Due to restrictions on young drivers in the US which meant that every driver under 25 had to pay a surcharge of $25 a day I did all the driving to keep the costs a bit lower. We used Alamo car rental and got a new Toyota Corolla to play with complete with cruise control which is my new favourite toy in a car, Lazy mans driving!! Driving on the wrong side of the road on multi lane highways isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be although we actually managed to avoid the main roads for much of the trip. The road up to Yosemite was very long and windy (I think I have mastered mountain driving now - It will prove useful when I get back home!) and it was a slow trip. We ended up taking the long way round to where we were staying as we weren’t exactly sure where it was but it allowed us to see some of the park.
We stayed at the Yosemite bug hotel and hostel, our accommodation for the two nights we were there was a tent cabin which gave it quite a wilderness feel. It was comfortable enough even if it was a little cold at night after the sun went down! There was however a lodge on site serving cheap hot meals which proved useful for dinner.

We spent one full day exploring the national park itself. Unfortunately there isn’t the wilderness feel to the place any more. It is all rather tame in the respect that there are two lane paved roads right through the valley and every service you could possibly want available in the village. The scenery however did make up for it. We thought that we may not be so impressed having seen what was on offer in New Zealand as we now count ourselves as scenery connoisseurs but it exceeded expectations. Yosemite has two of the tallest waterfalls in the world which are very impressive and the views over the valley also have to be seen. We spent most of the day exploring various trails through the valley, with transfers to each by a shuttle bus. If you don’t have to walk in America you don’t! As the evening drew nearer we went to visit some of the famous giant redwood trees which I have to say are the biggest trees that I have ever seen.

After Yosemite we crossed back across the flat plains of California to the coast. The things they say about American roads and corners are completely true. There sometimes isn’t one for miles and miles and miles which is where cruise control comes in handy, you just have to keep an eye out for stop signs that appear in the middle of main roads in the middle of nowhere on the odd occasion, very strange. Our first stop on the coast was the town of Monterey which seemed to be quite asleep when we visited, to be fair it was midweek and I guess it is still off season but there didn’t seem to be much going on. After Monterey the real coastal road kicked in. I had heard before coming out here that this was the best drive in the world and I have to agree that it is probably the best one that I have ever done, better than the Great Ocean Road in Australia. Around every bend in the road was a place that deserved a picture to be taken so very often we didn’t get very far down the road before stopping again for more pictures. The only major stop we took on the first day traveling down was at the Big Sur state park for more forrest walks to the top of the valley to take more pictures of the impressive scenery, In the afternoon I spotted a large bird of prey flying overhead which I though could have been an eagle, we came across a group of people who had found more of the birds flying overhead and we were told that these were in fact the endangered Californian Condor, very inquisitive birds who gave us some excellent pictures by swooping down and flying right overhead, further down the road was also a colony of seals, far too many to count, there looked to be hundreds, probably close to over a thousand just lazing about.

Further down the coast the scenery was less impressive and we only stopped in a couple of the bigger towns to have a look round, we spent a night in San Luis Opisbo as it was the half way point of the road and further down we stopped in the rich town of Santa Barbara and drove through the mansion filled suburb of LA, Malibu. Unfortunately our arrival into LA was at rush hour and it took a further 2 hours of driving to complete the last 20 miles to our motel.

We stayed in a motel in San Fernando on the outskirts of LA for 2 nights as Rich and I wanted to go the nearby theme park Six Flags Magic Mountain before we headed into LA proper. If any of you roller coaster fans are ever in the area of LA I highly recommend the park. It is billed as America’s extreme park and it contains 12 roller coasters of all shapes and sizes. Our favourites were Deja-vu which sent you flying around a corkscrew and a loop and up a vertical section before repeating the track backwards, X which is the strangest roller-coaster i’ve ever been on as the seats move independently of the train so you really hadn’t got a clue which way up you were for most of the time and Goliath which was just a very fast roller-coaster but probably exerted the most G force on the body. The park was completely empty as it was a thursday so the most we ever had to wait to go on a ride was 15 minutes so we definitely got our monies worth however our bodies were not particularly thankful for the punishment.

Well thats where I’m going to leave it, we’re now in LA and we’ll no doubt fill you all in on that later on,

For now I bid you goodbye
Chris

Yosemite National Park and the Pacific Coastal Road remains copyright of the author teamnojob, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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First of all I would like to thank all the people that sent me cards/emails/text messages etc on my birthday. I didn’t expect to get anything sent to me as I didn’t think it was possible(!) so it was a really nice suprise :o).

Right back to our news and an update on our week spent in San Francisco....
As Chris may have already mentioned, we managed to get an earlier flight to San Francisco, arriving an hour earlier to our hostel but still feeling just as knackered! 11 and a half hours flying does wonders for you, seriously! That night all we could think of was food and bed, so we wandered down past some rather ‘exotic’ bars near our hostel - ladies get in free with a guy (why a lady would want to visit one of these places is beyond me!), but we politely declined! - to a little italian restaurant round the corner. With one of our goals achieved, we headed straight to bed like true party animals!

The next day (Monday) brought our first real taste of San Francisco and I instantly fell for its quirky, eccentric charms. This city is not the cleanest we have seen and it definitely has its problems (the amount of homeless people is quite shocking), but the people are friendly, the buildings (excluding skyscrapers) are charming, and the whole city has a very eclectic atmosphere, which makes you feel right at home. After looking around a few of the shops I realised why you should always bring an empty bag with you to America, and proceeded to shop for a new birthday outfit.

After an afternoon spent pottering about, we were all still suffering with a bit of jet lag so we headed back to the hostel where we were given a free dinner (this happened on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays!) and then fell asleep pretty early - another action-packed night for team no job!

Tuesday required more shopping time, so I left the boys to themselves for the morning again - much to their relief as their present shopping for me turned out to be a whole, long, problematic, saga in itself (apparently), but you will have to ask Chris and Rich about that one! In the end I found a new top and shoes, so I was pretty happy with myself. Then in the afternoon when I met up with the lads, Chris decided to take me on a nice long mysterious walk to the Post Office of all places (I was very confused by this point!), to pick up some cards that had been sent to me...only to find that the collections counter closed at 2pm - Doh! Ah well, I said, at least I’ll get your present tomorrow morning. Only to be told that actually they couldn’t pick it up until the afternoon due to some complications. :o( Now if anyone has experienced one of my birthdays first hand you will know that this was disasterous for me as I do like to milk the day for all it is worth! So I went home empty-handed and not expecting anything to open in the morning :o(

Well the morning came very early as we had to be at the Pier for 9.30 to get the ferry out to Alcatraz at 10am. But the guys came through for me as always and managed to produce a card from each of them and one from Ginny that Chris had been carrying the whole way from London! (thanks to Ginny for being so damn organised x) and also one from Andy who had been travelling with us in New Zealand. I was pretty chuffed by this point, after expeting nothing and we all headed off to Pier 31 and Alcatraz in high spirits.

Once on the island we were taken into one of the buildings to watch a film about the history of the island. Apparently it used to be used by the US Forces as a military base, and then a military prison before later being transformed into the high-security prison that it is now famous for. Once inside the main prison block itself we were given audio headphone sets and left to explore the building ourselves. The prison cells were suprisingly tiny - literally enough room for a small bed, sink and toilet - and the ceilings were very low, giving it a rather claustrophobic feel. It was really hard to imagine that people actually lived in them for years on end. The cells used for solitary confinement were even worse with only a small window in the solid metal door that was usually kept locked. We got to step inside these ones, but once you are in there it is not the type of place that you really want to stick around in! After been taken all around the cell blocks and wardens office, with its amazing view of the San Francisco skyline, it was not hard to imagine why some prisoners went mad here, having to look at freedom just across the bay.

Back on dry land, me and Rich went to the post office to pick up my packages and we all met for lunch where I opened the cards and my present from Rich and Chris (a framed photo of us at Australia Zoo, and some cheesecake from the Cheesecake shop!).

In the evening we actually just walked round the corner from our hostel to a jazz and seafood bar that we had seen on earlier nights. There was a live band playing blues that night with vocals from Darlene Langston, unknowns but good nonetheless. After a few songs me and Rich decided to go halves on one of their CD’s, but when they found out it was my birthday they gave me one for free, and sung me happy birthday later in night! Plus I got a free cocktail off the waiter, so it turned out to be a pretty awesome night! I even got the boys onto the dancefloor at the end of the night for a bit of a boogie on down to R.J. Mitcham - an international recording artist he’ll have you know! - in a saloon bar. All-in-all, very enjoyable.

On the Thursday we got up late and wandered down to the harbour where we found Pier 39 - a wonderous place of bizarre tourist shops like the ‘cable car store’ and the ‘magical magnet shop! Then we took the famous tram ride up and down the hills of the city - slightly scary at times, especially when we had to stop and push the tram back from the brim of the slope so that we didn’t go rolling down to our deaths! In the evening we re-visited the pier for our first ever Hard Rock Cafe experience, and made the rookie mistake of ordering a starter as well as a main - the onion rings were almost as big as our heads!!

