Dave and Lizs Blog on RealTravel

Laos journal: Laos

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 03:31:57 GMT

The least explored region of South East Asia, but no idea why... A fantastic spot... We started at the UNESCO heritage city of Laung Prabang, where we got our fill of fine food, beer lao and crystal clear waterfalls.

We then hit the mountainopus road to Vang Veng, the tubing capital of Asia,- check out the photos. This place could also be called County Vang Veng for the amount of Irish we meet there We finished our stay with a few days in the Capital Vientienne.

Sydney journal: OZ Videos

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:11:49 GMT

Check out our Australia videos...

Sydney - New Years Evehttp://www.youtube .com/watch?v=TLbT2KOrbAE

Oz - East Coast 2006http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=rajQ-gXVzro

Sydney - 06-07http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=yC_BUhxocWs

Keep an eye on tis page, there are more to come :-)

Perth journal: Perth

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:00:57 GMT

We survived the 5000km drive across Australia and managed to avoid the kangaroos and Emus on the Nullabor...Had a fantastic few nights camping in the bush with our convo campions John and Gill....

Check out the photos of our adventure...

Sydney journal: Sydney & Uluru

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:57:15 GMT

Life has been busy the past while. We had Claire visiting for just over two weeks so we were doing all the sights and also managed to fly to Ayers Rock for a fun packed weekend and great sights - For those of you that arent aware of Ayers Rock, its a MASSIVE rock in the middle of the desert :-)

Paddys day was great, we started with a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and needless to say ended in a few Irish pubs drinking and singing to our hearts content!

Happy Paddys Day everyone!!

Byron Bay journal: Byron Bay

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:56:01 GMT

Well we arrived in the surfing capital of oz full of enthusiasm and we werent disappointed. Off we set on our two day surfing trip and wow we are addicted...time to boast...we both stood on our first wave!

Sydney journal: Sydney - Bondi Beach

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:55:32 GMT

Life is good :-)

got the appt on Bondi Beach and beginning to live the Sydney life style....breakfast and swim in Bondi, drinks and food by the harbour bridge and Oprea house...

Surfboard arriving with the next pay cheque!!

Sydney journal: Sydney

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:54:49 GMT

All great here in Sydney so we have just attached a few photos...Weather is still lovely and we are totally soaking up the Ozzie life style of swimming in the sea, having breakfast and dinner out and going for a relaxing afternoon coffee....

Sydney journal: Sydney

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:49:22 GMT

The month of March definitely had a Family/Friends tone to it. The Frawley family came for three weeks in the sun, soaking up the Bondi beach atmosphere, Sydney harbour, Blue mountains and of course a trip to Home and Away's famous "Summer Bay", Unfortunately no sign of the tV crew though..!

Orla even gave the surfing a go, and took to it like a duck to water.. After a great three weeks we were sad to see them go.

We also caught up with Liz's aunt who arrived to see her two sons David and John and, Roisin paid her last visit to us in Bondi Beach to celebrate her 30th birthday..!!

Sydney journal: NZ Videos

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:24:59 GMT

We have started creating and uploading videos to youtube, check out the following links....

New Zealand 2006http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=-c9nRlEJ97Q

Sneachta Boarding 2006http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=N1KdLR8XvPo

Heliboarding 2006http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=Us3ooHBmOa4

Liz Sky Divehttp://www.youtube .com/watch?v=i8cFnzGM4Ds

Keep an eye on this page for further links....

Sydney journal: Happy Christmas everybody...

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:19:02 GMT

What can we say...Christmas in Sydney lived up to all expectations :-)

Woke up to presents from Santa, then made the mad early morning rush to attend the live RTE mass from Sydney where we believe we were spotted a few times by family back home, we then cooled down with a swim in Bondi beach and finsihed the day off with a lovely roasted christmas dinner.

The next few days were just as busy as we watched the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race at Sydney Harbour, attended the Randwick horse racing where we managed to win a few dollars and went to the moonlight cinema and not to ...

Sydney journal: Sydney

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 19:20:02 GMT

Well we are back to the cosmopolitian world of city life and where better to live it again then Sydney!!

We hit Sydney and it was straight to work so we had little time to go house hunting so Nicola and Owen kindly put us up in their place for a few weeks.

The first few weeks were spent sight seeing and house hunting and we can not forget to mention seeing U2 play...the four Dublin lads put on a fantastic show in the Olympic stadium..

Brisbane journal: Brisbane & Australian Zoo

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 18:23:07 GMT

On our way to Brisbane we popped into the late Steve Irwin’s Australian Zoo. Since he had just passed away a month previous the place was covered in tributes to the crocodile hunter. We spent the day walking around and looking at Australian animals and even got to see one of Steve’s famous crocodile shows….and CRIKEY was it scarey!

