The Great Trek

Home Sweet Home - The Land of the Long White Cloud!

horwood — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:18:00 GMT

Well, this is it! We're here and this is our home now...feels really weird! Every other time we've been here before it's been a holiday and we've known that we go back to the life we know back home...not this time!!

It was absolutely lovely to see Mum & Dad and Grandad again, it makes things a lot more bearable with them around us. They give us loads of morale support and give us the pep-talks we need to pll our finger out and get sorted! We haven't worked for 5 months and I admit to being a bit nervous at the thought of going back into the 'real' world!

There's so much to get sorted but we're taking each day as it comes, there have been a few wobbly moments and I'm sure there will be more to come but we have to let time do it's thing. We have this amazing opportunity and we have to make it work, so we'll give it our best shot!

We miss everyone and our old way of life so much: Me and my gym friends, Jay and his lads' nights at The Hop Pole', our nearest and dearest family, bank holidays with Steph & Co, work (yes really!), Mr Rice Kebab shop, Ann & Bill's warm homely house, all our friends...the list is endless!! Please keep in touch with us, we're still part of your lives as much as you're all a part of ours. Just because you can't see us as much, we're still here and want to be a involved so keep us posted on all the gossip!!

Lots of love

Licci & Jay

Down Under - Oz...Part 2

horwood — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:02:00 GMT

Hello

Back half of Australia felt like real travelling again (except when we stayed with Jane because that was bliss!). Sharing bathrooms, kitchens etc, damp rooms, smokey hallways has taken its toll and I won't be sorry to put an end to that for a while!

Went to see a school of mine form the Grange, Gary Smith and had a BBQ with his delightful children (!) before staying with Jane for a few more days. Quite sad to say goodbye to her but glad we're close enough now to keep in touch.

We flew into Sydney and noticed the drop in temperature straight away! Hard to remember that we're in Oz's winter when the lowest temp is somthing like 24 degrees! It's like UK summertime but everyone else is walking around in thermals! Still we felt the cold and promptly bought some winter warmers. We spent our first day around the Harbour which was absoluteky awesome! We went for a ride on the Thunder Jet boat on the rough waters and that was thrilling to say the least! He took us right underneath the Harbour Bridge and all around the Opera House. Took loads of pictures of the sights trying not to get into a scrap with the bloody Asian tourists who always take sooo long to take pictures of each other - they should set a time limit for tourists to stay in one place at any time!

Second day was spent around the city before we met up with Mick and Jamie (friends we made in Phuket back in March). They took us for a few drinks around the Rocks and we ended up in a German bar banging our Stein's of Lowenbrau on the table and singing old folk songs!

Our last day on the road felt sad and we'd be lying if we were excited about going to NZ on that day! We plodded around the streets of Sydney (ensuring we got back at a reasonable time as our digs were in the Red Light District!) and tried to stay warm as the westerly winds picked up. We packed out bags for the last time and prepared to start the first day of the rest of our lives - scary stuff!

We flew to NZ on 18th May 2009 - now the real hard work starts!!

Licci

Down Under - Oz

horwood — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:18:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

Firstly thanks to everyone who is actually reading this, it's great when we can see that poeple are viewing our journal. I know the entries are a bit sporadic but we do try! Anyway on with the show!

We've been in Australia now for about a month. We arrived in Darwin in early April (can't even remember the date now!) because Jay managed to find really cheap flights from Singapore so that was a bonus, something like 35 pounds each so we snapped it up!! Darwin has to be the hottest and most humid place we've visited, more so than Thailand and Singapore! You step out of the airport and you drip with sweat, not a pleasant sight! Nothing much really to report on Darwin, lots of bars etc but nothing jaw dropping! Only glad that there was a high fence around our hostel, the locals make a habit of drinking down dark alleyways and they frightened the hell out of me!

