New Zealand (South) - Novy Zeland (Jih)

At the end of the 5 hour Trans Coastal train journey we had made it to Christchurch, the capital of the south island. We spent a few days getting to know the city, we went to the excellent Christchurch museum and then walked around the beautiful park next door. The autumn colours were at their magnificent best here so we decided to take a canoe and paddle down the avon river. But we had to get moving pretty quickly as there was plenty to squeeze in to our journey before meeting Luke in Greymouth. So back on the magic bus we moved up to Kaikoura. We checked into Dusky Lodge and made some lunch. Halfway through eating our Magic bus driver showed up and quietly asked us if we would like to join him on a cray-fishing trip that afternoon. We weren't sure as it caught us a little by surprise, but we figured sometimes these things you dont expect end up being the best . . . we were not wrong! 7 of us cramped into the back of a hatchback we were introduced to the captain who drove us to his house and then into the little tin boat on the back of a tractor we were introduced to his 1st mate. Missing one leg and all but one finger he was quite an intimidating no-nonsense knd of guy who didn't hold back when it came to getting out there. We were bumping up over the waves to the first few crayfish traps and we were soon pulling the prehistoric looking water insects by the dozen. Next we did some excellent fishing, together we caught 20 fish Veronika getting the catch of the day with a beautiful blue cod, and as we thought the day was coming to an end we were taken back to captains sea view bungalow for fresh cooked crayfish with wasabi and lovely local white wine, whilst chilling to 50s- 60's tunes. Laughter and stories were flowing, the most shocking of which was the one about how the first mate lost his leg and fingers. It turns out that whilst spear fishing as a 17 year old he was attacked by a shark which took his leg and he lost his fingers trying to pull himself free! Unbelievable, but what a character! At the end we were sent home with a big bag of fish and a crayfish each, which would last us the next 4 days of meals including possibly the best fish and chip and Thai fish curry we've had.

Po 5 hodinove ceste vyletnim vlakem pri pobrezi jsme dorazili do hlavniho mesta jizniho ostrova s nazvem Christchurch. Stravili jsme zde par dni, ktere jsme venovali navsteve zajimaveho muzea a plavbou na kanoi po rece Avon v prilehlem parku, ktery se pysnil vsemi podzimnimi barvami. Nemeli jsme moc casu nazbyt a museli se zacit posouvat dale, aby jsme dorazili do Greymouthu podle planu a setkali se s Lukem. A tak jsme opet byli na ceste v Kouzelnem autobuse na ceste do Kaikoury. Po te, co jsme se ubytovali v Dusky Lodge a poobedvali, objevil se v kuchyni nas ridic autobusu a ptal se, jestli se nepridame s nim na odpoledni rybarsky vylet zachytat si ryby a raky. Po nedlouhem zvazovani, ze takove neocekavane vylety jsou nejlepsi,jsme souhlasili . . a nemylili jsme se! Bylo nas 7. Nejdrive jsme vsichni nastoupili do male motorove lodky, ktera byla na vlecce pripojena k traktoru. Po par kilometrech na ceste jsme dorazili k vode, kde jsme byli doslova vypusteni na vodu. Nejdrive nas kapitan lodi s jeho pomocnikem vzali na misto, kde vytahli par kleci s rakama. Jsou to ale osklive potvory. Ani jsem se nechtela priblizit. Samozrejme jsem vypustila ten nejvyssi ton, kdyz mi jeden z chlapu dal raka primo pred oblicej. Mimochodem jsem byla jedina holka na lodi. Pak nas odvezli na misto, kde jsme rybarili asi hodinku. Ja a Pete jsme dohromady chytili 20 ryb a ulovek dne byl muj, kdyz se mi podarilo vytahnout asi 2kg Modrou tresku. Pote jsme byli na ceste zpet do kapitanova domu, ktery mel vyhled na more, kde nam pripravil cerstve nachytane raky s wasabi (velice ostra zelena omacka), rozdelil ulovek a nalil neskutecne mnozstvi mistniho vina. Pak uz se hrnuli pribehy ze vsech stran za hudby z 50. a 60 let. Pomocnik kapitana mel jen jednu nohu a zadne prsty krome palcu, coz byl pribeh vecera. Kdyz mu bylo 17, napadl ho zralok, ukousl mu nohu a jak se snazil toho zraloka odstrcit, ukousl mu i prsty. A i presto stale chodi rybarit. Klobouk dole teda! S chycenym ulovkem jsme se opili vratili domu. Ryby jsme meli na 4 obedy. Udelali jsme si rybi rizky s hranolkama a rybi curry. Jaka dobrota!

A couple of days later we went out on a whale watch boat, a day that stared with the greatest sunrise since the temples of Angkor and included 3 of the mightiest creatures on the planet, pretty cool day. We also did an excellent 10km costal walk around the peninsula past a seal colony and up on the cliffs finishing by walking though a pine forest. An amazing place, but we had to get back on the road and head to Picton. On the way we stopped of at a waterfall walk where to our surprise there were probably a hundred seal pups play in the water as it flowed from the waterfall to the sea. We arrived in Picton to rain and drizzle, but in awe of the beautiful peaks around us. Unfortunately the weather spoilt our plans to explore them but our consolation was arguably the best hostel of our trip so far Sequoia Lodge where we had the most delicious chocolate pudding free every night.


V Kakioure jsme stravili dalsich par dni, kde jsme meli stesti a pozorovali velryby. Predtim nez jsme byli prevezeni na lod jsme byli svedky dalsiho neskutecneho vychodu Slunce srovnatelny jen s Ankorem Watem v Kambodzi. Ten den pri pozorovani jsme videli 3 ruzne velryby, coz pry se nestava pokazde. Byl to zazitek. Dalsi den jsme se vydali na 10km prochazku podel utesu, kde jsme videli spoustu tulenu. Krasna podivana. Pak uz opet na ceste smerem do Pictonu, kde jsme cestou pristavili u vodopadu, kde si hralo stovky malych tulenu.Skoda, ze jsem si nemohla pribalil par do batuzku, byli tak roztomily. Bouhuzel nam v Pictonu nepralo pocasi a tak jsme nemeli sanci prozkoumat okoli. Zustali jsme tak uvnitr hostelu vetsinu casu. Byli jsme ale ubytovani v jednom z nejlepsich hostelu zatim na nasich cestach a tak nam par dni odpocinku nevadilo. Kazdy vecer servirovali zadarmo cokoladovy piskot s cokoladovym pudinkem, ktery bych prirovnala k raji na zemi.

Next up was Nelson, where we did a 12km hike in Abel Tasman national park followed by a smaller trek up to the Centre of New Zealand. Then headed down to Greymouth where we stayed in Neptunes Backpackers and took full advantage of their generous evening free bakery. We chilled out playing pool, darts and drinking cider in the hot tub until the day arrived our travelling two would become a three! Luke arrived from the Transalpine train and we soon showed him the ropes at the hostel (especially the bakery bit), and that evening we all went on the Monteiths Brewery tour. The following day we booked onto an Atomic Bus to run us to Frans Josef as the Magic timetable had gone into winter time, where we checked into Chateau Frans Backpackers. The three of us took a walk into some little rainforest by the glacier river and took in the fresh alpine air and stunning scenery and then it was time for the Glacier Hike! A quality day, hard work but with all the gear we trek the full day up and down one the the worlds most famous Glaciers. Guided by "Lazer" the buffalo thighed, electric sharp bearded glacier god (at least i'm sure that's what runs through his head every day) we shuffled between narrow corridors of ice, and through stunning blue glacier tunnels whilst lazer carved steps with his pick, i'm sure he could have used his bare hands but he liked to carry the big tool with him. To be fair, he turned out to be a pretty decent guy, especially the moment when the loud Essex daddy's princess was getting all moany and annoying and he pick axed a block of ice the size of fist right between her eyes, priceless!


Dalsi zastavkou bylo mesto Nelson, kde jsme podstoupili 12km turu po Abel Tasman narodnim parku a jeden mensi vyslap do presneho stredu Noveho Zelandu. Pak opet na ceste do mesta Greymouth, kde jsme zustali ubytovani v hostelu Neptunes, kde kazde odpoledne nabizeli cerstve dobroty z pekarny, coz jsme vyuzili naplno. Zkratka jsme snedli, co se do nas vlezlo. Ten vecer jsme popijeli pivecko, ohrivali se v zahradni vyrivce a byli oba nateseni, protoze dalsi den prijede vlakem Luke a z cestovani jako par se z nas stane mala skupina. V den Lukeova prijezdu jsme naplanovali Pivni exkurzi mistniho pivovaru nazvem Monteiths. Dalsi den uz jsme byli vsichni 3 na ceste do Franz Josef. Prvni den jsme se jen tak potulovali podel ledovcove reky a prosli se po mistnim lese. Druhy den prisel na radu vylet, za kterym jsme sem vlastne prijeli a to vystoupat po Franz Josef ledovci! Byl to nezapomenutelny a celkem narocny den, ale s vybavou a nasim pruvodcem jsme to vsichni hrave zvladli. Nas pruvodce vypadal jako vysrizeny z casopisu a kluci ho nazyvali "Lazer" protoze mel oholene vousy tak, ze vypadalo, ze kazdy vous ma sve stale misto. "Lazer" s sebou nesl krumpac ikdyz vypadalo, ze ho snad ani nepotrebuje a hrave by si poradil vlastnima rukama. Vyklubal se z neho ale v pohode typek a kluky obzvlaste "potesilo", kdy se kus ledu o velkosti pesti, zatimco kopal, nechtene odrazilo od hlavy jedne z holek, (Tatinkove prncezny), ktera si stezovala celou cestu na vrch. Ledovec byl plny uzkych sterbin a modrych tunelu. Nadhera!

We had a few nights out but none that really took off and soon it was the turn of Queenstown to put its marker on our trip. It seems like everywhere we go the scenery beats the previous place, unbelievably Queenstown is hard to top. A lake surrounded by snow peaked mountains with a ski resort-like town centre, its almost perfect. Luke and I had a great night out at a Gingers night, lucky for Luke our beard growing competition was well underway and I managed to blend in quite nicely. We then booked on a 13 hour day trip to Milford Sound. Again, absolutely stunning, amazing drive out there where we had numerous photo stops and then a 2hour cruise on the sound (its actually a fjord) out to sea and then back again to a waterfall and back on the journey home. Another night out at World Bar where we had cocktails in teapots followed by a big hangover the next day. What better cure for a hangover than a mighty Fergberger (the worlds greatest burger) and chips. You could stay a life time in Queenstown but unfortunately we now had a pretty strict timetable in order to get back for our flights in Christchurch. Still, there was time to stop a night in Dunedin where we went to the Cadbury's Chocolate factory and saw the chocolate waterfall, made a delicious Lamb chop dinner and shot some pool in the bar downstairs. Then we went to Lake Takeapo, challenger to Queenstown for jaw-dropping beauty award. We had only half a day and the night here so as soon as we got of the bus we got on some warm clothes and took a hike up Mount James. By now the snow was well and truly here, it added to the alpine scenery but was quite what Luke's trainers were designed for. But after a difficult walk up the views from the top were something to behold! We shared a wonderful Kumara and Pumpkin soup in the cafe by the observatory and then as the evening fog and bad light set n headed back down. Luke managed to fashion two tree branches into ski sticks and rather than looking like bambi on ice he now looked like a winter Olympian as we trekked down. Near te bottom bagpipes started playing, a simple but memorable touch to a brilliant adventure. That evening we went to the hot pools at the bottom of the peak, and relaxed.