We then headed to Brisbane where we caught up with Clodagh - a friend from Cork - and hit the bright lights of Brisbane for the night. Next morning we got up early and had breakfast in Surfers Paradise, here we were quite surprised to see lots of skyscrapers ...

Hervey Bay journal: Fraser Island

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 03:18:49 GMT

Back on dry land we descended down the coast camping on the beach at the timeless surfing beach towns of Bundaberg and Town of 1770 – (where captin Cook first landed.). Couple of days of camping on the beach and it was off to Harvey Bay last spot before Fraser.

Fraser Island - 4 wheel driving on the biggest sand island in the world ….. what a laugh. We toured the 180 kilometre long island in a rented with the Toyota land cruiser.

Weighing in at about 2 ton with all 11 of its passengers it’s a miracle our 4 wheel drive stayed afloat on the soft sand. Must have been the drivers ...

Airlie Beach journal: WhitSundays

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:29:16 GMT

Well we eventually managed to leave Cairns and head south. One of our first stops was Magnetic Island, here we felt as if we were on Paradise as our hostel had its own private beach and the rooms were huts on stilts with the water lapping beneath them.

After this relaxation we headed to the famous Whitsunday Islands and went sailing on a racing yacht for three days. Here we watched the sunset, and drank under the stars. We also managed to get a dive in and saw a few more turtles, fish and coral - but we are still waiting to find nemo!

Cairns journal: Scuba Diving

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:20:13 GMT

When in Rome do as the Romans do...So while in Cairns we participated in the local sporting activity...Diving in the Great Barrier Reef! So back to school we went for two days (tough after three months holiday!!) and three days on a boat diving to our hearts content on the Great Barrier Reef....sweet..!

Most memorible moments from the boat:The CoralThe FishNight diveand of course the 5am wake up call for that early morning dive..!

Cairns journal: Cairns

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 02:14:18 GMT

Carins

Touch down on aussie soil, it was 11 o clock at night and roasting , with a quick detour to the hostel to drop off our bags, we were just to time to watch the Hurling All Ireland. But unfortunately we all know how that worked out nevertheless there was great atmosphere in Cairns famous PJ OBriens for the game.

After a few days to recover from the flights it was time to buy ourselves another Car.the “Enterprise 2”, well nearly, a 15 year old Holden Commodore station wagon. With a 3.9 V6 litre engine and plenty of room to sleep in the back, it was time to start travelling ...

Auckland journal: Auckland

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 02:00:17 GMT

Still on a high from our sky dive we decided to continue been adrenaline junkies and hit the park to go mountain biking where the world championships were held the previous week! Talk about saddle sore we were in pain for days…!

That afternoon to calm down a bit we visited the thermal springs of Roturua. When we got over the smell of sulphur from this town we admired the hot and mud pools as well as the geysers!

Our last days in NZ were spent sadly selling our amazing automobileeeee and exploring the vibrant city of Auckland!

Lake Taupo journal: Sky Diving

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 01:43:59 GMT

As we were nearing the end of our NZ trip we decided to conquer our fear and jump 12,000 feet out of a plane…! We hit Lake Taupo on a sunny evening and just before sunset we freefell 7000 feet and spent the remaining 5000 feet admiring the amazing view of NZ from the sky…..what a buzz…..a skydive must be done!....and beware many of you will have to sit through our dvd when we get home!

Fox Glacier journal: Fox Glacier

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 01:23:10 GMT

We left Queenstown a little sad and headed up North to the Fox Glacier. Here we got our first experience of a rainforest and got to walk one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world! Dressed in our waterproof gear and spikey boots we hiked, crawled and slide through tunnels of this massive mound of ice which is an amazing 13.5 KM long!

As we continued our trip to the tip of the South Island we found ourselves in search of a waterfall in Abel Tasmin National Park, little did we know that to get to this waterfall we would find ourselves crossing a long, narrow rickety bridge!

Queenstown journal: Birthday Boy

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 23:10:28 GMT

Queenstown what a place to have a birthday..

Started the day with a trip to the famous Cardrona Snow-park, were the worlds elite snowboarders and ski’s practice their jumps during the Northern Hemisphere off season.

I didn’t quite go for the 30 meter jumps these boyz pulled off with ease, but I did have a fair old go at the half pipe and few of the smaller jumps.

Pumping with adrenalin I decided I was going to do a high jump of my own and headed to the Kawaru bridge to join the growing list of crazy people who have done the world original bungy jump .

