TravellingTandem

In one of our first weekends of being in NZ, David and Eriko decided that a trip to the small town of Akaroa would be a great introduction to some of the New Zealand heritage. Situated in the eastern bank of the Akaroa harbour in the Banks peninsular. The harbour is surrounded by mountains and pebbled beaches lined the waters edge. The water is serene as tall masted yachts gently ease into their resting bays. The town itself is beautiful with small French-styled houses, cafes and B&B's lined up along the narrow roads. As you walk along the road away from the town towards the lighthouse, civilization is quietened down and replaced by thick bush along the bank. Unfortunately you can't go inside the lighthouse, but the walk there and the view is beautiful and definitely ... read more

Having been doing a whole bunch of settling in and house things, it was finally time to get out of the house for a bit and enjoy some of New Zealand's scenery with friends! We decided that a day trip to Arthor's Pass would do just the trick. So, Dave, Eriko, Darrell, Damien, and myself piled into Dave's Silver Beeper and off we went. it was roadtrip time!! Even if we were doing just the drive, it would be worth it. Watching as the landscape rolls from placid farmlands, into long flat open space, lifting gently into rolling hills and finally winding into rocky mountains with steep valleys and long rivers is the most beautiful and peaceful thing. We stopped of in Springfield (about an hour west of Christchurch) for some of their famous pies but ... read more

New Zealand is not close to South Africa. It’s not even far from South Africa. It’s quite literally the opposite side of the world. In order for us to get from Cape Town to Christchurch , we had to change planes in 3 cities, cross 10 time zones, and go through an incredible amount of toothpaste-confiscating checkpoints. By the time we’d arrived in the Land-Under-the-Downunder, we had no idea what time it was (the 7hr layover in Perth saw to that) and we’d completely skipped Wednesday. Travelling to another country is a big deal, especially when you’re moving in and not just passing through. There’s all the stress of customs checks, passport checks, and the frequent passport, ticket, wife checks. But you know that you can finally relax when you walk through the doors into the ... read more

Until Darrell mentioned to me that Angkor Wat was one of his long time dream places to see, I'd never heard of it. He told me that it was an amazing collection of ancient temples, that it was one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites, and that it was the setting for the Tomb Raider movies. That was enough for me. As we were planning the trip, I was eager to learn as much about the temples as I could, but at the same time, very careful to avoid seeing any pictures. I was worried that with so much hype, that I might be disappointed. So much for that. I think that even if the temples were all concrete slabs, the volume alone would be mind boggling! We arrived in Siem Reap in the afternoon, and ... read more

Even if Luang Probang was a dingy run down village with nothing to attract you to see it, I would still go just for the drive. We left the giant limestone cliffs of Vang Vieng silhouetted in the distance as we drove off on the dusty road up the mountains towards LP. It was a breath-taking drive from the moment we left Vang Vieng. As we climbed higher and higher into the mountains, the vegetation grew thicker, intermingled with countless banana farms. Every now and then when the thick vegetation gave way to the plantations, awesome green valleys far below us would reveal themselves. Around every other bend were the lines of small woven houses that dotted the narrow horizontal stretch between the road surface and the steep drop down the banana tree covered mountain side. ... read more