DIARY

01.04.09 - And now, the end is near...

We were really excited but a little sceptical about going to Koh Phi Phi. We'd heard that it was beautiful, but far too overcrowded and overdeveloped due to it being famous as the amazing beach paradise in the film 'The Beach'. Phi Phi is made up of two islands: Phi Phi Don, where everyone stays, and Phi Phi Leh, which is protected and uninhabited and which you can only visit by day trips. We departed the ferry with a hundred others, but then jumped in a long-tail boat to another beach to try and escape the majority of the crowds. It worked to an extent, but Long Beach was still pretty busy and on our first night we ended up staying in an overpriced beach bungalow (all the Phi Phi accommodation is double what you would pay elsewhere).

The following morning we explored and found just what we were looking for at a collection of bungalows called Phi Phi Hills. We had to climb a hundred rickety steps up the hillside to reach it (thank god for the bag-pulley system!) and at the top were lovely stilted bungalows overlooking the sea. It was a great place to stay and even better was our discovery of a little wooden sign pointing down a dirt path through the jungle to 'small beach'. Small beach was heaven! Isolated, peaceful, with a perfect view of Phi Phi Leh - we absolutely loved it. That afternoon, armed with snorkel and fins, we chartered a long-tail boat to Phi Phi Leh. From far away it just looks like a beautiful island, but what makes it special is its two hidden lagoons inside. Our first stop was Pileh, which had the clearest pale green water and is one of the most beautiful places we've been. Once inside it you can't see out to sea and are completely enclosed by the limestone cliffs. Maya Bay - the actual 'Beach' beach - was also amazing, and we got to snorkel here and at one other coral bay. The pure amount and variety of fish was incredible. We had hundreds of them swimming around us - we literally couldn't see each other for fish! Puffer fish, clown fish, parrot fish, scorpion fish, lion fish - you name it, we saw it, and were probably nipped by it too (except for the latter two, obviously, which would have killed us).

On one of the days on Phi Phi Tom decided to put his newly acquired diving skills to the test and signed up for two dives around Phi Phi Leh. Not only was he going to be diving in a new place but to add to the difficulty he decided to rent an underwater camera... The first dive was off a set of twin karsts next to Phi Phi Leh. The visibility was great, but he struggled a little because taking photos underwater involves getting very close to the coral (focusing the camera all the time) while hovering in mid-water and controlling your breathing so you stay still. There were so many fish and both hard and soft corals, but the best part was getting to sit on the ocean floor next to a Leopard shark! The second dive was just outside Maya Ba. This was a shallow dive, but again with plenty of wildlife - the highlight being a small Hawksbill turtle chomping on some coral (and well done Tom for getting a decent photo of it)!

We ended up staying four nights on Phi Phi as we loved it so much before catching a boat to Railay, an isthmus, which is supposedly home to the best beach in all of Thailand. Railay is also home to a lot of high-end resorts so we had to walk a fair way to find an affordable one. First impressions were that it was beautiful, but Phi Phi was always going to be a tough act to follow. Railay is also famous for rock climbing as it has great limestone karst formations. We passed on the climbing as our funds are pretty depleted, but did decide to walk up the 'path' to the viewpoint. 'Path' is definitely a generous term - it was basically a vertical hillside with tree roots and ropes to pull yourself up! We got incredibly muddy but it was great fun and the view over the two bays was definitely worth it. We then ventured to the 'best beach' and were a little disappointed. While it had a fantastic solitary limestone island within swimming distance and a cave at the end of it, the tide was in, there were tons of day trip boats and you couldn't move for Japanese groups in lifejackets or big groups sunbathing. We scuttled back to the other side of the island after just a few minutes. However, early the next morning ventured over there again - it was low tide, there was not a soul about, and it really was lovely. We spent a couple of nights in Krabi so we could do our final tour of Ao Phang-nga. This is an area of hundreds of limestone karsts but the highlight is going to 'James Bond' island, which is where they filmed 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. It was very touristy but was great to see the location and have a trip around the karsts and through sea caves.

So, once again we are in the purgatory of Bangkok, this time waiting for our flight back to London this evening. We can't believe that it's been almost eight months since we set off - we've certainly seen some unbelievable places and had a brilliant time. So that's it from us! Until the next time... :)

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

21.03.09 - S+T learn to dive and avoid visa fines

From Bangkok we caught an overnight bus, with a million others, down to Chumporn, where boats depart for the 'party' islands of Ko Samui and Ko Phangan, and also the smaller island of Ko Tao, where most budget travellers learn to dive. We had looked at a few diving schools online as we had heard mixed reports about diving on Ko Tao, and in the end chose Scuba Junction for our Open Water course, who seemed to have no negative reviews. With them we also got heavily discounted accommodation (three quid a night) by means of a basic bungalow in a coconut valley.

That evening we met our instructor, TC, and the rest of our group - Erin and Dan from the USA. We watched a video and were allocated our 'homework' (people say the course is easy but it's 9-6 with two or more hours of homework each night!). The next morning we learnt about our scuba gear, set it all up and went into the shallow waters where we learnt how to use our buddies alternate air source (in case we ran out of air), how to inflate/deflate our BCDs (Buoyancy Control Devices), how to clear our masks underwater, and other such things that you usually take for granted, but that become rather important when you are 18 metres underwater and can't surface quickly! The afternoon consisted of more tests and videos, and we went home pretty tired, but still with two hours homework to finish (no alcohol for us). The second day we spent the morning watching videos for the last time and studying more theory ready for our first open water dives. We got on the boat in the afternoon with 20 other divers and set about scrambling to get our kit set up and ready to 'giant step' into the water. When we got to the dive site, Mango Bay, we jumped in and descended down to 6m and sorted out our buoyancy. After a bit of skills practice we continued onwards to explore the reef. There was quite a lot of marine life and the highlight was a huge school of Fusilier fish, which we were able to swim completely underneath. Back on the boat and we were taken over to our second dive site called 'Japanese Gardens', so called due to the massive amounts of floral-shaped coral in a variety of colours and sizes. The visibility wasn't as good here, but we still saw lots of fish. After a full day we grabbed some dinner and then went back to the bungalow to do our homework and prepare for our final theory exam.

On our last day of the course we took our exam in the morning (we both got 50 out of 50) and then went to do two dives in the afternoon. After a floating and swimming test, we went to 'Japanese Gardens' again to finish off all our practical skills, then the second dive was at 'Twin Rocks' were we went down to 18m and saw lots of colourful fish and even a family of Clown fish (we literally found Nemo). After all this we received our Open Water cards and became certified divers! In the evening we went for dinner and a few beers with TC, Erin and Dan at a rather pricey (but very good) restaurant and then sat chatting on the beach. We were pretty tired after the course so had a couple of days on Ko Tao to relax. It is a lovely island, very laid back and not especially touristy.

We also realised you could do a 'visa run' to Burma from there so instead of heading down to Malaysia we signed up for this. It was a very strange experience as we were taken to a private dock to get our Thai departure stamps then put on a boat to a private island where there is a massive resort called the Andaman Club, full of duty-free shops and a casino. Here we got a Burmese stamp then 20 minutes later we were on the boat back to Thai immigration to get our new stamps to give us visa exclusion for another 15 days. All-in-all it was a very strange day but sorted out all our outstanding paperwork. By the time this was all done it was quite late so we found a cheap room in Ranong before heading down to Khao Lak the next morning. We were a little sceptical as it is a renowned package-holiday area, but we found a great bungalow and the beach is one of the nicest we have seen. The area was badly hit by the tsunami and there are warning signs and evacuation procedures everywhere, and it was so calm that it was hard to believe it even happened. We are now in the famous Phuket, but have stayed away from the over-touristy haunts and are in Kata, which is somewhat quieter. Phuket is alright, but not exactly our favourite place so we will be moving on to Koh Phi Phi tomorrow. Siobhan went horse riding earlier today with Phuket Riding Club. It was a lovely two-hour ride along one of the more rustic beaches with only two other people - although having not ridden in a while she is now a bit achy!

There aren't many photos to accompany this update as we spent much of our time underwater and 1) we don't have an underwater camera, and 2) we were too busy learning how to breathe and stay buoyant! We can't believe we have less than two weeks until we're home...

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

10.03.09 - Ancient Angkor, a record journey and out in the wild

We arrived in Siem Reap quite late as the bus took longer than expected, and were greeted by a little Cambodian man holding a sign saying 'Tom Lillis'. Apparently, guesthouses/bus companies in Phnom Penh sell your name to places in Siem Reap! (And that is the alias we use for ease of spelling!) So, Chan the tuk-tuk driver had bought our name and in return he took us to a nice guesthouse and arranged to take us around the temples the following day for a decent price.

Siem Reap is obviously very touristy due to its proximity to the Angkor temples, but it was really nice. Cambodian curry is very good too! On our first day at Angkor, Chan took us to Angkor Thom, which is home to the famous Bayan temple, the Terrace of Elephants and many other temples. They were so impressive - the stones are so huge and the detail so delicate that you can't believe people built them by hand so long ago. We climbed up the Bayon and then wandered around before our next destination of Ta Prohm. Part of Tomb Raider was filmed here, and it really is an amazing sight - the jungle has begun to take over the ruins and yet it looks as though it was meant to be this way, with roots clasped around pillars and trees standing on doorways. It was very 'other worldy' and we got lots of great photos. From Ta Prohm Chan drove us to the most famous temple, Angkor Wat. We got our first glimpse of the whole structure from a quiet tree-lined avenue at the back, while hundreds of people were around the front. It was also impressive, but restoration work meant that we couldn't walk up it.

The next day we planned to go back to Angkor to see more, but in the morning we went to Tonle Sap, the huge lake in the centre of Cambodia, which is one of the largest fish farms in the world. We chartered a boat and a guide to take us around the lake and show us the floating town that resides on the uppermost part. The town has everything from a dentist to churches and we got to drive around and even visit the school to donate some stationary supplies. One of the highlights for Tom though was the full-sized floating basketball court. He wasn't able to play as some local kids were playing volleyball on the court, but they let him join in. This amused Siobhan very much because the height difference was so huge! That afternoon we headed back to Angkor and visited one more temple - Preah Khan, which was full of little passageways and great to explore - before climbing up to a hill top to watch sunset. It was very pretty and gave us good views over all of Angkor.

Our next challenge was to get from Siem Reap over the Thai/Cambodia border and then to Khao Yai National Park, all in one day. We didn't think we would be able to do it but had to try. We started early with a shared-taxi ride to the border town of Poipet. We got there in two hours (we had predicted three to four) due to some fast driving by the cabbie, even driving on both sides of the road for most of the way and nearly kiling two monks in the process. We pretty much walked straight through both borders (too easily it seems, more on that later) and jumped in a tuk-tuk to the local bus station. Here we caught a six-hour bus to Khorat and then as fast as possible jumped on another bus for a hour and a half to Pak Chong, which was our base for exploring Khao Yai. So it was a manic day but we did it all in record time!

Greenleaf gueshouse was very cheap, and we had heard that it did great park tours, so the next morning ten of us headed out on the back of a truck for wildlife spotting, trekking and more. It was a brilliant day - our guides were fantastic and we got to see hornbills, a giant squirrel, monkeys, deer and a crocodile, and they had a telescope and binoculars, which was really good. The trek wasn't difficult but it was very hot and though the jungle, so Siobhan was happy that we were given 'leech socks' to wear! After the trek we had lunch at an observation tower before heading to a waterfall that was made famous by the film 'The Beach' (it features in the scene where they jump off the top and then find the secret community). It was cool, but it was the dry season so you would kill yourself if you attempted the jump as there wasn't enough water below... so, despite the urges, we just went swimming. From here we went in search of wild elephants and drove around for an hour before stopping at a salt lick where there was a big male elephant! It was great to see, and we got some cool photos from putting out cameras up against the telescope. So we all went back happy.

