Wednesday 9th November Awoke to another grey day which meant that any stunning scenery there may have been was hidden by the low cloud! Anyway, the countryside started off with rolling hills a bit like Scotland and then the road became a bit more hilly, like Cornwall and then flattened out across the agricultural plain like Spain and then became a bit more wild as we got nearer Te Anau. Occasionally we caught sight of snow on the mountain tops but the sun didn’t really start to break the clouds up until late afternoon. We reached Te Anau about 1.30am ( 330 kms & 5hrs drive) and booked into the campsite in town (Kiwi) before going to book our trip to Milford Sound (Trips and Tramps) tomorrow, and the Glow worm Caves (Real Journeys) for today. ... read more

Journey and flights to Sydney uneventful, connection went fine – Brisbane a very easy airport to navigate and 40 mins was ample time! Had a good view of Sydney Bridge and Opera House as we came into land.......in cloud...... Bought 7 day tickets ( $59 each) which will take us to and from the airport, and also allow us unlimited travel on buses, trains and ferries for our duration! Our hotel/hostel (Bounce) is an excellent hostel. Good size room, free breakfast (you have to make it yourself though!) very clean and modern and fabulous views from the roof terrace. The best thing is that it is next to Central Station so very easy to get out and about! Next Day - Luck was always going to run out weatherwise – and it ran out today! Awoke ... read more

DARWIN Flight was about ½ hour late leaving Singapore for the 4hr 10 minute flight to Darwin and after a near touchdown, he then took off again and circled around before landing at about 05.00am. There was an electric storm and the pilot said that the winds were a bit erratic which is why he went round again! Taxi to Hostel (Banyan View Lodge) which apart from being like a school building is fine! The room is large, clean, has a fridge, en suite, nice shower, tv, air con, fan, lovely beds – double and a single......but the walls are just breeze blocks painted and its lit by one long fluorescent tube! After a shower, we walked up into the town – quite a sleepy town but loads of different birds flying around! Chris phoned his ... read more

The next day we were fully rested and up at 06.00 to take a look at the river and the large Buddha. As it was such a lovely morning we also walked up to the Golden Triangle viewpoint where you can see the three countries – Thailand, Laos and Burma. This was where a lot of illegal trading went on, of drugs, animals, children and guns, up to about 20 years ago when the Government of Thailand clamped down on it. Had a wander around a really old 13th C Temple (under renovation!) and then meandered back down the steps to find something for breakfast. We all then went as a group, went to the opium museum, which has a fine collection of clay pipes and a lot of information on the Hill Tribes and the ... read more

Today we were off to Thailand! A couple of hours, across the flooded rice paddies of Cambodia, brought us to the border! After being fingerprinted (again!) we walked into no-mans land, where there are a few large casinos, and then onto the Thai border. Unfortunately there were long queues and it took about an hour to filter our way through customs so we didn’t leave until 12.00ish. The mini bus driver drove like a maniac.....(or so we thought! After a few days here we are actually used to it now!!) and we reached the hotel ( Erawan House) about 5.00pm. A quick walk with Martin around the back streets and local market stalls, , food and drink and that was us done for the day! The next day we decided to take the boat down the ... read more