Our year around the world
In and around World
We left London on 1st September to embark on our grown up gap year visiting more than 20 countries in 52 weeks...
First stop - Sydney, to start our 5 week tour of Austrailia. Flying from Heathrow via Singapore, we were able to take in 5 feature films, 4 airline meals, 2 security checks and a pair of very smelly feet from our next door neighbour on the flight (but as he was three times the size of Guy, we didn't think it was worth saying anything!). Our jet lag / flight strategy felt like we were putting ourselves through some kind of endurance torture challenge - but it worked! We managed to arrive in Sydney relatively awake and rested at 5am. Our hotel in Darlinghurst has been a great find - relatively basic but boutiquey in decor and a lot nicer than some of the hostels we are likely te be visiting so we are breaking ourselves in nice and easy! No sooner had we arrived than we headed off exploring down through Kings Cross, up to Hyde Park, through the Botanic Gardens and down to the Opera House. The weather was beautiful and balmy (but it was good we made the most of it as it didn't last long!). I have been snap happy with my new swish camera so watch out for those slide slows when we get back! To try and beat the jet lag we came back for a cat nap before heading out in the evening to Woolloomooloo to sample a 'Tiger' pie at Harry's Cafe de Wheels in the harbour side - very tasty!
Thursday saw the weather start to turn. Guy and I had made a pact that if he could go and see a Rugby League game then I could go and see the new born baby gorilla at Tongaro Zoo. Although we are obviously keen to see these animals in the wild, the zoo was incredible. The variety of animals was vast yet they all had amazing, large enclosures. Top 5 animals were - the gorillas, the koalas, the otters, the platypus and the bandicoots! The ferry ride there and back was a great way to take in the bay, the opera house and the bridge that we would be climbing on Saturday. In the evening we visited some of Guy's old haunts from when he lived in Sydney aged 18 and sampled a 'schooner' or two!
Friday was wet and windy but it didn't put us off our trip to Manly. The surfers were in paradise but we were a bit weather-battered. Still, we explored the beach and Cabbage Tree Bay, with some excellent views. We also got to eat the best fish and chips I have ever tasted! But the weather didn't improve and we hid in an internet cafe for a couple of hours before heading back on the ferry to get ready for the Rugby - Roosters vs. Dragons. The weather was wild by this point (who said Oz was sunny?) but the view over Sydney from the stadium was worth getting wet and the game was good too! We couldn't make it too late a night as we had to get up at 3.30am for our dawn Sydney Harbour bridge walk. CNN was promising sun but we weren't holding our breath!
Saturday morning and the weather was verging on a typhoon! What a great day to scale a 136 metre high metal bridge. The website had said they they climb in any weather but electrical storms - how reassuring! By 5am we were strapped up in as much wet weather kit as you can imagine and started our ascent in the dark. The views of the Opera House and the Harbour were INCREDIBLE and it was so worth it. As the day got brighter the weather got worse and as we reached the top the winds had hitspeeds of 70 km per hour!! Still if you're going to climb in bad weather at least make it as dramatic as possible! The experience was amazing and the views over the city and over the bridge were well worth it! Cue lots of cheesy pictures at the top when we reached the summit!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Helen Pattison
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1
Heading North!
Thank you for all your emails. It's brilliant to hear from you all and we'll make sure we reply to you all soon. But in the meantime, you'll be gla... Continue reading »
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2
Finding Nemo
So after our soaking in the rainforest, it was time to visit the biggest living thing on the planet - the Great Barrier Reef. But before we could g... Continue reading »
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3
Travelling down the East Coast
So where were we? Ah yes! We had just left Port Douglas and were starting our travels down the East Coast. To do this we had to use the Greyhound c... Continue reading »
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4
Setting Sail Around the Whitsundays
We arrived in Airlie Beach on Sunday 21st after a long and painful coach trip. It was only meant to take 3 hours but the bus broke down and we were... Continue reading »
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5
Be Dingo Safe!
The 12 hour road trip wasn't as bad as it could have been and we arrived in Hervey Bay at 10am, checking into a really nice hostel and having a muc... Continue reading »
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6
Be Dingo Safe (continued...)
Sorry - bit of a break on the blog. I have realised just how behind I am compared to where we are in the world so will skip through the next couple... Continue reading »
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7
Marvellous Melbourne
OK - things have fallen behind a bit haven't they?! I have already had some complaints that I'm skipping through things too quickly and that my last e... Continue reading » -
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Auckland in the rain!