The next day we caught the bus back to Bangkok (although it was more like a first visit for Siobhan, having been Dengue-ridden the first time!) to sort out bus tickets, stock up on a few things and sort out our 'visa' issue. On crossing the border from Cambodia we discovered that the rules had been changed and where visa exemptions were previously valid for 30 days, if you enter Thailand via a land border it is now only 15 days. We went to the immigration office yesterday to ask about extending it (as we're here for 27 days) but were told that it can only be extended for seven days at a cost of $50 each, and that pretty much our only option is to exit Thailand in 15 days and re-enter. So it looks like we will be spending an hour in Malaysia in order to be able to stay in Thailand! Yes, it makes perfect sense to us as well...

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

02.03.09 - Good Night Vietnam, hello Cambodia

We really liked Hoi An! It's a UNESCO-listed city and is not unlike Luang Prabang in Laos, which we also loved. It was pretty quiet in terms of cars and motorbikes with little streets lined with lantern-filled trees and lots of quaint tailor shops where you can have clothes made. Tom decided he would get some shirts made (ones that might actually fit him in the arms) and also a new pair of smart shoes to replace an old pair at home. He was measured up and in 24 hours he went back for a second fitting for the shirts and the shoes. The shirts were fine, but the shoes had been made too small. No problem though, within four hours another pair was ready and a perfect fit. There were some amazing restaurants near the river and a really nice environment, and we were happy to pretty much just wander around the city stopping for drinks and looking at various bridges and buildings.

Our next journey was an overnight bus ride to the beach resort of Nha Trang. It was a lot better than our previous two - even though we still didn't get much sleep we at least got a bed together that was relatively comfortable :) In Nha Trang we had such a great room - it was really big and, as it was the only room at the very top, had its own massive roof-top terrace! We wanted to go snorkelling but when we learnt that we could do that plus a 'discover scuba' dive for only a little extra money, we booked both!

The next morning we headed out on the boat with a group of already certified divers to one of the dive sites on the islands off the coast. We met our divemaster and he talked us through everything that was going to happen and told us not to be nervous. So Siobhan was first to go in (ladies first of course) and she got all suited up and then attempted to put on the heavy weight belt and the oxygen canister on her back. It was difficult to move with everything on and then she was told to 'simply' walk off the side of the boat straight into the water! It all went well though and within minutes she was underwater and not to be seen for 30 minutes. It can definitely be confusing not being able to talk underwater! The divemaster said after her dive that he had made an extra effort to get Siobhan as close to the coral and fish as possible as he thought by the way she was acting she liked to look at things in detail. She said afterwards that she was just going with the flow and though that he was actually going to scrape her face on the sea bed! Tom was next in and he was also under the water in seconds. He came up smiling away and the divemaster said he was the luckiest person ever as he had witnessed the rare sight of two octopi having sex. We saw loads of different fish and coral and the whole experience was amazing, which has made us even more excited about doing our open water diving certificate in Ko Tao in a few weeks.

Another overnight bus ride - a pretty hair-raising, bumpy one where we thought it was actually driving down steps at one point - took us down to our final destination in Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City (though all the people and signs still call it Saigon). We went to the War Remnants Museum, which was a pretty sobering experience, seeing photos of the dead/deformed victims of the war, as well as the tiger cages they were kept in and the planes and tanks used by the US army. In the afternoon (in the middle of the monsoon!) we visited the Reunification Palace, which was the location where Northern tanks stormed the Palace and the President surrended during the Fall of Saigon. It was quite strange as the rooms were quite clinical and bare, but it was cool to see the control rooms and the President's desk etc. Saigon was really busy and had the same 'can't cross the road' issue but was just so much less agressive and generally more pleasant than Hanoi. All the cheap hotels are down little alleyways, like a whole little backstreet world, and it just confirmed to us than the south is definitely nicer and more hospitable than the north!

From Saigon we organised getting a direct bus to Phnom Penh, which was a great move as they practically did all the border stuff for us - all we needed to do was show our faces at immigration and give the visa money to the bus conductor and that was it! We arrived in Phnom Penh in the afternoon and found a very cheap guesthouse on a lake (they need more space so are building into the lake!) with a great lazy bar/restaurant. Phnom Penh is so different to the Vietnamese cities - we're staying in the main backpacker area out of the centre and it has a definite charm with little streets and self-constructed buildings! This morning we arranged a tuk-tuk tour to the Royal Palace and to the Killing Fields. The Palace was suitably grand, but the highlight was probably seeing a monkey amongst the gold buildings! The Killing Fields was an experience not like anything we've known - it was quite uncomfortable walking around the mass graves of the victims of the Khmer Rouge and seeing the locations where they were tortured. The most distubring 'sight' is a glass tower containing over 8,000 skulls of the victims excavated from the graves. And it was made all the harder by lots of children begging through the fences surrounding it. We are staying in Phnom Penh for one more night before heading to Siem Riep to see the mighty Angkor Wat.

Love to you all, S+T xxxx

24.02.09 - Peaks and troughs

It's amazing how a border can make so much difference! We had a great time in Laos but found the first few days in Vietnam really difficult. This was mainly because it was nearly impossible to avoid being scammed - all in all, Hanoi was a little bit of a nightmare. Things we were subject to included: the taxi taking us to the wrong hotel on purpose and refusing to take us elsewhere. That hotel then pretending to be the one we wanted! People refusaing to give us change and being aggressive. A hotel room costing $12 suddenly becoming $15 when we didn't want to book any tours with them. On top of that, Vietnamese people keep animals in tiny cages, and they eat dog. It was the first time we'd actually felt a culture 'clash' (rather than a culture shock) with the Vietnamese people thinking we are stupid westerners and we feeling that they are rude and treating us like walking wallets.

Anyway, on to what we have been up to! The first thing that hit us when we arrived in Hanoi was the driving. It is mental. There are hundreds of motorbikes, plus lorries and cars all driving wherever they like, pretty much forcing people off the road and using their horn every five seconds! We stayed in the Old Quarter, which is lots of little streets, with people living out on the pavements and loads of different little stores. This means you have to take your chances walking in the road and dodging traffic. We didn't do too much in Hanoi as it was more a portal to get to Halong Bay, but on one night we ventured out to see water puppetry at a theatre. The puppets (such as men, fairies, dragons and lions) dance on water acting out scenes accompanied by a Vietnamese orchestra. It was good entertainment, even if some of the puppets were a little freaky. We booked a three day tour to Halong Bay where we would spend the first night on Cat Ba Island and the second on a junk (Chinese sailing boat with a flat bottom and square sails). A lot of the tours were expensive so we went for a budget one. It was frustrating because the junk was fine, and the hotel on Cat Ba was nice, but the organisation was a complete shambles. Halong Bay itself was really impressive - hundreds of limestone karsts rising out of the ocean, which we cruised around on the junk. We stopped to visit one of the caves (huge and pretty magnificent, but lit up like something out of Disneyland!) before making our way to Cat Ba Island for the evening where we all had dinner together and went for drinks. The following morning we went on a pretty difficult trek up the mountains to a viewpoint to look over the jungle of Cat Ba and the ocean. The final stretch was more like rock climbing! But it was great to get away from it all. In the afternoon a couple we met showed us Cat Ba's beaches as the wife was Vietnamese and knew her way around. (They also took us to a great little place back in Hanoi where you mush fruit and milk to make your own smoothie.) That evening we settled into our cabin aboard the junk and then had dinner and watched as all the other junks lights came on and it seemed like there were hundreds of them all around us. The next morning we went kayaking around the karsts - it was a pretty ricketty kayak, and we weren't sure if it was letting in water when we first got in, but it was fine. We then headed back to Halong city to get our ride back to Hanoi.

Our next stop was Ninh Binh, where we went on another trek through the jungle in Cuc Phuong National Park. It was another big climb, but very remote and we heard lots of animal noises and only saw two other people the entire time. We also visited a monkey sanctuary where they keep rescued gibbons, loris and langurs, and went into the 'cave of prehistoric man' where remains of cavemen had been found. In Ninh Binh we also tried rice wine for the first time - there's nothing wine-like about it, it's lethal! Another overnight bus ride took us from the rainy north to the baking hot south. We arrived in Hue at 7.30am and an hour later were on a day tour of the city. Hue used to be the political capital under the emporers of the Nguyen dynasty and we visited the ancient citadel, some of the emporers' tombs and a pagoda. The tombs were very majestic, especially that of Minh Mang who is buried in a labyrinth behind huge gates with lakes, trees and other beautiful buildings and statues surrounding it. Hue is a nice city - a world away from Hanoi - and we also enjoyed a quick visit to a conical hat and incense-making village before boarding a dragon boat to float down the Perfume River as the sun was setting. Later in the evening we went for a drink (which turned into a bucket or rum and coke...) and chatted and played pool with a Vietnamese student who worked there who taught us some phrases and was very sweet. Hue, plus the scenic journey down to Hoi An, is definitely improving our perception of Vietnam so hopefully we will have a better second week.

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

15.02.09 - 1 motorbike, 3 dolphins, 7 buses and 4,000 islands

From Vientiane we caught local buses down to Ban Na Hin, where we wanted to explore an underground river that runs through a mountain at Kong Lo. A lot of travellers don't seem to venture further south than Vientiane, and we definitely noticed that the areas were less touristy and more rustic. The scenery around Na Hin was amazing - the truck took us high up into the mountains where we could see the Stone Forest below us. It was pretty spectacular and some of the best scenery we've seen in South-East Asia so far.

After a night in the village we decided that the cheapest and, in the end, easiest way to get to the cave was to hire a scooter and ride the 45km there. The idea was simple enough, but Tom had never ridden a scooter before, let alone one with a passenger. So the man from the guesthouse showed him how it all worked and he hopped on and turned the throttle... only to zoom straight into a nearby bungalow. Apparently he was a little too forceful and needed to be gentler with it. After 30 minutes of fixing the chain back on and then 15 minutes of practicing around the town he felt confident he could get us there and back safetly. So off we headed, getting lost many times before finding the right dirt road and then zooming along avoiding random herds of cows or stray dogs. We arrived at Kong Lo cave and hired a boat to take us through the mountain and back. The water was pretty shallow in places, so we had to get out for the boatmen to lift it up small rapids, but it was amazing driving through this underground tunnel all the way through the mountain. At one point, a third of the way through, we stopped at an area that was full of stalagmites and stalagtites all lit up. It was both beautiful and slightly eerie at the same time, as the different coloured lights gave the rock formations a ghostly feel. After returning to the cave entrance we headed back to Na Hin on the scooter and decided to tackle a steep uphill section of the road to a viewpoint overlooking some mountains named the 'Stone Forest' that we had seen briefly the day before. We made it up there, avoiding all the holes in the road, and got some great photos of the view as the sun was setting.

Our next destination was right at the south of Laos where the Mekong fans out to form an area of islets and sand bars known as the 4,000 islands. It was quite a distance, so involved stops in Tha Khaek and Pakse before the final leg to Ban Nakasang where we would catch a boat to the island of Don Khon. The final 'bus' turned out to be another pick-up truck, which was rammed. Siobhan managed to squeeze inside, in between a child being sick and an evil Lao woman spitting tobacco at her, while Tom had to hang off the back for four hours! It wasn't the best journey, but is all part of what makes Laos interesting. We finally made it to Don Khon and found a lovely riverside bungalow and pretty much chilled out/collapsed for that evening. The next morning we hired bikes to explore the island. The only roads are dirt tracks, and there is no electricity or hot water so it was pretty basic, but just what we wanted. We cycled to Tat Somphamit waterfalls, which looked like a flooded canyon, then a local dog led us to a beach where fishing boats departed for 'dolphins' house'. The boatmen took us further out in the 4,000 islands to a rock where we got out and sat waiting to see if the rare Irrawaddy dolphins would appear. There are fewer than 100 of these freshwater dolphins left, and they are notoriously shy. But, within minutes of perching on the rock, we saw three about 100m away from us. It was great just sitting there, in what felt like the middle of nowhere, watching these little dolphins surface every few minutes. We also saw water buffalo grazing and drinking in the river. We then returned to the beach and cycled around a bit more before relaxing in the hammocks on our balcony.

