my exciting trip around the world
In and around World
well we gave up our jobs before xmas 2006 and plan to travel the world for 18 - 24 months. first stop costa rica for a few spanish lessons then off to south america to put them into action.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler alex f
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1
no snow in bansko
we thought that best way to start our trip was by spending two weeks in the appartment that we had bought in the bulgarian ski resort of bansko. Un... Continue reading »
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2
Home for a while
Well, a brief period of packing was needed between Bansko and the-trip-of-a-lifetime (TM).
So to Yatton we went I polished my car a bit befor... Continue reading »
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3
LAX Hell
Rubbish Rubbish Rubbish. We had 10 hours to kill between flights. Not only was it drizzling, but the left luggage had been closed down... Continue reading »
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4
learning the lingo
We arrived in Orosi straight from England after an exciting ten hours spent at LAX (One of the dullest airports I have ever been to so were a... Continue reading »
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5
Attempted volcano viewing
We took a few buses and got to the san jose car rental place in super quick time (not sure i should take this as a typical example of south and cen... Continue reading »
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6
Looking at trees and flying through the cloud forest
We drove to santa Elena. near Monteverde, along some bone shaking roads, stopping along the way to feed some white nosed coatis and eat some yummy... Continue reading »
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7
More volcano viewing
The drive to Ricon dela Vieja was fairly uneventful apart from arriving at the ranger station La Pailas to discover that they have closed their campin... Continue reading » -
8
an unplanned city break
we drove to san jose with only a small disaster on route. We had a small rucksack stole whilst we were sat in a restaurant near punta arenas.&nb... Continue reading » -
9
three days turns into ten days at the beach
after a rainy bus journey, with only one argument with a pig faced american that demanded our seat becuase he was apparently the only person on the bu... Continue reading » -
10
nothing for turtle fans but lots for croc and birdfans
We booked our transfer from puerto viejo with "terraventura" in PV - 35 dolares. all went smoothly; a turismo bus to moin near limon (our fir... Continue reading »
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11
Pick-Up Shopping
After a quick pitstop in San Jose we arrived in santiago - at last. We turned up at SCS habitat at 4am to be greeted by a bleary ey... Continue reading »
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12
Finally on the road in Chile
We eventually left Santiago at 2pm , after a big shop for camping supplies. Drove south to Molina and turned left towards "Las Siete Taz... Continue reading »
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13
puzzled monkeys and more volcanos
we left las siete tazas at 9am expecting a 4 hour drive to our next stop, however something went wrong in translating map distance into time and we... Continue reading »
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14
a hard town to leave
We decide to travel to Pucon along the "Ruta Interlagos" as it sounded scenic and like there might be chance for some touristic cake eating along t... Continue reading »
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15
feeding the sea lions
We arrived in Valdivia, a university town at the confluence of three rivers near the west coast. I had a fun time negotiating the one way system... Continue reading » -
16
Cheong day!!!!!
we headed off down the highway in an excited mood because this was the day we had to pick up Jamie from the airport in Puerto montt. She is join... Continue reading » -
17
Peguins, Otters and a rush for the boat
We headed off to puerto montt with the intention of getting a ferry to chaiten, further south down the careterra austral. However the fe... Continue reading »
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18
Hanging glaciers and hot springs
Started the drive from Chaiten to Puyuhuapi with a stop at the El Amarillo hot springs. Not so much a resort as a couple of hot pools wi... Continue reading »
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19
Hanging glaciers and hot springs
Started the drive from Chaiten to Puyuhuapi with a stop at the El Amarillo hot springs. Not so much a resort as a couple of hot pools wi... Continue reading »
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20
Car Trouble
well the car delayed us for four days, it needed a new regulator and this had be flown down from santiago at great expense. we spent two of these i... Continue reading »
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21
A boy´s account of a broken car
Well, the most rugged section of the most rugged road in Argentina certainly left us with some memories. As one of Alex´s other blog entries... Continue reading »