After a couple of days we caught the Greyhound bus to Katherine (about 5 hours directly south of Darwin in Northern Territory) where we stayed for a couple of nights before continuing on the bus down to Alice Springs. Katherine too didn't have much going for it, plenty of drunk Aboriginals lined the streets asking you to buy them alcohol. There is a law in NT that you have to show ID when you buy booze (Jay thought they were taking the piss when they asked him!) but it's to track what people are buying across the territory to ensure they don't exceed a limit. Jay made some friends in Katherine and was introduced to Bundy Rum...I didn't see him much for those two days!

We caught an overnight bus down to Alice Springs where we had booked to go on a 3 day/2 night camping adventure around Uluru (Ayers Rock). The triip was amazing and such a great experience. I wasn't too keen at first but then my scouting instincts kicked in and I was loving it: getting dirt under my finger nails, wearing the same clothes for three days, not washing my hair - LOVELY!

Our first day was at Kings Canyon. We walked up Heart Attack Hill (there's a very good reason for calling it this!) to reach the top of the canyon. The views were spectacular and well worth the hard slog to get there! We walked all around the canyon itself, found a water hole and took a dip before climbing to the top again and then making our way down. Flies are a big problem in the Northern Territory (I supopse not if you're used to them!) so I adorned my fly net for the duration of this trip - best investment of the whole tour I think!

We made our way to the camp and then the heavens opened, fortunately there was a shelter for us to huddle under until it stopped. We built a fire and Jay took over the kitchen to prepare a wonderful feast: a mountain of chicken satay and rice! Once the rain stopped we grouped around the fire and prepared our swags for the night (they're a kind of outdoor weather proof sleeping bag, with a sleeping bag inside - not forgetting the monster cover to pull over your head if the monsters come around to sniff you!) Sleeping under the stars is a real treat, everyone should do it at least once in their lives if they can. Once the clouds had cleared we were in for the best sight ever and we blissfully fell asleep around the fire.

Next day we were up early to pack up and move onto Uluru. We stopped on the road side to look for witchetty grubs, I wasn't impressed at this point...I was cold, hungry and not in the mood!!! We found one and it was passed around the group for people to pose in that typical way: it being dangled from high about to fall into their mouths (not many people actually took a bite though! We didn't cos there wasn't much left of it by the time it reached us - such a shame NOT!

Back in the van and a 2 hour drive to the rock and when it appeared it was a breathtaking sight, this huge single rock in the middle of nowhere. Queestions of how? why? when? who? came to mind, we were gobsmacked! We drove past it and onto the Olga, a cluster of rocks again just in the middle of nowhere. We were told an Aboriginal story of how these rocks were created and it goes a little something like this: Two little boys were making a huge Mud Pie and as they were bring the mud together, they picked out the big rocks and tossed them over their shoulders (these are the Olga's) and the mud pie becomes the Ayers Rock, then boys decided to slide down the side of their mud pie hence making the strange lines on the face of the rock!

We did a 4 hour walk through the Olga rocks which was hard going but managed to take some amazing photos which I think Jay has put on here. HOnestly the pictures don't do any justice to what we actually saw! We had lunch and then headed to the cultural centre for a look around - still the flies persisted to try our patience!

We made our way to the camp where we had dinner and then sang songs around the fire until we fell asleep - very cheesy! Us Brits were belting out the classics that evreyone was soon singing along to and then every now and then you'd here a little German voice come out with one of there's and of course we can't join in!! Very funny!

The next day (up early again to pack up) we made our way to the rock to do the base walk: a 2 hour walk right around the rock so you could see it from every angle. There are certain places that you can't take photos as they are sacred to the native people but there was always some stuborn Europeans and Asians who would completely ignore that! Very sureal walking around this rock, there are lots of perculiar shapes on the face of it and at one point we saw what looked like Darth Vader's head!! You can now walk up to the sumit of the rock but the Aboriginals perfer you not to (it's like walking on an alter) so we didn't do that. Of course there were some who couldn't see past the end of their noses and did it anyway! I have to thank this trip for my new shapely legs, so much hill walking but my oh my they are looking good!!!

