Untitled Angela & Nicole McMaster It's great being back on the road again - heaps of adventures seen some amazing places, done loads of touristy things, had some great laughs at myself, met a million fantastic people and made lots of really good friends! NB. There are heaps of photos, but make sure you have a look through them. As for the rest, I know there's a lot of writing so I don't expect you to read it all, it's mostly like a travel diary for myself. Enjoy!! (I've only done until Ireland, so i'll update the text la [View Full Entry]

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Today we had to pay a really hefty fine to cross the boarder from Hungary to Slovakia - 2 cans of Coke. Both countries are part of the EU (but have yet to switch over to the Euro) so border crossings are usually just a formality. The guard came onto the bus, looked up and down and saw Nev was drinking a Coke and said he wanted one. Of course Brad gave him one and stepped down off the bus. Then stopped and said he wanted 2. So Brad gave him another and he waved us through. No passport check - [View Full Entry]

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Next day Woke up early this morning to the sound of rain drops on our tent, great, the worst thing about camping is rain. Caught the train into the city. Had a good view of Parliment House across the river. Walked uphill to the Fisherman's Bastion which is a good lookout point of the city. Saw the outside of Matthias church, we didn't pay to get in as we are all churched out. Then went to the Budapest Labyrinth. Spnt quite a while walkng through the underground caves and tunnels. I lead the way through the labyrinth of courage, which [View Full Entry]

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We crossed into Romania today and with crossing from ex-communist to ex-communist it only took 1 1/2 hours! We stopped at a small hilltop town called Vecchio Tarnavor (Velcro for short) which has a large fort overlooking the town. There was a little group of old men with a clarinet, accordian & singin, they were sitting in front of a bar - playing for their beers. The highlight of the tour was the 2nd biggest building in the WORLD (only the Pentagon is bigger) which for all extents and purposes, bankrupted Romania. It was commissioned by the ex-communist leader of the [View Full Entry]

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We had a 3 hour border stop in order to get into the country. A very long boring 3 hour stop as we're not allowed to watch a movie, listen to music or even look like we are having fun. If we laugh at something, the guards might think we are laughing at them and decide not to let us in. They've also been known to take cameras and ipod type things just because they can so we had to hide everything. After a long drive from the day before, we all indulged in a few drinks last night... some more [View Full Entry]

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This is a favourite place of ours, absolutely stunning sights and friendly people (even over friendly!). This is the first hotel we stayed in since Rome, so the luxuries were great. We were staying very close to city centre and all the attractions which are fantastic. It was the longest stop on our tour - 3 days. So arriving in Istanbul after a long drive from Gallipoli (couldn't get much sleep on the bus) so we were running on empty. We found out we needed a visa for Romania, and we weren't the only ones who didn't have it, so Sam [View Full Entry]

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Well this was an emotional day and definitely something we have looked forward to (a big reason for why we went on this particular tour). We arrived early afternoon and went on a bus tour explaining exactly where and what happened at Gallipoli, and also had the opportunity to go through the war museum of letters, photos, and uniforms, it was nice to be able to see what the soldiers had going on in their lives at the time before we head to the actual cove where it all took place. We wouldn't have access to our big packs, so we [View Full Entry]

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We drove through huge mountains and the weather started to turn dark and gloomy, it was raining as we tried to set up camp in a town called Meteora, then we all sat undercover and had tea and played cards with a few drinks, dreading going back to our wet tents. Morning came quickly, its quite soothing sleeping to rain on a tent. We saddled up and went high into the mountains to the old monasteries on top of cliff faces. Originally 21 monasteries that where built on top of these mountains. We were able to go into one and check [View Full Entry]

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Athens took driving a whole day (and we got to see the Corinth Canal on the way which was a bonus), but when we got there it was definitely worth it! Up nice and early to make the most of the day, we all caught the bus in and got a little bit of a tour on the way - helped us to get our bearings and also saw the Roman Stadium where the 1896 Olympics were held (on that site at least). Our first stop on our path through the famous city was the Temple of Zeus where we also [View Full Entry]

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Well to tell you all the truth, we didn't think WE would be the sailors! After catching our overnight ferry to Greece, we drove for a few more hours to our boats. We thought we would have experienced sailors doing it all for us, and that all we had to do was soak up the sun... he he he. Well that wasn't the case, because there was only one guy (Fraser) to teach us all how to sail! Captains and Skippers were selected, and went off for a more detailed lesson, while we went shopping for supplies. There were 5 boats, [View Full Entry]

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