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22
argentina at least, but more car trouble
the journey was fairly uneventful apart from missing the chilean part of customs, there was no barrier just a sign in spanish that we didn´t have time... Continue reading » -
23
finally a bit of adventure for jamie
me and jamie arrived in el calafate tired and hungry after our mammoth journey (my 1st overnight bus trip, although i suspect i will have to get us... Continue reading »
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24
the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine
we caught the 9.30 am ferry from punta arenas to porvenir on the chilean bit of tierra del fuego and then drove over flat grassland to the border.&... Continue reading »
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25
a day of rest
after all the excitement (and getting up early) of the last few days we decided to have restful day in punta arenas. we didn´t even get&nb... Continue reading » -
26
sun, snow, gales - hiking patagonia style
we set out north from ushuaia to puerto natales on a mammoth 10 hour drive. we drove through ice and snow and then incredible wind and c... Continue reading »
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27
some very old trees
we had an uneventful drive across the patagonian steppe to puerto san julian, a small town on the atlantic coast. oh yes uneventful except th... Continue reading »
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28
waiting for our washing
we are here in puerto madryn waiting for a nice lady to do our washing for us, we will be paying her. we have run out of nearly everything. ... Continue reading » -
29
No Hay Animales
Peninsula Valdez is famous for being able to view all sorts of exciting animals and birds, from penguins and cormarants to whales, orcas and sealio... Continue reading »
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30
The drive North. Stopping at the Sierra Ventana
We started our drive north from Peninsula Valdez to Cordoba nice an early on 30th April. Had a little trouble negotiating Bahia Blanca, and a... Continue reading »
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31
Staying near the toilet
Not even any photos from Cordoba, as Alex was taken ill with some Cordoba belly, spent the whole time in bed really so that she didn´t have far to... Continue reading »
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32
Rally Argentina
Finally, it was rally time. For those that don´t know I (and this is boy Alex writing here) have been a big rallyfan for since dad used to ta... Continue reading »
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33
Buenos Aires - Bigger than Bajo Caracoles
We spent a week in buenos aries, stayed in four places and did a lot of walking and eating. Buenos Aries feels very european, big and busy li... Continue reading »
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34
giant palms and giant mice
we headed north through the entre rios province across the enormous parana river delta, roughly parallel with the rio uruguay. there was lots... Continue reading »
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35
a wet safari
we continued north, heading to the esteros de ibera - a huge area of protected wetlands with a big bird (that is lots of birds not a sesame street... Continue reading »
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36
missions in missiones
we had an interesting journey from colonia carlos pelligrini. i had read somewhere the the road north from town can get a little rough but ou... Continue reading »
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37
wet, wet, wet
We came to iguazu expecting tropical weather and wet waterfalls. we certainly got wet on more than one occasion. we arrived in sunshine... Continue reading »
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38
salta la linda
we were only in salta for a day so had a whirlwind tour of the colonial architecture that has earned salta la linda (salta the pretty) its name. ... Continue reading » -
39
a painted valley in the sun
we decided that we needed to stay somewhere fancy befor we left argentina, seeing as it is a civilised stylish country and yet quite cheap for us i... Continue reading »
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40
Another Breakdown
Well, it almost doesn´t come as a surprise anymore, but after delaying our journey over the Andes into Chile by 3 days to get the rear differential... Continue reading »
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41
san pedro, again
our second time in san pedro was with a hire hire car, we were just going stir crazy and calama and had to get out. we drove out to a lake in... Continue reading »
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42
rescheduled salty fun
i have one thing to say -do it. ignore the bad reps of the tour agencies, estrella del sur were fine and I didn´t see any other groups having a cra... Continue reading »
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43
a week by the seaside in another dull mining based town
well this was all so long ago that i can´t remember much, except alot of boredom, frustratrion, handwashing of knickers and cable tv watching.
