jonny fi

We arrived back in Christchurch on a sweltering hot day and checked out our new hostel Foley Towers. It was fairly central, and next to the river Avon which runs through Christchurch. Our room had an ensuite which when you’ve been away this long is really nice to have! Not that Jon minds walking round in his kegs, or even naked. Fi has had to tell him to put his clothes on several times!! After a wander round and a Starbucks (of course!!) we checked out the old university area, where there was a craft market and several bars and cafes. We ended up in a bar (shocking I know) called Dux de Luxe where we were meeting Matt again. He likened it to the Glen in Aber but it was much nicer!! Think it was ... read more

We arrived in Sydney last Thursday afternoon, and quickly hailed a taxi, which ended up costing $10 to go a couple of blocks...we think we may have been scammed here. We then got to our hotel, the Y on the Park (YWCA) which apparently had a kitchen. However, what they call a kitchen is different to what we would call one..they had units but no cooking facilities apart from a microwave. We soon realised that this was going to turn out to be expensive (we plan to complain as we wouldn't have stayed here if we had known!). While eating out sounds like fun, it soon becomes expensive when it's all day. Luckily the hotel had breakfast included, so we could have some toast and a cuppa in the mornings. Jon has about 6 slices so ... read more

So we left Townsville on the ferry to Magnetic Island (having almost got on the wrong one - oops) which is only a 20 minute ride away. The island looked beautiful and we could see our hostel just up the beach from the port. Unfortunately the bus took a magical mystery tour which took half an hour to go 2 mins up the road! But anyway we got there safe and sound, the hostel looked nice and before we checked in we ran into James and Lisa on the beach. We had been planning to meet up as it was Lisa's birthday so it was good to see them. Although they scared us with tales of dirty, noisy rooms..but as it turned out it was just theirs! As we checked in, for the first time something ... read more

We arrived in Australia after a short but sweet flight (Jon still smiles every time they offer him free drinks on the plane!), and we were very happy to land here. Fi had had reservations about Brisbane as she couldn't really remember it from the last time, which she figured meant it wasn't very good!! But we were very pleasantly surprised. As we came into the city from the airport, we could see exactly what we were looking for...lots of buildings, lots of restaurants and bars, and lots of people! Brilliant. The airport shuttle unfortunately was a little long winded and we are not sure the guy knew exactly where he was going, and seemed to do things in an odd order, including picking up people before dropping off the ones he already had! We decided ... read more

Bula everyone! After a 26+ hour flight we have finally arrived here in Fiji. The flight itself was pretty good if you think trying to sleep in an area the size of a pea is good. But the movies and food were good so can't complain! Staff were friendly, but "strictly prohibited" the use of toliets by more than one person...what they were talking about we have no idea!! Needless to say, we stayed strapped in our seats! LA was a bit of a nightmare, 2 hours just to get through immigration, by which time the sniffer dog ("canine" in the US) had found Jon's plums...I mean the ones in the bag he was carrying for Fi :) We then got a telling off for throwing them in the bin..oops. Anyway, we arrived in Nadi, greeted ... read more