All good things come to an end

Well, after four months travelling globe it is time to go home. It has been a trip of a lifetime and we have loved every second of it. It's hard to pinpoint our favourite place as each was totally different from the other and together they have made for an adventure we will never forget.

For those of you who have been bored by the long-winded stories, here is our trip reduced to numbers:

Total flights: 16
Kilometers flown: 49,529km (1.2 laps of the planet!)
Kilometers driven ourselves: 7500km
Oceans swam in: Atlantic, Pacific (incl. Tasman), Indian/Andaman
Books read: 33
Hottest temperature: 47 degrees celsius (Rio)
Coldest temperature: 10 degrees celsius (at night in New Zealand)
Rainy days: 7
Suncream used: 1.5ltr (and about the same amount of mosquito repellent!)
Number of B&Bs/Hotels/Hostels: 29 (incl. 6 weeks in the camper)
Best accommodation: Boipeba, Brazil
Worst accommodation: Newcastle, Australia
Time spent writing this blog and uploading photos: 1.9 days

We think everybody should go on a trip like this at least once in their lives. Who knows, we might be able to do it again sometime! But in the meantime it is back to reality for us. The job market awaits us, but hopefully the memories of our trip will make it easier to bear. At least we will have some nice desktop backgrounds and screen-savers to remember it by. First things first though...there are still a few weeks of the ski season left so let's see how many days skiing we can fit in!

Adeus, Sawadee Krap...until next time, as a wise lady once told us: You have to come back to go away again.

Poisoned to Deaf

It's been a while since our last post, but we have been really busy lazing on the beach. Sorry about that!

We left Chiang Mai and flew down to Phuket where we were met at the airport by the owner of the place we were staying. Only five minutes by car from the airport, but away from the noise, we rented a villa set in a lush tropical garden with a pool that was shared with only two other villas (we had to ourselves most of the time!).

The beach was only a short walk away, so if we weren't lazing by the sea, we would laze by the pool!

Lunch and dinner was at a different local beach shack everyday, which was great until we 'went Western' and had pizza and pasta. Disaster struck when the simple pasta dish turned my stomach upside-down, causing severe food poisoning.  The same day, Nikky had managed to catch an ear infection. What a pair! It wouldn't have been so bad had we not planned a 7hr journey to the island of Ko Lanta the nexy day. After a sleepless night running to-and-from the toilet, and Nikky exhausted from battling her ear ache, we strapped on our backpacks and dragged ourselves down the road to meet the mini-bus to take us to the port. The ferry to Ko Lanta was the most torturous four hours ever!

We eventually made it to our hotel and spent the next three days recovering. We are now both a lot better, Nikky can hear again and I can eat again! Ko Lanta is nice, with a beautiful empty beach and great sunsets. We have one more day to enjoy it and then we are getting back on the ferry to Phuket for another week in our luxury villa! So much for backpacking....but it's our last week and we intend to make the most of doing nothing.

We can't upload photos from here, but we will try to get some up soon.

See you all far, far too soon.

A flavour of Thailand

Leaving the madness of Bangkok behind, we arrived in Chiang Mai after a short 50 minute flight. Our base for the next three nights was a beautiful little guest house in the middle of the old walled city. It is perfectly located, walking distance to everywhere and directly opposite a stunning Wat (temple).

A totally different atmosphere here than Bangkok, Chiang Mai is far more calm and relaxed. But on Sunday night the peaceful streets surrounding the guest house burst into life for the weekly night market. The noise and atmosphere was incredible, with only a 30 second break for the national anthem when the street froze and everyone stood to attention.

As well as clothes, jewelery and handicrafts, there were hundreds of food stalls selling everything imaginable. Including various deep-fried insects! I couldn't help myself and managed to blag a free Cricket off one of the vendors...Yum! A bit chewy, salty with a crunchy head! Nikky was not impressed. We also ate some proper food and ended up having dinner in the market for 40 pence each! (80 if you include the beer!)

Inspired by the local dishes, we enrolled in a one-day Thai cookery course in an organic farm outside the city. It took an hour to get there, driving through paddy fields and shanty towns. On the way we stopped at a local food market where we were shown what the ingredients are and how to buy them. The market was a bit different from the nice, clean Covered Market in Oxford!

We were shown around the farm when we arrived, tasting all the different herbs and seeing how it all works before getting stuck in with the cooking. We selected 6 dishes each to cook and our teacher was a tiny little Thai man who was slightly nuts but great fun! We are looking forward to replicating our dishes when we get home! (And yes...Nikky cooked!)





Tonight will probably end up going back to a really fancy bar, where we enjoyed cocktails, beers and two courses for less than a tenner! Not that we can eat any more after feasting on our home-cooked dishes!

