Hoops and Catlow

After Fraser it was off to Airlie beach for our next trip which was a boat trip around the Whitsundays Islands. We were a bit worried as the weather in the area had been bad following a cyclone that had hit a few weeks before. As it turned out we were very lucky and had the first day of sunshine that had been seen for weeks. We stayed two nights on the boat and during the day went snorkelling, James went diving, and stopped at a couple of islands. The islands were very picturesque and we were so happy that the sun shone for us! After leaving Airlie beach we went to Magnetic Island for two nights. The island was beautiful, although a little quiet as it was their slow time of the year because of ... read more

Hi everyone, sorry it has been a while again! Well, the east coast of Australia was brilliant. We had some amazing experiences aswell as lots and lots of partying. After we left Sydney we stopped over briefly in a few small places, namely Newcastle, Port Macquarie & Coffs Harbour, which were all small beachy towns and were all very pleasant. The highlight in Coffs Harbour was ‘the big banana’ which is basically huge banana with a whole tourist park around it devoted to bananas! Very strange! Then we headed to Byron Bay which was lovely. Byron is quite a laid back hippie sort of place and we spent five days there chilling out on the beautiful beach and going to the bars of a night. One day we hired a body board and had a laugh ... read more

G'day Folks! We are now in Western Australia. We arrived in Perth at the beginning of December. We spent a few days staying in Perth and seeing the city (mainly its bars and pubs!) and the surrounding beaches. We spent a day on Rottnest Island which is a short ferry ride from Freemantle, where we hired bikes and explored the beautiful island. The island was quite hilly so we found the bike ride a bit of a struggle at times but were rewarded with the most beautiful, deserted beaches and clearest waters we have seen so far in our travels. After a few days in Perth we picked up our campervan and headed up the great northern highway to Exmouth. The journey took us 3 days, making us realise exactly how immense this country is! On ... read more

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) after leaving rainy Nah Trang by night bus. The weather in Saigon was an improvement and we set off for the afternoon to explore the city. Saigon's streets were even busier than other cities we have visited in Vietnam and crossing the roads was dangerous business. We visited the War Remnants museum which was like no other museum we have been to before and was both shocking and moving. After looking at the horrific photographs of the war and also more recent photographs of the effects of the toxins used by the Americans that still effects the Vietnamese people today, we left with more respect for the Vietnamese who are such friendly people moving on from the horrors of their past. Our second day in Saigon we spent ... read more

We have spent two and a half weeks now in Vietnam and to say it has been wet is an understatement! We arrived in Hanoi to flooded streets. We attempted some sight seeing the following day but gave up after battling the rain for a couple of hours! The next day we headed off on a 3 day boat trip to Halong Bay which was beautiful. The weather stayed mostly dry for us but was not the scorching weather we were hoping for. Halong Bay is a really beautiful place with 3,000 islands jutting out from the calm waters. The first day we visited a huge cave which was quite fascinating. We stayed on the boat for both nights but didnt realise that the rest of our group had chosen the hotel option on one of ... read more