The following day was always going to be a long one. We went back to the mainland and caught a bus back to Pakse to get the overnight bus back to Vientiane. We booked a double bed - yes, they were actual beds, albeit four-feet long ones - and all would have been fine were it not for the fact that our bed was right at the back and was in fact a big mattress for four people, with no room to even sit up and with another four-person bunk on top of it so that it was completely enclosed.The other beds looked fine but this was so claustraphobic. Luckily there were only three of us and not four, but still, 10 hours spent travelling in what felt like a coffin was not ideal transportation! The bus arrived at 7am this morning and we are currently killing time before our flight to Hanoi this afternoon. We decided to cop out of a 30-hour bus journey and take an hour's flight instead. Plus, we'd heard quite a few bad things about land border crossings in Vietnam so thought we'd take the hassle-free option for once. Laos has been so nice, but we are definitely curious to see what the culture shock of Vietnam is like!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

07.02.09 - Lovely Laos

We're definitely back on track with travelling around now and have been busy seeing and doing lots in Laos. So, it turned out that it wasn't quite just a case of 'hopping over' the border. It involved immigration exit stamps, checks, and a free-for-all push to pay for a visa (where we encountered possibly the most annoying couple ever who, over the next few days, thought that they should have right-of-way for everything). Anyhow, having finally crossed the Mekong and officially entered Laos, we proceeded up the hill to await instruction for getting the slow boat. We were greeted by a cheery, optimstic chap who spoke for an eternity of how the slow boat would take ten hours each day, that we would probably be robbed on stopping at the halfway overnight point of Pak Beng where it was overpriced and had no hot water, how, all in all, it was a dreadful option and that it would be far better to upgrade to a private bus - for $15. We read this as an attempt to get more money out of us, boarded the slow boat and hoped for the best.

We were really lucky on the first day - instead of the normal wooden benches our boat (the second of two) had coach seats propped up on the deck, which were really comfortable (and we were so pleased that the rude couple had pushed their way on to the first, uncomfortable, boat!) Six extremely scenic hours later we arrived in Pak Beng where we found a cheap guest house that even had hot water courtesy of a little flame in a box. Here was the place where we also discovered Beer Lao, needless to say that we have rediscovered it lots of time since. Nobody was robbed, and the next day we walked the plank back onto the boat (there were some serious acrobatics involved in getting on/off the boats, sometimes via six other boats, all with our backpacks!) for an eight-hour journey to Luang Prabang. Both boats had wooden seats this time, but it definitely wasn't as bad as we'd imagined and it was so worth it for the views of the mountains, watching the fishermen and seeing the small villages dotted along the river.

We then spent four nights in Luang Prabang and really enjoyed it there. It's a beautiful small town with such a relaxed atmosphere. On the evening we arrived we stumbled across a lovely handicraft market where we bought gifts and some more conservative clothes. The next day we headed out of town to one of the local waterfalls called Tat Kuang Si. The falls were really spectacular with many tiers, each with their own turquoise pool. There is also a large waterfall that you can walk/climb up the side of (Tom nearly burst a lung when he tried it). Where the smaller-tiered waterfalls are there are also designated swimming areas. We went for a dip and had a go on the swing rope, looking rather like a monkey in the process. That evening we climbed up the hundreds of steps to Wat Phu Si to watch the sunset over Luang Prabang and the Mekong river, then went to a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant called Tamarind where we tried their sampling platters of sticky rice with dips, mekong seaweed, dried water buffalo and meang (lettuce parcels with rice and vegetables). We were impressed with the food and also the whole set-up and decided to do the cooking course they offered later in the week. It began with a tour of the local market, which was a bit of an eye-opener. Laos is poorer than Thailand and the range of foods and how they were kept definitely showed this. From there a large tuk-tuk took us all down to Tamarind's lovely outdoor, riverside cooking school. We made the dipping sauces we had tried at the restaurant (tomato and aubergine), followed by steamed fish in banana leaves, fried and grilled stuffed lemongrass and a dessert of purple coconut sticky rice. It was all very good and done in really intentive ways, and it was nice to go back-to-basics and cook over an open fire and make all the sauces and marinades with a mortar and pestle.

One of the days in Luang Prabang we ventured out to Pak Ou cave, which is a sacred cave full of thousands of buddhas brought there by worshippers. We decided not to get there in the usual way (by boat, as we had passed it on the slow boat) and instead got a tuk-tuk down a very long and bumpy dirt-track road to a little village opposite Pak Ou. We wandered blindly through the village being guided by a cute dog that obviously knew the way and got down to the Mekong where a local fisherman took us over to Pak Ou by boat. We made our way around the caves, torch in hand, investigating all the nooks and crannies. We were sad to leave Luang Prabang but were really liking Laos as a country so were excited about our next stop. The Laos people are generally very friendly, especially the children, but we are having a problem with the many stray animals in that Siobhan wants to take so many of them home! Rarely a meal goes by when it is not 'dinner for three/four' with a stray cat or dog.

From Luang Prabang we caught a seven-hour bus through the mountains to Vang Vieng, which is pretty much the complete opposite of Luang Prabang. It's a strange place - a dusty little roadside town with open-sided cafes and bars that constantly show 'Friends' on big-screen TVs. And at night it has a massive party scene - the atmosphere is more like that of a cheap package holiday. We found a comfortable bar called Jaidee's where shots of lao-lao (local whisky) are free and the drinks aren't doubles or triples but 'half a glass', courtesy of Jaidee himself who is quite a character.

The next morning was a rainy one, and we headed out in a tuk-tuk to do the Tham Sang triangle: an elephant cave, 3km-long cave and a water cave. The elephant cave is named after the stalagmite resembling it - it actually wasn't bad. It also houses the rather dubious 'Buddha's footprint' (see photos). From here we walked on to the second cave and were followed by a local man who then guided us around (not out of the goodness of his heart, of course, he wasn't cheap). Lonely Planet states that the cave 'reportedly continues about 3km into the limestone to an underground lake'. This we can confirm! We'd planned just to visit the cave, but in fact ended up caving - through water, on our hands and knees, scrambling up rocks. It was so unexpected and a pretty awesome experience. You definitely wouldn't want your torch to die on this trip, and it would never pass any health and safety regulations, but it made us feel like we were discovering somewhere that not many people see as, without the local guy, we would have assumed that the cave ended after the first 500m. Then he'd squeeze through a rock and climb up and it would stretch out in front of us again. Seeing the various formations and 'playing' the stalagtites like chimes was great, and Tom even had a swim in the underground lake (despite his fear that a monstrous eel might dwell there)!

We are now in the capital, Vientiane, after a 'bus' journey this morning. There were no real local buses from Vang Vieng and the private ones were overpriced, so we jumped in a pick-up truck. For nearly five hours. With about 20 Lao people packed in with us. It was certainly an experience but a bum-numbing and face-whipping one, so we're not sure whether we'd save pennies this way in future!

Lots of love S+T xxxx

30.01.09 - Living in a bamboo world

After a day of wandering round Chiang Mai Tom wanted to do a cooking course (Siobhan still didn't feel great so spent the day chilling). So Tom was picked up early and taken off to the market to see how coconut milk is produced and what all the oils and spices that were to be used that day looked like in raw form. Then he was driven out of the city to an organic farm where the cookery school is based. He was given a tour of the farm and the different types of fruit and vegetables, everything from mangos to lemon grass. The first task was to make a thai curry paste from the raw ingredients - this is a lot harder than it seems without a blender and just a pestle and mortar but, after 10 minutes bashing away, a thick green thai curry paste was produced. Then came the act of making the curry itself, which was very fun and the end result was very tasty. Other dishes in Tom's repitoire now include Tom Yam soup (hot and sour soup), chicken with cashews and spring rolls (which he brought back for Siobhan to sample, she thought they were excellent).

Chaing Mai is famous for its Sunday Walking Street; a market that lines the main road where local hill tribes ands other Thai people sell their handmade food and crafts. It was cool to see, and had loads of pretty lights and things that you'd definitely buy if it was at all possible to carry on your back! The next day, however, we regretted eating the street food as both of us were rather sick. For the entire night and day - it was not pleasant and we were thankful that we had our own bathroom and also that there were bins in the room!

This set us back another day but we eventually caught the local (cheapest) bus to Pai. We were disappointed at first that our allocated seats weren't together, but quickly realised this was for the best as if either of us had had to sit in the window seat we would never have managed - neither of us could fit our legs in the seats! (In fact, Tom has been having problems with the size of most things here - street signs and tarpaulin roofs especially seem to be a problem for anyone over 5 feet.) Despite the lack of room, we quite enjoy taking the cheaper buses (as opposed to private mini vans or VIP coaches) as it gives us more of a 'real' experience travelling with orange-cloth clad monks, numerous bags of rice in the aisle and little old Thai ladies wanting to share your ipod!

Pai was lovely - a small hippie town with a mountain backdrop and laid-back atmosphere. We booked to do bamboo rafting and it was great to get away from the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities and get on to some dirt roads and see lots of greenery. The rafting actually left from an elephant camp where we again got to feed some elephants and also learnt how to get an elephant hug! Most people were doing elephant rides or swims from the camp but we decided that it would be difficult to better our more natural experiences in Zimbabwe and chose a relaxing morning of punting down the river on a bamboo raft. We'd heard of rafts falling apart but ours was fine and the only moments where we really had to do anything was to lie flat whenever we went under a low bridge! After this we returned to the elephant camp where they had hot tubs pumped with water from the local hot springs (we'd been told not to bother with the actual hot springs themselves as they charge a lot and the water is 80 degrees - hotter than the bubbling water at Hot Water Beach in New Zealand - so you can't actually get in), which was nice.

In Pai we stayed in a great little guest house made up of bamboo bungalows. It was really cute, but we said that it did feel a bit like being inside a giant picnic basket! On our last night in Pai we went to a quiz night that we'd seen advertised. It was in a Thai teak house and you had to take your shoes off to enter, but inside it was just like a British pub full of ex-pats! It was actually good fun, but we weren't good enough (or bad enough) to win the prize of whisky. From Pai we ventured east to Chiang Rai where we were hoping to do a day's horse trekking (we'd seen it in the Lonely Planet), but this proved a bit difficult to organise as places were either closed or people didn't know what we were talking about (Siobhan's horse impression just wasn't good enough), so we just stayed one night and moved on to Chiang Khong so that we can hop over the border to Laos tomorrow. We've 'splashed out' ten pounds (!) on a riverside bungalow overlooking the Mekong River, which is really lovely, and after we have crossed the border we'll be spending two days on a slow boat through Laos to get to Luang Prabang.

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

23.01.09 - A shock in Bangkok, but onwards and upwards

We boarded the plane in Cairns and left Australia without any problems. By the time we touched down in Bangkok we had a bit of a problem: Siobhan! She started feeling ill and feverish on the plane and, by the next morning, wasn't even really able to get out of bed. We'd found a guest house off the Khao San Road, which we intended to stay at for two nights before heading north.

