http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mr-D-and-Mrs-Bear/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Mr D and Mrs Bear en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:48:40 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:48:40 +0000 Hello and welcome to what should be our final blog covering Southern Thailand and Hong Kong.After our 'Tour of Duty' in Viet Nam and Cambodia we decided to get a few weeks RR in on the beaches of Southern Thailand.Our first stop was the island of Koh Lanta which unfortunately turned out to be closed. The dry season officially starts on the 1st November and as we arrived a few days before this da http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi/blog-344686.html Sui S'dey from Cambodia and welcome to the second part of our Viet NamCambodia update.SameSame but different is how the local saying goes and it describes the country very well. It's quite similar to other SE Asian countries in terms of scenery but it has 2 features in particular which make it unique the first of these is The Temples of Angkor.We flew from Ha Noi to Siem Reap and spent 4 da http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-335660.html Xin Chao from Viet Nam and welcome to the first of a 2 part special covering Viet Nam and Cambodia.We landed in Ho Chi Minh City HCMC and had a couple of hours to wait for Tina's father Brian to arrive. He joined us for Viet Nam and Cambodia and Tina was really pleased to see him as he'd brought supplies of chocolate from the UKThe centre of HCMC is still referred to as Sai Gon and our hotel http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-333138.html Hi all we hope you're all well. There's quite a lot to get through so we'll crack on.From Singapore we took a short flight to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. The less said about KL the better. From there another short flight to Medan on the northern edge of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. On arrival we caught a jeep for the 3 hour drive north to Bukit Lawang in the heart of the jungle. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Amed/blog-325107.html Hi all just a quick update covering our last couple of weeks in Singapore and S.E. Malaysia.After a pleasant 8 hour flight from Brisbane we landed in steamy sultry Singapore 'The City State' just 36 miles north of the equator. Tina's never been before but my last visit 15 years ago was as a penniless backpacker and my memories were not that fond. Fortunately this time around was much better.S http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Johor/Mersing/blog-318108.html G'day all and welcome to our final blog from wonderful Australia.In our last update we were half way through our time at Mission Beach and it's fair to say that the last 2 weeks went pretty much the same as the first 2 very relaxing. So relaxing in fact that over a few drinks on our last Friday night in town we decided we needed an adrenaline shot before hitting the road again. Tina opted for ano http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-310639.html Hi all and hearty greetings from Mission Beach. Another quick update of our exploits over the last few weeks.Arriving in Tropical North Queensland after weeks driving through the outback we noticed an obvious change in the scenery. As we headed north up the coast from Townsville we were driving through fields of waving sugar Cane banana plantations and fields of pineapples. On the inland side jag http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Mission-Beach/blog-296801.html Greetings to you all from a warm steamy Tropical Queensland. As you'll probably gathered from the fact that we're now in Queensland we've done a bit of travelling since our last blog.Our 8 days in Broome were wonderful clear skies 33 degrees every day and nothing better to do than lie on Cable Beach soaking up the sun and contemplating when the waves would be at their best for a bit of boardin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/80-Mile-Beach/blog-285227.html Well we left Melbourne suitably refreshed and ready to hit the road again. Our first destination was the Great Ocean Road. It was built by servicemen returning from the first world war and the aim was for it to rival Northern California's Ocean highway Route 5 and in my opinion it certainly does. Great craggy wild coastlines and limestone columns jutting into the turbulent ocean below. The m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Broome/blog-275996.html Hello greetings to everyoneAustralia............. and for various reasons the last 3 weeks have been the toughest so far but here's a briefish account of our latest travels.We landed in Sydney to pleasant warm sunshine and headed to our hotel in the heart of the CBD just around the corner from Circular Quay The Rocks Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Sydney really is a beautiful http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/MCG/blog-268451.html Hello everyone and welcome to our final Blog from NZ.Our last 2 weeks have been a bit different to what's gone before but first we'll start back at the beginning.After Fox Glacier we headed south to Wanaka and then on to Queenstown. Great mountain scenery lakes rivers forests etc. Panoramic views and vistas around every corner. Very spectacular. If we stopped to take a photo every time we saw a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-259466.html Welcome to this month's packed edition featuring Wine Whales KayakingGlaciers and hot tubsAs you will have gathered we are now in the South Island. It's the same country but feels subtlely different. It feels bigger wilder and more untamed. Lots of big rivers lakes snow capped mountains and rugged coastlines.Our first port of call once off the ferry was Blenheim which was our base for und http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Haast-Pass/blog-252850.html Hello all. Hope you''re all well and sitting comfortably. Here's our last update from NZ North Island and it's been a fast and furious couple of weeks.Since the last blog our first stop was Waipu where we had an excellent adventure in the Glowworm caves. Just us and our wind up torch wandering through subterranean streams past stalactites and strange stacks and pillars. When we turned the torch of http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-244626.html Kia Ora and hello from Aotearoa New Zealand. As you can probably gather from the title we've been experiencing weather in NZ for the last few days. They say it's the country where you can experience 4 seasons in 1 day but we seem to be having just the 1 at the moment and that's rain. Tropical cyclone Funa yet another cyclone has been hovering over us for the past few days and treating us to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Whangarei/blog-238558.html Happy New Year Everyone deputy editor Tina at the keyboard today.We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed seeing us sunning on the beach with our Christmas message. We had an interesting Christmas and New Year on the island of Kadavu in Southern Fiji and for me Christmas eve was certainly a day of calamity. We arrived at our resort in Kadavu on the 23rd just as it turned dark due to de http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Kadavu-Island/blog-233504.html From us both http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Kadavu-Island/blog-229611.html Note Originally written 11th December but unable to publish until now due to internet difficultiesBula Bula and Thrice Bula. A warm greeting from the South SeasWhen we arrived at our previous Island Manta Ray we were somewhat surprised to see all the other guests checking out storm shutters being put up and to have the receptionist ask us three times are you sure you want to stay here' http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Yasawa-Islands/Nanuya-Island/blog-226657.html Hello welcome and most importantly Bula from Fiji.As you will have gathered we have safely arrived in Fiji after a 36 hour door to door journey The upgrade to Premium economy did help to ameliorate some of our discomfort and you can be sure that we made the most of the free Champagne and wine and other freebies on offer.Anyway The Aquarius hotel in Nadi is basic but cleancomfortable and ri http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Nadi/blog-220799.html Dear AllWelcome to our Wourld Tour TravelBlog site. Hopefully we'll be sending regular updates and photos charting our progress around the world but at the moment i'm just setting this up from our spare room in Purley For those of you who aren't aware we leave for Fiji on November 14th via L.A. arriving 16th Due to crossing international date line there will be no November 15th. So our firs http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Surrey/Purley/blog-211988.html