The Capricorn Coast as seen by a Capricorn.

Born in January, I am a true Capricorn. So I was intrigued to check out the Capricorn Coast which incorporates the areas of Bundaberg (known for its fruits and vegetable production), Rockhampton (the beef capital of Australia) and MacKay (famous for its sugar cane). We didn't care too much for these towns as they were pretty basic and bland, but venture a little bit further away and we found some great spots to visit.

We had a week to kill before getting to Airlie Beach and our planned three day boat tour of the Whitsunday Islands, so we took our time driving the short distance north. Our first stop was the town of Agnes Water with its little hamlet, the Town of 1770, so named for the date Captain Cook disembarked on its shores while discovering Australia.

Agnes Water and 1770 were hyped up for us well before we even got to Australia. We had met some Swedish girls in Fiji who raved about the place as their favorite, and even the Lonely Planet guidebook mentioned it as the next Byron Bay. I hope it doesn't become like Byron Bay, but it's a long way away even if it is heading in that direction. Sure, there are some big building developments going on, but aside from this, it was one of the smallest beach towns we have visited.

The town is the last official surfing spot when heading north. It is the start of the Great Barrier Reef, and so the waves virtually stop a little further north. It was my last chance to surf and so we set up camp at the nearby council-run site called Workman's Beach, and chilled out for four days. The first two days had great waves, but the last two were mellow and we just laid out and I finally got to play some frisbee with a Hungarian traveller we met. I'm still not sure why I didn't bring a disc (frisbee) while traveling as it's one of my favorite things, but the last two days filled a void not met since we played with our friends Kareem and Noah in Buenos Aires.

A little sad, I sold my surfboard to a happy local, and we headed north yet again. We sped through Rockhampton, but made a stop to visit the Capricorn Caves about 20 Km north of town. It's a privately run attraction with a labyrinth of caves, one that includes a makeshift cathedral where you can actually get married. They even set up pews and played us some beautiful music timed with lights. If the place was run by the parks department you would never have an experience like this.

Our next major stop was the Finch Hatton Gorge, and Eungella National Park, just west of MacKay in sugar cane country. We did a nice quick hike in the Finch Hatton Gorge to a waterfall and swimming area, and then rushed to get Eungella to try and see a platypus. Found only in Australia, we had been trying to see one for the last month. We had seen kangaroos, emus, dingos, wallabies, koalas, wombats, and the last on the list was the famous platypus. We were lucky to see them both at sunset and the next day at sunrise from the lookout at Broken River. I assumed these things would be as big as a beaver, but they were tiny. Almost like watching a mutated beaver/duck offspring the size of a swimming squirrel. If that makes any sense. But both of us were ecstatic and stood in the rain watching them dive around for about an hour. Unfortunately we couldn't get any photos. I'll never drink from my Platypus water bottle again without thinking of the little critters.

From Eungella we made our way back to the coast, and spent a night camping at the secluded Smalley's Beach, part of Cape Hillsborough National Park to the north of MacKay. With only ten campsites, it was a treat to have the place to ourselves so to speak. Then we drove up to Airlie Beach where we are now, heading on a much anticipated three day boat tour of the Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef.

Here are our pics from our short visit to the Capricorn Coast.

From Sydney to Byron Bay...and everything in between.

Most travelers speed up the East coast from Sydney to Byron Bay. Friends of ours, Pablo and Christina, did the trip in three days. If you have limited time, then it really is only a 10 hour drive, but I think you would be missing out on some amazing national parks and beautiful coastline. We decided to take our time as we have a couple months to make it all the way north to Cairns, a classic travel route. I guess we're finally learning that it's better to take your time and see a place, than rush to see it all.

So, from Sydney we said goodbye to our friends and headed two hours west to the Blue Mountains National Park, and beginning of the Great Dividing Range that parallels the East coast. This was our one detour before heading up the coast, and I'm glad we made it.