It turned out to be 11 days before we moved on as, after a week of trying to rest and beat the fever, muscle aches, headaches and vomiting, we went to the medical clinic and the hospital, where blood tests revealed that Siobhan had caught Dengue fever. Dengue is a nasty fever (known as 'breakbone' fever) that is passed on by mosquitoes (the spawn of Satan, death to them all!) which, as well as the aforementioned symptoms, can cause haemorrhaging and liver disease - not exactly the ideal start to Thailand! The immediate concern was that she was so dehydrated, so had to be put on an intravenous drip to get some fluids in. The other basic instructions were complete rest and to try not to fall over (!) because of the risk of internal bleeding. There was even a sign on the room door the whole time stating 'bleeding precaution' (Tom wanted to put this around Siobhan's neck as a warning to others.) The staff at Bangkok International Hospital were great and luckily our insurance covered it all. The only complaint has to be the hospital pyjamas - they wrapped around so many times it was difficult to find yourself under all the material! That and the room was on the 16th floor and we couldn't believe the smog we could see out of the (locked - guess it makes sense!) balcony door. Siobhan ended up in there for five days before blood tests showed that things (platelets, white cells, liver function) were improving and she was finally allowed to leave.While Siobhan was ill in bed, Tom was either sat/asleep next to her in a chair. He did make one trip out to see the Grand Palace, which houses the emerald Buddha and some amazing statues and wall paintings, and Wat Pho, which has a giant reclining Buddha.

We had gotten really itchy feet so two days later, with Tom carrying both rucksacks, we caught the train north to Ayuthaya. The train was a typical local train and it was nice to look out the window and see some greenery. We got to Ayuthaya and took a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled little van, a great way to travel - see photo) to a guest house called Baan Lotus. The guesthouse was a really nice traditional Thai teak house with a very nice little old lady running it. We headed to some of the ancient ruins in town to see some of the prangs (stone towers) and also in particular a tree that has a Buddha head entwined in the roots. That evening we went on a tuk-tuk tour of all the wats (temples) and then on to the Elephant Kraal where we got to see all of them feeding and were able to feed the babies. This ended with us being covered in dirt from inquisitive trunks. We then went out of town to watch the sunset on the top of a large chedi (cone shaped tower), and drove to some of the ruins in town, which had been lit up at night and looked fantastic. Finally we were dropped at the night markets to have a browse.

The following morning we caught an express train to Phitsanulok, which would be our base for exploring the ancient city of Sukhothai. Phitsanulok was nice with its river and night market. The next day we caught the bus to Sukhothai where we hired bikes to explore the old city ruins and the national park. It was really peaceful cycling around the ruined wats and pretty lily ponds. We have to mention the local 'bus' we got from the old city to the new town: basically a larger tuk-tuk with about 30 school kids hanging off the back! We're now in Chiang Mai, after a six-hour bus ride this morning. It's very much a tourist hub and we're here for three nights. Hope everyone is well and not experiencing too many coughs and colds in the chilly winter months :)

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

07.01.09 - Start of the year, end of the van and mystical lands

From the Whitsundays Coast, our route was to drive 600km or so along the coast before heading inland to the Atherton Tablelands (we love the name, it's like somewhere from Arthurian legends). We stayed at a free site along the way, north of Mission Beach. The road inland was a scenic - albeit windy - one. Our first stops were along the Waterfalls Circuit. Zillie Falls were thunderous as it had rained a lot the previous night, while Millaa Millaa Falls were cool because you could pretty much stand under them. The next stop wasn't planned, but how could we not stop at Hallorans Hill! Tom did get rather excited, which was good as it made it even with Siobhan's excitement at the next stop: The Crystal Caves. These are artifical caves and actually a crystal museum, but you wear a hard hat and venture down into the various cave rooms. There were thousands of crystals, accessed by a maze of secret doors and tiny tooms - it was like Alice in Wonderland/Narnia/National Treasure/The Mummy! The main attraction is a giant 3 metre amethyst crystal, which was so impressive, if a little eery. Unfortunately, for our budget, there was also a shop upstairs... but as well as buying a few things we also got to crack our own geode! Geodes are 44 million year old rocks with various crystals inside, and you could purchase one and use their machine to crack it in two. Siobhan had to hold it while Tom cranked the lever to crack it! Ours is a lovely smoky quartz.

That evening we headed to a caravan park in Cairns to go out for New Year's Eve. We decided against watching the fireworks as there was torrential rain, and spent midnight in the Australian equivalent of O'neills Irish pub. The next morning we felt a little worse for wear and headed up the coast, grabbing breakfast and a rest in the bays just north of Cairns. We visited Port Douglas for the rest of the day, chilling out in the sun drinking smoothies. We were now in the Wet Tropics and decided to go into the deep heart of them and headed for Cape Tribulation. This is where the rainforest meets the reef, and two world heritage areas lie side by side. We got the two-minute cable ferry over a croc-infested river (they refuse to build a bridge, to help preserve the rainforest from tourist development) and then drove around the narrow roads and up to some of the lookouts that gave us beautiful views of the rainforest. We also went and visited a bat sanctuary where we came face to face with a couple of cute flying foxes and learnt about them and other animals and how the wet tropics is such a fragile ecosystem that houses many rare species. Lastly we went to the beach that looks out at Cape Tribulation and also Cow Bay, a serene beach, to sit and have a quiet lunch.

That night was our last in the van. It has been very hot and sticky sleeping in the van the last week so even though we will miss the van we were looking forward to a proper bed. The vans have been great, but four cars/vans and 10,000+ kilometres later we said goodbye to having our own transport the next morning and headed to our hostel in Cairns. We've now been at Tropic Days hostel for a few nights, just relaxing for the first time in a while! It's a great small hostel and the other night they held an Aussie bbq which was tasty, and got a few people to try playing the didgeridoo, which was entertaining. We've also just been sorting ourselves out for the next chapter of our travels, exchanging guide books, cutting down to the basic essentials in preparation for carrying our backpacks far more often, etc.

We fly to Bangkok tomorrow (we've finally received compensation from Qantas by the way - complaining does pay off!) and are looking forward to the cheapness and different culture of South-East Asia. Australia has been really good - it possibly hasn't topped New Zealand overall, but it has some really great places like Sydney, Ayers Rock, the Fraser/Whitsunday Coast and the Great Barrier Reef, so we wouldn't exactly say no to coming back!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

29.12.08 - Santa's not the only one who can fly at Christmas!

We had quite a lot of miles to cover to get up to Airlie Beach for Christmas Eve (to go on the sea plane: part of Siobhan's birthday present), so the only places we really stopped at along the Capricorn Coast were the Capricorn Caves and Pioneer Valley. The Capricorn Caves are a set of above-ground caves that you can walk through via various ladders and rope bridges. It even has its own Cathedral Cave where people can have a full marriage ceremony! Our guide dimmed the lights and played us Silent Night for us to hear the perfect accoustics, and it was lovely.

The reason we stopped at Pioneer Valley was to do an activity called 'forest flying'. This is based in the rainforest in the heart of Pioneer Valley and involves 'flying' on zip wires through the jungle canopy and right through a 20,000-strong colony of fruit bats (flying foxes)! The couple who run it said that it was inspired by the Sean Connery film, Medicine Man. There are two zip lines - one 240m long, which allows you to get up some speed in the open before plateauing into the canopy. The second zip line of 110m took you right through the middle of the bat colony. They just hung there and looked at you hanging there as if to say "what are you doing up here?".

Come Christmas Eve, we were both really excited about the Whitsundays sea plane and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, especially when we found out that we'd been upgraded to go on a longer trip that included stopping at Whitehaven Beach and unlimited champagne! The whole day was absolutely amazing - one of the best we've had. Sea planes are very cool - landing in the water is strange, but much smoother than on land. Whitehaven Beach is beautiful: pure white sands, clear turquoise water and the champange was a much-appreciated extra touch. Flying over the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef was even more amazing, just seeing the different colours and shapes of the reefs was completely magical. It was great to pick out Heart Reef and Hill Inlet from the air. We landed in Hardy Reef where we boarded a small boat to travel further in, before donning our snorkel masks, fins and stinger suits (it's jellyfish season here at the moment so, unattractive as looking like a bright blue giant Smurf was, it was pretty necessary!) and diving in. It was awesome - we saw lots of coral, fish, rays and even a reef shark. It really is a whole underwater world, and is a must-do if you come to Australia! After an hour's snorkelling we returned to the boat, then the plane, for a final view of the reefs and islands from the air. Back on the mainland we checked in to a caravan park and walked into town for a Christmas Eve meal at Shipwrecked restaurant (very good) and went for a few drinks at a bar where a guy was playing covers of a lot of songs by our favourite bands, so that was cool.

On Christmas morning we opened our stockings from Santa and headed to Airlie Beach lagoon for a few hours to relax. Christmas lunch was a bbq of prawns, chicken and salads, accompanied by the lovely pink champagne we bought at the Hunter Valley. Boxing Day was our last at Airlie Beach so we headed back to the lagoon and also to Cedar Creek Falls, which we're sure are very nice if they're not completely dry. In the afternoon we watched the lorikeet birds be fed at the caravan park, and Siobhan got more than she bargained for when one landed on - and peed on - her head!

We then had to pack our bags as for the next two nights we were leaving the van in storage and camping on two of the Whitsunday Islands. The sites we chose were camping at its most basic: no water supply, no bins, a three-sided toilet; you have to be completely self-sufficient. The boat dropped us first at Planton Island, on which the maximum amount of campers at any one time is four. Luckily, as we'd hoped, it was just us! Who needs five-star hotels when you can have your very own island for the night! Planton is one of the smallest islands, with a shingle coral beach and a little camping area in the forest just in from the beach. You'd think that it would be very peaceful.. well, obviously there was no human noise, but the cookaburras and cicadas were unbelievably loud! But it was good - very 'Robinson Crusoe'; we were truly shipwrecked for a day! The following morning the boat collected us and took us to Joe's Beach on the west of Whitsunday Island. This was a slightly larger sandy beach, and was very relaxing until evening when there was the most terrible storm. Everything was magnified because of our surroundings so the lighting was blinding and thunder deafening - we just had to hope the tent would hold out! Thankfully it did, and the weather eased by the morning (or we would have been stranded as the boat wouldn't have been able to get to us...) and we are back on the mainland. Sleeping in the van will seem like a luxury tonight, and we cannot wait to have a shower! Happy New Year to all!

Love, S+T xxxx

22.12.08 - Beaches, big crocs and bumpy rides

Three days until Christmas! We headed up to Byron Bay and had heard really good things about it. To be honest, we were a little disappointed - we went on a saturday so it was extremely busy and a bit rough. Tom went for a surf and we looked around the town before heading up to Burleigh Heads and Surfers Paradise the following day, where we sunbathed at the former, and marvelled at the tackiness of the latter! There are lots of theme parks along the Gold Coast so, as the weather was boiling, we went to Wet 'n' Wild waterpark. It was good fun - our favourite ride being 'Tornado' where two to four of you sit in a dinghy and slide down a 45 degree slope before spinning around in a funnel and being spat out the other end!

Two other attractions that we visited were Lone Pine koala sanctuary and Steve Irwin's famous Australia Zoo. The koala sanctuary was very sweet and we got to hold one - check out the family photo in the gallery! That afternoon we went into Brisbane to check out the city and do a little Christmas shopping for each other. It is said that Brisbane is the most 'liveable' city in Australia and it is nice - we prefer Sydney, but Brisbane is a lot smaller and it just seemed to have a nicer vibe than Melbourne. That night we stayed in the North Moreton Bay area around Redcliffe - a funny old-fashioned place with coastal promenades and place names like Brighton, Margate and Scarborough. The next day it was off to Australia Zoo, home of the late crocodile hunter. The zoo is a wonderful living memory to Steve Irwin and you can see he thatput a lot of time and effort into making it what it is today. We began with a show at the 'crocoseum' - a small arena where daily they have a show which includes elephants being fed, close up snake viewings and amazing bird displays. The star attraction though are the crocs and they give a very good show! The keepers give a demo of how not to approach a croc or what will happen if you walk into their territory and why they sometimes attack people. After this we checked out the rest of the zoo, fed the baby asian elephant, watched the otters chase their live food around their water-hole and saw the tiger cubs playing in the water of their enclosure. It was great to watch them swimming underwater through the glass. We were also lucky enough to track down the cheetah being taken for a walk, he was a massive male cheetah, but not as cute as our little mascot.

