Destination Mexico, decision made. Nearly....

Right, I now have a plan for when I'm off to Mexico.  Well almost anyway, I'm going to fly to Mexico on the 19th March, probably.  I'm going over with James, Emmanuel, and Dan. They are joining me for the first three weeks.  Two weeks in Mexico and one in Belize.  The reason I am still only probably going on the 19th of March and haven't booked my flight yet is actually because I might leave earlier.  As I am starting this leg of the trip with the employed they have considerably less time than me.  I probably would have spent a month or two in Mexico if I were by myself so I'm undecided whether or not to arrive a few days earlier than everyone else.  Also I'm trying to work out my plan after Belize, I know I'm heading south but apart from that who knows.  As you all know I don't like planning more than a day in advance, but trying to weigh that up with flight costs is a bit tricky.  Well I'm sure I'll sort it out before the 19th.

For those of you who don't know who James, Dan, and Emmanuel are then here is a picture of them attempting to cycle.  For those of you who do I'm sorry for reminding you!

Well what have I been up to in the past few weeks, well not much really. That was kind of the point really, just to chill out and relax for a few weeks.  Well I've done a bit of looking after the niece and nephew too, a few changes of stinky nappies and lots of playing and being ordered around by the Monster!  As I have access to free fast internet at the moment I'll make the most of it, so here are a couple pictures form the past few weeks.

I'll post some more details of my plans for Mexico soon, and of my antics in London.

Long time no post

Well some of you already know what I've been up to in the past two weeks since my last post.  Well I've been on six different time zones, five different flights, four different countries, and three different continents.  Phew that sound exhausting, and I think I have only just about recovered after only waking up at 12.30 this afternoon.

Well I suppose I should start off from where I left you in my last post, so New Zealand.  So my flight over to LA was quite pleasant really, this was very much helped by the fact that I had four seats all to myself so could stretch out and lie down.  Well what to say about LA, well their winter is very much the same as an English summer except for less rain.  That's just about as positive I can be about LA though.  It was a very grubby and run down city. Also very spread out and no real centre to speak of.  I took me the best part of a day to find a book shop, well it was a very nice book shop when I eventually.  I guess people in LA aren't all that big on reading.

After LA I headed to Houston in Texas to visit a school friend Claire and her husband Adam.  For those of you who nothing about Houston, like me before I got there, it is near the coast, the fourth biggest city in the US and it is unbelievably flat.  Houston was huge and the only possible way of getting round it was by car, well can you really imagine the Texans being into public transport!  I just stayed there for a couple of nights, just enough time to get a brief overview of Houston and to eat lots of food.  Will definitely have to go back for longer later on this year.

So after Houston I headed for New York, and that was a shock to the system after nearly a year of sun.  -6 degrees in the evenings and a few foot of snow.  So in New York I did most of the touristy things, so walked through Central Park although it was covered in snow so I can't tell you what it really looks like.  I went up the empire states building, walked around time square, went to Macey's.  I also met up with Jeff who I first met in Cape Town, so I got an evening out in New York with locals.  It's always nice to be able to go out with the locals in a place as you get to see the real side of a city.

So you're probably wondering why I was in New York as it was the last stop on my trip.  Well I had a change of plans.  No now I'm in France having been via London.  I decided I wanted a break before heading down to Mexico and South America, some time to visit friends and family. Especially the little ones who change so quickly.  Matilda, Owen, and Barney (Who I hadn't met yet a he was only born just before Christmas).  Well I thought why does a trip around the world have to mean you have to stay away for the whole of that time. Nothing wrong with coming home in the middle, it's nice to be staying in a house for a while  where I can unpack my clothes and get a room and a double bet to myself for a while.  So here a some pictures of those little people I was particularly eager to see.....

Matilda (AKA Monster)

Owen (AKA Wrigglesworth)

Barney (AKA Barnicles)

So what are my plans from here, well true to form I can't really say yet.  I'll head down to Mexico, then into Belize and South America.  When will I leave, in a few weeks, in a month, in two months who knows.  Knowing me I'll decide and then leave the day after!  Well whatever my decision I'll keep you up to date via my blog.

Off to LA tomorrow

Well change of plans, I was originally going to be in New Zealand until 15th February. But now I'm flying to LA tomorrow. As I've always said, I wanted to be totally flexible with how long I stayed in a place. I stayed in Australia longer than I wanted to because I booked everything from the start because of it being such a busy period. I knew fairly early on that Austalia wasn't offering what I was looking for on this trip, and New Zealand is the same. They are both lovely places but are both just culturally similar to England.

One of the main things I was looking for on this trip was to experience new cultures, meet people from whom I can learn from and expand my horizons. Cliche I know, but I can't think of a better way of putting it.

What I have seen of New Zealand has been beautiful and I know that I am missing out on the most spectacular areas of New Zealand, but I don't regret my decision to move on and not see those places. There will be plenty of other spectacular places on the way and this trip isn't just about visiting all the spectacular places around the world. If it was I probably would have finished my trip by now. Hopping from one place to another, not made anywhere near as many good friends, and not had anywhere as much good fun.