On the Friday we only had one tourist thing left to do - bike the Golden Gate bridge. We ended up arriving a bit late to the bike hire store, so we couldn’t travel down to Sauselito like we had hoped, but just had to bike over and come straight back again.

After braving a few rather steep hills we finally made it to the bridge, and realised how windy San Francisco actually is! It was a beautiful day but I swear at one point I almost froze over! There were some beautiful views from the other side though and it was definitely worth cycling instead of walking, especially to see Rich miss the exit to get off the bridge and go crashing into the verge! Luckily him and the bike were ok, but his beloved shorts unfortunately didn’t make it. Rich says his injury on his knee still hurts *sniff sniff*.

The Kaiserchiefs were playing in town on Friday night, so we thought we would pop down and say hello. They were hoping for an Angry Mob and they Predicted a Riot but the San Francisco public’s Heat had Died Down - apparently this was the Modern Way. Ricky exclaimed that he could Do It Without You, and Thank You Very Much for the English support, as he’d never been This Far Away From Home.

Saturday we picked up the car and left San Francisco for The Yosemite National Park.

Sorry if this ran on a bit, but if I can’t milk my birthday at home then at least let me write about it!
Laura :o) x x

San Francisco and my birthday remains copyright of the author teamnojob, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Friday 13th April - Just a short hop flight from Auckland to Nadi in Fiji. We were staying at Smugglers Cove hostel which included a free transfer so that helped as we didn't have to deal with any of the taxi touts waiting outside the airport. The cashpoint in the airport refused to give Rich and Laura any money so they had to take a taxi later in the evening to one of the 2 McDonalds on the island to try another one.

Saturday 14th April - Took a trip into Nadi town center which was "interesting". The streets were full of people and cars and we stuck out like a sore thumb as obvious tourists so we were the target of touts every few meters. We did manage to find our own way back to the hostel on a local bus which which at one point drove along the beach to find the road again. We had to wait quite a while for the bus so we just sat in the bus station and did a spot of people watching. Wherever you went in Nadi there were people, but none of them seemed to be doing too much. Everything in Fiji happens on Fiji time, i.e slowly!

Sunday 15th April - This was the first day of a 6 night/7 day tour of the Yasawa islands. We had an early transfer to the dock and then a 4 1/2 hour boat ride to the outer islands. Although it was a catamaran it was much much smoother ride than the trip across to Koh Tao. Our first stop was Coral View Resort, a tiny little place on the edge of the island. Our accommodation was a little basic and as it had been raining so much it was rather damp but the people were really nice and friendly so that made up for it in a way. All our meals were included in the package as it was so remote there really wasn't any other option in the way of food but it was all freshly cooked and actually wasn't that bad.

Monday 16th April - We had two nights at Coral View so this was a full day to sit out and relax. Laura and I took a walk down to the end of the island (20 mins - the island was pretty small) and went snorkeling on a coral reef. We had been snorkeling off the beach at the resort the previous day but we saw many many more fish of all colours on the second trip out. The afternoon was reserved for just being lazy, we each found a hammock on the edge of the beach to sit back and relax and it was only interrupted by the rain late in the afternoon. The evening entertainment involved a traditional fijian welcome from the staff at the resort and some dancing which we all had to participate in, no choices.

Tuesday 17th April - The morning was spent waiting for the boat to come and pick us up to take us to the next location, another excuse to just sit in a hammock, the Catamaran picked us up after lunch and took us down to the Wana Taki boat which was cruising round some of the other islands, this was our home for a night. We found time for a spot of kayaking but other than eating the huge dinner they put on for us and reading we didn't get up to too much. The boat was really comfortable as it was dry and air conditioned and a nice change after the damp beds previously but the one downside was that the water pump had broken so there was no running water to the showers or sinks.

Wednesday 18th April - This was the day of our first dive in Fiji. We transferred across to Manta Ray Island for a beach dive. I was amazed at the amount of fish that we saw. This was by far the best dive that we had on the entire trip. The amount of fish that we saw far outweighed what we saw at the great barrier reef and the coral was completely undamaged. In the afternoon we transferred to our next island was Kuata. Kuata was much like Coral View in that the beds were damp but unfortunately it did not have the charm of the earlier island. The people were not as friendly and the food was average and at times terrible. We were due to stay on the island for 2 nights but we had spoken to people before we arrived who had warned us about it so we had managed to change our booking to only stay for 1 night.

Thursday 19th April - We did absolutely nothing productive on Thursday. We sat outside reading and playing cards for the entire day until the boat came to collect us in the afternoon. We transferred down to our last island called South Sea Island which was the smallest island we visited. From the one building on the centre of the island/sand dune you could sea all four sides and a walk round took all of 5 minutes. The island unlike the previous ones we had visited was run by Awesome Adventures Fiji so had more of a resort feel to it and the standard of the dorm and the food was much much better.

Friday 20th April - This was the first day where the weather was as befitting a tropical island, hot and sunny. This therefore required much sunbathing. This was the pattern for most of the day broken up by snorkeling over the coral reef next to the island.

Saturday 21st April - Laura and I got up early and went on our second dive in Fiji, Rich didn't join us on this one as he had got sick of having to promise to the instructors that he wasn't going to die under water from an asthma attack. There had been problems with every dive previously because as soon as he ticked the asthma box they didn't want him to dive. This dive was a wreck dive and was the deepest that we had been to at 20m. The dive was excellent. Our instructor showed us the wreck and then took us back up stopping and pointing out various different things for us to look at including a sting ray. This was also the cheapest dive that we had done at $45 or 15 pounds! The rest of the day was spent sunbathing until the storm passed overhead in mid afternoon and the heavy rain started again. This made our transfer back to the boat a little interesting. Each transfer from the island to the catamaran was made on a little boat which had to be waded out to so with the high waves and driving rain our little trip out to the main boat soaked us pretty well. The journey on the main boat back to the mainland was much better smoother.

Sunday 22nd April (the first one) - The day was very uneventful, we had returned to Smugglers cove hostel the previous evening to stay the last night and we just spent the day doing laundry and waiting to go to the airport. In the evening we traveled out to catch our flight. Unfortunately they we couldn't talk our way into first class but we did end up with seats at the front of a section so it was a little more comfortable than otherwise would have been. The flight was uneventful (all 10 hours of it) however the entertainment system in our seats didn't work too well which was annoying

Sunday 22nd April (the second one) - Our flight from Fiji landed at lunchtime, the process of entering America was actually much quicker than i had expected. It only took them 45 minutes! Unfortunately for us a China airways flight had emptied in front of us and nearly every one of them without fail hadn't filled in their visa forms correctly and require translators to help them with the customs officer which slowed things down somewhat. We managed to transfer terminals in good time and check in to our next flight to San Francisco so early that we were put on standby for the next flight which left 3 hours earlier. Although the plane was late by an hour we managed to get seats on board and arrived in San Francisco two hours early at 6pm on Sunday (our flight from Fjii departed Fiji at 10pm on Sunday).

Overall Fiji did what it was supposed to do. Gave us time to sit about and do pretty much nothing. We met some cool people on the trip which helped make things a little more fun. Much of the time you had to make your own entertainment but it's nice to sit and read a book sometimes!.

Laura is going to write the a blog about San Francisco shortly, we might finish that before we get home in a couple of weeks. See you all soon

Chris

Fiji remains copyright of the author teamnojob, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I hope you are all well. Don't read anything into our recent lack of posts, we are still alive and we still love all of you blogees, but its difficult to have time to blog on the move (NZ) and when there is no internet to blog with (Fiji). So to make up for a few weeks of neglect - I'm going to blog you up-to-date over the next couple of days!

Firstly can I say that we're safe and sound in San Francisco, and appear to be jet-lag free at the time of writing. Soon after writing this I'm going to have my second night's sleep so all should be well (same for Chris and Laura). For the first time in the trip you guys are ahead of us time-wise (8 hours whilst we are on the West coast) so enjoy your eight hour head start to the day.

So, back to NZ:

Tuesday 10th April - We leave Taupo earlyish and head to Rotorua as planned. At this point I have a full blown cold (my second in NZ) and so have no sense of smell - which is fortunate as Rotorua centre has a fairly pungent sulphur smell (eggy/fart smell for those of you unfamiliar with sulphur) due to our volcanic surroundings. After lunch we head out to a volcanic spring for a dip. We continue driving around Rotorua and head out to do Zorbing, a crazy activity where they stick you in a big plastic ball filled with warm water (which maintains your sitting position) and roll you down a hill (think of that Gladiators event with the cage balls but its clear rubber and downhill with water!). Laura, Chris and Andy do a triple wet ball and get soaked (but love it). I'm denied an attempt at a waterless solo run down the hill (there is a hall of fame for those who have done it without falling over at all!) so assume photographer duties. In the afternoon we drive to Hamilton which was a planned stopping point but no hostel space means we continue onto Auckland a day early (Hamilton does have a 'Cheesecake Shop' though - Ipswich locals should know of that - Laura threatens violence if we don't stop there so we do and all enjoy cheesecake!). Auckland reminds us of Sydney a bit but with added large hills in the city. For example, the drive up to the Auckland hostel has pretty much a 45 degree slope!. We arrive at night so have a budget $6 chinese buffet in a box for dinner - a mixed bag/box in terms of taste and texture (for me, cold still rife).