We would love to stay longer in Chiang Mai and maybe explore the area a bit more, but we are heading down south to Phuket tomorrow for a week of chilling out on beaches. Sounds pretty good too!

Never assume anything...

Our flight from Sydney to Bangkok was three hours delayed, which meant we didn't land until almost 2am! Luckily for us, Catriona had arranged for us to stay at her friend's, mum's guest house and she was waiting with a driver to pick us up. The 'guest house' turned out to be more of a palace than a house! Our luxury room was just what we needed for a good night's sleep (all four hours of it!), as we set the alarm to wake up early to hit the streets of Bangkok!

The next morning, we had a hearty breakfast that included eggs. bacon, sausages and....Prawn Stir-Fry. Nice! As we only had a day in Bangkok and weren't too sure what to go and see, a private driver was arranged for us for a 'City Tour'. Unbeknown to us, this tour would turn out to an epic day of temples and markets!

Our first stop was the Grand Palace. The former residence of the King, the palace grounds has more than 100 buildings, each ornately decorated with golden, shining Buddhas and shimmering walls and rooftops. Our first experience of the temples here was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) which was stunning, totally over-the-top and awe inspiring! The whole place was a bit overwhelming and we jumped back into our air-conditioned mini-van, slightly dazzled and eager for the next experience!

We had 'assumed' that we would only be shown around the centre of Bangkok, but the driver kept driving...and driving.  All his information was lost in translation and we were trying to follow on the map, but the map stopped once we had gone past the airport! Over an hour later, we stopped in a small town in the countryside outside Bangkok. We were in the Ayuthaya Province, an area we wanted to visit, but didn't think we would be able to. We were dropped off outside the Bang Pa In Palace, which had an odd mix of European, Chinese and Thai buildings! Best of all, it had trees with shade for us to cool down!

From here, we went to the Ayuthaya Historical Park, an ancient ruined city, with crumbling temples and head-less Buddhas. It also has an enormous reclining Buddha and a huge 17m bronze Buddha! At this point we were a little Buddha/Templed-Out and when the driver said we were heading back to Bangkok, we felt relieved to be going home for some rest.



But as we were beginning to learn...never assume anything.The driver had one last stop in mind, the crazy and infamous Khao San Road. This street is right in the centre of the old town and  became a haven for backpackers since the film The Beach. We couldn't believe our eyes as we walked past busy bars, stalls selling everything from fake t-shirts to ID's and driving licenses! Catriona....almost got you one! We loved it here and found it really hard not to spend a fortune! We limited ourselves to four t-shirts, a pair of trousers and a necklace....all for a mighty 14 pounds! We will definitely be going back there before we fly home.

By this time we were well and truly shattered. Arriving back at the guest house, we 'assumed' that we could go to bed. But again...we were wrong! After 9 hours, our date with driver still wasn't quite over, as he received instructions to take us to a local restaurant where we treated to a great (and very spicy!) meal.

We finally made it back to our room after almost 10 hours on the road, our minds boggled, eyes fried but a day we will never forget. We are already looking forward to coming back to Bangkok before we come home in three weeks (ARGGH!). We took around 135 photos, so have only uploaded a sample. You'll just have to wait for the slide shows when we get home....you lucky folks!

Today we left Bangkok and flew to Chiang Mai in the north. So far our afternoon here as been incredible! But that's a story for another time...

Farewell Sydney...G'day Bangkok!

Well, that's it! Aussie trip over! We fly out to Bangkok tonight for the last few weeks of our trip!

We loved Australia...the people, the weather and the beaches! We will definately be back! We had a great last evening in Sydney, catching up with old school friends at the pub!

Thailand here we come!

Thunder in Paradise

Leaving Lennox Head and the teddy bears behind, we headed off to cross the border into Queensland. The drive got off to a rocky start as we had a flat tyre on the hire car, but we arrived in Noosa safely a few hours later.

The town is like a mix between Venice and Miami, with waterways that meander in between stunning luxury mansions. It has a very European feel here, almost French/Italian Riviera! We spent the first night in a YHA youth hostel, but came to the conclusion that we had earnt oursleves an upgrade (we had spent the previous 14 nights in youth hostels!). We headed off in our little hire car in search of something a bit more glamorous and came across a perfect ground floor apartment with its own private beach and pool...and cheaper than the YHA! This was our base for the next 6 nights.

The Sunshine Coast lived up to its name for the first few days, so we made the most of the beach and the BBQ! But then Olga arrived. Not an Easter-European prostitute, but a tropical cyclone that was wreaking havok across northen Queensland moved south and hung over Noosa, bringing with it terrential rain and strong winds. So much for the private beach! Luckily the apartment also had a DVD player, so we spent the time hiring movies from the local rental shop and reading books.

