We planned to do a bit of a road trip when we got back to New Zealand, visiting our friends and family in Whangarei, Rotorua, Whakatane, Napier and Wellington. But when our old boss heard we were coming home early, he offered us a few weeks of relief work back at 1XX - being flat broke, we couldn't say no! So less than a week after returning to the country, we headed back to the marvellous Eastern Bay on Sunday afternoon. We're staying in the cute, cuddly, cosy 1XX cottage in Ohope and so far it's been really lovely to catch [View Full Entry]

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Well, we're back home in New Zealand. But we've got a couple of weeks to cover before we continue! On our last day in the UK we made our way to Heathrow Airport extremely early - our flight was at 10.15pm and we arrived at around 5pm! This was because we weren't sure what sort of traffic we'd encounter on the way and because we still needed to pay for our flight changes and therefore hadn't able to check in online and choose our seats. Being so early we were able to sort everything out quickly and get half decent seats [View Full Entry]

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OK, sorry, for like the millionth time, way too slow on the updates! That just means we've been busy enjoying ourselves, does it not? Our trip from Paris to London was fairly uneventful - as the bus on the way to Paris had gone on the train, we figured we'd be doing the same to return. But this time we got to go on the ferry - however not before Richard had the third degree from British immigration officials. I'd gone through a bit ahead, got the same questions, gave the same answers and got through fine. Richard must be a [View Full Entry]

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As Joey on Friends would say...toot de la fruit! Richard is rather caught up in lying around with his foot up so after a week or so of this it is my turn to get the blog up to date. With heavy hearts and sun browned limbs we said goodbye to San Sebastian and headed to Bordeaux, our second to last Busabout stop. The bus was absolutely packed with idiots crammed in for a long day to Paris - 8am to 9pm. We were smart to break this up with a couple of nights in Bordeaux. Once again we weren't staying [View Full Entry]

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Roho: It's the blog you've all been waiting for! Well, not really, it's the update some of you have been hassling us for. We're back in London now so plenty of time to update everything. So last time you heard from us we'd just arrived in Madrid... Rich: It was Rohani's job when we got off the bus to walk us in the direction of our hotel. Yet again, we walked the wrong way. Thankfully this time it was only two to three hundred metres in the wrong direction. Roho: Firstly, you tend to work your route out from the Busabout [View Full Entry]

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It's all Roho again today I'm afraid, got a bit of catching up to do! Let's start with Florence. We spent five nights there and I loved it. It wasn't quite as hot as Rome but pretty darn close. Our accommodation was a camping ground about 6km out of the city centre. A lovely place but a bit of a hike from the bus stop - and you never knew if you were going to get an air con bus or not! OK it was only a 10 minute walk but there was blazing sun and a big huge nasty hill [View Full Entry]

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We'll blog properly soon but just cos I've been meaning to I thought I'd enlighten you on what exactly our travel days entail. Our Busabout buses generally depart at 8am, so it's an early start if you're moving on from somewhere. You never know who your guide and driver are going to be as they are on the circuit and going somewhere new every day. Most of the guides are Aussies or Poms. As soon as your luggage is loaded on you show the guide your passport as ID and they swipe your Busabout pass on their little palm pilot things [View Full Entry]

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Roho: Sorry Nana, but fucking Rome. Perhaps we ought to start with Venice first. Rich: We arrived in Venice in 35° heat and were astonished when we got to our room. It was cute and small and absolutely stifling inside. But not to worry, I'm sure the tiny little fan heater they provide you with will cool things down nicely. If only that were true...had trouble sleeping due to the heat throughout the night and the live band that was performing less than 40 metres from our 'room'. Roho: Don't forget the mozzies... Rich: Well they didn't really touch me. I [View Full Entry]

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Roho: Well technically we're not in Venice right now, we're on the mainland, I think in a place called Mestre. Cars aren't allowed in Venice itself, let alone buses, so we stay in a camping ground about 20 minutes out of the city. The camping ground runs an hourly shuttle so it's not hard to get into Venice proper. So anyway, last you heard from us we were in Munich. Rich: Where really, we only saw two things. One was the Dachau Concentration Camp and the other was the University Hospital! Roho: You go first about Dachau. Rich: It's a weird [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick one from Roho since I've got a bit of time... Richard's hand flared up again while we were here in Munich - and the German medical system is much more efficient than the Czech Republic's! In about three hours yesterday we saw a few doctors, had an X Ray and blood tests. None of which showed up anything, but the gaggle of doctors, students and nurses gathered around the X Ray decided to at least treat the symptoms (pain and swelling). This involved wrapping the hand in alcohol soaked bandages and supporting the whole forearm on a sort [View Full Entry]

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