Wednesday 11th April - Me and Chris rise early to return our loyal hire car, only to find its been broken into. Nothing's missing but a small rear door window is smashed in and the steering column has suffered an unsuccessful hot wire attempt. Quick phone calls follow to the hire company who have been made aware of the break-in already by the police during the night and apparently all is well as long as we can drive it!! We return the car, where they sting us with a $90 tire damage extra (watch out for that one - check your tires when you pick up a hire car!). We explore Auckland (already a tad annoyed at the place) and find that theres one huge street through the middle where everything pretty much sits. Chris, Laura and I attempt to book our boat tour of Fiji with varying degrees of success. One failed booking later we go to STA Travel who sort out the long process for us. With very little activity in the city centre we go up the most obvious tourist attraction the Sky Tower (tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and visible pretty much all over the city). Having watched someone jump off the tower from a great height (in a harness of course), Chris and I decide this would be fun so pay our money and prepare to wait. We all head up to look at the panoramas of Auckland, and down at the red target square where jumpers descend to (its far away). We head down again to jump and are put in our blue suits and harnesses and a whisked back up to jump down(!). After a short wait Chris goes first and then I follow. Each jump takes around 5 minutes to prepare for (checking your gear, hooking you onto two harnesses and a huge wheel of wire), a ten second leap off/wait of faith where they take your photo dangling off the tower and a further ten seconds to complete the jump down. A great rush and a good laugh (see the video in the previous blog for more detail). For those who have watched the video and are unsure of my jump attempt, my wild movements are not in fear, they in jest! In the evening we have a few drinks in some local bars.

Thursday 12th April - More exploring and walking around Auckland. We collect our Fiji tour tickets (having had to pay more because we were quoted last year's prices which changed on April 1st). In the afternoon Chris and Laura go to the Auckland Harbour Bridge which AJ Hackett allow people to bungy off in an attempt to find a I [Heart] NZ t-shirt. Unfortunately theres no shop like in AJ Hackett Queenstown so the trip is a disappointing one. They apparently get rained on too. Andy and I go to the big cinema to watch Danny Boyle's space thriller Sunshine (and as such avoid the bulk of the rain). Its very good. In the evening we say goodbye to Andy and New Zealand in traditional style...a Japanese meal (ok...not so traditional then!). We try sushi and tempura and its an all-round nice end to our time in NZ.

Friday 13th April (ooooh!) - Andy leaves us early in the morning for his 7am flight to Sydney, I wake up a few hours later and am sure I saw a random stranger doing a text on his phone sat in the dark of our room (Chris see's nothing). We leave for the airport mid-morning and with little fuss board our to Air Pacific plane to Fiji but discover that they run on Fiji time (where timings and deadlines are slightly streched to take into account the relaxed nature of the locals) so we leave a bit late. We arrive in Fiji three hours later where the skies are cloudy but its fairly warm and humid and go to our accomodation in Nadi (you don't fly into the capital Suva). We get a warm (literally - haha) welcome from everyone particularly at our hostel Smugglers Cove which is really nice (it has a piratey theme hence the name) which has fortunately got air conditioned dorms. We have a nice meal and enjoy some Fiji Gold Stubbies (ENG Translation: Fiji Lager bottled).

I think I'll leave that for now. I'm unsure whether to continue with the whole date thing, but it might work for Fiji. If anyone has a huge issue with my use of dates use the comments section to complain and we'll choose to ignore as appropriate!

So to bed for me shortly. It is strange to think that you lot are now enjoying the day before us (most of it while we sleep). We're also closer to home than ever before and there's an intangible sense of the denouement to our trip rushing up on us (hows that for some pyscho-analysis and use of big words!?) despite just over three weeks to go.

Anyway, on that reflective note take care all and speak soon!
Richard

The Rest of New Zealand remains copyright of the author teamnojob, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Chris

The Auckland Sky Tower remains copyright of the author teamnojob, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Can I first apologise that its taken so long to write up our New Zealand experiences, I don't know what our excuse is but its certainly not valid, so hopefully I'll make up for it now.

Secondly - a Happy Easter to one and all!

Right, to help keep this brief (theres lots to cram in) Chris has a suggested a day-by-day brief activity description so I'll give that a go!

This is the link for our Kiwi Experience South Island route, this will contain more info than this entry!
http://www.kiwiexperience.com/Default.aspx?DN=f4251fc8-be62-47e5-b9e8-f219a26fe600

Thu 22nd March - We arrive in Christchurch (Ch-Ch) at about 11:30pm, get a taxi and drive into the city to find our accomodation. We're struck by how much Ch-Ch looks like a British city/town on our way in, but then again it is dark. Its also cold!

Frid 23rd March - We get up early to join the Kiwi Experience bus tour. Our nights sleep wasn't the best and we generally have a poor view of our hostel at Base Backpackers because of this. We get on the Kiwi Experience minibus driven by a guy called Greg. We drive out of Ch-Ch and take a few walks in the southern Alps. We meet up with the big bus and our new driver Ginny (not that one!) and go to Westport where I (Rich) does Jetboating and Laura and Chris do Horse Trekking. In the evening we have a few drinks and a bonfire down on the beach where we can literally see millions of stars!

Sat 24th March - Our bus stops at various impressive natural stops, including Pancake Rocks (they look like a stack of pancakes) and we do several walks. In the afternoon we arrive in Mahinapua and do some shopping to get an outfit for our superhero themed pub night at the 'Poo Pub' in the middle of no-where, who's owner is 82 and who passes on his cold to half the bus. We rip off Captain Planet (for those of you who remember that) and go as Captain P!sshead and the P!ssheads with some mates on the bus, who have the power to give you a good time. Very lame but a good laugh and a good chance to get to know the other folks on the bus.

Sun 25th March - We go to the Bushman's Centre where we get a candid and amusing insight into deer hunting by helicopter and deer farming. We arrive in Franz Josef, home to the famous Franz Josef glacier.

Mon 26th March - We do a day Glacier Hike, we're all in the 2nd hardest team, so we have to straddle deep crevices of ice, swing around huge gaps on a rope and generally look like Sly Stallone in Cliffhanger (almost!). Very tiring but amazing views. By the end we're all pretty knackered and I have a cold off the old guy from that pub.

Tues 27th March - Mirror lakes in the morning, with views of the spectacular Mount Cook and Tasmin. We also drive past the Fox Glacier. In the afternoon we arrive in Wanaka, a picturesque township near a big lake surrounded by mountains. In the evening we go to the local cinema which has sofas and cushions instead of seats and you can order food for the intermission (which we do). We see Blood Diamond (My rating 3 and a half/5).

Wed 28th March - From Wanaka on to Queenstown (the action/adventure capital of NZ). We arrive at Kawarau Bridge for me to do my bungy jump on AJ Hackett's first bungy site (the others watch a video about bungy then observe other jumpers). Its a 43 metre jump and within five mins of arriving I'm leaping off the bridge. Amazing feeling and a great rush - showings of my bungy DVD will occur when I get home! We arrive in Queenstown and get a dorm room with all our mates from the bus, in order of name; Andy (from Kettering, knows of the A14 and Felixstowe!), Duncan (drunken Scot who falls asleep in bars!), Kirsten (American/Canadian, can do a British accent which is both good and bad at the same time), Mark and Peter (crazy drunk Irish guys who I quote Alan Partridge with). We have a Kiwi Exp night out in the evening where our driver Ginny buys us shots, we then go onto another bar which serves cocktails in teapots.

Thurs 29th March - Queenstown. Spent recovering. Chris has a breakfast burrito. I sleep a lot and then go for a walk in the afternoon. Despite its crazy activities, Queenstown has lovely scenery too. Laura discovers Ferg Burger, lovely giant burgers - yum!

Frid 30th March - Milford Sound day-trip with Andy and Kirsten. Long coach journey to see the Milford Sound river and giant gorges and cliffs - we're told it should be called Milford Fiord (because its created by glacier movement). Slightly ruined by poor weather, with cloud covering most of the high cliffs. We go to an Underwater Observatory which is good, a man-made coral reef which attracts lots of wildlife to a depth of 9 metres where they can observe stupid humans with cameras! Long day, particularly with 4/5 hour coach ride. Chris, Kirsten and me discover Ferg Burger too!

Sat 31st March - We get on the bus and head out of Queenstown, seeing Lake Pukaki which is fed by a glacier so is a gorgous blue. Good photo ops! We get dropped off in a place called Geraldine (with Kirsten and Andy who were stalking us by that point) to go White Water Rafting at Rangitata Rafting. We're left to our own devices in an amazing countryside lodge over night and with little to do, Andy introduces us to American tv show Heroes - we're hooked.

