et - Emma and Tim

We started this travel blog in 2005 when we set off on a ten-month around-the-world trip with a couple of backpacks and not much else. Since then, we've spent a couple of years back in England, done a little travelling in Europe and Africa and posted the odd blog whenever we get chance. In 2008, we emigrated to New Zealand with four suitcases and a guitar and spent the first month travelling throughout the country, from Auckland to Christchurch, via a roundabout route. We now live in Christchurch and post the odd blog now and again...whenever the travel bug bites. Happy reading!

Also, for a non-travel related blog, see Tim's Blog

Preparing to go RTW
November 22nd 2004 -» January 14th 2005 RTW 2005
January 15th 2005 -» November 20th 2005 Back in England and some Europe and Africa
November 21st 2005 -» April 11th 2008 Auckland to Christchurch 2008
April 12th 2008 -» May 14th 2008 Completing the first year in New Zealand
May 15th 2008 -» April 16th 2009 2009 onwards
April 17th 2009 -» ongoing

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Joined on: November 4th 2004
Last Login: November 22nd 2009

Blog Entries: 162
Photos: 1154
Recommended by 2, Recommends 3

TB Code: [blogger=1029]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by et, order by Date newest first.

By et
November 16th 2009

Don't Pay The Ferryman! Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch

First meal at the house

The time has come, and it is indeed a rare occasion, for me to write a blog. I think the last time was in our fair city back in 2005. I remember hogging the one computer at a busy backpackers called Vagabonds..... Today, I sit contented in our home office looking out of the window at the blue skies of Canterbury, watching baby Monarch butterflies bouncing off one of our sunkissed swan plants beside the house.....bliss! We are now well and truly moved into our first NZ property and we love it here :-) The whirlwind couple of weeks of moving, [View Full Entry]

By et
August 26th 2009

The wombat won in the end Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cairns

Leaving the beach

On our last day we got up early to pack and have a quick walk on the beach before driving down to the airport in Cairns. On the way we made a detour back to the zoo to buy that $100 giant stuffed wombat that we had seen the day before, but in the end we bought the $50 one because of luggage space... We drove into Cairns exactly four years to the day that we last arrived in the city - it wasn't planned that way - just one of those coincidences. Overall, we had a great trip and saw [View Full Entry]

By et
August 25th 2009

What does a wombat eat? redux Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Port Douglas

Common wombat

Another reason for coming to Port Douglas was because we are celebrating our 15th anniversary of meeting. Coincidentally, we had been in the same part of the world (Mission Beach) in 2005 for our 11th anniversary - you may remember, it being the second time the weather prevented us from Skydiving... This year, for obvious reasons, we had planned a much more sedate day. We started by having side-by-side massages at a local spa - relaxation for Em, deep tissue sports for Tim... Afterwards we grabbed a coffee from 'Re:Hab' which was purportedly the best coffee in town. We found ou [View Full Entry]

By et
August 24th 2009

Finding Nemo...finally! Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef

The Silversonic
Tim chose this boat because of it's name!

On Monday, we went out to the Great Barrier Reef on the 'Silversonic' - a boat Tim chose because he liked the name. It took more than an hour to get to the outer reef and on the way we saw a humpback whale breaching on the horizon. We snorkelled three sites on Agincourt Reef. The weather was warm but a bit cloudy so the coral was not quite as brightly coloured as we had expected but we had great time exploring the underwater world and the visibility was excellent which is the main thing. Em actually found Nemo hiding in [View Full Entry]

By et
August 23rd 2009

Anyone for potato salad? Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Kuranda

Lookout on the way to Kuranda

On Sunday morning, we went for a wander around the huge Port Douglas market, before driving south towards Cairns, and turning inland at Smithfield towards the mountain village of Kuranda. Kuranda was somewhere we had planned to visit in 2005, but then we only got as far north as Cairns before turning inland and spending 3 days crossing the outback to Alice Springs. In fact, we saw most of this trip as a continuation/completion of the east coast Australia leg of our first world tour - Port Douglas, the Daintree, Cape Tribulation, Mossman Gorge, Kuranda were all within [View Full Entry]

By et
August 22nd 2009

The Mossman Prophecies Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Mossman

Hello!

Now, you may have to question the sanity of two people who go on a croc-spotting tour one day and then set out the next to a famous swimming hole, but that's what we did... We left the Daintree Rainforest on Saturday morning, for the drive down to Port Douglas, a gold rush and sugar port that rose and declined, and then was tastefully revived in the last couple of decades as an upmarket tourist resort. We crossed the Daintree River again, this time in daylight (staying in the car the whole time), stopped on the coast for a quick leg [View Full Entry]

By et
August 21st 2009

Once again, up the creek Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Daintree

Water looks nice...
...anyone fancy a swim

On Friday morning, we drove north up to Cooper Creek where we had arranged to join a boat in order to meet some of the local inhabitants, the infamous saltwater crocodiles. We had been advised to drive to a certain spot on the road and then stay in the car until the boat arrived and the guy running the cruise came to get us. Standing by a creek, while waiting to go on a croc spotting trip is not a smart move. Despite this however, no-one else was staying in their vehicles, so we joined the group, staying nicely on the [View Full Entry]

By et
August 20th 2009

Trials and Tribulations Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cape Tribulation

Daintree Tea Plantation

We headed north towards Cape Tribulation, stopping at the 'Daintree Tea Plantation', which was cool as we've never seen (or smelt) tea growing. We then had a quick stop at Thornton Beach to grab a coffee, which is a much superior drink. We had chosen to come to Far North Queensland in August as it is the end of winter, and subsequently has the coolest temperatures and least rainfall. It was a pleasant 27 degrees celsius as we began our drive! Our first planned stop was at the Marrdja Boardwalk to explore Mangrove (Tim's favourite tree) wetlands in the rainfo [View Full Entry]

By et
August 19th 2009

Four and a half thousand kilometres and three breakfasts Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Daintree

A friend waiting outside our room

On Wednesday morning, we arose at 3am (!!) to catch the early morning flight out of Christchurch to Brisbane. While we were waiting to depart we had a quick middle-of-the-night breakfast - a diet coke for Tim and a cheese scone for Emma - it was a strange time of night to be eating! We had a great flight (2940km) and ate second breakfast (a shared triple chocolate muffin and suitably bad airline coffee and hot chocolate) on the plane... We arrived in Brisbane at the international terminal at 8am Australian time and caught the train to the domestic terminal. While [View Full Entry]

By et
August 8th 2009

More Trees and Forest for Dr. Bob Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Rakaia

Rakaia River
Sunlight was too bright and took the tops of the mountains off!

We received a special request from Dr. Bob to see more trees and forests and so yesterday we took a drive up to the Rakaia Gorge for a walk along the river. It was the first proper winter shorts and t-shirts day... [View Full Entry]

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