So after saying a 'g'bye' to Australia, we were heading onto our second country destination - New Zealand. It felt strange and exciting to be getti... Continue reading »
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9
Bay of Islands...with dolphins!
We reached Whangarei at 5pm after a windy (breezy) and windy (curvy) drive and booked into a cute little caravan site near the Whagarei Falls. We h... Continue reading »
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10
A new Maori chief is born
The next day we were back on the road but before we left the Bay of Islands we had to pay a visit to Waitangi. It is the site of the Waitangi Treat... Continue reading »
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11
Where not to go in Matakohe
After the excitement of the Kauri trees we headed off to the Kauri museum in Matakohe. It had had an incredible write up in our Lonely Planet guide... Continue reading »
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12
Lakes and steam
After a brief stop outside Auckland to break up the journey, we headed into the Central North Island towards Rotorua. We decided to take the slight... Continue reading »
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13
Let's go hunt some orc!
What's a hobbit like you doing in a place like this?
There had been big anticipation leading up to Tongariro - both Katie & Simon and Ben... Continue reading »
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14
An unexpected night at Pat and Marlene's
Our plan was to set off early and storm the distance 300km to Wellington right at the bottom of the North Island. We grabbed a coffee in Whanganui and... Continue reading » -
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Wellington - The Windy City
Quick piece of advice. If you're thinking of heading into Wellington with a campervan then think again! Wellington was not Womba friendly! Turns ou... Continue reading »
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16
Walking the Abel Tasman Coastal Path
So here we are in the South Island. Our ferry docked at 10pm so we drove to the nearest campsite to park up the van. Thank god we arrived in the da... Continue reading »
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17
Tea with the fur seals
Back in Womba, we were off on the road again, to drive down the East Coast as far as Christchurch where we'd hook up again with Chris and Heather.... Continue reading »
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18
The best Christchurch hospitality
We had half a day in Christchurch before meeting up with Heather and Chris that evening so we did what can only be described as 'bimbled'. We had a fe... Continue reading » -
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The TransAlpine Railway
Chris dropped us off at the station the next morning to set off on the TransAlpine Railway which joins Christchurch on the East Coast with Greymout... Continue reading »
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20
Doing the Franz Shuffle
It was a crisp blue morning with a bite in the air and we were off to climb the Franz Joseph Glacier! We had just had word on text that Nick was ne... Continue reading »
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21
Climbs, Cameras and Cowboys in Wanaka
The weather had definitely turned the next morning - making us glad we did the glacier climb with blue skies. We had 200km or so to drive to Wanaka... Continue reading »
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22
15,000 feet and falling fast!
Picture the scene. We have pulled into Queenstown, at the bottom of the South Island. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and we are saddle-sore but h... Continue reading » -
23
Gateway to the Fjordlands
Our second day in Queenstown was spent in a blur of internet blogging and picturing loading so I'll skip on to Te Anau...
We took the 2 hour... Continue reading »
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24
Weather Looking Doubtful...
The next morning we found out why it had been so cold...over night it had snowed in Te Anau and across Fjordland. Only two days ago we were sky div... Continue reading »
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25
It's 'Snow' Joke on Kepler
The next morning the snow hadn't gone but the sky had broken into an amazing blue and the Kepler mountains looked very tempting - they seemed to be... Continue reading »
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26
Farewell New Zealand
We returned to Queenstown the next day for our final 3 days in New Zealand. We had lots of things to plan, stuff to buy and books on S.E. Asia to read... Continue reading » -
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4 nights in Bangkok...
After the chilled out Kiwi way of life and English-speaking countries, we were bracing ourselves for a big culture shock and boy did we feel i... Continue reading »
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28
Visiting the Bridge Over the River Kwai
After a slightly shifty taxi ride to the bus terminal, we got our ticket for Kanchanaburi and boarded the bus that would take us to the town made famo... Continue reading » -
29
'Wat' in the World!
We reached Ayutthaya in the afternoon and from the moment we arrived had a good feeling about the town. It was the original capital of Thailand and... Continue reading »
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30
Monkey Magic
Today we were negotiating our first Thai train journey. We had already bought our tickets in Bangkok so when we got to the station we just had to w... Continue reading »
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31
Taking the train - Thai style!