The park has beautiful valleys, with gorgeous rock cliffs. If you get up early enough, fog covers the valley floors and it's pretty magical when the sun comes up. We spent two days hiking around the valleys, down to the floor and back to the top. A good climb. The whole place reminded me a lot of the Niagara escarpment outside of Toronto.

The town of Katoomba is the main place for visiting the park. It was also our first experience sleeping in our new car. Cozy, but took some getting used to. We actually slept on a residential street, and hoped that we wouldn't get a ticket. I can hear our friends shouting "dirty hippies." A highlight for us was our first visit to a Returned Services League, or RSL as it's known, which is basically a club for military veterans. The Cohens in Sydney mentioned it was a place to get a good cheap meal, and they were right. We were also entertained by joining in on their weekly trivia night, and even won some free drinks.

From the Blue Mountains we headed to the coast, and our first stop at Bouddi National Park. After a night at a beach front campsite, we headed for waves at Terrigal Beach. Now I should mention that for a long time I have wanted to get good at surfing. Five years ago I spent a week learning how to surf at Witches Rock Surf Camp in Costa Rica. Since then I've only gotten out about three times a year, and unfortunately became out of practice. So, I've made it my mission while in Australia to get good at surfing. Well, at least good enough to keep up with my friend Zack back home at Far Rockaway, Long Beach and Montauk, NY. I picked up a used board in Sydney, and we are stopping at every beach with waves. I need to thank Julie for her patience, as I drive from spot to spot stopping to see if there is good surf. It's kind of addictive.



There wasn't much surf at Terrigal that day so we moved on, resting at Crack Neck point to see whales pass in the distance, and finally stopping at Soldier's Beach near Norah Head for my first real afternoon of surfing. The next day we drove north to Newcastle, and visited a great little zoo, finally seeing wombats, koalas, emus, and kangaroos. We spent about 40 minutes watching the Koalas in awe, and the best part is that the zoo was free! That would never happen back home.

Our next stop was Hawks Nest, on the far side of Nelson Bay. A famous area for spotting whales and dolpins. Unfortunately we didn't see any, but we camped in a beautiful site in Myall Lakes National Park, and we had the whole place to ourselves. The next morning we moved on to Seal Rocks, visited the lighthouse, and got a good afternoon of great surf. We also had another night at a pristine campground in the national park.



After Seal Rocks we went to Crescent Head for more surf, and then headed inland over the Great Dividing Range to Armidale. The whole coast had suffered several days of pouring rain, and it made for an interesting drive. Some roads were flooded, and we took a ridiculously curvy path over the mountains, but we made it in time for dinner with the Gregg family. Some people looked at us like we were nuts to drive out of our way to Armidale, as it's four hours from the coast in farm country, but we went to visit with Vivienne and Michael (mother and brother of Julia who we stayed with in Sydney) who we shared three days with in a cramped landcruiser in the Salar de Uyuni in Boliva. After 2 nights of resting with friends, and getting our car fixed (our whole exhaust system was replaced after we put a hole in the muffler), we headed back to the coast.



The drive from Armidale to Coffs Harbour on the road dubbed the waterfall way, was scenic to say the least. One highlight was stopping in the town of Bellingen. Great architecture, with cool cafes and shops. It was like being in a Colorado mountain town. Coffs Harbour was a nice town, and I got in another afternoon of great surf.



The town of Yamba and the famous surf spot of Angourie was a must do for me. Angourie is so tiny, but everyone there seemed to be surfing fanatics. I can see why. They have a spot where the wave breaks perfectly all day, everyday. I hate to say it, but I was out of my league. I still need more practice, but at least I gave it a shot.

After a frustrating morning at Angourie, we drove a distance along the Pacific highway (our main route up the coast) to Ballina and then the coastal road up to Byron Bay. We stopped brifely in Lennox Head, to watch an all girls surf competition, and then finally reached Byron Bay in the late afternoon.



