NZ,Africa 1999-2000

New Zealand, African blog 1999 / 2000

New Zealand has always been one of my favourite destinations because of its old English feel about it, its like going back in time to how England used to be.
2 weeks into the trip we had purchased an old 4x4 and i had secured a job with Honda Motorcycles in Christchurch, which was pretty lucky. The following week i started the job which was located 2 hours drive north in a very small country town.

For me Africa has always been a place on my to-do list.
In 2000 I met a friend who lives in Cape Town and was very familiar with the country and its dangers.
Landing into Johannesburg sat by the pilot in the cockpit of a 747 was a very cool experience, then onto a connecting flight to Cape Town.
Never have I been to a country so different from the one I know back home, the poverty here is extreme, a lot of people have very little and food, fresh water being the most important.
Landing into Cape Town feeling tired a guy approached me, said he worked here, he had overalls on with some kind of airline badge and can help me with my backpacks, next thing, I’m chasing him grabbing my bags off him before he was outside, I would have never seen him or my stuff again… that was my first insight into Africa. 
The next was arriving at my hostel in Cape Town with an electric mains fence around the perimeter, Africa has its dangers like all countries, but also has an exceptional wildlife spectacle like no other. I’m not the type of person who would visit a Zoo, that’s why I travelled here to see Lions, zebras, giraffes, Elephants, Rhino’s, etc in their own natural habitat. To see these animals out in the wild here is awesome..
A camping safari is what I arranged with land rover night drives, for me this was the best, a local cook prepared dinner each night for us and had the safety of a gamekeeper with a few guns, just in case.. 
Listening to the lions roar in the evenings in our tent was a bit scary, then getting out for the toilet was even scarier, but its an amazing experience.
The highlight of the trip was being next to a pride of 9 Lions a few feet away in the open top land rover.

First Trip 1993-1994

World Travel Blog 1993/1994

During my last few months at college I decided to take some time off, away from the UK and explore the other side of the world for the first time.
It all began when I started researching books in the library on foreign travel and the options available for a person like myself.
Found an organisation in Melbourne, Australia that can organise volunteering work anywhere in the world, so I joined up and they found me a place on various conservation projects, starting in Fiji, then on both islands of New Zealand.
Once I had all of this sorted out, I flew out to Fiji in November, what an amazing place this was for a 20 year old who had never left Europe before !
I arrived a week early to find my way around and chill out before the project started.
The first time I met an Indian Fijian was down at the beach, we got chatting and me invited me to meet his family, so off I went, they all seemed very friendly, in the teepee house on the beach.
He said he would like to make dinner and asked me to choose one of his chicken to kill for dinner, when I saw the machete alarm bells were ringing, so I made my excuses and left !!
This project took me and a group of volunteers deep into the Fijian rainforest to meet the villagers who had never seen white people, the little children touched our skin when we arrived and the excitement in the village was something I had never experienced before, it was like another world….
Well it was another world, very different from the world than I knew anyway.
I stayed in a few different villages in the rainforest helping to construct walking trails through virgin rainforest high in the mountains, this was an amazing experience for me working as a group with the local villagers using machetes to cut through the dense tropical plants, vines. It was hot, wet and very muddy, hanging onto the vines to prevent us sliding down into the unknown. We were all given water containers and food to take every day which consisted of breadfruit, fruit, rice, etc, the local south pacific islander food.
As a big hurricane was forecast our boss arrived at the village and explained the situation, we had to be evacuated immediately, so it was sad to say goodbye to the villagers and off we went back to Fiji town for safety.
As the wind outside got stronger and stronger we began to see the seriousness of the situation, we were told not to open any windows or doors or the roof would be blown away, so we were on lockdown for a few days.
Outside the tops of the tall palm trees were bent all the way over with the strong winds, the pressure was such we could feel the house under strain, it was a scary few days but we were all safe, so that’s what matters.

In the main town, ‘Nadi’ local salesman try and sell you anything at all, they are very good at it, I’ll never forget one technique they used, you write down a price then I write down a price.. Well the price I wrote down was pretty low, when he saw it he was almost in tears !! I did buy something cheap just to help him out, the Fijian Indian population most are quite poor.