We headed back to Alice and then went for dinner with our new friends. They were a great bunch of people who we still keep in contact with now. We were amongst the eldest there but that didn't stop us getting down with the kids!

The next day we flew to Brisbane and were welcomed with open arms by my cousin Jane and her husband Dave. They are such a cool couple and we loved staying with them, they have a beautiful home and it was sooooo nice to kick back and have some home cooked food for a change! We went to their little holiday pad in Moffat for the weekend, a lovely little unit near the beach only an hour outside Brisbane!

After a few days with them we caught the train to south Brisbane to meet another cousins and her family (Emma, Neil, Jacob and Luke). It was lovely to spend time with them and to get some advice too, they moved out here 3 years ago from Aylesbury so they know what we're going through!

We headed down to Surfers Paradise for 5 days which was a bit like Blackpool but hotter!

Then back into Brisbane city, (loving the shops) and now we're heading back to Jane's for a few days before flying to Sydney on Thursday 14th May to see some friends we made in Phuket. Then we're flying to Dunedin on Monday 18th where we'll finally have made it to our new home!!

Had to cut this short because internet time is running out!! Will post some more later!

Lots of love

Licci

Gallery: Australia

horwood — Wed, 6 May 2009 20:13:00 GMT

Northern Territories

Gallery: Singapore 2

horwood — Wed, 6 May 2009 20:09:00 GMT

Gallery: Singapore

horwood — Wed, 6 May 2009 19:59:00 GMT

Pictures

horwood — Fri, 1 May 2009 18:34:00 GMT

I'd like to apologies for the lack of photos on here, Jay's in charge of that! I would do it myself but he doesn't trust me, I'd misplace them in cyber space or somthing!! He also keeps going on about something called a 'Round to-it' whatever that is. If anyone knows what this 'Round to-it' is or where we can find one please let me know so he can get one as thats what he needs to spend 20 minutes uploading photos!!

Nag over!

Licci xx

Singapore

horwood — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:35:00 GMT

Hi Folks

We arrived in Singapore on 8th April and promptly made use of the MRT (tube system) to make our way to our accomodation. Completely hassle free, the MRT is a dream to use and you could eat your food off the floor (if is wasn't for the fact that yuo'd get fined $500 for eating on the trains!) As you may or may not know Singapore funds itself through the money it collects from fines applied to virtually everything you do - you've got to be sooo careful. Having said that, it goes a long way to explaining way this country is so clean, safe, orderly, convenient and beautiful. It was easily the place where we have felt the most safe on all of our travels... you'd see kids on the trains multi-tasking with a mobile, iPod, PS2 etc etc on on display. Maybe it boils down to the fact that drugs (all manners of usage and trafficking) carry the death penalty in this country and so nobody is doing them, therefore there is no need to carryout the awful crimes (like we were subjected to in SA) so fund their addictions.

The people are very private and rarely make eye contact or start a conversation with you, maybe thats just the way they are. Some people who live here have great lifestyles but at what price? To afford the techy gismo's, a nice apartment, shopping at designer boutique must come with a hefty stressful job in the city...who knows.

We hit Orchard Road to check out the shops. We are but humble backpackers and our wardrobes consist of cheap threads sold at Thai markets fresh from the back of a truck, needless to say we felt a little scruffy in some of the absolutely gorgeous shops in the several Malls on the strip! We bought ourselves another camera and merrily started snapping away, we went sight seeing and after a hard days grafting on the streets of Singapore we had dinner on the Quay Side (a tick off the list!) Bloody expensive though, boy they know how to take advantage!

In some places it was like home away from home with all the familiar shops, it felt like going up and down Oxford Street in London and felt even more so after we developed 'London Legs' (basically where they ache sooooo much and your lower back stiffens up!)

On Easter Sunday we went to Singapore Zoo which was awesome, Licci even had the chance to have a photo taken with the Orang Utans (but they wouldn't let her hug one which she was very disappointed about!) Had a Ben & Jerry's waffle bowl of Ice Cream in place of a phat Easter Egg!

