Hi everyone So after I last wrote I left the love nest at the Rajapruek Resort on Koh Samui and went to the Samui Reef View Resort near Lamai Beach (on the opposite side of the island) and had 5 days of lying by the pool while the sun was out, reading lots of books and exploring the muslim village down the road and beaches and watching endless dvd's while the rain came down....we had 3 days of solid rain which put a dampner on things but was not big deal as there wasn't anything I really wanted to do. I met a couple from the UK and had a rather large night on the red wines at the resort....we all had very sore heads the next day! When it finally came time to leave paradise ... read more

Hi everyone Well as I mentioned in my last blog I had booked to go out to the Elephant Nature Park just out of Chiang Mai (thanks to Zoe for recommending this)....after a minibus drive out to the park, first through the outskirts of Chiang Mai city and then into the lower hill areas.....I knew that I was going to hear some sad stories but nothing prepared me for seeing the beautiful grand elephants covered in scars from the stabbing of nails that their owners has subjected them too in their old lives. The park was started by a Thai lady called Sangduen (Lek) Chailert in an effort to help the mistreated Asian elephants. There were over 30 elephants at the park with various life stories...some of them so sad that it brought tears to my ... read more

Hello again Well after my luxurious and relaxing 10 nights in Doha staying with Trude and her family it was a bit of an effort to pack up my bag again and catch my flight to Dubai. Luckily it was only about 45 minutes of flying so it wasn't too taxing. So I made it to Dubai...arrived in the rush hour apparently but didn't get stuck in traffic....the only hiccup getting to my hotel was that it was so new that the taxi driver had never heard of it and tried to take me to another one further down the road....after about 4 minutes of him driving in the wrong direction I finally got him to understand that we had already passed my hotel (I actually saw it as we drove past) so about 10 minutes ... read more

Hello everyone from sunny Doha....the city where it never seems to rain. Well I've been here for over a week now but have been busy uploading my Africa shots so haven't had much of a chance to write anything. I've been having a lovely time hanging out with the Storm family and seeing what their life in Doha, Qatar is like. And I have to say it's quite different to life back in NZ with early school hours due to the heat, a myriad of nationalities everywhere you go, no drinking in most places (except 5 star hotels and in the privacy of your own home), petrol at about 20 cents a litre, mad Qatari's driving like maniacs, sand, sand and more sand, white and beige buildings as far as the eye can see, oh and ... read more

Our next border crossing was into Namibia.....actually we have already made a fleeting visit into Namibia as a shortcut to the Okavango Delta but only stopped to get our passports stamped. Memories from Namibia include 3 wonderful days in Etosha National Park, camping at Spitzkoppe (and toasting marshmallows in a cave), visiting a school, quad biking on dunes in Swakop, seals climbing into the boat in Walvis Bay, walking amongst the sand dunes in Sossusvlei and sunset over Fish River Canyon. Enjoy!... read more