The Nut

This was not in the plan but was so glad to get to the warmth and the more chilled out way of pretty much everything...the men still stare but not with as much conviction as the northern counterparts!! We got to Ajanta too late to stay...so did the big haul down to Bombay! we moved form our comfy 3AC sleepr down to sleeper and went to sit with the locals, we even had to share a seat since it was so full! It was a great journey and met a lovely family who tried to give me some bangles, upon me trying them on I was highly embarrassed that they would not fit over my hand to get on my wrist - oops!! Bombay - nice and warm but bloody expensive!!! The city had a very ... read more

Saigon - Hanoi - Bac Ha - Motorbike Adventure We started off in Saigon...another city I am sad to say! We maybe didnt give it a chance but we were pretty citied out and ready to get into the rural far reaches!!Crazy busy city!! wespent a nigfht and headed straight out on the train, up to Hanoi! 30 hours later we tumbled out of our train and waited for it to get light, had a mooch aroundthecity and decided that we didnt want much time in another big city so we booked another train out that night to Lao Cai. It was quite a fun day in Hanoi, looked around, got lost in the shanty parts of th city and only just made the train!! But did have a gorge meal to get lost for!! Oh ... read more

In to Bangkok, not there long before we head back out! We ran away to a little island to relax for a while...ended up not able to leave for just over a week- pure paradise as the resort name suggests 'Koh Wai Paradise'- our humble abode was a wooden hut 10metres from the sea, great food, beer and great people! Whilst on teh island we managedto do lots of reading, our daily skips and exercises (rather limited due to the size of the island), lots of eating and learnt a couple of recipes, lots of swimming and of course some snorkelling and the daily spectatorship of the Russian tourists who cameto pose with coconuts and beer on the beach! We were sad to leave the island, people and food! Jonathon and Bird waved us off and ... read more

ok...we have been in Melbourne for over three months and its now time to move on, so I guess we should finally start on the blog updates again!! We are pretty sad to be leaving this place, its such a nice place to live, just so nice and easy! It has pretty much everything one would want in a place and is probably the best city I have been to...and that is me, the girl who hates cities!! The ony thing Melbourne and around is lacking is lots of hills, fair play, it has some, just not quite enough and its not too easy to get to them without a car...unless you manage to acquire one for the weekend!! We will especially miss Victoria Market which we used to go to most weekends for coffee and ... read more

An overview....we blasted the Glaciers, drove down to Milford Sounds (getting the van stuck on a beach....), beautiful trip through the fjords, donning the snow chains to get through the snow, then on to Queenstown for some much needed skiing and boarding, thena final treat - blow some more money on heading way down near the south pole to Stewart Island, then a final bezz up to Christchurch.....but did Vinny hold out for the duration????? erm no......read on for the full and funny details!! June 18th Next on the hitlist after Fox Glacier was the hike up Franz Josef Glacier, first we had to get there in time....which was a test in itself...late as usual and roads with lots of ice....poor Vinny was skidding round the corners teetering on the brink of being on his ... read more