Wandering Scotsman

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to whoever reads this..…if you read it leave a comment below to let us know!  I’ll warn you this is going to be a VERY long post, as it’s a brief update, and a summary of our year and trip so far – so grab some xmas cheer, kick back, and start reading.  There’s a load of pictures from each country linked to at the end of the post as well.

This is our first Xmas overseas without any family or friends around so to all of you, we’ll raise a wee toast, hopefully in the sun, and hopefully with a BBQ on (I’m writing this a few days beforehand).  Even for those we used to live very close by but for whatever reason we never saw each other much, and for all our friends around the world…a big xmas-y toast to you all!

We are based in Golden Bay in the North of the South Island in NZ for Xmas in a wee camp site.  It’s not quite the busy Xmas we had hoped for but many places appeared to be booked out, but we have a great view of the sea from the beach 2 metres behind the van.  Unfortunately it not really one to swim in as the tide goes out so far and it’s so shallow you’d have to walk 3km to get out of your depth.

For the last few days we’ve be in Kaiteriteri just before Abel Tasman National Park getting a slow intro to the Kiwi holidays as each spot around us got more arrivals of families carrying half their homes with them for the three week break… 4x4s with families, boats and BBQs pull in and set up camp.  Just as you think they have a lot of gear, the boat cover comes off, and the rest of the kit comes out.  Fridge Freezers are linked up the power outlets around the campsite, and BBQs are set up.

We are starting to feel like the poor camping cousins….as we don’t have any canopies to share, or bottles of Bacardi to sit around.  Our neighbours have been more than welcoming, offering their BBQ to us for a shot if we want, and keeping us in touch with the campsite going ons.  The arrivals of their three week long neighbours are talked about, and greetings made as they return to the same annual spot, despite all seeming to come from different areas of Christchurch, this is the only time they see each other.  Unfortunately le left that camp to head further north.

So it’s been a big year for us!  This time last year we were still contemplating our travels and handing in our notice, unless some magical idea came about that we could move up to the West Coast of Scotland and make some money.  Now we’re sitting on the other side of the world with a residency application in for the 2nd stage fo the process!

Last year we drove up to take in New Year in Gairloch, stopping on route to flash out headlights at our friend’s cottage across Loch Maree as they set off a Chinese Lantern to say hi to us from the distant shore in their lovely pad.   The next few months flew by with some winter activity and me spending the coldest minus 20c weekend winter climbing with my mate, and staying in the van, with the gas and all water bottles freezing solid. 

By last New Year we had made up our mind to hit the road and use the NZ working visa’s that had been burning our passports for the previous 6 months (applied for at the last minute ‘just in case”), and spent many hours trying to decide a route to get there, and work out what was feasible.

A route across Central Asia was worked out as it suited a visit to my sister’s in Oman to start out, then over to the ‘Stans (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan), Mongolia, China and Hong Kong before heading to NZ for a year.  Just as we thought we had worked out the timing of the railways from Uzbekistan round the long way to Mongolia, we stumbled across a weekly flight from Kazakhstan to Western Mongolia which was our savour and saved us buying Russian visas and ‘wasting’ a week just to transit to where we wanted to go…. 

Before we knew it, the stress levels were raising along with the excitement as we realised how much stuff we (or more likely I !?!) had, where we were going to stash it at my mums (thanks mum!).  A succession of visa applications had been made, and our Uzbekistan one arrived just in the nick of time, after hounding the useless bastards in the London Embassy for weeks (sorry, but it’s more than justified!  Jeez you’d think they’d want visitors, not make it a nightmare for them).

The trip was on, we landed in Oman fully exhausted and did very little for a week in the searing heat apart from re-acquaint with my niece.  Confident of the price of the taxi between Dubai terminals en-route to Uzbekistan, we still got ripped off by a cocky taxi driver within minutes of being left on our own.  We landed in Uzbekistan and was met by my sister’s friend (who had been my Estonian tour guide many years ago) who quickly showed us how to get a lift off a local rather then taxis.  There was always a car appeared next to you whenever you the thought of heading home entered your mind – far more efficient than any UK cabbie. 

Ciara said “How do you stop for long enough to realise where you are?”. 

We had been in our first country for 10 minutes, with 6 more to go.  It was just the start!