Parkrat jsme si zasli do baru, ale nic poradneho se z toho nevyklubalo a tak po par dnech jsme opet na ceste tentokrate do mesta Queenstown. Zda se nam, ze kdyz projizdime krajinou a absolutne nam to bere dech, jak je prekrasna uz nemuzeme narazit na nic krasnejsiho a mylime se! Queenstown je prekrasne mestecko s jezerem obklopene zasnezenymi horami. Od te doby, co Luke prijel se kluci rozhodli, ze budou soutezit, kdo to dele vydrzi a necha si rust vousy nez je druhy oholi. Takze se jednoho pekneho slunecneho dne vydavame na vylet do Milford Sound s 2 Rumcajzi. Milford Sound je krasny, je to utvoreny fjord z okolnich rek. Neuveritele prekrasna krajina! Vecer po vylete se vsichni vydavame do ulic a do baru s nazvem World bar. Tak se tam vsichni pripijem, ze nam je vsem druhy den soufl. Serviruji tam koktejly v konvickach na caj. Jedine, co nas muze ten den postavit na nohy je mistne znamy Fergburger. Burger je tak obrovsky, ze mam problem ho snist. Jelikoz se nam nas pobyt na Novem Zelandu krati a my se vcas musime vratit do Christchurch, abychom chytli nas let, musime opustit prekrasny Queenstown. V Dunendinu jsme navstivili Cokoladovnu Cadbury a videli jednotunovy cokoladovy vodopad. Na dalsi zastavce smerem na sever zustavame na noc ve meste Lake Tekapo, kde se to opet stalo. Jsme beze slov! Nikdy jsem nevidela krasnejsi okoli! Hned po prijezdu jsme se poradne prioblekli a sli na vyslap na Mount (horu) James. Snih dodava okoli kouzlo a Lukeovi s bezvrozkovymi podrazkami velke potize. Jak se dostaneme na vrcholek chvilku si posedime v hospudce, dame si polevku a za stmivani se vydavame zpet dolu. Nasli jsme Lukeovi klacky slouzici jako lyzarske hulky a tak cestou na zpet nevypada jako srnka na ledu, ale jako olympijsky sportovec. Za zvuku dud rozhlehajici se po okoli se dostavame do hostelu, kde povecerime a hned pote mirime do Horkych bazenu pod hvezdami, kde si lebedime a uzivame si.

And then the final part of our New Zealand trip was upon us, we thought Christchurch was gonna be a matter of preparing for and leaving to head to Hong Kong, but no . . . lets do some winter surfing! On a miserable winters day we decided that surfing in 13oC water would be for us and we ll had a great day. The lesson started with tips outside sheltered from the rain and then dressing up in wetsuits like tellitubbies and getting out there amongst it. The Waves were pretty good, Luke and Veronika were up fairly regularly, I on the other hand seemed to have lost whatever balance i obtained 4 years ago and spent more time under the water than on the board, still, great fun. Freezing and damp, we found an Irish bar in the evening and warmed up with some good hearty food, tea and Guinness some more pool and then bed. And that was that, New Zealand . . . done, we get the shuttle to the airport, Veronika and I have to stay a night in Sydney to change to Hong Kong and Luke is changing in Brisbane so hopefully it'll all go smooth and we'll manage to meet up in the crazy Chinese land of Hong Kong . . . .

Christchurch, nase posledni destinace Noveho Zeladnu. Jak by si lidi pomysleli, ze nas posledni den stravime balenim, planovanim a pripravami pro nase dalsi dobrodruzstvi byli by na omylu. My se radeji rozhodli pro zimni surfovaci lekci. Takze se za destiveho zimniho dne vydavame na plaz, kde prvni pod striskou prevlikarny dostavame zakladni instrukce a pak se vydavame na plaz s prkny a skaceme do 13 stupnove vody. Urcite musime byt sileni!Kazdemu z nas se podarilo postavit na prkno parkrat. Luke uz zkousel surfovat v Aglii, tak mu to slo mnohem lepe nez me a Peteovi. Ale vsechny nas to bavilo. Ke konci uz byla poradna zima a mym noham trvalo par hodin nez roztaly. Zdalo by se, ze surfovani bude to nejobtiznejsi, ale dostat se z mokreho neoprenu, kdyz jsem se klepala jako ratlik, to je teprve neco. A tak zmrzli a mokri jsme zavitali do irske hospudky zpatky v centru mesta. Tam jsme se zahrali piveckem, cajicky a necim na zub. Pak jsme hrali par her kulecniku a vydali se zpet do hostelu. A tak konci dobrodruzstvi na Novem Zelandu . . .na letiste jsme se dostali autobusem. Luke leti jinou spolecnosti a prestupuje v Brisbane a ja a Pete musime prenocovat v Sydney. Nikdo z nas nema tuseni co nas v Cine ceka a jestli se bez problemu sejdeme v tom silenem shonu Hong Kongu . . . .

. . . To be continued

. . . Pokracovani priste

New Zealand (North) - Novy Zeland (Sever)

We arrived in Auckland quite late, it was nice to have a hostel booked, a nice little place called Pentland Backpackers. Straight away we liked the feeling from the place but i think more generally we got good feelings from New Zealand. A more laid back, trusting feel, no key deposits, linen deposits all the little blood sucking things that frustrated in Australia. We spent one day exploring the city, booking our bus ticket, buying post cards and collecting a package our friends from Asia Ali & Simon had left for us. We spent another day walking up Mount Eden, a stunning extinct volcano with amazing views out on the city. We stayed in Auckland for 5 nights, partly to get used to New Zealand and partly due to the Magic Bus running on a winter timetable. But then it was time to leave, so we were up earl and at the vague place we were told to for the pick up with a good 15mins to spare. We waited and waited, half an hour after the pick time had passed and then at 45 mins we started to panic. A few of the commuters waiting for buses into the city could see our distress and twice we were asked if we needed help with the buses, but we need most to call Magic Bus. We had no number, and getting a number would mean for sure giving up on getting the bus. Until, a third guy, possibly sent from the heavens helped, searched the internet for the number on his blackberry, found it and within 15mins we'd called sorted it all out and the bus had come back for us! It turned out we were waiting slightly away from where the driver expected and we'd missed each other, but the guy with the blackberry saved our journey in ways that would become more apparent later.

Do Aucklandu jsme dorazili kolem pul 11 v noci. Bylo super, ze uz jsme meli rezervovany pokoj a nemuseli si delat starosti. Ubytovali jsme se v Pentland Backpackers, moc pekny hostel s prijemnym personalem. Novy Zeland na nas udelat dobry dojem hnes po tom, co jsme zjistili, ze tady neni zadna zastava za klice, nemusime platit extra za povleceni a vsechny pravidla a zakazy jsou razem fuc, opak, se kterym jsme se setkali po dobu stravenou v Australii. Jeden den v Aucklandu jsme stravili objevovanim centra mesta, rezervovanim nasich mist v autobuse, (Po celou dobu na Novem Zelandu budeme prepravovani autobusovou spolecnosti, ktera se jmenuje Magic Bus), a taky jsme si vyzvedli balicek, ktery pro nas nechali Simon & Ali, kamaradi, se kterymi jsme se parkrat stretli na nasi ceste (v Bangkoku a ve Vietnamu). Dalsi den jsme se vydali na kopec s nazvem Mount Eden. To, ze se skrabeme na vrcholek vyhasle sopky jsme netusili. Jak jsme se dostali na vrcholek cekala na nas neskutecna podivana. Vyhled na mesto byl uzasny a masivni krater, kde lidi na druhe strane vypadaji jako tecky, byl neuveritelny. V Aucklandu jsme zustali celkem 5 noci, protoze jsme museli cekat na autobus na nasi dalsi destinaci, pac Magic jede podle zimniho jizdniho radu a nejezdi tak kazdy den v tydnu. Takze v den naseho prvniho presunu jsme na zastavce o 15 minut drive, aby jsme nezmeskali nas prvni autobus. Po 45 minutach cekani jsme se zacli obavat, ze nas autobus musel prehlednout. Par lidi na zastavce si vsimlo, ze nase nervozita stoupa a nabidli nam pomoc. My ale potrebovali zjistit cislo na Magic a zavolat jim. Internetova kavarne ale nikde. Kdyz v tom se na zastavnce objevil dalsi pomocnik, ktery byl asi v ten dany okamzik seslan z nebe a zjistil nam cislo na jeho Blackberry (telefon s internetem). Vse dopadlo tak, ze jsme se dovolali, autobus uz na ceste smer Rotorura se pro nas vratil a my stastni a klidni jsme mile prekvapeni jak hodni jsou Novozelandane.

So it was off to Rotorua, and although a little shaken by nearly missing our first bus, we really enjoyed the trip. The driver was informative and took us to Hobbiton and then to a redwood forest before arriving at our hostel in Rotorua. We got talking to a couple from our bus called Matt and Sarah ad then decided to head out for a walk to the volcanic park in town. On the way we thought we'd call into the town information centre and pick up some cheap/free things to do, and to our shock (but also delight) standing there were Karen and Sarah, the girls we'd travelled with in Malaysia! There were a few screams and girlie hugs (from Veronika as well) and we arranged to meet them for drinks later that evening. We rushed over to the park, and admittedly we were on a bit of a high from our reunion, but the volcanic mud pools were amazing. As dusk was well and truly upon us and with the volcanic pools bubbling around it felt like a T-rex was gonna jump out the bushes, really eerie and amazing. We met the girls with our new magic bus friends and had a good old catch up over a few drinks. The next day we had a 2 for 1 coffee from abracadabra and made arrangements to go and see a Maori cultural evening. It was a great evening full of song and dance and a hangi the biggest meal we've had for months. Its cooked in a cage in a big hole in the ground with chicken, lamb, fish, carrots, potatoes, etc fantastic! The girls had to leave going up so we say our goodbyes to them again over another 2 for 1 coffee and Veronika and I take a nice walk on the banks of Rotorua’s lake, and soon its time for us to leave too.