Sun 1st April - My attempt at April Fools fails as guy taking our payments for rafting forgets to tell Chris that his payment had gone through three times over and that theres nothing he can do! After lunch and some light hearted introductions into our kit we get on the bus looking fashionable in our gear and head out rafting. The river is fed by a glacier so is cold, and Chris decides to fall in on flat/calm water to our amusement. Our guides are Ben (shaggy man who bullies us!) and Chantelle (who had been on the job for four months and did a good job of ignoring Ben!). We go through the instructions (forward/back paddle, hang on!, get down and various steering instructions). We go through several grades of rapid, til we get to the big fat Grade 5 rapid (Grade 6 has a 95% chance of tipping boats so 5 is pretty hairy). We go first out of all the boats and manage to stay upright, although one doesn't and we pick up someone who lost her boat! We then swim down one small rapid, and Chris, Andy and I jump of a cliff into the glacier water below! We then paddle back and have a bbq. In the evening we head back to Ch-ch and have the worst KFC ever.

Mon 2nd April - With Andy now joining us on our driving trip of the North Island, Laura and him head up a gondola for scenic views, Chris and I do rental car window shopping. In the evening we go for a curry and then go for drinks with Mark and Peter who were a day behind us (having done the same rafting trip as us).

Tues 3rd April - After waiting for a shuttle bus which never came, we get dropped at our car rental place and pick up our white Nissan Pulsar which is an automatic. We race to Akaroa so Andy and Laura can swim with dolphins. Locky and me have fish and chips and walk around this lovely port town. We drive back to Ch-Ch, then onto Kaikoura and arrive about 9. We stay at the Albatross hostel which has pod bunk beds with curtains - I have my best nights sleep in NZ, possibly the whole trip!

Wed 4th April - Drive up to Blenheim and go on a wine tour (weather was rubbish so we had to do something indoors!). We go to the Montana Winery and do a tour of their buildings including free samples. We love their Sauvignon Blanc and buy a bottle. We then drive to Nelson as the weather steadily improves. Lovely town, and after chasing round trying to find a hostel we get to a nice one (name escapes me). We have a meal in their lovely bar and then try and sleep in a dorm with the loudest snorer in the world.

Thurs 5th April - Drive to Picton and board the InterIslander to the North Island and Wellington. Boat turns out to be an old P&O cruiser but that doesn't put us off. Takes about 3 hours. We arrive in Wellington and go hostel chasing again (it appears places get busy at Easter!). We end up in a YHA Hostel which is really nice, and we get a special offer curry for dinner (yum!).

Frid 6th April - Exploring Wellington, including nice harbour and dock areas, parliament and the Te Papa museum (all free!). Chris and I take the Wellington gondola up to more scenic views. Chris, Andy and I go and watch war movie 300 at the Embassy theatre (where the Lord of the Rings premier was held). A lovely cinema which used to be a theatre. Violence isn't Laura's thing, so she goes and watches Pan's Labyrinth. We have a drink and play some pool in the evening.

Sat 7th April - More Wellington in the morning (shopping in shops which were closed on Friday), then a supplies shop before we head out to the National Park at Tongariro (in the middle of nowhere). We arrive about 8.30pm having driven in the wrong direction for a bit.

Sun 8th April - Happy Easter! Whilst you're all relaxing getting fat eating chocolate, we do an arduous day walk across the volcanic peaks and crators. We scale Devil's Staircase, 40 minutes of climbing up and over rocks. We walk through giant crators, then up the other side for views of volcanic lakes and take in pungent sulphurous smells and steam clouds. A long day, with some amazing and changing scenery. We're all knackered and head out to Taupo where we go out for a celebratory meal and drink.

Mon 9th April - Its today! We're exploring Taupo which has a huge lake. The sun is shining and Andy is being mental and doing a sky dive. In the next few days we're heading onto Rotorua and then to Auckland. We fly out to Fiji on Friday.

If you have any questions about any of our activities leave us a comment and Laura and Chris can answer them (unless they're about bungy).

Hope everyone is well, we've certainly enjoyed New Zealand and would thoroughly recommend anyone with time and money to come out here.

Speak soon (dunno when, maybe Auckland if you're lucky!) - if not USA (we're going to remote Fijian Islands where theres no internet!).

Take care,
Rich

New Zealand - a whistle stop tour remains copyright of the author teamnojob, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Since we decided to put our flights back to New Zealand, so that we could have a bit more in time in Melbourne, we thought we would take full advantage of our extra time, and fill it with a bit of Neighbours mania (thanks to a bit of nagging by myself!)

On the monday night we all headed down to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, paid our slightly expensive admittance fee ($40) and waited for our 'Neighbours Night' experience to start!

On the poster in our hostel it said that the special guests that night would be Ryan Maloney (Toadie), Carla Bonner (Steph), Kyal Marsh (Boyd), and Dr Karl's band 'Waiting Room' would be playing afterwards. To be quite honest, we were a bit gutted as we had seen the line-up for the week before which was Toadie, Harold and Skye (much better) and I had already met Steph before in England. But to give the stars their credit - they were really worth the money!

At first everyone was just waiting around, with the dj stringing us along every few minutes, saying that they would be out in a minute. But eventually the time came, and we were all made to do a roudy rendition of the Neighbours theme tune. As we were at the back of the room, when Toadie, Steph and Boyd actually made it to the front we couldn't see a thing anyway! But there was no need to worry as we were all told quite firmly to sit down at our tables while the Trivia Quiz was in progress, and the stars would come round to us.

To be fair to the organisers, it was all planned very well and as the quiz was going on, sure enough Ryan Maloney got to our table and we all got a bit of a chat with him and all the photos we wanted. All I can say about him is - what a legend!! He was awesome and really up for a laugh.

Next up came Carla Bonner. I was slightly less impressed with her I have to say, although we still got loads of time to take photos, and the lads got a lovely picture of her in the middle of the two of them! But she seemed pretty dazed when I tried to talk to her. Maybe she was drunk, or just uncomfortable being in the public eye.

But the real star of the night, had to be Boyd! He really suprised me as at first I wasn't really bothered to see him - lets face it, his character isn't really the most interesting. But in real life he was a really sound guy. He even made the effort to introduce himself to everyone and find out their names and have a bit of a chat, which was very sweet. Plus he is WAY hotter in real life than on TV, which had to count for something!

Then after the trivia quiz, "Fletch" aka Karl Kennedy took the stage with his band, who were actually suprisingly good! Although I did sometimes feel like cringing as it was a bit like watching your dad dance at the disco (sorry Dad - you know I love your dancing! ;o) ). But you had to give it to him - he really put everything he had into the performance and the atmosphere was great!

After such a great night out, we decided we couldn't leave Melbourne without going on the famous 'Neighbours Tour'. So on the wednesday morning we were all picked up and taken first to the studios (originally called Grundy but I can't remember their new name) where they film the show. This was pretty cool as we got to see the set of grease monkeys and Lou's mechanics shop, and the famous bus stop where everyone seems to leave Neighbours from! Then as we were snapping away, who should walk around the corner but Alan Fletcher (Dr Karl) from the other night! We all got to take some photos with him and get an autograph or two and then we had a chat about the studios, the show, and any gossip we wanted to know about the coming months. I won't mention anything here as I know how annoying it is when people tell you gossip that is going to happen, before you watch it (Louise & Smolla!) but we found out A LOT!! And suffice to say Neighbours is still keeping up their tradition of ridiculously ludicrous storylines - awesome!

After we said goodbye to Fletch (he got called away to filming) we had a look at the school they use for Erinsborough High, and then headed down to Pin Oak road - otherwise known as Ramsey Street. We all got photos outside the different houses whilst the residents came and went (very strange) and the tour guide gave some background on the houses and who lived where etc. This guy was awesome and really knew his stuff. Unfortunately we were travelling on the second bus and so inbetween stops we got an extremely vague commentary from our driver - who I think had only heard of Neighbours that day - which consisted of phrases like "Yeh, that road was used in a scene where a dog got run over by that dude who was married to that blonde girl...err...don't you remember?".

Anyway despite the appalling bus driver, the tour was really good and it was pretty cool to actually be standing outside the houses that you had been watching on TV since you were a kid. Plus we got tonnes of information about what is going to happen in the future, and were able to reminisce about the good old days of Brad and Todd, with the guide who actually had watched the show at least twice in his life!

Anyway, I had better stop rambling about it, as I do get a bit excited about the whole Neighbours experience and you are probably all bored out of your minds! But a great day was had by all :o)

Take care, and I promise not to mention Neighbours again until I get back!

Laura x

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Just thought I'd post a quick blog (if thats possible) to let you know the sporty side to our stay in Melbourne.

On our first proper day in Melbourne all three of us took in our first Aussie Rules Football experience, and what a different experience it is. Melbourne, like Sydney, has a Telstra Dome Stadium (Telstra is a sponsor by the way) which was the venue for the pre-season NAB Cup between the teams in the AFL (Aussie Football League) culminating in this cup final. Fortunately for Melbourne one of the many local sides Carlton had made the final along with Queensland's Brisbane Lions.

