Hollie and Richard's Round the World Extravaganza!
In and around World
After 3 years planning it is finally time for us to begin our adventure! The tickets are bought, the money saved and the imodium supplies stocked as we prepare to 'trot' the world! Stay tuned and watch our adventures unfold!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Hollie & Richard
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1
Hong Kong!
After a long, sleepless, bumpy, but very exciting flight we were greeted by Hong Kong quicker than expected. We descended through thick mist... Continue reading »
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2
Hong Kong Part 2
We woke up for our final full day in Hong Kong with a great big list of things to do, and little hope of achieving them all! I fetched our no... Continue reading »
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3
Bangkok
Lady, Gentleman and Ladyboy! We got in to Bangkok airport at about 6.30 p.m. and went straight to a tourist information place to get a f... Continue reading »
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4
Trip to Kanchanaburi
We were itching to get out of Bangkok and booked a 2 day, 1 night excursion to the floating market in Damnoen Saduak, the bridge on the River Kwai... Continue reading »
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5
Chiang Mai
We stocked up with a bag of crisps and a pack of cookies for the night train. Little did we know that we would get a 4 course meal and breakfast on... Continue reading »
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6
Pai
The road from Chiang Mai to Pai is about 136km long, has 796 curves, takes 4 hours by bus and costs 80 Baht, or so a T shirt tells us upon our arri... Continue reading »
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7
Laos
The bus picked us up about an hour late, apparently after a detour to the wrong guesthouse, but by then it had picked everyone else up so we didn't... Continue reading »
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8
Back to Bangkok
Our 3 days in Bangkok at the start of our Thailand trip were more than enough for us but we had enough reason to go back for a day! Firstly, we ne... Continue reading »
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9
Cambodia 1
Our one-day stop in Bangkok was actually more like 2 because we had a late flight to Phnom Penh (Cambodian Capital) but we just spent most of the d... Continue reading »
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10
Cambodia 2
With Angkor and Siem Reap ticked off our list it was time to head back to Phnom Penh! This time we got a 'free' transfer to the bus stat... Continue reading »
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11
Bangkok... again!
We came back to Bangkok for the 3rd and final time before heading to the South Islands and weren’t too annoyed to be there! We saved a c... Continue reading »
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12
Koh Phangan
We caught the 19.30 night train down from Bangkok to Surat Thani to make our way to Koh Phangan. We arrived about an hour beforehan... Continue reading »
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13
Koh Tao
The boat journey from Koh Phangan to Koh Tao was a fairly short air conditioned trip and delivered up to a pier-full of taxi drivers and diving tou... Continue reading »
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14
Koh Samui
Our ferry to Koh Samui was one of those catamarans with a dodgy rolling feel even when you were stationary and came complete with a guy h... Continue reading »
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15
Krabi
After a couple of weeks in the Gulf of Thailand, it was time to try out the West coast, so we caught a boat, bus, minibus and a pick-up across... Continue reading »
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16
Koh Phi Phi
We arrived in Koh Phi Phi on the ferry and were amazed by the colour of the water, which started as a really deep navy blue and ran into... Continue reading »
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17
Back to Krabi!
After Koh Phi Phi, we headed back to Krabi again! We could have gone to Phuket, but we'd not heard good reviews and we liked Ao Nang! We decided to... Continue reading »
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18
Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
After a one night stopover in Phuket Town (a boring and empty place) we made our way to the airport and boarded our first-leg flight to Kuala Lumpu... Continue reading »
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19
Singapore
We arrived at Changi Airport in the mid-afternoon and had a short scare when Richard's bag failed to appear on the luggage belt for 10 minutes... Continue reading »
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20
Cairns
Our overnight flight from Singapore was made extra tiring by an added stop off in Darwin at 4am. We got to Cairns at around 8 o'clock and cau... Continue reading »
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21
Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands
The drive from Ingham to Airlie Beach wasn't too long, but we didn't arrive until late afternoon after making a few scenic stops and a small detour... Continue reading »
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22
Hervey Bay and Fraser Island
We set off just before the sunrise from Sarina and managed to drive 500km by lunchtime, which made it possible to take a detour to T... Continue reading »
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23
Australia Zoo and Brisbane
We set off fairly early for the 3 hour drive to Beerwah, the home of Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo! We arrived just in time for the elephant fe... Continue reading »
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24
Byron Bay
We easily navigated our way out of Brisbane with instructions from Gary and headed down to the Gold Coast. We stopped at Surfer's Paradise fo... Continue reading »
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25
Coffs Harbour
We arrived in Coffs Harbour just after dusk and drove around in search of a campsite that was close to the town centre. We ended up doing a m... Continue reading »
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26
Hunter Valley
We got to Cessnock in the Lower Hunter Valley in the middle of the afternoon and drove straight to the Visitor Information Centre to figure out whi... Continue reading »
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27
Sydney
The last leg of our drive was a fairly short 2 hour trip into the heart of Sydney. We stopped in the outskirts and put in just enough fuel to make... Continue reading »
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28
Melbourne
We arrived in Melbourne at Qantas and Jetstar's Avalon Airport, which is a million miles out of the city! 45 minutes of driving thro... Continue reading »
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29
Christchurch
We got in to Christchurch airport at 11.30pm and set about our usual routine of finding a cash machine and taking every tourist leaflet we can find... Continue reading »
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30
Kaikoura
Our first destination on the Magic Bus was Kaikoura, a small coastal town a few hours North of Christchurch. When we arrived our driver Scott... Continue reading »
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31
Nelson
Our bus journey to Nelson followed the coast up to Picton to drop off the people heading to the North Island. Just outside of Kaikoura we sto... Continue reading »
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32
Greymouth
We arrived in a gloomy Greymouth in the late afternoon, but unlike our stop in Nelson we had plans for the evening! We checked in to Neptune... Continue reading »
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33
Franz Josef
We set off early from Greymouth, happy that we'd seen everything the place had to offer. (The brewery!) On the way we stopped at Hokiti... Continue reading »
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34
Queenstown
We had our earliest start and longest drive so far to reach Queenstown. We passed the Fox Glacier and then stopped at Lake Matheson, which ga... Continue reading »
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35
Dunedin
We arrived in Dunedin in the early afternoon and had just enough time to dump our bags at Central Backpackers and catch the Elm Wildlife Tour... Continue reading »
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36
Lake Tekapo
Our first stop on our way to Lake Tekapo was Baldwin Street, which is the World's steepest street! We wandered halfway up it to the steepest... Continue reading »
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37
Heading North: Christchurch to Picton
To get up to the North Island we had to repeat a bit of the journey, spending another night in Christchurch and Kaikoura. We were happy that... Continue reading »
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38
Wellington
We arrived in Wellington and as we were disembarking we got chatting to the staff who confirmed that the ship was an old P&O Ferry! As we... Continue reading »
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39
Napier
On our way to Napier we stopped off at a wildlife centre where we had an opportunity to see a real live Kiwi! They are strange creatures that... Continue reading »
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40
Taupo
We arrived fairly early on a miserable day in Taupo, knowing only too well that there would be almost no chance of doing a skydive in the next... Continue reading »
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