A tak uz si sedime v autobuse, stale neverice, ze se nam podarilo privolat autobus zpatky. Jedeme do Rotorua, cesta a prostredi kolem je prekrasne a ja uz se ted nemuzu dockat, co za krasy tady na Novem Zelandu uvidim. Magic autobus neni jen dopravni spolecnost z mista A do B, ale zastavuje i na zajimavych mistech nez se dostane na konecnou. Ten den jsme zastavili u informacniho centra, kde jsme se mohli vyfotit u Hobbitoveho domu a s Golumnem a pak jsme meli sanci projit se v tzv. Cervenem lese. Po prijezdu do hostelu jsme prohodili par slov se Mattem a Sarah, z naseho autobusu, kteri se cestou stali nasimi prateli. Protoze jeste neni pozde, rozhodli jsme se zajit se podivat do mistniho sopecneho parku, ale nez tam dojdeme jdeme si vyzvednout brozury z informacniho centra, kde je spousta poukazek na slevy a veci zadarmo. A koho nevidime! Sok, ktery rychle propuka v hlasity jekot. . . Sarah a Karen, sestry, se kterymi jsme cestovali pres Malaysii! Domluvime se, ze se pozdeji sejdeme a oslavime to s par drinky. Jak si to tak smarujeme do parku oba mame usmev na tvari z naseho neocekavaneho shledani. Park je uzasny, vsude kolem bubla bahno a vychazejici para ze zeme dava mistu prehistoricky dojem. Pozdeji se setkavame s holkama a pribirame i Sarah a Matta. Dalsi den se opet schazime, na kaficko kup 1 a dostan 2 zdarma. Pozdeji na vecer uz mame zakoupeny listek na tradicni Mauri kulturni predstaveni i s veceri. Byl to super zazitek. Zavezli nas do Mauri vesnice, kde pro nas Mauri kmen zazpival, zatancil a take uvaril tradicni a stylovou veceri tzv. Hangi. Hangi spociva v tom, ze jidlo je prakticky pohrbeno do zeme, ktera je vystlana horkymi kameny. Snedli jsme, co jsme mohli. Takhle uz jsme se neprejedli par mesicu. Meli jsme kureci, jehneci, rybu, specialne pripravenou mrkev, brambory atd. Same dobroty. Den pote jsme se sesli s holkama na posledni kup 1 dostan 2 kafe zdarma, rozloucili se - znovu, a pak sli na prochazku kolem Rotorua jezera. Krasne okoli a priroda.

We catch the magic bus with Matt and Sarah, this time the driver is not so good, drivers like a crazy man and gets moody with us all for not talking to each other, idiot! Anyway he took us to the Waitomo caves where we did an excellent tour that ended with us going out on a boat to the caves where we saw thousands of cool glow worms. Then it was into our first YHA in Taupo where we spent many an evening sat in the hot tub with a bottle of cider. Taupo was beautiful, one of our days there we took a walk with the Matt and Sarah to the Huka Falls through some amazing gorges. During the day we checked out some people on a bungee but mostly just strolled through the amazing scenery and crystal clear water. Matt and Sarah left to continue on down south and we stayed an extra few days, We went to see a really cool place called The Beehive where they had some live beehive inside where you could see the bees doing their thing and some brilliant honey tasting, and then we walked up to The Craters on the Moon. That was really something else, similar experience to the park in Rotorua only they seemed far more active, it was almost scary at times.

A uz jsme zase v autobuse, tentokrat smer Taupo. A tak si vsichni i Sarah a Matt sedime v klidu, zatimco nas ridic tlacha nesmysly o tom, aby jsme se vsichni v autobuse seznamili, jaky vylet stoji za to podniknout a jaky ne. Prvni ridic Magicu, ktery na pocit, ze snad pilotuje letadlo, protoze mam silny pocit, ze kdyby jsme meli postrani kridla tak urcite parkrat vzletneme. Ten den autobus zastavuje na miste z nazvem Waitomo jeskyne. Vsichni 4 si zakoupime listek na prohlidku jeskyne, kde nas ke konci vezmou na lodku a my jsme svedky asi 40 tisicu sviticich cerviku prisatych na stropu jeskyne. To byla podivana! Pak uz je nas den v autobuse konci a my se vsichni ubytujeme ve YHA v Taupu, kde travime par veceru pocuckavanim jablecneho pivecka v relaxacni venkovni vyrivce. Behem dne si opet udelame par prochazek. Jednu se Sarah a Mattem. Je to asi 4 hodinova prochazka kolem reky, ktera konci vodopadem. Krajina vypada jako v pohadce. Pak uz je cas pro Sarah a Matta, aby vyrazili na jejich cestu, protoze nemaji na Novem Zelandu tolik casu co my. Rozloucime se a dalsi den uz sami se vydavame do mista, kde chovaji vcely, maji tam spoustu vcelich produktu a ochutnavku asi 12 druhu medu. Po teto sladke prohlidce vyrazime do mista, kteremu rikaji Kratery na Mesici. Misto je uzasne, opet spousta bublajicich dir v zemi a mracka pary kolem ale s jednim rozdilem. Tohle misto se zda mnohem vice aktivnejsi a tak to v nas budi trosku neklidny pocit, co kdyby se zrovna dneska zeme usmyslila, ze by chtela vybouchnout. Posledni vybuch na tomto miste byl preci jen pred 12 lety!

After Taupo we jumped back on the Magic bus to head to Wellington, driving through more beautiful scenery and the famous Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings. We found a special offer online at the YHA in Wellington (which nobody seemed to know about) and we were really impressed with the hostel. Very big and some cool activities, we played plenty of pool, table football and in my opinion made some of the tastiest food in the hostel. On our first day we went to the Chinese Embassy to apply for our visa's, the guys there were very pleasant and made it dead easy for us. Then we walked back through the botanical gardens and stopped off at the fascinating Carter Observatory. We took a walk around the little museum there about the history of the universe and then had a presentation in the planetarium. The visa was going to take over a week which meant quite a lot of time to take it easy, catch up with blog, update our cv's and begin considering work options for back home. During the wait we went to the National Museum, Te Papa, played with their microscopes and saw the exhibition of the worlds largest squid. Another day we went over to the Weta Caves which was a really interesting insight into the special effects company behind movies like Avatar and of course The Lord of the Rings (you cant escape this film over here). One evening we decided to go to see the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra perform in concert for Polish Pride Day, it was the first time we'd been to something like that and it was a great experience.


Po nasi navsteve Taupa uz jsme opet v autobuse smer Wellington, hlavni mesto Noveho Zelandu. Po ceste projizdime krajinou, ktera se jen tezko popisuje. Nadhera v podobe zelenych kopcu plnych ovci a krav. Projizdime take kolem znameho Mount Doon. Je to sopecna hora z filmu Pana Prstenu, v oblasti Mordor, kde Frodo statecne odhazuje prsten. Ve Wellingtonu se ubytujeme v YHA Hostelu. Je to veliky hostel, ktery ma vse, co potrebujeme. Druhy den jsme na ceste do Cinske ambasady, protoze potrebujeme viza pro nas posledni mesic dobrodruzstvi. Viza budou pripraveny pro vyzvednuti az za tyden, coz znamena, ze mame spoustu casu. Behem naseho pobytu navstivime botanickou zahradu, planetarium, museum Te Papa, ktere je velice zajimave, a take jdeme poprve shlednout Orchestr - v doprovodu s polskymi muzikanty. Je to na pocest 200. Chopinove vyroci. Mame take moznost navstivit tzv. Weta Jeskyni, coz je misto s miniaturami a suvenyry, kde nadani lide vytvareji filmove postavy, kostymy a triky pro velke filmy jako Pan Prstenu nebo Avatar. Zajimave misto. Oba jsme nadseni. Kdyz zrovna netravime cas venku, zabavujeme se v hostelu hranim kulecniku, stolniho fotbalu a dalsich her. Taky uz je na case zacit premyslet, co budeme delat az se vratime zpet do Anglie a tak si prepisujeme zivotopisy a dopisujeme nas blog.

After more than a week it was time to collect our passports with Chinese visa stamps and say goodbye to Wellington. We found another winter special offer for a combined ferry and scenic train journey to Christchurch. It was an early start, and although the wind stopped us spending too much time out on the upper viewing some of the views were amazing. Then we were there in the south island ready to catch the train, where we will be finishing one period of our trip and joining up with Luke . . . our hair is scared for its life! To be continued . . .

Po vice nez tydnu jsme si vyzvedli nase pasy s razitkem a cinskymi vizy a bylo na case se rozloucit s Wellingtonem. Pri nasem cestovatelskem stesti jsme nasli dalsi super cenovou nabidku na trajekt ze severniho ostrovu na jizni spolecne s cestou vlakem az do Christchurch. V den kdy jsme opousteli Wellington jsme si privstali a pocasi nam moc nepralo a tak jsme na horni palube trajektu stravili velice kratkou chvili. Trajekt byl tak obrovsky, ze mel dokonce i par restauraci a dve kina. Za par hodin uz jsme byli na jiznim ostrove, kde nas ceka dalsi dobrodruzstvi a take setkani s nasim kamaradem Lukem, ktery se k nam prida a bude s nami cestovat do konce naseho vyletu. Pokracovani priste . . .

During the North Island we also said good bye to the Cowboy hat, not very practical around these parts - yeeha!

Na severnim ostrove jsme za sebou zanechali Peteuv kovbojsky kloubocek. Pete se rozhodl, ze uz vlastne nechce byt kovbojem a proto je mu kloubouk neprakticky - iiiihaaaa

Australia East Coast (PART 2) - Australie Vychodni Pobrezi (2. Cast)

Byron Bay is a really nice town but we arrived at a pretty bad time. They were holding the Blues Music Festival in town, which although it would be an excellent couple of days, as backpackers we couldn't afford that kind of thing. It also meant accommodation and other things we out of our price range so we stayed a few nights in Aquarius, went on a couple of cool night outs with some of the guys from our dorm and took a really nice walk to the lighthouse with some great views of the ocean life below but then decided to get out before the weekend festival started. We decided we'd head inland to spend a few nights in the little village of Nimbin, what a strange place! Nimbin is basically a large hippie commune, where lots of alterative kinds go to do alterative things. We stayed in a place called Rainbow Retreat, which as it turned out was brilliant and they had some top class, homemade, mixed berry and choc chip muffins. A very cute, relaxed place, with lots of long stay people, in fact some looked as though they could have been there since 1973 (and that could have been the last time they showered and shaved). And although some of the alterative goings on were not quite our cuppa tea, like hand painting boomerangs, juggling fire sticks and carving faces in palm tree bark (come on man, free your mind ...) it is a very beautiful place and Veronika and I spent a couple of timeless days walking the countryside and cooking delicious food. We really enjoyed our time in Nimbin a great place for us to go and chill out before we come face to face with city life in Sydney and Melbourne.