If we had to sum up Singapore in 3 words, they'd be: Safe, Sassy but Expensive!

Onto Darwin next...

Licci & Jay

All good things come to an end! The end of our Thai adventure

horwood — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:20:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

We last wrote when we were in Koh PhaNgan having made some great friends and partied hard!

Our next stop was Koh Samui which we found to be a little disappointing at first, it was expensive, full of tourists, not very Thai at all...having said that we were staying in Chaweng which is the backpackers hang out. Maybe later in life when we can afford to go in style we'll venture to more exotic parts of Thailand!

Then we were thrilled to catch up with our friends: Ruth Thompson, Clare Gilly and Ruth Valentine (who we met at Morning Star on Koh Pha Ngan) so it was great to have their company again. It rained pretty much the whole week there...so like true Brits we found an Irish bar and settled there for pretty much the whole time drowning our feet in the puddles around us.

Another camera incident, Licci left it on the back seat of a cab (doh!) and so that pi**ed us right off! It kinda dampened the mood (if it wasn't soaking wet already wet the rain!).

The girls made their way home and we were on our own again missing the good times we had with them. Soon it was our turn to leave this beautiful country, but not before we had one of the best meals of our trip so far. Licci had a stinking cold and lets just say the heat off this Thai curry soon bloew it away! My God that was hot, had to sink 3 or 4 Singha's just to cool down - fortunately we were walking (stumbling) distance from the hotel!

So that ends our Thai trip...we loved every minute and would recommend it to anyone, the people are so friendly and humble. They have a great sense of humour and give you the time of day to do your own thing, rather than pushing you around into their shops or restaurants. We give Thailand 10 out of 10!

Onto Singapore!

Licci & Jay

Gallery: Koh Pha Ngan

horwood — Wed, 1 Apr 2009 17:52:00 GMT

Thailand continued...

horwood — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Hi All

We're now on Koh Phangan and are having the best time! We made some good friends the other day who took us to a beach party where they hold the Full Moon parties and it was a fab night and we were all paying for it the next day!

Before that we stayed at Mai Pen Rae which was on Thaan Sadet beach...it says in the book that it is the perfect place for artists and nature lovers, what it actually meant to say is that it's full of stoners and infested with bugs! Jay loved it, Licci wasn't so sure!!

We're putting some pictures on, they do more justice than us waffling on here so have a look for yourself and join the ride!

Take care and lots of love

Licci & Jay

Fabulous Phuket!

horwood — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:33:00 GMT

Hi Guys

We arrived in Thailand on Tuesday morning (10th March) and the relief was instantaneous! This place is so beautiful and so too are the people. It's lovely to be able to walk down the road and not have someone crying on your arm to go into their shop! It's so relaxing, peaceful and friendly, completely different to India!

We took a day tour to James Bond island for our anniversary which was a brilliant experience. Not only did we visit the island but also paddled around the other islands and caves near by, had a great lunch on board the boat and took a dip in the lukewarm sea.

The next day we met an Australian couple (Michael and Jamiee) who were on their honeymoon, we all decided to try and catch a Thai boxing fight but ended up in an Aussie bar where the drinks flowed freely! For novalty reasons only (!) we thought when in Rome...we have to go and see a Ping Pong show! Well, it's totally overrated and quite boring, once you've seen one you've seen them all! Some girls looked like they really didn't want to be there at all, we felt quite sorry for them to be honest. It's not for the faint hearted though, a couple of times Licci blurted out "how the hell?..." but after 10 minutes we'd had enough!

We've moved onto a little backpackers in Karon which is run by a lovely young family, they're little girl is caled Alicia too! It feels very much like Mufasa's in South Africa so we instantly felt really relaxed and at home!

We've put some pictures on now so happy viewing. We're pleased to tell you that we're much happier, healthier and lovin' the trip once more! Still missing family and friends.

