http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ScottandKat/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ScottandKat en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:23:58 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:23:58 +0000 Scott Writes Time was running out but we were still squeezing as much fun as we could get into the remaining days. Firstly we had a great stop over in Stellenbosch which is pretty much the wine capital of SA with around 200 wineries in very close proximity. We hired bikes on a glorious day and cycled off into the hills for a day of wine tasting. We visited five vineyards purchased the odd b http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-111505.html Scott Writes After returning from the Kruger to Nelspruit we gave back our rentacar and opted for a 7 day hopon hopoff pass on the tourist Baz Bus which would eventually drop us off in Port Elizabeth PE in around 7 days funnily enough. Now whoever came up with the Baz Bus is now making a fortune out of 'tourists' and smelly backpackers who do not want to take the local buses. It is twice http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-110390.html Kat writes Having got another little car and a few camping supplies we were on our way to Kruger National Park and a big reason for coming to South Africa.Arriving around midday the first thing we did was get to the nearest bush camp to try and book some accommodation only to be told that practically everything was already taken. Ek But with a little bit of brain power and an 8hr journey tom http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/Kruger-National-Park/blog-104946.html Kat writesWe left at midnight for Bangkok airport in a flurry of excitement. Not only were we about to embark on a mammouth two flight journey to reach our final destination South Africa can't wait but we also heard that we now have a new little nephew Big congrats to JJL After a 9 hrs to Dubai 3 hour stop then 7 hr onwards flight we landed in Jo'Burg airport. Obviously we hadn't http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Pretoria/blog-108303.html Scott Writes Originally we were supposed to fly back to KL and then catch another flight onwards to Bangkok which had been prebooked. However it was much cheaper to fly straight to Bangkok from Kota Kinabalu and miss out the other flight so we opted to do that and were back in Thailand one day early as well. Nice One We have had great times in Bangkok and Thailand and were really pleased t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-104971.html Scott writes Fresh from our 5 hour coach and minibus jaunt east across the country we arrive in Semporna around lunchtime in the sweltering heat. Semporna is the jump off town to a host of idlyic islands that boast world class diving and Pulau Sipidan being the piece de resisdence of them all. Apart from the chance to experience the diving there really isn't anything else to do or see in the t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sipadan/blog-99035.html Kat writes After jigging along on a local bus for an hour we reach our destination Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre and it is so worth the journey. A centre on the edge of protected jungle where they rehabilitate orphaned Orangutan's with the aid of WWF UK. They teach them everything even how to climb and then send them back out to the wild. Unfortunately the centre had just suffer http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sepilok-Orang-Utan-Sanctuary/blog-96654.html Kat writes So we decided to hop on a plane in KL and just over 3 hours later we were here to check out Borneo Malaysia. The place of mystery full of dense jungle bursting with wildlife including the endangered Bornean Orangutan and the Sumatran Rhinoceros and if you've ever seen the movie 'Anaconda' man eating snakes Well itrsquos not quite 'full' of jungle any more commerce loggin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-96646.html Kat writes So up nice and early we catch a bus in Singapore at 6.30am my dad would be proud to take us back into Malaysia. The border crossing this time was very different. Unlike Singapore's huge modern border control the Malaysia one was a little string of what looked like a row of down trodden shops. I thought I had taken a trip down Shirley High Street in Southampton by accident Surp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Perhentian-Kecil/blog-95960.html Scott Writes After a one bus two planes a train taxi and 22 hours later we arrived in our hotel in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia not quite a fresh as we were when we left Christchurch. We flew with Emirates on our three hour trip back to Sydney and not only do they Sponsor the best team in the world they have a pretty sweet airline too. All mod cons with a plethora of films to watch and games to pla http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-95672.html Kat writes Booked on the early ferry bound for the South Island we are packed up out of our hostel in the car engine on and all ready to get down to the port there is a slight problem everybody in the city is trying to get to work the traffic is slow and I am holding the map No worries I have a short cut should not really have been words I should have uttered at that point but you http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-93101.html Scott writes Landing in NZ after two and half weeks in Fiji was like returning home after holidaying in the Med. It was cold everyone was extremely pale and official looking and there was a huge Mcdonalds waiting for us on arrival. It was getting late when we arrived in Auckland and after we smuggled more sweets into another country this time Parcalls BonBons I dumped the open bag of cheese http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-88076.html Kat writesWalking through the airport the air was filled with the sound of guitars strumming and people singing. Wearing big smiles loud shirts and colourful flowers. Our Fijian welcome was in full swing. Bula they cried Where you from England we replied. Ah the mother country. Welcome home. I knew i was going to like this placeWe headed for Nadi the main jumping off point to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Yasawa-Islands/blog-88013.html Kat writesEight to a roomAfter 3 below zero nights in a camp site in Melbourne's suburbs we moved out. The extreme cold and sleeping in two layers of clothes plus a sleeping bag duvet fleece blanket woolly hat and gloves just wasn't working for us. So reluctantly we left the van and moved into a hostel in St Kilda for the first time since Sydney over 4 months ago now. Back then we had t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/St-Kilda/blog-79375.html Scott writesCome out come out where ever you areFrom Kings Canyon we travelled 500km to reach South Australia our 4th Australian state and visit Cooper Pedy. Coober Pedy is a small Opal Mining town of about 4000 people of 45 different nationalities situated in the middle of the desert. 80 of the folks live under the ground in caves due to the extreme heat 50 degrees and up in the summer http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Coober-Pedy/blog-79369.html Scott writesUluru wow this is not just any rockWe'd been told that its possible to climb Uluru and that it's quite strenuous. Nobody had gone into details other than to say don't get put off half way up and keep going. We really wanted to climb it and as we caught our first glimpse of the rock from about 50 km away we started to get really excited. The rock is massive. Just truly immense a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Uluru/blog-79367.html Scott writes Bloody Hell we know it has been a while since our last installment but we do have a good reason We decided to take a proper road trip and drive across the country to Darwin and then down the centre from top to bottom before heading east to our final stop in Melbourne. Ok so starting where we left off in Cairns Cairns is a busy little party town which made watching the start of t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Darwin/blog-77148.html In a nut shellScott writes I think we have just popped out of a Purple Patch with our travelling as the last couple of weeks moving up the east coast have been so good that we have to pinch ourselves just to make sure we were actually there. In a nut shell we have ragged a 4wd Suzuki Sierra around the largest sand island for three days went sailing on a picturesque tall ship around the Whitsund http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-65497.html Kat writesWell from leaving Byron Bay we made a little inward detour to a crazy little town called Nimbin made famous by its unrelenting will to make cannabis legal. Again the tie die was ever present and the born again hippies who are still living the dream were in force plus a few normal types thrown in for good measure. There really isn't much to the town. A few shops an art gallery with http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Noosa-Heads/blog-58537.html Scott writesCrikey living in a van and traveling up the east coast has been absolutely ripper so far. Our very basic of mobile home now called Chad is exactly that....basic. We have all the normal rooms that come with a house its just our kitchen lounge bedroom garage and loft are all rolled into one small space. Oh yeah and we have two bikes that go into the mixer as well now.Go NorthWe http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-51060.html