Byronuv Zaliv je moc pekne male mestecko, ale jak jsme zjistili prijeli jsme celkem v nevhodnou dobu, kdy se tam konal hudebni festival. Protoze ceny byli prilis vysoke, ne jen za listky,ktere jsme si jako batuzkari nemohli dovolit, ale take za ubytovani, zustali jsme tam jen nekolik noci, ubytovani v hostelu z nazvem Aquarius. Behem techto dnu jsme si udelali jeden den vylet a vyrazili jsme nejvychodnejsi bod Australie. Na kopci stal majak a vyhled na more z tama byl prekrasny. Vubec jsme necekali, ze uvidime tolik podmorskeho zivota z takove vysky. Videli jsme delfiny, zelvy, rejnoky a i zraloka. Jinak jsme behem techto dnu zavitali pakrat do klubu s lidma z naseho pokoje.A pak hlavne kvuli nedostatku a vysokym cenam za ubytovani jsme se rozhodli navstivit vesnici Nimbin. Nimbin je prakticky hippisacka komunita lidi. Jejich vizas a zvlaste u nekterych jedincu (dlouhe vousy a vlasy) vypada, ze se zastavila v 70satych letech. Priroda kolem je ale krasne zelena a misto samo o sobe ma velice poklidnou a relaxacni atmosferu. My se ubytovali v Rainbow Retreat, kde kazdy den pekly cerstve cokoladomalinove buchty, malovali bumerangy a vyrezavali tvare do palmoveho dreva. Stravili jsme tam nekolik dni, chodili na prochazky a varili si dobroty. Bylo to dobre misto na odpocinek pred tim nez se vydame do chaosu a plnych ulic lidi v Sydney.

Another night bus later and we were in central Sydney hunting for a place to stay. We ended up at Wood Duck Inn where we shared a dorm with some cool Dutch guys. We had a couple of nights out, but we were still worrying about our budgets so tried to keep things cheap. We explored a lot of the central city on foot and visited the opera house, walked across the harbour bridge and strolled peacefully through the Chinese gardens. One evening we decided to experience our first 3D film as we'd read all about the fuss it was causing back home, we watched Alice In Wonderland, and I can safely say its one of the greatest cinema experiences of our lives, definitely the future. On our last day we took a trip to the Manly Bay area and chilled out for the afternoon on the beach. On the way back to pick our rucksacks from the hostel we decided to take a walk through the botanical gardens but timed it a bit wrong and got locked in. We were stuck for nearly an hour as the darkness came in around us and when we finally got out again up by the opera house it was getting quite late and we needed to rush to get the bus. A exhausting 45min walk later and there was some more panic as we thought we saw the bus leaving but all was ok it was a different bus, 11 hours later we were in Melbourne.



Po dalsi noci stravene v autobuse jsme rano dorazili do centra Sydney. Po nejake dobe stravene hledanim ubytovani jsme se rozhodli pro Wood Duck Inn. Spolecne jsme sdileli pokoj se super klukama z Holandska, se kteryma jsme parkrat vyrazili vecer do klubu. Behem dnu stravenych v Sydney jsme navstivili znamou Operu, prosli se po Harbour moste a zavitali do krasne a poklidne cisnke zahrady. Jeden vecer jsme se rozhodli zajit shlednout nas prvni 3D film. Slyseli jsme dost o 3D filmech a chteli se ujistit, zda to stoji za to, kdyz tak o tom lidi mluvi. Zrovna promitali Alenku v risi divu a musim rict a oba jsme se shodli, ze je to 100% filmova budoucnost. Posledni den jsme se svezli na trajektu do jine casti Sydney s nazvem Manly Zaliv. Byl to pekny slunecny den. Vraceli jsme se se zapadem slunce a uz byli na ceste zpet vyzvednout naseho batohy z hostelu, kdyz jsme zjistili, ze jsme uzamceni v botanicke zahrade. Trvalo nam dobrych 45 minut rychle chuze se od tama dostat. Nakonec jsme s jazykem na veste dorazili na autobusove nadrazi s batohama na zadech a byli pripraveni na dalsi a posledni nocni autobus v Australii, ktery nas odveze do Melbourne.

Straight away we could feel the drop in temperature, I was still in my shorts and it really hit home that next week we'd be in New Zealand and my hoodie was about the only suitable piece of clothing. We decided we'd head to St Kilda and find some accommodation around there, and on our way to the tram station a lovely lady at the end of her Melbourne trip gave us her 2 weekly tram passes, still with 3 days left on both, must have saved us $30 each over the next couple of days. We took the tram into the city and spent an afternoon at the Museum for the Moving Image, a really interesting place with loads of interactive displays and then spent a few days shopping for warmer clothes bargains. Another day we went to a wonderfully respectful war memorial/museum and then onto the gorgeous Melbourne botanical gardens. We also did a day trip on the great ocean road which was really fun, 6:30am start and 10pm finish so it was a long day, we got to see a cool old rainforest, the twelve apostles, feed some parrots, another wild lazy koala and lots of other landmarks along the coast, and on the long journey home we stopped for massive KFC. A good trip to finish our time in Australia, its been a mixed journey, but I don’t think we have ever been so excited with our next destination as we feel now for New Zealand . . .



Hned jak jsme dorazili do Melbourne pocitili jsme teplotni rozdil, stale v zabkach, jsme vytahli nase mikyny (a v mem pripade i tenisky) z ruksaku a stale se klepali zimou. Ubytovali jsme se na ulici Sv. Kilda a jelikoz jsme meli velke stesti pri prechazeni jednoho z prechodu pro chodce, kdy do nas narazila mlada divcina, zda nechceme jeji tramvajovy listek, ktery ma jeste 3 dny platnost, neodmitly jsme a usetrili tak asi $30. Jelikoz jsme pocitovali zimu ve velkem a nase ruksaky postradali teply odev, stravili jsme par dnu nakupovanim levneho, tepleho obleceni. Taky jsme stihli navstivit botanickou zahradu, pamatnik z 1. Svetove valky a navstivili Muzeum animovaneho filmu - velice zajimave misto. Nas posledni australsky vylet nas zaval na Great Ocean Road - "Velkou oceanskou cestu". Byl to dlouhy super straveny den. Vylet zacinal v 6:30 rano a koncil v 10 vecer. Behem vyletu jsme zastavili na mistech s prekrasnymi vyhledy na krajinu, prosli se po destnem pralese, navstivili tzv. Dvanact apostolu ( je to 12 obrich piliru couhajicich z more), krmili papousky, videli dalsi neochocenou koalu velice zblizka a na ceste zpet byli velice neposlusni, zasli si do KFC a nakoupili kurete asi na mesic. Tak takhle konci nase Australske dobrodruzstvi. A ted prichazi ta cast, kdy nemam slov, jak vyjadrit moje vzruseni a nadsenost z nasi dalsi destinace Noveho Zelandu . . .

. . . To be continued!

. . . Pokracovani priste!

Australia East Coast (Part 1) - Australie Vychodni Pobrezi (1. cast)

We land in cairns airport around 4am, pretty tired so we curl up on a couple of benches and get a couple of hours sleep before getting a shuttle bus to drop us at JJ's backpackers. What a great decision to stay there, cheap, clean but the best things about JJ's was the people. We met Serge on our first boat trip to the reef and we'd hang out with him, Xavier, Phillip and Jan (the worlds tallest teenage Germans!) most evenings. They also gave us a free evening meal of Chilli, Bolognaise or pasta at the Woolshed but Veronika and i chose to upgrade to one of the excellent proper meals most evenings, ah, how good to taste steak again. Quite often the evenings would go from Boxes of wine "Goon" at the hostel, evening meal and then party on in the Woolshed. Alot of days were then spent recovering by the pool back at JJ's, expect for the boat trips and one other day at the beautiful botanical gardens.

Do Cairns jsme prileteli ve 4 hodiny rano a protoze jsme vedeli, ze nic nebude otevrene, tak jsme se na par hodin umistili na lavicky a snazili se spat nez byl cas, aby nas autobus odvezl do JJ's Backpackers. Vyborne rozhodnuti, kde se ubytovat. Ne jenom, ze hostel byl cisty a levny, ale co jsme tam potkali za super lidi. Se Sergiem jsme se seznamili na nasem prvnim vylete pri snorchlovani v Barierovem utesu. Pak tam byl Xavier, Jan a Filip ( 2 nejvyssi Nemecci teenageri!).S temito osobami jsme stravili skoro kazdy vecer v tydnu. V JJ's Backpackers jsme taky meli vecerni jidlo v baru, ktery se jmenoval Woolshed. Spagety Bolonese, Mlete maso s chilli a ryzi a vegetarianske testoviny byli kazdy vecer zadarmo. Kdyz jsme si ale priplatili nejaky ten dolar, dostali jsme kralovske porce opravdickych dobrot. Jak moc se Pete tesil ze steaku a kuratka. Vetsina veceru probihala stejne, pitim krabicoveho vina, pak vecere ve Woolshed a party po veceri. Behem dne jsme se dostavali z opic v bazenu, ktery byl taky v JJ's. Jeden den jsme si udelali vylet do botanicke zahrady a cekali az se pocasi umoudri a my muzeme na vylet do utesu.

We did two trips to the Great Barrier Reef, the first of which saw us out on 6 meter waves, which at the count of the crew involved me being sick 8 times just on the way out! They were brilliant though and despite jumping around in the worst conditions, patting backpackers backs whilst they chuck up everywhere they managed to keep spirits high and smiles on all our faces. But it was all worth it as the reef was stunning, the most beautiful either of us have seen, and thanks to serge we have some decent underwater shots of some of it. We were planning to move down the coast but a cyclone meant we were forced to stay put in cairns so we decided with Serge and Xavier to go back to the reef this time on a sail boat. A completely different experience, but in my opinion, one of the best i've ever had. The journey was smooth and relaxing, the crew very chilled and easy going, we moored up just out from green island, done some good snorkling, had a delicious lunch, took mini boat over to the island and then the fun began. Back at the boat just Veronika, myself and one other girl came back to find 9 black tip reef sharks circling the boat. Although they are harmless, at 1.5 meters any shark looks pretty intimidating, we weren't sure about more snorkling. Untill the girl with us just ran and jumped in! It was amazing, feeding the sharks and then getting in for a snorkle, in fact even more scary was the 2 meter fish known to the crew as "darf vader" one of the ugliest looking fish i've seen. On the way back to land they got the sails out and we had cake, wine and cheese, delicious. After a week, it was time to move on, we felt genuinely sad to leave Cairns and our new friends behind, before the midnight bus though there was still time for one last dance and drink game in the woolshed, and would you believe veronika wins some free drinks!





