Before leaving Australia we had just enough time to venture out of the city into the Blue Mountains; so called due to the blue haze hanging over them, allegedly due to eucalyptus oil they give off (or something like this, that may not be completely factual but that‘s what I‘ve been told so I‘m sticking to it). We had Nic’s friend Dan as our chauffer and guide and he took us on a lovely walk through the mountains, passing waterfalls, with great views, but with far too many climbing steps at the end for my liking. A very enjoyable time in Oz unfortunately had to come to an end and we arrived smoothly in Christchurch courtesy of Qantas. We didn’t really get to do much sight-seeing whilst there, we just had enough time to grab food ... read more

We left Perth last week on a hair raising Virgin Blue flight across half the continent to Adelaide, where we had just a day to check out the capital of South Australia. The city is so easy to get around, with the centre consisting of a grid of perfectly designed avenues surrounded by a belt of parkland. Like Perth, it has a free bus loop for the lazy tourists and we jumped on board with the rest of them. The friendly driver personally welcomed each of his guests onboard, and provided a friendly and informative running commentary. He absolutely loved his job and his city, great to see. As we only had one full day, we had to pick and choose what to do. The national wine centre was a must, since we are now both ... read more

Ah, the sweet smell of Singapore! We are back in Changi airport, where we lived for four days after our plane from Heathrow was diverted due to those pesky protestors at Bangkok. At the time we didn't really appreciate it, but today we have been taking in the sights, scents and sounds prior to our flight to Bali. We couldn't help but go into the lobby of the Crowne Plaza hotel, just to take a whiff of the distinctive musky but sparkling clean smell of the place. It is one of those smells that always reminds you of a time or place and it was a strangely joyous lungful that we took in upon stepping through the door. Wary of over indulging, we stayed for just a few seconds before continuing our comeback tour of the ... read more

Some dodgy boat took us across a choppy Andaman Sea this morning to Koh Lanta, off the east coast of Thailand. We came here from Koh Phi Phi and were pretty glad to get out of that place after a couple of nights. We've managed to find ourselves a bamboo bungalow about 20 metres from a quiet white sand beach and a clear blue sea. The trip south after Chiang Mai has had its ups and downs, first stop being Bangkok, which was brilliant. We'd expected it to be totally 'in yer face' but it was not so crazy as anticipated and easy to get around. We stayed about ten minutes from the infamous Khao San Road - a grim busy street packed with grim Brits and others exposing their grim freshly-tattooed torsos. It was good ... read more

Our travels have now taken us up to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, where we arrived by plane yesterday afternoon. A bit of poor poor planning on our part meant we were too late to book an overnight sleeper train so the more expensive option had to be taken. It was good to get a birds eye view of Thailand on a really clear day, and pretty much hassle free. Since the last proper blog entry we have 'done' Cambodia and in the end it ended up doing us. We left Saigon and travelled up the Mekong through the border and up towards Phnom Penh. The trip on the Mekong was brilliant, taking two small boats up by the banks of the river, watching the kids waving and dancing enthusiastically from the waters edge, excited to ... read more