The remoteness of Mongolia is evident from the moment you enter the country. To go from China to the least densely populated country in the world is quite something. We said our farewells to the Colonel and his wife after a very pleasant train journey. They spoke a little English which was a god send as 24 hours in a sleeper cabin without any communication can be frustrating. The Colonel's last words were "here is my phone number, you have any trouble in Mongolia, you call me. I have much power". Brilliant! Mongolia had the coldest temperatures on our trip. Being [View Full Entry]

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We got off of our bus at Yangshuo at 5am, dozy and tired. We should know better but we ended up going to the nearest hostel with a guy who was waiting for the bus to arrive. At that time of the morning you don't have all that much choice if you have not booked anywhere. If Count Dracula had been standing there instead, we would have probably followed him to his lair! Yangshuo is a pretty small town with a stunning backdrop surrounded by tall sugar-loaf type peaks and rural land. The town itself has become quite touristy but was [View Full Entry]

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Getting to HK was a long mission. The initial excitement of being on the plane fizzled out when we were told there was a 'slight irregularity with engine 4'. After 2 hours on the tarmac they decided that we should get off the plane as it was going to take longer than expected to fix. Nine hours later and we were in the air! Qantas were good though, they dished out $60 worth of food vouchers. We ate enough for a week and managed to buy a bag full of snacks for the plane. Imagine our faces when they decided to [View Full Entry]

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Not going to write much about Melbourne and Victoria. We lived there for 3 months and loved it! We worked 'a little', shopped, sat in cafes, enjoyed the bar culture 'a lot'. Melbourne has a good vibe and great lifestyle. We quickly made friends and settled in nicely and were lucky to have visits from my Brother and Natalie, Amanda and Brian, and Christian all from Sydney and one visit all the way from back home (Nice one Lee!). Whilst in Victoria we went on various roadtrips, the photos and their captions show what we got up to. Sorry there is [View Full Entry]

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Not content with driving 4000km in 2 weeks in Queensland, we flew to Perth to prepare for a another 8000km on the West Coast. This was made easier by the knowledge that our friend Emilie would soon be joining us for a month of exploring and long road trips. We needed a car that was up to the job. Somehow, we ended up with Geraldine! A 1994 4.0Li Ford Falcon Wagon that for all of her faults, we grew to love. She became such a personality that it was hard not to. Lynny and I jumped into purchasing her rather hastily [View Full Entry]

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Thanks for all the messages folks, we really love getting them. Its unlikely but in case you are wondering where the last blog we published has disappeared to, it was lost in a database crash. We are trying to salvage it. We have left Sydney after 7 fun months. Before we left, we took the opportunity to visit the capital City of Canberra for the weekend. Strangely, for a capital, it is a bit of a ghost town. It has been maticullously designed and you see so few people, you feel like you have entered the set of 'The Truman Show'! [View Full Entry]

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So it has been a good couple of months since you have seen a blog from us. Happy new year to anyone we haven't had contact with. We are in Sydney and have been since we left Fiji. Yes, Australian customs saw it fit to let us through despite looking like Mr and Mrs Swampy and having a good hard look at our deer antler. We spent 3 weeks at big brothers which was very generous of Darren and Natalie. During that time we did a tiny bit of sight seeing and loads of flat hunting and job hunting. Basically, we [View Full Entry]

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To give you an idea of just how laid back Fiji was for us, we actually had a debate with some other people over what day and date it was! In short, none of us had a clue! That prompted this class quote from Lynny "I dont know what the time is, I dont even know what day or date it is ...... all I know is that im in Fiji". Whilst there, we had the constant cloud of an impending military coup hanging over the country (I think its happening as I write this from the safety of Sydney), but [View Full Entry]

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OK, OK, here we are. It has taken so long as there is not much in the way of internet on tiny Fijian islands :-). We were going to leave this one as just a picture blog showing you our 4 weeks in the South Island of NZ, but in the end we felt compelled to tell the story of our deer antler. Whilst out and about with the deer near Queenstown, we came across an antler, in good condition, which must have come off in a fight or something. We instantly wanted it as a cool souvenier so picked it [View Full Entry]

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I bet that title caught your attention! Well it is easily explained .... but first, I have to tell you that when we got to NZ, Lynny was asked at customs if she had any mud on her shoes. As she checked, she lost her balance and fell A over T with her rucksack on. To help you picture it - think of a struggling turtle that has been turned upsidedown! ;-) Anyway ..... We hired a camper van from a company that individually graffitis their vans. It was the cheapest winter price deal ever and we thought that it would [View Full Entry]

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