Do Barieroveho utesu jsme zavitali dvaktrat. Pri prvnim vylete se nase lod probijela 6 metrovymi vlnami. Cela posadka byla ve strehu a doporucila tabletky proti nevolnosti. Coz ne v kazdem pripade pomohlo. Chudak Pete se pozvracel asi 8 krat, coz ho vyhodila na nejvyssi pricky ze vsech cestujicich. Ale i pres Peteovu nevolnost, vsechno, co jsme pozdeji videli, stalo za to! Ani jeden z nas nikdy nevidel tak prekrasny podmorsky svet plny zivota a barev. Diky Sergiovi mame z prvniho vyletu i super podmorske fotky. Planovali jsme, ze by bylo treba se zase o kousek posunout, ale diky cyklonu, ktery radil na jih o nas, jsme se rozhodli zustat dele a zajet na nas druhy vylet do utesu. Tento vylet byl sice taky snorchlovaci, ale uplne jiny. More bylo poklidne a my si uzivali pomalou jizdou na jachte. Jak jsme pripluli na urcene misto, skocili jsme do vody trosku si zasnourchlovat, pak se naobedvali, naskakali do motoroveho clunu a na par hodin byli odvezeni na maly ostrov, co byl pobliz. My s Petem, jsme se nachali privest trosku drive, abychom jeste mohli do vody a snorchlovat. Cekalo tam asi 9 Utesovych zraloku, kteri sice neji lidi, ale budili respekt. Krmili jsme je skoro primo z ruky a dokonce i naskakali do vody. Pete skocil mezi ne, nez jsem do vody skocila ja uz byli dale, co mi zase az tak nevadilo. Taky kolem plavala velika cerna ryba, ktera nevypadala mile a pratelsky. Super plavani! Na ceste zpet jsme dostali zakusky, sklenici vina a syry na tacku, hmm jaka dobrota. Pak uz to byl tyden, co jsme byli v Cairns a my se museli hnout z mista. Posledni vecer pred pulnocnim autobusem jsme stravili s kamarady ve Woolshed, kde jsem posledni noc vyhrala i drink zadarmo!

After our goodbyes and before getting on the road the driver read out some warnings from Airlie Beach that they had been in a cyclone and we all had to sign disclaimers about travelling there, scary. We hadn't travelled on an overnight coach since Vietnam, the drivers are nowhere near as insane but i think they still believe that we are meat that might go off unless we are stored below freezing! The aircon is ridiculous, and the jets from above seem to always end up shooting straight down my throat as i sleep. Anyway, the next morning we arrive to quite alot of carnage in Airlie beach. There were a fair few boats smashed and washed up, lots of trees down and minor flooding. There was also alot of talk around as to how visibility out around the whitsunday islands was very bad and the waters choppy, we decided not too spend a large chunk of our money on more boat trips and quickly moved on to Noosa.

Pote, co jsme se rozloucili jsme byli pripraveni na cestu na Airlie plaz. Nez jsme vsichni naskakali do autobusu, byli jsme pouceni o situaci, ktera tam nastala diky cyklonu a museli podepsat, ze tam cestujeme na vlastni risk. Nocnim autobusem jsme nejeli od Vietnamu a ikdyz se opatrnost ridicu absolutne neda srovnat, zdalo se nam, ze i ridici v Australii maji pocit, ze prevazi maso a aby se jim nahodou po ceste nezkazilo, tak klimatizace proudi naplno primo do nasich tvari. Jak jsme rano dojeli na Airlie Plaz, videli jsme, co cyklon zpusobil. Lode vyplavene na brehy, vyvracene stromy a stale nektere ulice mirne pod vodou. Protoze kazdych 5 minut prselo, more nebylo klidne a viditelnost koralu miziva, rozhodli jsme se nevidet Whitsunday ostrovy, ktere jsou tak popularni. Vylet na tyto ostrovy zrovna neni nejlevnejsi a nema cenu to podstupovat za kazde situace. Proto jsme hned dalsi den vyrazili opet na cestu do mista z nazvem Noosa.

Noosa is a quite, relaxing town, with great surf and beautiful costal scenery. It was also the place we meet up with my old friend from my first Australian adventure, Dutch Paul! He came up for the weekend from Brisbane with the lovely Rosa and we had some beers and a meal at the hostel. The following day we took a brilliant walk 5km along the coast through a couple of nudist beaches, through costal rain forest and leading us to see our first wild koala. Paul then kindly drove us to brisbane via a couple of cool beauty spots and a waterfall where we stayed a couple of nights at his place. Whilst in Brisbane we went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we got to cuddle a koala and feed the kangaroo, a fantastic afternoon out.



Noosa je pekne poklidne a relaxacni misto, kde lidi hlavne surfuji a prochazeji se po vyznacenych stezkach na utesech podel more. Take to bylo misto, kde se Pete sesel s jeho kamaradem Paulem z Holandska, se kterym cestoval pred 4 lety, seznamili se v Australii. Paul prijel i s jeho kamaradkou Rosou a stravili tak s nami vikend v Noosa. Jeden den jsme se rozhodli projit si jednu 5 km stezku. Byla to krasna prochazka, narazili jsme i na nudistickou plaz a videli nasi prvni neochocenou koalu. Dalsi den jsme vsichni naskakali do Pauloveho autoa a vyrazili na cestu do Brisbane. Udelali jsme si par zastavek na fotky, obed a prochazku pres les. Paul nam nabidnul prenocovat u nej na 2 noci, ktere jsme meli v planu stravit v tomto meste. Jeden den jsme si zajeli na misto, kde chovaji hlavne Koaly. Bylo jich tam alespon 150. Taky jsme si je za poplatek mohli pochovat. Mimo jine jsme tam taky meli moznost krmit klokany primo z dlane. Bylo to super odpoledne plne zazitku.



Then before we knew it it was time for more goodbyes and off to Byron Bay and Nimbin. . . To be continued . . .

A nez by clovek rekl svec, uz byl zase cas sbalit si par svestek, rozloucit se s Paulem a vyrazit na cestu do Byron Zalivu a Nimbinu. . . Pokracovani priste . . .

Wild West Australia - Divoky Zapad Australie

We arrived in Perth and caught a shuttle from the airport where we checked into a place without any mixed dorms. Straight away we were uncomfortable and checked out and into another place called Old Swan Barracks first thing in the morning. It was better there, we met a couple of cool people from our dorms, but we were getting the overpowerng feeling that everything was majorly expensive. Over the next few days this feeling got worse and worse, it became quite depressing, we couldn't afford to do anything we wanted, coming from south east asia this made it even more difficult. We spent our time in Perth playing pool, eating bolognaise and watching the winter Olympics, finally we decided we had to do something so we booked a 3 day tour of the south west.

Jak jsme prileteli do Perth nechali jsme se zavest do hostelu, ktery nemel "smisene" dorms, coz znamena, ze na pokojich jsou bud jenom kluci nebo holky. To se nam vubec nelibilo, takze jsme si hned rano sbalili pet svestek a ubytovali se jinde. Jmenovalo se to Old Swan Barracks. Bylo to mnohem lepsi, seznamili jsme se s par super lidma z naseho pokoje. Co nas ale znepokojovalo nejvice, byli vysoke ceny vsude kolem. Hlavne, kdyz jsme zrovna dorazili z Asie, kde jsme si zili jako prasatka v zite. Par dni jsme se nedokazali rozhoupat a trosku jsme zacali propadat panice a depresi, jak se s tim vyporadat. Takze tech par dnu jsme stravili hranim kulecniku, sledovanim zimnich Olympijskych her a jezenim mnoha porci bolonskych spaget. Po techto dnech jsme se rozhodli, ze se musime hnout z mista a tak jsme se zapsali na tri denni vylet do jihozapadni casti Australie.

This was good fun, ten times the price and half the worth of the equivilant trips in asia but fun non-the-less. We had a really good group, but most memorable would be the lovely Natalie. We thought she was part of the guide company as she was the only other aussie, but once she started buying rounds at the brewery we soon realsed she wasn't. The three days took us to some beautiful seaside spots, a chocolate factory and a vinyard for wine tasting but perhaps our most memorable events were climbing the giant tree, the canopy walkway, some good drinking games and excellent bbqs!



Vylet byl super, sice byl asi desetkrat drazsi a tak mozna z poloviny by se vyrovnal tem v Asii, ale i tak to byl zazitek. Meli jsme super skupinu asi dvaceti lidi, kde byla i Natalie, holka se kterou jsme se oba dost sblizili. Byla to jedina Australanka v autobuse a tak jsme si mysleli, ze je soucasti agentury, co tyto vylety organizuje. Jak nam ale v pivovaru zacala kupovat vzorky piva, uvedomili jsme si, ze to je jen dalsi z cestujicich. Po tyto tri dny jsme videli spoustu krasne prirody, navstivili jsme tovarnu na cokoladu, vinici, kde jsme mohli ochutnat vzorky, ale asi nejvice se nam do pameti zarylo lezeni na giganticky strom na pribytych skobach, dalsi prochazka mezi korunamy vysokych stromu na zebricich, pici hry po vecerech a vynikajici opekacky!

After the tour we were feeling a little more enthusiastic about our travels again, so we put caution to the wind and decided to hire a camper van to travel our journey up the west coast. The company we used were called wicked campers, they have a very backpacker friendly attitude to the whole process of hiring and most of their campers are painted pretty a pretty artistic and funky way . . . ours however looked like it'd be painted by a 5yr old! Still, we came to love it for what it was.

Po tomto vylete jsme byli zase nadseni pro dalsi dobrodruzstvi a taky bylo na case, rozhoudnout se, jaky zpusob dopravy zvolime, aby jsme se v cas dostali do severozapadniho mesta Broome. Pronajali jsme si neco mezi karavanem a dodavkou od spolecnosti s nazvem Wicked CamperVan. Pronajimaji dodavky, ktere jsou rucne malovane a kazda ma jiny motiv a jsou relativne levne pro batuzkare. Nase vypadala jako malovana petiletych ditetem, ale i tak jsme byli cely nedockavy a vzruseni jake to bude cestovat ve Wicked.

Our first day we got some supplies and then a big drive from Perth upto Cervantes. It was really nice to be behind the wheel again and have the freedom that your own transport brings. We arrived pretty tired just before sunset and found a place just off the road to sleep for the night . . . or so we thought! What was to come next was one of the most scary experiences on our travels, its a long story so when we're back ask us about it, but in a nutshell a drunk, agressive, ugly brute called Mad Frank pulled up behind us threatening all kinds of things, but after all calmed, he suggested we move the van to his driveway and as soon as the sun rose we hit the road!

