We got into Chiang Mai this morning, after an uneventful night train from Bangkok. We're heading out on a trek into the mountains tomorrow morning to do an elephant ride, bambo rafting, lunch with the long-neck ladies (who wear the rings around their necks), swimming in a waterfall and more adventures. Exciting and scary at the same time, cause we'll be sleeping in little huts with probably some BIG bugs. So our time in Bangkok was pretty sweet. We hooked up with one of the touts who get a comission from shops if he brings tourists there. Well we made a pretty good arrangement... he can drive us all around the city, to all of the best sights, and we'll visit a few shops for him. He even told us exactly how long we had to ... read more

Wow, what a great day. We had a speed boat tour of the 2 ko Phi Phi islands that were devasted by the Tsunami. It's beautiful and the reconstruction looks pretty nice. In one of the shops that we stopped in, they had a line on the wall of how high the water was, in was above Denny's head. This shop was like a block from the water. So wew toured and fed monkey and snorkeled in a marine sanctuary and on reef comparible to Great Barrier (well, smaller, but more stunning), we beached and swam and explored Maya Bay ("The Beach" and the James Bond beach). We had an interesting blend of Thai, Western and sausages for lunch, but super tasty. The thai food is soooooooo good and the people are so friendly (maybe it's ... read more

After a couple of weeks on the road, we had to turn in our keys and return our Wicked Camper... tear.... bye bye Eddie 2. After our beautious sailing trip through the Whitsundays and Great barrier, we got back in our little van and trekked back down the coast. We made stops in some great places, and got some great winter tans along the way. So on our way back, we stopped at a cute beach town called 1770 (not a heritage site, but a great place to chillax on the beach), Hervey Bay & Fraser Island (a sand island, where we took a 4x4 greyhound along the beach and in the rain forest at 100 km/ hr), Noosa Head (big money, great surfing), the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's place, where you can pat koalas and ... read more

Wowie! We just drove almost 2000kms in our Mitsubishi camper van (it's a dream with a picture of Iron Maiden on the side and on the back it talks all about beer! How did they know?) Anyways, the highways here are 2 lanes, ranging from 80-110 km/ hr. It is illegal here to swerve for animals, so there are dead kangooroos, koalas and other marsupias all over the place. Our van is sweet though. We've made stops in Port McQuarrie, Byron Bay and McKay so far. The first two are stunning (google them!) We have now arrived in Airlie beach and it's a little overcast, but nice. We're heading out on a sailing trip through the Whitsundays and outer reef tomorrow for 3 days. It's gonna sweet! I'll be thinking of you all on my bday, ... read more

Wow, what a brilliant start to our trip. If you're ever doing the trek over to Aus, NZ or Polynesia, stopping for a small hiatus in Hawaii is the way to do it! Our hotel was right across the street from Wakiki, but we decided to rent a car to maximize our time. We had stunning weather the whole time, then it rained so we hit the road to Sydney. Now I know that a lot of you have been to Hawaii, but all that I can say is that everywhere (except the crowded freeways) are breathtaking. Day 1: Coconut syrop, fresh pineapple, Pearl Harbour (blah... probably would have been a stunning spot, had the Yanks not parked there), surfer's beach, Diamond head, nap, sushi and a 6 pack of Moosehead for 5 bucks! Day 2: ... read more