Byron Bay is not all it's cracked up to be. We were told it was one of the coolest spots for backpackers, but what we encountered is a chic surf town where the locals don't really like the tourists. The town has 9000 residents, but a ridiculous number of hotels, spas, and restaurants. I think they forget sometimes that the backpackers and tourists are the backbone of the town's income. That being said, the town is beautiful and has several beaches to choose from. We've been spending our days at Watego's beach just below the picturesque lighthouse, away from the crowds on Main beach. There are tons of cool restaurants, cafes, shops, and terraces to drink a schooner of beer and watch the sunset. Our plan was to try and get some work here for a month or two, but it's off season, and we get the feeling that locals are preferred. Oh well, their loss. We're headed north in search of better weather in Queensland.

So what's my impression of the New South Wales coast? It's basically like the California coast, but with much less people, and that's a great thing. There is beauty around every bend. A cliche I know, but in this case it's true. Here are my photos from our drive up the coast of NSW.

The South Island

With all the traveling in our campervan, we haven't had much time to get to online and fill you in on our trip, so here's how we spent two weeks in South Island of New Zealand. Here's a map, so you can follow along.

Upon arrival, we put our priorities straight and headed for the wine region of Marlborough, to the town of Renwick in the northeast. The area is famous for its white grape varieties, especially Sauvignon Blanc, and we managed to visit two vineyards before calling it a day and heading west. Normally I would spend hours, or days even, visiting vineyards, but unfortunately I was the designated driver being the only one who could drive a manual shift, and I should mention that wine is way, way too expensive in New Zealand. A cheap bottle is $20!



Abel Tasman National Park was our next destination, located in the northwest of the island on the north coast. The place reminded me a lot of British Columbia in the summertime, with a nice coastal rainforest, and little coves with sandy beaches. The Abel Tasman track usually takes 2-3 days to hike along the coast, but we only had enough time for a day hike, and I can't wait to come back and hike the whole trail. A highlight for us was seeing a family of seals swim right by us in the shallows of the surf. I should also mention that we had an afternoon of fishing at a nearby salmon farm where we were able take home our catch. We couldn't wait, and had some fresh raw salmon sashimi, prepared by the farm, with one of the bottles from our winery visit. What an introduction to the south island!



From Abel Tasman, we headed southwest to the west coast, and to one of the prettiest drives I have ever done. Going from Westport to Greymouth was stunning. It reminded me a lot of northern California. We stopped to see the famous Pancake rocks, and the obligatory tour of the Monteiths brewery.



We then drove further south to see the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. They are massive glaciers, that are actually advancing at about a pace of 1 meter a day (which in glacial time is really, really fast). We ponied up the cash and did a full day hike on the Fox Glacier with Fox Glacier Guiding. What a great day. The weather was sunny, and we got to crawl through some caves and crevasses. I have been on a number of glaciers while climbing mountains, but have never really walked around an ice fall like this. It was also Julie's first time on a glacier and wearing crampons (ice shoes). It was well worth every penny we spent. If you have limited time, or more cash to burn, you can do a heli hike, which is a helicopter ride onto the glacier and then a hike. I'll be back to try this one day.



From Fox Glacier we headed southeast over the Haast pass, by beautiful mountain lakes, to the alpine town of Wanaka. Home of mountain guides, and not as touristy as Queenstown, we spent our two days trying to go skydiving. The weather stopped us from our first jump, but we did see a movie at Cinema Paradiso, a famously cool theater that is more like a living room filled with mis-matched furniture, and even an old car.



We ended up spending more time in Queenstown than we anticipated. It's actually not a bad place to rest for a couple days. There are good restaurants and shops, and every adrenaline sport under the sun. We finally went skydiving for the first time. What a rush. I think everyone should try it once in their lives. We jumped tandem style (attached to a professional) from 12,000 feet, and it gave us about 45 seconds of free-fall. For the first 5 seconds or so, you get that rollercoaster feeling in your stomach, but once you reach terminal velocity, it is like you are floating...but the ground is getting closer with every passing second. We jumped with NZONE, who were great. I also went bungy jumping off the 43 meter (141 foot) Kawarau bridge on the way out of Queenstown. I figured I came all the way to New Zealand, I might as well jump from the world's first commercial bungy site with AJ Hackett Bungy, the people who started this crazy sport.



