February 23, 2012
Hi, i'm Stu from North Yorkshire / Nottingham, UK, and this is my blog.
This year i quit my job to travel the world.
Browse my blog and photos via the maps!
well, not a huge one. Just a quick word for an initially unconvincing looking paperback my friend Karl gave me before i left Arizona.
Desert Solitaire (edward abbey)
amazon.co.uk
wikipedia
It's written by a guy who spends a couple of summers working in Arches National Park in the US, in 1960's days when mass tourism was still just over the horizon. As well as his observations and local stories, we get his musings from long days spent alone with no distractions from thinking, and a forthright social commentary with some eerily accurate predictive statements on the direction the world has headed, all in a great writing style.
on amazon second hand for $1.26 and well worth it!
full article #tags: books, [1] 
so far...
so bus (intercity.co.nz) from auckland to whangarei
i guess i've been spoiled. yesterday i dived at what jacques custeau rated one of the top 10 sites in the world, and it wasn't even the highlight of the day.
that sounds wayyyy too boastful and ungrateful but its true
the diving was good, but at more than double the price of diving in the cook islands it wasn't doubly as good.
The boat was full with about 20 people, which made the water seem almost as crowded with people in masks as it was with fish, kelp and crustaceaous things.
And i saw stingray, moray eels, porcupine fish, large shoals of other fish, swam under rocks, through an arch with the sunlight dancing down in shafts into the depth of the water.
But in the cooks i was diving with 2 other people, just us in the ocean, with all that amazing coral, shark, and tropical fish.
I wouldn't say today put me off diving, but maybe i'll wait till i get to cheaper places and feel i'm getting value for money. I know this trip was supposed to be about experience, not money, not shirking things because they seem expensive when i've already paid a fortune getting to the other side of the world,
but everything [read the rest...]
full article #tags: diving, amazing, [0] so far...
New Camera. Panasonic TS3
So after my Sony compact camera finally having a malfunction that couldn't be fixed by bashing it off a table, i wanted a new pocket sized camera.
In the Cook Islands several people had waterproof cameras, which i was very envious of given the amazing snorkelling.
So i got one of those. It can go down to 12m underwater, which is frustratingly short of scuba depth, but absolutely the best available in a camera without spending several hundred pounds more on a special housing.
And it should be fine to get bumped around in a bag, splashed in a kayak, dropped on a sand dune etc. In theory.
Will update when i've tested it out more.
Regarding my other new camera (the Panasonic G3 i bought back in New York), i love it to bits (apart from in low light when i can't hold it steady long enough)
full article #tags: cameras, [3] so far...
today i was going to catch a ferry to Roritono, an extinct volcano island in Auckland bay.
But i'm not, because last night i played football (jumpers for goalposts with couchsurfers) for the first time in 6 months and now my legs ache like hell, and i can barely face walking across the street to the art museum.
It is hard to get the same regular exercise whilst travelling as you would at home. Well, i guess it isn't impossible to make the effort to go running but it never really crosses my mind.
So, so far in Auckland i have: walked around a bit. Found out that local beers are very expensive (4.50 a pint expensive). So off license cider it is.
Been to the botanical gardens. It was an hour out of town by bus, but worth it. Very nicely arranged, and there was also a sculpture exhibition and some live music.
Been up the SKYTOWER! Aucklands answer to the CN tower and that one in Seattle. it's only 292m tall but still the highest building in the southern hemisphere. Good views of town and the bay, but unfortunately i managed to time my visit along with a bus load of small nz schoolkids, and a bus load of retired british and american couples from a cruise ship.
Two of the most an [read the rest...]
full article #tags: tourism, cities, [2] so far...
i feel a bit shell shocked, coming from the overwhelming peace and tranquility of Raro into the middle of a friday night in Auckland city centre, with high rise buildings, bright lights, traffic, and people (shudder).
The last few weeks in the Cook Islands i kept having those "i must be dreaming" moments, and now i feel like i've been rudely shaken awake.
