Another planet

After spending over 2 month in the old English colonies (NZ, Fiji and Australia) we were looking for achange of culture - and where else to go than Japan where everything is different:

The language: Even though Martin had freshed up his Japanese with a 10 min. course during the the flight, we still had a hard time understanding the strange sounds and letters from these guys.

The restaurants: If you don't want a very loud and passionate Japanese waiter to yell what seems to be bad Japanese words in your face, do take off your shoes before entering one of the traditional restaurants. While eating it is considered polite to slurp as much as possible.

The toilets: The toilets have more functions than the computers back home. This makes it possible to choose different flush pressures, seat temperatures, odours and music/ forest sounds - and don't be surprised if the seat goes up by itself when you lock the door.

Ninjas: The city streets and roof tops are packed with ninjas. However, they are impossible to see since they always move in the shadows and with the speed of light.

When we landed in Tokyo we were picked up by the "wanna-be ninja" Christina who had travelled all the way from Denmark, to be among fellow ninjas. We spent 2 days in Tokyo trying to catch up with Christina who jumped around in her selfmade ninja-outfit, swinging her nunchakus and yelling Japanese ninja-slang.

The highlight of our time in Tokyo was (besides Christinas ninja training) the Tsukije fish market where we spent a very early morning looking among the nights cach. We enjoyed not being as busy as the traders, and took our time to look at all the strange fish, mussels, squids etc. The experience ended with a very fresh dish of sushi served around 9 am. Nice breakfast!!

After Tokyo we jumped on the local high-speed train, Shinkansen, and drove to the old capital Kyoto with a speed of almost 300 km/h. We spent 3 magnificent days walking around tempels, geishas, old tempels, red paper lanterns, Japanese Zen gardens, and very old temples. We even got a glimse of some temples. Christina was still running around in her black clothes desperately trying not to hurt herself with her nunchakus.

On our way back to Tokyo we had a short stop in Hakone at the base of Mt. Fuji. Christinas last nunchaku had broken during a small incident with a train officer and she was getting a little more interested in the sightseeing. Unfortunatly Mt. Fuji was covered in clouds, so we looked at some temples instead.

We love Japan!

A fter a couple of hours in the well-spaced seats of monkey class and a similar amount of time in Auckland airport we finally landed in Sydney. We spent a couple of days in this lovely metropol exploring the downtown cafes & bars, the extensive amount of shoe shops and, of course, the amazing opera house at the harbour. Monday morning we picked up our rental van, a roomy Toyota decorated with the American singer Janis Joplin. It was time to head for the outback...

U sing, once again, the left side of the road we drove to Blue Mountains. "The Blues" was first discovered when English prisoners tried to escape over the mountains in search of China, but where they had hoped for cup noodles and Kung Fu movies they were met by endless sandstone overhangs instead - a climbers paradise was discovered... The 4 amazing days we spent in the area were primarily used under (and on) the red sandstone keeping Martin on a short leach. However, we also find the time for some kangaroo whatching, a trip through "Grand Canyon" (Yep they also got one here) and some shopping in the local hippie-town Katoomba.

S even mile beach was were we spent our first night going south along the east cost. The following evening we got our first real wildlife experience on Pebbly Beach, where we were greeted by very friendly, lovable and definitely not very shy colorful parots, curious kangaroos, sunbathing gigant lizards and a hungry possum. Heading further south with a couple of stops here and there we ended up in Wilson Prom where the wildlife was not so wild anymore... The animals here are definitely use to people, and we often had a parrot couple going through our kiwipeels and pancake leftovers after breakfast. During the two days here we had some nice walks before enjoying dinner among begging possums and guls. We also had nighly visits from our private wombat (big hairy lazy creature).

T he Janis Joplin van headed for Melbourne, where we tried out a number of nice cafes, an atmospheric internet cafe, walked around the wonderful parks/ the botanic garden and tasted some cold Aussi beer before moving on.

R acing on, we took two days on Great Ocean Road which, besides spectacular views, presented some huge waves with surfers, The 12 Apostles (spectacular rock formations), sleepy fishermen villages, koala teddies as well as a large number of sea guls.

"A rg! Laerke come quick, there is an enormous, scary animal back there! I just heard it roaring." 15 seconds later a cute little koala pops his head around the trunck of an eucalyptus tree. They have really big voices the little lads. We saw quite a lot of koalas during our stay at Mt. Eccles, where we stayed before going two days to The Grampians. Here we walked around a lot looking at funny rock formations, waterfalls and huge spiders, and Martin also found time to check out a few climbing spots. Climbing was also the main reason for our next stop, Mt. Arapolis. During the day we felt how hot it can get "down under"; however it did cool down in the evening which we therefore spent on some boulders in the area.

L azy danes, we don't think so! We also made time for a day in the Snowy Mountains where we climbed/ walked up Mt. Kosciuszko - The highest mainland summit with its 2228 m.

I n the shadow of Mt. Kosciuszko Janis was once again on the road speeding at 80 km/h (downhill) towards the capital Canberra. With Laerke in charge of the map we did a thourough exploration of the suburbs before we finally hit downtown. Downtown Canberra was boring compared to Sydney and Melbourne, however the local museum with its rugby exibition was quite interesting. We only spent half a day here before heading back to the "Blues"...