<... Continue reading » -
44
the car is gone at last
.....we went to the designated waste ground on the south side of santiago to get our car from the lorry driver, but he didn´t turn up. ... Continue reading »
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45
playing with monkeys at parque machia
we have had a great time volunteering with the animals at parque machia. it was way more fun than we had expected, especially after the woman... Continue reading »
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46
lazing and shopping in the highest capital city in the world
the bus from cochabamba to la paz and was fairly uneventful, although we did see some trucks trying to pullwhat looked like a petrol lorry out of a st... Continue reading » -
47
a knee busting descent ftom la paz to coroico
after our shopping and acclimatising time in la paz we felt well enough to head off on the choro trek - a three day hike on an inca path that leads... Continue reading »
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48
Luxury in the jungle
After spending so little money playing with monkeys in Villa Tunari we (mostly I) decided that it would be a good idea to spend a fortune going to... Continue reading »
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49
la fiesta de la virgin
we accidently arrived in copacabana during their biggest festival of the year - something to do with a virgin and some miracles. this meant t... Continue reading »
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50
travelling in style on the andean explorer
We took the bus from copacabana in bolivia to puno in peru expecting some border issues. We arrived in santa cruz 7 weeks ago we asked the man at i... Continue reading »
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51
incan stones, BITTY, and roast guniea pig
We had three days of fun in cusco before heading off down the sacred valley to macchu picchu. We filled these with a bit of tat shopping, during wh... Continue reading »
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52
maras, moray and las salineras
We left cusco with specially packed small rucksacks so that we wouldn´t take up too much room on the sacred valley buses. We took a bus to the sacr... Continue reading »
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53
High up Incas
The much awaited trip up to Machu Pichu finally took place and we did it NEARLY as cheaply as possible. Although this was more due to the rub... Continue reading »
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54
Lines in the gravel
We had a good time in Nasca, although Alex was still suffering with Peruvian bottom, so the first day was spent laid up in bed, while I cruised aro... Continue reading »
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55
Bus Trip
From Nasca we wanted to travel up to Trujillo in 1 go, so we booked an afternoon bus to Lima followed by an overnight bus on to Trujillo. T... Continue reading »
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56
pre incan fun
we decided that after the hellish bus journey we deserved some rest and relaxation so went to stay on the beach in a place called huanchaco near tr... Continue reading »
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57
More Pre Incans, More Ceviche
Chiclayo wasn´t a city that we were patricularly looking forward to visiting. But we quite liked it. Had quite a vibrant modern feel ab... Continue reading »
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58
Cloud People in Kuelap
We had been wanting to visit the Kuelap fortress/citadel for a while. It is a bit trickier to get to than most of the places we´ve been to re... Continue reading »
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59
Old People Here
Vilcabamba in Ecuador was our next destination, but it was over 2 days of travel away. From the Choctamel lodge the journey went like this:Continue reading »
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60
boobie time
so where to start??
the galapagos are amazing. everything they say is true;
the diving (snorkelling for us amateurs) is gr... Continue reading »
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61
3 visits to Quito
Our time in Quito was always supposed to be a bit of a buffer before our flight on to Guatemala and Belize.
We had a few days there before Ga... Continue reading »
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62
Hot Lava
We were only planning to spend 1 night in Antigua, but ended up staying for 4. A really nice laid back town with lots of fancy gringo food ou... Continue reading »
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63
Monterrico Beach Time
We wanted a bit of sunbathing time on our short visit to Central America, so we headed to the Guatemalan coast to read some books and eat some fish.&n... Continue reading » -
64
Private Catamaran
We saw a flyer on the wall in Antigua that told us that we could do our planned trip to the Rio Dulce area in the south east of Guatemala by catamaran... Continue reading » -
65
Beach time in Belize (part 1)
Belize is a very pleasant country to arrive in as a gradual re-introduction to the English speaking world. The Queen is on all the money, and mo... Continue reading » -
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Wettest Border Crossing
This is a simple tale of the border crossing from Livingstone in Guatemala to Punta Gorda in Belize. The boat only runs twice a week. So n... Continue reading » -
67
Floating and Frisbee in the Belize jungle
We had a little stop-over in San Ignacio as a staging post for going on to Tikal in Guatemala (see next blog). While we were there we indulge... Continue reading »
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68
Sleeping in Hammocks
From San Ignacio in Belize we popped back over the border into Guatemala to see the Mayan ruins of Tikal.
