PSC2000

Thanks to everyone who has followed our travelblog and enjoyed the stories of our adventures. We certainly enjoyed writing it and it was always great to receive your comments, even the rude ones! We thought we would finish with some travel statistics and the top moments from our wonderful adventure - enjoy! Travel Statistics: # Days travelling - 227 (21st July 06 - 4 March 07) # Countries travelled to - 13 (South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai) # Malaria Tablets taken - 92 # Different forms of transport - 33 (Foot, Bicycle, Quadricycle, Seacycle, Cyclos, Quadbike, Motorbike, Large and small aeroplane, Sea plane, Car, Taxi, Coach, Minibus, Bus, Overland Truck, Tuk-tuk, Songathew, Ferry, Car Ferry, Water taxi, fishing boat, long-tail boat, kayak, windsurf, raft, cable ... read more

After having successfully push-started "Smelly Nelly", we found ourselves on the ferry from Wellington through the wonderful Marlborough Sounds to Picton, a place which turned out to be one of our favourites. Although Picton has a high volume of people travelling through it, it maintains a really peaceful atmosphere and we ended up spending a number of days here at the beginning and end of our 4 week trip around the South Island. Our first evening in Picton was spent with a couple called John and Katie who were our neighbours on the campsite. We started chatting and a few hours and a few bottles of wine later, we were the best of friends! They had recently got engaged in Christchurch and were heading back to the North Island so we were able to get lots ... read more

We flew in to Proserpine via Brisbane, Proserpine being the nearest airport to Airlie Beach which is the gateway to the Whitsundays. Proserpine airport is a bit bizarre, it has an outdoor departure lounge and baggage collection area! Presumably they don't get a lot of rain, however the day we arrived was an exception. We caught a shuttle into town and booked our accommodation and excursions through the local visitor centre. The staff there were very helpful and we managed to get a lovely studio apartment overlooking the bay and a cut price deal on a 3 day/2 night sailing trip. Our sailing trip departed the following day so we stocked up on alcohol and disposable underwater cameras, packed our 2 little carry bags each, which was the sum total of our luggage allowance, and reported ... read more

We arrived in Hanoi around mid-day after a short flight from Bangkok. We found the 'Tourist Office' which was a front for a hotel chain and booked a few nights in Hanoi and a Taxi into the city at a pre-determined fixed price! The journey into the city would have been hair-raising were it not for the fact that we have now learned to ignore the overwhelming urge to crawl under the seat in fear and just shut our eyes and pretend we're somewhere else, anywhere will do. In Vietnam scooters outnumber other multi-wheeled vehicles by 200 - 1 (this is a made up statistic, but it should help you to visualise the scene). The road markings are there for aesthetic purposes only and over-taking is performed by driving right up behind someone and then hooting ... read more

We arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday the 13th of October quite late in the evening with no hotel room booked. This was a new experience for us and way out of our comfort zone. Within seconds of emerging from the terminal we were swamped by touts trying to set us up at a hotel or B&B. Faced with so much choice and not knowing who to trust we decided to splash out a few bob and stay at the 5 star Continental in Colombo which was a 30 minute hair raising dash by taxi driven by an Alonso wannabe, it didn't take us long to discover that all Sri Lankans have some form of motor racing aspirations! The 5 star rating that the hotel claimed must have been somewhat out of date, but it was ... read more