Dave + Suze
Overlanders
An aussie and a kiwi exploring the world ...
"Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" - Anon
In Jan 2007 we set out on an overland journey from Asia to Europe overland. From India, via Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia, Russia and Europe ... destination Ireland, with no flights. Trains, buses, tuk-tuks, boats, bikes, yak, camel, and rickshaws all formed the basis of our travels.
Suze spent a year living and working in Ireland (in between all the long weekends away), Dave returned to Oz for 6 months but realised that he left his heart in Ireland, and so came back to drag Suze away from Dublin. So we set off again ... to fill in the parts of Europe that we'd missed and rounded off the trip with a few months in Thailand.
We spent two and half years back at home in Melbourne - caught up with our old friends, made some new ones, got jobs, got married, and started planning the next trip - North, Central and South America beginning in May 2011!
Travel Blog Posts
The accident that killed the trip, but thankfully not me!
Published: December 30th 2011South America » Colombia » Medellin
December 30th 2011
This blog is out of sequence, we still need to tell you about all the fun times in Panama and the boat trip to Colombia, but we wanted to get this blog out of the way before the new year to start 2012 afresh. 26 days ago after an afternoon of sightseeing in Medellin, we walked back to casa Waldron salivating over the promise of bacon sandwiches and out of nowhere I was hit by a speeding motor bike and have been hospitalised ever since. Thankfully I have no recollection of the accident, but Dave still has nightmares about it. I was hit by the motorbike and thrown 15+ metres along the road. I suffered 5 fractures of my pelvis, one in the lumbar sacral area, and four in the front, and my left hand (my ... read more
Flight of the Quetzal (Ziplining) in the Cloud Forests of Costa Rica
Published: November 22nd 2011Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Puntarenas » Monteverde
November 4th 2011
We made the decision early on to blitz through Costa Rica, just picking out some highlights. Though beautiful, it's comparatively expensive compared to the rest of CAm and after two weeks in the Corn Islands we had our fill of beautiful beaches. Along with Mike we traveled a couple of hours up into the hills of Monteverde which is renowned for it's pristine Cloud Forests and abundance of birds and other animals, and famed for a host of outdoor activities including ziplining, hiking and canyoning. The change in temperature was remarkable, having just come from the Pacific Coast, we suddenly found ourselves digging out jackets and long pants to keep warm as the thick mists descended upon us. We came here to go ziplining in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. We chose Salvatura as it has 3km ... read more
Idyllic Isles, Smoking Volcanoes, and Pacific Playas
Published: November 14th 2011Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Caribbean Nicaragua » Corn Islands
October 30th 2011
The idyllic palm-fringed Corn Islands are located over 70 kilometres off the eastern Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. It’s a couple of full days hard yakka to travel overland, or the easier option is to fly in as we did, from Managua with a quick stop in Bluefields. After about five minutes of arriving on Little Corn Island we met one of the islands’ more notorious locals, Ennis (though he is called Dennis by nearly every foreigner he encounters, and has now taken to introducing himself as such). Our first encounter was a pleasant one, as he flashed his golden toothed smile and wooed us with his Caribbean charm. Dave’s jandal/thong had blown out and Dennis arrived on the scene, fished around in some bushes, pulled out a nail and rock and promptly repaired it. We later ... read more
Arty Hill Towns and Lazy Playa Days
Published: October 30th 2011Central America Caribbean » El Salvador
October 9th 2011
The local buses in this part of the world are called “Chicken” buses, largely due to the amount of produce, chickens and other livestock that tend to ride alongside people on the buses. They’re cheap to ride and are incredibly overcrowded, often with standing room only. Any notions of personal space give way to the hope that you’ll get a corner of a seat for your journey. The combination of hot sweaty bodies , trapped in a confined space with minimal air circulation mixed with the aromas of goods being ferried from the market has to be experienced to truly be savoured. The buses are US school buses that have been colourfully painted, and decorated according to the owner or drivers particular taste. Jesus is a big theme in these parts and it is common to ... read more
October 3rd 2011
The last six weeks that we spent in Antigua flew by. When you’re travelling and constantly moving it can seem as if time slows right down so that you can process all the new things that you’ve seen and done, but there wrapped back into routine, the days turned into weeks, and soon it came time bid adios to the town and people we’ve come to love. We’ll miss the friends we’ve made here, nights shared rolling from bar to bar, engaging conversation and witty banter, coffee, and slouching at Café Pina, weighing strawberries with the local woman at the market, volunteering with the kids whose smiles brightened our days, and the many Spanglish conversations that ensued during the time we spent there. We’re now in the hills of El Salvador, but have decided that a ... read more
Life in Antigua, and near death experiences in Peten
Published: September 24th 2011Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Capital Region » Antigua
September 22nd 2011
Just when you were expecting a blog on Cuba, or perhaps what we got up to in Belize and Honduras we’ve decided to break with the chronological order of things, and surprise you with an up to date blog from where we actually are, detailing what’s been keeping us busy, current travels, and surviving our recent Guatemalan road accident. About 4 weeks ago we arrived in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua was the former capital until an earthquake razed the town, the town was rebuilt and the capital was moved to current day Guatemala City, about an hour away. Situated in a valley, surrounded by 3 volcanoes, it’s a charming colonial town with cobbled streets, coloured facades and red brick roofs, and has been designated as a world heritage site. It’s touristy, but in a more charming than ... read more
Mezcal, Mexican Markets, Mayan Ruins and (attempting to) Master Spanish!