Uzbekistan whizzed by with our first realisation we were away wen sitting in the heat, surrounded by market sellers in Bukhara.  Our next stop in a very troubled Kyrgyzstan was all up in the air even when we left Oman due to recent border closures and violence against the government.  We had heard the border was opened so we headed for it in a 2 day trip in a hired taxi to save catching a succession of local buses.  This was to be the start of almost 6 weeks in lands of difficult communication! 

The Kyrgyzstan border crossing went smoothly and we had to call the guard over and interrupt his chess game due to the crossing only being open to foreigners.  The next few weeks were spent with highs and lows experiencing Kyrgyzstan, knowing all too well that we’d probably look back on the experience as one of the most interesting in our trip, and it was.  We asked 5 different locals about a route and got 3 different answers, we got dropped off in villages which left us very little bargaining power to get to the next village 30km off the main road.  We paid tens of times more than the locals price on the way to places, and got locals prices on the way back.  We ended up in villages with taxi drivers (that should be car owners) that spoke little English, and ended up in houses where we weren’t sure if we were getting dinner or not, with no shops in sight.  We finally got to main touritst attractions, then couldn’t work out what to do there as there were no signs, and no people.  Then we tried again, and again, to explain that there couldn’t be any wheat in one of our meals, despite every Kyryz family cooking up the finest bread and practically living off the stuff. 

This story was to be repeated several times over the next few weeks.

Despite this, In every place we were met with amazing hospitality and interest…including from my dad’s friend in the capital Bishkek who showed us some places to get a decent fill of food and beer for a couple of days.

From here we headed up to Khazakstan for a couple of days to get our tiny plane to the far west of Mongolia – we landed in a true hick town with a dirt air strip called Olgii….to start what was probably the height of our trip…..a week hiking with a cook, guide, horseman, 2 horses and a big stinking camel close to the Chinese Border.    We never got confirmation of our ticket until the day before the flight despite trying to book it for weeks….but luckily we managed to avoid last minute visas and train journeys. Until that point, it was a slight worry that it wouldn’t all come together in the few days we needed it to, and we tried to avoid the thought of paying top dollar to try and get rapid Russian visas and train tickets.   

The week was definitely one of our favourite parts – trekking every day, pitching up in tents with world class mountain views, washing in icy cold streams, and ending up trying to haul a camel through a snow drift over the last pass – stories that will live on forever.  The horseman never spoke any English but by the time we left him he had given me one of his traditional hats.

Once again, the hospitality of the few Mongolian families we stayed with was amazing, and yet again it proves that the people with the least are usually the most generous. We grew to miss the milk and yoghurt we got accustomed to, even the fizzy putrid mares milk that would explode if you shook it – a bit like a milky Coke! (in terms of fizz).  Despite planning on braving the 3-5 day bus journey across the explanse of Mongolia, we discovered there was no definite day of departure (‘when the minibus fills up’), and 2 seats were left on the 3-4hr flight, but at crazily inflated foreigner prices – plus the crazy excess baggage.  After our week’s tour  in the Altai mountains we landed in a totally chilled state to have a frantic hour of changing money, going to the ticket office, going back to the bank, back to the ticket office, arranging accommodation in Ulanbataar, and instantly the peace of the mountains had vanished!…even though it was good to shower out the smell of camel dung fires from our senses.

When we landed in Ulanbataar, we were overwhelmed by all the travellers and conversations in English around us – it was the first hostel we stayed in, and we had been on the road for 7 weeks.  It was surreal.  After a 3am yelling match between residents during a football world cup game, we decided that backpackers were a bunch of fekin’ idiots and we were sick of them already. 

From here we booked a 10 day trip that came highlighy recommended from a freak of a Manhattan brain surgeon (apparently!) who said “sitting on a bus for that long, it’s shit, f*(Cking sh!t, if you want to learn how to want to commit suicide you should go but be warned – its f&(*&ckin shit”.  When we met her she emptied her sack of collected animal bones onto the hostel floor and told us she planned to make a dress from to fly back home to the States with.  We decided our personalities were suitably far removed from hers, so we booked the trip.  

Luckily we got in with a great crowd of 3 others that were chilled….just as well as we did spend bloody hours and hours in a hot russian van for hours criss crossing the bumpy desert of Mongolia!

