Having had a fantastic wedding day in somewhat monsoon conditions we were greatly looking forward to our honeymoon in the Caribbean. Indeed we were keen to do some 'proper' travelling again, albeit in somewhat more luxurious style than our last global adventure. We arrived, blinking into the sunshine, off our BA flight to be hit by a wall of heat. It had been a long time since we had felt any kind of sun. We were driven to our hotel along some pretty hairpin roads by a helpful taxi driver, we were to discover all the St Lucians are extremely friendly [View Full Entry]

---

---

USA to home Alex & Laura Enroute to the States from Fiji we have the strange experience of crossing the Date Line. Not only does this mean we have a 42 hour day (a large proportion of this spent travelling I might add) we actually land earlier than we took off. Thus we arrive at LAX at 14:30 on March 15th having left Fiji at 22:30 on March 15th. Most peculiar. We had spent a long time choosing where to stay in L.A as the city is so vast and public transport isn't great. Add to that there are some [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yasawa Islands, Fiji Alex & Laura Having driven over 6000km around New Zealand we were looking forward to some serious R&R in Fiji. We were initially unsure about travelling to Fiji following their coup last December but were reassured by a brusque Air New Zealand representative that "Europe had blown it out of all proportion and we would be missing out ion a great holiday." So off we went and indeed there were no signs whatsoever of any kind of disturbance. There was however, on arrival to Nadi, signs of a lot of rain [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sorry about the lack of photos for this blog, we can't find any internet places that will accept our card reader! Our next stop on our whirlwind tour of the South Island was Fox Glacier. One of two glaciers you can climb on the West Coast, we picked Fox to visit as it is supposedly easier to access, less crowded, and the killer reason, cheaper. We arrived in rain, not unheard of on the West Coast, and arranged to do a 'Nimble Fox' tour the following day. This was a 6-7 hour hike up to and then onto the glacier. I [View Full Entry]

---

---

All was good for our journey to the South Island. We made the short journey into Wellington from our camp site in Lower Hutt and parked up at the ferry terminal a couple of hours before we were due to sail, allowing us to potter around the city before catching the Blue Bridge ferry over to Picton. This included cashing in of Laura's 'Stuffed Kiwi Voucher' part of the 'unique' Valentine card she received a few days early. Needless to say she chose the largest stuffed kiwi to be found. So large in fact it wouldn't fit into any of the [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Northland just in time, a couple of days later 3-4 metres of rain fell washing out a bridge on State Highway 1 stranding residents and tourists alike. Good to know NZ has summers like England. We, meanwhile, continued on oblivious to Waitomo where we stopped for a couple of nights to have a look at the famous caves there. The first cave we visited called the Glowworm cave is so called because, right at the end, it is full of glowworms. And I mean full. We sat on a little boat in pitch blackness and drifted down the river [View Full Entry]

---

---

Aaaah New Zealand. Back to a climate that much more resembles our own in Blighty. Experienced the Kiwi humour almost immediately we stepped off the plane with our shuttle bus driver discussing the finer points of smoking the "green" and explaining that if he hadn't, he would have been a doctor instead of a shuttle bus driver. Our first few nights we were lodged at the Wildlife House Backpackers in Wellington. You can't miss it, it's a five storey building painted like zebra on the outside. First item on the NZ agenda was to attend Chook and Chelle's wedding on the [View Full Entry]

---

---

A quick flight later and we were in Adelaide. Time to recharge the batteries before another early start to catch a bus from the city centre down to Cape Jervis to catch the Sealink ferry to Kangaroo Island. We'd booked a car at Penneshaw to drive round the island as there are no local public transport services. Now to look at the island on a map it appears very small in comparison to Australia, however is about 120Km long. Only the main roads are sealed, the rest being dirt tracks cut through the bush which makes pretty hairy driving, especially when [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our next stop was Alice springs, we arrived here from Cairns for the specific purpose of picking up a trip to the Red Centre. We had already booked Wayoutback tours and were due to be collected the following morning at 6AM. In the meantime we browsed the shops in Alice and managed to purchase a didgeridoo and some Aboriginal artwork from some of the many shops selling indigenous work in Alice (both now enroute to England via airmail we hope). After a quick feed in the local pub we duly turned in for an early night and diligently set the alarm [View Full Entry]

---

---

With Sydney behind us we made the short flight up to Cairns in Queensland and back to the tropics. Everything ran according to plan and we were able to find a cheap shuttle bus that took us directly to the door of the backpackers (Parrotfish Lodge) we were staying in, in Port Douglas. The main reason for coming to Port Douglas was to take a trip to see the Great Barrier Reef, which we duly did the next day. Again we were picked up at the door to the backpackers and transported to the quay to make the one and half [View Full Entry]

---

---