shangiman

This post is for all of you who think that Australia is only about kangaroos and deserts and golden beaches. Well, thats not exactly true: there is a little bit of snow to ski on and in fairness, its more than you expect.

Speaking of myself - as a snow bunnie/junkie - I was a bit worried when I was considering moving down under and at the end, I said to myself "what the hell, I'm gonna go to NZ once in a while for a skiing fix". This season, however, it was quite opposite: Australia's having a great season with massive snowfalls whereas New Zealand has not got much so far.

The Majority of Australia's skiing rsort are concentrated within Alpine National Park, a mountain chain in the conjuction of Victoria, NSW and ACT. All of them having an altitude of 1600 to 2000 meters.

Now, a little bit about Hotham; Mount Hotham has always been known as a "serious skiers" mountain, this was in part due to the roads into Hotham and in part due to the nature of the runs at Hotham. Well the road has now improved and is sealed all the way to the village, and the runs, well there are just more of them, lots more! Mt Hotham probably has the most variety of advanced and expert runs of any resort in Australia (40% of its total skiable area!)- http://www.ski.com.au


Its about 4.5 -5.5 hrs drive (depending on road condition) from Melbourne. Its only in the last 60K that you get a feel of winter... (similar to "barikeh e Meigoon" with more trees in the background)



Tree skiing; Not a good idea if its the first run of the season, if the track is not familiar, if the visibility is not good enough and above of all, if you're skiing alone. I know... but its fun to be compulsive sometimes...




Future plans: NZ, Japan and China!



For more photos to follow here.

Auckland; Very lively, vibrant and somehow friendly. Its really easy to start chit chatting with any random person around you.



During my one night stay, I consume large amounts of beer and wandered around various pubs, enjoyed live music of the local bands and was even invited to sneak into a stand up comedy show which turned up to be marvelous.



Auckland to Taupo
Taupo is the central volcanic plateau of northern island. Its the host of Tongariro volcanic peaks and also the andrenalinized action capital of NZ with loads of opportunities for skydiving and bungy jumping etc.



Taupo is about 5 hours drive from Auckland. NZ is perfect for driving with magnificent navigation-friendly roads and constantly changing landscape.


Me drivin' to Taupo and then all the way down to South Island... :P

Tongariro Hike; the best one-day hike in NZ

Imagine arriving somewhere like Taupo, already overwhelmed by the beauty of the place and then hear everyone talking about this bloody walk with magnificent coast to coast panoramic views. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to try it no matter how sleepless I am after driving for 5 hours, having a crazy night with some English blokes and staying awake all night long watching FA cup final.
Well, it did'nt turn up to be the case, NZ weather is notoriously changeable and given the fact that its mid autumn in southern hemisphere, it was all fogy and miserable! It means that we ended up walking up a challenging track for 8 hours soaked to the bone and not seeing much of the promised landscape. It was a good laugh though... what can I say?!






Taupo to Wellington



Another 5 hour drive towards the south to Wellington, political capital of NZ. This time I was accompanied by Sam, a mate I met at Taupo. He was supposed to come with me all the way down to Christchurch, but during our one night stay at Wellington, he managed to drink enough to miss the early departure ferry.




Sam, hope you're still alive mate!




Interislander Ferry; Wellington to Picton



3 Hours cruise through the Cooks Strait, with fabulous scenery: priceless.
I spent most of the time on the upper deck floating on the wind since it was strong enough that I could float my big bum without much effort!






West Coast; Picton to Franz Josef



Jumping off from the ferry, I rushed towards Franz Josef in the hope of catching the next day helihike to the giant glacier.



By the time I arrived at Franz Josef, it was dark and raining. Franz Josef is a small village with 7 meters annual rainfall (yes 7 Meters!!!).

Well, I cant tell much of the glacier cause once again I was struck with the bad weather. Helicopters don't fly in bad conditions and one cannot see much of the glacier in clouds;)
So instead of crawling on the glacier, I succumbed to quad riding in the rain forest. See? This country never let you down and there's always a convenient alternative. I love it!






And here's a distant view of the Glacier for below, I imagine how wonderful it should be from the top...Next time!



Franz Josef to Christchurch







Pukekura; The bushmans Cafe and Bar

Somewhere along the way to Christchurch, I passed Pukekura and had a yummy burger at Bushmans Cafe which was an interesting rustic place with a genuine hatred for possum :P Think I was lucky to see the notice below before ordering an espresso.