Published: August 30th 2011North America » Mexico
July 19th 2011
When we were studying Spanish back in Melbourne one of the words that we were given was payaso meaning clown. At the time I reasoned that of all the words I would need to use in Mexico ‘clown’ probably wouldn’t be one of them, so I didn’t bother to commit it to memory. Well, it turns out that we have had on more than one occasion cause to use the word. Like the time in the bus queue when we spun around only to be confronted with a fully painted clown - big blue eyes and a red oversized grin that stretched from ear to ear, decked out in suspenders, green afro wig and giant shoes standing ready to board the bus to Cuetzalan. Or the many clowns (what is the collective noun for a bunch ... read more
Running on Mexican Time
Published: July 18th 2011North America » Mexico » Distrito Federal » Mexico City
June 15th 2011
There’s a saying in Mexico that is en punto which literally means “on the hour”. A useful phrase if arranging to meet Mexican friends at a particular time, and you don’t wish to be standing idly by waiting for someone to rock up. For example if you arrange to meet at 8.00, and if you don’t specify “on the dot”, 8.00 can generously mean anytime after 8.00 but not generally before 8.30, and in reality is probably closer to 9.00. And five minutes can mean anything from 20 minutes to one hour, and un momentito is never just a moment, it’s more like 5 minutes. A similar measure of time as found in Asian countries, but here it’s a little something we’ve come to know as ”Mexican time”. Enroute to Mexico, Dave and I found ourselves ... read more
June 15th 2011
If you find yourself in Seattle and are looking for something interesting to do, go and see the “Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses” exhibition that is currently on at the Experience Music Project (EMP) set in a Frank Gehry designed building. And here’s how to do it for free avoiding the hefty $17.00 entry fee. Outside the building there are ticket booths selling tickets, but bypass these and head directly to the main entrance and walk boldly in, and chances are no one will stop you. Noone stopped us, and before we realised we needed a ticket we were firmly inside the exhibition! It has loads of artifacts and photography from the band and traces the history of Seattle grunge in a beautifully curated and interactive way. Would’ve been well worth the $17.00 had we ... read more
Punks, hockey-heads, bikers and writers.
Published: July 2nd 2011North America » Canada » British Columbia
June 10th 2011
It’s common knowledge that Canadians are die-hard hockey fans, and we knew we were in for something BIG when we were in Vancouver when the Canucks were playing Boston. It was only game two of the series finals, but fan fervour was visibly rampant: at 10am we witnessed fans queueing to purchase merchandise, the “girl in the wetsuit” statue in Stanley park was wearing a hockey shirt, and cars decked out in Canuck colours full of cheering fans rolled through the streets blasting horns … even then, little did we know what the night had in store for us. We headed into the downtown to meet up with Mike (our Kiwi flatmate from Ireland) who was at a special game event being hosted in the Vancouver downtown military barracks. The game was broadcast on the big ... read more
Overlanders
| Joined | October 20th 2006 | Trips | 0 |
| Last Login | January 11th 2012 | Followers | 13 |
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