Willz Skills Frills
Amy Willoughby Joined: February 25th 2010
Logged in: November 12th 2010
Logged in: November 12th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
La la land..
San Francisco and the onwards trail.. This afternoon I’m sitting staring at my diary, trying to decipher my furious daily scribblings from the last 2 and a half months - An attempt to remember everything; sights, sounds, smells. It’s not a long time really, but it’s enough to almost forget the feeling of travel sickness on a packed Mexican bus winding the rolling mountains of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, or the dizzying scent of tobacco smoke from a Cigar and fresh Cubanita espresso on the Plaza Almas, Habana, Cuba. Now my tan is fading, and life is returning back to normal, it feels only right that I should finish what I started and complete my blog. February 28th 2010 Flying from Fiji to LA meant that we gained a day, so we used the extra ... read more
I want to live in a house like this!!!
Continued… Sadly, we’re now on our last day here in Fiji, and if all goes to plan, we’ll be landing in La la land in just a few hours*, to spend a week in San Fran, before fleeing for Cuba via a detour through Mexico. However, the crumbling and unpredictable stability of this planet means that over breakfast we watched reports on Aljazeera TV of an 8.8 earthquake in Chile. Obviously the consequences of this are devastating for the people in Chile, but it means that most countries in the Pacific are also on Tsunami alert - including Fiji. All you can do is wait for updates and keep your eye on the news. So in the mean time, I’ll tell you about our last few days of island life. Spending another couple of very quiet ... read more
Partying on the beach!
I’m writing this while sat here outside our Bure by the sea, with salty skin and a peeling nose. I’m on my 3rd book and still have 2 weeks left! This place is paradise. By the time I eventually get around to posting this, I’ll probably have popped across the Pacific to the States for the final few weeks of mine and mum’s journey. But for now, I’m here, and it’s bliss. It’s taken until now to submit to such relaxation - For me it’s easier said than done. Apart from the obvious ‘bumming about on a beach’ part of Fiji, which you can do on one of the many, many beaches, we decided to follow a more responsible route, and opted for a ‘resort’ owned by the local Chief and one which supports the islands’ ... read more
Spa-ing it up!
Auckland - Rotorua - Napier - Wellington xing - Westport - Franz Josef Glacier - Kaikoura - Xing back to north island - Wanganui - Waitomo Gloworms - Otorohanga - Hobbiton - Tauranga - Auckland. The end of Oz saw the beginning of ‘The Land of the Long White Cloud’ And we picked up our 2nd campervan of the month from Auckland making straight for Rotorua and the hot springs. Having only 2 weeks in New Zealand, we knew we were going to have to make neat work of where we went and what we saw. To quote some charming Texan guy we met on the boat over the Cook straight, “Sometimes you just have to take a picture, tick it off your list and go!” Now I’m not bad at reading maps when it’s just ... read more
Fishies!
Christmas with the folks in Australialand - Melbourne to Cairns After a few days of r ‘n’ r in KK, trying out the local night market for some bloody incredible squid, and a lime ping or two, I headed back to Singe-a-sweatypore. Catching up with a couple of the guys I trekked Mount Kinabalu with To compare notes on general all over muscle ache, the lack of leg function, food poisoning, and to check out Avatar 3D for some quality air con away from the sticky and unrelenting heat of the city streets. As well as to meet up with Mom again after her Rambo style escapades ended in Sabah. To celebrate we went to Raffles for Monkey nuts and the obligatory trademark Sling. Finally we boarded a plane to Melbourne, meeting Dad and Bruv so ... read more
Nearly there!
16th & 17th December 2009. Willers climbs Mt Kinabalu. Kinabalu Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. Summit: 4095 metres World Ranking: 20th Time: 8 Hours Basically, whatever I write here will not begin to express just how bloody difficult, and exhausting and murderous this was. But even more so, no pictures will represent just how incredibly, fantastically, adrenalin filled & mind blowingly bastard BRILLIANT reaching the summit of a mountain at sunrise actually is. The colours, the feelings, the peace and the tranquility, the view over the top of the clouds, and the twinkling of the towns below when you're about to reach 7K on your assent. Unless you do this - which you should - it will always be just a picture of a rock and some cloud. We started at 10am on the 16th and reached ... read more
Mmmmmm dim sum!
What day is it? Has it only been 2 weeks since I landed? Last time I managed to post one blog for the entire trip, and relied on Facebook to do the rest. But this time, I'm going to try and do this properly! So here's what I've been up to so far. I arrived safe and well into the intense heat that is Singapore around 8am local time, and got involved almost as soon as I checked into my hostel. After making friends with and being rescued by a girl in my dorm who had maps and a plan, we headed straight to Chinatown for Dim Sum and Pork Balls on Smith Street via a few temples on the way. In the evening we went out to the Night Safari, which is part of Singapore ... read more
