TravelBlog » michaelandcaroline

michaelandcaroline - Michael Blake & Caroline Proverbs

Where our journey will take us!

Map Legend: 11%, 31 of 263 Territories

Green

Maroon

These are all the places we plan to visit. As we go through our journey we'll change the colour to green for the country we are in, maroon for where we've been and yellow for where we've yet to go.

Hi and welcome to this diary of our big adventure - travelling the globe and fulfilling our lifetime dream. Along the way we plan to do some voluntary work in South Africa, India and Central America.
We hope this blog provides a way of keeping in touch, sharing our experiences and introducing you to some wonderful people and places.
Michael's daughters, Sarah and Louise, will be joining us along the way. Whilst we'll miss them a lot, we've been encouraged by their support and patience in indulging this moment of self discovery.
We hope you enjoy our journey and perhaps it may inspire some of you to do something equally mad and wonderful!
Thanks for tuning in.

Michael & Caroline

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Joined on: October 28th 2007
Last Login: October 25th 2009

Blog Entries: 51
Photos: 1662

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by michaelandcaroline, order by Date newest first.

By michaelandcaroline
October 25th 2009

Southern Patagonia & the end of the Great Adventure South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas

At the end of the trek with the Torres behind

As the region of Southern Patagonia is so vast and spectacular and divided by the Andes with Chile to the left and Argentina to the right, we felt it best to combine the blog for the area to reflect it’s true character rather than stick with the country by country format we have adhered to before now. Hopefully this will help some travellers who may chance upon this diary as accurate information about travelling in this part of the world is really difficult to come by - which is surprising given the huge number of people that travel here each [View Full Entry]

Communication at it's best! Torres del Paine

Double rainbow sunrise at Los Cuernos, Torres del Paine

By michaelandcaroline
October 25th 2009

A taste of Chile then onto the Wine & Lake districts of Argentina South America » Chile » Santiago Region

At the top of the funicular, Valparaiso

Chile: Santiago We arrive in Santiago Chile, after a 13 hour flight from Auckland, and as it’s been an overnight flight it doesn’t feel too bad although the jet lag kicks in later. We fly with LAN Chile & find the service & entertainment a bit poor given the length of the flight. The airport is pretty impressive and seems to be quite modern. We then catch an airport cab (standard fare 5,400 Pesos each) to get us into the centre of the city where our hostel is. Our first impression from the airport is that Santiago is like a mix [View Full Entry]

Beautiful scenery - even if it was the wrong trip

By michaelandcaroline
March 14th 2009

New Zealand - The North Island Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland

A blast, Pohutu geyser doing it's thing. Rotorua

Wellington After the 3 hour (blustery if you were up top) and slightly rolling crossing from Picton to Wellington the first thing we notice is the highway flowing with heaps of traffic - a total contrast to the South Island. We disembark & catch the free shuttle to the Railway station. This is linked to the bus stop area where a whole host of buses can take you to the city centre for a dollar. We catch one & are surprised - pleasantly - at how colourful Wellington is. Not what we expected at all. It has small shopping districts (very [View Full Entry]

A long way up, below the Volcano on the Tongariro

A view of the Red Crater & Ngauruhoe Volcano, Tongariro NP

Ahhhhh, that feels so good. C Soaking her feet in the hot pool in the park, Rotorua

By michaelandcaroline
February 11th 2009

The Cook Islands - Rarotonga Oceania » Cook Islands » Rarotonga

A warm Polynesian welcome

To start with we nearly didn’t quite make it to the Cook Islands. Nobody tells you in advance that you need to be able to demonstrate that you have a flight out from NZ on your return BEFORE they let you on the plane to Rarotonga. We only discover this as we are checking in. As we are travelling light our RTW flight tickets are back in the hostel. Options rush back & return or get a copy of the tickets from the Qantas desk as we are flying with them. C rushes off, the desk is just closing - 5 [View Full Entry]

By michaelandcaroline
February 4th 2009

New Zealand - South Island - The Eastern Half Oceania » New Zealand » South Island

Akaroa from the view point

Welcome (Kia - Ora) to Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud, the Maori name for New Zealand. As we appear to have done so much in our travelling here, rather than bore folks with a long blog we decided to split the South Island (The Main Land) into East and West (carving it in half down the middle). Most of what follows makes sense but we’ve used some creative licence to make it work. Enjoy the ride! Christchurch On our way back from the wedding, we get to the airport at about 4.45 pm - just in [View Full Entry]