The game had all sorts of pre-match fun, plenty of banter, then the kick off which included running through team banners and team songs (very cheesy). The game itself is pretty difficult to explain in a brief blog, but there were four refs and two goal refs, lots of players and lots of posts (scoring between or outside them scores you different points). The game is faster flowing than British football, and was certainly more rough (high tackles!) and higher scoring (the difference between the two teams was about 30 by full-time). The whole occasion felt more like a American Football match really but without the padding and complicated defence/offence stuff.

The next day was Sunday - and in Melbourne that meant Formula 1. Both Chris and I decided to brave the high prices (for backpackers anyway, for any Silverstone regulars you'd probably be shocked!). The Australian GP is big news in Australia, and Melbourne is particularly proud to have it over Sydney! The build-up was all over Aussie TV, but once you get down to Albert Park and see the whole event for yourself you can see why it gets so much attention.

Once we got into the track, we found ourselves a position near a corner on a hill, so the cars would be going fairly slowly when they went past. Unfortunately we had a large gravel trap in front of where we were looking, as well as the debris fence, but it wasn't too bad. Before the actual race we had Australian Car Racing which is an up and coming sport over here. Then we had the Porsche Carrera racers having a non-points race to demonstrate their sport to the crowd.

After that I decided to explore the mass of extra events and displays going on at Albert Park which included all kinds of bars (one with live music) and food places, an F1 Expo (including PS3 F1 demo game), F1 shops and an alley of chav cars lined up away from one straight behind a hill (plenty of suped up Hondas and Hummers). The final pre-race was some Aussie celebs in BMW 3 series cars, and they did quite well to not crash, apart from one guy who clipped the wall on his final corner!

Before the race a Qantas Boeing-747 diverted from Melbourne Airport on its way to London to do a 1000 foot fly past, and a F-18 Jet did some stunts. Then the race began. The noise and speed of the cars eclipsed anything we'd seen prior to the start - we were half way round the track along way away from the start line but you could hear the cars start up over the other side of the park even with ear plugs on (which were necessary to avoid damage!).

The cars just zoomed past compared to what we'd seen before. You could just about tell the cars apart (drivers was slightly more difficult), the Ferrari's just stand out from the rest of the rich red colour, and it was Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari that led the way pretty much from start to finish, despite the best efforts of the Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso of McLaren.

After the GP had finished, we were shocked/surprised to be let onto the track, so we walked all the way round to the start/finish line and the pits which were crowded by the time we got there. There was also a free gig laid on, the band playing were New Zealand rockers Evermore who are taking Australia by storm currently.

On Monday we had a day of rest from sport and did some cultural things which unsurprisingly escape my simple brain. On Tuesday however, I managed to convince Chris to join me on a tour of Melbourne's Eiffel Tower/Statue of Liberty (according to a quote on the promo flyer) the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). Despite being slightly anxious of some sledging after England's humiliating Ashes tour (slightly rectified by some one day wins following that) we made our way in.

If you've (assuming its only sports fans who are reading by this point!) been to places like the Nou Camp in Barcelona, or Wembley before it was knocked down, you can tell that a place has a certain history of sport and events. The MCG had a revamp a couple of years back but is still hugely impressive, capable of housing 100,000 people for either Cricket or Aussie rules.

We were given a tour by a Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) member who was very enthusiastic and really informative. We went out on the pitch, in the dressing rooms, up in the posh Member's areas, up in the highest seat and ended up in the MCC Cricket Museum, which catalogues important moments in Melbourne and Australian Cricket and the goings on at the MCG.

Our final sporting moment was taking in some swimming at the FINA World Swimming Championships at the Rod Laver Arena (where the Australian Open Tennis happens). Despite not knowing much about how swimming events work (other that lengths happen), it was a bit of a shock when Laura and Chris said it was a Synchronised Swimming Final, which I know even less about. Laura and I tried to outguess the judges, failing miserably - and in the end the event was won by Russia (who apparently win everything), followed by Japan and Spain.

I hope this blog gives you an insight into how busy you can make yourself in Melbourne. If you enjoy any kind of social activity, sport, theatre, music, drinking, Melbourne can cater for you. For a sports idiot like me, Melbourne more than catered for the sport deficiency left by not watching football back home (probably for the best). Australia even has an up-and-coming soccer league so they'll soon have the full set!

Assuming no-one else does another blog in the next few days, we've arrived in New Zealand. The Kiwi Experience bus tour has kept us insanely busy!! We're currently in a place called Wanaka and hopefully one of us will bring you up to speed soon! For those who have been made aware, my bungy jump is in the next couple of days!!!

Hi to all!
Rich

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Half way between Sydney and Melbourne is Canberra, an interesting place in that there isn't much to see or do there and there seems very little point for the place other than it was a purpose built capital when nobody could agree on either Melbourne or Sydney. We did actually find something worth going to see. The Museum of Australia which had very interesting exhibits about the Australian land and it's people. Other than that there is nothing too complimentary I can say about Canberra, it's just full of parks and confusing road systems.

We bypassed Melbourne when we reached it and headed out onto the Great Ocean Road which I have to describe as one of the most challenging drives i've ever done. I have never seen so many tight corners on steep hills on a small stretch of road as I did there. I think for about an hour and a half driving I managed 45km! The views are spectacular however and the sea is perfectly clear and blue (freezing too by the way). We managed to drive almost the entire length of the road stopping along the way to view some of the more interesting natural features along the way. The 12 apostles is probably the best known of these, twelve sandstone pillars jutting out of the sea.

I'm going to stop here and let somebody else have a go with blog writing. You can expect another blog from Laura on the parts of Melbourne that she went to see without me and Rich and you'll get a sporting update from Rich about the week of sport that we've just been to see. Aussie Rules Football, Formula 1, a tour round the MCG and yes World Championship Syncronised swimming!! I bet you didn't guess the last one!!

Chris

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I guess I should start back with Sydney. That seems such a long time ago now but it was only a week! Rich started things off pretty well with telling you what was going on but i'll finnish things off with the highlights of the rest of our stay there. After a couple of days living in the van in a national park in the outskirts we moved into a hostel for a couple of days to be closer to the city at night. That in itself was a challange as although the hostel had offered free parking the van was too tall to get into the carpark so we pretty much had to empty it and park it down a side street a 3km away and hope it was going to be there when we came back to it.

I think the highlight for us was our first night staying in the middle of Sydney. We decided on a trip to the opera!! For me this was the first time i've ever seen an opera and I guess there is no better place than to see it at the Sydney Opera House. We had heard there was a student offer of top price seats for cheap prices if you turned up half an hour before the performance. So off we went in our best t-shirts and cargo trousers (I felt so out of place!!!) and managed to pick up 3 top price tickets bang in the middle in the 3rd row of the circle for $50 each. The full value of each ticket was $250 and that is certainly what the very well dressed people next to me had paid. The opera was a tad long at 4 hours but very enjoyable. The set was amazing and the drama was very well done too.

We of course ticked all the boxes for tourist activities in Sydney. We took a trip up the Sydney tower wich does as promised offer some spectacular views over the city. The ticket comes with a rather random simulator tour of Australia with it. We also took a trip down to Darling Harbour which is the location of the Sydney Aquarium. I have been to a few aquariums, and this was certainly one of the better ones. It had huge oceanariums moored in the harbour which contained a huge number of sharks and other sea life which you could see from seabed level by walking through glass tunnels. After the Aquarium darling harbour is a perfect place to have some dinner on the promenade round the harbour which offers a perfect view of central Sydney lit up at night.

Well there is obviously more I could say about the place but I think i'll keep this one short. We realise we're a little behind on the photo front at the moment but we've come up against computers that don't allow you to upload anything so that'll have to wait until we get to New Zealand. Apologies for that!!

Chris

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I think I fell in love with this place at first sight. It is the complete aussie version of our english sea-side town, but without the tacky promenade, the falling down pier and row after row of chip shop, candy floss stand, ice cream van... plus it is on the east coast of Australia so it is hot, sunny and the surf is good!

Obviously the first thing you notice here is the beautiful beach and rather large waves! But then you look back to the shore and realise that something is missing from this picture - where are the skyscraper hilton hotels that we are used to, and the many other unsightly features of a beach resort? Byron has none of them. It is more or less untouched by tourism apart from the odd 'bucket and spade' type shops flogging a bit of Byron merchandise. As you walk down the main street the other thing that strikes you is how laid back the place is. It is a magnet for surfer dudes and beach babes, everyone is really friendly, and it is the perfect place to totally chill out.

As we drove down the main streets of Byron, I realised that this was the place to splash out in the shopping department, so first thing Saturday morning (after a hearty breakfast at a local cafe) I left the guys to more manly things, and hit the abundance of surfer and hippy shops lining the high street.

In the afternoon, after I had exhausted my bank account for the day, me and Chris decided to hire body boards for an hour while Rich took a walk up to the lighthouse.

Body boarding to my delight was a lot of fun - you could spend ages getting frustrated waiting for the right wave to catch, and not going anywhere, when suddenly you are on your board and being rushed all the way to (and sometimes up!) the beach at what feels like a phenomenal speed. Suddenly you forget your earlier struggles and frustrations and jump straight back in the water to do it again!