From here we had booked our train to Beijing.  Crossing the border was like crossing into the 21st century after being stuck away from it for 7 weeks.  There was music playing in the station, there were neon lights flashing in casinos (well it was a Chinese border town!), a very well stocked shop and it took longer for us to adjust than it took for them to adjust the width of the train wheels as we were raised on a platform to watch the spectacle.

China was great – a country that intrigues me and one that I had wanted to visit for many years.  This time there was just long enough to scratch the surface – Beijing to Xi’an, to Yanghsou, then Hong Kong and into Macau.  It was great, it was SUPER easy to travel through and a piece of piss to organise our travel.  Maybe it was just that we were used to the opposite but this felt like a holiday from our holiday.  The hostels were superb, the backstreets were fascinating, the people amazed me, and the shopping was superb.  We stayed a week in Yanghsou doing climbing, cycling, walking, river rafting (or more like a luge!), and relaxing.  Some of you may remember we considered trying to get some work here through my friend from Borneo around 6 months earlier, however she had left around 6 weeks before we got there… but in true Darren style we met one of her friends there.

From there it was a sleeper bus to Hong Kong which we LOVED!  Again its a place I’ve wanted to go to for years.  We both enjoyed it – we had a day on the beach, saw the light show, did some shopping, and could have done WAY more shopping.  Unfortunately here we also missed someone I used to work with but hey there was plenty to keep us busy.  We couldn’t get over the commercialism but we loved it all the same.

Our last stop was a treat in a hotel in Macau for two nights.  We had planned to hit the casinos and enjoy the luxury, but having seen the minimal gambling stakes, and being right at the end of our hard travels, and before the start of a bit more of reality in NZ, we totally chilled out here catching up on sleep and swimming in the pool, enjoying the luxury.

At the end of July we arrived in New Zealand just before being able to spend my birthday weekend skiing with a good friend I met in Canada over 10 years ago.  I had only met him since on my last trip to NZ.  We hit this country with a big bad thud and a bit of a downer as we realised we had to get back to a bit of normality, and had to deal with the relative monotony of living in a westernised country : no haggling, not great markets, no language barriers, no dodgy buses, trains or flights.

We were to get over this downer within a few weeks, and you can read recent blog posts about our time in NZ.  I’ll try to post up something over the next week or so about why we like it here and what made us want to stay.

Although our visas tell us we should leave here in July, in our hearts that would be way too soon for us.  We seem to have this sense of ‘purpose’ here (although god knows what it is!? ;-> ) and there are lots of things to explore, and it’s just a bit different.  Sure there are many downsides, with distances and costs being the main and the biggest ones.

Our second and hopefully final stages of our residency application went in just before Xmas, with realms of paperwork, certificates and references, and a big cheque (but not that big considering).  It’s now up to the Immigration department how long we’ll be able to stay.  We are hoping it should be relatively easy, we’ll get a ‘returning residents’ visa, and we’ll have a couple of years to live through spending at least 6 months a year in NZ (but likely most of that time) before we get our full residents permit, assuming it goes that far.

It’s been a blast of a year, and we’re starting off 2011 on the road.  We’ve got our 4×4 Hitop Toyota Hiace campervan, boogie boards, mountain bikes, BBQ, climbing gear, road atlas and it feels like it’s right where we want to be.

If only the lot of you could get over here easily to catch up regularly, life would be near perfect!*   Roll on travel at the speed of light.

(* – although it’s all too easy for me to write that – I’ve not worked since May!)

Merry Xmas everyone, and have a bloody great New Year!!

Photos – click on the country to launch the slideshow :

Uzbekistan Gallery
Kyrgyzstan Gallery
Mongolia Gallery
China
Hong Kong Gallery

PS : If you read this far, leave a comment below!

…and one more to go when I get it ready…  thanks for the cards and pressies. I think we were the only van taking today seriously!
Its a glorious day – hot and sunny!

