After Milford Sound I spent the night at the YHA in Te Anau a really nice small town on the edge of the fiord area and has the largest lake in the South Island . In the evening I went to the Fiordland on Film - Ata Whenua - Shadowland and had some food in a local Italian restuarant. On Friday 21st October I boarded the Navigator for the overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. Doubtful Sound is a very large and naturally imposing fjord (despite its name) in Fiordland, in the far south west of New Zealand. It is located in the same region as the smaller but more famous and accessible Milford Sound. It took second place after said Fiord as New Zealand's most famous tourism destination. Doubtful Sound was named 'Doubtful Harbour' in 1770 ... read more

I was really looking forward to visiting Queenstown I only made it as far as Wanaka on the last trip. The surrounding scenery was jaw dropping and the nightlife was great. On Monday I met up with some of the Haka group who were already there and we went to Winnies Pizza Restaurant they had desert Pizzza which consisted of Apple and Blueberry crumble on a pizza base!! The trip on the Gondola was good fun and there was easy access to the Miford and Doubful sound areas. I watched the RWC final in the Red Rock bar, great people, live band and good drinks mixed with a nail biting match which I thought the French were going to steal at one point!! The town went crazy after the All Blacks won!! ... read more

It was great to arrive in Melbourne after having last visited in 2008 and I was looking forward to seeing the Quigley’s and experiencing the City again. I left my bags at Pat’s office and went for a swim and shower up at the City baths which felt good after the long flights from HK. It felt great to walk the streets of a Western city again after five weeks in China. The streets in Melbourne seemed deserted compared to Beijing, Chengdu and Hong Kong!! We left the city at around 4.30 to head out to Romsey which is a small village about an hour to the North of Melbourne (via the local of course). It was great to see the family again who had all grown up so much since my last visit and by ... read more

I wanted to spend my last week in China based in one place and Yangshou had good reports from other travellers and had a mixture great out-door activities and a decent nightlife and also a good selection of hostels but was a small resort town with lots of surrounding countryside. The last three weeks had consisted of some serious travelling in terms of distance and constantly being on the go in some of the busiest tourist places at peak season. Shanghai, Yangzi River cruise, Giant Budha, Lijing, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Dali and Tibet would have to wait until the next trip to China. In Yangshuo I stayed in two different hostels Long Time No See and Trippers which was around 15 minutes walk from the centre. I went to the amazing light show, chilled out in ... read more

The Flowers in Guilin was a good hostel with excellent value single rooms with shared bathroom (around 6 pounds) and a pleasant communual area to chill out in. The weekend in Guilin was relaxing with lots of sightseeing coupled with a day of Admin (laundry, internet, planning trip etc). On Monday 5th September I headed up to Dhazi, again with the help of staff at the hostel who phoned the private bus company for me and booked me a seat for 80 Yuan (8 pounds) for the 2 ½ hour journey. Located in Longsheng County, the Longji Rice Terraces are about 100 km (2 hours drive) from Guilin. The most popular are Ping An Rice Terrace and Jinkeng Rice Terrace. History of Longji Rice Terrace can be dating back to Yuan Dynasty, but most of the ... read more