It was also our six year anniversary (!!), which we celebrated with a bottle of bubbly and a nice meal out at a Tapas bar.

Tomorrow we are dropping the hire car off at Brisbane Airport and flying back to Sydney for one last night in Australia before we fly to Thailand for a month! Looking forward to being in a cheaper country!

The Promised Land

Turning west, away from the coast, we arrived in the hippie town of Bellingen. The 'town' (more like a village) had lots of shops selling everything from Tofu to eco-friendly clothing and jewellery, with insense wafting from every shop front!




Our hostel had great views of the countryside and the river and our room came complete with Buddhist mantras on the walls! More worryingly...the hallway was decorated from floor to ceiling with hundreds of naked photos of previews guests! (check out the gallery! I'm not sure what is worse... the naked pictures or that fact I was taking photos of them?!)



Despite the nakedness, the hostel was great! The countryside surrounding the town is called The Promised Land. We borrowed a couple of car tyre inner-tubes from the hostel and headed off to a stream called Never Never Creek (very Peter Pan....or Michael Jackson). We had a great day swimming in the crystal clear stream and floating down the small rapids!






After two days with the crusty hippies and Nigel the resident giant lizard, we set off in search of the sea again. A few hours up the coast road we stopped at Lennox Head. A world renowed surf spot, this tiny town has a great laid-back holiday feel. Our hostel is opposite a seven mile beach that is almost totally deserted. On the other side of the hostel there's a fresh water lake that is surrounded by Tea Trees that turn the water red with Tea Tree Oil! Swimming is supposed to be very therapeutic and Nikky loves nothing more than soaking in the cool medicinal oil for an afternoon!

After our hippie experience in Bellingen, we thought we had 'ticked off' that experience from our list. But little did we know that Graeme who runs our hostel had kept a treat for us! Upon checking in we were told that we had "the best room in the house"..."Great!", we thought....until we realised that he meant HIS house! We were shown to our room...next door to his. We opened the door and were greeted by our room mates: a dozen teddy bears! We thanked the owner, closed the door and cracked up laughing! Despite the room we decided to stay here for a few nights, as the location is fantastic.

It's Australia Day here tomorrow, so the entire country is going BBQ crazy! We can't wait to join in the fun!

Coming up next time...we drive north into Queensland towards Noosa for our last week in Australia!

Sand, Surf and....Snakes!

We dragged ourselves away from Sydney and hopped into our tiny little Hyundai Getz for the two hour drive to the Blue Mountains. It took a while to get used to being in a 1.2ltr manual petrol car, after driving a chunky 3ltr automatic diesel for six weeks in New Zealand!

The Blue Mountains were fantastic. We arrived in scorching heat and it was almost unbearable to be outside, but the heat meant the mountains were very blue (eucalyptus oil evaporating) and the view was stunning!

From the Blue Mountains we drove back towards the coast to Newcastle. We had tickets to go and see the John Butler Trio play there, so we booked a hostel near the venue. The place was a dump. The hostel was a flea-pit! The sort of place where you don't want to walk on the carpet because it's so dirty! Luckily we had an eveing planned, so we just had to bear a few hours of sleep there.

The gig, however, was amazing! The best live performance we have ever seen! The drummer was incredible! They played for almost three hours...which was great beacuse it meant less time in the hostel for us!

The next morning we woke up very early and hit the road towards Port Stephens. We were a little bit apprehensive, as we had booked another hostel there and were praying it wasn't another hell-hole. Luckily, it turned out to be one of the best hostels we have stayed in!

Nestled in native bush land, just a few minutes from all the beaches, was our own cabin. It was surrounded by gum trees in a Koala habitat (although we didn't see any!) and we could hear the Kookaburras and Possums. The owners had made a real effort with the place and the pool was a welcome relief from the heat!
The place was buzzing....with mozzies! But I guess every place has to have it's downsides. The people at the hostel were all really nice and our next door neighbour was an 81 year-old danish man who was cycling around the world!

One evening the slightly eccentric owner of the hostel came out to the kitchen with his pet Python! The huge snake was still a baby and apparently far bigger ones roam wild around the bush here! I got up close and personal with Syphon the Python as he slithered around my neck and shoulders! Nikky stayed clear and took photos with a nervous smile when the owner threatened to hide the snake in our room one night!

We reluctantly moved on after three days in the bush, to Port Macquarie. Another stunning coastal area, the town is surrounded by miles of beaches with great surf and good swimming. (grote mastandontes pavel!)