Merry Xmas everyone!  I’m in the middle if an Xmas blog entry but in the meantime this will have to do!
We are in Collingwood in the far north of the south island in a quiet little camp site.  I’ll be trying to put up a summary of our trip with loads of photos up soon.
Merry Xmas to everyone wherever you are in wish you were all here!
D & C

Probably by the time you read this we’ll both be on the ferry, or will have crossed over the South Island (Ruth – keep reading there’s an explanation below) for our ‘wee’ road trip.  I say ‘wee’ but really it’s until either until :

• The money runs out
• We stumble across some opportunity in the South
• We have to meet some restriction that Immigration puts on us.

So tomorrow we’ll be looking back from the same position as the ferry above, to where the photo above was taken from and back to the city we’ve pretty much kinda grown in love with for just now.  It’s a strange feeling leaving somewhere when we’re not ready to leave it yet, but we’re still hugely looking forward to the trip – it may just take us a few extra days for it to hit us.

For this reason we won’t be moving far on the other side.  It’ll take about 3 hours to get across, despite it not being very far as as the crow flies (on a clear day you can see the South Island well from where the shot above was taken).  After that we’re only going to drive about 20-30 mins to a quiet basic camping spot to chill out for a couple of days to make a plan.

After that we’ll be heading around the Marlborough Sounds for some exploring and maybe a couple of days mountain biking over some of the Queen Charlotte Track.  After that we may head into the Sounds in the van and explore the more remote bays and areas for several days.  From there we hope to head to a remote few camps on the way to French Pass which is further to the West, but still in the general ‘sounds’ area.  Its a relatively small area, but full of passes, channels out to the sea and stunning beaches.  All this area is well known for fishing, boating and diving.

If you want to see some of the ferry crossing, check out this footage from YouTube, although I doubt we’re going to get a crossing quite like this – it could be quite wild if the wind doesn’t die down.

We have 5 weeks until my mum and stepdad come out to visit which is great.  We’ll probably spend most of this time in the far North of the South Island – at a push we’ll head down the West coast for some coastal climbing, then up to Arthur’s Pass to do the same and some walking before heading to Christchurch.

In the 3 weeks they are here we’ll do a whistle stop tour of the classic sights, then hopefully still be able to afford to backtrack to similar spots but at our own pace for walking, climbing and biking.

The van’s fully loaded and we’ve just to throw the bikes on.  Despite this we’ve managed to keep the main cabin clear so far which is good – how long that will last is another thing altogether!

Anyway, if the blog goes quiet we’re still ok – we just won’t be on the internet so much.  To family and friends….we are only going to the South Island, not the end of the world…we’ll still have phone reception but maybe not always….so don’t worry if you can’t get a hold of us for a few days.

We haven’t managed to submit our docs to Immigration before we leave as they have been held up due to the weather in the UK, which is very, very, very frustrating!

That’s about all – but Ruth – keep reading……

New Zealand is not Australia…..it’s several hours flight away to the East.  We are in one of the first countries to see a new day….it’s kinda right underneath Ireland.  New Zealand has got 2 islands….for the last few months we’ve been at the South of the top one (normally known as the North Island).  It’s a 30 minute flight, or 3hr ferry trip to the South which we can sometimes see from the beach round the corner.  We’ve both been here before.  (sorry, I’m being cheeky ;-> )

Anyway, Merry Xmas everyone that we don’t speak to beforehand!  It’s been one heck of a year so far!

Ciaras now finished work so its the 3 day ferry countdown. 🙂

Tonight was the night the wind and rain stopped.  That meant only one thing : time to test the portable gas BBQ before the road trip!
Ciara came home awfully excited today as it was her last day if wearing what I now call ‘fancy dress’.  Otherwise known as business dress.
Its her last day in the office tomorrow and she’s probably more excited than leaving in May…..and probably because I have less stuff to sort out this time!

We’ve had a relatively quiet time recently but jhave been busy prepping for our road trip…..  quite exciting as we’ll be on the ferry to the South Island in a week’s time, looking back from the boat to the coast from where this picture was taken.

This weekend we packed up a bit of the room, and sorted out some of the spare food and stuff for when we end up in the arse of nowhere without being prepared….yes, a bit OTT but hey ho.

We ran out of time to test out the new BBQ but Saturday was crazy hot.  The beaches were chocked full of people surfing and swimming and the waterfront was packed with people doing all sorts.  When I walked along the waterfront on Friday myself and a few others walking along had a bit of a laugh as two female tourists ran in front of us, held their noses and jumped into the sea.  I vowed I’d go for a swim in the sea on Sunday but the weather turned a bit meaning Sunday was super lazy.