Landscape wise, it has largely been coastal views of late, aside from one day when we drove to the Glass House Mountains. The Lonely Planet guide describes the peaks as 'Disney-esque' and like something out of Jurassic Park, and there were some lovely views from the lookouts. Of the beach towns in Queensland, Noosa was our favourite. It was more relaxed and the headland was very picturesque. Tom hired a surf board and we stayed at a nice caravan park and went out for pizza and drinks.

We had booked to do a day tour of Fraser Island, (rather than the join-a-group self-drives a lot of other people do) departing from Rainbow Beach (which is lovely). It was a very up and down day - literally. We were picked up by a rather deadpan guide - think Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and you're not far off, driving a 40-seater 4x4 bus and caught a barge over to the island. Fraser Island is a massive sand island, the biggest in the world, and the tour started with a drive up seventy-five mile beach to the Maheno shipwreck. The drive was very fast and along the shoreline weaving back and forth as the waves came into the beach. The Maheno is a wreck of an old cruiser that is embedded in the beach and is full of holes where the Australian Miltary blew it up for limpit mine practice. From there we headed up to The Pinnacles, which is an outcrop of sand cliffs with multiple layers of different coloured sand. Next we went down to Eli Creek, a freshwater creek that meanders slowly out to the ocean and you can wade or float gently along with the flow. After lunch we headed inland to the rainforest and this is where the bumpy ride really began: for 20km we were continually moving in multiple directions, up, down, swaying side to side until we got to Central Station. Here we saw rare plants and caught sight of - and were also followed by - a wild dingo! Last stop on the tour was Lake Mackenzie, a beautfully clear, freshwater lake (in fact the water is slightly acidic) which has deep blue water and fine white sand. We went for a swim and rubbed ourselves in the sand as this and the water makes your skin and hair soft and clean - much needed when camping in the van.

By chance, we discovered about a place near Rainbow Beach called Tin Can Bay. There isn't much there, but the attraction is that they have wild Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins come into the marina every morning, which you can feed! Dolphins have been doing this since the 1950s, and the community look out for them and care for them if they are injured. One of the dolphins we saw had been attacked by sharks but was doing really well. It was fantastic to stand in the water with them while they swam and played right at our feet, and then we all got to feed one a fish! We probably said this after New Zealand, but dolphins are amazing! We're now heading up the Capricorn Coast to be in Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands for Christmas. It's really hot here now and is proving impossible to keep food (especially milk and meat) fresh in our esky, but everything is still great. We hope that you all have a merry festive season in the cold! Happy Christmas!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

12.12.08 - Round the rock, down the dunes and up a tree

We left the hostel in Sydney to go and stay with Tom's second cousin Hugh and his partner Paul in the suburbs. They were great, taking us out for dinner, cooking for us, and it was great for Tom to catch up with them and for Siobhan to meet them. We went our separate ways one day - while Tom went surfing in Manly, Siobhan caught the bus up to Palm Beach, where Home and Away is filmed. They don't do any organised tours, but it was cool to recognise parts of the beach and to see the Surf Club! No sign of Mr Stewart though. Tom got the ferry to Manly, which was great as you can get a really good view of the Opera House from the water. In Manly, Tom went for another surf lesson and is now catching face waves. He ached a lot though from all the paddling. We met up afterwards in Manly and had a lovely dinner on the beach front. We also visited Bondi Beach and just chilled out watching the surfers and going for lunch before heading into town to buy our accommodation for Ayers Rock. Ayers Rock resort is very expensive so the only affordable option was to buy a tent and camp in the 40 degree heat.

We flew up on Saturday to find that it was pouring with rain! Luckily the bargain tent did a good job. The next (hot and sunny) day, we hired a car and explored The Olgas first - we did the Valley of the winds walk to a viewpoint and another between the rocks. They are pretty impressive in both size and colour. In fact, the whole area is quite amazing - the redness of the earth, and the fact that aside from the resort, there are no other buildings as far as the eye can see. We then walked around Ayers Rock and to one of the water holes before parking a way away to watch it at sunset to see it change colour from an orangey-red to a deep red and then brown. We drove back for dinner (one of the hotels does a good bbq where you cook your own meat/fish and then eat all you can from their Harvester-like salad bar) and entertainment: traditional Aussie style. They guy was pretty much a Rolf Harris impersonator! It provided a few laughs though. After another night in the tent we flew back to Sydney rather pink (the sun) and very itchy (the bugs).

On Tom's birthday we picked up another campervan (a nice one, hurrah! It makes such a difference) and, with Tom driving under instruction, we headed out of Sydney and up the coast past Newcastle to a little place called Nelsons Bay in Port Stephens. We went up to a beach where we were picked up by a big 4x4 for Tom's first present: sandboarding. The Stockton Bight is 30km of huge sand dunes - it's more like the Sahara than Australia. Sandboarding involves sliding down them on a waxed plastic board! It was very hot and having to walk back up the dunes after sliding down was hard work! After sandboarding we headed to the Fisherman's Co-Op to buy some nice seafood to bbq for dinner. Then came Tom's next birthday surprise. We were not camping in the van, but staying in a treehouse in an eco resort. The treehouse is in a koala habitat and is also frequented by possums. We were lucky to see a large male koala sleeping up a tree - he then awoke, scratched himself and looked straight at us in a rather condescending fashion! As for the possums, we had a visit from one on our balcony the first night and were surprised at how big and cute he was. But he later became a little scary when he outstretched both arms and went to leap on Siobhan! The second night we had four visitors including a mum and baby, which was very cute.

The second day was Tom's final birthday surprise, a day wine tasting on a tour of the Hunter Valley. We were picked up early and told that because of the bus being chartered by another group that we had been moved on to a private tour with just the two of us being driven around in a land rover by a guide. This was amazing as our tour guide Lisa knew the area and all the vineyards really well so we got to go to the more specific, smaller vineyards that focused on wine varieties we liked. We started at Petersons who produce 'champagne' (or 'champagnoise', as the French have a copyright on 'champagne'). We tried lots of different wines there, all with bubbles, from traditional champagnoise to sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, and even a sparkling red wine, which was quite strange. After trying all this bubbly we were well on our way and went off to visit three other vineyards before lunch trying lots of white wines, especially liking a new type of wine called 'Verdelho', which was very nice. We then had lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant in one of the wine estates and saw a number of kangaroos lounging in the shade of the trees as we ate. In the afternoon we visited two more vineyards and then finished off the day at the Bluetongue Brewery to taste all their different beers. It was a really amazing day and we were so lucky to get such a personal tour and have such nice weather.

We're now back in the van (now accessorised with tinsel and a star for Christmas) and heading up the east coast. Today we went for a walk in Waterfall Way. It was very wet, but not cold so we wore raincoats with shorts and sandals. Big mistake! We weren't far along when Siobhan started screaming that something was burrowing in to her leg (it really did look like its head had inserted itself, honest!) - she was being attacked by leeches. These little buggers pretty much ruined the walk as they were everywhere. Siobhan freaked out (they are disgusting) and Tom says it's the fastest he's ever seen her walk back to the van! Next stop: Byron Bay!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

02.12.08 - White sands, blue mountains and golden sunshine

We have been busy over the last week or so and covered a lot of miles. After the lakes in Victoria we headed to the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra. Canberra is unlike any other city in that it is more like a group of lots of suburbs as there is greenery everywhere and not many high-rise buildings. We walked around the lake and Parkes and past Government House and then into the National Gallery to shelter from the rain.

The next day we headed back towards the coast and into New South Wales. We got to Jervis Bay, which is in a National Park and has beaches with the whitest sand in the world. We spent the day on the beach lying on the sand and relaxing in the sun. We spent a couple of days in the Blue Mountains, stopping off at Kangaroo Valley on the way. The first morning was incredibly misty so we went for tea and cake at an art-deco cafe in Katoomba, then went to Scenic World when it had cleared up a little. Scenic World has a railway, cable car and skyway in the mountains. We got the railway (down a track at an angle of 52 degrees, with the Indiana Jones theme tune playing!) down to a rainforest walkway. It was pretty hilarious due to the screams of 'oh no' from the Japanese in front, as the track was pretty steep! By the time we got the cable car back up, the clouds had cleared a bit more so we then went to Echo Point and walked to the Three Sisters rock formations. We stayed in Blackheath and awoke to bright sunshine, so headed to Govett's Leap viewpoint and Sublime Point in Leura before driving on to Penrith.

Our last stop before dropping off the van was to visit Featherdale Wildlife Park, where we saw koala, dingo, echidna, emu and got to feed wallabies and kangaroos! Siobhan loved this. We checked into our hostel in Sydney (the nicest room we've has so far, with a great view and free breakfast) and ventured excitedly down to the harbour to see one of the world's most famous views. It didn't disappoint - the Opera House and Bridge are amazing. We didn't go inside the Opera House but can recommend the bar :) We're glad to be spending a week here - the weather is finally great and there is a lot to see. We've been to The Rocks art and crafts market, the Botanical Gardens, Darling Harbour and the fish market (where we stuffed ourselves silly). On the Saturday night we were on our way out for dinner and looked up to see what we thought were hundreds of birds fliyng overhead. With a little closer inspection they were actually flying foxes (bats) and there were so many of them it looked very spooky against the twilight sky. One day Tom headed out for a day's surfing at Botany Bay. He came back sore and a bit battered but still wanting to surf some more. Last night we went for a snack at one of Sydney's icons, Harry's Cafe de Wheels, which is a roadside stall that serves pie and mash. The traditional dish is a 'tiger' (beef pie with a scoop of mash, a side of mushy peas and gravy on top). Tom thought it was delicious and no wonder it has been running since the 1950s. We fly to Ayers Rock at the weekend - temperatures are currently 40 degrees so hopefully we won't return too pink!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

22.11.08 - The land of Oz (with Mr Wombat)

Our flight over to Melbourne was pretty uneventful, but we did get some amazing views of the Southern Alps as we flew over the South Island. We arrived in Melbourne to 30 degrees heat! Of course, this didn't last, and our faithful friend the rain followed us over and has been making the odd appearance ever since. We spent five days in a hostel in Melbourne, exploring the city - its Southbank, markets, shops and botanical gardens. One of the funniest things was watching the Christmas parade in bright sunshine! One of the days we ventured out of the city to St Kilda (one of the beach suburbs) - we wandered along the pier and found a little blue penguin nestling in the rocks. Then we went for a lovely lunch at Claypots - a seafood restaurant that specialises in curried seafood served in big terracotta pots.

We also went on the official Neighbours tour! We got to see Erinsborough High School and then were taken to the famous Ramsay Street (which is a real-life street; but not called Ramsay Street at all). We got to see all of the houses and couldn't believe how small the street was! It was very surreal having grown up knowing the street so well, to actually see it in real-life! Our next stop was Global Television Studios where we got to see the external sets including Lassiters, Carpenter's Mechanics and the former Coffee Shop, even the famous lake (very clever angles are use to film it - it's actually a small pond!) We also found out about a future storyline: one of the street's most famous and long-standing residents is soon to meet a sorry end as the actor wanted to give it all up to go campervanning around Australia... It was really cool to see the set, and we even got told off by a security guard when we snook inside Lassiters!

The next day we picked up a new van (larger in the back... older, manual, with a seating position rather tight for someone over six foot! Tom is finding it a challenge to drive). We headed straight for the Great Ocean Road and stopped at various picturesque sights such as Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge and the 12 Apostles - rock stacks that stand impressively along the coast. There are now only six apostles remaining after the others have been eroded by the sea. The campsites here are very expensive and Australia doesn't seem as 'camper friendly' as New Zealand as there are no free holiday park or Department of Conservation guides. But we have bought a guide/road map which details all of the free/cheap sites, so are making the most of that! After that we headed to the surf capital of Victoria, Torquay, and stopped off at Bells Beach, home of the Ripcurl Classic and final scene of the film Point Break. Torquay was full of surf shops and factory outlets, and Tom decided to have a surf lesson here, which was much more successful than his last one, and he is now regularly standing up on the surfboard on small waves.

