Sue & Andy Kelly
After a few hard years of saving, we eventualy achieved our goal of getting married, leaving our jobs for a year and jetting off on our 12 month honeymoon around the world. This is to be the blog of our journey which will take us through parts of South America, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia.Sue Andy
Travel Blog Posts
July 29th 2006
Just a quick blog to say thank you for all the messages wishing us a happy anniversary and also a big thankyou for all the wedding presents recieved last year that have help make our 1st year married unforgetable. Thank You!... read more
July 14th 2006
It is easy to become blase when you have been travelling for a while, things that would normally make your head turn or stand in awe become the norm. The sights and sounds that at first were strange are just part of the background noise we've come to know. Such as the chirupping little lizards and the calls of the Gecko that sound like it is saying Gecko or obsenity with two sylabuls and the last word ending in you! But after the serenity and laid back feel of Laos, it was a jolt back to a different culture when we started our trip from Laos to Vietnam. The bus journey was interesting it started off easy enough but after the bus driver ran over a dog without the blink of an eye leaving it's squashed ... read more
July 11th 2006
We arrived in Luang Prabang from Van Vieng after a 9 hour bus journey, the windy road passed through stunning scenery of tree clad mountains, though shrouded in cloud at points. The majority of the population of Laos are not served by roads, so as highways have been built little villages have sprung up along side the roads, often seemingly precariously positioned on the edge of mountain drop offs, with houses only supported by a couple of wooden stilts. The feel of Laung Prabang was still relaxed but had a lot more of a touristy feel, this is where the majority of tourists get their first introduction to Laos. Many travellers enter Laos from Chang Khong in Thailand after visiting Chang Mai, cross the river into Laos at Ban Huay Xai and without stopping there get ... read more
June 23rd 2006
We left Nong Khai and headed off for the border crossing to Laos over the Friendship Bridge, a bridge that was first proposed in the 1950's and didn't get built till 1994 due to war in Indochina and financed to the tune of Us$30mn from Australia, to help boost the Ozzies reputation in Asia. As soon as you reach Laos you immidiately notice that the roads deteriorate, the taxi's are a hell of a lot worse (infact they're a pile junk with 4 wheels), and straight away you get the feeling that your getting ripped off by the taxi drivers. There are signs everywhere stating the cost of the journey to Vientiane 250 bhts (about $5, which is a hell of alot over here). However we soon realised that this would be about right not realizing ... read more
Buddha's ,Ruins, Temples, Wats and more Buddha's
Published: June 28th 2006Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Ayuthaya
June 16th 2006
We left Koh Phagnan on the 8.30am catameran to head back upto Bangkok. We were transfered from the catamaran at the 'port' of Chumporn (which is a jetty off a beach) to aircon buses which were waiting ready to take us to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok at just after 8.30pm after a hassle free journey. Already we are missing the sea breeze of the coast, as the heat, humidity and aromas of Bangkok are stifling, even at night. Our aim whilst back in Bangkok is to sort out our visas for Laos. Having sorted out the forms and handing them in it is just a matter of waiting for a couple of days. We aren't really in the mood for any more tramping around Bangkok at the moment so we are taking advantage of the ... read more
June 15th 2006
We got a morning flight down from Bangkok to Phuket with Air Asia as the flights were cheap and we're not quite ready for 10 hour bus journey's yet. The flight was a mixture of Thia's and westeners but it was suprising to see the number of older western men with young Thai women on the flight. Even heard one guy say that he wasn't spending anymore money on this gal cause he had already spent enough on her by hiring her for the month! The views down on the flight were beautiful, loads of green lush islands dotting the bays with emerald green water taking up the majority of the landscape. Once we landed we got taxi to Shant Lodge Phuket just outside Chalong - really nice hostel with a relaxed atmosphere. The majority of ... read more
The Begining of the End of our Travels
Published: June 15th 2006Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok
June 1st 2006
We arrived at Bangkok airport at around midnight and after finding out that the airport hotel listed in the travel guide as $50 US is now $300US we set to finding somewhere else to stay. We booked a place with a guy at the airport - overpriced but the transfer and everything was sorted for us and it was only for one night. At 1am after the 9 hr flight and a few beers with Jon and a few more on the plane we just wanted to get into bed. We awoke suprisingly refreshed the next morning and set out on our mission to go to our desired hostel - Shanti Lodge. How bloody diffuicult is it to get a taxi or tuk tuk to where you want to go. I don't want to go to ... read more
May 25th 2006
We landed in Sydney on the morning of the 23rd May and transfered straight through from International to Domestic flights for our flight to Melbourne. We are only staying in Australia for a week and heading to Melbourne to catch up with a couple of friends, Andy and Tim whom we met in Peru and travelled with for a while. We arrived in Melbourne at about 2pm pretty exhausted after a poor nights sleep, early morning, a day of travel and the loss of a couple of hours which isn't a good combination. We headed into the centre of Melbourne and down to the trendy South Bank area - complete with backpacks, and had a caffeen boost before meeting Tim from work. By the time we got to Tim & Andys house in the suburbs, Andy ... read more
May 21st 2006
We left the orchard on 26/04/06. Given that we had to return to Hastings hospital in only a couple of weeks time and that I couldn't do much of what we really wanted to do in the South Island, we set of with the aim of making sure we did the rest of the North Island thoroughly. Our plan was to stay in Wellington for about a week, we drove down to Wellington via Mount Bruce Wildlife centre. The centre is managed by DOC with the aim of preserving and increasing the populations of endangered birds in NZ. The enclosures were large and all the birds there are involved in breeding programmes. We also got to see the wild Kia feeding. Kia are mountain parrots and they are fed at 3pm each day. This is done ... read more
Life on the orchard and my big break in NZ
Published: June 3rd 2006Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Hawkes Bay » Onga Onga
April 28th 2006
We moved down to the Orchard on the 26th of February and started picking on the 27th, the first day of the picking season. The Orchard we were working at was Mr Apple Ongaonga. The Orchard is actually 3km by road from the "village" of Ongaonga (which is named after a large very poisonous stinging nettle). Ongaonga is a very old historical village in NZ terms and it has a village museum, department of conservation information hut, a shop, a car mechanic and a pub (The Sandford Arms)! The nearest town of any kind of size worth mentioning is Waipuk (Waipukurau) which is about 25km away and then Hastings which is about 65km away. Basically everything closes at 5pm apart from one shop 15km away which closes at 8pm and one in Waipuk which closes at ... read more
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