We woke up ready to brace ourselves for a 10 hour train ride up to Thailand's second largest city and Northern capital - Chiang Mai. We had got our... Continue reading »
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32
Chilling in Chiang Mai
The next morning we needed to plan ahead for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Guy had absorbed the whole guide book on the train the day before so we sa... Continue reading »
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33
Eggplants and elephants
Our last two days in Chiang Mai were pretty special. We had boked ourselves on a Thai cookery course at a school owened by the Thai equivalent of G... Continue reading »
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34
The best destination in the world
Our expectation of Luang Prabang was high. After all we had read in our Wanderlust magazine that it had been voted 'best destintation in the world'... Continue reading »
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35
Trekking with The 3 Chickens
Next morning we had planned a trek through the hillsides around Luang Prabang through 3 small villages and ending up at a seven tiered waterfall. Our... Continue reading » -
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Laos meets Lanzarote
We had splashed out and bought VIP bus tickets for our trip down to Vang Vieng, on the advice of our guide book, and thank god we had. Our image of... Continue reading »
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37
Another side to Laos...
As you can imagine we were keen to get out of Vang Vieng...fast. But the VIP bus that we were catching to the capital, Vientiane, wasn't quite fast... Continue reading »
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38
Adventures at Kingfisher Ecolodge
We were leaving Vietiane early the next morning to fly south to Pakse, so got up EVEN earlier to pack. Slight set back when we found out the laundr... Continue reading »
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39
Elephant Training
We woke with the sun and the cockerels at about 6am ready to become Mahouts (elephant drivers) for the day! We tested each other on command words o... Continue reading »
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40
Treking to Ta Ong Village
After our elephant excitement, we got ourselves geared up for a two day, overnight trek to a remote village in the Xe Pian National Park. Our guide fo... Continue reading » -
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Mr Pan's People
We had um-ed and ah-ed about whether to stay on one more day at Kingfisher, but as lovely as it was, it was quite a treat on our budget so we kept... Continue reading »
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42
Buddhas, Blackouts and Mr Bhutty
Unfortunately our first impression of Siem Reap wasn't a great one. We got landed with a grumpy, bullying taxi driver who almost refused to take us... Continue reading »
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43
Getting to Cambodia
It was a bit of a wrench leaving Mr Pan's but we were moving on to our 5th country - Cambodia. To get there, we found out (too late) that we could... Continue reading »
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44
End of Christmas Term reports
Just to take a small break in the blog...we are almost one third of the way through our trip so thought it would be good fun to write end of term repo... Continue reading » -
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Christmas Carols - Laos-style!
Inspired by the sights and sounds of our trip through Laos, we decided to write some South East Asian Christmas Carols - think of us as we sing the... Continue reading »
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46
A city rebuilding itself
After getting more than our fair share of Wats in Siem Reap, we moved South to the capital, Phnom Penh. We took the scenic route via a motor boat a... Continue reading »
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47
A Vietnamese Nativity
The difference in cost between a flight to Ho Chi Ming City and traveling by land was about $980 so naturally we opted to take the bus! We had sort... Continue reading »
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48
Haaaaaaa-ppy Christmas Viet Nam!
How do you recreate Christmas Day morning when you're thousands of miles from home? Well, despite the rude awakening from housekeeping at 8am, we m... Continue reading »
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49
Tunnel rats
Sorry for the gap in blogging but internet access in SE Asia and lots of travelling haven't made it as easy...so where were we?
Well Christma... Continue reading »
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50
A monsoon in Hoi An
The sleeper train was a great experience - not for sleeping mind you, but an experience none the less! We were on opposite bottom bunks and our Vietna... Continue reading » -
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Seeing in 2009
After a surreal Christmas and a washed out Boxing Day we were certainly expecting something different for New Year's Eve! The rain was still falling a... Continue reading » -
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Wet Dogs and Vietnamese Queens
The first day of 2009 was a bit of a write off in more ways than one. Yes, you've guessed it, it was still raining but this time our heads were thu... Continue reading »
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53
A pilgrimage to Uncle Ho
Our sleeper train from Hue took 14 hours and this time we had the top bunks - more fun but less leg room. We were sharing with a middle aged Vietnames... Continue reading » -
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Hong Kong in 36 hours!
We had an early start the next morning to catch our flight to India. Due the slightly unusual route we had chosen to take around the world, we were... Continue reading »
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55
Beware the Delhi touts!