I guess this is a good time to tell you that we kind of, well, crashed our campervan. It wasn't a bad accident, thank goodness, but we were shaken up nonetheless. Basically, we skidded off a narrow, curvy, wet road, and into rock. We weren't going that fast, but the right side (driver's side) was banged up pretty good, and for the next week we drove around with a door that didn't close all the way. What a sight. I would like to say for the record that this was my first (and hopefully last) accident. I'd like to think I am a safe driver. I've never even had a speeding ticket. But be warned if you are driving around New Zealand. The roads are tough, and according to the guy who rented us our van, 1 out of 3 renters have accidents. Also, if anyone was wondering about New Zealanders, we had two cars stop within minutes of the crash to help us change our tyre that was blown. One guy even dirtied up his nice clothes without thinking. That's New Zealand hospitality for you.



From Queenstown, I drove 'Andy the wreck' to Glenorchy and hiked the Routeburn track for two days. Julie stayed in Queenstown to take care of Australian visa issues. The Routeburn was fantastic, and as of May 1st the backcountry hut fee dropped from $40 a night to $10. Definitely the best time to hike. It was a little chilly, but worth it. Overnight the weather changed from sunny to a snowstorm, but mountains look so much better blanketed in white, don't you think? Again, I wish I had more time to do this hike. You really need 3 days, and another driver. All the good hikes in New Zealand seem to be a one way direction, not many loops. When I come back to this area, I am going to do the full 3 days on the Routeburn, plus the Keplar, Rees-Dart, and Milford Sound tracks, which are also really popular multi-day hikes.



After trekking, I picked up Julie in Queenstown, and we made our way north, first to the old gold rush settlement of Arrowtown, and then to Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park. In 2001, I trekked across some valleys in Nepal, and a girl in our group kept saying how it reminded her of the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Up until this point, I had dismissed the thought, but Mt. Cook National Park is as beautiful as the Himalayas, and I guess that girl was right. The tiny town of Aoraki/Mt. Cook is in the National Park and is surrounded by peaks and glaciers, and dominated by the Aoraki/Mt. Cook summit (Aoraki means cloud piercer in Maori). We spent another chilly night here, and did a great morning day hike by glacial lakes with stunning 360 views of the mountains.



Unfortunately we said goodbye to the national park and drove the 5 hours to Christchurch, which was our final stop in New Zealand. Christchurch is a really great city. If you were to blend Denver and San Francisco, you would get Christchurch, but with much less people. Approximately 338,800 people live in the city, and if you are looking for the next outdoor adventure place to raise a family, head here. Here are our photos (part 1 and part 2) from the South Island.

I said goodbye to New Zealand and boarded a plane solo, bound for Melbourne, Australia where I am currently waiting for Julie to join me. She is still waiting on her Australian work/holiday visa, but we hoping that it will come in time for her flight here next Thursday.

If anyone has friends or family in Australia, or knows of any fantastic jobs for a couple of months, please let us know. We miss you all, and really appreciate the comments and emails from home, so thank you.

The North Island of New Zealand

If you happened to pass by the blog on Saturday night (Sunday morning our time), you saw a quick post that we were about to go skydiving. Just after we had zipped up our jumpsuits and been fitted into our harnesses, clouds rolled in and the jump was canceled. Maybe next time we should post after we jump.

We managed to skip winter this year, or so we thought. In February, during Carnaval in Brazil, I would check weather forecasts in New York and feel sorry for all you poor suckers stuck in the cold. Now while you are enjoying warmer temperatures, spring flowers, and baseball season, Jared and I are in a topsy-turvy place where it is almost May and the trees are covered in red and gold. While I always equated "south" with "warmer," it gets colder the farther south we drive. Cry me a river, you are all saying. I know.


