21st August 2008 - 29th August 2008 Bounty Island A short flight from Christchurch to Auckland then a three hour flight to Nadi (pronounced ‘Nandi’) and we were in Fiji and soon to be in shorts and flip flops again after six weeks of cold and snow. As we walked through arrivals we were confronted by various people touting their business. We were glad we had pre-booked everything as we are unable to handle that anymore. They were very tame to be honest but our tolerance levels are not what they were twelve months ago. A transfer to our hotel, Nadi [View Full Entry]

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31st July 2008 - 21st August 2008 Picton - Kaikoura - Christchurch - Arthur's Pass - Franz Josef - Fox Village - Wanaka - Arrowtown - Queenstown - Milford Sound - Dunedin - Naseby - Moeraki - Akaroa - Christchurch The recent stormy weather had had no effect on the amazingly smooth three hour ferry journey across the open sea from Wellington in the North Island to Picton in the South but had caused considerable damage to the roads in this region. The main road from Picton to Christchurch was closed due to several landslips along the route. Alternative roadways h [View Full Entry]

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12th July 2008 - 31st July 2008 Auckland - Sheep World - Bay of Islands - Doubtless Bay - Hamilton - Rotorua - Taupo - Napier - Turangi - Tongariro - Bulls - Wellington A five hour flight from Perth leaving around eight in the evening arrived in Auckland at 5.30am due to a four hour time difference. A sleepless night was followed by a long wait in customs as staff took an age to locate Claire's visa on the system. We eventually found the remaining two items of luggage from flight NZ176 as we had been held so long the [View Full Entry]

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15th June 2008 - 11th July 2008 Kununurra - Broome - Exmouth - Cossack - Coral Bay - Monkey Mia - Kalbarri - Northampton - Hutt River - Pinnacles - Fremantle - Perth Arriving in Western Australia from the Northern Territory you immediately enter the Kimberley area, "a region the size of Poland often romantically described as Australia's last frontier". Not sure about the size but it is about as romantic as Poland! We spent three days travelling through this tedious terrain that is probably best explored by four wheel drive. It's the place to see the famous 'Bungl [View Full Entry]

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24th May 2008 - 14th June 2008 Broken Hill - Silverton - Coober Pedy - Ayers Rock - Kings Canyon - Alice Springs - Devils Marbles - Daly Waters - Mataranka - Katherine Gorge - Lichfield National Park - Darwin If one more person says to us "you don't realise how big Australia is" we'll really lose our rag! Actually, being English, we'll politely agree with them and have a good moan once they've gone! Seriously though, we have maps in England, we know it's a big country. We don't think Australians realise the volume of traffic we have back home [View Full Entry]

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2nd May 2008 - 23rd May 2008 Holbrook - Milawa - Beechworth - Glenrowan - Benalla - Melbourne - Philip Island - Great Ocean Road - Grampians - McLaren vale - Kangaroo Island - Adelaide The most direct route from Sydney to Melbourne is via the Hume Highway, or 'Ned Kelly Country'. Ned Kelly is the legendary bushranger who has been compared to Robin Hood in that he stole from the wealthy - but then he forgot to give to the poor. He also killed a few policemen but despite these indescretions he is still widely associated as a symbol of [View Full Entry]

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17th April 2008 - 1st May 2008 Coolangatta - Byron Bay - Coffs Harbour - Dorrigo - Port MacQuarie - Hunter Valley - Sydney - Blue Mountains - Kiama - Pebbly Beach - Canberra Standing at the state border of New South Wales and Queensland on Boundary Road, Coolangatta, we took a photo of the oversized marker and enjoyed what was to be our last bit of sunshine for sometime before moving on to rain soaked Byron Bay. First thing we did in this 'hippie hideout' town was drive up to its iconic lighthouse. The lighthouse is the most easterly point [View Full Entry]

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2nd April 2008 - 17th April 2008 Ingham - Lucinda - Bellenden Ker Range - Cairns - Port Douglas - Atherton Tablelands - Tully - Cardwell - Townsville - Agnes Water / Seventeen Seventy - Bundaberg - Childers - Hervey Bay (Fraser Island) - Big Pineapple - Australia Zoo - Brisbane The Bruce Highway is the main road along the East Coast and has been our companion since leaving Brisbane. Having travelled north in excess of 2,000km thus far we were now firmly in the tropics and beginning to feel the heat. We were also beginning to notice the crocodile warnings [View Full Entry]

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18th March 2008 - 1st April 2008 Brisbane - Mooloolaba - Noosa - Rainbow Beach - Childers - Emu Park - Yeppoon - St.Lawrence - Eungella - Airlie Beach (Whitsunday Islands) - Bowen The overnight bus from Vientiene (Laos) to Bangkok pulled into the Khao San Road just after 7am. It was an ok journey and we got some sleep. We had one day in Bangkok so we stocked up on medicines, toiletries, a hammock, t-shirt and a couple of books. After six months of being accustomed to Asian prices Australia was going to be a shock - anything we thought [View Full Entry]

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6th March 2008 - 16th March 2008 Luang Prabang - Phonsavan - Vang Viang - Vientiane Our one hour flight from HaNoi to Luang Prabang was in a small and less than third full aircraft with pschyadaelic seat covers. It was a little bumpy but not too bad and the inflight meal was lovely. The airport at Luang Prabang was equally small and it took less than five minutes and about thirty paces to go through customs and collect our bags from the only luggage carousel. It did have an ATM though which was useful, although both $US and Thai baht [View Full Entry]

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