Lots of love

Licci & Jay

Gallery: Thailand 2

horwood — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:30:00 GMT

More of the first few days.

Gallery: Thailand

horwood — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:16:00 GMT

First few days and our anniversary.

Gallery: India

horwood — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:45:00 GMT

What few piccies we could be bothered to take.

Time for something new!

horwood — Fri, 6 Mar 2009 20:52:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

Again long time no speak so sorry about that. We've been in India now for a little over 4 weeks and sadly we feel that it's time to move on. For us, (and this is not to offend our Indian friends) we just haven't enjoyed India as much as we'd hoped. We don't know many people who can travel India on a budget and tolerate the annoyances for a vast amount of time so we think it's been an achivement in itself that we've lasted this long and not had a nervous breakdown! We're sure that if you're staying in 5* luxury accomodation, with everything you need in your complex, hiden away from the real India you see in the streets, it's a beautiful place. Having said that we've really enojoyed the food and our houseboat trip in Alleppy was a amazing. Kerala was our favourite place by far, Goa was a let down from the start when a cheeky auto driver took us to a "veely nice hotel" and not the one we asked for just so he could get his free dinner! It's funny, when you challenge them and try to reason with them they suddenly don't talk or understand English! We've both been unwell a lot of the time and you grow tired of the smells, the begging, the scams, the ripoffs and the constant staring at us is staring to give us a complex!! So...we've had a go and will no doubt return one day but for now we've had enough.

So our next stop is Thailand and we will be arriving there on Monday 10th March. We've got a lovely hotel booked for 3 nights in Phuket where we will celebrate our 2 year anniversary. We're then onto cheaper accomodation for 5 nights to meet and greet other backpackers. Licci's biggest concern is the scamming that is rife in Thailand and hopes that we don't fall victim...Thailand is the land of smiles and so it's hard not to get cross with them apparently!

We're both losing a bit of weight but for all the wrong reasons, the food is great but our stomachs don't seem to think so! Our stomachs have shrunk considerably and we can only manage probably half of what we used to eat back home. We love our food and can't wait to sample South East Asia's finest!

We need a fresh start and we hope that being around more like minded people (we haven't found many in India at all) we'll start to relax a little more. The mugging in SA stills plays on our minds a lot and without our flash camera we've had little enthusiam to snap away but hopefully a new place will give us a new outlook.

Hope everyone back home is well and happy..we know times are tough and we appreciate situations aren't great - there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. We think about you all a lot and wish that you could all be with us!

Big shout out to Molly (our niece) whose birthday it is on 6th March and Kelly (Licci's sister) on 8th March. Love you both lots. x

Take care everyone and keep in touch, we get really excited when we get an email or a text from someone!! This trip made us realise how much we took for granted having our friends and family around us back home and we really do miss you all dearly.

Lots of Love

Licci & Jay

Beautiful Kerala

horwood — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:34:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

Long time no speak so lots to tell!

We caught the overnight bus down to Kochi from Madurai (10 hours) and I did fear for our lives on a couple of occasions. My backside left the seat a few times and it wasn't down to the increased flatulence as a result of a vegetarian diet!! The roads out here are appauling (what we've seen so far) and these guys drive like they're trying to run away from their scariest monster! The bus pulled into (rather screeched into) Ernakulam - Kerala at 5.00am, 2 hours ahead of schedule! We were shaken awake by the driver who promptly told us to jump ship, so there we were, half alseep in the middle of nowhere trying to negotiate a rickshaw to our homestay - we got there eventually having had to ask directions about 10 times!! It was another test of my nerves but we pulled through!!

We stayed in Fort Kochi for 4 nights. This place is a travellers paradise, a little more expensive than other places but still very cheap compared to the UK. For me it's nice to see other travellers around, makes me feel less like an alien! We saw a show at the Kathakali Centre which displays traditional Keralan dance and music, the make up show was great but not a patch on Dawn's work at Clarins! The Chinese fishing nets are quite breathtaking, amazing how these things manage to still work after hundreds of years. The food down here is great too, we're mostly sticking to veggie food still but we've surprised ourselves with how much we enjoy it - so much taste!