The trip involved some haggled tran... Continue reading »
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69
Beach time in Belize (part 2)
Our final few days in Latin America were designed to be a relaxing break from travelling before we hit the road big time in the US with Alex's dad.... Continue reading »
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70
hanging with the daddy
so we picked the my dad up in vegas and headed off to the first of many canyons, and it was the big one. very long, very deep, pretty hot and... Continue reading »
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71
big bends and small slots
So having finally torn ourselves away from the grand canyon, we headed off to the smallest canyon I have ever seen – antelope canyon near page, arizon... Continue reading » -
72
cowboy country
Monument Valley was probably one of the most picturesque places we've been to. We had a really good day, walking around one of the big rocks and g... Continue reading »
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73
some pretty trees in a pretty canyon
first stop on our cultural tour of america was canyon chelly - pretty yellow cottonwoods and some ancestral puebloan cliff dwellings. all in... Continue reading »
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74
canyonlands, arches and goblin valley
This part of our America holiday was a bit of a photography tour. Alex and her dad took LOADS of amazing photographs, even I took some with o... Continue reading »
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75
dad gets adventurous
There was a bit of debate in Zion. We had 3 days there, and we were definitely going to do the Angel Landing Walk, and the Observation Point Wal... Continue reading » -
76
crayzeee rocks
i think that the bryce rocks were my favorite rocks.
they are well crazy - thousands of hoodoos (spires of rock with knobbly bits... Continue reading »
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77
Buffet Time in Vegas
After all of the pretty red rock viewing that we had done in the National Parks it was exciting to get some big city action, and surely no better p... Continue reading »
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78
Meeting up with Dave and family
Before flying out o the Americas we thought we should catch with with old monkey Dave, Loraine and little Hazel. Especially as they are moving t... Continue reading » -
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rest and relaxation island style
We had been looking forward to getting to Fiji for a long time, it was our planned rest and relaxation stop where we could finally plan our route h... Continue reading »
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80
Meeting the Family
We flew into Auckland from Fiji, and then got straight onto the next flight down to Wellington to meet up with mum, dad, Pete and Natalie. And t... Continue reading » -
81
raglan, waitomo caves and another invisible volcano
Having said a tearful goodbye to my family at their airport hotel in Auckland we had a night in the tent, and then headed off to the beach. S... Continue reading »
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82
visiting tim and alice
here we are catching up with tim and alice in wellington. we are abusing their washing machine and their computer to bring you even more pics... Continue reading »
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83
Queen Charlotte Track
We left Wellington on a very windy day to cross the water into Picton on the South Island. Had a VERY rainy evening, and the next day was no... Continue reading »
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84
its chrisssssmaaaaas
Before we got to New Zealand we'd decided that we didn't want any Christmas jollity forced upon us, so we got away from the big campsites and hoste... Continue reading »
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85
golden bay salami
We forgot to add the typing to this the first time around. But hopefully the photos have been interesting enough.
Golden Bay was... Continue reading »
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86
pancake rocks
both the beavan family and tim had told we should come here. so we did. there are lots of rocks that look like stacks of pancakes. ... Continue reading »
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87
hiking avalanche peak with some bird friends
We didn't really see the New Year in with much style, instant mashed potato and sausages in a cold hut and camping in a Department of Conservatio... Continue reading »
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88
ballooning, shopping and doing time in christchurch
After a bit of time in the wilds we decided to stay indoors, and in a town. The almost shockingly comfortable Jailhouse hostel in Christchurc... Continue reading »
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89
lake punaki and the mueller hut
From Christchurch we headed up through Geraldine, a nice little farming town with lots of nice cheese and chutney to be bought, to Mount Cook Nation... Continue reading » -
90
some crazy boulder and delectable fishy treat
after a brief penguin watching, rain dodging stop in omaru we headed on down the coast for a stop i had been looking forward to after seeing a phot... Continue reading »
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91
wildlife spotting galore on the otago penninsula
so, on down the coast to the otago peninsula to spot some more wild life. nice place sticks out just south of dunedin, lots of sheep and clif... Continue reading »
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92
relaxing on the catlins coast
We ended up staying on the Catlin's Coast longer than expect. This whole area is probably the remotest part of the NZ road network, and few N... Continue reading »
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93
rain and sun on the sounds
Milford Sound is one of those really important tourist destinations that you get around the world, pictures from there seem to be on every visit New Z... Continue reading » -
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fantastic weather for our next great walk
after all this lying around on beaches and cruising aroun the sound we thought we should get off our arses for a few days. and what better wa... Continue reading »
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95
kayaking on doubtful sound
Decided to finally spend some of the money from our fun budget by going on an overnight kayak trip to Doubtful Sound. We had experienced the... Continue reading »
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96
not very adventuresome in the adventure capital
We were a bit unsure about what to expect from Queenstown. Lots of people told us that we would love it there. But a lot of the folk we... Continue reading »
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97
our first (and possibly last) taste of touring by bike
If you've read the title, and seen the first picture you probably think we had a terrible time on the Central Otago Rail Trail. But this is f... Continue reading »
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98
chilling, canyoning and being puzzled in the "next queenstown"
from the railtrail we headed off to wanaka - another holiday town on a lake surrounded by snowcapped mountains. a bit more chilled out than q... Continue reading »
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99
waiting for the clouds to clear in glacierland
Like a bunch of miseries we decided not to go on a glacier walking tour. We'd been on them before in Iceland (in the sunshine) and Argentina... Continue reading »
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100
rafting and kayaking on the west coast
A tale of two waterbased activities. And two different ones at that. Firstly was our heli-rafting trip. Basically you meet some chaps i... Continue reading » -
101
craft day
Time to spend some money on something less physical - craft day.
