http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sue---Andy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sue Andy en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:30:00 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:30:00 +0000 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-77448.html 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 la http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-74377.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-69979.html 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 Us30mn 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-68713.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ayuthaya/blog-66940.html 15th January 2006We landed in Auckland just after lunch time after a relatively short flight from Tahiti. It was all a little bizzare as we landed in New Zealand and although it was only an hours time difference we had lost a day Sarah and Gareths former next door neighbours Steve and Lynn who have emigrated to NZ met us at the airport which was great. They took us into Auckland and helped us http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-40126.html HolaWe arrived in Caracas with our taxi waiting for us to take us to our overnight posada the airport is right next to some what can only be described as slums and our posada not in an area that much better we didnt venture to far out that night and we were quiet glad we had prebooked our first night in advance.After experiancing the most disorganised airport terminal weve ever enountered w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/Insular/Los-Roques/blog-19204.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-66674.html 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-63358.html 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 s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-61609.html We left the orchard on 260406. 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-60766.html 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 departmen http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Hawkes-Bay/Onga-Onga/blog-55607.html With work on the orchard starting to dry up until the next variety is ready we headed up to Auckland to spend a few days with my parents. Our friends Steve and Lynn very kindly put us up for a few days cheers Guys. Fisrt stop in Auckland we decided to take my parents to the Viaduct probably mentioned this in previous Blogs a swanky waterfront resort by Aucklands main harbour lined with rest http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-48254.html 1st of February 2006 AucklandAfter another 20 hour flight we find ourselves back in New Zealand but this time with a couple of honeymooners Once again we were met by Steve and Lynn who took us to our hostel the rest of the evening was took up by drinks and catching up on wedding talk and life in New Zealand before a relativley early night. The next day we left Sarah and Gareth to go off tou http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-45585.html Hello everybody. Just a quick one to let you know that we are both still alive and kickingSorry it has been so long since we have posted a blog. We are currently updating our blog and having problems with getting internet access locally especially somewhere where we can upload photographs. We should get them done and out to you all soonJust to let you know we are both well. We bought an old http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Hawkes-Bay/blog-44142.html After all that hard work travelling around South America we decided we needed a holiday and where better than French Polynesia. We had already booked our flights from Papette in Tahiti to Rangiroa and accomadation once we got there. Rangiroa is as you would imagine an idylic tropical island except it's got coral beaches and not soft sand however it is still beautiful. The second thing you no http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/French-Polynesia/Rangiroa/blog-37382.html We arrived in Santiago at about 8pm on the 30th December. We went to the hostel that we had previously stayed at expecting it to be getting full ready for the new year celebrations in the capital. However when we got to the hostel we found quite the oppoiste it was much quieter than when we had previously stayed here. Speaking to people it sounds like many travellers in this part of the world http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-33926.html 22nd December 2005We caught the morning bus from Bariloche to Osorno. We had planned to go to Valdivia but to get there it would have meant Andy and I going on seperate buses on different days as they were so full running upto Christmas. Therefore as Osorno was described in the guidebook as a transport hub and in the right direction we headed off there.We arrived in Osorno at 1pm and found th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/O-Higgins/Santa-Cruz/blog-32412.html We are in Santiago waiting for the celebrations to begin. They are just closing off the roads and a big sound system is being erected so should be a good night. We are having a meal with all the guys at the hostel at 9pm and then we are going out to the street party and fireworks display later on.We have lost our mobile phone charger and the battery is flat so sorry we cant send or receive any m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-33542.html We both wanted to wish you all a Happy Christmas and send our best wishes to everyoneThankyou for the messages we have received it is nice to hear from poeple at home or whom we have travelled with.We are currently in Santa Cruz in the Colchagua Valley in Chile where most of the Chillean wines come from Courtesy of Sam as our wedding gift we are in a five star hotel over the Christmas perio http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/O-Higgins/Santa-Cruz/blog-32749.html