From here I flew onto Auckland, NZ where another project started up in the north of the island near to the bay of islands, which is a beautiful area.
Here I was with some a German guy, 2 girls from the UK, 1 older guy from USA and a French guy, we were on an isolated part of the island taking part in various conservation work. It was pretty cool as I was the tractor driver as nobody else could drive one.. We spent new years eve here where we borrowed a rowing boat to get to a small community party in the village up the river. Think the locals were surprised to see us !
From here I did similar conservation work at a National Trust property in the south where I also had my 21st, the owners put on a party for me, was very good.
We also made the local paper here where they were very interested in us volunteering here, we had a photo and write up about us all.
After this finished, decided to try hitchhiking further south and stay with some friends I met, this was a really enjoyable experience, saving me some money along the way too.

This first trip really gave me the travel bug, once home again, all I could think about is where to go next !!

kris grey 2013/14 world trip

My travel blog from march 2013

*Visit my website www.adventureearthphotography.yolasite.com to see these and many more photographs I've taken on my extensive travels around the world.

March 2013. During this month i travelled around the southern region of Sri Lanka.

To plan this trip i used couchsurfing to meet locals in Sri Lanka and gain knowledge of the country.

Arriving into SL was a nice cultural experience for me and another challenge to survive in this strange area !

Mt Lavinia was my first destination, travelling on local buses, which was a good experience, the locals were crammed into the buses, sounds of shouting for business by the conductor hanging out the door of the bus clutching a real of cash ready to give change to people that climbed on board. He was very good at maths ! he knew all the prices, notes, change given to many people at the same time..
After a lot of horn blowing and weaving in, out of trucks, tuk tuk's, bikes, you name it.. on these hectic roads i thought my stop must be close by, asking the driver and showing him the address he nodded and i got off the bus as it was still moving slowly along as the driver wanted to keep moving.. This was Mt Lavinia, on the beautiful Indian ocean coast. Met a nice family near to the beach who made me feel very welcome for my first nights stay here,one of the first things i noticed was the basic living conditions and how happy the kids were with very little in the way of toys, furniture,etc.
Staying with a family is a nice way to absorb the culture and learn about a country.
The food in SL is very tasty, good.
Waking up in a different bed, in a different country with very little planned and nothing booked in advance can be strange, but after all this is what travelling is all about..
Moving north up through the middle of SL was good to see the country, some of these roads are still being built. As the bus journey continued on through the little villages in these remote areas around the tea plantations the road turned from tarmac to a mixture of clay, rocks so it was pretty slow with the bus.

I reached Kandy and phoned my next family contact, who arranged a 'tuk' 'tuk' to pick me up and take me to the family home, which turned out to be up a winding jungle road, i was wondering where i was off to !! Arrived and met the family members and another couchsurfer, we sat down with a cup of tea and discussed my trip and plans whilst in Kandy. Then we had a tour around the garden to learn about the different plants growing here, Benjamins mum had a huge collection of orchids which she was very proud of.

We bought fresh veggies for the family ready for tonight's feed.
Over the following days me and Jovan  arranged a tuk tuk to the millennium elephant foundation, this was a major highlight of the trip for me, elephants look even bigger when you go for a ride, they are a bit bigger than a horse !! a good experience to go for a ride on this monster as he walked around this jungle area, then had a bath !! had to do this !
Travelled with the couchsurfer here, was cool, then i returned back to Colombo by night train, 3rd class, no room on the train, lucky to get a seat.. cost of this 4 hr train journey was less than a packet of crisps..was a very long, but cool trip.
Glad to get bk to Mt Lavinia with family and have a game of cricket on the beach with the boys, some locals. England V Sri Lanka.. was all good..

 

Mid March 2013. Arrived into perth, australia, my 11th trip out here to aus, feels like my 2nd home !! an aussie mate picked me up from the airport which was nice, as i felt too tired to hitch on the roadside haha!! made our way to a caravan park for the night, which is where i spent the next week chilling out and remembering my SL adventure..
I do enjoy a challenge, so this next part of the trip i would hitch 5,500 km's north to Cairns. This is how it went:

    

 dropped off at a fuel stop just out of perth, as i thanked this lady for the lift, i thought well this is it, i'm on my own now, the 30-40 degree heat, roo's, snakes, flies and the long open stretch of road north ahead of me.. hitching is like a job, i had a job to do, so it was time to prepare ! went into the servo and bought a meat pie, these aussie meat pies are legendary.. and got some cardboard and a marker pen to make up my 1st sign, 'Dongera' was to be my 1st destination, lucky for me a road train driver offered me a lift, so only waited a short time, he was originally from Ireland and was pleased to have the company on our 5hr trip north. Traveling in a truck is, in my mind is one of the best ways to get around, you can see everything plus its cool !

