Round the world trip

Gallery: Singapore

soph804 — Fri, 9 May 2008 11:07:00 GMT

Singapore

soph804 — Thu, 8 May 2008 23:50:00 GMT

There was a promotional video for Singapore on the plane highlighting shopping as the country's favourite past time; so we're trying to adhere to that as much as possible! With 38 shopping malls on one road alone, each with 5 levels or more, it's hard to avoid. Add to that the heat here (33 degrees), and the lure of the cool, air-conditioned malls; even the most reluctant man will want to shop all day!

We're staying on the outskirts of Little India, where the streets can be crazy and chaotic at times, but the temples are beautiful, colourful and ornate. We took a river cruise through the heart of the city; it was nice to be able to see the combination of old and new buildings, along with the infamous Merlion.

Our favourite area is Chinatown; the streets are decorated and the atmosphere is wonderful. We visited the fantastic 'Buddha Tooth Relic Temple' and were lucky enough to witness the celebrations of a buddha's birthday; it was really spectacular!

The culture difference is most notable in the food courts here, where everything comes with either rice or noodles. We're certainly getting lots of chopstick practice before we fly to Japan tomorrow!

Gallery: Australia

soph804 — Sat, 3 May 2008 18:55:00 GMT

Photos from Down Under

'The land of Oz'

soph804 — Sat, 3 May 2008 18:15:00 GMT

Flying into Sydney was a big shock to the system, after the small towns of NZ, it was massive! Sydney's main Harbour and Darling Harbour were unexpected treats; we loved the whole atmosphere of the city. Since then our feet haven't touched the ground; we travelled down to Melbourne and then up the entire east coast to Cairns.

In Melbourne we visited the Neighbours set, Albert Park (a week afetr the F1) and an 'Aussie Rules' football match (we still don't understand the rules though). Canberra is a perfect example of trying really hard to make something work and just getting it wrong. We cycled around Port Maquarie and saw a bottlenosed dolphin by the shore. The 5,000 iron man triathalon competitors put us to shame by speeding past us up the hills! Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise were next, but unfortunately bad weather kept us from enjoying the beaches.

Brisbane reminded us of London, but smaller and hotter! From there we travelled to Noosa, another hilly coastal town, where we visited Australia Zoo - Home of the crocodile hunter (Steve Irwin). We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; we were able to pose with an alligator and feed an asian elephant. The crocodile show was done by Steve's widow, Terri - it was amazing - the 16ft croc 'Mossman' jumped right out of the water for food and then proceeded to give the meat 3 'death rolls', it's really good to see the conservation work they're doing there - undoubtedly the best zoo we've ever been too.

Our next stop, Rainbow Beach, was a hidden gem - we had a great time bodyboarding in the sea and then watched the sunset from the top of a 600m sand dune (the Carlo Sandblow) - it was incredible, absolutely breathtaking views! The sand looked like it was glowing gold under the setting sun!

Hervey Bay was lovely and relaxing;p we took a day trip from here to Fraser Island (the world's largest sand island). It's and untouched natural beauty - with rainforests and other vegitation growing out of the sand! Lake Mackenzie is a freshwater lake we had the pleasure of swimming in - the water was so clear and the sand really white (the nutrients having been washed out). Mike especially loved our drive around the island's "roads" (the highway is on the beach) in a 4 wheel drive coach.

Airlie beach has a beautiful harbour and a manmade lagoon for people to swim in as the sea is too dangerous (sharks and nasty stingers). We took a day out sailing around the nearby Whitsunday Islands on an 80ft Maxi racing yacht called "Ragamuffin". Unlike Mike, it was my first sailing experience and I loved it - it's peaceful and exhilarating all at the same time! We moored at one of the Islands, at Blue Pearl Bay, where we snorkelled on the great barrier reef for the first time. The reef was amazing; hundreds of fish came right up close. We were also lucky enough to glimpse the infamous (and enormous) Maori Wrasse, named 'Cynthia' by the crew.

Next up was Townsville - a pleasant surprise, with a lovely park next tpo the marina. We caught a ferry to magnetic island, where the weather was really hot! We visited a Koala sanctuary and we both held a 2m long carpet python and a 3 yr old saltwater croc! Mike also held a Koala called 'Dexter' and a red tailed cockatoo (which bit him twice). The rangers then took us on a spiderhunt into the forest, where thousands of butterflies lived. We saw three golden orb spiders that were bigger than our hands! That afternoon we walked up to some WWII forts - still intact, along with many false rocks to hide behind.

Mission Beach was a bit disappointing, the stingers and crocs meaning the beach was too dangerous to enjoy. There was a cool market though. Finally we arrived in Cairns, we took another day trip snorkelling on the great barrier reef. We though it was amazing the first time, but this time was so much better. The reef was so vibrant with colour, it was really surreal and beautiful. We saw all kinds of colourful fish, including clown fish and sea turtles - really awesome! We are excited about flying back to Sydney tomorrow for a few more days until our flight on the A380 to Singapore.