The 6 hour flight to Delhi from Hong Kong felt long and tiring and I was grumbling from my badly chosen flight meal (a chicken sausage!) so we were... Continue reading »
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56
The home of tea and trekking
Our ride back to Delhi airport was so much smoother than our arrival and we had checked in and were boarded in an impressively short time. We were fly... Continue reading » -
57
Trekking the Singalia Range
We were picked up by our car at 6.30am to make the one hour driver over to Maneybhanjang - the starting point of our 5 day trek. We had tried to pa... Continue reading »
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58
A taste of Bengal
After our trek we took advantage of the welcoming atmosphere of the Dekeling Guesthouse. The weather had become more foggy during the mornings so w... Continue reading »
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59
Hebron Children's Home
Wow - where do I begin about our experience at Hebron. It's been over a month now since I've blogged and I deliberately wanted to wait to write thi... Continue reading »
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60
Our last week at Hebron
Keen to share in the Hebron experience, Guy's mum and dad, Mark and Suzie, came over to join us for the final week. They demonstrated remarkable po... Continue reading »
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61
Tracing the Pattison roots
Leaving Hebron felt hard, especially because of how attached we had become to the children, Sagar and his family. But in some way, we also felt rea... Continue reading »
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62
Old Delhi, New Delhi and Agra
Our journey to Delhi gave Mark and Suzie the chance to get a taste of an Indian train journey. We had booked a carriage in 1st class but ended up i... Continue reading »
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63
Take me down to Panama City...
Wow...sorry for the long gap in blogging. We´re back online now and ready to update you all! Where were we? We were saying our goodbyes to De... Continue reading »
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64
Shelter from the storm
We flew up to the coast on what was by far the smallest plane to date. It almost felt like we should be sticking our feet through the bottom and pe... Continue reading »
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65
Do you know the way...?
We knew the way to San Jose, we just didn´t appreciate how many changes of transport it would take to get there! We had planned to cross the... Continue reading »
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66
Let the nature point contest begin!
So the next morning we said "adios" to San Jose, all a little pleased to be moving on and excited to see what our next detination would be like. Th... Continue reading »
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67
Cool waterfalls and hot springs
Just as our journey in to Tortuguero had been long, so the journey out would be just as fiddly. First we had to get mum back in a boat, and this on... Continue reading »
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68
The hunt for the resplendent quetzal
The jeep-boat-jeep journey to Monteverde sounded straight forward enough. In fact the first two legs of the journey were seamless with more great v... Continue reading »
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69
Long-tailed manakins and even longer zip lines
With 4 days left in Costa Rica before we flew, we um-ed and ah-ed about what we should do and whether we should head west to the Pacific Coast for... Continue reading »
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70
Lima: a revelation
As we landed in Lima, we were preparing ourselves for the worst. By all accounts it was a tough, rough city with not much going for it. We had plan... Continue reading »
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71
The attack of the mosquitoes
Iquitos is in the very north of Peru, bordering Colombia and Brazil and is only accessible by plane. In fact it is the largest city in the world th... Continue reading »
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72
Aclimatizing in Arequipa
Our flight from Iquitos to Lima was delayed so we had the hassle and stress of missing our connecting flight to Arequipa, but we were put on the ne... Continue reading »
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73
The Plight of the Condor
Most travellers to Colca Canyon take a tour with a travel company, but we had read that it was just as easy and cheaper to do a DIY trek. So armed... Continue reading »
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74
The knitting men of Isla Taquile
Our bus ride from Arequipa to Lake Titicaca wasn´t very pleasant. Firstly the morning papers were covered in pictures of a bus crash on the r... Continue reading »
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75
Sightseeing our way to Cusco
Rather than catch the public bus to Cusco, Guy treated us to a ride on the Inka Express! And before you ask, it´s a VIP bus service that visi... Continue reading »
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76
Class A drugs at 4,000 metres
So...we were ready to embark on our 4 day trek to Machu Picchu, the most famous sight in Peru and one of the wonders of the world. We had tried in... Continue reading »
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77
Inca kings and celebrity gods
The 4am wake up call came too soon and, bleary eyed, all 19 of us met downstairs to try and eat a giant buffet breakfast when it felt like it was o... Continue reading »
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78
Cusco postscript
After the visit to Macchu Picchu, we had a long journey back to Cusco on the train and the most winding bus journey. On the journey Guy got sick an... Continue reading »
