Rich and Zoe

Hey all, So here we are. 12 months later and we have reached the end of our trip! Over the year we have visited 12 countries. We have spent a total of 31 hours underwater, gone 30 feet underground in a working mine, cruised at 2000 feet high on a hang-glider, bounced off a bungee at 50 metres and jumped a combined total of 24 thousand feet out of a plane. We have kayakked on the Tasman Sea, floated down the Mekong on a tube, sailed the China Sea on a junkboat, rafted down white water rapids in New Zealand, cruised the Whitsundays on a yacht, surfed the Indian Ocean, discovered the Bolivian jungle on a longboat and explored caves on bamboo rafts in Thailand. We have climbed mountains in Chile, fallen down them in Malaysia, ... read more

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a really lovely Christmas and New Years! Here's to a fantastic 2007!! So we are now in Laos. We made our way from the south of Vietnam up to Hanoi in the north and from there headed over the border into Laos. We bought a bus ticket in Saigon which allowed us to stop off in a few places on the way up, each different in many ways. Vietnam is so varied and diverse. Saigon Now called Ho Chi Minh City after the popular leader, HCMC is an interesting city. Very crazy (yes even more so than Bangkok!!!) but nice. We spent a few days exploring. Also visited the War Remnants museum - a very one-sided but still harrowing account of the US war. Got a lot of hassle here ... read more

Cambodia is a haunting country Whether it be when you are wandering round Angkor Wat, or reading about the horrors committed by the Khmer Rouge, you cannot avoid Cambodia’s lingering past. Even the locals nowadays are ashamed of their country's troubled history. What you can take heart in is the future for the country. And what a beautiful country it is. The people are so friendly and genuine, the countryside is generally flat, but covered mostly with rice-paddies. The culture is rich and vibrant, and the food bloody excellent! We started our trip in Siem Reap, a fairly small town which only exists as the stopover to visit the temples of Angkor. The town itself is nothing that great, particularly as there are several VERY luxurious hotels there! Very out of place! The Lost City of ... read more

So fresh faced and naive we arrived in Singapore. You don’t appreciate just how lazy you get travelling round Oz, but it took us a while to get back into the whole backpacker thing! After a couple of days exploring Singapore (which really was more than enough as it’s so small and way too expensive!) we got a bus into Malaysia. As soon as you went over the border you noticed a real change in the scenery...from high-rise heaven to real lush jungle! Bliss! Smog Unfortunately our trip in Singapore, and a lot of the west coast of Malaysia, was hampered by dense smog. This is caused by intense plantation fires in Indonesia which blew over to here! Got a bit annoying after a while as all our piccies are really grey! It’s apparently caused by ... read more

Hey all! We are back! (i know you are all so pleased!!hehehe!) So we have now finished working in Melbourne. We had a real ball there...we both met some really lovely people and more importantly we have saved up some more hard-earned cash ready for the next adventure! We lived in a suburb called Brighton (which made Zoe feel very at home), and both worked in the city. Family friends of Zoe's (Libby, Ian and family) made us feel very welcome and at home, and sorted us out with somewhere to live! (thanks again Libs!). Melbourne is a brilliant place to live. Really vibrant with loads going on all the time. Unfortunately as it is Winter here however it never got over 15 degrees in daytime, so it really was just like being in England! We ... read more