The Svalbard archipelago lies in the Arctic Ocean, about midway between Norway and the North Pole, and belongs to Norway. It comprises all lands between latitude 74° North and latitude 81° North and between longitude 10° East and longitude 35° East. The principal islands are Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Barentsøya, Edgeøya, Kong Karls Land, Prins Karls Forland, and Bjørnøya. Longyearbyen with nearly 2000 inhabitants is the largest populated area on the territory of Svalbard and lies at the southern side of Adventfjorden, stretched out along the Longyearelva River. It is named after American e [View Full Entry]

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I think in the end the tally was 43 hours to get from Adelaide to OSlo...not helped by little indian men getting off flights...but we got there in the end...straight into a first class reminder of the prices here...train from airport to hotel suburb..60AUD...taxi from train station to hotel..coz by this time we really could not be bothered walking the 2.5km with bags, and we didn't have a local map...20AUD...dinner in hotel (2 mains, 2 beers, one lemonade) 100AUD...so only a few hours in the country and already 180 dollars poorer..eek..good thing we're only here 4 days!! So flying in the [View Full Entry]

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Our day at Heathrow started very early on Monday 30th June. After flying to Perth early sunday to meet Lesley then onto Singapore, our flight from Singapore to London had been delayed an hour and 15 minutes and only having an original turn around time of 2 hours it was going to be a stretch. Onto a bus to terminal 5...which took another 15 minutes..and a race to the desk to get through to the gates. The first security lady looked at the boarding passes and said yes you should make it...the second lady took a quick look and without even [View Full Entry]

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Hear, hear the pipes are calling Loudly and proudly calling down through the glen There where the hills are sleeping Now feel the blood a-leaping High as the spirits Of the old highland men Ah, yes. Who would have thought!! Way back in 2002 as I was marching off the Edinburgh Castle esplanade for the last time, sad that the trip had come to an end, who knew I would be back this year. It was my first day back in Adelaide late last year after the 10 month super trip, I was in the bar at Adelaide oval watching the [View Full Entry]

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Ah, home and back to work to find that no, nothing really changes. (Which basically means now it's back to saving money to pay for the next trip- wherever that may be.) A big congratulations to all 8 of my friends who have added to their families in the time I have been away. Also, I hope everyone here at home and all those overseas and still travelling had a fantastic xmas and new year. Haven't had time to upload the funny engrish signs I found in China but for those interested you can also look up www.engrish.com for some more. [View Full Entry]

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Some people will be reading this and thinking, But she's been back for three weeks!! I know, I know, but a quick trip to Townsville, lots of shopping and a cricket match have all got in the way of sitting down at a computer, and now I have to try and remember what I did for 3 1/2 weeks in China. Beijing: Arrived in Beijing very glad that I managed to actually enter the country even though my name was spelt wrong on my entry visa. Amazing that I noticed at all really - it certainly gets spelt wrong a lot [View Full Entry]

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You know when you leave a carton of milk in the fridge for waaaaay too long, and when you take it out there is solid stuff in the bottom and clear liquid on the top but you've already opened it and taken a whiff before you realise? Well if you're ever in Mongolia and someone offers you fermented milk alcohol, you would be well off to remember that particular smell and JUST SAY NO!!! One of our group ignored this advice and earnt himself the name 'Yoghurt Boy' before waking very ill in the middle of the night. Only two days [View Full Entry]

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Well I have left the comfortable surrounds of Casa Del Gregory and am now back on the road to head east for home. A wonderful introduction to a new city I had almost forgotten what it was like to negotiate public transport with all my stuff with me, and after getting past a scary Russian immigration lady I then had a local bus to the metro, two metro lines and a 15 min walk to my next destination in St. Petersburgh. No trouble except for nearly getting my backpack stuck in the bus door on the way. I am also back [View Full Entry]

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In February this year I was sitting in a lecture room on a big red boat crossing the Drake passage and one of the first questions we were asked was this... "How many people here are visiting Antarctica because it is your seventh continent?" Well, I suddenly realised that during all my previous trips it was something I had never actually considered, and later that evening in our cabin, myself and new cabin mate Sally spent some time trying to figure out just exactly how many continents we had both travelled and what was left. Even so , this year was [View Full Entry]

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Anyone who knows my sister will also know that before this trip she had racked up an impressive 9 visits to Disneyland - 7 Tokyo, 2 Paris!! Me, a very disappointing 1 !! Well now that count is 2 and Shani is finally into double figures. Our three days at Disneyland Paris got off to a slightly rocky start when our first flight from Cardiff was cancelled due to there being something wrong with the plane -(a replacement plane was found-also with something wrong and also cancelled!!) This all caused a mild moment of panic when we thought we weren't going [View Full Entry]

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