I dropped Alex off at a jewellery making shop in Hokitika whilst I drove up... Continue reading »
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102
a biking non-event and some hot water in hanmer springs
well it must be a record, i went somwhere and didn't take any pictures. so this entry will be short n sweet.
we drove to hanmer springs... Continue reading »
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103
vomiting with dolphins
Swimming with dolphins is supposed to make you cry, it just made me vomit. Trouble was, the boat was a bit rocky going out to the dolphin's p... Continue reading »
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104
messing about on the river
we headed off for three days on the whanganui river. our canoe was loaded with six barrels, mostly full of enough food to feed us for a... Continue reading »
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105
tongariro crossing
They say it is like walking through Mordor. But not being a LOTRF (Lord of the Rings Fan) I wouldn't know. But it was a very good walk.... Continue reading »
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106
skydiving in taupo
very exciting few hours in taupo, where i jum ped pout of a plane. alex watched as he didn't have enough money to jump. was amazing. ... Continue reading » -
107
cricket
Alex is a nice girl, she said that she'd come along to watch the cricket. We didn't think we'd still be in New Zealand for the England cricke... Continue reading »
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108
the zorbing capital of the world
so we were back rotorua after nearly three months on the road. it was much nicer this time around as it wasn't raining (when we arrived).&nbs... Continue reading »
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109
sun, surf, sand, hot water and dolphins on the coramandel peninsula
After a couple of days sitting around in the heavy rain at Tui Lodge in Coromandel town (very nice by the way) we headed up to do some camping in F... Continue reading »
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110
rain and shine in northland
most exciting was meeting tony and carolyne in auckland for the day. they are off to sail round the north island despite having never sailed before... Continue reading »
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111
hooning on the great sandy island
we flew from auckland to hervey bay, via sydney at a horribly early hour. but it was cheap and at least we flew on the 7th not the 8th tis year,... Continue reading » -
112
Shopping for a new car
For the first time since we left Heathrow we were somewhere familiar, Alex and I spent about 7 days in Sydney in 1999, we stayed in the centre of t... Continue reading »
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113
wondrous wildlife and not so wondrous surfing in batemans bay
susie and marty left sydney for england so we did too - left sydney that is, we won't be back in england for a while. we headed south down th... Continue reading »
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114
red rocks and azure sea in ben boyd national park
There is no denying that the southern New South Wales coast is pretty idyllic scenry wise, lots of white beaches, an incredibly clear sea, and lots... Continue reading »
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115
gummy trees on mount buffalo
With the forecast pretty bleak for the coast we headed inland to the mountains of the Alpine and Mount Buffalo National Park and the gourmet food r... Continue reading »
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116
a hilarious time in the big smoke of melbourne
First thing to do in Melbourne was of course to track down Ramsey Street. They still film all of the street scenes in Neighbours in a little... Continue reading »
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117
Visiting the Nathan's
We only gave Noelle and John pretty short notice of our arrival as we weren't sure when we'd be arriving as our original plan had been to go to Wil... Continue reading »
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118
Surfing and Walking with Wombats
Andy and Sarah had recommended Wilson's Promontory to us so strongly that we waited around in Sorrento for a couple of days visiting John and Noell... Continue reading »
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119
road trippin
we are finally on the great ocean road, the first leg of the long trip to perth.
