After reading a few horror stories about the land border crossing betweeen Vietnam and Cambodia, we were pretty pleased that our trip from Saigon to Phnom Penh was actually relatively uneventful. Well, apart from getting on the bus to find our seats missing (literally - there was a space where they should have been)! At the Vietnamese border, our bus driver took our passports off us, left us standing outside wondering what to do next and then reappeared twenty minutes later with them all stamped and ready to go through... not sure it was the best form of security but it was simpler than queuing! The Cambodian border was a little more reassuring, as we were finger printed into the country one at a time. Our guesthouse was near the old market, in the riverside area ... read more

After a few days in Bangkok, we were heading to Vietnam to meet up with Jo, Rob and Christine. So many people had recommended the former French colony that we were just hoping it lived up to expectations. We were pretty sure it couldn't fail, as we were really excited about seeing our former housemates (and about the delivery of Percy Pigs they were bringing)! We flew straight into the capital, Hanoi, and were first introduced to the utter madness of the city from the comfort of our taxi. As it was first thing in the morning we couldn't check-in yet, so we ventured straight out onto the streets, where we cautiously made our way along the road... There are virtually no pavements, hundreds and hundreds of mopeds and no road markings. The locals also seem ... read more

We have been staying in Bondi for our final few weeks in Australia and have discovered that Autumn in Sydney varies from quite chilly in the shade, to really warm when the sun shines. We have therefore spent some of our time hiding from the rain and surrounded by cups of tea and guide books planning our route around southeast Asia, but have also managed a few excursions in the sun! We have also discovered that when heading inland (to Canberra) the temperature drops further still, meaning hats and scarves are in order. We did fail on our quest to find snow in the 'Sunburnt Country', but enjoyed a road trip through New South Wales and into the Australian Capital Territory in the process: Our route from Sydney to Canberra was down the 31, on the ... read more

The final leg of our journey around Australia has involved a two week jaunt from Perth to Albany, in south west Western Australia. However, as we ended the last blog just North of Perth, still in our campervan, we thought we'd pick up where we left off... About 15km out of Cervantes we discovered that Hazel had left both of her new flip-flops at the campsite, so we turned round and retrieved them to save buying yet another pair! Part of our routine before leaving places will now be checking Hazel has all of her footwear packed. We then headed back to Perth and dropped off the campervan before catching the bus to Cottesloe and checking into our hostel for the night. We were delighted to find that Wednesday was free BBQ night, so we fed ... read more

We have spent the last 10 days or so on an epic journey through the Australian outback from Alice Springs to Darwin, taking in multiple national parks and some amazingly different scenery. As ever, this has resulted in masses of photos and a pretty long blog...sorry! We flew into Alice Springs and were greeted by a surprisingly overcast day, so headed straight to the hotel to psych ourselves up for the Contiki tour we had coming up the following day ("Rock on 18-35s"! - AKA bring on the cringe-fest). We had decided that, with the huge distances involved, taking a tour around the Northern Territory was the best way to get about - and we didn't want to get eaten alive by snakes or crocs or anything! Day one of the tour involved having a look ... read more