Chris Matthews

CMSchism

Chris Matthews

Welcome to my Travel Blog. I grew up in Melbourne, Australia and never had much of an interest in travelling until recently. I saved my annual leave hours at work for over 2 years and saved as much money as I possibly could. I recieved my first passport when I was 23 and began to plan the trip of a lifetime.

I had done loads of research and decided to tour around America for 3 months with a company called Trek America, it was the longest tour they offered (64 days) and it totally changed my life. I met my English girlfriend on tour and made loads of lifetime friends, the trip was something I will never forget and it started my love for travelling.

Since then I have travelled to many other places around the world and have plans for much more travelling ahead. I've now returned to Melbourne after living and working in London for almost 4 years using it as a base to visit different places around Europe. This travel blog is a detailed story of my adventures so far and I will continue to add to it as I have time.

The Great Ocean Road

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Great Ocean Road January 25th 2013

Great Ocean Road

CMSchism

We got together with a couple of friends and decided to head away for the Australia long weekend holiday. Daniel and Dorana came to pick us up in St. Kilda on the Friday afternoon then drove down the beautiful Great Ocean Road to our small motel in Apollo Bay. I had done the drive quite a few times down the Great Ocean Road and each time it blew me away, one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We settled into our rooms, bought some drinks and had a few games before turning in for the night. The next we decided to head out to the Great Otway National Park and have a look at the Otway Fly Treetop walk. The drive took around an hour and when we arrived unfortunately the Zip Line tour ... read more

Back to the UK

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » London City November 2nd 2012

London

CMSchism

Now that we were engaged and we made the decision to get married in the UK, it was time to head over there to start looking for suitable venues. We had also been invited to one of Hannah’s good friend’s wedding in Grantham and while over there planned to visit as many people as possible, so it was going to be a busy trip. Hannah’s family met us at the airport and we headed into London where we would spend the first few days doing some sightseeing. Considering England was now heading into winter we were extremely lucky to have some fantastic weather while in London, it was freezing cold and a shock coming from Melbourne where is was boiling hot, but it was almost a completely cloudless sky, perfect to roam around London. On the ... read more

Short break in Queensland

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Surfers Paradise September 6th 2012

Surfers Paradise

CMSchism

It had been a few years since Hannah and I had been to the Gold Coast so we decided to book a few days in Surfers Paradise then meet up with some friends in Brisbane while we were in the area. We arrived into Brisbane airport mid-morning then took the air train and a cab to get to Surfers Paradise where we were staying at the impressive Hilton Hotel. Most of our break away was spent either lying by the beach or by the hotel pool, however we did manage to visit the observation deck of Q1. We had been there before, but the views from one of the tallest buildings in Australia were always worth seeing and the beachfront city of Surfers Paradise was in incredible place to see that high in the air. Unfortunately ... read more

Last day in Uluru

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Uluru June 17th 2012

Red Center

CMSchism

It was the last day of our short but memorable trip to the red center of Australia but we had one more stop before we headed to the airport to catch our early afternoon flight back to Melbourne. We were picked up mid morning and taken to the airport, however we weren’t boarding our flight back to Melbourne, but instead were going on a 50 minute helicopter flight over the beautiful Ayers Rock and The Olgas. It was a perfectly clear and sunny day, we couldn’t have picked a better day to do a helicopter flight. After signing the paperwork we were shortly boarding the helicopter and soon enough we were in the air. We first headed towards Ayers Rock and circled around it, the view from the air was absolutely incredible. The flat red sand ... read more

Kings Canyon

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Kings Canyon June 16th 2012

Red Center

CMSchism

Today we woke up really early since we had a huge day planned which included quite a lot of driving. We were up before the sunrise and headed to the viewing platform at Ayers Rock to watch the sunrise. It’s amazing how different the colours and shadows look at different times of the day and this morning with the skies being so clear you could see The Olgas in the distance behind Ayers Rock. It was a beautiful morning and an incredible sunrise over one of the most fascinating landscapes I’ve ever seen, certainly something I will remember for a long time. Once the sun had cleared the horizon we decided to make a move since the drive to King’s Canyon would take around 3 and a half hours. We arrived into King’s Canyon Resort, a ... read more

Ayers Rock & Kata Tjuta

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Uluru June 15th 2012

Red Center

CMSchism

The big news from yesterday that Hannah and I were now engaged was still hard to believe as we woke for our 2ndday at Uluru. This morning we called our families to give them the good news before heading out to Kata Tjuta, otherwise known as The Olgas. We arrived mid-morning and decided to take a hike around the beautiful and unusual rock formations which were situated nearby Ayers Rock. The hike was expected to take a few hours so we made sure we had plenty of water and some snacks then set off. Even though it was the middle of winter temperatures in the outback easily soared over 30C so it was important to be prepared even on a relatively easy hike like the one we were doing. We made our way on the circuit ... read more

Surprise Hannah! Welcome to the Red Centre!

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Uluru June 14th 2012

Red Center

CMSchism

On the 22nd of May I was up till the early hours of the morning deciding whether or not I should book flights and hotel to Ayers Rock for a surprise trip for Hannah’s birthday. Flights were expensive, really expensive and accommodation options very limited and equally as expensive as the flights, and for such a short amount of time was it really worth the money? Eventually I thought to hell with it, I’ll book it. I’d already secretly emailed Hannah’s manager and requested a couple of days holiday over her birthday, so she had absolutely no idea I was planning anything. In fact to stop her getting suspicious I told her I had planned dinner, technically it was true, I’d also booked us on the Sound of Silence Tour on her birthday, along with a ... read more

Echuca - Moama

Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Echuca May 11th 2012

Echuca

CMSchism

Hannah and I had now been living a few months back in Melbourne and were ready to get away for a weekend, especially after an emotional week with my Nana passing away. We were booked into a lovely but unusual themed hotel in the small country town of Echuca on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, right on the Murray River. After work on the Friday night I made my way to Hannah’s work and we drove straight to Echuca from there, the drive taking a little over 2 hours. We arrived around 8PM and were starving so we headed straight into town for some dinner before making our way to the hotel and checking into our unbelievable Egyptian themed room, complete with a massive spa bath. 12/05/2012 – The next morning ... read more

China with Jeanswest

Asia » China » Guangdong » Huizhou March 26th 2012

Jeanswest

CMSchism

When I was offered my job with Jeanswest in February the next question was to ask if my passport was still valid, because in a month’s time they were sending me to China. After the usual Monday morning meeting a couple of colleagues and I were rushed off in a taxi to Melbourne airport to catch an afternoon flight to Hong Kong. After an 8 hour flight we arrived in Hong Kong after midnight and spent the first night in the airport hotel. The next morning we met for breakfast in the hotel restaurant then soon after were picked up by colleagues from our Jeanswest China team who had driven all the way from Huizhou. We all jumped in the van and crossed into China as we made the 3 hour drive to the industrial city ... read more

Euro Disney Paris

Europe » France » Île-de-France » Paris October 29th 2011

Euro Disney

CMSchism

One of Hannah’s work friends, Liz from Tesco was heading across to Paris for a short holiday and invited us to meet them for a day at Eurodisney. At first we weren’t sure, it would cost a lot of money to get to Paris, get a hotel then only go to Eurodisney for a single day, but when we saw that Eurostar were having a sale on we thought to hell with it let’s go! On the Saturday morning we forced ourselves out of bed and made our way to St. Pancras International station and caught the Eurostar straight into Paris. We arrived into Gard du Nord just as the sun was rising and made our way to Place de la Concorde to our small Parisian boutique hotel. We checked in threw our bags in our ... read more

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