Nas prvni den, uz s pronajatym CamperVanem jsme si zajeli nakoupit nejake potraviny na cestu. Bylo super mit auto a svobodu zastavit si kde se nam zachce. Takze jsme zacali ridit z Perth do mesta s nazvem Cervantes. Prijizdeli jsme jiz za tmy a presne nevideli kde jsme a tak jsme se zaparkovali za kopec kameni, aby nas nebylo videt a nedostali tak pokutu. Unaveni jsme ulehali nasi prvni noc v CamperVanu a tesili se z naseho dobrodruzstvi az do te doby nez se nam prihodila jedna z nejvice strasidelnych prihod na teto dobrodruzne ceste kolem sveta. Za nas CamperVan zaparkoval dzip z nehoz vystoupil opili, agresivni a potetovany chlap jmenem Sileny Frank, jak jsme pozdeji zjistili. Rval po nas a jedno z druhym az se ukazalo, ze nas chtel jen postrasit, coz se mu podarilo. Nakonec se z neho vyklubal pratelsky chlapik. Trval na tom at prespime na jeho vjezdu do domu. Prespali jsme teda tam a rozklepani jeste rano jsme za usvitu odjizdeli a neminili se nikdy vracet.

Tired, in need of a shower and still totally shaken up by the experience we try to enjoy the impressive pinacles, sandstone pillars sticking out of the desert. Very errie at that time of day, hardly anyone around except you and the pinicles. The next couple of days there was alot of driving through red sand and scorching heat, one night we drove through a wind farm to a camping area by a creek. We made some great little camping dinners including spanish potato & sausage and a couple of beautiful burgers. We also cracked open a bottle of muscat that our good friend Natalie had so kindly bought for us on the South West tour and enjoyed some evening drinks sat at the back of the van. Good times!



Unaveni, touzice po sprse a stale vystrasen jsme se jeli podivat na pisecne pilire couhajici z pouste s nazvem Pinacles. Protoze bylo brzo rano byli jsme tam prakticky sami, coz pridalo na podivane. Dalsich par dni jsme ridili pres cerveno-pisecne plane za nesnesitelneho vedra. Jednou jsme take spali na miste, ktery vypadal jako stary lom. Na teto ceste v CamparVanu jsme si dokonce uvarili i nejake dobroty jako opekane brambory s parkem na spanesky zpusob a par moc dobrych burgeru. Jeden vecer jsme si otevreli i velice chutnou lahev muskatoveho vina, ktere nam koupila Natalie na nasem tri dennim jihozapadnim vylete. Mnam!

We then made it to pretty Kalbarri passing the pink lake where we got up close with Pelicans, and planned to take a look around the national park. Unfortunately the vans lack of four wheel drive prevented us from getting to a couple of the main spots but as it turned out, we'd now started to reach the real hot part of the west, neither of us had felt heat like this and on the day in the national park, rangers told us that parts of it had hit 50oc! There were also loads of thirsty fly's out there and when they saw us sweaty humans must have thought they'd hit the jackpot. It was a mixed experience of beautiful gorges and australian landscape with the exhusting heat and irritation of the fly's.

Po dalsich par dnech jsme dorazili do narodniho parku Kalbari. Po ceste jsme narazili na ruzove jezero a meli sanci zblizka pozorovat pelikany. Protoze CamperVan nebyl zadny dzip nemohli jsme se dostat vsude kde jsme chteli, ale i tak jsme se dostali na velice zajimave mista jako byli hluboke kanony. V den kdy jsme si vybrali shlednout tyto krasy bylo venku asi 50 stupnu. Mysleli jsme, ze asi umreme. Takove horko a tech much vsude kolem. Film Tri veterani a scena s Edou Flyboyem bylo proti tomu nic.

Monkey Mia and Coral Bay came next, both really beautiful, some great snorkling and the dolphins at Monkey Mia were cool. But by now, our budget was really begining to take a beating in what must be the worlds most expensive and commercial country. This meant some of the great boat trips around here were out of our reach, but soon it was back on the road and a big push to Broome to meet Natalie. We drove 500km to Port headland and eventully found nice cheap caravan park by a truck stop to stay overnight and then 700km the following day to the edge of broome where we stayed in perhaps the nicest caravan park yet, well it definely had the best swimming pool.

Monkey Mia a Koralova zatoka byli dalsi dve destinace. Obe mista byli moc pekne. V Koralove zatoce jsme si zasnorchlovali a v Monkey Mia jsme meli sanci porozovat delfiny pri krmeni v mori jen asi 1.5 metru vzdalenych od nas. V tuto chvili uz se nas rozpocet snizuje a snizuje. Hlavni duvod bude to, ze Australie je asi jedna z nejvice nejdrazsich a komercnich zemi na svete, coz znamena, ze vylety musi jit na chvili stranou. Po techto dnech uz jsme byli casove potlaceni a tak skoro dva dny jenom ridili. Prvni den 500Km do Port Headland and druhy den 700Km do mesta Broome, kde se potkame s nasi kamaradkou Natalii. Nasi posledni noc v CamperVanu jsme stravili v kemp parku, ktery mel nejvetsi a nejlepsi bazen, ktery nam zapadni pobrezi zatim poskytlo.

The following morning it was off to Broome to clean and return the van and find natalie. She had invited us to stay with her and her partner Byron at their house for a few nights which after being on the road for a fortnight was unbelievably wonderful. We cooked dinner in a proper kitchen, showered in a real bathroom and slept in a lovely double bed, all the things we'd normally take for granted we were so grateful for. Added to that there was also a swimming pool in the garden which we spent time in making up a new game called Noodle ball and throwing ball for Nozzie the dog. Natalie also booked us on a trip to see Broome's most famous industry up close, the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. It was a really interesting day where Veronika almost got away whilst wearing a necklace worth $56,000. We spent another evening watching amazing sunset at cable beach, a bbq which included some crocodile keebabs and a night in really cool open air cinema. We loved our time in Broome, but i dont think we could have had half the experience without Natalie, THANK YOU AGAIN NATS!



Dalsi rano uz jsme byli na ceste do centra, abychom vratili nas CamperVan a nasli Natalii. Nabidla nam zustat u ni a jejiho pritele Byrona v jejich krasnem dome, coz bylo super. Takze po ctrnacti dnech jsme si varili jidlo v opravdove kuchyni, sprchovali se v opravdove koupelne a spali na opravdovem dvouluzku. Vsechno, coz se zda normalni, ale za co my byli moc vdecni. K tomu vsemu meli na zahrade bazen a velkeho psa jmenem Nozzie. Natalie pro nas take zoorganizovala jednodenni vylet na Perli farmu, coz bylo hodne zajimave. Ke konci vyletu jsme meli moznost obdivovat perly v obchode, kde mi byl na krk pripnut nahrdelnik v hodnote 56 000 dolaru. (Ze jsem nevzala do zajecich.) Za techto par dni jsme stihli navstivit venkovni kino, sledovat zapad slunce a prochazejici se velbloudy na zname Cable plazi a mit opecku, kde jsme okusila sve prvni krokodyli raznici. Moc se nam v Broome libilo a myslime, ze bez Natalie by jsme nemeli ani z poloviny tolik super zazitku, takze jeste jednou Moc dekujeme Natalie!

We said some sad goodbyes for the second time and it was on the plane to Perth and then over to Cairns. We never really thought about it, but storm season might not be the greatest time to hit the north east??

Takze jsme se podruhe rozloucili se slzami v ocich a nastoupili na palubu letadla, ktere nas vzalo nejdrive zpet do Perth a po par hodinach cekani, dalsi letadlo smer Cairns. Nejak jsme tomu nevenovali pozornost, ale cyklonova predpoved pocasi asi nebyla ta spravna doba, kterou jsme zvolili pro navstevu vychodni pobrezi.

To be continued . . .

Pokracovani priste . . .

Singapore, the end of Asia - Singapur, konec Asie

The first thing to say about Singapore is how modern and clean it is. Some of the buildings are amazing looking, all aroound they seem to be trying to out do each other. We walked around a couple of the most amazing shopping centers we'd ever seen, one was like some future utopia, relaxing music, rooftop garden, unreal!

Kdyz ted vzpomenu na Singapur, prvni vec, co se mi vybavi je, jak je tohle mesto moderni a ciste. Nektere budovy jsou absolutne uzasne, vypadaji jako z filmu z budoucnosti. Nakupni strediska jsou vsude, kam lidske oko dohledne. Ctrnacti poschodove budovy plne obchudku s prosklenymi vytahy, s vyhlidkou ze strechy, kterou promenili v zahradu. Uzasne!

We stayed in the little india part of town at a cool backpackers called The Prince Of Wales. One of our first evenings we decided to take a walk to find The Fountain of Wealth, and were really excited by what we found. The fountain itself was pretty cool, but the food court around it was the star, we promised ourselves that we'd come back for lunch on one of the other days.

Byli jsme ubytovani v casti s nazvem Mala Indie v super hostelu Welssky Princ. Hned prvni vecer jsme se rozhodli trochu se projit po nocnim Singapuru. Dosli jsme na misto, kteremu rikaji Fontana Stesti. Co jsme ale nasli bylo nad nase ocekavani. Rozhodli jsme se zajit do podchodu nez prejit silnici. Takovy podchod jsme jeste nevideli. V obrovskem kruhu kolem fontany byla restaurace na restauraci. Sli jsme smerem k fontane. Aby se prani vyplnilo, musite ponorit jednu ruku do fontany a jit 3x dokola v danem smeru. Potom jsme se parkrat prosli dokola a obdivovali speciality na jidelnich listcich. V ten vecer jsme si slibili, ze se do jedne z nich behem naseho pobytu urcite pujdeme najist.

Then Sara and Karen came to stay in PoW, so we spent some time with them, some more drinking, and then their last day was chinese new year so we explored some of the area where they were having festivities. The girls left to travel the opposite side of oz to us, we exchanged sad goodbyes, but still hoping to catch up with them somewhere further along our travels. That evening Veronika and I went back to see the colours, smells and tastes of Chinese New Years in the night.

Dalsi den dorazili Sara a Karen, stravili jsme s nimi dalsich par dni a obdivovali tak mesto spolecne. V jejich posledni den jsme si behem dne udelali prochazku do casti, kde lide oslavovali Novy Cinsky rok. Pak se holky museli vratit, aby chytli letadlo do Australie, tak jsme se s nima sli rozloucit a vymenit si adresy. Stale doufame, ze se budeme moct jeste nekde potkat na nasich cestach. Vecer jsme se s Petem vraceli jiz do barevne osviceneho mista plne atrakci, lidi a stanku s cinskymi suvenyry.

After a bit of an early rush to Singapore airport we arrived and checked the screens for our checkin desk . . . Flight Delayed . . . for 5 hours! Usually this would be a real pain, but the $40 Quantas complimentry food vouchers softened the blow and we took full advantage having 2 meals each and relaxing in chair/beds whilst watching the runway. Possibily our best airport experience to date.

Dalsi den brzo rano bylo na nas, abychom chytli letadlo do Australie. Dorazili jsme na letiste a tabule ukazovali . . . zpozdeni letu . . . o 5 hodin! Zpet doma by nas to asi pekne nastvalo, ale na Sinapurskem letisti, jsme nerekli ani pul slova a byli dokonce i radi. Dostali jsme poukazku na jidlo v hodnote asi 600 Kc, takze jsme meli super snidani i obed, sledovali televizi, zadarmo pouzili internet a pospali si v pohodlnych sedackach za pohledu na pristavaci plochu.Takze 5 hodin uteklo jako voda. Beze sporu nejlepsi letiste, z ktereho jsme odletali.