We then drove through the Yarra Valley to Philip Island and on to Wilsons Promontory where we camped in the National Park. The best part of our evening has to be when we heard a crunching noise at the back of the van and got out to find a wombat happily grazing behind it! He didn't seem to mind us being near him at all, and Siobhan even got a cheeky stroke! The following morning we did a walk through Lilly Pilly Gully and saw a wallaby right in front of us. He even hopped along in front of us as if he were leading the way, chewing a flower. Last night we camped at Paradise Beach, which is part of 90 Mile Beach, in the Lakes area of Victoria. We're now making our way up towards Canberra and the Blue Mountains. Hope everyone is well at home and gearing up for Christmas!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

11.11.08 - Penguins, more penguins and the end of New Zealand

The south coast of New Zealand is renowned for its Scottish links - place names include Invercargill, Caledonian and Dunedin - and it has weather to match. It rained throughout our whole Catlins visit, which made for a very wet and windy few walks to various points to see seals and the southernmost tip of the country. But it also meant incredible waterfalls viewing. We stopped at both Mclean and the Purakaunnui falls, both of which had an immense volume of water rushing over the rocks. Mclean falls did look more like Coca-Cola falls, however, because of all the tanin in the water.

The next day we headed to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. Here we went on a tour of the nesting ground of the Yellow-eyed Penguin. It was the time of year where most penguin couples are incubating their eggs and chicks are starting to hatch. The centre has built trenches, and covered them in camoflage, in and around the nesting boxes. This means you are guided around, popping up in various hides right by the nest boxes. It was great because you can get so close to the nesting penguins without disturbing them. The penguin theme continued late into the evening as we had heard of a place where you can watch around 100 Little Blue penguins coming home from a day's fishing. They use special lighting so that we were able to see, but to the penguins it still appeared dark. It was really good watching them swim in as a 'raft' (a group of up to 10 penguins) from the sea and hop up the rocky slope to their nests. It was very funny hearing the penguins inside the nests calling to their other half - it really was like watching men come home late from the pub to be shouted at! For such small creatures they work very hard, and are very cute. We left them to it about 10pm to drive to a campsite but had hardly got out of the car park before we had to stop as two penguins waddled under the van! Eventually they moved on (we couldn't move them as they scare very easily) and we could get to bed.

The next day was our last in the van and we went to visit the Antarctic Centre on the outskirts of Christchurch. Here we saw even more Little Blue penguins - ones who have been injured or who are too sick to live in the wild so are fed and live in an area within the centre. The centre is linked with Scott Base - New Zealand's station in Antarctica, and has lots of information about the Antarctic as well as a mock snow storm (it was freezing) and vehicles, huts, clothes and equipment used over there. Since then we have been staying in a hostel in Christchurch, which is the nicest city we've seen so far on our travels. It's quite quaint with a cathedral, people punting on the river, a huge park and an old tram system - a bit like England in days gone by. We visited the art gallery and Natural History museum and also went for a curry (this was a momentous occasion for Siobhan - the first curry in three months!) We fly to Australia tomorrow and will be sad to leave New Zealand as it is a wonderful country. Fingers crossed that Australia will be just as nice!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

05.11.08 - Ice, sun, rain and snow

New Zealand has a pretty remarkable landscape - you realise this properly when you are on a sandy beach one day and walking up a glacier the next! Out of the two most famous glaciers here - Franz Josef and Fox - we chose to do a half-day walk up the latter. 700+ steps up the hill next to the glacier later and we were putting on our crampons and getting our alpenstocks to walk across the ice. Our guides had to cut steps into the ice and fill in any major crevasses so we could walk safely. Some of the crevasses and tunnels were an amazing bright blue in colour and it was a very cool experience.

We then headed down to Lake Wanaka and stayed at a Department of Conservation site at the head of the lake. It was an amazing location, right on the shore surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and we collected lots of driftwood for our own fire. One of the attractions we were recommended in Wanaka was Puzzling World. This place is a whole complex of rooms which have been built to fool the eye. There were rooms where you went in and everything looked to be tilted or on a slope (even you), but you could slide up hill or stand on a step and look like you were leaning out 45 degrees without falling over. It is hard to describe the rooms without seeing them, but have a look at the photo of us in the Amis room and see if you can understand! We loved Wanaka - it's a very small ski town but so picturesque. We hired mountain bikes and rode around part of the lake one morning.

Our next stop was Queenstown, where Tom's friend Joe has been living for a few months. We arrived and had a nosey around town, which is awash with clothes shops and adrenalin activity centres that could drain your bank account dry. We hadn't had a pint in a while so headed for the Pig and Whistle pub for a well-deserved Bulmers and pint of Speights. We met up with Joe and headed back to his place to dump the van, and then hitched (it seems really safe and normal to hitch hike in New Zealand - we got a ride in literally two minutes) and went for a pizza at Winnies. The whole restaurant was decked out for Halloween with all the staff dressed up and Thriller playing. After dinner we went on a mini bar crawl and ended up in the Buffalo Bar until late, dancing and drinking. In the morning we had a much needed lie-in, then Tom was booked to go river surfing with Joe (Joe is a trainee guide with a river surfing company), This was probably the maddest thing to do in Queenstown: you jump into a very powerful river and proceed to surf down grade 3 rapids on a body board. It was more like floating/being swept away than surfing and lots of kicking when you got stuck in eddies or spinning around in mini whirlpools. By the end of it you are knackered so proceed to hold on to the back of a jetski and get carried and spun round the river, followed by some 10 metre rock jumps to finish the day.

The next morning Siobhan went off on a horse trek called River Wild in Glenorchy, where they shot lots of scenes for the Lord of the Rings films. The scenery was pretty spectacular and it was lots of fun cantering and splashing through the rivers and lakes on horseback. While Siobhan was riding through the picturesque scenery, Tom and Joe had a more leisurely morning playing Frisbee golf. It has the same rules as golf, but no ball or clubs, just a Frisbee and your arm. You have to negotiate trees and borders and it is a great way to spend a sunny morning there should be more courses in parks around the world. We all met up for lunch (Tom, Joe, Siobhan and Joe s girlfriend Carly) and had fergburgers on the green overlooking the lake. It was great to catch up with Joe, and finally meet Carly. They were great hosts, letting us sleep on their floor for the two nights.

From Queenstown we headed to Te Anau and on to Milford Sound. Along the Milford Sound road we stopped firstly at the Mirror lakes, which perfectly reflect the mountains above them, and then to do a walk along the Routeburn Track up to Key Summit. And we mean up it was more of a hike than a walk! But the views at the top were worth it. Although being attacked by keas (alpine parrots) at the bottom wasn't! The next day was 4th November and somebody's birthday! Tom had booked sea kayaking for the morning as a surprise so we braved the elements and went out on Milford Sound in our yellow banana of a kayak. Tom's legs were too long to sit at the back to do the steering so Siobhan had to do it. It was good fun and we saw seals and penguins, but the weather began to get really rough and we had to work hard to get across the waves. Our guide said that had it been those conditions when we set out, the trip would definitely have been cancelled! After this we drove back to Te Anau and had a lovely dinner and some wine. Siobhan thought it might be strange having her birthday in spring, but it actually snowed here in the evening and the following day! It is definitely colder in the southlands (nearer to Antarctica!). We now have less than a week left in New Zealand before we head off to Australia.

All our love, S+T xxxx

28.10.08 - Mid-air and underwater adventures

We were a bit unlucky with the weather last week - we wanted to do the Tongariro Crossing (a one-day trek), but the reports said that the weather made it too dangerous to do. However, we had one day of sunshine and thought we would make the most of it - so, at 11.35am we booked to do the 11.40 skydive over Lake Taupo! There were six of us diving/falling from 12,000 feet, all packed into a little plane (looking rather special in our jumpsuits, hats and goggles) with our instructors. We were the last two left in theplane to jump - Siobhan took the 'ladies first' approach and left Tom in there! It wasn't actually as daunting as it sounds as you have the instructor with you - it was more fun than anything! You do a full somersault as you exit the plane, then freefall for 45 seconds before the parachute opens. Siobhan felt like a basset hound with her cheeks flapping in the wind during the freefall! It was also really cool as our instructors turned us around so that we could wave to each other on the way down! The view of the lake and mountains were great, and it was all over too quickly.

After Taupo we only had a couple of days left in the north island. We stayed with Tom's friend Graham one night in Wellington - the Goodster was a great host (dinner and beer), and we then went out to meet another of Tom's mates in town. It was nice to have a break from the van, and good to see an old friend. We then got the ferry over to the south island and did a long walk in the Abel Tasman National Park - a water taxi dropped us on a deserted sandy beach and we then did the coastal walk back to the campervan. The park was part rainforest and very lush. Coupled with the idyllic golden beaches it was a great little trek. On saturday morning we went to the famous market in Nelson and had to stop ourselves buying lots of fresh fish/wooden furniture/various crafts. We spent the rest of the day driving through the Malborough wine region and stopped at a vineyard or two, then camped on the coast between a lake and a gravel beach, which would have been lovely were it not for the wind and rain!

The weather was terrible yesterday, so the dolphin encounter we had booked to go on in Kaikoura was cancelled. Thankfully, today the sun was shining and the seas were calmer so we got to do it!! It is one of the best dolphin swims in the world as the dolphins are totally wild in the sea, so it is totally up to them whether they want to interact. Siobhan was so excited but had never actually snorkelled before and thought that a freezing ocean trench might not be the ideal first time. But it was awesome. They take out a boat to where they sight dolphins and then you jump off and snorkel around them. There must have been about 20, and they come right up to you and swim beside you and underneath you! We were told that we could sing to them through the snorkel to attract them, which must have been hilarious for the spectators on the boat. Looking a dolphin right in the eye underwater through your goggles is just about all we could have hoped for! After the swim we got to watch them from the boat - jumping and surfing in the boat's swash, while lots of albatross flew overhead. The dolphins were just so friendly! It was a pretty perfect morning and a lifetime ambition fulfilled :)

All our love, S+T

19.10.08 - Maori culture, thermal springs, pretty colours and glow worms

We've packed in quite a lot of activities over the past few days. We drove down to Rotorua (somewhere both of us had been looking forward to), and the first thing we noticed was the infamous smell. Roturua is a geothermal region, so the smell of sulphur is everywhere. Imagine the worst rotten eggs plus a hundred farts and you're almost close. The first night we went to Te Po: an indigenous evening of Maori culture. We arrived and were taken over to the Meeting House - a sacred home of Maori history. We had to follow the rituals and protocols of the Maori people, so were treated as a foreign tribe and were 'greeted' by a Maori warrior who performed a display and offerred us a fern frond of peace. We then were allowed to enter the Meeting House and were given a display of Maori arts and singing, including a poi poi display. When this was finished Siobhan was invited to go up and try the poi poi herself. We were then treated to a traditional haka, which was amazing, much better than any of the ones seen at rugby games. After this Tom was invited on stage to learn the haka too (no photos of this on the website as he looks weird with his tongue sticking out). After this it was time for dinner, we had a traditional 'hangi', which is meat and vegetables cooked in an earth oven with hot rocks over a few hours. The whole dinner (seafood, pasta, everything) was delicious! To end the night we went to see the Pohutu geyser erupting and sat on hot rocks amongst the steam.

