Becki

After a 14 hour train journey we arrived in Chiang Mai. Spent the day wandering around the city, booked a 2 day trek for the next few days and had a massage which was very lovely as I’d insisted she be very gentle with me. The next day we headed off on our trek. We met our group which consisted of 3 couples, from Oz, Germany and Dominican Republic Before the hike up the hill; we went on a short elephant ride through the foot hills. Our Ellie was very well behaved and meandered along easily which was very good as we weren’t strapped in and I was a little afraid of falling on my head. We then headed off on the 'trek'. I very very quickly realized just how unfit I actually am when ... read more

Next stop Koh Samui. Found somewhere to sleep and caught taxi to Samui Airport (also known as a bunch of small shacks in the middle of the island) to meet Em and Becca. Was sat so close to the runway, could actually have got run over if I'd put a bit of effort into it. SOOOO lovely to see them both, until they were actually there, I wasn't totally sure they'd be on the flight - quite surreal having my big sis there. Unfortunately, the weather was pants, rain and cloud, not quite what they had been hoping for. But still we lay on the beach hoping for some sun and in the evening had a wander round the shops (So many shops selling so much cool stuff) and did a bit of spending. The ... read more

Arrived in Singapore late in the evening and managed to navigate our way through the absurdly clean underground system to our little hostel. The next few days were spent exploring the city, including Little India (visited a fish market where they appeared to be selling a whole shark!!!), Clarke Quay and Orchard Road (huge great shopping malls selling every designer label under the sun - not quite backpacker shopping territory). Managed to find extremely cheep and yummy food, including traditional puddings which consisted of a lump of ice with coconut milk poured on it and fruit. Unfortunately, Barcely's fraud department were a little eager and blocked Bekka's card, so a great deal of time was spent trying to unblock it (we did not seem to be able to engage with Singapore phonecards - v.frustrating!!!). After ... read more

Arrived in Wellington and after a slight struggle, managed to find our way out of the docks, we rocked up at our hostel and slept!! The next morning we embarked on a long drive up the middle of the island to Turangi. We were extremely impressed with our choice of hostel, a band new homely little abode with the most gorgeous dog and the most comfy bed I have slept in since leaving 10a. Our plan was to conquer the Tongariro Crossing (a very popular 8 hour walk through the Tongariro National Park) the next day, however due to a rubbish weather forecast, we decided to postpone the hefty walk in favour of the following day when the sun was due to shine. This meant an extra night in paradise, so we weren’t too bothered. So ... read more

Arrived in New Zealand late Friday night, checked into hostel, Base Backpackers. Following morning, Bekka and I found Stefan (who had followed Bekka over from Oz) and sat down to discuss our route for the next week. Knowing I had Sarah arriving in 10 days, we planned to see parts of NZ that we wouldn 't include in our trip. After much discussion, we came up with a vauge route, but decided we'd hire a car and just see how it goes. Unfortunartly, our other girls had arrived a week before us and had already set off on a tight schedule as two of them were flying out of Auckland on 10th March. Therefore they were doing the South Island in 18 days and we were not able to catch up with them. Bekka and I ... read more