NZ has a reputation for being a few years behind the modern world, and that is most apparent in the number of internet cafes on every street. No free wifi here! errrk.
So now i will spend a couple of days adjusting, reading the guide book, and making a general plan of how to assault this country for the next 5 weeks. 5 weeks i now realise being a stupidly short amount of time.
full article #tags: update, [3] so far...
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After an overnight 9 hour flight, Rarotonga is indeed a tropical paradise. Palm trees, coconuts, beaches, azure lagoons, buses labelled "clockwise" and "counter-clockwise".
Everything is situated on the road which follows the coast, 40km in total around the circumference of the island. In the middle is the remains of the volcano covered in jungle.
My hostel is right next to the beach.
I've got some bad sunburn
I went snorkelling and its ridiculous, like a tropical aquarium but just putting your head underwater a few metres off the beach.
The locals are all friendly nutters.
I climbed up a hill which included scaling a cliff at the summit for some great views.
And i've got a lot of mozzie bites.
And i've got 3 weeks left!
It's hot, humid with occasional deluges.
full article #tags: update, [3] so far...
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Mexico City. The locals seem to refer to it as just "Mexico". It's massive. Flying in, i lost sight of countryside ages before the airport came into view. Its grown from a few hundred thousands in 1900 to being one of the biggest cities in the world, circa 20m people.
And with such fast expansion, its no surprise that infrastructure has had a hard time keeping up. For example, they are building a second deck on the main city freeway to double capacity. Everywhere is covered in half finished looking breezeblock apartments and houses. But in truth outward appearances aren't important. Neither is insulation. It's warm here, t-shirt weather, although the locals are currently complaining and wearing 5 layers.
I was encouraged to make the extra stop here to visit Naresh, a Mexico City native who i'd met on the greyhound to San Francisco back in October. He picked me up at the airport and treated me to some kamikaze style driving. Seriously, there appear to be no traffic rules or policing, it's a case of see some space - go for it, weaving in between lanes like a game of Outrun. Everyone is equally aggressive and anticipative, so it kinda works.
I can't believe there aren't a million [read the rest...]
full article #tags: activities, tourism, cities, [5] so far...
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So I've now done six scuba dives in the warm Caribbean, seeing coral and lots of colourful fish. No turtles or sharks which was disappointment as they are in the area, but none the less its been amazing. and now I can go dive anywhere else in the world yay!
Today I took a tour to chichen itza, a mayans city ruins site with a giant pyramid and ball game stadium. It was impressive! But it does only date from about the 10th century. And boy oh boy was it hot inland in the jungle!
Today I also paid for the hostel and bought a bus ticket for tomorrow speaking in Spanish - not that I can really understand what people are saying in reply!
Tomorrow I fly to Mexico city to see Naresh who I met in san Francisco, and then on Sunday its onwards to Los Angeles to catch the loooong flight to the cook islands...
full article #tags: tourism, activities, [3] so far...
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yes i'm in Mexico and i haven't been mugged, kidnapped or stabbed yet, sorry to disappoint! It doesn't really seem like that sort of vibe here with miles of beaches and holiday makers from both north and south america.
Today i've spend most of the day reading textbooks and watching videos in preparation for the PADI Open Water Scuba Diver course which i start for real tomorrow. in the swimming pool!
But hopefully in a couple of days i'll be able to get out to some reefs and see lots of awesome underwater stuff. and again in the Cooks, Oz, Fiji etc.
The sea is so warm! It's another new one for me, the Caribbean, and although the air temperature isn't much higher than California, the pacific was FREEZING and this is very pleasant.
I'm frantically listening to my "Learn Spanish with Michel Thomas" audiobooks, but even if i can blurt out a phrase i have no idea what anyone is saying back to me, so i'm resorting to a lot of "lo siento, no hablo espanol, hable inglese?
I would like to come back and visit central america as a whole properly at some point, which could then involve one of those intensive immersive language school / home stay things. But the airport, hostel and [read the rest...]
full article #tags: update, [5] so far...