"A rg! Martin come quick, I've just been bit by an enormous, scary animal - must have been a snake or a deadly spider!!" 15 seconds later a cute little ant came out under the grass. Okay I must admit it was not quite as cute as the koala described earlier and it must have eaten a bunch of fancy steroids to obtain its incredible size. Despite the agressive "Schwarzenegger-ant" we, once again, enjoyed the climbing in this world-class area, and this time Laerke didn't settled with a spot on the ground... Unfortunately everything has an end an we had to return to Sydney with the van. The last couple of days were spent in the streets/ parks of Sydney enjoying our last time in the southern hemisphere - at least for now...  

If you like the sky best when it's grey with plenty of showers, and if you can't get through a week without your daily dip in the ice cold sea weed in Oeresund - don't go to Fiji! Here the beaches are as long as the Danish winter and the water as crystal clear as the sky above.

Spread out in the Pacific Ocean Fiji consists of about 300 islands. The Fijian people have a history of cannibalism, ending several European missionaries crusades in a steaming pot. Today Fiji is part of Common Wealth, so "man curry" and "fried human fingers" have been replaced with the more civilized "curry chicken" and "fish fingers".

Our tour guide (Laerke) had made a throrough study of the 300 islands and chosen Nacula as our main destination during our 6 day visit. After arriving in Nadi International Airport we went to the harbour and took a 4,5 hours ferry ride to Oarsman's Bay on Nacula. Here we were welcomed by a local band of singing cannibals and a bounty beach setting, which almost made us cry of joy. We spent the next 4 days snorkeling, enjoying the sun, playing with hermit crabs and reading in hammocks, and were only eaten by mosquitoes...

After 4 days our skin could take no more of the harch sun, so we returned to the main island. Here we spent a day in Nadi, a larger city/town, where we looked at some interesting shops, selling stuff quite different from what we find back home. In the evening we were entertained by a local dancing group performing a Polynesian dance show consisting of the always succesful combination of fire, sharp knives and pretty hula girls.

By the way... Bula means the same as Aloha, Hola, G'day mate and the American How r ya man.

Oh wow!!

What a country! Where else in the world do you find a place that offers sailing, rock climbing, mountaineering, caving, horse back riding, brilliant shopping, thrill rides, skiing and patchwork within a 3 hours drive? We sure haven't come across that before... Well maybe the french part of Switzerland, but they speak french and we do not (and the patchwork there is not really any thing to talk about...). All in all we LOVE New Zealand!!

Dangerous Danes

The thrill ride began the very first day we arrived. We picked up our home for the next 5 weeks, a van we named Rulle Marie. Martin set out in Auskland's morning traffic. Luckely it was sunday and not many people were up, so Martin's debut driving in the wrong side of the road (the right side being the right side) only called for 5-6 horn honkings. But it only took a couple of days to get used to looking right and not left in the round-abouts, turning on the blinker and not the wipers, and not going too close to the road shoulder. Laerke had a much easier time, not knowing the difference between right and left in the first place...

North Island, part I

Not to waste too much time hanging around, we soon headed south to Waitomo Caves, where a 100 meter abseil awaited. Talk about a long way down! To get our nerves back on track, we took a walk in Tongariro National Park and a quick trip up Mount Ngauruhoe aka Mount Doom.

South Island

In the next couple of days a miracle happened: Laerke rock climbed... and thought it was fun!!! It has only taken Martin 8 years for this to happen, so he was pretty happy with himself. At the climbing crack Paynes Ford we stayed at a cosy campground called Hangdog, where the days were spent climbing and swimming in the rivers, and the evenings playing cards and drinking cold Kiwi beer. Not bad!!

Heading further south along the west coast we were introduced to how much it can rain in NZ. It rained so hard that we stranded in the world famous and totally intriging Haast for a couple of hours, due to a big land slide further south. Eventually, however, we arrived at our destination, the capital og thrills Queenstown. And since we were here and did not have anything better to do, we flew 4000 meters up in a plane and took one crucial step out of the door, which resulted in a 45 second free fall at about 200 km/h before the parachute was unfolded.

Since Tongariro Crossing had help our nerves earlier, a 3-day tramping trip along Kepler Track seem like a perfect choice. Martin, however, got a bit too calm, so after 3 days in the bush we headed back to Queenstown, so he could do a bungy jump.

We then headed east to get a feel of the wild life on the east coast. Here we met seals, sea lions (we think), yellow eyed penguins and albatrosses. All that wild life makes you thirsty, so we also found time for a work related visit to Speights brewery.

And then we were there... In the city of our dreams... Christchurch! The city that has it all:

• skiing
• sailing
• climbing cave with world class routes
• cheap party pills
• shopping, although the shoe shops were a little on the down side
• no sand flies

All in all perfect despite the lack of shoe shops. Martin was especially excited about The Cave, a climbing spot with sport climbing routes just the way he likes them. He was also like a little boy christmas eve, the day we spent in Castle Hill, where he completely riped off the skin on both hands and knees while bouldering.

Being on the east coast gave us a longing for more wild life, and swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura seemed a good ending on the South Island. Unfortunately the trip was cancelled due to too much wind. Bommer!

North Island, part II

When in New Zealand, smell New Zealand, and there is no better place to do so than in Rotorua. On the way here we passed Hidden Valley and were lucky to see a Geyser go off. Rotorua presented us with a swim in a hot spring, boiling mud holes, steaming lakes and a constant smell of rotten eggs.

When our nostrils could take no more, we went back to our favorite campground at the Friendly School, and from there on to Auckland, where a plane heading for Fiji waited for us.