Hong Kong - Auckland - Wellington - Sydney - Cairns - Singapore

Most of this diary is copied out as it was written whilst I was away, although by the time we got to Sydney I either got bored or didn't have time, so i'll make that bit up from memory.

Hong Kong

Day 1 - Saturday 16th July

Arrived in HK about 7am local time, nearly midnight at home. Haven't really slept, couldn't sleep on the plane, didn't feel tired enough really.

Once through immigration we got and bags and went to wait for the shuttle to the hotel. As soon as we stept out of the air conditioned airport I really felt the heat hit me, it is really like an oven! We're staying at the Holiday Inn, Golden Mile. It all looks very swanky. Went to bed for a bit to try and get over the jet lag.

Woke up about 10-11 or something like that. Went and got breakfast. It feels wierd paying nealy HK $60 for an ommlette (although the exchange rate is something like $13 to the £) After breakfast we headed for the harbour and got tickets for the 'Star Ferry' tour of the harbour. Whilst waiting I got an ice cream/sorbet ensemble of banana and green apple sorbet despite warnings not to drink the water or icy things. Im still here so it must have been OK. We got the ferry just before 7pm. It was day light when we left, but the sun set whilst we were out.

All the major buildings put on a light show. At about 8pm when we arrived back from the tour, they had a fireworks display from some of the buildings. I think i've got some good pictures of this (Yes I have :p)

Went in search of food and encountered the 'New World Center' and went to a really nice Chinese Restaurant, or as they like to call them here , a 'Restaurant'. We had a BBQ selection to start and some prawn rice cakes which were nice. We had three large plates of assorted noodles between us all for the main course. One spaghetti like one with bacon which was quite spicy, crispy noodles with some sort of random meat and some normal noodles. I would have kept note of their numbers , but I think they use a different system over here. It was less than £40 for the six of us which in my humble opinion was really good. Went back to the room and slept for ages.

Day 2 - Sunday 17th July

We had a full day in HK today. We left the hotel later than we should have done really. Left about mid-day and caught the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island. (It was really really cheap to catch the ferry. HK $ 2.20 which is about 20p or something ridiculoul like that) We stopped off at the convention centre for a coffee / sandwich etc before heading off to the peak. Now heres where things started to go wrong, sort of. I'd read there was an escalator which takes to the top of the peak, but it doesn't, it goes really far, just not to the top. To get to the escaltor we had to get the MTR to Central Station. Very different to London Underground, in that it was clean, fast, very cheap (about 40p for a journey) and the trains were very comfortable and very long with no breaks between carriages, they just kept going. Once we got to central we took the footways through the city to get to the escalators. The footways are sort of footpaths in the air, which connect a lot of the main big buildings, some go through them. They're a great idea for some where like HK because you don't have to keep crossing roads and waiting for signals. It keeps the traffic moving and the people get where they want easily. Strangely, there were thousands of little women out just sitting around on the walkways. I think I saw something about this on TV once. They're Philapino house maids on their day off. They have no where to go, and not a lot of money to do much, so they just go out and sit around in massive groups and play cards and talk and stuff. Once we found that the escalator doesn't go all the way to the top we caught a taxi to the top.

In typical Hong Kong stylee there was a shopping mall at the top of the peak with an observation platform on top. We got up there about 3pm or thereabouts, so it was daylight at this point. The view across the tops of all the tower blocks across to the main land was amazing. You could see Tsim Sha Tsui (the part of the main land where we were staying) from the one side, and from the other side you could see out to the China Sea and lots of little islands. I took lots of photos from here. We went around the shops at the in the mall and I bought a chinese style shirt and Uncle Stephen bought a chess set which was about the size of a large shoe box which then had to fit into someones suitcase (mine!) and then get carted around our remaining destinations. We ate at the Café Deco which was very nice. It wasn't cafe really, more of a big restaurant with various different kitchens dotted around the place cooking different types of foods, Thai, Chinese, Indian etc. I had a really nice Tikka Selection. The view from the restaurant across the city was great, and we could see the lights on the buildings coming on as the light began to fade. After the meal we went outside to take more pictures. We expected their to be another fireworks display tonight and this time we'd get a different view. Except when we asked what time the fireworks started as part of this show that is on everyday, we were told 'erm, not today' which was a bit odd. Either way the views across the city were brilliant. Even better by night in my opinion as the lights change on some of the buildings. Some go on and off, and other just change colour or make a different pattern.

