http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lynsey-and-Gareth/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lynsey and Gareth en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:49:08 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:49:08 +0000 The Road HomeTyphoon Ketsana cutting short our time in Vietnam meant we had a few more days to spend in Cambodia. We decided to start with three days in the capital Phnom Penh and then six days in the town of Siem Reap. The most memorable part of our visit to Cambodia was our interaction with the lovely Khmer people. Considering the tragedy of the Pol Pot regime in their recent history and the fac http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-460222.html Vietnam was always going to be a bonus destination for us because it wasnrsquot 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-445533.html 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 isnrsquot affected as much by the southwest monsoon as it is by th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-444301.html The border crossing from Singapore into Malaysia was relatively straightforward. Aside from the fact that first you leave Singapore and then you drive through lsquono manrsquos landrsquo 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-440338.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Little-India/blog-437640.html ldquoWith its pounding surf emeraldgreen rice terraces and exceptionally artistic culture the small volcanic island of Bali has long been Indonesiarsquos premier tourist destination.rdquo 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 ne http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Nusa-Dua/blog-435614.html 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 Irsquod 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 th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-431632.html 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 cafrsquos 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 Be http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Airlie-Beach/blog-429439.html 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 lsquohomersquo 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/Central-Business-District/blog-429431.html Wersquove 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 P http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-421394.html Wersquove been very busy bees the last few weeks. Work has been going great for both of us and wersquove really settled into city living. Wersquove moved apartment in the last few weeks. Found a lovely 2 bed apartment just a couple of hundred yards away from our old place. Itrsquos right on Hyde Park. We now have a gorgeous view of St. Maryrsquos Cathedral and Hyde Park with Sydney Har http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Hervey-Bay/Fraser-Island/blog-408386.html Back again So wersquore finally both working full time and really enjoying Sydney. Itrsquos never boring even when it rains and so far Autumn is nicer than an Irish summer We really turn into tourists at the weekend and our latest escapades have been lots of fun There was the Easter Show a couple of weekends back which is a huge festival held each year in Sydney Olympic Park. The park is v http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Darling-Harbour/blog-396738.html That's right New ShoesThe main reason for me getting a job it's handy when it comes to paying the rent as well i suppose was that Sydney has the BEST shoe shops I have ever seen. And I was in need of a serious shoefix haha. So yes that's right i've got myself a brill job working in the clinical research dept in a medical device company sure the experience will be useful but mostly the money http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-389199.html We thought with all the doom and gloom at home and the ldquoRnrdquo getting everyone down it would be nice to cheer you all up a bit. So being the nice people that we are we have got some pictures of our apartment to show you. Now try not to be too jealous we havenrsquot included any pictures of the mini cinema or 25m swimming pool or the gym just a few snaps of the apartment oh a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-382479.html So here we are the major stopover on our voyage Sydney.We have been here for almost four weeks now and we are really loving it It is a really cool city and the weather has been just prefect for us mid 20rsquos most days.Even on the other side of the world and having a ball we too have felt the far reaching affects of the financial crisis with my job in ICON falling through. Basically ther http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-377720.html Melbourne hmmmm. It was a mixed bag to say the least. We arrived into Melbourne at 5 in the evening foolishly thinking that the hottest part of the day was around midday only to discover that the hottest part of the day during a heat wave tends to be dinner time woohoo letrsquos bake JWalking out of the lovely air conditioned airport into the evening sun felt similar to walking into a very http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/North-Melbourne/blog-371939.html How better to kick off our stay in Christchurch than a hot air balloon ride watching the sun riseRising at 4am thatrsquos right 4 orsquoclock in the morning we were picked up outside our hostel and brought to a field outside the city stopping to pick up our pilot on the way. Still pitch dark when we got to our take off point we had to dig in and help set the balloon up. After lifting t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-370792.html Dunedin on a quiet Sunday afternoon it was exactly what we needed after a funfilled visit to Queenstown. We stayed in a gorgeous hostel which was a converted private hospital and was over 100 years old. Our room was huge about 25x25 feet and we even had our own antique fireplace as a headboard. It also had a ghost which we were as much warned as informed appeared occasionally to guests during http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-366216.html The weather on the drive out of Milford was just as miserable as the drive in. The numerous waterfalls again making up for the heavy rainfall. The next stop was Queenstown adventure capital of New Zealand.Queenstown sits right on Lake Wakatipu and has the aptly named ldquoThe Remarkablesrdquo mountains overlooking the area. They truly are remarkable their jagged landscape making them unique http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-364546.html So we had read about Milford Sound and the huge amount of rainfall it receives. After all it is a rain forest We figured wersquod been getting more than our fair share of fabulous weather so the day we chose to go to Milford it would of course be raining. We set off early around 8.30am Hey that is early for us ok from our base in Te Anau where we had spent two days relaxing by the lake an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/Milford-Sound/blog-363974.html