So for my last to nights in New Zealand I've gone and splashed out. I'm staying in this lovely B&B in Auckland. I'm paying about the same for two nights here as it would cost for 2 or 3 weeks in a hostel. But hey you've got to treat yourself once in a while. Plus I did get a very good deal and the breakfast is very good.

So as I said I fly into LA tomorrow and actually arrive 8 hours before I left! A very strange feeling. Not sure quite how long I'm going to stay in LA yet, but probably not too long and then I'll head off down to Mexico. I need to start learning some Spanish though. I am thinking of doing the next stage in my diver education on LA before I head down though. Which is the rescue diver course. This is the last course I need to do before I can do the dive master course. I'm thinking of doing the dive master training in Mexico or Belize. This is the first step in the professional training. It would allow me to get paid to lead dives, I don't want to do it to necessarily find work but to help make me a better diver. But it won't hurt to be able to earn a bit of money if the opportunity arrises. The course would probably last three or four weeks and it would also be quite nice to spend a while in the same place as I've been constantly moving around for nearly five months now.

Well that's it for now, I'll give you my opinion on LA in a couple of days, and who knows I may have firmer plans on where I'm going by then. Then again maybe not. I do like not knowing from one day to the next exactly where I'll be.

A few photos from my wreck dives

Gone up north and booked some wreck dives

Well I left north for the Bay of Islands this morning and arrive an hour or so, and I have booked four dives already. I'm going out to dive the HMNZ Canterbury tomorrow along with another dive on a reef. The Canterbury was deliberately scuttled a few years ago to offer a wreck for divers. I'm going to dive the Rainbow Warrior and another reef dive on Thursday. The Rainbow Warrior was a Greenpeace boat sunk by the French in 1985 as it was getting too close to their nuclear test on Mururoa Atoll. Typical French, I don't think us Brits would dare do such a thing ;-). Both sites look amazing and I've been dying to dive a wreck, and now I get to dive two! Pictures to follow next week.

Well coming into the countryside it still feels quite like England. Well except for some more exotic trees. Rolling green hills, and it's even raining and will be for the next few days. So I can't see too much of the bay of islands yet as it's very misty and cloudy. But the little of what I can see it looks very nice. Hopefully it will clear up before I leave and I'll be able to see the amazing view.

Arrived in New Zealand

Well I have just arrived in Auckland, not much to report yet as all I've done so far is gone from the airport to the hostel. One thing I will say though is that on first glance New Zealand feels more like the UK than Austalia so far. I'm in Auckland for 3 days and then I need to work out what to do from there. I'm looking forward to getting back to less structured and organised way of travelling. I have a month here, I'll tour the North island first and see where I get to before deciding if I have time to see any of the south island. I think my first stop will to go north of here and do some wreck diving. Then probably head up to the top of the island before heading south and see the caves and Lord of the Rings country.

Well my last few days in Ausralia were a bit of a washout, literally. I'm sure you have all heard about all the floods in Brisbane. It was good timing for me to turn up just as the worst floods in 35 years hit. So there isn't much I can tell you about Brisbane and most things were shut. I didn't even realise what was going on until I got to the hostel. On the train from Brisbane airport I could see some water on roads and lots of traffic but I didn't realise what was going on. On the way to the hostel I got a phone call from them asking what time I was going to arrive as they were going down to look at the river. Sounded like a very strange statement when I didn't know what was going on. They filled me in on what was going on when u got there. I went down to look at the river on several occasions over the next few days and saw all manner of things floating by. Boats, pontoons, larger wheelie bins, trees, and even a fridge freezer. Some people even saw a couple of cars.

Anyway that's it for now, I should be able to give you a better account of New Zealand in a couple of days once I've done a bit more exploring.

A few photos from diving the Great Barrier Reef

As you can see from the pictures below, I had a great time diving on the Great Barrier Reef over the past few days.  I saw sharks, turtles, rays, and lots of other fish.  I'm really glad I got the underwater case for my camera, despite it costing more than the actual camera!

I did eleven dives in all, including two night dives.  Night diving was certainly an experience, it looks like everything is floating in mid air rather than water, quite spooky.  I found the best place to spot things while on a night dive was under the boat as a lot a large fish and sharks hang out under there.   In fact one shark swam right in front of me, which was very cool.  They may look like small great whites but I can assure you they are harmless to humans. Well although it was great diving, South Africa and Mozambique were better.  So the Great Barrier Reef currently ranks third in my favorite dive sites, but it is a pretty good list so far.  Next dive spot will the in New Zealand in a week or so.

So that's 27 dives I've now done and I'm enjoying it more and more, I think I may go on to do my divemaster course next.  I've also been checking out were to go next to do some diving.  The list currently includes Mexico, Belize, Philippines, Jordan, Malaysia, Caribbean.  Although I don't think I'll be able to do them all on this trip!

Anyway here are the photos, I took far too many to upload onto my blog so here is a small selection

A white tipped reef shark

A picture I took of myself to prove I was actually there!

A purple spotted ray

This is what a Cuttle fish looks like before it is reduced to being in a budgies cage

Clown fish (or Nemo as they are more commonly called now thanks to Disney)

A parrot fish

A green turtle

I'll try to load the rest onto Picasa when I get a chance.