Suffice to say I took lots of photos Even at this time of day it was still warm. We went back into the shops for a bit where I bought the book I wrote all this down in. In hindsight it was a little small so it was awkward to write in, but it looked nice. Then we lined up for the peak tram.

The ride down gives you great views for a while before it disappears behind some rocks. It's a gradual slope for a while until suddenly it gets a lot steeper and you can see the buildings ahead dropping away before you. Once at the bottom we caught the bus to Central ferry port and got the Star Ferry back to Tsim Sha Tsui. Once back on the main land we wandered back through the shopping centre and golden mile area back to the hotel.

Ice Cream Count: 2 - 1 x McDonalds Cone with Chocolate dip, 1 x Oreo McFlurry.

Day 3 - Monday 18th July

Last day in Hong Kong today, so I'd better make the most of it! I'm going to go off on my own today and a do a little more exploring. One mission is to get an Eeyore for Jennie/Jenny or however she spells it. Firstly I got the ferry over to HK Islands central ferry port then Walked to Central MTR Station and got a train to Shueng Wong (sic) from here I walked to Man Mo Temple. Not sure if its Buddhist or Taoist, but I do know it smelt very odd.

It was pretty cool inside, a vast contrast to the heat outside. The inscense was very pungent. There was a guy in one section hanging upside-down cones with incense hanging from them with a little red tag (Picture - above right). Not sure what they were for, but there were lots of them.

From here I went back to the MTR station and got a train to 'Causeway Bay' and walked to Victoria Park and took a quick wander. It was bloody hot. Took a couple of pics of plants and things before heading back to the shops. Had a brief wander around. Grabbed some water from the 'Park & Shop'. They had an interesting fish counter withg live fish swimming around. I don't know if you took it home alive, or if they killed it for you.

I caught the Tram (proper old school tram!, again really cheap, about 20p or less.) back to central, or at least meant too. I got off a bit too early and had to to Wanchai instead. Once back on main land, I went to the Ocean View Shopping Centre. It was massive. I was looking for a shirt to wear to replace my now very sweaty red England football shirt, and an Eeyore for Jennie. I figured Toys 'R' Us would have one. It very nearly didn't, but I found one on the checkout. If Jennie like Mickey Mouse , Winnie the Pooh or Hello Kitty, that would have been easy, they have whole shops for all of them. A Disney Land is opening in HK soon (Its open now I think). OK mission complete, now for a shirt. This shopping mall is massive, but mostly all designer stuff. I bumped into the rest of the family whilst looking around, but went off for about 15mins before meeting back at the hotel. I got two casual button up shirts, and went to the waterfront briefly to get a photo of Eeyore in HK as proof. Went back to the hotel to meet the others and get the coach to the airport.

The airport is HUGE! I imagine its like Heathrow would be if all its terminals were in one place not spread out. There didn't seeem to be many shops, but that might just be me not really looking, or they're more spreadout amongst all the different gates.

Whoooosh ..... away we go to Auckland via Sydney. I didn't bother trying to watch a film. They were the same ones as the flight to HK, so i just listened to music and stuff.

Ice Cream Count : 1 x Green Apple McFloat

Auckland

Day 4 - Tuesday 19th July

We arrive in Auckland in the afternoon and get the shuttle bus to the New President Hotel. The shuttle bus is basically a mini-bus that waits for a full bus of people goint to various destinations, then drops you all off where you want. Once at the hotel, we all un-packed, or for me, to be precise, but my suitcase in my room. Then me and David (or Dave-O as he should be called in these antipodean parts.) went for a quick walk to a souvenier shop he remembered from last time. He wanted to look at the Maori carvings. They were pretty cool, they have bone ones and Jade ones. I think the Jade ones look best. Then we went to McDonalds, for some ice-cream ... what! no McFlurries!!, but do not fear, they have fruit smoothies instead, a bit like a runny fruity McFlurry. Then back to the hotel to go get dinner. We went to a little restaurant close to the hotel where the others had been last time they were here called 'Little Italy'. I had a huge calzone which resembled a large cornish pasty. For desert I went to Burger King and got a hershys chocolate pie and David have a chocolate sundae. On the way back we popped into the convenience store right by the hotel and I grabbed some Steak and Cheese pies for the morning. They do like their pies here.

Ice Cream Count : 1 x smoothie (Does that really count?) 1 x BK Hersheys Chocolate Pie

Day 5 - Wednesday 20th July

Whole day in Auckland today. I had one of my pies for Breakfast, nice.

