Over the past seven months we have used all sorts of modes and methods of transport to get ourselves from place to place, varying them as much as possible to gain the best experience from our travels. From renting push bikes, scooters and 4WD's, to travelling in the back of pick-up trucks; economy class trains to air-con tourist buses; the small leaking fishing boats and huge car ferries, cruises and kayaks, we've even bought our own van! So, as we arrived into Auckland, we booked tickets for the "Stray" bus, a hop-on, hop-off tour bus covering the north and south islands of New Zealand, geared towards adventurous travellers. The first thing that struck us about this incredible country was the beautiful scenery, so diverse and breathtaking. The endless green fields with lazy grazing cows and countless ... read more

As the plane touched down in Brisbane airport we could barely contain our excitement. This was the moment we had been looking forward to for as long as we could remember. Having heard so much about the land down under from family and friends, about the beautiful weather, outdoor lifestyle, relaxed, laid back attitude of people and the stunning scenery, we almost had to pinch ourselves to believe we were about to experience it first hand. My cousin Nathan, was there at the airport to welcome us to Oz. He took us for a drive around Redcliff and Scarborough, down by the seafront to a cafe by the beach. We fell in love with Australia immediately and this love grew stronger and stronger with every passing day. We stayed in my Auntie Mary and Uncle Pat's ... read more

With only three days of planning we headed off to the Philippines, quite unprepared for what lay ahead. To date travelling around South East Asia has been so easy so we figured the Philippines would be no different but unfortunately we couldn't have been more wrong. Our adventure began when we left Kuala Lumpur to catch an overnight bus to Singapore. Little did we know that this was the beginning of a thirty-six hour journey involving trains, planes and side cars of motorbikes! Singapore was so easy to get around, even at four a.m. and after two short train rides, a bus and a flight, we arrived in the Philippines. We had read forums and government warnings about the real risk to tourists of kidnapping here and had been advised that the best ways of minimising ... read more

We left Thailand many weeks ago in the direction of the Malaysian island Langkawi. Booking through a travel agent had, up to this, always proved to be the cheapest way to travel, however on this occasion the forty eight euro being asked seemed a bit steep so we decided to make our own way down using any means of simple transportation available to us. Although we may not have had the luxury of an air con minivan and hassle free pick ups, the savings more than made up for that, with the full journey costing us a mere six euro! We were quite proud of ourselves and entered Malaysia in high spirits. Our first impression of the country was great. We were not quite sure what we expected but having spent the previous five weeks island ... read more

After thirty hours of boats and buses, we arrived to Ko Phangnan along with thousands of others, in search of accommodation for the full moon party. We headed straight to the main beach, Hat Rin, where there are rows of basic bungalows and colourfully painted beach bars. We soon found a room right in the middle of town. The night life is huge here, and for the two nights preceding the biggest beach party in the world 'warm-up' parties take place! During the day however we left the packed beaches to explore the more remote, isolated parts of the island. Ko Phangnan has some fantastic scenery with beautiful white sand beaches and a very laid back lifestyle. Along with the full moon, came Paulo's twenty-eighth birthday. We woke up to a bright blue sky and the ... read more