The next part of our journey follows the Bruce highway from Brisbane to Townsville. Our first stop after leaving Brisbane was Landsborough on the Sunshine Coast. Landsborough is just up the road from the Australia Zoo - home of the famous Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. We saw lots of native animals there, such as eastern water dragons, crocodiles, cassowaries, emus, koalas and echidnas and also watched the famous Wildlife Warriors show where they hand feed the crocs. The highlight of our day though was hanging out with the 'roos. We got to hand feed several grey kangaroos, including a baby kangaroo and a mother with a joey in her pouch! From Landsborough, we headed further up the Sunshine Coast and made a brief stop at Noosa Heads before travelling up to the Fraser Coast. On the ... read more

We had been looking forward to Sydney for several reasons... looking forward to a bit of civilisation after South East Asia for sure, but we were also excited to see family & friends and to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. On the plane from Bangkok, we got into the spirit of things by watching Australia the movie, a documentary on the First Australians and listening to Yothu Yindi's Tribal Voice CD! The Australian Aboriginal culture is the oldest living tradition on Earth, going back 40-50 thousand years before European contact in 1788. Hopefully, over the course of the 2 months that we'll be in Oz, we'll uncover a little bit of that culture. We're also eager to learn about Australia's history as a penal colony and explore some of its convict past. Having arrived ... read more

We arrived in Noi Bai airport late on Wednesday evening and were met at arrivals by the driver from our hotel, who proceeded to take us on a kamikaze spin through the city streets into Hanoi's Old Quarter. Two minutes into the drive, the beeping started.... There are no lanes or traffic lights in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Surprisingly, there are pedestrian crossings, but these appear to be more road art rather than serving any actual purpose. When crossing the road, foreigners are advised to step off the pavement and proceed slowly and confidently towards the other side - the idea being that the endless stream of mopeds, cars & cyclos will weave around you. We found that the best way to see the madness in action was to find a rooftop bar, grab a cold beer ... read more

Sawat dii ka from Bangkok! We arrived safe and sound in the City of Angels and have spent the past couple of days acclimatising and exploring the sights. Bangkok's real name is actually "Krungthep mahanakhon amonratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnopparat ratchathani burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amonpiman avatansathit sakkathattiya witsanukamprasit" which means city of angels... good job the locals shortened it to Krung Thep! Bangkok is a loud city. There are 10 million people living here. It's a city of skyscrapers and rundown shacks, modern shoppings malls and ancient temples. Pollution is starting to become a problem here and many of the locals wear masks covering their mouths. The traffic is crazy 24/7 and taking a taxi through the city streets is a white-knuckle ride with no seat belts! A lot of the locals get around on mopeds ... read more