Woke up to the sound of thunder and rain at about 5am. We had to get up earlyish as brekkie was at 8. Weather was horrendous torrential rain. English girls were only on a one day tour so they stayed on the big boat while we got on the little boat to Cat Ba Island. Here we were joined by another tour group 14 people all in their 20's all from UK except 2 Canadians. Other group had already chose

Our tour guide for Halong Bay picked us up at about 8am. We got on a little minibus where there was already a couple on from Canada and 3 Spanish guys. We were then joined by 5 big German blokes. Looked like it was going to be a bit of a lads holiday atmosphere We stopped twice on the way to Halong once at a restauranthandicraft centre then at a pearl shop for our own interest you understand n

Hey gang I am now in Kathmandu doing a little shopping and resting up for the next stage of my trip. For this entry I will catch you up on the week we spent in North East India in an area called Sikkem. This where Darjeeling is and is the foothills to the Himilayas.After the stike and near riot we travelled up into the hills over 6000 feet in one day to the town of Darjeeling. This is am amazing

Man I don't even know where to start here......Motorbikes. Motorbikes are an essential part of living in Vietnam. Their cheap to maintain easy to ride and capable of caring insanely precarious loads. They are also unassumingly dangerous. Lack of knowledge for twowheel motoring can be a recipe for disaster as I found out. Last month I was coming home from a lovely sushi dinner with Emily

Well it has been hectic. Got my wireless mic and telphoto lens today. We are making final preps and test before with leave.

Pnom Phen proved to shed light on a different side of Cambodia one that too often we don't get to experience as tourists. Word of mouth in the backpacker circuit can be a powerful tool on the adviced of two french girls we met in Laos we decided that the capital city was the place we would look into volunteering. Over the course of the past few weeks we were already starting to learn more about

Luckily it didnrsquot rain in the night so after John had gone for a morning stroll to some caves which he said were disappointing we easily pulled out of Trotters Gorge into the bright sunshine. Therersquos quite a lot of discussion on the radio about the mild autumn wersquore just awfully gratefulOur first stop was to see the Moeraki Boulders something Irsquod been keen to see ev

Dunedin Which is where we spent a wonderful day The weather is still being kind to us so the heritage architecture of which Kiwis are justifiably proud looked stunning in bright sunshine against blue skies.The locals are proud of their Scottish Heritage Dunedin being known as the Edinburgh of New Zealand ... it even has Princes Street as one of its main thoroughfares. It is also said to be

Blog TimeOn Monday we jumped on our rentascooter which has given Monty some serious butt bruises and headed into the Thai mountains to visit our friends at Kok Chang translation The Elephant Place. The day before we had an awesome elephant ride. I challenged Tong the bartender to a game of backgammon on Ethan's behalf Ethan got his butt kicked Tong was calling every dice roll before

Wow where has the time gone My stay here at Bryce Canyon is winding down way too quickly.Sunday afternoon I went ldquoMarching to Zionrdquo. I first went to find a wash where my photography friend Don had captured some stunning images in Zion. I was able to locate the area but as is often the case my conditions werenrsquot optimum and the results were soso. I then headed through the

Phew. Sorry that it has been an age and a half since the last entry. I thought I was busy in the beginning but the last month or so has just been insane I kept meaning to write and then whenever I had a downmoment I just didn't feel up to it. But I shall try to do it now.Things have been busy but really really good. I still am beyond in love with this job. I am learning so much and everyone h

After our adrenaline pump at Lake Taupo we headed to the Tongariro National Park next morning to attempt the best oneday walking track of New Zealand. This walk brings you through the landscape you might have seen in the Lord of the Rings movies some scenes actually were shot here. However reaching the park more and more clouds gathered above us and by the time we arrived to the visitor centre

So it's Tuesday and I have completed my second day of TEFL courses. It's pretty fun so far and I love the class. I moved from my host family to the school campus because I was the only one living away. However half of the class moved out and into an apartment because they didn't like it here and wanted air conditioning. The rest of us are roughing it. My dad would be proud. In order to take a sho

After checking out of the comfortable Traveller's Lodge in Melaka on Saturday we had an early breakfast before heading to the Express bus station in town. It was a simple task to find a cheap ride to Malaysia's Capital Kuala Lumpur.Day 6 KL. A fairly short ride of two hours saw us arriving in KL around 1pm. Following the guidebook for South East Asia we had expected to arrive in the Central B

What a wonderful weekend we had celebrating Bill's 85th birthday.Chelle Joel Tayla and Jamie flew down from Auckland for the weekend. The family stayed over at Ohope Beach at a wonderful Motel called Jodies on the Beach.We all went out on the Saturday night to the Fig Restaurant in Whakatane. We had a great evening and the food was lovely.Aunty Bubbles joined us for the evening.The girls enjoye

85 what a great age especially arriving at that age with very good health. Well done Dad and Grandad you are an inspiration to all the family.You have been very moderate in the way you have lived your life what you have eaten and the fact that you have not been one to drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.As you say you have also been blessed with great genes.The flip side to all of the above is th

Greetings family and friendsI trust you are all well as not had really any correspondence from most of you since at least two emails ago. Please feel free to replysend me a message at any timeSooooooooooo where did I leave you all last time Wow it was around midJanuary although please bare in mind I'm a slow typist and these messages take a long time for me to put together and that's not

October 24This morning Cali and I drove on the the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. I hadn't known about this park before coming to Colorado this year. It was established as a National Monument in 1932 but upgraded to NP status in 2004. These dunes are the largest in North America the tallest rising over 700 feet. They are caused by the wind blowing desert dust up against the S

When I was a kid we watched television almost from the time we got home form school until we ate our dinner and did our homework. One of the most intriguing places was the Okefenokee Swamp Florida in the Everglades. Now I finally get my chance to see this unusual and interesting part of the world. So we say goodbye to Greater Miami and head southwest. Driving over from Miami we landed a

The town center the Lanarch castle and Sandfly bay...Le centre ville le chateau de Lanarch et la baie ou le sable vole...