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79
Hanging out with Evita and Wolverine
Traveling from Peru to Argentina was always going to be a long day, but the insane systems at Lima airport made it one of the most stressful travel... Continue reading »
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80
The mighty glacier
Our plan was to fly south to El Calafate and then work our way up Argentina by bus. It wasn´t really until we landed amongst the desolat... Continue reading »
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81
Retracing David Attenborough´s footsteps
Our plan to travel by bus back up to Buenos Aires was going to take some feat of endurance. The buses themselves were pretty luxurious compared to... Continue reading »
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82
Cold walks in the lake district
We were starting to get use to the buses and, despite the iritating and over-exaggerated yawns coming from the man next to Guy, our journey west to... Continue reading »
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83
Hanging out with the over 70s
Well, what can I say about San Rafael? It was probably the single most disappointing place we´ve visited so far. We had read in our guide boo... Continue reading »
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84
Firecrackers at the footie
So we had made it back to Buenos Aires and survived over 70 hours of bus travel, watched 8 on-board movies, eaten 4 coach dinners off plastic trays... Continue reading »
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85
Pink Dalmatians and kamikaze swallows
Our final leg in Argentina was a trip north to Iguazu Falls, one of the world's biggest waterfalls and twice as big Niagara. Once again, we had to... Continue reading »
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86
Back to Blighty
Our crazy round the world ticket from Trailfinders meant that it was impossible for us to include both South America and Africa on the same itinera... Continue reading »
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87
Where is Table Mountain?
I won't bore you with all the details but safe to say we had a pretty torturous journey to Cape Town. We were going via Dubai which meant a 9 hour... Continue reading »
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88
Where's Rod Steiger when you need him?
I woke asking myself if today would be the day I would conquor my irrational fear of sharks - all thanks to watching Jaws aged 5!Continue reading »
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89
The tip of Africa
Our last full day in Cape Town was set to be a lot less dramatic than the day before...although just as interesting and beautiful. We had booked ou... Continue reading »
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90
Rock and rail
Today was our 3 year wedding anninversary and we started it in style - at the top of the awesome Table Mountain. Since our arrival in Cape Town we... Continue reading »
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91
Understanding Apartheid
As we pulled into the crazy chaos that was Joburg train station, we got our first glimpse of what the city might hold for us. It was full of hundre... Continue reading »
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92
Khanya Family Centre
At 9am on Monday morning we were met by lovely, friendly Thembi - head of the Khanya Family Centre that she set up 15 years ago with Mamolefe and T... Continue reading »
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93
Lefika, The Art Therapy Centre
After hanging out in Melville, we took a cab (thanks to Simon's Taxis!) over to the house of Hayley and Gary Berman in Parkview. Hayley is the... Continue reading »
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94
Baboons in the mist
To get into training for climbing Mt Kilimanjaro on 8th August, we had found a 5 day walk through the northern Drakensburg mountain. We hoped it wo... Continue reading »
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95
We've got a plan
At 6am on Sunday morning, we met Daryl outside our hostel gate. The temperature was freezing as we clambered into Priscilla, Queen of the Desert -... Continue reading »
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96
It's easy in Africa!
After our incredible Okavanga Delta trip, we arrived back to the clamour and the noise of the poling station and said our goodbyes t... Continue reading »
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97
The Smoke That Thunders
After amazing trip through Botswana we said goodbye to Daryl, but not before he'd lined up our Zambia border crossing with his new mate, Jerimiah '... Continue reading »
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98
The kindness of strangers
The 7am bus from Livingstone to Lusaka came with the usual hustle and bustle. People were getting on and off, fruit sellers were pitching their war... Continue reading »
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99
In and out of Dar like a dose of salts
We had booked a flight to Dar Es Salaam with Zambezi Airways (the alternative was a 2 week bus or train journey). When we arrived at the airport an... Continue reading »
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100
Moshi, sponsored by Coca Cola
At 6am, we gratefully left our dingy room and met Riz downstairs. He had offered to drive us to the bus station (for a price) and help us buy our t... Continue reading »
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101
Good Luck and good spotting in the Serengeti
We arrived at Springlands Hotel early, ready for our safari trip and managed to score a free breakfast. Our guide would be briefing... Continue reading »
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