http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/PeteB/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from PeteB en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:21:06 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:21:06 +0000 The tranzalpine trip was slow but scenic winding through gorges as we cut across the middle of the country. We arrived in Christchurch in early evening checked into possibly the largest hostel in the world and headed out in search of food. Being the last night in New Zealand we opted to spend all our money on a huge dinner to save having to change our money up at the airport. Unfortunately d http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-391443.html Our intentions on leaving family in Greytown were to jump on a train to Wellington and then get a ferry over to Picton hire a car and then see as much of the West coast as possible during our remaining few days. We'd also put another ad on gumtree and had arranged to meet Nina yet another traveller from Germany en route.We were dropped at the nearby railway station said our goodbyes to Mum a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Franz-Josef/blog-389897.html We left our resort at Yulara around midday on the 3rd April taking the 6 hour shuttle by coach back to Alice Springs. Once again our driver kept us entertained by sharing his vast knowledge of the area. We also stopped to meet 'Dinky the Dingo' on the way back. My sister Emma was picked to play the piano and Dinky would jump up and 'sing' along to it. In truth the singing wasn't great proba http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-388669.html I spent the last 2 days in Tasmania catching up with sleep and packing all my stuff. After 3 months in one place it felt a bit strange to be moving on. I must say thank you once again to Jennii and Jonathan for putting up with me for so long i really appreciate it.I left Tasmania early on the 28th knowing that i was meeting my sister the next day and we'd have very little time to squeeze in all http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Alice-Springs/blog-386616.html I decided after all to finish work a week early providing i could find people to travel with so that i could see more of Tasmania. I still hadn't been to the East Coast and everybody was telling me i had to go there. So once again i put an ad on gumtree and waited. I immediately got a reply from a German guy but only ever got as far as planning on meeting for a beer in Hobart and then he just http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-384827.html It's now March 11th and i have only 2 and a half weeks left in Tassie before heading to Sydney and completing the final 3 weeks of my trip. Since my last blog i have been working hard watching all 180 episodes of Seinfeld on DVD there's little else to do in my spare time without a vehicle and Aussie TV is really that bad and still getting out and doing some sightseeing where possible. I gave http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-380719.html Well i've been living with the J's for almost a month now so time for an update. Not good news on the job front i secured employment with Dominoes Pizza in nearby Sorell to be a delivery driver for them. This was almost 2 weeks ago. I'm still waiting for my first day of action in my 'company car'. I last spoke to them 5 days ago and was told 'we're still waiting for your pants to be delivere http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/blog-368246.html I got a taxi to the airport and before long i was boarding my flight and before long i was disembarking my flight. It was only 1 hour from Melbourne to Hobart and the majority of that time was spent either ascending or descending. I was met at the airport by Jen and was given a lift to Midway Point about 20km east of Hobart. I will be staying with Jen and Jonathan and must start to look for http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Tasmania/Hobart/blog-361346.html We left Narooma headed into Victoria and found somewhere to stay in Orbost. Much like Ingham earlier on in Australia Orbost was a really small town with a pub and just a few shops. It did have a museum though but unfortunately it was closed when we arrived as it was a Sunday. We checked in above the pub had a few midafternoon beers and met a few crazy locals all middle aged women but al http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-358556.html From Ballina we arrived in another small seaside town called Nambucca Heads. We found a motel here offering fantastic views over the bay below and as it was another hot day Nancy set about sunbathing by the pool and i went wandering down to find the beaches. I underestimated the heat of the sun and as i got a bit lost on my way back i did have a map but in my defence Australians tend to pick http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Narooma/blog-357554.html We left Gympie fully intent on staying in Brisbane. We'd already picked out a rough destination of Manly Harbour just to the east of the city and i was planning on attending my first ALeague 'soccer' match on the Sunday. I'd even spent most of my time in Gympie researching my new team 'Queensland Roar'. But as we approached Brisbane it became clear that it would be difficult to visit the maj http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Ballina/blog-354886.html Our last day in Singapore was spent mainly filling time so it was a relief to finally be off to the airport at 9pm. Our first flight of the trip. We checked in and waited for our flight. After a small delay we were on board and as we were flying overnight we took off at midnight the plan was to get as much sleep as possible so as not to write off the first day in Australia. But we unexpect http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-350154.html Monday 24th November Day 85 We arrived in Singapore at about 6pm. We made it Despite not quite going to plan losing the car after a couple of days going through Vietnam and Cambodia instead of Laos and losing Adelle along the way we have travelled from London to Singapore without flying. Hurrah We left Kuala Lumpur at 10am that day. We were supposed to arrive in Singapore in mida http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Little-India/blog-348326.html We spent two more nights in Ipoh and each day seemed to mirror the last. It's not really a place for tourists so aside from a brief wander around the streets we revisited the cinema each night until we had exhausted their supply of films. Strangely the price changes each time you go but it's still cheap. On the last night i was wandering back to the hotel and got chatting to the guy who work http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-348325.html Our ferry from Koh Samui was at last a proper car ferry. No more sea sick passengers as we previously had on the smaller ferries. We soon arrived back on mainland Thailand and were taken to the bus station in Surrathani possibly spelt wrong. We decided to go to Hat Yai as it was a fair way south and we've hardly moved geographically over the last 2 weeks and also we were told it has good tra http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Perak/Ipoh/blog-346826.html Sunday 16th November We got up earlyish to take advantage of the free breakfast one last time and booked ourselves on the midday ferry to Koh Samui. It was only a short journey in fact you could see the island quite clearly from where we were previously staying. We didn't have a plan of where to go this time so we just seeked advice from the first person who offered us a taxi. Our only re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-345547.html Tuesday November 11th Today we moved to the larger island of Ko Pha Ngan. It is only 35km south of Ko Tao and took about an hour and a half by ferry. As we left Ko Tao most of the roads were under water and we decided that if the weather continues like this then we will move on again quickly even though we have paid for 5 nights in advance. Once we arrived on the island we were shown to our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-344033.html It's now Saturday 8th November. We arrive at Ko Tao yesterday after one of the longest journeys ever. It began the day before that at 6pm. Our bus arrived on time to pick us up from Bangkok. It was not a sleeper bus. I didn't manage to get any sleep on the long trip to Chumphon where we would change to get a ferry. We arrived in Chumphon an hour earlier than expected at 3am. We were then http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-342805.html Monday 4th November We already decided we'd stay in Bangkok for just 2 nights. This would give us enough time to sort out some laundry have a day to see the city and plan our route through Thailand. On the first night we visited a tourist information shop and intended on booking a short bus trip to Hua Hin. However the woman recommended we head straight to Ko Tao as from there we can easily http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-341766.html Monday 3rd November We left Saigon for Cambodia on the Monday morning. Another border crossing as we left Vietnam. It was relatively pain free as the authorities took and filled in your passport for you whilst dropping you somewhere to eat as you waited. If only all crossings could be as accomodating.We arrived in Phnom Penh in the early evening. Paul has a few malaria tablets left and has http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-341763.html