There are several walks that you can do in Waiheke, but beware that few roads have sideways. Well, the traffic is not excessive either, so pedestrians are fine, really, and the views from the roads are amazing. Several buses circulate around the island, but the eastern part, where all the farms, groves and vineyards are, is quite isolated from public transportation. Still, apart from the vineyards themselves that amateurs can visit, I strongly recommend to go to the Bottom End, and the microscopic town of Orapiu.

And this is it for my first two weeks in New Zealand! Stay tune for the "real" stuff soon!

Edit: At the end of my first road trip, we ended up in a campground at the waterfront of Takapuna, where the view of Rangitoto is simply mesmerizing, at sunrise and sunset.

purple clouds

Tremendous Northern Territory

Back into travelling, and even though Bali is out of the question now (passport expiry problems), I am prepared to make the most of NT, starting with...

Uluru
You hear about it, you see postcards everywhere, but nobody can prepare to the feeling you will have when you see the Mighty Rock for real, upclose...

First of all, when you take a direct flight from Sydney to Ayers Rock (with Virgin Australia), you know that everybody in the plane is going to be a tourist just like you. So much for the unbeaten track... If you can, try to get a window seat on the left side of the plane, as you will see Uluru and the Olgas just before landing.
When you arrive, buses will take you to one of the hotels of Ayers Rock resort, which has five, from the basic campground to the 5-star hotel & spa. You will also find there a post office and a rip-off IGA.
Beforehand, I had booked a 3-day pass with Uluru Express, that enables you with unlimited travels for 3 days. Conveniently, it's also how long the National Park ticket is valid. So, on my first day there, I took a Uluru Express bus that drove us around the Rock, showing us all the sacred sites that you are not allowed to photograph, then to the Sunset Platform to see the changing of colors around Uluru. And as the mouth of the night is closing in on the western horizon, the shadow of Kata Tjuta are well drawn against the setting sun. Purely magical.

The night sky itself is fantastic. When I was there, the moon was almost full, but when you wake up early for the sunrise, the moon has set and the starry sky offers itself in full bloom. Shortly before the rise of the Sun, the first layer on the eastern horizon starts to match the sand around, becoming as red as the soil. On the morning of the second day, we went to see the sunrise on Kata Tjuta, where, surprisingly, people were more focused on Uluru, while everything was happening on the Olgas.

After the sunrise, we headed to the Valley of the Winds. The name itself brings mystical to another level. And the good thing, with Uluru Express, we were practically the first ones on the track. It is a 8 km long walk, with some difficult spots that left me a little breathless, but the landscape is totally worth it. I mean, Uluru is great, but it's just there, you can only face it, you cannot be surrounded by its majesty. With Kata Tjuta, you can. And I was really surprised how little tourists pay attention to the Olgas, because I personally enjoyed it more than Uluru, that is to say, Uluru is a beautiful sight, but Kata Tjuta is a beautiful experience.

After a quick lunch back at the resort, I went back with Uluru Express to see Walpa Gorge, which is a 1h walk return into a deep gorge which is probably very nice in the Wet. In the Dry, it is still nice, but too big to actually photograph well.

After that walk, we went back to the Sunset on Uluru platform to admire how this Rock goes to sleep.
The next morning was again an early one, as this time, I was set to watch the Sun rise on the other side of Ayers Rock.

you can even see Kata Tjuta on the left

And unfortunately, that was already over! Time to go to...

Darwin
Contrary to what I thought, I didn't stay long in Darwin, so I didn't see much of it. I didn't go to the Mindil beach sunset market, didn't go to Litchfield, Kakadu, or Kathering Gorge NPs, but I have an excuse, as I would really like to enjoy New Zealand to its fullest... and for that I need money to earn, not to spend...
I did walk to the Esplanade and see the sunset which, like the air itself here, has a very asian feeling, with the very red sun...

And I also enjoyed a "Territory Grill", with Croc, Buffalo, Kangaroo and Barramundi (delicious)

Well, that's disappointingly all I have to say about NT, sorry about that...
See you next time!

You are where you live

If some of my readers wonder why I haven't updated my blog for a while, it's not because of this, it's simply because I'm living my life. And to prove it, I've updated my Impossible list with all the new things I've experienced in Ultima. 

Funny how at first, the name of this town sounded like hell bells, as if it was the final destination. And you know what? It really was. It was the ultimate destination for me to change myself in a way that just "regular" traveling would never have. This is the kind of experience, way out of all touristic roads, that makes the whole thing unique and unforgettable. I've never felt so good about myself, and every now and then I tell myself "if you ever feel down, remember this feeling, Julie". I think it's the first time for a long while I'm not chasing after other people's love and acceptance, and it actually just comes to me.