Unfortunately, the sights of Sydney were calling us and we had to leave on Sunday morning, but not before we took a short trip to the famous Byron market. I had a browse of the stalls for a while, and then stumbled upon a crowd of people watching a one-man-band, a guy calling himself Juzzie Smith. This guy was amazing. Not only was he playing the guitar, harmonica, and vocals, but he also had a digerido to his right, a drum between his knees, some bells, and weird drum synthesiser thingy (i'm sure Rich could give me the real name but he is not here at the moment) that he kept hitting his left foot with!! Having not bought anything at the other stalls, I decided to splash out and buy his album, as apparently he was raising money to help his friend who was trying to save the Tasmanian forest. It was definitely worth the money. If only we had a cd player in our campervan and then I could actually play it!

From a very chiiiiiiillled out...

Laura x x x

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Its been a while since our last blog, and seeing as we're now in a hostel (out of the van at last - albeit for a couple of days!!) and have free internet its much easier.

When I spoke to you all last we were in the fine Queensland city of Brisbane. In the end we didn't stick around there that long, but long enough for me to get a bit of exploring in. Whilst Brisbane doesn't have the noteriety of Sydney, Melbourne or Perth, I found it to be a really nice compact Aussie city, with plenty of culture and some really nice sights.

On our main day spent there (after Australia Zoo), I was flying solo in the morning and after meeting up for lunch, again in the afternoon so I'll take on the responsibility for representing my view on Brisbane. The Museum of Brisbane (MoB) was my first port of call, and despite its title, there wasn't a great deal in there (that I could see). The MoB is actually housed in the city hall, and as you go in to the right was a gallery, to the left was some museum exhibits (which were closed) and upstairs was the city hall chambers (which were appeared unlocked when I ventured up there accidentally).

The gallery was showing off some local photography of Brisbane and general Australian life. It was quite good really, with some kind of competition going on between different categories and with special recommendation photos from the judges etc. The other exhibition was a bit of a disappointment, because as I said above they'd closed it off. The only thing remaining was another art exhibition, this time from a local artist. To be honest I didn't really get what it was about, with her paintings trying to symbolise random inhalations of breath and unique moments in time, whilst looking very similar in my opinion. All quite strange really.

Later on I crossed over the Brisbane River to the cultural hub of the city which includes art galleries (my next stop), concert halls, college buildings and convention centres etc. I was looking for the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art (which is free entry like the MoB). This was a vast building with all kinds of art medium (paint, video, audio, sculpture etc) and artists from the local area, country-wide and from all over the world.

Modern Art is a tricky thing to try and analyse (and I'm far too dumb to start), but I saw some interesting stuff lets say, including several videos which were rather strange. There was some political pop art which was quite cool and some older bits which were good. There was even a water feature. But before I go down the route of becoming an art critic (which I'm not), I decided to leave and sit out in the sun for the rest of the afternoon by the river.

After visiting Brisbane I thought of it in many ways as like a smaller version of London. With its massive river running through the middle, of which many things sit near and are based by, and with the vibrant cultures of the city centre (whilst we were in the city there was an audio play going on right in the middle of the shopping area) and in the outer suburbs, there is plenty to do there. It just suffers from a lack of being a Sydney or Melbourne. Whilst its nice and clean and building itself up - theres just not quite enough to rival the other Australian cities...yet.

After Brisbane we continued on our way down the coast to Byron Bay and over the Queensland - New South Wales border (and bizarrely an hour ahead of GMT). At this point I'll hand over to Laura (whose not here but has promised to write up on this to discuss) as she fell in love with Bryon whilst we were there.

After Byron came Port Macquarie, similar in size to Hervey Bay, but slightly different in that it wasn't really a major beach resort (there was one somewhere I think). We'll remember Port (as its apparently known locally) for its spiders and its sea kayaking. Our camp sight at Port was quite nice really, and very competitively priced. But it was home to a massive assortment of spiders which really unsettled us walking around at night. Laura had bought a book of Australian Wildlife which means that we half a vague idea what we're up against, but it just makes us even more scared! The spiders were literally hanging off anything that was physically capable of being hung off as we walked around. Just think of the film Arachnophobia (sp?)

In the morning, having survived the spiders we decided to do some some sea kayaking, and eventually managed to hire three single person kayaks at the local quay. I hadn't kayaked before, I think Laura had once or twice, and anyone who knows Chris knows that he's a rower (which is pretty much the same thing). I found the main problem to be having nothing to sit against other than the little bump in the boat to sit in - therefore the tops of my legs and my lower back to the strain and despite what you may think my arms were fine. We paddled our way at various different speeds and capabilities round a natural island at the Port, which was a preserved nature park, home to pelicans, many other birds, and also a few dolphins who popped up when a local tourist catamaran went past. The kayaking was an experience lets say, and it left a lasting impression on my as I forgot to protect my legs from the sun (BIG mistake!).

After Port, came the second major stop (city stop anyway) in our Australian trek - Sydney.

I was again lucky enough to be driving as we came into Sydney and the most unbelievable thunderstorm and rainstorm I've ever seen. We literally had about 10cm of surface water in about two minutes on the roads and 5 metres of visibilty during the rains, whilst the lightning lit up the sky above!

Eventually we made it into the suburbs and the next challenge was finding our camp site which took us about 20 minutes. It was a relief when we pitched up (although it was the most expensive site of the trip so far) and got something to eat.

The next day was all about sight-seeing. We got ourselves a week's travel card for bus, train and ferry and made our way into the city. We got off at Circular Quay which anyone who's been to Sydney will know is the station right at the waterside where the Opera House sits, and with a great view of the immense Harbour Bridge. We stayed around there for most of the morning. We took loads of photos of the Opera House and the Bridge then got something to drink and headed to the Museum of Sydney. On the way however, we got stopped by a British street performer, who was doing amazing stunts and tricks. The guy was quite good (he dropped whilst juggling a few times but it was windy) considering he was juggling knives on a bike whilst circling a handful of (un)lucky people from the crowd on the frame of the bike. After that he juggled a knife, fire and an apple whilst balancing on the frame of his bike....up a 22-foot pole. The guy was really good, and bantered with the crowd and any passer by lucky enough to be in his field of vision.

After giving the performer our dinner money we went on to the Museum of Sydney, which shows how the first penal colony was build up by the British and how that settlement became Sydney. It then had a massive exhibit on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and its impact on the city and how it came to be. It was actually really interesting stuff, particularly the film they had put together about the bridge.

After that we walked round Sydney more, going out to the Rocks and the oldest residence in Sydney (Caddick's Cottage I think - will check for next time) and up to the hill where the Sydney Observatory sits for some fine views of the city, particularly the Harbour Bridge which by now had been photoed at many angles by us three.

I'm running out of time unfortunately. The first half of this blog was written last Friday, and some more on Saturday, but because we don't have good access to the internet (the second half of this blog wasn't free as I wrote at the start) its very difficult to give the blog the time it deserves. I'll bring you all up to speed of all that went on in Sydney when we get to Melbourne I hope. On Saturday we finally say goodbye (or good riddens) to the van, and we're in hostels which should make life easier. Latest news is that we're staying longer in Melbourne to give us time to do the Great Ocean Road and to actually visit the city itself. Then off to New Zealand!

Yours in suspense,
Rich/Woodie

P.S You may have noticed that Locky is being referred to as Chris, and as I'm writing and don't talk about myself in the third person, I'll be referred to as Rich(ard). This is a long complicated story but is mainly cos Laura hasn't got a nickname and that we don't introduce ourselves as Woodie or Locky (or I don't) - so for blog purposes we'll be Richard and Chris respectively - sorry for confusion!

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2. Eating frogs legs

3. Squatting into a hole in the ground to pee (only Laura!)

4. Going through immigration at a train station

5. Getting the first of many stamps on our passport (exc. Chris)

6. Riding in a Tuk-Tuk and surviving

7. Eating from a street vendor (and not seeing it again later!)

8. Eating sweetcorn ice-cream - yes, it is as gross as it sounds

9. Travelling on a Catermaran at 30 mph in choppy seas....

10. Feeling sea-sick!!

11. Being an ethnic minority

12. Discovering 'BodyGlove' and its relative cheapness in Malaysia

13. Going on a curved escalator (shopping centre in Singapore)

14. Driving a scooter through rush-hour traffic and surviving

15. Travelling first class

16. Trying the local alcohol - Singha beer and Sangsom rum

17. Eating a greasy English fry-up in 30 degree heat

18. Going to an Imax movie (for Laura)

19. A foreign country having English plug sockets (Malaysia)

20. Learning two Thai words (in two weeks that doesn't seem that impressive, but it is a very hard language!)

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Today I'm blog writing from the central business district of our first major Aussie city, Brisbane.

I'm loving Brisbane and we've only really walked around so far! But its exactly what I hoped Australian cities would be like. We've got a lot of soaring new buildings, lots of culture, lots of beer and the sun is shining.

Since our last blog we visited Townsville, which was quite a nice little place. As well as accidentally spending $25 on the internet whilst writing that last blog (annoyingling short story but I'll spare you), and getting absolutely soaked in a tropical shower walking back to the van (just me again actually) - we also took in the Museum of Tropical Queensland, which is a really impressive visit.

