Lynsey and Gareth

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 our destination. We read that this was common in Asia and that the driver would get commission from the agency for dropping us off there but this was strange considering we had booked our driver ... read more

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 give you a brief overview the city was a very important trading port for hundreds of years, back when Singapore was still just a village. This made it a highly sought-after city and between the 1500’s & 1900’s ... read more

“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 makers. Having read about how reprisals and religious conflicts did not ensue, due in part to Bali’s composed Hindu leadership, and that tourist numbers were healthier than ever, we were confident of our safety travelling around the island. The news of more bombs ... read more

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 beach in the back of a 4 x 4 with 6 other eager beavers. It was a good 45 minutes before we arrived at our launch spot, and the drive was quite interesting. It took ... read more

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 made all the more impressive when you consider that it was built over mostly weekends and some short spells of time off work and during the winter months when they were living in a shed ... read more