. . . and that was it, the end of asia for this part of our travels, what an experience, Australia will have a lot to live up to. To be continued . . .

. . . a tak tohle Singapurske letiste uzavira nase cestovani po Asii, nezapomenutelna zkusenost a dobrodruzstvi, Australie bude mit co delat, aby se tomu vyrovnala. Pokracovani priste. . .

Magical Malaysia (Part 2) - Kouzelna Malajsie (2. Cast)

From the Cameron Highlands it was on a bus for 6 hrs and then boat for 3 hours to arrive at the Taman Negara National Park. Before we left the boat jetty we bought our departure bus to Kuala Lumpur in 5 days for what seemed like a reasonable 80 Riggit (£16). We stayed in a small village just across the river in funky little double room for 50 Riggit. The first thing to strike us was the heat, coming from the highlands this was pretty shocking but we dropped our bags and went down to the river to have some dinner in once of the floating restaurants. The food was good but it was our first introduction to the crazy creatures of the night in the area, Cicadas! Although harmless, they are the ugliest, stupid creatures we've come across to date and to make things worse some are almost the size of your fist. Anyway, like a kamikaze, one dive bombed straight into my Beef in blackbean sauce, which was the sign it was time to finish up as quick as possible and get out of there. But, out on the street it was even worse, they see you coming with their 8 eyes and fly straight at you so Veronika and eye pretty much ran back to the guesthouse with storms of these creatures going nuts on our pathway behind us.

Z Cameronskych vysocin nas autobus vezl po 6 hodin a pak lod po dalsi 3 hodiny, nez jsme se dostali do Taman Negara Narodniho Parku. Nez jsme opustili pristav, koupili jsme si listek na autobus, aby jsme za 5 dni nemeli starosti, jak se dostaneme do Kuala Lumpur. Cena se zdala seriozni 80 rigitu, coz je 16 liber, coz je asi 480 Kc. Jak jsme dorazili na misto, byli jsme sokovani, jaky rozdil teplot to byl vzhledem Cameronskym vysocinam. Ale i tak jsme se odtrhli od pokojoveho vetraku a skocili si k rece na veceri. Podel reky se nadnaselo par prijemnych restauraci k posezeni. Jidlo bylo velice chutne az do te doby nez jsme byli prestaveni jednomu z nejvic nejodpornejsimu a stupidnimu hmyzu. Cikadam!!! I kdyz tento hlasity bzucici hnus neublizi, hned po prvnich naletech a dopadu jednoho do Peteoveho talire s Asijskymi hovezimi nudlemi s vybornou omackou, jsme se rozhodli, ze zbytek do sebe nahazeme, jak nejrychleji muzeme. Nezdalo se, ze by je lakalo jenom svetlo zarovek, byli totiz vsude, na ceste, v trave. Jako kdyby si nekdo predplatil leteckou exhibici na vecerni podivanou. S 8 ocima se jim lepe diva a tak vse se zda jako jasny terc. Fyzicky zdravi, ale s narusenou psychikou jsme par dalsich dni po setmeni zustavali na pokoji, divali se na filmy a s hruzou poslouchali, jak za dvermi propuka 3. Svetova valka.

The next day, after spending most of the day sheltering from the heat, we realised we were low on cash so went to find an ATM. Foolishly we hadn't bought a great deal out to the jungle with us, and to our painful surprise discovered the village, or resort across the river had no ATM, in fact the nearest was 2hrs bus journey away. We spent the rest of the day worryingly planning our journey to get more cash. We also came to the conclusion we were paying to much for our accommodation, so found our first dorm room for 10 Riggit each. The following morning the local bus to Jerrantut left at 7:00AM and at the other end we got talking to the lovely ticket lady about how best to get back. During our conversation it turned out that we'd seriously over paid our ticket to Kuala Lumpur, there were a few other hidden costs we'd not considered and to be honest the local bus was a lovely journey, and far more convenient. The lady suggested we call the guy to cancel and she offered to take us to him (an hour round trip) to collect the refunded money. We gratefully accepted and an hour later, with extra 80 riggit in our pocket we were shopping in a local supermarket with our new guardian angel. It was a wonderful example of how genuinely kind people are in Malaysia.



Po dalsim dni, hlavne straveneho v pokoji s vetrakem jsme zjistili, ze budeme potrebovat vice hotovosti. Blazinci jsme si nevybrali dostatek na 5 dni, protoze nas nenapadlo, ale melo, ze v pralese a ani v hotelovem arealu nebude ani jeden automat. Ten nejblizsi byl 2 hodiny cesty autobusem do nejblizsiho mesta. Taky nam prislo, ze preplacime za ubytovani a ze se da spat mnohem levneji na pokojich hlavne s poschodovkama s dalsimi lidmi. Temto pokojum se rika "Dorm" muzou byt od 3 - pres 20 na pokoji, tento byl 4. Takze jsme zmenili i ubytovani a platili jen 10 rigitu asi 60 Kc na osobu na noc misto 300 Kc za dvouluzko. Dalsi den v 7 hodin rano uz jsme stali na zastavce a cekali na autobus do nejblizsiho mesta. Po tom, co jsme dorazili do mesta jsme se dali do reci se starsi pani, ktera vybirala cestovne na onom autobuse. S hruzou jsme zjistili, jak moc jsme preplatili za nas Kuala Lumpur listek. Bylo nam receno, ze misto 40 rigitu, coz jsme zaplatili za osobu jede autobus z onoho mista za 17 rigitu. Tato pani se nam ochotne nabidla, ze kdyz listek zrusime pres telefon, coz bylo mozne, ze nas hodi jejim autem tam a zpet asi hodinu cesty na otocku, aby jsme si penize mohli vyzvednout. Je to dalsi z prikladu, jak mily a ochotni jsou lide v Asii. Vse bylo hotovo behem dalsi hodiny a pul, my meli penize a dokonce i pozvani na obed od teto mile pani, ktery jsme ale slusne odmitly, protoze jsme museli chytnout autobus nazpet.

So with all our little issues sorted, it was time to do what we came for and explore the worlds oldest Jungle. It really is an amazing place, with giant bugs, massive trees, we got to see a beautiful viewpoint high above the jungle and walked the tree canopy walkway but to us less hardcore trekkers it wasn't quite the experience some of the brochures would have you believe. Understandably most of the animals they talk about are hidden deep into this massive rainforest or they only come out at night and it just too vast to explore in one day. That evening we had dinner before the night time bug craziness began we met Karen and Sara, who were staying in the dorm opposite. We were travelling a similar route so exchanged some stories and tips and arranged to travel to Kuala Lumpur together the following day. So it was back on the bus, a quick hello to our friendly Malaysian ticket lady, the bus was much busier (I spent the journey sat on the floor), and then on the coach the other end to Kuala Lumpur 17 riggit each. Once in KL we went our separate ways to check into our different hostels but made plans to meet up for drinks later that evening at Reggae Bar. That was pretty much the theme of the next couple of days, we saw some cool sites, crossed the sky bridge at the Petronas Towers and hungout with Karen and Sara, one night getting into the spirit with sheesha and alcohol. KL was a really nice city, clean, modern, easy to get around, we stayed in a really cool backpackers but most of all it was great to share it with some new lovely friends.


Takze po vyreseni nasi financni situace jsme se rozhodli, ze uz je na case trochu prozkoumat nejstarsi prales na svete, hlavni duvod, proc jsme zde. Prales byl jako prava dzungle, veliky hmyz a stromy, krasny rozhled z kopcu, prochazka mezi stromy po konopi mostech atd. Ale protoze ani jeden z nas neni zase tam moc do vyslapu a hlavni zvirata jsou schovane uprostred dzungle a je mozne je spatrit jen pred noc, nebylo to az takova zkusenost jakou jsme si predstavovali. Nicmene dalsi den jsme si zaplatili pul denni vylet. Skladal se z "shooting rapids" a navstevy mistni vesnice Orang Asali, kde ziji puvodni obyvatele. Shooting rapids spociva v tom, ze mala lodka jede proti proudu do kopce a caka nekdy i chrli kyble vody do oblyceju... bylo to obrovska zabava. V jednu chvili jsme se smala ostatnim, tak moc, ze me to vzapeti vytrestalo a dostala jsem vlastich asi 5 kybliku vody najednou. Pak jsme dopluli do vesnice. Je to uzasna zkusenost videt, ze lide v dnesni dobe stale ziji timto zpusobem. Bylo nam vysvetleno vse, jak ziji, kolik jich je ve vesnici, jak je to z vdavky a hlavne jak ziskavaji potravu a lovi zver. Behem par minut nam mistni ukazali, jak vyrabi sipky namocene v jedu a jak se zachazi s loveckymi zbranemi. Kazdy z nas si to taky mohl vyzkouset. Pozdeji vecer, kdyz uz jsme byli pripraveni zavrit se do pokoje potkali jsme 2 super holciny z Anglie. Saru a Karen. Dali jsme se do reci a zjistili, ze holky maji podobnou cestu a tak se vsichni spolecne dalsi den vydali autobusem do Kuala Lumpur. Holky se ubytovali jinde nez my, ale pozdeji vecer jsme se vsichni sesli v Reggae baru. Byla to super noc, pilo se, tancilo dokonce jsme si i objednali "dymku miru s broskvovou prichuti" jmenuje se to Sheesha. Dalsich par dnu jsme stravizli s holkama. Navstivili jsme Petronovy veze, presli se po mostu mezi nimi atd. Mesto se nam moc libilo, ciste, moderni, jednoduche dostat se z mista A do mista B. Zustali jsme v super batuzskarskem dorm, ale hlavne jsme byli radi, ze mame nove kamosky.

The girls left to visit Melaka, but we would meet up again in a couple of days in Singapore. Meanwhile Veronika and I had one last Malaysian meal, a lovely indulgent curry, and took some great pictures of the stunning Petronas Towers at night and then the following morning it was onto the train to Singapore . . . . To be continued

Dalsi den se s nama holky na par dni rozloucili, protoze jeli navstivit mesto Melaka a ja a Pete jsme si udelali dalsi prochazku po meste, zasli si na posledni veceri a skocili se podiva,t jak vypadaji veze ve vecernim kabate. Dalsi rano uz jsme byli ve vlaku smer Singapur . . . . Pokracovani priste

RIP Indie Hat - Odpocivej v pokoji Peteuv indiansky klouboucku

RIP Indie Hat - Hello Cowboy hat.

So, as with 6 pairs of glasses, and several other items the hat has been lost. In my rush off a bus in Butterworth it must have fallen off my bag. It served me well though, guarding me from the elements in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Lets hope it finds a new owner who'll look after it better than i did.