As well as introducing the fundamentals of tropical life in the area (e.g. exhibits on how coral reefs are formed and other local geological and ecological issues) there was a really impressive area dedicated to the HMS Pandora, the ship that tried and failed to track down the mutinous HMS Bounty crew and the tragedy that occured as they tried to return home.

After Townsville, we continued down the coast stopping at a free camp site over night just beyond a place called Mackay and then in the morning got to Rockhampton (the cow place I talked about last time). This was a major disappointment, built up to be a great place in the lonely planet book, most of the recommended stops were closed down or just closed (It seems that weekend is for sport only down under - and rightly so if you ask me!). Laura and I had the obligatory steak in Rockhampton which was competitively priced but not outstanding, and after a few hours we decided to continue on our way.

Our next stop was a town called Bundaberg, which is home to the famous (over here) Bundaberg rum which we tried accidentally in a Cairns bar, pre-mixed with Cola. One of the main reasons of getting to to Bundaberg was that there is a nearby beach at a place called Bargara where sea turtles come to lay their eggs which then hatch and the newborn then make their way to the sea and freedom (we were in midseason for that). We were all looking forward to this prospect and made our way out there only to be greeted with a sign saying "fully booked" and that we should have sorted our tickets in advance - again Lonely Planet had let us down with the suggestion that turning up an hour early should suffice. We then realised that our book was a couple of years out of date which may explain our problems and got back in the van and back to Bundaberg.

On getting back we enjoyed our first dirty food of the trip at a Hungry Jacks (the Aussie version of Burger King) and went to the little cinema (Bundaberg isn't the cultural hub of Queensland unfortunately) for evening entertainment (the film was The Good Shepherd - its ok but v long. Go and see Hot Fuzz instead).

Next day we were greeted with big blue skies and scorching sun, so headed to the sea front where Locky and Laura were after some snorkeling with the gear they bought in Thailand. Unfortunately despite the apparent clement conditions the wind was swirling up the sea so that the currents would bring any swimmer back onto the rocks, so that idea was quickly abandoned. Instead we continued driving down to a place callled Hervey Bay, again on the coast, but with a more relaxed sea. We found a campsite eventually (the opening hours of these places is unbelievably inconvenient at least for us camping rookies), it was a nice little place actually despite them apparently still celebrating Christmas (photos will explain that) with an extremely helpful manageress too. Our main aim for our time in Hervey Bay was to book a trip to Fraser Island but more of that later.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating fish and chips (Calamari and Chips for me) and then on the beach in the sun or paddling in the sea.

The next day we had our trip to Fraser Island, which was a real treat. Our driver for the day was a long goateed guy called Colin, who was quickly established in our eyes as probably the greatest driver and tour guide in the world. Fraser Island is the largest natural sand island in the world just off the East Coast, which amazingly supports reams of life including a rainforrest (the only sand based rain forest in the world) and several natural spring lakes. Our day trip was spent on an off-road 4x4 coach, skidding round corners, narrowly avoiding massive trees and huge drops.

Whilst we held on for dear life, our calm driver, reamed off an encyclopaedic knowledge of the island (its Aboriginal past, details about the wildlife, the history etc). The day tour included several activities: walking through the Fraser Island rain forest, an Aussie buffet lunch, visiting the wreck of a ship called the Maheno and seeing the coloured sands on the beach, paddling up Eli Creek a natural freshwater creek off the beach and swimming/paddling in a freshwater lake called Garawongera which possesses mysterious skin and precious stone rejuvinating properties. The island is a marvel and really worth a visit if you're ever in the area. Our trip was with the Fraser Island Company (see URL) and if you can ask for a tour guide ask for Colin - his knowledge is amazing! We even saw a pure breed Dingo at the end of the day! http://www.fraserislandco.com.au/

Next day we made our way down to Brisbane, eventually arriving in the early afternoon. Having eventually found some parking (it literally took 20 minutes to find somewhere which wasn't height restricted to park) we did some initial wandering around to find a tourist information centre so we could find out what to do in Brisbane.

In the evening we headed back out of the city to another campsite in preparation for Australia Zoo which was our itinery for the next day.

Australia Zoo is one of a kind. Since his tragic death last year there are sentiments of Steve Irwin everywhere (obviously). You drive down Steve Irwin Way to get to the Zoo near a place called Beerwah outside Brisbane. Then when you get there its like he's never been gone with his energetic and always over the top expression welcoming you on posters all round the Zoo. Only when you get a reference to the great man in a display commentary is he referred to in the past tense. The gift shop was more of a shrine with Steve Irwin merchandise of all kinds available to buy. The overriding sense is what a legend the guy was in Oz, and how important he is to Austrailian wildlife.

The Zoo is just amazing, just as we expected it with open pens, no bars and very much hands on. I could be here all day describing everything, but we took in an hour long show starting with a surprise appearance by the Irwin ladies Terri and Bindi (receiving a cheque for the Irwin wildlife charity 'Wildlife Warriors'). The show displayed snakes of all kinds, tropical and native birds, and of course the Crocs! We got up close an personal with a python in a official photo (which will no doubt find its way online soon) and petted a Koala (they aren't bears by the way!). We fed Kangeroos, elephants and watched the keepers take a cheetah for a walk.

We had a really great day, and we'll try and get some photos online soon (how many times have I said that now!?) to show you how great it was.

Today (March 1st) we're back in Brisbane, in a central camp site so we can explore the city over the next couple of days - starting from when I leave this internet place.

So don't delay me any longer you lot - I'll speak to you soon!

Cheers,
Woodie

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Its been about a week since our last update so I thought I'd take some time out to let you know our progress.

When Locky did the last blog we'd been in Cairns a few days and hadn't really done much. Last Friday we went on a bar hop around Cairns (to be honest you're in Cairns either to see the reef or to drink) taking in a handful of bars/clubs with some other backpackers, playing silly games along the way. To be honest it was a little weird for us, but we had a good night nonetheless and the next day was spent recovering by the pool or in bed.

On Sunday we finally got on the reef, choosing to use our new PADI Open Water dive certifications for the first time. We chose a company called Tusa, who, for $235 (about 120 quid) took us out to the outer reef, gave us drinks and meals, provided our gear and then gave us a guide to take us around underwater. We went for two dives with our guide Al and it was amazing - although we did use our air up quite quickly restricting our time down there.

The first thing you notice is that the reef is just massive down there - absolutely huge! Then you notice the wildlife, we saw all kinds of fishes, organisms and coral formations. Unfortunately we saw no sharks or jellyfish (probably more fortunate actually!) but we did see plenty of smaller fishes like Angel fish, Bannerfish etc.

The Tusa photographer shot around taking our photos too and prompted us to grab onto the reef for a few (which we were a little surprised by but did what he and the guide showed us to do) and you can see some of those in the gallery. We also got to hold sea cucumbers and other marine materials lying around which was unexpected as we had been taught to leave the seabed alone and not touch but I suppose they're experienced enough to know what they're doing.

The next day we picked up our campervan, which will be our transport and accomodation down the East coast for the next few weeks (photo to follow). Due to a booking mishap we actually picked it up a day early but it wasn't a problem and we were quickly on our way around Cairns in our customised Toyota Hi-ace van (see the weblink for the company info on our van - http://www.travellers-autobarn.com/new-design2/rentals-campervans.shtml.

I was the fortunate soul to have first go and successfully kept us alive around Cairns. After acquiring supplies we decided to go North first and take in Cape Tribulation, a famous area of rainforest and coast line. The roads were extremely winding and hilly (Locky was in the driving seat by this point) and even had floodways and causeways with centimetres of fast flowing water going over them to cross! But eventually we got up to Cape Trip, stopping at a famous Ice Cream shop for a quick snack (where we saw our biggest spider so far - photos to follow!).

Then onto our first camp site which surprised us regarding the price. What we hadn't thought about was the extras of campervanning, you assume that the van is powered and has water, but you also have to remember that they have to come from somewhere so you need power to charge the battery and to power some appliances, and every now and then we need to top up our water tank. We have a little stove and sink but not much space to cook - and we also need to clean ourselves, and as campsites provide all this for us you start to see that camp sites are quite important!

Our first night was $40 in a middle-of-nowhere site in the forest. It was ok actually, although there were plenty of tropical rain showers which made life a bit difficult. The humidity is also a problem as it gets hot in the van so the first nights sleep was a bit of a culture shock, particularly for Laura who is effectively in the roof of the main part of the van which is the noisiest when it rains and is a little precarious.

After a stressful(ish) first night, we came back through Cape Trip, and back into Cairns, stopping at the Daintree River for a wildlife ferry trip to try and spot some crocs! Unfortunately the weather was very tropical again with rain, but with our enthusiastic guide Scott making good conversation and informing us about the local wildlife it was extremely interesting and a good laugh. It was just us three on the boat (its low season at the moment tourist-wise) so it was very specific to us and although we saw no crocs (just floating logs that looked like them) we had a really good time.