Most lifts were with local aussie's which were only to pleased to help out, another that stays in my mind were some aboriginal guys in a sporty black car who gave me a very fast lift out of town..One lift took me as far as the Barley Homestead which is a pretty remote area, choosing to be dropped off here, thought it may up the challenge to see if i get stuck here or not.. The flies were everywhere, as my lift disappeared down the road i thought maybe this was a mistake ? as the flies buzzed around my face and up my nose and around my eyes i gazed up the hot dusty road to see if there were any vehicles passing...this could be a long wait.. Later in the day a landcruiser with a small boat rocked up, packed with stuff, asking him politely for a lift east i was on my way again..

 The most dangerous one was the lift to cairns,which i thought we were going to leave the road in a truck delivering fruit/veg. Anyway got to cairns at midnight and found myself having a free night in a camp site..free nights are always a bonus..chilling out at the pool there was another..

Took me a month to hitch up here, so pretty good really.

April / May 2013.

I'm staying by rustys markets now in a hostel which is good value for money, pleasant change from crawling around in the dirt !

Have started helping out a few mates with gardening and riding motorbikes, so cannot be bad, will see how long this lasts..Met his family over the wkd, they say i'm a 'nomad', thinking about it maybe they are right..a free spirit and independent, guess thats me..

Planning ahead now to see what adventures lie ahead during the rest of the year, maybe Vanuatu lies ahead after this.

Left for Cape York, to the northern tip of australia with the bike tour we were all riding new Suzuki DRZ400's. Began the 1400 km ride with all my spares for the bikes and a camel back on my back up through Karanda, Daintree then Cape Tribulation, travelling through the rainforest past big spiders hanging down from vines, opening the old 400 up as we hit the dirt roads. Its nice to be back on a bike again ! Bull dust, sand, log jumps, river crossings and some 150kmh riding was ahead. 

The 400 performed well, me and steve who drove the support truck and did the cooking got on well, as for the owner Dave, well lets just say he's not a people person !!

The 8 day trip was a success and i'm pleased to have made it up to the Cape York Tip.

                                                                                 
 

These are photos of our support truck, camp areas, the long dusty roads. Below is Fruit Bat Falls.

Tip of the Cape, we all made it. Above a rider fixes a front puncture as he drips with sweat on this humid, unforgiving trail north.

May / July 2013

Have been living in cairns for a while now, the weather is perfect and i'm lucky to be staying at a quiet beach area just outside of the city, helping friends out to keep busy.

In June my ticket was booked and i left cairns for Vanuatu, so not making things too easy, hitched down to Brisbane which took 5 days, got stuck in Rockhampton for a while and had to put the tent up on farm entrance on the side of the main highway, this was not ideal, but hey, this is adventure travel.. Got a few lifts the next days and got a lift with a truck the last 7 hours right into the city, this was cool there met my old mate Dwayn, next thing we were in a pub with a cold cider..how sweet is that !

Brissie is a busy place so not somewhere to stay for long..

A few days later i was jetting off to the south pacific islands of ' Vanuatu '.. This was a short flight of around 2.5 hrs, looking out on the approach to the main island were the other smaller ones dotted around in the gorgeous turquoise ocean, wow, i'm going to love it here..

As soon as i landed into port villa a mini bus with some locals met me at the terminal, after explaining my plans off we went. The main island was what i expected a few tourists were around, so i needed to get away from them and head to the jungles !! After a bit of negotiations with the locals on the back of an old truck we were off across the other side of the island to get the boat over to Emao. Now the adventure begins..no white people anywhere, this is the way i like it.. after a very long ride, waving to locals as we passed on the jungle roads, stopping to say hello with villagers and some surprised looks, rough roads later we got to the beach area where the boats were waiting. The sun was going down fast now and i was looking forward to see the island.

