Vietnam was always going to be a bonus destination for us because it wasn’t on our original itinerary. The most travelled and sensible route is either north from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi or vice versa. We decided to fly from Bangkok to Hanoi and then use a combination of trains, buses and internal flights to get to Ho Chi Minh City. It was immediately obvious that Vietnam was going to be a very different experience, beginning with the taxi from the airport. The driver brought us to a tour agency, opened the doors and insisted we had arrived at [View Full Entry]

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While in Langkawi, we decided to head directly to the much lauded island of Ko Samui. Down to our timing, the Andaman coast (which includes Phuket, Krabi and Ko Phi Phi) was still being affected by the southwest monsoon that hits from June to October. So that part of the country was out. The Gulf coast however, where Ko Samui is, isn’t affected as much by the southwest monsoon as it is by the northeast monsoon, which brings the rain between October and January. So our thinking was get there quick before it starts raining!!! This decision brought upon us a [View Full Entry]

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The border crossing from Singapore into Malaysia was relatively straightforward. Aside from the fact that first you leave Singapore and then you drive through ‘no man’s land’ for half an hour in awful traffic and queue up again in another non descript building, this time to get into Malaysia. The process itself is very straightforward, smile and hand over your passport. Our first stop in Malaysia was Melacca or Melaka depending on which road sign you looked at. We had read a fair bit about the city and its fascinating history and it really didn’t disappoint. To giv [View Full Entry]

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Since Qantas (using their budget subsidiary called JetStar) no longer cover the route from Bali to Singapore, they had booked us onto a Singapore Airlines flight instead. We were very impressed by the moist towels, three choices for lunch, unlimited beverages and in flight movies especially since the flight was only two and a half hours. I was only finishing my tiramisu when we began our descent. We had heard that Singapore was a very practical, functional and efficiently run city, the first example of this was at the airport. Travellators everywhere, very clear signs, no queue at immigrat [View Full Entry]

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“With its pounding surf, emerald-green rice terraces and exceptionally artistic culture, the small volcanic island of Bali has long been Indonesia’s premier tourist destination.” - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia. Bali has long been a favourite holiday destination for Australians, akin to the way Irish and English flock to the resorts in Spain. Most remember Bali being in the news for all the wrong reasons in 2002, when 2 bombs rocked a nightclub and an Irish bar in Kuta, Bali’s most famous resort, killing over 200 people, the majority being Australian holiday make [View Full Entry]

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The next stop after Airlie beach was a long 7 hour drive north and the town of Mission Beach. To be honest, it could have been the most awful place I’d ever been and I doubt I would have noticed, what with still being on cloud 9 and all But as it happened it was a really cute little town. I put the emphasis on little here because there was no more than 15 shops in the town and about 8 of those were cafes! We still managed to while away the afternoon browsing in the little shops and eating the [View Full Entry]

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The next stop after Brisbane was Rainbow Beach. What a lovely little place it is! A tiny little town, with 3 hostels in a row on a road 200metres from the beach. Lovely little fish and chip café’s and such lovely people. Our nice little hostel was really cool. The staff were so helpful and friendly we immediately felt at home. We had our eye on a sea kayaking with dolphins trip in Rainbow Beach so we booked it for the next day. Picked up at the hostel after our lovely free breakfast, we embarked on a trip along the gorgeous [View Full Entry]

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So the time came to pack up our rucksacks and hit the road again. We had our dinner on our last night in a lovely Irish bar, steak mash and gravy of course, and said a final farewell to Sydney. It was a strange feeling leaving ‘home’ again and we were a little sad, having made some great friends and really settled in, but we were really excited to start the next leg of the adventure. We decided that the best way to get to Cairns to catch our next flight would be an almighty road trip. We collected our rental [View Full Entry]

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We’ve decided that we should be treating each weekend like a mini holiday so we make the most of our time here in Sydney. With that in mind we were delighted to have the opportunity to see some of the New South Wales countryside with a visit to a farm in Mudgee. A colleague of mine, Christy, has recently built a gorgeous house on a huge plot of land 2 hours drive from Sydney. Her husband, Peter, is a jack of all trades and between them they have pretty much designed, built and decorated the entire thing themselves. It is [View Full Entry]

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We’ve been very busy bees the last few weeks. Work has been going great for both of us and we’ve really settled into city living. We’ve moved apartment in the last few weeks. Found a lovely 2 bed apartment, just a couple of hundred yards away from our old place. It’s right on Hyde Park. We now have a gorgeous view of St. Mary’s Cathedral and Hyde Park, with Sydney Harbour in the background. We still have our gym and swimming pool in the building, so we’re still keeping our high living standards, nothing but the best for us! Haha We [View Full Entry]

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