Gallery: NZ: South island

soph804 — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:00:00 GMT

South island photos

New Zealand: South Island

soph804 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:35:00 GMT

The South island is definitely better than the North! We started off in Kaikoura with a whale-watching cruise (known as a "sea-sickness cruise" to the locals); after only 10 minutes we saw a sperm whale surface! We watched him for another 10 minutes, spouting out of his blow hole, until he dived under, stuck his tail in the air, and swam down 1200m for food. It was incredible, and 40 minutes later we were treated to a repeat performance! We headed closer to shore afterwards and found a pod of 200-300 dusky dolphins - they swam so close to the boat; we watched them for half an hour swimming and playing - they're beautiful animals!

A few days later we were out at sea again, dressed in wetsuits (very fetching!) ready to swim with the dolphins. We found a pod of 50-100, the horn on the boat sounded, we all jumped in. We had been told that for the dolphins to interact with us, we should swim in a circle, dive down under water, or make a high-pitched squealing sound. So all of us (20-30 people) all jumped in and started squealing - it was so funny! We were rewarded with dolphins swimming right underneath us.

We drove through the magnificent Arthur's Pass, to the glacial region, in the West. We walked to the Terminal Face of both the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, then we took a day trip climbing onto the Franz Josef and walking up it wearing crampons over our boots. Mike loved every second, the ice was amazing, he took lots of photos! I found it was a very good way to cure my fear of heights, some of the sheer drops made my eyes water!! We were absolutely exhausted by the end of the day, but it was so worth the effort.

Further south, in Queenstown, we took a jet boat ride through the 'Shotover Canyon', which was pure high-adrenaline fun; the 360 degree spins had us screaming every time! Nearby Arrowtown was a perfectly quaint authentic 1900s village.

We decided to brave the sand flies and terrential rain, for the stunning scenery of Milford Sound. The rain stopped, but continued to trickle down the mountain sides and the waterfalls were huge.

We spent 4 days in Mt Cook national park doing local walks. At night the mischievous Keas (big parrot-like birds) attacked our campervan, so Mike set the windscreen wipers on them, ha ha!

That brings us round to Christchurch where we've just handed our campervan back in and will be spending the next few days, until we fly to Australia.

New Zealand

soph804 — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:04:00 GMT

We've been away for 5 weeks today and already managed to do so much. We added exploring the island on a scooter (& doing a driving test); getting dressed up for a Maori island night; and learning how to husk a coconut to our highlights from Rarotonga.

We're in New Zealand now and although we've had a few mishaps, we're really loving it. Wet weather meant we only passed through the Bay of Islands, but we've had sunshine ever since. The North Island is stunning, there are non-stop photo opportunities; we visited a forest of Kairi trees where one was 51m tall, 4m diameter and 2000 years old - the tallest tree in the Southern Hemisphere! We went to the top of the Sky Tower in Auckland & watched the abseilers freefalling to the ground (crazy people), then we had headed to Rotorua & slid down a hill in a giant hamster ball filled with water (zorbing) - great fun! Rotorua is very smelly because of the thermal activity in the region & and steam & bubbling pools of mud all around - they look pretty cool though.

Continuing with the volcanoes we went to Taupo & Tongariro next, then to Mt. Ruapehu (the tallest & most recently active volcano - last year), which sits next to Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom from LOTR), and Mt. Tongariro. For Mike's birthday we took a scenic flight over all three; they were magnificent, we were able to look right into the craters at the top! We had a lovely meal out for Mike's Birthday - a welcome change to cooking on the campervan stove.

Our last stop in the North Island was Wellington - we preferred it to Auckland, it's a more compact city with more character. Our trip to the zoo was excellent, seeing Kangaroos and a Kiwi for the first time, and the giraffes and chimps came really close.

We took our ferry to the South Island this morning and are excited as we've heard it's even better than the North!

Gallery: New Zealand

soph804 — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:01:00 GMT

more photos now we have the memory card back :)

Gallery: LA and Rarotonga!

soph804 — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 07:09:00 GMT

week 1

soph804 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:37:00 GMT

We're 8 days into our little adventure, and so far only have four bites between us. After a rainy start in LA, our arrival in the cooks signalled the end of a month long storm (which left a boat shipwrecked on the rocks and caused evacuation of coastal areas!)

LA was hectic but loads of fun; we trekked up to the hollywood sign and the view over the city was incredible (even for sophie who wouldn't go near the edge :-p). Our hostel was 2 minutes from hollywood boulevard and the walk of fame. We enjoyed the most delicious pancakes with maple syrup in a genuine 50s american diner. We got free audience tickets to the Jimmy Kimmel live show where guests included the man with the worlds longest leg hair (it really was as good as it sounds, oh, and it was 6 inches in case you were wondering!).

So far, the cooks have been amazing: the sun is always shining and there is a really relaxed atmosphere all around the island. Snorkelling is our new favorite hobby, the sea is really clear and warm, the fish are beautiful and aren't afraid of us at all: we even saw an eagle ray! We tried kayaking. We're not very good at it. A couple were having their wedding photos taken on the beach with the ocean in the background and us! Our attempts to row out of the shot failed miserably, as we spun round in circles for ages. The wedding party moved to avoid us, but by the time they had set up the shot, we had drifted right back into it. Sophie was mortified and I just barked ineffective orders. At least we can laugh about it now.

We pinch ourselves every day, we still can't believe we're here.

Nearly there...

soph804 — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:28:00 GMT

Having been planning our trip for nearly a year(!), we are almost there. The nerves and excitement are kicking in, and we can't wait to get started. I just wish you could all come with us... :)