So fun times in Tucson, shooting safari animals with a shotgun (in a video game in the bar), playing shuffleboard, and eating gigantic burgers
my fave new year related song:
Death Cab for Cutie - New Year (video on Youtube)
Some other fun links:
Spiral Island (Wikipedia)
Someone told me about this great man made floating island off the coast of Mexico - oh yes i forgot to mention - i'm going to Mexico on Thursday.
Thumbs Up! - this web only TV show follows two Korean hitchhikers as they travel across the USA without paying for anything. Lovely.
full article #tags: fun, [5] so far...
FYI i'm in Tucson, Arizona, staying with my old summer camp buddy Karl.
There are lots of cactuses!
full article #tags: update, [6] so far...
So on my way down the west coast i've met lots of cyclist on inspiring long distance journeys.
First up was Paul, who was at the end of a huge trip covering Europe and Canada on a four wheeled bike-car.
Then in Santa Cruz i shared some free eggs with Lukas, a Swiss guy who had crossed the USA from New York.
Over the next couple of weeks i met him a further four times as our journeys kept overlapping down the coast, each time we would discuss the condition of our stomachs after finding out the eggs were several weeks out of date...
Lukas has some great stories already, including:
The dogs...
"all cyclists talk about in Kentucky is the dogs. they just start suddenly right after the border. first one, then a bit further two, and then all of a sudden dogs everywhere. some are little and just make some noise yip yip you know, but some are big and scary you know.
So you have to get past them, some people pick up stones and throw them at the dogs, some people have airhorns. Sometimes you see a dog sleeping and you try to sneak past really quietly and then peddle as fast as you can"
The raccoons...
Camping out in northern California, the raccoons have no fear - open his pan [read the rest...]
full article #tags: stories, [5] so far...
So Christmas away from home turned out ok!
It was a beautiful sunny day, and after successfully speaking to merry family and friends,i sat in a park by the bay wearing shorts and reading a book.
But then it was time to deliver on my rash offer to cook a traditional xmas dinner. I hadn't realised the variety in xmas dinner menus are around the christmas celebrating world, but today it was turkey (14lb) with all the trimmings (but NO BRUSSEL SPROUTS!)
So thanks to my new friends from Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the US of A for eating it and making the day feel a bit more traditional!
full article #tags: update, [9] so far...
at the zoo. so many ignorant parents.
the horrible lower class types who knock on the glass to disturb animals so they can get a photo on their shitty old phone, and tell their kids dumb stuff instead of reading signs or admitting they don't know,
at the sea eagle enclosure. the traffic on the nearby freeway sounds a bit like the rhythmic crashing of waves. kind of. i wonder if that helps the sea eagles feel at home. probably not.
more retards complaining that they can't see, that the "exhibits" arent performing tricks
camera lens envy! i find myself noticing people with huge telezoom lenses everywhere. lol.
zebra pooping. elephan [read the rest...]
full article #tags: tourism, [7] so far...
apparently it's Christmas tomorrow, so i'll try to write up some more stories and summaries.
but anyway, since it's already Christmas in New Zealand,
MERRRRRRRY CHRISTMAS!
full article #tags: greetings, [6] so far...
so i as travel around i've encountered lots of places referenced in songs, which now make a bit more sense. Such as The Thrills album "So much for the city", in which pretty much every song is about somewhere on the california coast-santa cruz, big sur, hollywood, san diego, and err, las vegas, even though the band is from northern ireland.
As i was thinking about this in Los Angeles, i discovered that there are even more songs about Hollywood than there are about New York or anywhere else (well on my ipod anyway, there's 21 songs with hollywood in the title)
Everything from Bran Van 3000's "Drinking in LA" with its LA/Hell-A wordplay to Cheryl Crow's "All i wanna do is have some fun", but i've picked out System of a Down's cautionary ballad as summing up the town best.
full article #tags: musings, music, [6] so far...