basically we have been driving and stopping and looking at t... Continue reading »
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120
driving in the bankrupt state
We had planned to do a few things in South Australia (known to the locals as the bankrupt state) but the weather was not condusive to hanging around,... Continue reading » -
121
surf camp at cactus beach
Our guide book said that the last surfing before Western Australia could be found here at Cactus Beach, 20kms south of the main highway in Penong.&nbs... Continue reading » -
122
Nullarbor Crossing
There is only 1 tarmac road across the south of Australia from the poplated south-eastern corner of the country to the world's most isolated city; Per... Continue reading » -
123
i wish it wasn't school holidays in esperance
Esperance has been a welcome break from the monotony of the desert for us. Know as having "Australia's best beaches" (TM), Esperance is a very p... Continue reading » -
124
job hunting in perth
the final leg of our big drive was pretty uneventful. an overnight stop at wave rock where it was very cold and a drive down the tin-horse highw... Continue reading » -
125
living down under
so we have been in perth for about two months now and are still enjoying it. we are both still doing the same jobs. I have started volunte... Continue reading » -
126
Aussie Rules
Having watched a bit of Aussie Rules on TV in various hostel and campsites on our way over to Perth I though it looked easy enough. Even the chaps... Continue reading »
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127
Worky Work
I was only looking for a short-term job sweeping up in a supermarket or something, but everyone ( and I mean everyone ) we spoke to driving across... Continue reading »
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128
Caution - Food Thief
Kalbarri is the name of both the national park and the town you know. The National Park is split into 2 bits, some coastal gorges, and some rive... Continue reading » -
129
on the road again
Our first day back on the road didn't feel like our first day back on the road as we had Carolyne along with us, so it was more like a house day ou... Continue reading »
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130
Dolphins and Dugongs
Right, first things first, if you are older than 8 and looking for some dolphin action, head over to New Zealand (Kaikoura probably). Having said t... Continue reading » -
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132
snorkelling on ningaloo reef
next stop the warm waters of the indian ocean and all its tropical wonders. or so we thought. why is the sea not warmer up here... Continue reading »
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133
waterhole hopping in karijini national park
the storm that tried to catch us in exmouth continued to loom on the horizon for the next 700ks of driving but i think it arrived in karijini bef... Continue reading »
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134
Sell the car in record Broometime
First thing to do when we got to Broome was to sell the car before we rented our 4wd for Kimberly and Bungles adventures.
This proved to be a... Continue reading »
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135
exploring the gibb river road and the bungle bungles in our fancy 4WD
Having sold the car and picked up our bargain-ish Nissan Patrol we headed for proper outback in the heat of Northern WA.
Our first tourist at... Continue reading »
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136
we leave WA for th NT and more heat dodging and waterhole hopping in Litchfield NP
we left Kununurra with the rising sun and headed east to our first new state in a little while. stopping along the way for me to be an... Continue reading »
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137
charity shops and crocodiles
we left litchfield quite late and ended up stopping at a random campsite about 50km short of Darwin in preparation for seeing some jumping croc... Continue reading » -
138
sweltering in singapore
The idea was that we would break ourselves into Asia gently with a few days in Singapore (it also happens that Darwin to Singapore is about the che... Continue reading »
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139
Malaysia - Briefly
A confusing journey to say the least. First we were up at dawn to get a bus from Singapore over the border into Malayasia, where upon our bus... Continue reading »
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140
Puppy Paradise
After all the travelling around Australia, and walking around Singapore we decided that we deserved a bit of beach time. After trying to phon... Continue reading »
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141
Snorkel crazy at the similan islands
We haven't even been here yet
we have now
we went on a three day-two night live aboard snorkel trip to the similan island w... Continue reading »
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142
Thailand's Guilin
I'll not mention Guilin again, honest.
Khao Sok National Park was a bit of a change for us because it's inland. That's right, no sea, n... Continue reading »
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143
Ranong, the raniest town in thailand lives up to its name
W arrived in the dark and the rain. not a great start. a weird american at the nustop asked us where we were staying so we said "casa ther... Continue reading » -
144
hot and sticky in bangkok
Bangkok does not fit many of our ideal things for a city to be. Main problem was that it was just too hot for us to enjoy our favourite city... Continue reading »
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145
an escape from the city and a ride on the death railway
Kanchanaburi was a good break from Bangkok whilst we were waiting for our Indian Visas to be processed. Main aim was to travel on the Death R... Continue reading »
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146
elephant muster in surin
This blog might be a bit elephant light on the words and heavy on the pictures, as we had lots of fun in a short space of time.
