Australia : Brisbane > Sydney,  New Zealand : Auckland
December 2004

Stepping of the plane in Brisbane, you feel the heat beating against your back but this time with a refreshing twist.  Warm, fresh, beathable clean air marked a very warm welcome to Australia.  After months in Asia, it felt strange or even alienated to walk through customs only to be greeted by blonde, white officers.  In Asia, I grew fond that everyone was Asian, but now, I was back to a land where the majority are of white people.  It felt like home, but then the weather is warm here and everyone speaks like the cast of Neighbours.  People here, like the rest of the world are very friendly.  My short time in Australia has seen me travel down south from Brisbane to Sydney.  I've walked along the streets of Brisbane, it is a very laid back town.  Lots of gorgeous flesh standing about.  Police men here look like they're in a set of a movie, they're all well built and fit.  This is the land where alot of us want to go and have an early retirement.  Is Australia as laid back as everyone says?  The answer is yes.  It is far from the modernised world of UK or Hong Kong.  I've met alot of nice travellers some of which have mixed opinions about this country.  I had a pretty hard time here, this lead to my journey return home alot earlier than anticipated.  I walked right up to the Opera House, walked around the parks and streets and done alot of research into accomodation in the possibility of renting a flat.  Australia without Dwayne seemed hard.  Met lots of nice people which you're almostly likely to if you rent a dorm with other travellers.  I had no choice, Australia was very expensive.  I enjoyed my walks, those are my favourite memories of the cities.  
The island continent combines a wide variety of landscapes. These include deserts in the interior, hills and mountains, tropical rainforests, and heavily-populated coastal strips with long beaches and coral reefs off the shoreline. Isolated from other continents, Australia has an abundance of unique plant and animal life.  I have been unable to see Kangaroos or Kuala Bears something I hope to do in the future.  Enjoy the photos...

I only arrived in Auckland for a day, I wish I extended that!  Auckland was the petit capital of New Zealand.  I was homesick and looking forward to go home until I met this cool German guy, Sabastian.  Spent the whole day touring with him around the town.
Composed of two main islands, New Zealand is also dominated by two cultural groups: New Zealanders of Caucasian descent, and Maori. 
According to Maori oral history, Maori arrived on the islands about 1,000 years ago.  European settlement in New Zealand during the 19th century led to the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) between representatives of the British Crown and Maori chiefs.  New Zealand's economy is based largely on agriculture, but manufacturing is of growing importance and the country has a fledgling film industry.  In 1984 the government embarked on a major and controversial economic reform programme, which lifted controls on wages, prices and interest rates and removed agricultural subsidies.  Since the UK's closer involvement in Europe, New Zealand has developed new markets closer to home, notably in Australia, the US and Japan.  Tourism is on the rise; visitors are drawn to the glacier-carved mountains, lakes, beaches and thermal springs.