The trip across was pretty smooth on this small boat with the local villagers and a few supplies they had from the main island wrapped in woven bags. As we came ashore to Emao island villagers came out of the bush to greet me which was a bit overwhelming in the dark, i could hardly see them, but i guess they could see the only white guy ok !! A friendly women showed me to my bamboo bungalow overlooking the ocean, she would look after me during my stay here at the village. I was then               informed that the chief of the village would like  to meet me, so i then followed the villager to the chiefs house. I introduced myself, he was pleased that i had travelled all this way to visit this island.

Arriving back at my bungalow  a young boy arrived, with the traditional island food, which is very different from foods in western cultures, i thanked the boy and began tasting the delicacies ...     

Slept pretty well on my first night in the bungalow,with the sound of the waves outside.
My first day here was spent exploring the area and meeting all the village people who were all very nice, friendly. The first thing i noticed was the basic living here on this island and how it looked almost unchanged from when Captain Cook was here. Spent time talking to the villagers and they invited me into their homes to look around. The villagers informed me that there will be a big island celebration later today and i was invited by the chief to come along. Later that morning i followed the

villagers up the side of the extinct volcano which came out onto a lush grass area where villagers were playing volleyball, they looked pretty good actually, the girls here have a very strong team. Met up with some of the other island chiefs here, there are 6 villages on this island and everyone was here for this celebration day.
I was treated like a royal visitor, which i wasn't used to, but hey, whenever your in this situation you need to just go along with it ! I was even mentioned in the chiefs speeches to everyone, he was very pleased that i was staying on the island. The tropical downpours started in the afternoon which shortened the day, but i was pleased to have had this experience here.
Later in the day i watched the local kids, families playing in the sea by my bungalow, its amazing to witness such a trouble free, simple life on this island, many of the villagers have never left Vanuatu, i advised them they were not missing out ..
Most villagers here have a basic mobile phone and the next village has Internet at the school, there is one bungalow with solar power, apart from that this island is unspoilt, untouched from when captain cook first observed it. That is why this island is one of the few places left that's not been interfered with for greed or development of any kind.
Watched a family hand carving a canoe from a big tree, this was fascinating to me, they wandered what all the fuss was about, but this was real life for them and they used these canoes to fish. 
This was the men's work, while the women weaved mats to take to the markets on the mainland.

One afternoon was spent with the kids at kindy school in the village, they were all very excited to have an English visitor. They all had plenty of energy and wanted to show me how they can sing and show off their English speaking !

Mt Yassur Volcano. Tanna Island, Vanuatu.

This is the most accessible live volcano in the world, the trip here has got to be one of the most amazing places i've been. Sat on the crater edge as lava is blown into the air from the earths force is a truly awesome experience.. 

The journey over to Tanna Island is one that will stick in my mind.. Staying healthy whilst travelling is critical, but the last meal i had on Emao Island was not good ! My stomach had been churning over for about 15 hours now, so i guessed i had some food poisoning. Waited at the airport on the mainland for my flight, its a pretty small airport, just one wooden check in desk, nothing modern here..The plane was a very small one, a bit like a toy plane i guess, this was also my first time on a very small plane, so with being nervous and my stomach.. well you can imagine !

I began to feel hot and 5 mins before take off i had to go outside, pulled myself together and flew to Tanna Island, just 12 passengers on board, but all good, amazing i was not ill, it was a pretty smooth flight, which was just as well..Once i reached Tanna feeling ill, some locals asked where i was staying, well i explained hmmmm, not sure, can you recommend anywhere cheap? there was a cheap place with bungalows about 15 mins away, so jumped in an old minibus and off we went. I felt much better later, so will not give too much info about that !!

Travelled across the island with a four wheel drive on volcanic ash tracks towards the volcano which took around 1.5 hours on some rough roads. All the villagers in this area were dusty with this black ash, as we got closer i could see the clouds of ash being blown out of the volcano. Wow, this was really cool, i'm almost here, but tomorrow would be a day i'd never forget..

After chatting to another couple here, getting information about the volcano i was set to start my hike up to the top around 4 00 to see the sunset.

