The following morning my legs didn't ache and I was out of bed really early - even surprised me after walked 50km in three days. We packed up the car and headed off to Dunedin. The road to Dunedin was very winding and scenic but the towns on the way were all very small with nothing to see or do. We did manage to find a cafe for a coffee and a sandwich but that was it. Dunedin is a university town and is one of the busiest in the south Island. Despite Christchurch being the largest city Dunedin seems to [View Full Entry]

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Queenstown is only just down the road from Wanaka (at least it is by New Zealand’s standards). It’s another lovely little town on the banks of a massive lake. We stayed in a place called Bumbles just outside of the town on the waters edge. We ended up staying here for several days as the town and hostel were both so nice. Queenstown is the centre of all things crazy in New Zealand. Whether you want to jump off a bridge or race down the rapids of a river holding nothing more than a small board here is the place to [View Full Entry]

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It was a long trip to New Zealand but it was worth it. When I got to the airport in Singapore there were 6 other flights going to Sydney and they all were delayed by 7 hours. Mine had not come on the screen yet but it didn't look good. When mine did appear on the screen it was running to time, about the only one that was. After so many long bus journeys the plane trips seem to go by a lot faster now and before I knew it I was in Sydney. Even though it was only 6am the [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Thailand was hard to do. I could have quite easily stayed on the beach for a lot longer. I got a taxi from the beach huts to Samui Airport. After pulling off the main road I wondered whether In needed to have hired a 4x4 as the tarmac turned quickly into a gravel track. Visions of what was going to be at the end of this track started to fly through my mind. I'd never been to an airport that didn't have a tarmac road leading to it. We eventually reached the airport and I was met by nothing more [View Full Entry]

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When I first planned my trip Thailand was not in the plan. Infact I had never even considered it. I was going straight to Australia!! The idea of Thailand came from Hannah. When she first mentioned it I was unsure as I knew it would be so different from the UK. Although I obviously decided to go I was still a little unsure of my decision right up until my first night in Bangkok. I can safely say now that it was probably the best decision I have made and i'm wondering how New Zealand and Australia are going to match [View Full Entry]

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Koh Samui seems a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and with the amount of traveling it has taken to get here it feels a million miles as well. I left Chiang Mai on the overnight bus for Bangkok. Tom and I arrived at 6.30am and found ourselves a hotel to check into. Only trouble was we couldn’t have the room until 9am. There is only so much you can do first thing in the morning especially after 12 hours on a bus. The hotel was much cheaper than my first hotel in Bangkok [View Full Entry]

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We were up bright and early this morning ready to set off trekking. We left our main rucksacks in the hotel and boarded a converted pick-up truck. When I say converted i mean they have fashioned a metal roof over the back part and put two bench seats in it. With 12 of us sqashed in we though we were just being taken to a bigger bus, no, not to be, the full three hour journey was made in this little tin heap. We stopped at the police station and they checked everyone who was going, just to make sure we [View Full Entry]

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Wow so much has happened sinse i last wrote anything. I have spent a couple more days in Bangkok and I have now really got used to the city. I have met so many people in the last few days and some of us went to a really nice Thai restaurant. It looked so expensive and exclusive but it was still very cheap. The food was lovely and if anyone is every out this way you must go there. Thursday evening I got on a bus to Chaing Mia. Unfortunately they seemed to have spent a fortune painting the outside of [View Full Entry]

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Well the sun is out this morning so it’s a good start even though it is 6am!! Yes up at 6 to catch a bus to take us on a tour. Turned out to be quite a long day as I didn’t get to bed until 4am so after 22 hours I need some sleep. The mini bus looked pretty good and the driver looked normal - put them together and you have created a one way mission to be the fastest driver on the road. The roads here are chaos. The main roads have three or four lanes although the [View Full Entry]

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Well it seemed to take forever but I have finally made it to Thailand. The National Express coach trip to Heathrow was interesting as the driver decided he was going to pull alongside another National Express Coach and have a conversation with the driver while trying not to take each others wing mirrors out!! The air journey was very long and very cramped. God knows why anyone in their right mind would choose to sit for eleven hours with not enough room to move an inch. Customs in Bangkok is nothing like I was told it would be. The travel agent [View Full Entry]

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