We then headed on the public transport to Alleppy in search of a houseboat experience and boy did we find one! It was a little more expensive than we wanted but worth every single rupee! THe onboard crew were lovely (the captain looked like an Indian version of Howie Henderson), the food was very special and it was so peaceful, just sitting on the desk reading a good book and waving at the passers by - We would recommend it to anyone if they're in this part of the world. There are a lot less tourists in Alleppy but I found that the people are far more friendly - a smile goes a long way in this country but you're normally the initiator!

We headed back to Fort Kochi a another couple of days to stock up on essentials and then we're heading up to Callicut, hoping to get a pass into the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

We're doing OK...still a lot to learn about this but we're starting to settle into it a bit more. We think of our family and friends a lot of the time and miss our creature comforts but then thats expected. The time is going very slow for us which is good, we needed to slow down!

When we find somewhere that will allow us to upload photos well put some on.

Lots of Love

Licci

Arriving in India

horwood — Sun, 8 Feb 2009 15:41:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

Ummm...this is challenging to say the least, probably just the shock to the system! We arrived in Bangalore on Thursday evening after one hell of a journey from Cape Town...our heads are screwed up with the lack of sleep and confusing timings etc, but still I'll try and explain the trip!

Cape Town to Dubai (10 hours, no sleep), Dubai airport for 6 hours (no sleep). FLight to Bangalore (5 hours, no sleep) then taxi to the train station. My god, this was a test of our character, Licci had a few wobbly moments with the incessant staring at us from everyone, the fumes were awful, the language barrier was making it near impossible to know what the hell we're doing - but somehow we made it onto the train, although we later realised that only one of us had a guaranteed seat and the ticket master was not too friendly - lucky we managed to stay together!!

Arrived in Madurai the next morning to the masses of touts preying on us for our custom! Had nowhere to stay so made our way to a couple of strips known for having accomodation and tried our luck in a few places...so glad we got the Lonely PLanet India book back from the muggers! We'd be lost without it!

Found a hotel (a little more than we needed but we were desperate!) and we crashed for the whole day, too exhausted to do anything else and quite frankly a bit nervous about venturing out!

We were quick to realise that the temples (the only reason we came to Madurai) were covered up and were being renovated. They look like mummified structures, covered in some sort of grey, shabby marterial. Gutted.

So, with the Temples off the agenda and not liking the overcrowded streets, we felt it was time to make a quick exit! We've got a couple of bus tickets booked to take us to Cochin (Kerala) leaving on Sunday night, arriving Monday morning - 10 hours on a bus, in India...gotta start somewhere! This should be a lot nicer - according to all sources!

Will try and take some more pix when there is something half decent to take!

Licci & Jay

On the move again!

horwood — Wed, 4 Feb 2009 19:53:00 GMT

Hi Everyone

So we've come to the end of our stay in South Africa. To be honest we'll be glad to leave given our experience. In case you hadn't heard, we were mugged at knife point about a week ago, the ba****ds got away with our brand new SLR camera with all our lovely pictures and our mobile phones. They actually took both our day-bags (as well as Jay's wallet & watch) but eventaully our personal stuff was handed in after being lobbed into someones back garden! We were chuffed to bits to see our diaries and travel books etc! We came away unharmed physically but we both took a bit of a mental beating and hadn't felt like doing much else.

So, onwards and upwards, can't let the ba****ds get us down. Gonna see if we can pick up the same camera cheaply in either India or Hong Kong. Will also get an India pay as you go mobile and we'll put the number on here as soon as we do.

Gutted about losing the pictures, but least we got a few on here to treasure the memories of happier times in South Africa.

Ta ra for now!! Happy snowman building in the UK!

Licci & Jay

Gallery: Cape Town and around

horwood — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:30:00 GMT

Pictures of Cape Town