Wayner

Wayner01

Wayner

Hey hey hey peeps.......welcome to my blog. My online diary to keep you all, my friends and family, up to date as I travel overland (mostly) to Australia and New Zealand. Read and wonder at the exploits of a 30-something (shut it you lot!!) small town country boy as he traverses the world, from one continent to another, adventure after adventure, hear of my exploits, the day to day challenges, the characters that I’ll meet, the countries that I’ll explore and conquer (proper Michael Palin me!) and hopefully laugh at whatever mess I will invariably get into. The Yoda outfit stays at home!

So, as if you haven’t heard this already my rough itinerary is as follows: France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hugary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand.

After NZ I have no firm plans other than to stay there a while or maybe go back down to Vietnam to visit the lovely Mr & Mrs Smith who reside there. Or, I may embark on a return adventure and go via ‘Nam, into China and climb aboard the Trans Siberian express and go through China, Mongolia and Russia. Maybe take in a few more of Eastern Europe’s delights (maybe Prague to visit the gentleman clubs that I’d have missed) and home.

Anyways, that is the plan so far. So, watch this space, log in and enjoy my adventure of a lifetime with me. I leave the UK on February 14 and I’m thoroughly looking forward to boring you all stupid with my travel ramblings. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year to you all and make it a good one. I’m gonna!!

Wayne
xx

Update: The countries listed above have all now been visited and you should now be able to read about them on this site After NZ I decide to continue on my tour and head to South America, with a slight detour to Hong Kong & the USA. Read about it here first. This time I'll try and update you regularly. So, we have LA, Florida, maybe Miami then down to La Paz, Bolivia through Chile, Argentina, Uraguay & Brazil and then home. Stay tuned. 😊

My Trip Route....

Brilliant Brazil

South America » Brazil October 8th 2010

Foz Iguazu

Wayner01

Brazil Foz do Iguazu With a heavy heart we leave Juan, Suzanne and the gorgeous Panagea Ranch and head to Brazil & Foz de Iguazu and head to the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls. At over 2km long, the falls are actually a series of cataracts. We took a helicopter ride up and over the falls to see them from the above, which was impressive but not as big as I’d imagined. The disappointing aspect of this flight was we never got very close, which was a shame. Still, I guess that wouldn’t be very safe, so hey ho. After the flight we walked along to all the view points along the way until we reached the falls, which are massively impressive. The power of nature is awe-inspiring. The next day we headed back across ... read more

Unbelievable Uraguay

South America » Uruguay September 26th 2010

Colonia, Uraguay

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Uraguay Colonia Crossing the Rio de la Plata by ferry into Uraguay we enter the colonial city of Colonia del Sacramento, with its cobbled streets and coffee shops and bars. Near the bank the local security company are bringing or taking money there, but what makes me laugh is the 2 guards clamber out of the old VW Type 2 Camper with its mock split screen, obviously with thickened glass but looks as though the work has been done by Bodge-it & Scarper Ltd! We head to a nice restaurant for lunch then head to the lighthouse and piers then find a bar for a well earned drink, and watch the day end with a gorgeous sunset. Montevideo A 3 hour bus journey takes us into Montevideo, the commercial and cultural hub of the country. Our ... read more

Awesome Argentina & Chile

South America » Argentina September 26th 2010

Salta, Argentina

Wayner01

South America Argentina After a 4 hour bus journey and a relatively pain free entry into Argentina we wait for a few hours for our bus to Salta. At the border we befriended a couple of stray dogs, one of which followed us into Argentina and stayed with us until we boarded the bus. Ah bless the little bugger…..he was so sweet, looked well and I wanted to take him home. After about a 7 hour bus journey we finally get to Salta……rounding the bend you see that Salta is no small city. ‘Salta the Pretty‘ has, as we learn, quite some history and the city is strewn with colonial architecture surrounding many natural attractions. Salta is apparently one of Argentina’s main attractions with many holidaying to this part of the world, all coming to see ... read more

All about Bolivia...

South America » Bolivia August 26th 2010

La Paz, Bolivia

Wayner01

La Paz Finally it’s time to move onto South America, the part of my journey that I’ve been really looking forward to for many reasons. La Ciudad de Nuestra Senora de La Paz (the City of Our Lady of Peace) at around 3,600m (12,000ft) feels like the top of the world. It's not far from it, and vies with Tibet for title of highest capital in the world. But La Paz is the centre of commerce, finance and industry with an abundance of colonial architecture, And I have to say, I really like it. I was a little nervy at first due to the comments on various websites including Lonely Planet and Rough Guide but never once felt uncomfortable. The area was really nice, the Witches Market was interesting as was some of the beautiful architecture, ... read more

Me at the Witches Market. La Paz, Bolivia

USA! USA! USA! USA!