Like the US, New Zealand is best seen from your own set of wheels. Since our budget is squeezed tighter than Lindsay Lohan's jeans, we rented the cheapest camper van possible. Instead of a fancy new RV, our ride is the size of a Volkswagen bus with a convertible table and bench, double bed, and a pump sink in the back. To save cash, we sleep in free campsites when possible. Suddenly hot showers have become a luxury. Our 1994 Toyota Hiace can only go about 20 mph uphill, and every time it starts in the morning, we breathe a sigh of relief. Jared is stuck doing all the driving because I don't know how to drive stick shift, but he has become quite adept at it, and on the left side of the road, no less. (Mike Soldner, you would be amazed!)

New Zealand in the fall is stunning, but I am sure it is beautiful all year round. By missing summer peak season, we are being treated to gorgeous foliage, lighter crowds, and slightly lower prices. We need all the discounts we can get--NZ is by far the most expensive country we have visited. Gasoline is $6 a gallon (and we use about $50 of gas each day), a cup of coffee is at least $2.50, and restaurants are out of the question. Instead of our $25 per day budget each, we have been spending about $60 per day here, not including excursions. But the views are free, and priceless.

After flying from tropical Fiji, we were greeted by a chilly downpour in Auckland. At the airport, we had our tent and hiking boots inspected as part of New Zealand's biosecurity, which keeps out foreign algae and pests out of NZ's ecosystem. With 1.3 million people, Auckland is NZ's largest city, and the home of 25% of the country's residents. Yet it still feels like a small, manageable city. Unfortunately, we only had 24 hours in town, and it was pouring for most of them. Oh well.

With only one week to spend in the North Island, we headed down to Rotorua for a dose of Maori culture. We visited Whakarewa, a Maori village sitting on an active thermal area. (Believe it or not, that is the village's nickname, short for Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao,' meaning “The uprising of the warriors of Wahiao".) It was interesting to learn that the Maori language is actually having a renaissance, after nearly dying out 20 years ago. Throughout New Zealand, government signs and plaques are shown with English and the Maori translations.

Itching to explore New Zealand's famous terrain, Jared went hiking (or "tramping," as they say here) in Tongariro National Park, said to be one of the most beautiful day hikes in the country. Tongariro is a dual World Heritage area, recognized for its three volcanic peaks and Maori cultural significance. He hiked right by Mount Ngauruhoe, which was used as Mt. Doom in the climax of The Lord of the Rings. (I stayed behind. When traveling and staying in a van, it's hard not to spend 24 hours a day together.)


From Tongariro we made our way down to Wellington, the capital city. If you are going to be in Wellington, don't miss the outstanding Te Papa museum, where we experienced simulated earthquake. (Better a simulation than the real thing, which is all too possible here.) The next day we took a 3-hour ferry across the Cook Strait to the South Island. Here are our photos from the North Island.

Before we left on the trip, my boss warned me that we may be missing out on life while we were gone. "But Charlie," I replied, "this is life." Still, we are missing out on some special times, especially our friends' weddings. So we'd like to send our love to Andrew and Caroline, Jack and Davi, and the newest newlyweds, Alex and Ximena, and Will and Dina. Congratulations, you guys.

If you follow the trip by email or Facebook, check out the blog! We've added a snazzy header, trip statistics, and a nifty clock that shows our local time. Thanks to Tal for all your help.

At the Copa, Copacabana....

Hello, and Happy Hanukkah! It´s easy to fall behind on our posts, so Jared and I are catching up here in La Paz, Bolivia, where the internet is 40 cents an hour, the cheapest we´ve found so far.

Originally, Jared and I weren´t planning to visit Bolivia. Not wanting to spend days on buses crossing the South of Peru, we planned on flying from Lima to Brazil. But we kept hearing amazing things about Bolivia--how cheap it was, how the salt flats in Uyuni were not to be missed--so we changed our route. And that´s the beauty of this trip.

We walked across the border from Peru to Bolivia and then continued 8km by bus to Copacabana, a small town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Picturesque Copacabana, situated at 12,000 feet, was a good place to adjust to Bolivia´s famous altitude. We recuperated at Hotel La Cupula, the nicest accomodations in town, where our room set us a back $17 a night. I watched the sunset from our balcony, while Jared hiked up the hill for spectacular views of Lake Titicaca. In town, we filled up on trout (trucha) fresh out of the lake, and got to witness the colorful blessing of the automobiles at the cathedral.