Apart from that I managed to go bouldering on Thursday with my mate by the sea.  Ciara was bopping away with the girls at Bon Jovi on Saturday night when I decided to go fishing…..in the usual manner I cast twice and snagged my gear and had to cut the line!

Time to go, but I’ll try to get a blog post in before we hit the high seas.  We have a small bunch of leaving drinks on Friday night then it’ll be time to stash then van.

Its been a superb weekend of weather in Wellington so far and is forecast to continue. This was Wellington’s waterfront yesterday afternoon.  Seconds earlier my walk was interrupted to laugh as two tourists ran in front of me, grabbed their noses and jumped into the sea.
Ciara is heading to see Bon Jovi tonight so I’m heading to go for a fish on my tod.  Wild Saturday nights eh!
We’ve spent a bit of today sorting sine stuff out in prep for the road trip which is great…not quite as stressful as we thought.

I’m proud to announce the arrival of my new New Zealand Backpacing Guidebook : New Zealand Backpacking Unwrapped.

The guide is over 125 pages of quality information which I’m sure will help you during your next visit to New Zealand.  Although the ebook is aimed at backpacking in New Zealand, there is a lot of information there for both long term visitors, and new residents in New Zealand.  It will be perfect for you if you have a working holiday visa for New Zealand and are wondering what lies head.

I’ve spent weeks making sure that the information in this guide book is correct and relevant for backpackers, which is why this blog has suffered a bit over the last few weeks.

Due to me neglecting this blog a bit whilse writing the ebook I am happy to give the readers of this site a discount of 15%.  If you head on over to the checkout and enter the code of ‘nzunwrappedblog’, and apply the discount to your shopping cart, you’ll get a reduction.  Don’t forget to update your cart before checking out!

***  Click Here to head on over to the site and place your order at a special launch offer price – New Zealand Backpacking Unwrapped Guide Book ****

Here’s the highlights :

• When to travel and all the budget airlines.
• How to set up the boring stuff on your first day – bank accounts, tax number and mobile phone.
  You can kick back and relax once you get these essentials out of the way.
• Visa options – even if you’re over 31 for the standard working holiday visa!
  Using this you could get 3 YEARS of being allowed to work in NZ without applying for residency!
• How to hire a campervan, from $10 OR EVEN FREE!
• How to buy your car or van and maximise your chances of getting most of your money back.
  (my first car here cost me less than $30 NZD a week when I sold it! – cheaper than hiring)
• How to get bus fares from $1.
• LOADS OF DISCOUNTS – from everyday food shopping to buying stuff for your van.
• Eating out well, but on a backpackers budget.
  How to get access to amazing 2 for 1 deals at top restaurants – everyone needs a treat right?
• Where to get up to 80% off activites and other treats (from skydiving to spas!)
• Paying NZ prices for books?  No way – we’ll tell you where to get items shipped at UK prices – with no shipping!
• Use social media to get up to 20% of car and van hire.
• Everything you need to know about seasonal jobs – from fruit picking to ski resorts.
• Hostelling – are discount cards really worth it?
• The pros and cons of the main cities – where do you want to base yourself?
• Free things to do in the major cities.
• Best ways to meet local people.
• Like it here and want to stay?  You’ll find out top tips to smooth your way through a Skilled Migrant residency visa application.

There’s a lot more in there, but you can get access to all of this for less than the price of a night in a hostel and a drink!

Reminder – you’ll get a 15% discount on checkout using the code ‘nzunwrappedblog’.  I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of this guide and you’ve got nothing to loose as there is a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied!  All you have to do it email the address given on the order – no questions asked.

I hope you find this book useful as it contains a lot of information that you won’t find in any other guidebooks!

You’ll also get an exclusive 5% discount code for travel insurance in the book!  That alone could pay for the book.

***  Click Here to head on over to the site and place your order at a special launch offer price – New Zealand Backpacking Unwrapped Guide Book ****

As for the friends and family reading this, don’t take the mic – I’m doing to encourage others to take a look! There are other readers over and above just family and friends, so no pisstaking!  

And here we go again after a great day in the sun…2 days…2 BBQs.