A little bit of a ...

Queenstown journal: Cornet Peak

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:55:15 GMT

We headed up to Cornet Peak for our last day of snowboarding full of excitement and enthusiasm, but our hopes of an amazing day of snowboarding were soon dashed as we got caught in one of Queenstown’s big snow storms. There we were at the top of the M1 to find that visibility was only a couple of feet and with Dave’s goggles completely fogged up and the front of Liz’s frozen over we had no idea how we were going to make it down the slope!......Needless to say we are here to tell the tale and thankfully made it down the slope with only a few bruises on the legs and icicles on the eyelashes!!!

Dunedin journal: Weekend Trip

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:44:23 GMT

We headed away east for a drinking weekend with some of our friends from Queenstown. After a scenic drive across the South Island we reached a sunny Dunedin or as we named it for the weekend – FUNedin! .Dunedin is quite a big city and a major shock to our system after living in Queenstown - we had seen our first set of traffic lights in a month! After we got used to the urbaneness again we hit the pubs and had a fantastic weekend

Queenstown journal: Heli-boarding

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:36:00 GMT

I definitely didn’t read the fine print when I signed up for this…. Coaxed into a day on 2 feet of powder snow I signed up for a full day of Heli-boarding.

I was expecting a lift in a helicopter to a remote area of the mountain range where would snowboard down our own fresh powder track. I got a little bit of a shock when the helicopter literally landed on the top of the mountain each time. I an not exactagerating when I say the helicopter landed on literally 5 meter wide mountain ridge, The experience of a life time was the helicopter getting out of the helicopter as it hovered on the ...

Milford Sound journal: Milford Sound

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:21:11 GMT

We headed off to Milford Sounds – A World Heritage sight - with two Irish guys for the night. After a long drive it was a bit of a surprise on hearing that we were so in the middle of no where that the hostel we stayed in had no power from 11pm to 7am…!

The next morning we woke up bright and early, and set off in our tour boat to explore the beautiful sounds. Here the mountains drop straight into the ford made rivers, with waterfalls flowing from there sides and too our delight there were dolphins swimming by our boat!

After our boat trip we decided to be adventurous and set off to ...

Queenstown journal: Gold Mining

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:13:02 GMT

The South Island – most notably Queenstown and its villages – is very famous for its gold. In the mid 1800’s the European and Chinese settled here to mine the abundant supply of gold left by glacial activity and, it remained the primary economic activity in this region till the 1950’s.

We took a trip to a now closed goldmine to see what life was like for the miners. To our surprise all the machines developed in the 1800’s still worked perfectly and our guide informed us that only 20% of the gold here was actually mined. On hearing this we set out in search of the remainder 80%. As we ...

Queenstown journal: The Moooobile

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 22:07:16 GMT

The Enterprise. – so called after all the gizmos and lights inside the car.

It would not be fair to not mention our transport for our adventures in NZ. A very impressive 15 year old Mitsubishi sigma, has travelled NZ famous dirt track and steep icy mountain roads in pure comfort and style.

While an innocent enough car on the outside, Under the bonnet it hosts a 3 litter V6 engine coupled with a four wheel drive which makes it an incredible drive.

The lush interior is complete with a surround sound stereo system as well as air conditioning - ideal for warming up after a day ...

Queenstown journal: Wine Tasting

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 02:13:08 GMT

After a few long busy days on the slopes we decided to culture ourselves with some wine tasting. We have spent too many nights over the past few years not knowing what we were drinking so we believed it was time to become wine connoisseurs in one of the finest countries to produce the beloved vino!

We visited four vineyards throughout the day with a cheese lunch and got to sample many varieties of NZ wine. The most famous from this Otago region in the

NZ are the white Reisling and the red Pinot Noir. Of which we are now firm fans.

As we left our tour a bit merry, we decided ...

Queenstown journal: Our new home

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 01:51:26 GMT

Sandwiched between Lake Wakatipu and the towering snow-covered mountains of the NZ Southern Alps.

Looks as good a place as any to chill for a while, so here we are making the most of the three local ski fields, nightlife and adventure activities that Queenstown is so famous for.

Lake Ohau journal: Ski Resort

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 18:12:38 GMT

Enough of the sight seeing it was off for some more serious stuff. We landed at Lake Ohau just in time for the unofficial Irish winter Olympics.

A small isolated sky resort, with buckets of fresh snow, we worked up a few bruises on the slopes before joining the festivities of the unofficial Irish winter Olympics.

The festivities continued into the night at the Lake Ohau lodge down by the lake Ohau where an Irish band based out of Christchurch kept us up all night parting.