We then walked down to the harbour and caught a ferry to Waiheke, and island to the east of Auckland. It's about 35 mins to there. Once there we caught the bus to Onetangi beach (Left). Wonderful views across the sea and the hills. Nothing much was here apart from the beach as stuff was shut for winter. It rained briefly, but I had a coat so I was OK. Caught the bus to Onerua which seemed to be the main town/village on the islands. We got a bite to eat here before I went down to the beach (right) with Edward, getting some secret ice-cream on the way. A sort of magnum ice-cream with raspberry jam between the ice-cream and chocolate. Again lovely views across the bay. David and Auntie Jane came down too. We walked along the beach as the tide came in , then walked back up the hill to the shops to try and find Uncle Ronald and Uncle Stephen (Steve-O) and eventually got the bus back to the ferry. It might be warm during the day, but it does go a bit chilly once the sun goes down. We got the ferry back to Auckland. Great views of the city with the sky tower protuding from the sky line. I went up to the top of the ferry to take some pictures. It was ferry windy so it was cold and it was difficult to keep the camera still , especially as we were on a boat too. Went back to the hotel briefly before going up the SkyTower.

The SkyTower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and is an observation tower giving views across Auckland. It also houses a revolving restaurant and some 'Extreme' activities. One is a walk along a platform protruding about 10 metres from the edge of the tower, another is climb to highest point of the tower onto the radio mast, and the final one is a sort of bungee from the top of the tower to the ground , but without the going back up bit. I think your connected to a wire that lowers you down, quite quickly, but not too quick. Unlike the other towers i've been up, this one was enclosed, you couldn't go outside to take pictures. I got quite a few pictures from up there. I needed to use longer exposures than normal to capture any detail. The lift going up the tower was a bit different, and Uncle Stephen didn't really like it. It had clear walls and a clear section of floor so you could see outside as you were going up. I took lots of pictures whilst we were up there, we stayed up there for about 30 minutes I think. Dinner tonight was at McDonalds. I only had ice-cream because i'd eaten earlier , but that didn't stop me grabbing a pic to cook in the hotel room. The hotel rooms had a sort of kitchenette with Fridge, Toaster, Kettle and Microwave.

Ice Cream Count: 1 x Strawberry Sundae. Pie Count: 2 x Steak and Cheese

Day 6 - Thursday 21st July

We leave Auckland today destined for Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.We got the taxi about 10, so the flight was probably about 12 or there abouts. Edward set the alarm off because he had a first aid kit in his bag which had some tiny scissors in it. The plane was smaller than the others so far. The flight is only about an hour. The views along the coast were spectacular. The little islands keep making me think of the theme from Jurassic Park all the time.

We got to Wellington and got a shuttle bus, sort of mini-cab thing to our hotel. It was the Hotel Willis Lodge. It was the cheapest of all the hotels we are staying in, but it was fine for what we wanted, although it did have about a 10 minute walk to the town. After checkijng in a dumping our bags in the rooms, we went off into the city. Wellington was much colder than Auckland, so jumpers and coats were needed here.

Auntie Jane and Dave-O got fleeces from one of the shops because of the cold. We walked up Cuba street and down to the waterfront. Here we went into the New Zealand national museum, Te Paka This was was quite interesting, showing some of the native animals in and around New Zealand and also showing how the New Zealand and Australian landmasses were formed, and what caused them to have such unique animals. We headed back to the hotel to get dinner , only to find it was shut for dinner because they'd ran out of stuff. They were changing management, so didn't stock up on stuff. We went back into the town centre to J J Murphys. So here we are, 6 english people about 12,000 miles from home in New Zealand , and we're eating in an Irish theme pub. All of us apart from Uncle Ronald had a lamb shank which was really nice. Now, I kid you not, but the big screen sport in this bar was .... sheep herding. Yes, sheep herding. I got desert from Burger King. a 50 cent cone, then we returned to the hotel rooms for sleep.

Day 7 - Friday 22nd July

We had breakfast in the hotel today. The bacon was different to ours. More like cooked ham if you ask me. Todays mission was to go up the peak on the cable car. We walked down into the city centre and caught the cable car up to the peak.

We got tremendous views across Wellington and of the mountains around the city. At the top of the peak we went to observatory/planetarium. They had a telescope looking at the sun with a special filter so you didn't get blinded. You could see the little flares coming from the sun. In the planetarium we were shown stars visible from the Southern Hemisphere. Did you know the stars on the Australian flag are in the formation of the Southern Cross.

After that we walked down though the botanic gardens. I found a little waterfall off the main path which I wandered down to to photograph.