http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Adele and Simon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Adele and Simon en-us Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:53:24 UTC Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:53:24 UTC Our last few weeks in Auckland were pretty busy as we tried to cram in as many things as possible. In between packing and saying goodbye to our new found friends we managed to climb mount Rangitoto go out for a meal out at the top of Aucklands highest buuilding the Sky tower go to the IrelandAll Blacks game return to the West coast beach of Karikari sell our van and generally making the mos http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Newmarket/blog-74101.html Making the most of our extended holiday and to escape getting into the trap of 95 which it actually is over here we try to go away most weekends. Auckland is in a great position and it is really easy to get to loads of different places within a few hours. We were also fortunate enough to bump into a couple of like minded Brits Mo and Simon aka Mr and Mrs Snow who have turned into our weeken http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/blog-62334.html Hello DadHope you enjoy a wonderful 65th birthday. Sorry we are not there to celebrate with you but we are thinking of youlots of loveAdele and Simon xxxx http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-62320.html Having got this far across the world we realised we had to hop across the pond to Oz. We spent a lovely few days in Sydney taking in the famous sights and catching with some old friends. Then we headed out to the Blue Mountains. The highlight of Simon's trip was travelling back on the new Air New Zealand plane none other than a 777200R or so I am informed http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-61644.html Sooo since the end of February we have been living a 'normal' life in Auckland. We have rented a lovely flat in Newmarket which has stunning views of the water and a couple of volcanoes fortunately ones that haven't errupted for a while. I quite like that I can stand and do the dishes and see a volcano which is very green and has cows on top Despite the cows we are actually only a few minu http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-61643.html Wellington was supposed to be the final destination of our New Zealand tour. The plan was to rejoin the real world and get jobs live in accommodation that wasn't on wheels and live like a Kiwi for a while in the capital city. Unfortunately destiny or rather the Wellington job market had other ideas and after a few rather depressing weeks we decided the odds were better in Auckland where the http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-59259.html After a relaxing week in fiordland we fancied a change of pace and headed straight to the adventure town of Queenstown. As it was Adele's birthday and the van was beginning to smell we booked into a hostel and mentally prepared ourselves pacing up and down and sweating for Adele's birthday treat a 142m bungee jump from a high wire platformTogether with 6 other people we took a minibus to the http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/blog-42840.html We hit the westcoast next and headed north to some of the South Island's main tourist attractions the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. Both were stunning and induced lots of talk using words not heard and never expected to be heard since GCSE Geography such as terminal and lateral morraine We were able to get up close and personal to the glacier faces and watch enormous chunks of ice fall int http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-42837.html After leaving the steep streets of Dunedin apparently home to the steepest street in the world which we couldn't find we headed further south to the as yet relatively unexplored coastal region of the Catlins. This area was 'awesome' Simon's new favourite word and seemed to have more seals and birds than tourists. After spending a couple of days exploring the beaches and wildlife of the C http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/Milford-Sound/blog-42826.html There is just too much sky scenery and sheep in New Zealand to fit in one small camera. Every corner we turn and hill crest we go over we are presented with stunning views in every direction. If only we had a pound for every 'wow' uttered We arrived in Christchurch in time to celebrate New Year with fireworks and new found friends in the main square before setting ourselves up with a faith http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-35608.html Christmas week in Koh Chang Thailand http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/East/Ko-Chang/blog-34891.html Back in Bangkok after the wedding we headed West to Kanchanaburi Bridge over the river Kwai. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Kanchanaburi/blog-34760.html We travelled to India for a week for the wedding of Simon's friend Ash to his lovely new bride Shweta. We also got to catch up with some old friends from home. After the wedding Ash and Shweta treated the guests to a tour of Agra the home of the Taj Mahal. Over the week we consumed a lifetime's quota of curry buffet style including for breakfast http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-34757.html Our visit to Cambodia was fleeting and as such we did not in any way do this beautiful country justice. It took the whole three days we were in Phnom Penh just for me to figure our how to spell the name of their capital city and I am still not sure how to say it Well that's not all we did we visited the obligatory Killing Fields and S21 prison museum and learnt about the horrific period of http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-31919.html Our last main destination in Vietnam was 'Ho Chi Min City' formerly Saigon before the Vietnam war. Saigon was a real mix of Asian and Western culture and was a lot more modern than Hanoi. We were fortunate enough to have a couple of Vietnamese locals friends of Adele's friend Jane back home to show us the sights and take us out for dinner. We spent a couple of days visiting some pretty horif http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-31914.html After our fourth and hopefully last night bus we arrived in the beach resort of Nha Trang 12 hours south of Hanoi. Our plans for lazing on the beach were soon ended as we arrived in a torrential downpour Nha Trang seemingly wasn't aware it was meant to be the 'dry' season so instead we turned our attention to the local speciality of 'mud' and spent the afternoon wallowing in mud baths and h http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Mui-Ne/blog-30512.html After Sapa we headed South and did a two day tour of Halong Bay a world heritage site 60km South of Hanoi on a boat..weather wasn't the best but we still had great visability for stunning rock formations and the chance for some kyaking. Once back on dry land in Hanoi we hopped on a train and headed South to Hoi An tailor made clothing capital of SE Asia. Hoi An was a really beautiful old styl http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-29470.html If there was still some 'Laos' in us it was quickly shaken off as we swapped cockeral crows for motorcycle horns as our new form of alarm clock. In Hanoi 2 wheels rule the road and there are motorcycles everywhere you look. It took us three days to perfect our 'crossing the road walk' shutting your eyes crossing your fingers and just stepping into the oncoming traffic.We spent a few days see http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Northeast/Sapa/blog-27488.html We made it to Hanoi How simple it was to write those words and yet how different it was to actually do Simon said he fancied 'some adventure' and we were both tired of seeing the same people everywhere we went so rather than retrace our tracks from Luang Prabang back to Ventiane and take a bus to Hanoi from there the route every other sensible traveller takes we decided to take our c http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-26932.html After a 12 hour overnight bus ride we arrived in the most laidback capital city ever Ventiane. We did the walking tour suggested in the guidebook which covered most of the city and it took us just over half a day The number of westerners here was also a bit of a shock to us after our trip down south. Several temples later we moved onto Vang Vieng stunning scenery and outdoor sports galore http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-26253.html