Christchurch

Unfortunately I was running out of time and could'nt spare more than a night for Christchurch. Such a pity, It looked like a city with character...Anyway, next time!
I spend the night at Samuel's, a friend of Nazgol, and enjoyed the French hospitality, nice Pinot Noir and comfy bed . Thanks!



Hmmmmmmmmmm, its getting cold down here in Christchurch and the snow is calling. I'll be back soon.

It was my second last day at Sydney and I was wondering how I'm gonna shove all my overweight luggage in to the cheap-stingy-economyclass Jetstar's flight and get away with the huge extra-luggage (some 30 kg above the limit - I'm a lite traveler). Well, something came up: I got a phone call from a friend in Melb, telling me he's bought a car on Ebay (yes! they DO sell cars on ebay as well!) and he's planning to fetch it from Sydney the next day. No wonder he wanted to share the joy of 800+ km drive with me all the way to Melbourne. And its out of question that I'll give up my 1.5 flight ticket for an exciting 12 hour drive through NWS and Victoria (Jetstars offers no cancellation refund...bastards!!!). How could I left my buddy to drive alone for 12 hours?



you can find more here:
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Its been a while...
Well you know me, partly because of laziness and partly as a result of me being perplexed by the glare of Melbourne (I'm kiddin' David:P)

I think pictures will talk for themselves (hopefully), but I cant help not sharing my feelings when I first got there: you cross the street and out of the blue, the huge endless ocean appears in front of you.


I was lucky enough to make it for the last day of "Sculpture by the Sea" Exhibition. this is some kind of conceptual (if I may...) art exhibition, held annually during November in Sydney all the way through from Bondi to Bronte Beach. One can have a nice walk overlooking the ocean and enjoy some cultural enema. Fabulous!


See the complete set if you like at
shangiman.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0BcuW7hs4ZMXUw

And I enjoyed LIVE music after a while:D
This is a local band which just have released their first EP.
http://www.theforgottenarmy.net/

Excellent... now I like to listen to Jeff Buckley;)

Finally, I got rid of the bloody exam and I can spend some time wandering around...

Something funny (and weird) happened: The exam is a CBT and supposed to be done in two 3-hour parts. we started the first part @ 9 am and after about 20 minutes, the administrators called it off due to faulty computer system. So, we just came out of exam rooms and waited for the computers to be reset!!! Initially we were told to sit the part 2 instead of part one in the morning and do the part one later on in the afternoon...(bit confusing). then, after waiting for another half hour, they told the poor IMG guinea pigs that there will be NO part one and you just have sit part two!!! To be honest, I think it was lucky cause I had no energy to sit there for 6 hours and I'm quite happy with the short version of the exam:D (fingers crossed)

Enough nonsense! Back to life: The first thing you notice about Sydney is a bright blue sky and glowing sunshine, I guess thats the reason why everything looks so gorgeous.





View from EQC Bar balcony, right after the exam, while clearing my head with a cold beer... (David, I did my homework)


Busy Saturday @ Circular Quay






and the famous opera hall

Here's some pics from skiing in Tochal. The opening was on 2nd of November. I managed to go there on saturday. Dont think you can ski this early in many places...
Well, ski season is starting but I've already gone to southern hemisphere and have to deal with an extra summer :(

Here are some photos from my 2-day-trip to Kavir Desert (Dasht e Kavir).
This was an intentionally unplanned fast drive to reach Kavir as quickly as possible. The timing wasn’t that perfect as the temperature can reach 50 C or above during summer time. Luckily, thanks to the unplannedness of the trip, the majority of our desertdueling time took place either during early morning or late afternoon hours. Besides, we used an old trick to keep cool: the chafeeyeh plan.
We started from Tehran, heading NE towards Damavand, Firuzkooh and Semnan. On our way, we gave an old man a lift to Shahmirzad and in return, we were fed with some excellent Baharnarenj jam and home-made-brewed tea. He also tried to persuade our lost souls to say a prayer at the nearby mosque and gave us a lecture on the benefits of on-time prayer for young lads... (Ok I don’t want to talk about it anymore!)
After Semnan came Damghan where some basic shopping was done. Heading south, we were literally creeping into the Kavir with the magnificent minimalistic surrounding landscape constantly changing in front of us.
There's no point in hoping that the photos could replace the actual scenery, but hey! Lets' be positive and wish that they can at least give a taste...
We spent the night at Jandagh, virtually the only village in the 500 km road between Damghan and Naeen. We missed the sunrise while messing with the coffee and breakfast (D'oh) by 5 minutes :( well, that’s the price you pay for being a coffee freak...

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