The first thing to hit us was the heat, as our plane touched down in Kerela; near on 33 degrees but an altogether welcome assault on our persons. We were so excited to once again be able to don the flip-flops and shorts! We didn't recieve any hassle from anyone at the airport and I even caught the odd 'please ma'am' and 'thank you sir'. We'd both heard a lot of good things about the south of India, Kerela in particular, and the more time we spent in the state, the more we grew to love the place. People were friendlier, [View Full Entry]

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When the Rusian guy we met on the train from Jaisalmer to Jodpur assured us that the main bazaar in New Delhi was 'nothing but mud', I was certain that I must have misheard him. Surely in this day and age an upcoming 'Superpower' like India can manage to tarmac the central street in the main backpapcker area in thier capital city? Of course they can't. It was made of the finest mud that together with all the detritus and rocks embedded within it, gave the street a hazardously uneven surface. What a place! Our hotel (Rak International) was pretty good [View Full Entry]

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Udaipur was a welcome surprise. It's billed as India's most romantic city and it was clear to see why. Udaipur is set around Lake Pichola, which as far as lakes go (especially Indian Lakes) isn't that much to write home about, however, the 2 beautiful floating Palaces that sit serenely on its surface and the regal City Palace which remains the residence of the current royal family, do indeed give the place a lot of charm. Plus, throw in the cute little back-streets which are more like a maze of ancient passageways and the beautiful, crumbling Rajasthani arcitecture that's visible at [View Full Entry]

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After a mammoth 12 hour flight we touched down in Mumbai, a little worse for wear and with no idea of what time of day it should have been. I wasted no time at all in using my broken 'punjab-lish' to organise us a taxi to our hotel on the outskirts of Mumbai. The city (or what we saw of it at least) was as we'd expected; noisy, smog-filled, crowded and filthy. Immense shanty towns of make-shift shacks sat shoulder to shoulder with crumbling (but striking) colonial buildings and everywhere you looked there were people (amidst livestock, cars, auto-rickshaws, buses, scooters [View Full Entry]

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It was really good to be back in Oz and this time we were going to 'do' Sydney properly. We stayed with my cousin Ritu and her family ion Mortdale once more but this time felt like we really got to know them well. The day after we landed I turned 29 and for a treat Kelly booked us into a 5 star hotel in the centre of the city for a night. It was nice to have a bit of luxury and we spent most of the day walking around the Rocks, enjoying some drinks in the sunshine and taking [View Full Entry]

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We started our Fiji adventure at a hotel called Aquarius, smack bang on the beach at Nadi Bay, a stone's throw away from Nadi Town and the airport. The hotel itself, nothing to write home about, and the beach even less so (dirty, grey sand littered with rubbish and the odd stray dog wanting to be your best friend). Knowing that we only had to endure this for a couple of nights before our real Fiji adventure began (hopping between the idyllic Mamanuca and Yasawa islands) we made the best of it and relaxed in one of the many dual berth [View Full Entry]

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'You'll smell it before you see it' is what we'd read about Rotorua, and boy they weren't kidding! The place is one of the most thermally active area in all of NZ and when you're downwind of it, all you can smell is rotten eggs (due to all the sulphur in the air). We visited Wai-O-Tapu, an amazing thermal park full of crazy coloured lakes, bubbling mud pools and the famous Lady Xnox Geyser that goes off with a bang every morning at 10.15 am! It's hard to get your head around the fact that the place is all completely natural- [View Full Entry]

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Heading south from Moreaki we keep clocking up the Kms and the adventures keep on coming... We soon hit Dunedin which (as you can probably guess by the name) has a distinctive Scoth heritage which can be seen in the buildings all around. After climbing the steepest street in the world (Baldwin St) and getting the certificte to prove it, we spend some time taking in the other local attractions (we see majestic royal albatrosses in the wild- at their only mainland nesting area in the world) and fill up on some culture at the local museum and art gallery. From [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand at an unsociable 11.30pm, we made a bee line for the airport transport which helpfully dropped us off at our accomodation for the first few nights, the Thomas Hotel, right in the city centre. Waking up the next day we were greeted with the wonderful news that Jenny (Kelly's little sis) had finally dropped, and baby Alfie had emerged; pink and a little wrinkly, into the world back in Blighty. We immediately made for the heart of the city (which is NZ's most English city) for some sight seeing and celebration. [View Full Entry]

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Next stop on the journey was Sydney, where for a couple of days we stayed with Ritu and family (a cousin I'd 'met' when I was a 1 year old) just outside the city in the suburbs. Sadly it was the end of the road for Madge, so after giving her a bit of a scrub (aided by Amers and Kelly's little helpers) we dropped her off and headed into the city to catch some of the sights. This time around our jaunt in Sydney was only a whistlestop (coming back for New Year) so we only swung by a few [View Full Entry]

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