Met my guide and we hiked the 1.5 hours up the volcano, the tracks were just volcanic ash, this was everywhere, but the wild ferns, palms etc loved it, as we headed up and up the sides of the tracks were steaming, with the immense heat building from this volcanic area. The noise and smoke that was being blown into the sky was pretty amazing, i new this was going to be one of those very memorable trips for me.. As we reached the top, close to the crater my guide was not prepared to go any further and warned me of the danger, this was something you just have to do ! my guide could not be persuaded, so i carefully walked around the edge of the volcano crater to see the lava and inside this bubbling crater,  carefully watching each step as i reached the best position where i can see right in, with lava being blown into the air it was absolutely awesome !! the noise and aggression from the volcano was quite a rush, Sitting on the crater edge, watching this, i realised this was one of the most amazing places i've been, a clear night sky with the power of nature right in front of you..wow. Didn't want to leave, but after an hour or so, felt its best to leave here alive.. 

Walked on a trail past a small village where the locals were drinking Kava, ( this drink is made from the roots of a specific plant in the jungle, the roots are cut and ground down to form a muddy looking water drink } which is similar to western culture beer. This is where we met our guide who walked with us to find the worlds largest  Banyan tree. As we reached its location in the jungle its enormity got our attention, this tree covers an area of 200 meters, growing 100 meters across and 80 meters high. The locals say this tree was here long before captain Cook arrived in 1774.

 

As we walked back to the guides village we thanked him and said goodbye, we could here the men in the village getting drunk on the Kava drink, spitting and generally enjoying their jungle juice ..

Once back to port villa there were tourists everywhere from the cruise ships, i realised then this adventure was over for me and thought about what the next adventure could be....

July, cont..back in cairns again after my trip to the south pacific, have got to know a few people here to keep busy and to improve my photography.

August 2013.

At last my website is up and running with a sample of some of my extensive pictures from around the world, hope i can start making some money at long last..

September 2013

Work has taken me to Perth, WA, then onto Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

I'm now back in the UK on holidays.

While back in the UK i started another project for my 'English Countryside Calendar' for 2015, including some of the ancient castles in the area.

In November i arrived back into Australia, visiting my cousin who showed me around Melbourne, then flew up to Cairns to travel south.

Am now a professional housesitter, which has taken me to both inland and coastal areas of NSW, including one of my favouate places, 'Byron bay' .

Currently we are looking after a 14 acre property, overlooking Mt Warning. As i write this its around 35 degrees with a nice breeze, families of kookaburras flying accross the garden to the gum trees squarking, laughing.

We have cows, chickens, alpacas and 2 big dogs to look after here.

Below are some recent photos of work and play ! 

Some of the locals !!

Housemates seem friendly enough !

April 6th 2014

My gorgeous daughter was born today !! What a life changer for me, to be continued..

Chelsey was born in Armidale, NSW known as 'New England', i loved this place. We had a housesit there looking after dogs, cats and the lovely big lawn which i regularly kept cut with the ride on ! Chelsey had a little ride on this when she was less than a week old, then she was on my bike, she definately takes after me with a love of machinary ! 

 

I cannot believe how small she was.

There were plenty of Roo's at the housesit and it was cool riding by the side of them across the padocks at this property.

This housesit ended in May and it was time to head to the Desert, the Simpson Desert, a place i have always wanted to go. Once everything was organised we all drove in the old Ute to Bob's place to have a BBQ before we left.

As the day warmed up and we left Toowoomba behind in the dust we made our west passing through some nice old outback towns. Chelsey took it all in her stride, waking up when we stopped to see some new outback country, she is having a very adventurous life already.

It took about a week to reach Birdsville which is a small town on the outskirts of where the big sand dunes begin. 

I couldn't wait to unload the bike and head off up the mighty 300 foot dunes into the moonscape of the Simpson !!

We were the only ones camping here and as the temperature started to fall Chelsey was put into her ski suite to prepare for her first cold night in the desert. While i got a camp fire going to keep us warm, there are always lots of  good firewood around !

The locals found it a bit unusual to see Chelsey in the pub the evening we were there, we stayed at the camp ground which was a blessing after the sand storm and limited resources of the desert !

Once we arrived back in Ipswich, just outside Brisbane i began some motorcycle restoration projects, this is one of them below, an old Yamaha AG175 that was rescued from a farm near Toowoomba, as you can see its at the finishing stage here, i think Chelsey wanted to keep hold of this one !!