http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/PeteSarah/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from PeteSarah en-us Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:44:25 BST Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:44:25 BST So it's getting a bit late now so we've just got the pictures up and more text will appear here eventually but for those who are interested here's where we ended up Saltaire Yorkshire http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/West-Yorkshire/blog-57748.html We've had this article cued for a long time now Might as well give it light of dayWe stayed on Koh Tau for about 4 nights and went there in order to do a bit of diving. From what I remember this was a bit of a letdown and far far less professional than diving in Cairns or NZ quite a bit cheaper as well but it did show. Anyway I'll stop the negativity but just warn people that if you're goi http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Tao/blog-10177.html What day is itA few days ago Sarah was convinced it was probably Friday or Saturday and I thought it was Saturday or Sunday but it might have been Friday there was an even smaller chance it could have been Monday. But we weren't quite sure.Life on an Island ParadiseFortunately life on our island paradise is living up to expectations. It's warm and sticky sunny during the days the food's good http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-10176.html Singapore eh Well we didn't do too much slinking but I was curious about Singapore's history and reputation as the place they don't sell chewing gum. One of the things that has struck me time and time again whilst travelling has been the incredible impact of the British on the modern world. Australia and New Zealand don't bear explaining but the impact of the British in Asia in particular an http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Singapore/blog-10171.html Hong Kong is a city of contradictions from bird's nest shops in one street to Pizza Express in the next. It is possible to walk from the hustle and bustle of Soho and find oneself in front of the Man Mo temple an oasis of incense. Some of the most interesting streets are those near Hollywood and Possesion streets where shops sell herbs and spices in canvas bags fish lie drying on the pavement http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-10170.html Feeling a little inspired here in Singapore I will attempt to write some more about Tokyo and post the best of some of the millions of photos we took whilst there. We decided to go all out Japanese Tourist and try and beat them at their own game. No not Sumo We decided to take millions of pictures of all the quintessentially Japanese funny different and quirky things we encountered in our s http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-8778.html In the interests of being technological and up to date and all that I feel that I have to spend a few minutes writing about the wonderful megalopolis we're currently winging our way around at lightning speed. With only 4 full days here and so much to see there's little point wasting much time sleeping and we currently have a spare few minutes in our tightly planned itinerary so I thought I would http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-8272.html It is a bit hotter up here in Cairns hopefully a taste of things to come in Thailand. We booked on to a dive with Tusa on the reef and headed out on Wednesday. We did our dives on Saxon's Reef our first on a site called Twin Peaks and our second on Reef Magic. Our first dive was with a guide Willy and we saw some sea cucumbers lionfish reef sharks and some coral of course. There were signs http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-8102.html We got straight down to the Sydney way of life on arriving. We arrived the day before Anzac day and met up with Jo and Ant in Coogee where we stayed for a few days. We did the beach walk from Coogee to Bondi and began to realise why everyone raves about Sydney this city has BEACHES Anzac day was spent in the Coogee Bay Hotel watching games of twoup with some of Jo's friends. After a day enjoy http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-8101.html Well we're getting closer to being an actual realtime travelblog for the first time in a couple of monthsOur trip to Melbourne was always going to be primarily to visit family so we weren't expecting to see too much of the surrounding area and after 6 months of seeing all kinds of wonderful things I wanted to dedicate time to family. Roy and Carol very kindly picked us up from the airport http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-7876.html April Fools' Day 2005 Pete and Sarah arrive in Australia. We very quickly got into the Aussie lifestyle after meeting Sally we were in the spa drinking beers very quickly. On Saturday we went out for Sally's birthday which was the next day and pretty much as soon as we woke up on Sunday hair of the dog was suggested and accepted and all the blokes and soon the girls were drinking again in th http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-7872.html From Queenstone we headed to Glenorchy to set off on our next adventure the 5day hike we had had planned for several weeks. Our itinerary was to link the relatively flat Greenstone track 2.5 days with the Great Walk Routeburn Track 2.5 days. It was perfect weather and fantastic scenery all the way as our packs got lighter and the hills got steeper the air stayed fresh and the sandflies sta http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Otago/blog-7863.html We had a very long drive to Christchurch which probably took a lot of the life out of the van's engine to meet one of Sarah's friends from her old job in London.It was great to stay with Alvin Jenny and Alistair who were incredibly kind to us and helped us to finally sell the van for 500 to a dodgy Egyptian bloke through the fantastic Trademe auction site.We also spent a couple of days han http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Canterbury/Christchurch/blog-6841.html We were feeling energised by our very succesful walk and we decided to turn our planned rest days into action. Our next stop was the highly renowned Milford Sound the only roadaccessible fjord in New Zealand's fjordland. The fact that it's the only roadaccessible one might give you an impression how undeveloped New Zealand actually is and I'm 100 in favour of keeping it that way.It was a l http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Southland/Milford-Sound/blog-6840.html WEEEEEEE Splash BOING that's what bungying into a river is likeDriving into Queenstown in the morning we almost passed the AJ Hacket bungy centre. Out of curiosity and not at all planning to do a bungy we stopped to have a look. It's site is the original 43m jumpoffabridgeintotheriverbelow and world's first commercial bungy centre. Well looking at other people doing it one memorabl http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Otago/blog-6839.html After picking up some supplies and sorting ourselves out we set off south first inland and then past lake Rotoiti towards the west coast of the South Island past the Kilkenny lookout in the Buller gorge see picture of Sarah enjoying the view there. It was a long day's driving and not doing too much apart from functional stuff. We ended up on the coast near the village of Punakaiki where we sp http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/West-Coast/blog-6838.html The Queen Charlotte DriveNamed after an 18th Dutch Queen this is from a hazy memory now the Queen Charlotte sounds are an absolutely breathtaking area of New Zealand. They're unspoilt and pristine with countless miles of coastline that winds in and out and in and out seemingly forever the best way by far to see them would be to sail around them but we only had the option of driving along the http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Nelson-Region/blog-6837.html From Wellington and the Picton ferry we needed to visit some friends in Blenheim Val and john to pick up a package. We met them for the first time and they very hospitably took us to visit their favourite vineyard for a little winetasting. We tasted the wines available and enjoyed the cheeses and had a lovely time.Also in Blenheim we booked ourselves in with the Blenheim dive centre to complete http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Marlborough/Blenheim/blog-6836.html That morning we set off from Phakapapa towards Wellington. This was the first time the van wouldn't start straight away and we also noticed a considerable amount of smoke for about 20 minutes while the engine presumably warmed fully. At the time I commented that there may be a problem with one of the piston rings and set about explaining the internal combustion engine to Sarah while we drove.By lu http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington-Region/Wellington/blog-6835.html The same day we left the Thermal wonderland we drove to Lake Taupo I was booked in for a skydive that afternoon and didn't want to miss the appointmentThe SkydiveAt this point in my life I have got to say that the exhilaration from the skydive the feelings of freefall and the accompanying visuals is the purest feeling I have ever felt. I was on a buzz for a long while afterwards replaying http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Central-Plateau/blog-6833.html