richard and ilona

We drove back from Stanage, and headed to teeside, after a night at the parents we headed off to Brimham rocks, an easy 1hr drive towards Pately Bridge.The Brimham Rocks are balancing rock formations located on Brimham Moor in North Yorkshire, England. The rocks stand at a height of nearly 30 metres in an area owned by the National Trust which is part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There are many variations of rock formations, caused by the Millstone Grit being eroded by water, glaciation and wind, most of which have achieved amazing shapes. Many of the formations have been named, though some imagination is required and the correct viewing angle is helpful. Examples are The Sphinx, The Watchdog, The Camel, The Turtle and The Dancing Bear. None of them actually look like ... read more

We where again blessed with fine weather as we headed off to Whitby. Whitby was founded under its Old English name of Streonshal in 656, when Oswy, the Christian king of Northumbria, founded Whitby Abbey, under its first abbess Hilda. The Synod of Whitby was held here in 664. In 867, the monastery was destroyed by Viking raiders, and was only refounded in 1078. It was in this period that the town gained its current name, Whitby, (from "white settlement" in Old Norse). In the 18th century Whitby became a centre for shipbuilding and whaling, as well as trade in alum and jet. Tourism and fishing now form the mainstay of the town's economy. There are rail and bus links to the rest of North Yorkshire and North East England. Whitby has featured in literary works, ... read more

Arriving in Cambodia, its difficult to imagine the hardship that these people have been through. A brief look a history shows that the U.S dropped over 2.7 million tons of bombs during and after the Vietnam war. (totaling a period of only 14 months) Although impossible to make an accurate accounting, the most conservative demographers calculate that 700,000 dead civilians can be finally listed on the Nixon-Kissinger Menu at their banquet of genocide—around 10% of the Cambodian population. This U.S intervention and tactic against Cambodia then left the door wide open for the Pol-Pot regime to take control of the country with the use of anti government and anti U.S properganda. With in a four year period, the Pol-Pot ideolgy, had seen 1.7 of the countries inhabitants murdered or starved to death at the hands of ... read more

We now changed our travel plans completely around, like mentioned earlier, our holiday mode kind of ended after Christchurch. But not only that, we also discovered that just existing around the globe is not funny forever. We both love traveling, but you need to plan your trip very well and make sure you spend your money on what really excites you, rather then laying on a beach for a year, trying to make your money last. We prefer to climb, Kayak, trek or do other more challenging things, than just pass time in a city or on a beach. Our last couple of days in Pangkor involved climbing over piles of trash, ( for some reason the locals here discard everything onto either the street or onto the once beautiful beach) or chasing the staff in ... read more

Malaysia is a sauna!! it is impossible to keep hydrated...... So we arrived from Melbourne, into a complete Malay sauna! After having our flight diverted to the Panang island due to a bomb scare at the LCCC airport in Kuala Lumpur, and suffering a 3hr delay while the plane was refuelled. Once outside the airport and carrying our back packs we fought our way through the crowds in order to get to the 1 of a hundred busses waiting to shuttle people to the city. With our ticket purchased, for around 8 pound for the two of us, we boarded the coach, along with a mixture of Malay, Chinease and indian people. The bus driver set off and from the word go it was clear that he had spent most of the day watching formula 1 ... read more