Odpocivej v pokoji - Peteuv indiansky klouboucku

S 6ti pary ztracenych slunecnich bryli a paru dalsich uzitecnych predmetu, Pete ztratil i jeho kloubouk, ktery mu jeho kolektiv z prace dal jako darek na rozloucenou. Peteuv kloubouk ho diky svemu Indiana Jones vzhledu hrave prepravil pres Kambodzu, Vietnam, Laos a Thajsko. Doufejme, ze najde noveho majitele, ktery se o nej postara lepe nez Pete.

Magical Malaysia (Part 1) - Kouzelna Malajsie (1. Cast)

"The boss" is shouting Thai ... at some immigration people over the phone, it turns out that as we were crossing the border from Laos, the Thai officials had stamped Veronika's passport wrong. Anyway, it took the next hour to sort out but it wasn't too long before we were back on the train and on the way to Butterworth. We didn't hang around long in Butterworth, it is really just the mainland port town feeding Penang, and within the hour we'd jumped on the ferry, got a public bus to china town and were checking into our home for the next few weeks, Banana Guesthouse.

"Hlavni sef na imigracnim" pouziva thajskou rec, z ktere se absolutne neda nic vycist, mluvi s lidma na druhe strane telefonu, aby zjistili, ze jak jsme prochazeli hranicemi Laos/Thajsko, vlepili mi do pasu razitko se spatnym datem vystupu ze zeme. Trvalo jim to asi hodinu, obvolat vsechny ruzne mista. Takze ze snidane seslo a uz jsme byli zase zpet ve vlaku. Dorazili jsme do Butterworthu, kde jsme primo naskocili na trajekt, ktery nas prevezl na ostrov Penang. Odtama jsme se poprve zkusili svezt mistnim transportem a neutracet zbytecne za taxi, coz bylo vyborne rozhodni. Autobus nas odvazel do Cinske ctrvrti, kde jsme se ubytovali na par dni do Bananoveho Guesthousu.

We spent a few days exploring the capital, George Town, and working out our route around Malaysia. We took a trip to the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens, and came across a few monkeys, lizards and the largest centipede we'd ever seen! But the heat was draining, made walking around was pretty hard, Penang really needed some rain to clear the air. The next day we jumped on the brilliant public buses and had a really scenic journey along the coast to the Tropical Spice Garden, a really interesting place 45mins outside Georgetown. They grow all sorts of really interesting plants and spices in a really stunning garden, after a little walk deep into the garden we stopped off for an ice tea break, and walked around the spice museum. After a few minutes in the museum, our previous day’s wishes were granted . . . in style! The heavens opened and poured all over us. We took shelter for a little while and then decided to make a break to reception and onto the bus stop. It was getting a little late but still with plenty of time we were shocked to turn up at an empty reception with lights off and all the exit gates (pretty large ones) locked. We were locked in, but not only that the storm had started getting worse. We eventually realised no-one was going to let us out and were beginning to worry we'd miss the last bus back so we climbed a fence and took shelter under a shop by the bus stop like a pair of drowned rats.


Par dnu jsme stravili procchazenim se po "hlavnim meste" George Town a taky premysleli, co chceme vlastne v Malaysii videt a odkud kam povede nase cesta. Jeden den jsme navstivili botanickou zahradu, bylo to tam moc pekne, videli jsme par opic, jesterek a zatim nejvetsi stonozku na nasi ceste. Prochazky byli docela narocne kvuli horkemu pocasi. Bylo by dobre kdyby trosku zaprselo, aby se procistil vzduch. Dalsi den jsme naskocili na autobus a nechali se vysadit v Zahrade tropickeho koreni, byla to velice zajimava prochazka pres maly lesik s ruznymi korenim posazenych podel stezky. Jak nas sipky dovedli k male restauraci na kopci zahrady, rozhodli jsme se udelat si prestavku. Po lehkem obede jsme zavitali do muzea koreni, ktery bylo hned vedle. Uz pri vstupu do muzea se vitr zacal zvedat rychleji a rychleji, nez jsme se nadali mracna se protrhli a zaclo prset a jak. Takze jsme neotaleli a sebehli jsme dolu k recepci. K nasemu uzasu recepce byla prazdna, svetla vsude pozhasinane a velka zelezna brana zamknuta velkou kladou. co ted? Rikali jsme si. Protoze jsme si nebyli jisti, kdy jedou posledni autobusy a uz bylo pozdejsi odpoledne, rozhodli jsme se prelest branu opodal zatimco na nas valily kyble vody. Pak jsme mokri jak mysi dorazili na zastavku az jsme se zanedlouho dockali autobusu s klimatizaci uvnitr, ktera opravdu nebyla zapotrebi na nasi jedno hodinove ceste zpet. Zmrli jak rampousi jsme dorazili zpet do hostelu.

Another day and another public bus journey around the island to the Tropical Fruit Farm. We both had a great day shown around and told stories about each of the fruits by our charismatic guide. Then at the end filling our bellies with all the fruits we'd just seen. One thing we will take away with us was all the stories of mental and physical achievements, according to our guide; all with one thing in common . . . they all eat bananas everyday.

Den pote jsme opet naskocili na autobus a tentokrat se nechali odvest to Zahrady tropickeho ovoce. Nas pruvodce byl velice cili postarsi muz, ktery nam vypravel prihody, jak ovoce psychicky a fyzicky ovlivni cloveka. Co pomaha nejvice je. Snez alespon 1 banan denne, cimz se ridil i on a vypadalo, ze to fakt fungovalo. Pote, co jsme prosli zahradou, mohli jsme vyzkouset vsechno ovoce, ktere jsme vydeli na stromech a kericich. Nektere chutnali hodne zvlastne.

Then it was time to move on and begin the journey to Taiping. We spent a couple of nights in the strange town of Taiping; one day explored the very lovely Lake Gardens and our favourite zoo. Walking around the place you hardly see any animal keepers, in fact the animals are so free they are in each others compounds, and monkeys and lizards walking around with you. At one point whilst trying to get a close up, Veronika was given a bit of a scare by a particularly aggressive monkey. But apart from that Taiping had a weird atmosphere, not for one minute did it feel welcoming and comfortable, so we decided to move on pretty quick to the Cameron Highlands.

Nase dalsi zastavka bylo mesto Taiping, kde jsme stravili 2 noci. Mesto melo velice zvlastni atmosferu. Jako by se tam zastavil cas nebo co. Navstivili jsme Jezirkovou zahradu, coz byla pekna podivana a pak se vydali do ZOO. Byla to moje prvni zkusenost byt v Zoo jako byla tahle. Zvirata byla spolecne ve vybezich a opice a obrovske jesterky se tam prochazeli jako ve volne prirode. Jednou na me dokonce zautocila opice, ktera si myslela, ze se mi snad zachtelo snist jeji cerstve nasekanou travu. Po tehte 2 dnech bylo nacese se opet posunout. Mame namireno do Cameronovych vysocin.

When we stepped off the bus I marched in the direction the Lonely Planet suggested*, ignoring all the guys offering good deals on accommodation straight to Papillion Guest House. The price seemed good, double room with bathroom and the couple running it were very pleasant. However after a walk around and then a couple of hours before bed it became apparent this place was cheap for a reason. Mould and rot became more and more noticeable and each breath the stale rotten air felt like it was infecting you. One night was enough in that place, and whilst I was negotiating the terms of our refund, Veronika found a place round the corner much more to our liking. The Indian guy running it was really nice and I think he had a soft spot for Czech's as he was learning the language and showed us the guestbook with all his Czech guests from the past (I knew there was a good reason to bring Veronika with me!).

* after Malaysia I would come to hate the Lonely Planet after it seemed to write pretty much the opposite of everything we needed!

Kdyz jsme vystoupili z autobusu v Cameronovych Vysocinach Pete ignoruje vsechny nabidky na ubytovani a zaslepene nasleduje jeho cestovatelskou prirucku, ktera uz nas nekolikrat zklamala. Ale co, nasli jsme misto, ktere bylo v prirucce a ubytovali se tam. Zdalo se, ze nabidka je lacina a bude to stat za to. I majitele byli velice prijemni. Coz ale to, kdyz jsme pozdeji zjistili, ze jsme ubytovani v plesnivem pokoji bez ventilace a okna. Jedna noc plna vdechovani plisne ale byla az az a tak zatimco Pete rano vycouvaval z naseho 3 denniho pobytu, ja jsem nasla pekny cisty a utulny pokoj s velice milym provoznim, ktery jak se zda mel slabost pro Cechy. Ukazoval mi, jeho poznamky v cestine, knihu hostu, kde bylo spousta Ceskych prispevku a taky pohledy z ceske republiky, ktere mu hoste poslali nazpet. Taky jsem mu jeden slibila, ale musi si jeste par mesicu pockat.

The Cameron highlands are famous for their beautiful walks and the fact that being so much higher above sea level the temperature is much cooler. We really loved our time there, during the day it was much more bearable conditions for hiking, so we done a couple of the many trails in the area. We also did a really good half day guided trip around the area, taking us to the spectacular tea plantations, strawberry farm, butterfly farm, markets, Chinese temple and rose garden. One of the most enjoyable days of our travels so far! Then Veronika and I celebrated our 3 years since meeting, by taking a trip back to the tea plantations and then rather than the driven tour before, walking through them and making our way to have cake and local tea at the cafe at the top with some of the most gorgeous views around. Then it was off to pick some strawberries and head back for dinner at a really good Chinese place we'd found. Words don't do this place justice; take a look at some of the pictures to see yourself how great it is.

Cameronske Vysociny jsou zname prevazne krasnymi prochazkami v prirode. Diky nizsi teplote vzduchu bylo mnohem jednodussi zdolat par mini vyslapu. Jeden den jsme si zakoupili pul denni vylet. Navstivili jsme Cajove plantaze, Jahodovou farmu, Motyli farmu, trznici, Cinsky chram a Ruzovou zahradu. Byl to opravdu super den! Behem casu straveneho ve Vysocinach jsme s Petem oslavili 3 lete vyroci od seznameni. Ten den jsme vyrazili na dlouhou prochazku do cajovych plantazi, kde jsme na konci okusili Cameronsky caj a k tomu prikusovali zakusek. Pak nas cekalo sbirani jahod a pozdeji super Cinska vecere. Je tezke popsat jaka je kolem nadherna krajina. Nicmene, podivejte se na fotky a posudte sami.

Next stop, the worlds oldest Rainforest, a place that has been around since the dinosaurs, and the freakiest insects we'd come up against so far...

Dalsi zastavka, Svetove nejstarsi destny prales, misto, ktere je tady od dob dinosauru, a nejvic nejohavnejsi hmyz, ktery jsme na nasich cestach mohli potkat...

...To be continued

...Pokracovani priste