All raring to go - sober before the Wine Tasting bike ride, Renwick, Blenheim

At His Lordhsip's Lane - Dinner with Matt, Lynley, Evonne & Greg, Christchurch

At Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook in the background

By michaelandcaroline
February 4th 2009

New Zealand - South Island - The Western Half Oceania » New Zealand » South Island

A Happy birthday to me - a pint or two - Punakaiki

Nelson From Picton (which for us was in the eastern half of the mainland),we drive to Nelson. It’s been described to us as an interesting town & it’s close enough to the Abel Tasman National Park which we have been recommended to see by various Kiwis we‘ve met on our travels - not least Paul & Karolina who we met in Nepal & who we hope to see again in Wellington the capital. We stay at the Accents on the Park hostel, Trafalgar Square @ $79 per night. It’s a beautiful old NZ house similar in style to the Queenslander wooden [View Full Entry]

Awesome pinic spot - Over looking Torrents Bay, Abel Tasman NP

Birthday dinner on the balcony over looking the sea, Hokitika

By michaelandcaroline
January 25th 2009

New Zealand - The Wedding Oceania » New Zealand » South Island

A view over the Hollyford Valley

So, the thing you need to know about New Zealand is that it’s fantastic. The people, the scenery, the purity of the air & light of the place. Within two days of being here C has picked up all the property sales mags & is busy trying to persuade M (not without a modicum of success!) that we could live here!!! Not bad for a place that we had once thought of bypassing on our big adventure. But we’re rushing (C‘s influence - she‘s definitely a NZ fan). We arrive at Christchurch airport after a good 3 hour Qantas flight - [View Full Entry]

By michaelandcaroline
January 17th 2009

Australia - Sydney & New South Wales Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney

Aboriginal street sounds, Sydney Harbour

Sydney The journey to Sydney is fairly uneventful. We get to see Leatherheads, a George Clooney & Renee Zellwegger film about American football - very rubbish - & we pass into a new time zone - New South Wales is one hour ahead of Queensland (11 ahead of the UK); in fact in one street in one of the towns it’s possible to celebrate New Year twice! The sunrise at 5 am on the way in is spectacular (apparently, says C who slept through it all). We stop for a break soon after near The Lake District in NSW. It’s [View Full Entry]

By michaelandcaroline
January 17th 2009

Australia - Brisbane, The Sunshine & Gold Coasts Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Brisbane

A Dinner at the Tibetan Kitchen, Brisbane

Noosa So it’s off we go in the rain heading for the Sunshine Coast - 16 hours away due south on our trusty Greyhound bus. A tropical storm brewing is pretty apparent with all the lightning & thunder about though it vanishes after an hour or so thankfully. We make our way through MacKay - a large city, when we realise that like the US, every largish city in Oz looks the same with the same layout and same brand outlets and same styled inner city & outer city Malls - it’s as if you’ve been to one you’ve seen [View Full Entry]

Awesome - Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island

Brisbane - the island behind is where the prisoners first landed

By michaelandcaroline
December 25th 2008

Australia - Down Under - The Great Barrier Reef Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Great Barrier Reef

A graceful Turtle, while snorkelling, Low Isles

We leave Singapore at 10pm aboard a Jetstar plane, the budget airline subsidiary of Qantas. It’s basic but comfortable, though we have to buy any alcoholic drinks to go with our food. We decide to indulge after our travel traumas (amazing how far you can stretch a story like that!!), C having some red wine & a Jim Beam, while M has a red label scotch whiskey (which he the proceeds to spill all over himself - what a waste!) We fly into Darwin and have to get off because of the strange customs/security arrangements but it does give us a [View Full Entry]

Boozing after a hard day snorkelling the outer Barrier Reef on cruise Whitsundays

Aboard the Cruise Whitsundays ship to the outer Barrier Reef - Airlie Beach in the background

TravelBlog » michaelandcaroline

michaelandcaroline | Michael Blake & Caroline Proverbs | Travel Blog

michaelandcaroline - Michael Blake & Caroline Proverbs

Where our journey will take us!

Blogs & Travel Journals