We sort of ra... Continue reading »
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147
the old capital of ayuttaya; the first of many days temple viewing
Ayutthaya was Thailands capital up until the middle of the 18th Century when the Burmese came down and sacked it, forcing the Thai royalty to creat... Continue reading »
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148
monkey fun in lopburi
We were only in Lopburi for 3 hours, and whilst we'd like to pretend that we were there to have a look at some of the old buildings in Thailands lo... Continue reading »
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149
Moped Fun
Sukhothai was the Thai capital for about 100 years in the 13th century. There is quite a lot of it left really, in the way of temples at leas... Continue reading »
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chilling in chilly chiang mai
We didn't really know why we were going to chiang mai. the guide book didn't make it sound overly exciting (unless you wanted to go and stare... Continue reading »
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slow boat on the mekong
I was really looking forward to a couple of days lazing about on a boat, reading books and looking at life on the river banks. However, the slow... Continue reading » -
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the most sophisticated town in southeast asia?
After 2 days on the boat we were looking forward to arriving in Louang Prabang. We'd heard from lots of people that it was a great place to s... Continue reading »
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Too Many Slow Boats in Laos
After 6 days umming and aahhing about how to get to Vietnam (our original plan of taking the plane from Vientiane was looking a bit expensive, and... Continue reading »
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hanoi and halong bay
we arrived in hanoi weary after our long bus journey from dien bien phu. it was dark, damp and the bus station smelt of wee. but we hop... Continue reading »
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ninh binh for more scooter fun, this time we have advanced tio dirt roads
o my god i just spent 30 minutes writing this entry and then accidentally closed the tab instead of just clicking on it. here we go again.Continue reading »
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sunshine in rainy hue for a bit of pagoda viewing
Hue is supposed to be really rainy at this time of year. We were very lucky, just a couple of showers, and otherwise pretty sunny.
As a... Continue reading »
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Christmas in Tailor Town
We hadn't planned on a second Christmas on the road, we always thought that money would run out or boredom would set in before we got this far, but... Continue reading »
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history religion and sliding in ho chi minh city
We took the night train from danang to saigon, but this time we had a soft sleeper which was much nicer., although there wre blood stains on one of... Continue reading »
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fruit tasting, sweet eating and hammock lazing on the mekong delta
The Mekong Delta is another of Vietnam's popular tourist regions. The word delta for me conjures up images of small sandy islands in the midd... Continue reading »
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beach time in sihanoukville
we were sorely in need of some beach time after all the urban delights of vietnam . at first we didn't think sihanoukville was going to oblig... Continue reading »
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the majestic temples of angkor, our last stop in SE asia
so here we are in siem reap. enjoying the last that SE asia has to offer before heading off to India. Of course we are here to see angk... Continue reading »
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tea, tea and more tea in munnar. but no elephants, despite the daily warnings
After our travel woes in Chennai and Madurai, we decided to splash out some of our Christmas money on a driver and car to take us up from Tamil Nad... Continue reading »
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163
lazing in the keralan backwaters
Now this was a lovely trip, 24 hours on a houseboat being (mostly) punted along in the backwaters. When we left home over 2 years ago now (wh... Continue reading »
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The Last Beach
We've worked out that since we left home we have spent more than 80 days on the beach, just lazing about. Now that has got to be a good use o... Continue reading »
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165
Hot in Kochi
Fort Kochi is described in the guidebooks as being a welcome relief from India's hussle and bussle. However, as we'd come from 10 days of cru... Continue reading »
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166
Indeep's Wedding
I've been trading email with Indeep (a former housemate and colleague from Brighton days). And when I finally told that we were coming to Del... Continue reading »
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167
Taj Magic
The Taj Mahal is one of those world-class tourist attractions that are the reasons many people leave home in the first place.