Mount Cook journal: Tramping

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 18:05:00 GMT

Fully recharged after our night by the sea it was time to take a trip back up to the mountains. First stop was Mt Cook national park, home of NZ largest mountain. I however preferred the Maori name for it “Aoraki”, which means Cloud Piercer.

We tried a few of the Mt Cook’s famous tramping trails, but to no avail as we had the wrong equipment, a pair of boots and a hoody were not going to do much hiking above the snowline.

So on to Lake Tekapo we went, and got ourselves a nice hostel on the lake fount called Lakefront backpackers lodge. Lake Tekapo is known for its scenic ...

Oamaru journal: Penguin Watching

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:41:31 GMT

After a few bruises from Mt Hutt we took a Lazy day and headed further down the East Coast to Oamaru.

After checking into our hostel we checked out NZ not most happening town, I am sure there is a curfew here at 9:00 because everything closed except for one Pub.

We did however get the opportunity to see the Oamaru world famous blue tipped penguins. They are the world’s smallest penguins standing a whole 30cm tall. The viewing setup did compensate quite well for the penguin size. The viewing area was only 5 meters from where the penguins come out of the water on to the stoney beach. ...

Arthur's Pass journal: View of the Alps

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:35:52 GMT

After Stocking up the Car with Jade from Greymouth. We headed back over the Arthur’s Pass. This is the second Pass over the Southern Alps and one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand. We stopped for a fine cup of coffee at Arthur’s Pass village and enjoyed the view from New Zealand’s highest settlement above sea level.

Its worth being a little wary on the NZ roads, every now and then you share the same one lane bridge as the trains, and then its just a mad dash for it…

Greymouth journal: Jade

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:35:05 GMT

Refreshed after our evening in the thermal pools we headed over Lewis Pass, one of the three pass through the Southern Alps. Which is not that many as the Alps cross 75% of the South Island.

We stopped for Lunch at Greymouth, a small town located on the West coast. On a wander about we happened to visit the “Jade Boulder Museum” and learned a little about this rock called Jade that the Maoris are so crazy about.

It turns out to be one of the strongest stones that Earth has spurted out, falling not to far behind diamonds. Ancient cultures uses these stone for their tools and ...

Metheven journal: Mt Hutt Ski Resort

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:22:15 GMT

After a good nights rest at the Bunkhouse - a lively snowboarder/skier backpacker hostel, located at in a town called Methven at the Base of Mount Hutt - we headed up to the South Islands largest Ski Field.

This was Liz’s first Ski trip of NZ. After a scary drive up numerous hairpin bends of the Mt Hutt dirt track road, we reached the resort. All was forgiven though when we tore into the powdery runs, thanks to a snow storm only a few days previous.

Hanmer Springs journal: Hanmer Springs

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:10:08 GMT

After a strenuous day whale watching we decided to head to Hanmer Springs and relax for the evening in their famous Thermal Springs. We spent quite a few hours soaking in 10 outdoor pools ranging in temperature from about 30-40 getting quite used to our new life of no stresses!!….it was quite comical watching people sprint between the pools as the air temp was a little over Zero degrees ;-)

Kaikoura journal: Whale Watching

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:09:40 GMT

Kaikoura, a nice little spot sandwiched between the Southern Alps Mountains and the South Pacific Sea. Famously known for its beauty and Hill walking (more aptly known here as Tramping). Given that the temperature was about 6oC we opted for another of Kaikoura’s famous offerings, “Whale watching”.

Four of the local Maori’s took us on a three hour cruise of the harbour aboard the “Te AO MARAMA”. They introduced us to five of the local Sperm Whales. the friendlily of which was known as “SaddleBack,” and can be seen posing here in a photo with Liz.

Quite fascinating creatures, the ...

Christchurch journal: Touch down.....

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:09:16 GMT

Christchurch is the capital of the south island of New Zealand and it is where this journey begins.

After meeting Liz off the plane we spent a few days relaxing around the city.

This is very much a summer town, with the winter seasson being very quite.. good place to recover form Jet Lag...!

As Christchurch is the last stop before Antarctica, it has some very good museums of those crazy South pole explorers. A special mention has to go to an Ernest Shackleton (a Kildare man), who was only 96 miles from being the first man to reach the south Pole, but unfortunately had ...

London journal: Every journey has a begining

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 00:31:16 GMT

Where does a journey begin? its hard to say. This one i believe started with the joining of two like minded souls on the 23rd of July 2005.

Skip a few months,

and we have a plan coming together.

To walk upside down. ;-)