After Christmas we went down to Lake Naivasha with some friends from work. The lake is about a 2 hour drive from Nairobi in the Rift Valley. We stayed at a really cute little log cabin with open fire place. At night we weren't allowed off the balcony as the animals come up from the lake and graze. We saw zebras both nights coming up to feed. We were told that hippos come up to the cabin as well, but we didn't see any. The cabin was a stones throw away from the lake so on our first day there we [View Full Entry]

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Our last stop before Nairobi was Dubai, which was somewhere neither Paul or I had ever been. Luckily we were there for nice weather, it was warm but not stinking hot. We did a cultural stop at the museum, and then a shopping cultural trip to the gold souk :-) Heaven, I was in heaven. Admittedly Paul was a tad bored. So after that we went out to the desert for some dune bashing; watched the sun set; had dinner in the desert and took a camel ride. It was a lot of fun and both really enjoyed it. [View Full Entry]

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After Vietnam we flew back through Bangkok for a few days for a spot of shopping and a few cocktails. We went up to the Banyan Tree hotel and drank cocktails at sunset over looking the city. [View Full Entry]

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We decided to take the long way to Nairobi, so visited Paul's parents in New Zealand and then mine in Vietnam. Our first trip out of Hanoi (where mum and dad are) was to Sapa, which is up in the mountains. It started with a 9 hour overnight train trip, which wasn't too bad, we had a 4 berth cabin so could sleep...sort of....they were wooden beds rather thing matresses on top. We arrived at some ungodly hour of the morning (it was like 4.30 AM or something), hopped on a mini bus and was driven up to the top of [View Full Entry]

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I thought I was pretty luck to score a couple of months in Fiji, but I somehow also managed to score a (work) trip to Vanuatu. From the outset it has to be said that Port Vila is a beautiful city, so laid back with such naturally stunning surroundings, I slipped into an automatic state of relaxation. If work wasn’t nagging on my mind I could have had a fabulous trip, but alas duty called so unfortunately clear sunny days were spent in the office. But the afternoons, with vibrantly coloured sunsets and a drink in hand, were all mine. The [View Full Entry]

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It had been a few weekends out of the water so we thought we should head down the coast, a 45 minute drive South from Suva, to do a dive at what is acclaimed as one of the top 10 dive sights in the world. While we were there we figured we might as well take advantage of a great 'local rates' deal at the hotel and stay somewhere flash. The hotel was really lovely, beautiful grounds and really lovely rooms. We got lucky and scored a sea view room (although only paying for the garden view) which was so lovely [View Full Entry]

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One of my weekend trips away recently was to Takalana, which is about 2.5 hours north of Suva. We had two car loads of people, the unfortunate group were in front in the rickity old van, the lucky ones (including me!) were in a brand new 4-wheel drive....aahh, I do like to travel in style. And the 4-wheel drive was necessary, from about half way the tar road ends and the mud and gravel roads take over. Our destination was a small backpackers place up on a hill overlooking a black sand beach. It’s rather unusual, it feels like sand except [View Full Entry]

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Here are some more photos from Fiji that I didn't add before. [View Full Entry]

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Early Saturday morning we all assembled to set off to Volivoli beach, the northen most part of the island. Our cultural mix this weekend consisted of Aussie, Kiwi, Pom and French. The five of us piled into the 4-wheel drive and set-off, first driving across the new bridge at Nausori which had just opened on the Thursday. The bridge had been in planning and construction for a few years so it had been a fairly momentous occasion in Fiji. An hour and a half into our journey the smooth luxury of tar gave way to the adventures of narrow gravel roads. [View Full Entry]

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The other weekend I went with a group of friends to visit a traditional Fijian village to experience the culture and get away from the hustle and bustle of Suva. It was an epic journey, taking 6-7 hours each way from Suva. Jane and I started our journey on Friday afternoon, leaving Suva by taxi, bound for Sigatoka (a town along the coral coast heading towards Nadi). Our master plan of arranging a taxi that morning to pick Jane up from work then coming to get me failed miserable (taxi driver was a no show), added to the fact that Jane [View Full Entry]

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