We took a side trip to Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the sun in Incan mythology. A slow boat took us from Copacabana to the north end of the island, landing at the village of Challapampa. It was a quaint village with hilltops and views of the clear blue lake. Jared was struck by the island´s resemblance to the Amalfi coast of Italy.

Up the hill we hiked, past donkeys and indigenous women in full skirts and bolwer hats. Somehow we missed most of the ruins on the north side, but we did get to see the Laberinto Chinkana, where the Incan creation legend began. Then it was a strenous 3-hour hike to the south side of the island, up and down large hills. When we finally reached the village of Yumani, we checked into a small inn for $8 per night, a small price to pay for a view of the sunset over Lake Titicaca. While I kicked back at our new digs, Jared made friends with three local kids, spinning them around and showing photos he took of them. That night the stars came out, though we couldn´t identify any of the Southern constellations.

Check out our photos of Copacabana and Isla del Sol. In the next few days, you´ll hear about La Paz, Jared´s bike ride down the world´s deadliest road, and our trek into the mountains. By the way, we love to hear from you, so please feel free drop us a line or leave a comment on the site. Happy Holidays!

Living the mountain life in Huaraz

We had missed Huaraz on our last trip to Peru two years ago, and this time I wanted to check it out since it was highly recommended by several guidebooks. We had heard from other travelers that it wasn't worth going since it was the rainy season, and Huaraz had bad weather at the moment. I'm so glad I didn't listen to any of them. The weather was great, sun in the morning, and only about 30 minutes of rain each day in the afternoon. At least this way we could prepare for it.

Julie and I checked ourselves into Olaza's Guesthouse, where we had all the comforts of home. Actually, this was the best hotel we've stayed in to date, and it was still only $23 a night! The Olaza family are known all around town. Tito Olaza runs the guesthouse where we stayed, and his brother Julio is the most well known mountain bike guide in the area. I was lucky to get Julio as a guide all to myself, and I had a full day of incredible biking. It was some of the best single track biking I've done in a long time. We started at about 13,000 ft and descended 3,000 ft through old villages, pre Inca rock walls, and tons of sheep, cows, and barking dogs. All this while having the white peaks of the Cordillera Blanca mountains in the distance.


After 3 days in Huaraz, we rented some camping gear and headed further into the Cordillera Blanca. We went for two days and one night, and this was Julie's first overnight trek. We had done day hikes in NY State, and the Grand Canyon, but this was the first time she had carried all her own gear for two days. We chose the Quilcayhuanca trek since it was recommended by Juilo Olaza.


We hiked up a valley for about 6 hours on the first day, up to a beautiful plateau at 13,500 ft, where we could see glaciers in the distance. We had some rain setting up the tent, and got a little wet, but that was the only trouble we encountered. The next day I woke up and hiked further up the valley to a beautiful mountain lake, then we packed up camp and hiked back down the valley for 4 hours. Both directions, up and down the valley, were filled with grazing cattle, horses, sheep, and donkeys. We encountered a local farmer who told us that approximately 500 cows graze freely in the valley. I just thought I'd add this last part since a good number of my photos have cows and horses in them.

Here is a trail map of our hike.



All in all, we had a great 5 days in Huaraz and the surrounding area. I highly recommend a trip to this area any time of year. Here are my photos from biking and hiking, so you can decide for yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving from Peru

Dear Friends and Family,

We wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and let you know that we are thankful to have you as our friends and family. While we travel, it´s your emails and photos that keep away our bouts of homesickness.

As many of you have requested, here is our very first video post. We apologize for the low quality, but we've been having difficulty uploading large videos from internet cafes. If you are receiving this message as an email subscriber, please click on the title of the post, or go to http://www.globestompers.com/.

All the best,

Jared and Julie