It's been raining here quite a bit, but despite theat we ventured to Wai-o-tapu 'geothermal wonderland' the following morning. We arrived to see the daily eruption of the Lady Knox geyser, which shoots boiling water up to 20 metres in the air. After this we followed our guide map around the wonderland and saw features such as the devil's home (a smoking cave/crater), alum clifs (rainbow-coloured rocks, like in the Isle of Wight!), devil's bath (a fluorescent green thermal pool) and various bubbling mud pools. One of our favourites was the Champagne pool - a thermal spring with bright orange edge made up of mineral deposits. The Birds' Nest Crater was also very cool - aptly named because birds lay their eggs there and the heat helps to incubate them! The colours at Wai-o-tapu were amazing and it was like nothing we've ever seen before!

That afternoon we went indoors (and the dark) to see one of New Zealand's national emblems: the kiwi bird. We visited a place where they are helping to conserve the kiwi by removing eggs from the wild and raising the birds until they are six months old. (Wild kiwi chicks have less than a 5% chance of survival as their parents abandon them after two weeks.) We were given a tour which culminated in going into the nocturnal house and seeing adult kiwis foraging for food. We didn't realise how big they are (about the size of a big goose), but we really liked them and found them entertaining.

After another night in Rotorua and because we enjoyed Wai-o-Tapu so much, we headed off to another geothermal area called Orakei Korako: 'the hidden valley'. This was far less touristy and off the beaten track, and we had to get a boat across the Waikako river to view it. It had a very different atmosphere to Wai-o-Tapu but was equally as spectacular. The Ruatapu cave was magical - we both ended up standing in the pool of water by accident as it is so clear.

Today we went blackwater rafting at the Waitomo caves! Wearing a wetsuit (plus wet jacket, wet socks, wet sweater, hard hat and cave boots...) we went undergound into the Ruakuri cave armed with a 'raft' (rubber ring), where we did caving, walked, floated and jumped off waterfalls! And above us the whole way were thousands of glow worms lighting the way. It's amazing how maggot poo can look so beautiful! It's been a fantastic few days - all we need now is for the rain to stop as running to a long-drop toilet in the pouring rain at night is not our favourite activity! :)

All our love, S+T xxxx

15.10.08 - Out of Africa, the perils of flying long distance and our first days in New Zealand

We're now in New Zealand after a mammoth flight session: Cape Town - Johannesburg - Sydney - Auckland. We arrived on Saturday night. Our luggage arrived on Wednesday. Don't fly with Qantas! More about that later. We had a good few days in Cape Town, the first city stay on our trip. One of the highlights was on our first afternoon when we headed up to Table Mountain. We got a cable car to the top, but it was no ordinary cable car - the floor rotated as you went up (or down), giving you a 360-degree view. We were lucky with the weather and it was bright and sunny at the top, but still with a little cloud creeping over the top to remind you how high you were. The view is amazing of Cape Town and all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope. We walked around the plateau and admired all the plants. It really is quite flat at the top, allowing lots of rare species to survive.

The next morning we went on an organised tour of the Cape Penisula. We drove through some nice coastal villages on the way down to Boulders Beach and Cape Point. Boulders Beach was a definite favourite as it is home to lots of mini penguins! They're called African penguins but many people still refer to them as Jackass penguins, and they are very cute and funny! We even got to see some babies in their little mud burrow. From Boulders Beach we drove to Cape Point. Most people think that the Indian and the Atlantic oceans meet here, but it is actually a myth - they meet at Cape Agulhas which is further down the coast. We also went to Robben Island - a former place of exile/leper colony/WWII military base/prison for political prisoners, and is now a museum. It is most famous for being the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years. It was a really well-run tour - our guide was a former political prisoner who was held on Robben Island for 10 years, so his knowledge was amazing. It was a pretty sobering experience to hear his stories, but we would definitely recommend it. The ferry journey to the island was also great as we got a perfect view of the whole of Table Mountain from the sea, and also saw a few whales coming up for air, shooting their spray and flicking their tails! We had a great time in Africa and would love to return to see some of the other countries and even more animals - perhaps even some of the lions we know in the wild!

We have now been in New Zealand for four days. We arrived very tired on the Saturday night after three plane journeys, one very long one from Jo'burg to Sydney which was two hours late leaving. This caused us to run to get the next plane to Auckland - we made the plane - our bags didn't! Which we can understand, but it then took Qantas three days to get them to us, and we even had to pick them up ourselves from the airport in the campervan. They really were incompetent in keeping us informed and even managed to get our names wrong. Anyway we had a day in Auckland, there was not much to do so we had a walk around the city and a rest to get over the jetlag. Then the following morning we picked up our (thankfully non crude in design!) campervan. We headed up towards the Bay of Islands, but it was a bit too far seeing as we had to return to Auckland the next day to collect our bags. So we went a little way up and stayed at Otamure Bay - a Department of Conservation campground, which was beautiful as it was so rustic. Unfortunately we have no photos because Siobhan's charger was in her luggage and Tom's camera has broken!

After a slightly wet night we headed back to Auckland, picked up our bags and set off to the Coromandel Peninsula. It is quite a varied area, we started driving along the west coast and then headed inland on an 'other' road, this we found was a single track unsealed road that took us over the Coromandel range to the east coast. The range is covered in thousands upon thousands of trees of all different types, it looks more like a sub-tropical rainforest. We then arrived in Hahei where we were staying the night - another beach front view from our accomodation :). We parked up and then headed off on a walk to Cathedral Cove (note of importance: this is where the Prince Caspian film was shot!). Photos will come later as they are on Siobhan's phone. It was a pretty steep walk, but the views were definitely worth it. Today we have been at Hot Water Beach, which is famous for its hot springs under the sand. If you dig in the right place at low tide then you can have your own spa pool! It took a group effort, but the end result was a large pool of very warm water that we could all sit in. This pool was an offshoot of another pool that was so hot it was actually bubbling! Off to another campsite tonight, will update again soon.

Lots of love, S+T(+c) xxxx

07.10.08 - Victoria Falls and the travelling really begins

We're sorry we haven't updated in a while, but we have had a lack of access to a computer. As well as lack of phones, chargers, hairdryer (our 'world' travel adapter appears not to include South Africa), and a lack of access to money as Siobhan's bank seem to have blocked her card...welcome to South Africa :)

Anyway, our final day at Antelope Park was a great one - we helped the vets again up at the breeding programme and also got to help with the 2Bs as they were knocked out for the first time and given their microchip and injections. They were very sweet as they went under and came round as they were so dopey! Our last activity was helping dart Arthur, one of the big male lions, and he was kind enough to go and pass out in the wrong enclosure. This meant Tom had to help lift this 160kg lion through a small gate into the proper enclosure, lions are even heavier when picking them up with your bare hands! It was quite sad saying goodbye to all the lions, we will miss them.

The following morning we set off with five others in a minibus to Victoria Falls. Eight hours later we arrived at the lodge and went on an afternoon lion walk with Sahara's brother and sister, Sango and Swahili. The Victoria Falls project is a very different set up to Antelope Park. The volunteers stay in a guest house in the town and get driven to the National Park where the lions are. It's a nice place to walk them, but nothing beats have Impie come and 'knock' (headbutt) on your door of an evening, or seeing the Bs from outside your bedroom window! The next morning we got to walk the big 2Es, who are gorgeous and very playful, even in the water! We also visited the curio market and were offered various wooden carvings for money, or our shoes, watches, socks, water bottle and even for Siobhan's hairband... One night we all went for a drink at a place called Safari Lodge, which overlooks a waterhole, to watch the sun set. Getting to drink nice wine while watching elephants, storks and buffalo was great. For dinner we ate at the famous Boma restaurant - it's all you can eat for $40 and the selection is huge. Meat-wise they had impala, warthog, ostrich, kudu (although Siobhan has pretty much become a vegetarian out here), as well as fish, salads and breads - and amazing buffet desserts! The girls had to wear traditional dress to eat and there was singing, tribal dancing and drumming (Tom's new favourite hobby).

The next morning we said goodbye to the others and went to our own accomodation. Vic. Falls town itself is like a ghost town. There are lots of 5* hotels, but such a lack of tourists here - it's a real shame. It's also impossible to get cash out - withdrawls are limited and the rate charged is astronomical because of how unstable the Zim. dollar is. Saying that, we had no real problems in Zimbabwe - there are some beautiful places and despite the political situtation, there's no real reason not to visit. Parents might not want to read the next part...adrenalin activites! Firstly Siobhan did a 'half-day adrenalin' - flying fox, foofie slide and gorge swing. The flying fox was rather tame, the slide was fun, and the swing was scary! She had to jump off a platform over the gorge and freefall 70m and then swing a further 90m - we are going to try and get videos on the site soon! Yes, she screamed. Then Tom did a bungee jump off a bridge that sits in 'no man's land' between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It has to be said, doing a bungee in Africa is scary in itself, and looking down and bottom of the gorge, with people whitewater rafting below, knowing you're about to dive head first is even more scary. The video is rather wobbly as Siobhan was nervous for him! The actual falls are pretty spectacular and the rainbow just adds an extra amazingness, check out the pictures as words don't do it justice! We walked around - the path is in between the falls and a rainforest, which was lovely, and stopped at all the photo points. We got a little wet, but apparently in peak flow season you get totally drenched.

After five days in Vic. Falls we flew to Jo'burg (nearly didn't, as when we got to check-in they told us to wait as they weren't sure if the flight was operating) and stayed one night (drama with the airport pick-up too - it took over two hours to be picked up). Jo'berg is interesting - not in a good way. We were glad to only stay one night. Then we got the overnight train to Port Elizabeth (more drama - they lost/couldn't find/then found our booking). The train journey was fun! Cheeseburgers delivered to our door for lunch then sleeping on a little bunk in our cabin. We passed through some really poor areas with lots of shanty towns. And then picked up a hire car and drove to our first stop: Jeffrey's Bay and a hostel overlooking the sea called Island Vibe. Jeffery's Bay is a surfing hub - they hold the Billabong SA Open there every year, so Tom felt it was right to have a surf lesson. He really enjoyed it and managed to stand up a few times in the swell, and is looking forward to trying more of it in Australia.

From Jeffrey's Bay we drove on to Wilderness, passing some beautiful lakes, the Tsisikamma mountain range and some pretty villages by the sea. We stopped for a seafood salad in Knysna and arrived at Fairy Knowe in Wilderness in the the evening. It was a great place to stay - woodlandy, with a four-poster bed! The next day we drove on the N1 through the mountains, past ostrich farms and vineyards to Otters Bend in Franschhoek. And as Franschhoek is the gastronomic captial of the country, surrounded by vineyards, it would have been a sin not to go out for dinner and sample the wine (Fiona you should live here - the biggest wine glasses ever and lots of horses to ride!). We ate at 'French Connection' and the fish and wine was indeed good. Three courses and wine for two people for under 35 quid. At one point the waitress said that Siobhan's wine glass must be leaking - our new phrase for guzzling! That was our final stop on the Garden Route and we arrived in Cape Town this morning and are just waiting to check in to our hostel.

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

25.09.08 - Last days at Antelope Park

We've had a slight change of plans in terms of when we leave Antelope Park - the powers that be have said that the mini bus needs to now leave on the 27th, so we depart on saturday. Because we don't have any accommodation booked for those two extra nights, we're staying at Antelope Park's subsidiary project in Victoria Falls. It's obviously an extra cost, but it does mean that we get to meet Sahara's brother and sister (Sango and Swahili), and two 16-month old cubs (Echo and Etosha).

Our final week here began with a SCUD (Social and Cultural Understanding Day). This involved the volunteers going to one of the camp staffs' parents' house for the day to experience their daily life. It is a completely different world from what we are used to. The family of 28 (including two wives - Zimbabwean men can have as many as they can afford) live in two buildings that look like sheds and all the cooking and cleaning is done outside in each of the wives' kitchens - if a man is to have two wives, he must build two kitchens! It is also truly a man's world. All the girls have to cook/clean/fetch water/collect firewood and only get to sit onm blankets on the ground. The men, however, do nothing but sit on benches and drink 'scud'; the local beer made from fermented maize (Tom didn't mind it, it tasted ok to him). Also, the men get served first (their food presented to them by the women) and have their hands washed by the women (Siobhan managed to hold in the rage at this, while Tom sat back and did as he was told). We had lunch of sudsa (maize-based mash) and meat with cabbage, then all did some traditional dancing. It was a totally different experience to anything we have done, but it was good to see some of the 'real' Africa.