And as much as the people themselves - a lot of good people here - I'm certain that the whole environment around helps this kind of change. The peaceful sound of Nature, the open horizon (again), the warm sun on your skin in winter, it's like everything is here to make you better yourself.

Well I don't have much to add, so I will leave you with that for the moment. I promise, tips on traveling will be back soon!

Half a life ago

Today, it's been 6 months since I've left, and already 3 weeks since I've put my travels on hold. Maybe it's time for a little reflexion on what has changed for me. I apologize in advance if it gets too personal for the Internet, where everything must be entertaining.

By the way, I am aware of the difference between life and lifetime, I just prefer the title that way.

Honestly, apart from the fact that I live on my savings and not on a daily routine of a job in front of a computer, I don't see much difference. My problems are still with me, and I don't see any change in my character. Okay, maybe I'm a bit less temperamental, but basically, I'm still the same person that left, or at least I feel like it. Hell, even in the middle of nowhere, if there are sales, I'm turning back into the fashionista I was... As there is no one to see the change, I will probably have to wait and meet my friends again to know if I have really changed.

One of the important things for me is that when I go back to the "real" world, all the qualities that made me employable are now proven through this trip: Time management, planning and scheduling, being adaptable, becoming customer-oriented, being a quick learner, not being afraid to take important decisions on the go, and so on... The biggest improvement is definitely to be able to stand calm facing people undermining me.

And as an engineer turned barmaid in the middle of farmers, you get that sometimes...

not as much as you would elsewhere, though, because Aussies are good people...

Coming from a backpacker, this may sound uncommon to talk about the After-Travel and how to use it in the workplace, that seems like defeating the whole purpose of freeing yourself from it for a year! Nevertheless, it is still important to me, whatever place I may end up in the future workworld.

My best friend recently told me that I reminded her of Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love. The compliment went  obviously straight to my heart, but I still didn't want to read the book, as I didn't want to be influenced by others' experience, and I had the feeling that the search for spirituality in the book was completely different from my own search. 

I actually still don't know why I left. 

Because I was turning thirty and it was my last chance to go on a working holiday visa could be reason enough. 

Because I was turning thirty and I was in search of myself? or running away from my problems? or too scared to enter a new decade without a big plan?

I really can't say. 

Anyway, when I told my friend that Australia wasn't for me as spiritual a country as India could be, she told me that a country shouldn't be spiritual, you make it spiritual. And that is very true.

She should probably write this blog instead of me... 

I have yet to see Uluru, said to be the most spiritual place in Australia, but you can find spirituality in the beautiful western coast.

You can find spirituality in so open an horizon in Victoria.

It's actually in the Top 5 things I'm going to miss in Australia

1. TimTam

2. Ginger Beer

3. Garlic Bread

4. The warm sun

5. The open horizon

You can find spirituality by talking to people who live so differently from you.

Well, anyway, after that, I finally read Eat Pray Love. Or more precisely, I devoured in a day 2/3rd of it. I want to keep the Bali part for after I've myself done Bali. I'm very happy to have read it, and I'm also very happy I waited to read it. If I've read it when it came out, I might have been inspired by the author's own personal experience, and it would have ended in a not-so-genuine wanderlust. And I'm so glad I read it, because, like all good writers, she talks to me. I was both right and wrong, her search for spirituality took a completely different path than the one I'm in, but basically, it is the genuine search of self which we have in common.
I think everybody can enjoy reading that book, but I don't think everybody can relate. For instance, my friends that are happily married, having or expecting babies probably wouldn't connect with all she's been through. And that's good for them. As for me, she's had me hooked as soon as her 109th bead, that is to say her introduction. I've laughed and cried with her, envied her sometimes and basically had a good - and unfortunately too short - reading time.

In the middle of that reading, a bittersweet moment happened: I had a Skype call with friends, and I realized how little had changed. Of course, babies are on the way, and I will have to adapt to that, but it was sweet and reassuring to see and hear them still being my friends, and not just parents or parents to be. It was bitter, though, to realize that I haven't changed a bit. I am still affected by their love and the way they look at me, and basically, what I dread at the beginning of the article, I didn't have a big epiphany on who I am and where I'm going.

Of course, it's only my vision of myself, and I still need my friends when I go back to tell me if I'm right or wrong.

It is indeed dreadful for an impatient control freak of a girl like me, who wants everything now or at least in a precise agenda. And it is made all the more excruciating by the fact that right now, my life is on hold. I am in the middle of nowhere, and since I have learned - one thing at least I've learned - to make the most of every moment and opportunity, I try to see the benefits of those two months away from my year of wandering.

Hence my search for spirituality several lines ago... 

