One night back at home after our four day dash then we took off again, this time in the split. Poor dogs, couldnt come with us this time either, and they love camping. We stopped off at Franks place in Auckland (Eurofix) to talk to him about the wedge, then carried on just past Cambridge. We met three Auckland kombis on their way down, but didnt hang with them for long as they were going straight to Karapiro, and we werent. We found a great little free camp spot between Cambridge and Tirau, on a council reserve, Little Waipa Reserve. There were three other vans already there, and we all spread out amongst the trees, out of sight of each other but close enough to hear of any trouble. Not that we expected anything. The next ... read more

Ngawha Springs - somewhere we'd been intending to go for a while, but never quite getting around to it. We'd heard various stories about the pools and the area. So Saturday morning after work we packed up the kombi and trundled off northwards. We took a few back roads, ones we'd not driven yet, and possibly wont drive again. Sure, usually we love taking the back roads, the roads less travelled, but ... these just got a bit boring and monotonous. No-where to pull off and let the dogs have a run or a swim, it was just forest and houses, and not nice houses at that. The only excitement was meeting a farmer herding his cows up the road, and his dog was more interested in barking at the van - and the dogs in ... read more

In memory of my Grandma, an inspiration when it came to dealing with my travel-bug. She would have loved hearing about this trip. Sorry this entry has taken a while to add. We've been in the jungle for a few days, and there was barely any power, let alone an internet connection. Well, our hostel, Nature Lodge had power most of the time only because the guy running it had set up a couple of small turbines in the river at the bottom of his property and was generating his own. Not much though, about 400W, but as most of his light bulbs were 15W energy savers, and there was no fridge etc, 400W was just enough. All the lights dimmed whenever they turned the blender on for a shake or juice, but we could live ... read more

More Wats. Our third day at Angkor, and finally we went to Angkor Wat. We got up early and headed off with hundreds (thousands??) of other people, mainly Japanese and Korean tourists, to see sunrise. Bit of a disappointment though. Angkor Wat was impressive, but the sunrise was a bit pathetic! Colin stayed outside the wat while I went inside so we could get two different views of the sunrise. So I got lumbered with the crowds, but still managed to find myself a decent enough place to wait. After sunrise we wandered round the outer galleries looking at the major bas reliefs / murals showing religious historical events, impressive. By this time, most of the people had headed off elsewhere so we could get into the temple and look around easier. This is a hard ... read more

What a difference a more honest tour "operator" makes to a day out. We actually got to see what we wanted, plus more. We are now in Battambang, having put ourselves through another day of bus rides. Remember what we the ride down to Kampot was like - the ride from PP to Battambang was worse. The bus was better - much more space, air-con worked - but the driver...well...talk about aggressive...and arrogant...he sat on the horn most of the way there, and the trip was about 5 hours. Not a nice little toot toot to let someone know we were coming, but long loud blasts, even when there wasnt any reason. Still, we made it. After dark unfortunately, which gives driving here a new edge - head / tail lights seem to be optional. All ... read more