We ended up in an outdated cabin on a campsite that was infested with cockroaches! After a sleepless night with our sleeping bags zipped all the way up despite the heat, we complained and got most of our money back. This was put towards the next night's accommodation in a clean, tidy and self-contained apartment right across from the beach! It even had a pool and a washing machine (which we made full use of!).

Today we are back on the road, driving a few hours north (and inland) to Bellingen. A hippy community! Should be fun! We will keep you posted!


[We're having some problems uploading photos to the gallery. Will try to get the pics up soon!]

Sydney: Sights and Sounds

Catching sight of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge as we walked to the harbour, we couldn't quite believe we were actually there! The Opera House, with its white sails against the bright blue sky, is the iconic image of the 'other side' of the world. It was a stunning sight and even the locals can't get enough of it! It's surrounded by nice bars and cafes, with views of the harbour bridge, so we sat and savoured the moment for a while. To escape from the blistering sun, we walked back towards our hotel through the Botanical Gardens. These were a little different to all the other gardens and parks we have been to, as the trees were laden with thousands of huge bats! The noise was incredible!

We timed our visit to Sydney well, as Saturday evening was the opening night of the three-week long Sydney Festival...just outside our hotel! There were lots of stages set up throughout the parks, with music, dance and circus acts everywhere! The streets were packed with people and the grand-finale of the evening was a performance by Al Green (the 65 year-old Reverend gospel/soul singer, whose hits include "Love and Happiness" and "Let's Stay Together"). Over 100,000 people crammed into the park to watch him perform for free! We had a great time!

Escaping the city centre, we took a bus to Bondi Beach. And we thought the Brazilians were good-looking! There was not a fat or ugly person in sight at Bondi! The great thing about this city is that its surrounded by beaches. The next day, we jumped on the ferry to Manly Beach, with great views of the bridge and opera house from the water!

The city has a really good vibe. It's not stressed and rushed like London and people seem a lot happier here than back home! Sven....Citi bank is in a great location here! And it's still warm enough to go for a swim when you finish work at 3am!

We also met up with a couple of old school friends from the European School. One of them lives here now, so we were guided to some cool bars and got some tips for the rest of the city!

We are now heading off to pick up our hire car and travel inland to the Blue Mountains. There is a red-alert for bush fires at the moment, as temperatures near here have reached 42 degrees! Hopefully we won't be affected.

Next update in a few days!

G'Day!

We have arrived in Sydney! It's hot and sunny and we have an amazing room in the Marriott Hotel, overlooking Hyde Park. We got some funny looks checking in with our backpacks!

We'll update the blog in a few days, with some photos too! Now we're off to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge!

Enjoy the snow everyone!

4472kms and what a journey!

We spent New Year's Eve in Wanaka, had a very nice meal in a restaurant (!) and joined the crowds on the lake shore for the midnight fireworks! A great evening, very friendly people and not a drop of alcohol to be found anywhere. The party was in a Liquor Ban zone. Luckily we had indulged in a very nice bottle of bubbly already!

The next monring we stretched our legs and walked up a small mountain behind Wanaka, with stunning views across the lake. By this time it was New Year's eve in the UK! Very odd feeling!

After a few more days in Wanaka, we dragged ourselves away and headed up through the middle of the South Island towards Mount Cook. We ended up at a campsite near a bright turquoise coloured lake, but apart from that it had nothing going for it. Certainly nothing we wanted to pay for! So we decided to be a bit adventurous and drove to another lake nearby where we had spotted a small woodland on the lake shore. A tiny dirt track led down to the shore and we couldn't believe our luck! We had uninterrupted views of Mount Cook  with the lake in the foreground....perfect! We set up camp for the night (for free!), cooked up a nice pasta meal and watched Mount cook turn red in the sunset. All was well until the sun set...after that it was FREEZING! But waking up to the sight of the mountains and the lake was worth shivering through the night.

Our final long drive was from there to Christchurch. We had a great day exploring the city and it's Botanical Gardens. We felt a bit homesick watching the Punts go up and down the river!

This morning was tough. Emotional. Heart-rendering. We reluctantly said good-bye to our beloved van. She had done us proud. Six weeks and 4472kms and we survived! We managed to put up with eachother for over a month, living in a space no larger than your average bathroom!

This morning we flew back up to Auckland and booked ourselves into a nice apartment for a relaxing evening before we fly to Sydney tomorrow afternoon. We are looking forward to getting there, spending a few days in the city and pickup our 'Economy' hire car for another road trip. Although this time, we will share a space more akin to a broom cupboard than a bathroom!

Next update from OZ!