hello, chao, konnichiwa!

konnichiwa japan!

kizzyandnathan — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 02:56:00 GMT

wow, japan equals= mind blown!

from the moment we landed in tokyo it was one hell of an adventure. It is so cliche to say this, but.. it really was unlike any other place i have ever been or could imagine. I absolutly loved Tokyo, we just spent every waking moment day and night exploring the city, soaking up the culture and generally just getting lost and having fun , all rolled into one! And when i say lost, i mean lost! being in a very fortunate position as having english as my first language did me no favours here. it literally was a case of find your general direction and hope for the best or if your feeling brave try to communicate with a very polite japenase person (in most caseswith limited english).

However on day 5 of our trip LOST became an understated. the day started bad and just got worse. 1.we almost missed our train 2. we lost our travel guide 3. we arrived at mt fuji being unable to view it due to extreme wind and rain (we later discovered we were in the middle of a typhoon..OOPS!) 4. WE GOT SEPERATED IN THE MIDDLE OF JAPAN BETWEEN MT FUJI AND TOKYO 5. after 8 hours i still could could not find nathan (cue hysterical crying) after eventually finding eachother back in tokyo 6. nathan almost drowns in the bath?! (thats another story). so yes bad day over!

we then left tokyo (sad face) and headed for the japenese alps. we enjoyed a wonderful night at a fire works festival in matsumoto after cycling round and seeing the castle. the next day we headed into the alps for the day(kimachi) and even a mountain side onsen experiance with the locals! next we headed to the owi dori festival tokushima on the south island. it was great fun even with the long train rides there and back (we had to stay the night 3 hrs away due to its popularity with japenese who travel home for the festival. we then travelled to kyoto and visited shrines and temples until we were all templed out! we stayed in a ryokan (japanese style inn). we also included a day trip to nara and the local deer were a delight to see!

next we travelled back to tokyo as we just couldnt keep away from exploring it more. we stayed in a different area this time (the first was tamachi) this time hamamatsucho. we had another awsome time exploring just what tokyo had to offer and by the end of the trip we could include a visit to a cat cafe, a maid cafe, a karoke bar experience, a tokyo giants baseball game and much much more.

and what havn't I mentioned?!?! THE FOOD...... all i can say is it was unreal, from the sushi resturant, to the vending machine cafe, to the ramen house to the authentic japenese sweets and tea house. japan is a place i could just be in, for a long long time....

bye japan your were crazy!

hello home

vietnam

kizzyandnathan — Wed, 6 Aug 2014 20:47:00 GMT

From the first breath I took in the taxi as we left ho chi Minh airport, I knew I loved this country. It was truly breathtaking for me. Having never been to Asia ( apart from a 1 day in south Korea) I was very apprehensive but in that taxi with all the chaos and what felt like a million Vietnamese people on mopeds and bikes, it was just exhilarating. The first couple of days we wondered round the city in awe of the everyday hustle and bustle of the city. Street food, markets, museums, the Mekong delta and then to top it off a few drinks at the ' must do ' Saigon tower roof top. The next morning and the week that followed was however a horrendous nightmare of food poisoning which I hope to forget soon. We postponed our train trip to nha trang and instead I spent it lying on a hotel bathroom floor. We made it to nha trang just in time for Nathan's birthday, but although feeling slightly better I could only take short trips out side. Amazingly Nathan bumped into vymi- a lovely Vietnamese girl we gave a lift to in New Zealand! So he spent his birthday out drinking with her and friends :) finally on the road to recovery we hopped onto our next train - quite an experience, and found ourselves in hoi an. It was BEAUTIFUL! We spent 4 days here in a lovely hotel and walked the streets for a few hours at a time ( I was unfortunatly still being sick occasionally). The old town was wonderfully idyllic and Nathan chose a tailor out of the many hundreds and got 3 suits made, which turned out very impressive. We then decided on a flight from hoi an to Hanoi as a 12 hour train compared to a 1 hour flight for the same price seemed logical. We arrived in Hanoi and based ourselves in the old quarter of the city. Hanoi was hot and humid and walking the lane ways was definitely something I cannot accurately put into words. The people in Hanoi seemed to live at a faster pace and every space was packed with street food stalls , shops of all kinds and people just generally moving around. We booked onto a 3 day cruise of halong bay and just had the most amazing time. Kayaking, swimming, eating drinking, massages and just staring at the jaw dropping view, it was like heaven. Back in Hanoi and I felt so much better, so feeling adventorous we set off on a day of trying as much variety of veitnamese street food as possible in a day. It was brilliant. Finally we bid farewell to Hanoi and flew back to ho chi Minh ready for our japan trip. chao Vietnam, konnichwa Japan!

Kia Ora New Zealand!

kizzyandnathan — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 10:49:00 GMT

After leaving brisbane and arriving at the airport we discovered we were in for a four hour delay. Uh oh. But turns out we were flying with emirates and they gave us a forty dollar food voucher. big win! Woohoo. After that little drama we flew across the Tasman sea, landed in Christchurch and got another big score, free clothes. As you can imagine we were not really prepared for a nz winter coming from tropical Darwin. I had one coat and one jumper. But we then managed to get scarfs, gloves, jumpers, waterproofs, so we picked up our hire car and off we went! We drove ( Nathan did the driving, I did my best impression of the worst back seat driver in history - sorry Nathan) visiting mt cook and the glacier lake and icebergs which were awesome! Skiing in queenstown for a few days and having one of the best meals of my life in gantleys restaurant. onto the west Coast and picking up hitch hikers was the aim of the game, great fun! We made it to franz Josef glacier and the ice explorer trip. helicopter ride for the first time ever eek!!!! And walking on a retreating glacier was unreal so beautiful with caves and walking through ice corridors. Next up more hitchhikers and a few days at Abel tasman national park. Here we decided on a freedom sea kayak adventure. Big mistake. The minute we were through the surf and started paddling up the coast I knew this wasn't for me. I hated almost every second of it, however a seal did come to say hello and swim around our kayak ( a lovely moment ). after our Abel Tasman adventures it was onto Wellington, a few cocktails here and we returned our rental car and joined a kiwi experience bus to taupo and rotorua. Nathan's attpted sky dive was cancelled did to bad weather( perhaps the 7th time in a year haha) but we had a fab time in the hot springs of rotorua and a Maori cultural experience. Finally Auckland and our last few days have been to rest and prepare for the next adventure in Vietnam. New Zealand has been beautiful, we have had a wonderful time and so thankful to have had the chance to visit :-) Kia ora new zealand, chao Vietnam xxx

Photos: kia ora , chao, konnichiwa

kizzyandnathan — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:11:00 GMT

see you in a while crocodile....

kizzyandnathan — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:46:00 GMT

sooo it happened......

we left the NT. That magical place that stole my heart after taking everything i thought I knew about life and turning it on its head. the experiences we had during our time in the territory were phenomenal. from working out at sea, to working on a cattle farm, to my first experience in hospitatlity as a sandwhich maker, there was never a dull moment. everytime i thought about leaving over the last few days i would well up just thinking how grateful i was to be part of the life up here. when i said my goodbyes (something i Hate with a passion, i am terrible at them!) to Darwin gymnastics club it really hit me that this was it. my last day at the sandwhich shop i cycled to my favourite spot at east point, sat down, ate my doughnut from the bakery and looked out at the view of the bay. there is no where like this in the world, but im so happy that we got to have a few moments here that i'll never forget. onto the next adventure, i've been practicing my hello's not my goodbyes- kia ora, chao, konnichiwa!