At the same time, I'm fighting really hard to avoid becoming an apathic brooder that stays in bed 12 hours a day. Maybe I'm trying too hard; maybe, all I need is let the flow of time pass me by, but I must say that this Nowhere I am right now doesn't give me many opportunities to make it pass faster, and it's really tiring.
The only element that glues things together is knowing that so much more opportunities will arise in the not so distant future in September. And for sure, learning patience will make me change for the better.

Monkey Mia Road Trip

After ranting about how painful it is to travel around WA without a car, and seeing how especially difficult it is to go to Monkey Mia (airway is too expensive and the bus stops around 190 kms away), I decided to go on a road trip from Geraldton to Monkey Mia and return.

I went with Avis, and renting the car cost me around 150 $ for 5 days (starting on Monday afternoon), 150 kms included each day (clearly not enough, and each extra km costs 30c).

Day 1:

After a long afternoon of waiting for the Avis office to open (it was a public holiday in WA), I finally got into the car, and headed to Kalbarri, because I wanted to see the sunrise on Nature's window. And guess what? Just the next day, June 4th, some road work started on the road to... Nature's window! And apparently it will be so until October 2013. But I still had fun, met the great friends I had made the first time I went there and spend a good time there.

Day 2:

Even though the sunrise was then out of the question, I still woke up early and headed to Kalbarri National Park, to see some beautiful gorges still accessible by car. And the National Park didn't disappoint.

doesn't look like an early morning winter light, right?

After that, I arrived on the North Western Coastal Highway, and it was practically one long and boring line of a road. After refilling half a tank at the Billabong Roadhouse (25 l for around 50 $), I turned left on the World Heritage Drive of Shark Bay. And after a while, I could see the nice blue of the Indian Ocean next to the road, and simply had to stop at every lookout. That is one of the things telling me that I did well to rent a car. I couldn't have taken so many pictures if I hadn't had the opportunity to stop wherever I wanted.

And that would have been too bad...

I stopped at Denham to have a look at the "Shark Bay Discovery Centre", but as I couldn't book the scenic flight I wanted, I went on to Monkey Mia itself.

Monkey Mia is a kind of resort from the Caravan Park to the luxurious beach front cottage, and in its heart lies the Tourist Centre and the Dolphin Interaction Area. Apart from the dolphins themselves, the good thing about the location is that you can see the sunrise and the sunset from the same area. And the beaches are protected from strong surf. The bad thing... I'll come back to it later.

So after setting myself in one of the dorms of the resort, and discussing with my roommate who was a volunteer for the Dolphin Interaction Centre, I went to see the sunset on the beach.

beautiful sunset colors.

Day 3:

Early wake up call to see the dolphins feeding that starts at 8 AM, but everyone is already there at 7:30. The feeding starts with explanations on the dolphins and the local dolphin Who's Who. 

Then the volunteers arrive with the baskets of fish, make 3 or 4 people give the fish to the dolphins, and that's it. The feeding is highly limited, only 500 grms per dolphin per feeding, and only 3 feedings between 8 AM and 12 PM. 

So after the first feeding, I decided to switch to my favorite activity in Australia, that is to say: walking on the beach. 

that was rewarding

And after a morning of walking and a light lunch in the camp kitchen, I decided to give snorkelling a go.

Remember when I told you about the good things of Monkey Mia? Now the bad things: the snorkelling is just void. I only saw one fish that I nearly missed (it being white on white sand) and one starfish... And even though the surf is non existent, the current is still rather strong. The other bad thing, is that the sand is not just sand. It's also broken shells... Which doesn't make for a nice walk barefoot...

pretty, right? Try walking on it...

So after a nice little snooze on the beach, I just went back to the resort and read in the sun.

Day 4:

After another dolphin feeding in the morning, I checked out and hit the road at once, with a self catered breakfast at the Blue lagoon...

and several other stops along the way, including Shell Beach

you can't see it here, but it's entirely made of shells...

and Hamelin Pool, home of the Stromatolites:

Riding back on the same road the opposite way, I arrived in Kalbarry in the beginning of the afternoon (after another refill of half a tank for another 50 $). As the day was beautiful, I just walked along the beach in Kalbarri then chilled out after the sunset with the guys of the YHA around several beers.

Day 5

After another early morning, I checked out of the YHA and decided to have a look at the coastal cliffs of Kalbarri.

Worth it...

Then I headed back to Geraldton, via Northampton, which was a pretty nice drive.

After giving back the keys to the car to Avis, I took the bus from Geraldton to Cervantes, where I will spend the next 3 weeks, before heading back to Sydney to hopefully find a job there to help me finance my trip to NZ in October. So I fear this blog will be on hiatus until September, which will be quite eventful with Uluru and Bali.

See you then!