North America August 16th 2010

Santa Monica Pier

Wayner01

LA & Orlando I have to admit that I left HK with a heavy heart, plus I wasn’t really looking forward to a 13 hour flight to the US. But one can’t really complain too much as I’m living the dream, my dream. Surprisingly, passing through immigration and customs at LAX was easier than expected. Considering that I had no onward journey booked, just plans about where I was going next. And they accepted my story……and considering that almost every other port or airport that I passed through prior to HK I’d been stopped, checked, questioned etc. I guess I just have that look, which takes me back to some silly awards we used to run at work where I won the ’person most likely to be stopped by the police’!!! haha…..I guess it must be ... read more

A Hong Kong surprise

Asia » Hong Kong » Kowloon July 15th 2010

Honk Kong Island

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Hong Kong Get this………I’ve bagged me a free trip to Hongkers!!! Well, free-ish……flights and 2 nights accom paid for, so I decided to stay 5 days longer and treat myself to a nice room. So now, I’m adding Hong Kong to my itinerary! Woohoo!!! How have I managed this? I hear you ask……well, I’ve been invited to an interview for a role in Shanghai, China and as my journey is one of opportunity it’s only right that I hear them out and make the trip. Ok, so it does somewhat screw up my plans of seeing more of Oz, but hey ho. Just means that I have to go back to Oz someday to see more of it. No bad thing, right?!!! Flying into HK was a delight. 9 hours on Virgin Atlantic we fly through ... read more

Stunning New Zealand

Oceania » New Zealand May 20th 2010

Mangawhai Heads Reserve

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New Zealand And so here I am, in the land of the Kiwi. The Kiwi, if you didn’t already know, is a shy bird that cannot fly, not particularly cute, awkward looking with its teeny tiny stumps that are their wings and a ridiculously long beak, which of course serves some purpose. They spend 20 hours a day sleeping and only forage at night. We do hope to find a few in the wild…….so heres hoping!!! We decide to hire ourselves a little campervan. Well, I booked it back in Oz in a bit of a hurry, so booked what we found to be the cheapest, which was a Toyota Estima, kitted out for camping. In hindsight we could’ve had a much better camper, but hell, it was still great and was gonna be home for ... read more

A lake somewhere on the North Island, NZ

Awesome Australia

Oceania » Australia May 3rd 2010

Jumping Croc

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Australia Darwin Landing in Darwin in the middle of the night our first view off the city, as we’re dropped off at out hostel, is one of drunken youths pouring out from the various pubs and clubs that lined the street! Nice. We’re shown into the hostel and to our dorms which remind me a lot of the scenery from Prisoner: Cell Block H! Drab, painted-brick walls, metal framed beds and lockers lining one wall. The boys are back together again, somewhat briefly. The following morning was somewhat quieter, a gorgeous sunny day and one in which we were ready to explore. ‘The Truman show’ as our Italian friend observed. And you know what, he was right. This place was clean and square, bright, blue skies, manicured lawns…..yep, it was just like the Truman Show. Still, ... read more

Impressive Indonesia

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Nusa Lembongan April 16th 2010

Indonesian Paradise

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Bali After some thoughts and lazy discussions at the beach bar back in Koh Samui a few of us decided that travelling by bus from Thailand through Malaysia and Indonesia was looking increasingly tiresome and so we decided that the best thing to do would be to fly onto different destinations and meet later in Bali. Apart from that, one of the guys was hoping to dive whilst out here, so his decision was easy. So that was it, decision made and a couple of us would fly to Bali and go our separate ways. I was off to Nusa Lembongan, a couple staying in Bali and Liam to Phuket for some diving before spending 2 weeks on a diving boat. As in Phuket the landing is an interesting one as you fly in low and ... read more

Tantalising Thailand....

Asia » Thailand » Central Thailand » Bangkok April 8th 2010

Red shirts protest

Wayner01

Thailand Bangkok I was glad to leave India and so landing in Bangkok I had a huge sigh of relief. Going through the usual customs rigmoral was its normal pain but I didn’t care, I was in Thailand! Leaving the airport I was met with this expanse of colour. And organisation! Yep, a complete contrast to India. Getting to my hotel and then walking the streets it was as if I was some long lost cousin….the people were polite, friendly and loved to chat (and sell!). I immediately fell in love with the place and was extremely happy to be here. It felt safe too…..for a moment. Sadly that safe feeling wasn’t to last. I hadn’t really been feeling too well since the first trip to India and returning there didn’t help and my stomach bug ... read more

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