And indeed Agra... Continue reading »
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168
Enjoyably Hectic in Jaipur
We had three days in Jaipur. We had a pretty nice time in fact. And not just because I was able to watch England vs. West Indies live o... Continue reading »
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Tiger Spotting
We weren't really too sure about going to Ranthambhore. Whilst it is supposed to be one of the best places in the world for spotting tigers,... Continue reading »
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Lovely, lovely Bundi
Bundi is our favourite town in India so far. There is a really laid back old town, and the fort and its views are as good as any of the other on... Continue reading » -
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A fancy town for fancy folk
Udaipur was one of those citys where you feel like you'd be having a better time if you were REALLY rich. There are 3 hotels there that cost... Continue reading »
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Jodhpur Belly
For the journey to Jodphur from Udaipur we rented a car and driver. R2200 wasn't a bad price, and better than trying to get the train,... Continue reading »
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camel trekking in the thar desert
the bus journey from pokoran to jaisalmer was fairly pleasant, although marred by the bullshit spoken the many hotel and tou... Continue reading »17524 hours in Delhi
Our trip to Delhi on the train from Jaisalmer took about 20 hours. Quite enjoyable all-in-all. After about 3 hours we were joined in ou... Continue reading »
176Meeting the Carolyne
It was sad to leave India after only 6 weeks, so much more to see and do there, but our flights had been booked for a while and Japan was calling.<... Continue reading »
177Snowboarding
Alex was very sad as our bus arrived in Hakuba as there was no snow on the ground in the resort, and the bright sunshine on the mountains only real... Continue reading »
178RAIN
We arrived in Matsumoto later than expected in our little car because I had been unable to pick one up in Nagano because of some booking nonsense,... Continue reading »
179180A little culture
Kanazawa is not a town normally on the tourist schedule to Japan, but we really liked it. Although our stay here did not start well, we arriv... Continue reading »
181Tasty snacks
We wanted to take advantage of having our rental car whilst in Japan and visit some villages that are not on the train lines. So we drove out... Continue reading »
182Brass Monkeys
It is fair to say that one of the main reasons for us coming to Japan at all was to visit the snow monkeys. And we weren't dissappointed, had... Continue reading »
183184Sumo Sumo and Bye Bye Carolyne
I admit it, it was my mistake. I misread the sumo tournament timetable and thought that the 2 week Osaka tournament started on the 6th March... Continue reading »
185FULL
Beppu was full.
We wanted to spend one night here before visiting Andy in Fukuoka, but we only stayed about 1 hour. We... Continue reading »
186Meeting Andy B
we met andy in fukuoka where he has been living for the last three years, teaching english, playing the drums and trying to learn japanese. i... Continue reading »
187Deers in Nara and Himeji's lovely castle
The Japan Rail passes are only available to non-Japanese residents, and you have to buy them before you arrive in Japan. We ordered ours from an A... Continue reading »
188Ferry to Shanghai
Getting from Japan to anywhere by plane is expensive, so we decided to go by boat. Only 48 hours.
We were quite... Continue reading »
189Shanghai, expat style with Phil and Guilaine
After taking about 2 hours to get off the boat our time in Shanghai started well when Phil and his driver Mr Dai appeared from within the crowd to... Continue reading »
190non-expat life in beijing
we've only been in beijing a day but alex has taken himself off to bed at 8pm with manflu so i am keeping this super up to date. decided to t... Continue reading »
191Xi'an Actually
We took the overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an. This proved a little more problematic that it should have done because our after getting s... Continue reading »
192193Festival Time
We came to Dali at festival time, so what is normally a town praised for it's nice peaceful streets instead became a battle with the crowds at the... Continue reading »
194A taste of the Himalayas
Our journey to Deqin did not start or end well, but the middle was nice. Firstly, after a dumplings and eggs breakfast we got to the bus stat... Continue reading »
195Lumpy Bits
When we started planning our trip 3 years ago China's lumpy bits (the area around Guilin and Yangshuo) was high on our list of places we want to vi... Continue reading »
196The Last Night
Our flight home had been booked a few months previously with the super cheap Air Asia, about £200 each from Asia to London. Trouble is... Continue reading »
197Home at last
That's it then, home at last, after exactly 27 months we arrived back in Yatton.
Many thanks to my parents for coming down to Stansted at M... Continue reading »
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