We've also been working with the vets up at the breeding program. They're darting (knocking out) about 30 of the lions to check for illness/disease and to give various injections. Yesterday was a little eventful when Maxwell (one of the dominant males) stopped breathing for a couple of minutes after being darted - the vet thought that they'd lost him, but after pumping his chest and giving him two reversal shots, he was thankfully ok. The other issue was that they had darted another lion, Sandy, in the same enclosure as Maxwell, so we had to rush to stretcher her out and across the road into another enclosure as we couldn't be in the old one with her when Maxwell came round! Lions are pretty damn heavy. Our involvement is to record the time that the lion is darted, then get into the enclosure and note when the lion goes down, any injections that are given etc, the once the reversal is administered we sit outside the enclosure and record the lion's breathing rate and generally make sure it is alright until it is able to stand up. We're doing this all day tomorrow (5am alarm for the next two days...), so have had our final walks with the Bs and Ss, and also had an amazing horse ride. It has got incredibly hot here over the past few days, so has been good preparation for Victoria Falls where it is supposed to be scorching! We'll try to write again soon - but this time we're not sure where from or even what country we'll be in!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

21.09.08 - Adventures in the night time

A full moon in books and films is often accompanied by horrors and werewolves, but at Antelope Park it means lots of fun after-dark activites! The first of these was a lunar elephant ride - it was good because we got to ride the same elephant together, but the not-so-good side was that after an hour of sitting on the back of the elephant's spine, Tom felt rather delicate! One of the other night activities was a lunar horse ride. We got to the stables about 8pm and were both very happy as we had our favourite horses (Siobhan on Final Ace and Tom on Jacko). We headed out into the park and it was very dark even with the moonlight, so we had to trust the horse lots, but it was so relaxing and loads of fun trotting - and at one point even cantering - through the bush awash with moonlight. We also got to go on another night encounter - this time with three of the girls: Acacia, Amgela and Nandi. They seemed much more enthusiastic than the boys, but were equally unsuccessful in making a kill. The best part was at the end when Amgela refused to go back into her enclosure - she just kept flopping on the ground and rolling over wanting some affection! (but at that age and size we're not allowed to give her any as she could easily playfight a little too effectively...)

The funniest episode this week was probably the elephant swim (see photos!). You clamber bareback onto the elephant, who then runs into the dam and rolls around in the water while you try desperately not to fall off! 'Not falling off' even includes going completely under the water and holding your breath until the elephant decides to stand up again! (It's alright for them, they can breathe through their trunk, which they stick above water like a snorkel!) We were on Amai, who loves to swim - and roll, and go under, and not come up when she's told...

Other things we've done over the last few days have been another five-hour walk with the 2Ss, some research walks monitoring the lions' behaviour, and a bush walk where we followed tracks, analysed poo, learnt the uses of different trees and discovered how to make rope out of bark (definitely not the tastiest thing to chew...). We only have a week left at Antelope Park now, so have been busy booking trains and accommodation for Victoria Falls and South Africa. We thought we'd have to get the train to the falls as flights were full, but it so happens that a mini bus with other volunteers is leaving here on the 29th, so we're going to jump on that! Hope the weather improves at home :)

All our love, S+T xxxx

13.09.08 - Night hunting, crazy horse riding and a very clever monitor lizard

It's been a busy few days! Firstly, since we last wrote, we went on the night encounter. We were supposed to be taking out Ltalo and Landela, but ended up being accompanied by Langa as well, as he refused to be seperated from the others! It was amazing to see them out of their enclosures and walking behind the vehicle. It was pretty cold, and we didn't see an awful lot of hunting going on, but it really was an evening we won't forget, and it made us think how incredible it would be to be on an encounter where they were successful in making a kill. We got back to camp about 9.30pm and one of the girls who had been here since April was leaving, so we played a few drinking games, had a bit of a dance and drank a bit too much vodka. Needless to say (as anyone who knows her will understand), a 6am start followed by a game of polo cross was a little bit of a struggle for Siobhan the next day! Despite that, polo cross was great fun. It's basically lacrosse on horseback, and it is usually played at a gallop! Obviously we were a bit slower, but neither of us managed to fall off and we did manage to hold the ball in our sticks a few times and even score!

We also went on another horse ride, which was quite slow and tame to begin with. On the final stretch back to the stables, Tom asked our guide, Clayton, if we could go a bit faster. Tom was on Jacko, the biggest horse in the park, but he needed a bit of a kick to pick up speed, so Siobhan overtook on Arizona and bloody hell! We cantered through long grass, over roads and down dips, and the worry was that if Siobhan couldn't stop Arizona then no-one else behind would stop as the horses tend to follow the one in front! Anyway it was all fine and was good fun and we can't wait to do it again - but to be honest there wasn't total control on Siobhan's part for some of the canter!

Straight after that we went on our DVD walk with the 2Bs (they film and take photos of a group of us for us to take home). It soon stopped being all about us when Bhubesi killed a monitor lizard (or so we thought...). We'd seen it there before down at the rocks with its babies, and it ran out and Batoka caught it! He wrestled with it for a while, then it wriggled free and Bhubesi jumped on it and stayed sitting on it! We radioed camp and everyone was saying how they were the youngest lions ever (by six months!) to make a kill. The cubs played with the 'dead' lizard for a while and eventually we called them to walk on. The lion handlers fetched the lizard and we decided to take a photograph to show the size of it - about a metre long. Right then we noticed the lizard was breathing, then it got up and scurried away - no broken skin nor bones! Well played Mrs monitor lizard, the invitation to join the RSC will be in the post... P.S. - Siobhan loves spending time with Impie and would like to bring her and Batoka home. She has also just finished reading 'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly and recommends it. Lastly, she managed to stroke Luke!

Lots of love S+T xxxx

06.09.08 - Fighting fires with fire and tracking rhinos

Time really is flying out here! This week the most eventful thing that happened was the bush fire. We are all fine, but the fire did get pretty close to camp, so they had to start back burning in order to control it. The camp was filled with smoke and the flames were huge, but luckily no damage was done. Because of this, Thursday was a pretty hardcore day - we had digging up of the lodge enclosure (pick-axing the top six inches of soil then shovelling it into a wheel barrow and carting it outside the enclosure, this is so that the next set of lions can have non-wee soaked rubbish soil) followed by fire breaks. We set fire to a designated (well it began as designated) section of land and then had to use branches to put it out when it reached the boundary fence. It was quite scary to be honest - in between a row of flames and a barb-wire fence it was unbelieveably hot (at times we felt scorched) with just a branch to beat back the flames with. Definitely not something you would want to do often, but you can appreciate that if another bush fire did start, it would die out at the already burnt areas.

A more enjoyable day this week was our trip to Manatobo National Park. We had a 5am departure and met our guide in Bulawayo where we transferred to a safari truck. The place is beautiful - there are lots of boulders balancing on top of one another, producing wild rock formations. It was like something out of Jurassic Park or a lost city! The rhino, however, proved quite challenging to find. We would drive for a little way then get off and try and track them on foot. We got close to spring-clippers, giraffe and baboons, but lunchtime arrived and still no rhino. Our guide was rather dramatic and quite entertaining, and he went off while we ate lunch (pasta! for the first time in three weeks!) to search some more, and sure enough when we set off again we were able to get within less than 10 metres of a massive white male rhino, on foot! Our guide carried a rifle the whole time and told us to stay close to the tree for safety, and it was great to be able to get that close to a wild rhino.

We also took some good photos up at the breeding programme - Siobhan is being fickle and thinks Mufasa may be the best looking lion, but still spends most of her time with Luke despite him charging at her (fence in between) when she was taking his photo.

Just an insight into the money situation here in Zimbabwe at the moment - we brought a bottle of wine in town last week for about £3. This week it costs £19! So we are sticking with beer. Tonight we are going on our first night encounter - we take out some of the older lions who have been retired from walking but we stay in a vehicle and watch them hunt, we are very excited!

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

30.08.08 - Elephants, Giraffes and stalking Nissan pick-up trucks!

This week we've spent quite a lot of time up at the breeding programme cleaning enclosures and watching the lions being fed. There are about 60 lions, some of which are used for breeding and others who are waiting for the completion of the next stage of the project to be released to a new reserve in Zambia. They are in enclosures at the moment but will all eventually be released into a managed environment. One of Siobhan's favourites there is Luke, who is a beast! He has his own enclosure which is fenced even over the top as he has previously escaped out of every other enclosure type. Siobhan says he is the best looking lion, but not everyone agrees. Most of the other lions still like to come up to the fence to say hello and have a stroke. We got to see the seven boys being fed - seven lions bounding towards the meat (and us, on the other side of the fence), in a cloud of dust, manes flying behind them is a pretty impressive sight!

One of the funniest days was when we had our elephant induction - one of the other volunteers ended up pinned in a tree while an elephant tried to get past! We also got to go on an elephant ride, and a boat cruise with the other vols and staff to drink beer and watch the sun set. Last night we all played a game called 'vehicle stalk' - basically we were driven into the bush at night and dropped off in the pitch black. The vehicle then drove off and parked about 500m away with a spotlight. We then had to make our way back without being caught! It was very funny - crawling along commando-style in the long grass trying to avoid acacia trees and everything else the bush holds. Tom has taken to playing football at lunch with the staff in a patch of rough ground nicknamed 'Old Trafford'. It is very hot when we play and the ball is flat, but it is a good laugh.

Today we spent the morning at an orphanage in Gweru - Tom played Uno and football with the kids while Siobhan played handball, read and let the kids do her hair. It was quite difficult having so many children wanting to be held, but it seemed like a nice place for them to be. We're off this afternoon so might go canoeing and next week we're off to Matobo National Park for a day where we will hopefully see white rhino and the very shy black rhino.

Lots of love, S+T xxxx

22.08.08 - The first week!

Welcome to our first diary entry! We're sure you're glad to know that we arrived safely and are writing this from the computer room at Antelope Park. Our flight to Johannesburg was pretty good (quite impressed with BA), then our change to Bulawayo was on the smallest plane we've ever been on. It sat 31 people and Tom couldn't even stand up!

We arrived here late on Sunday so our first impressions were all in the dark, but we got to see everything properly on our first lion walk with the 2Ss - Soriah and Sahara - at 6.30am the following morning. The place is amazing. When we arrived there were six walking cubs based here: the 2Ss (nine months old), the 2Bs (Bhubesi and Batoka, who are four months old), and Lozi and Mana, who are nearly 20 months and rather huge! When the lions here get to around that age they are retired from walking, simply because they become too big and strong but luckily we managed one walk with Lozi and Mana before they were transferred to the breeding programme today. They are both beautiful lions! Every day we're given various tasks to do. There are seven volunteers here at the moment, and so far we've walked the lions (the 2Bs have only just started walking outside their enclosure, which is amazing, though we did nearly lose them on the first walk, but the lion handlers managed to chase them!), shovelled lots of lion and horse poo, helped dig up an enclosure, painted poles, cub sat, and lots more.

Yesterday we had our horse induction - not great in the sand school, but amazing out in the park. We got very close to zebra, wilderbeast, warthog, impala (wild ones, aswell as Impie the impala who lives in the camp here), giraffe, kudu and a vulture. Today we've spent the morning on a five-hour lion walk with the 2Ss - it was unbelievable watching them try and chase zebra and the zebra stallion defending his hareem of females - we were only metres away! So yes, we're having a great time. The food is pretty good, there is electricity most of the time, and our room is right by the 2Bs enclosure! We're learning loads and are very excited about what the next few weeks might hold. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Love to you all, S+T xxxx