After that we drove back to Cairns (stopping somewhere I think, but I can't remember and the other two aren't here to ask!! I'll leave a gap here just in case we did something - I think we might have stopped at the Mossman Gauge but I'll confirm for next time).

After getting back to Cairns late, we missed out on campsites (who close stupidly early, times like 7pm) so we had to find somewhere to stop and eat. Our destination was a Retail Park in Cairns. Once there Laura cooked us dinner and we stayed there for a bit before making our way to a quiet street to park up for the night. This was a very weird experience, particularly eating our risotto dinner in view of the local McDonalds. Despite the lack of facilities (we did briefly use McDonald's toilets) the night wasn't too bad and was very, very cheap!!!

After our first night on the road, we made our way out of Cairns for the last time and journeyed south to take in some waterfalls and mountainous scenery in the hills. We headed towards a place called Malandra, where there was a circuit drive with three waterfalls (Millaa Millaa, Zillie and Ellinjaa falls). Unfortunately the tropical rain made it difficult to enjoy them, but they were each spectacular in their own ways and we have photos which will be uploaded at some point.

After the falls we stopped at another Nature reserve to go for our first rainforest walk which turned out to be quite a mission. The ground was largely sodden underfoot from the earlier rain which made the walk trecherous. We also had to descend in careful zigzagging pathways cut into the landscape over roots, rocks, streams and mud. Along the way we got to know the local wildlife including massive ants, dragon flys, flying bugs, midgies and the various calls from the birds in the trees (no sign of tree kangaroos or large animals here I'm afraid). When we eventually got to the bottom there was a sodden grass lookout over the mountains and rivers below which was quite spectacular and worth the long, sweaty walk down. Whether it meritted the long sweaty walk back up I don't know but we'll upload photos to view soon.

After driving further south through unbelievable rain storms we eventually got to our stop last night which was a small town called Tully. Again we got a site spot (for $11 each) and enjoyed the facilities we had missed out on the night before having parked at Maccy D's! This town was only a stopping point as we made our way further south, and it there wasn't really much to write about either (i.e. not the nicest place in the world but it did the job).

This morning Laura took the wheel as we started trying to eat up the thousands of kilometres down to our final stop Melbourne. We are currently in a place called Townsville, which seems nice enough. Apparently there are museums and walks we can do so I expect we'll take in a few touristy things before we leave (which will probably be tomorrow).

The plan at the moment is to head to Brisbane before too long (maybe by the weekend), stopping at a couple of places en route, maybe Rockhampton ("Australia's cow capital" as Locky's book calls it) and the Fraser Islands, before getting to Brisbane which should have a lot more to amuse us (including Australia Zoo).

Apologies for the huge blog entry, I hope you understand the reasons for it. Unfortunately not hostelling means we don't get a huge amount of internet time, and we know how much you lot love reading about us in our tropical climates (it has been overcast and raining the last few days if that makes you feel better!). We'll try and get some photos up next time, and hopefully the next entry won't be so ridiculously long!

Hope you're all doing well!

Cheers
Woodie

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I thought i'd just write a quick blog to say we made it to Australia. (GMT +10 for anybody who wants to know), fairly interesting trip across from Singapore complete with no sleep and customs problems.

Singapore airport is impressively large, you get access to both terminals once you've passed through immigration although the second of the 2 is a 15 minute walk away down moving walkways. We were very early for our flight though had time to explore a bit.

Now anybody who's flown Ryanair or Easyjet will know how uncomfortable those seats get after a while. Originally our flight was supposed to be opperated by Qantas but a few months ago it got changed to its budget subsiduary JetStar. JetStar is exaclty like Easyjet. Small seats, no legroom and no entertainment, perfect for a flight of just over 7 hours. Actually I can't complain about it that much, because we got to the airport before check-in opened we were first in the queue and managed to get emergency exit row seats, lovely lovely legroom!! And they even provided in flight meals for free which i wasn't expecting.

Our first experience of Australia was the flights first stop in Darwin at 4:30am. Nobody was allowed to stay on the plane and everybody had to take all their bags off, go through security again and then wait for an hour to get back on the plane. I don't think anybody was particulalry cheerful at that particular point.

Entry into Australia proper in Cairns was a fairly lengthy process. First immigration which we passed through smoothly, followed immediately by further questions from another immigration official after our passports had been stamped. Sniffer dogs checked our bags, further questions by a 3rd immigration officer asking the same questions about who we were and where we had come from and then finally customs. We joined the queue expecting to just have our bags scanned at quarantine (they are very strict about what you can bring in that might contain bugs or seeds) but that wasn't to be. We were all pulled in by customs, asked to individually identify our bags and had our passports taken away to be checked. I guess because we had come from Asia that they were looking for drugs. They did a pretty thorough hand search of all our bags [Hi - Woodie here. At this point I would like to add that my bag wasn't checked, so I just sat back and chatted with an immigration guy about Cairns, looking pretty smug!] but giving them some credit they were always nice about it and actually engaged us in conversation during the whole process. Other countries should learn about that one!

Well we've been in Cairns for a couple of days now. We actually haven't done that much. Just been wandering and realising quite how easy it is for money to disappear. We're intending to go diving tomorrow so I expect next blog after that. We're taking the underwater cameras this time so we'll try and get a few pictures.

Right, well best not waste the sunshine, i'm off for a swim!

Chris

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We are coming to the end of our fleeting visit to Singapore today so I thought I would update you all on what we have been up to.

Singapore - and I think we all agree - is probably the best city that we have visited so far on this trip. At first I thought that it would be just another dirty city with lots of skyscrapers and not much else. But Singapore has really suprised me. It has a very multiculural society and more importantly, all the cultures live in harmony beside one another. The atmosphere here is friendly and relaxed, the big skyscrapers are not so much an eyesore as a well thought out archetectural landscape, and with lots of parks, trees, and plants lining the roads, you can almost forget the hustle and bustle of normal city life. But most of all, my favourite thing about this city is that it is CLEAN - a somewhat alien concept to us recently!

The hostel we are staying in is very helpful and friendly and has a real travellers vibe about it (Sleepy Sam's, if anyone is planning on visiting soon), and it is nestled on a pedestrianised street in the heart of Little India - Woodie is finally getting his long sought after curries!

Yesterday (Tuesday) we all decided to go to the shopping malls dedicated to electrical goods. After browsing all the floors and trying out (although very unsucessfully!) our haggling skills, the one person that actually came out of there with a purchase was me! Bet you all didn't see that one coming! So I am now the proud owner of a Nintendo Gameboy Micro, only available in South East Asia on limited edition - it is very cute.

Once in the city centre we visited a kind of exhibition where the government has planned out the development in Singapore for the next 30 years! It is actually quite interesting to see, and they have even made a wooden small scale model of Singapore with all the changes in place.

Still feeling the cultural vibe, we decided to take a look in the Asian Civilisations Museum. We were ushered on a guided tour with a very hyperactive and enthusiastic tour guide, called Susan from New York - you can imagine the type!! - which provided us with much amusement when she called an Argentinian couple Spanish, and thought that a guy from Holland and a lady from Norway were from the same country! Despite this fact, the tour was actually very interesting, taking us through the different parts of Asia and explaining the origins of their societies, and of ancient civilisations. It was definitely worth the $4 student ticket (god bless IYTC cards!) that we paid.

Although our time here in Singapore has been short we have all enjoyed ourselves and I wish in a way that we could've had a few more days to look around. But alas, our flight to Cairns leaves at 10pm tonight to start the next leg of our journey. So I am allowed to be unleashed in the shopping heaven that is Orchard Street for the rest of the day, before we make our way to Changi airport (a shopping experience in itself, I am told) to abuse the duty free.

Hope you are all well at home, and are looking forward to the next installment from Woodie, of our time in Cairns.

Lots of Love

Laura x x

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So it's back round to my turn to write some blog.

We're just coming to the end of an interesting few days in Kuala Lumpur. The first thing I should say about it is that it is scorching here at the moment. It's hitting about 35 degrees in the heat of the afternoon which in the middle of a big city is a little bit more than is pleasant.

It's a very strange city actually. There are massive sky scrapers everywhere but then the city is actually very very green. There are still more trees than there are buildings and there is acutally a patch of forrest right in the middle of the city that is being preserved. We've spotted wild monkeys crossing the road and heading up into the trees and plenty of birds and insects. There are signs up when you enter the forrest warning you to be careful of the snakes and the scorpions. It's refreshing to see that a big city is actually taking care of it's wildlife and parkland and not bulldozing everything in sight.

We've been round to see the sights. The telecom tower is the 4th tallest in the world, the view from the top in the evening was pretty spectacular. Kuala Lumpur is also home to the Petronas towers. These two towers were the tallest buildings in the world until a 2004 I think (the sign of an oil company doing rather well for itself!). They don't let you go right to the top but they do take you up to the skybridge on the 41st floor which connects the two towers and allows a good view over the city aswell.

Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia in general is a very multicultural society. There are three disctinct groups, the chinese, the indian hindu and the muslim communities but all seem to co-exist perfectly well whilst each still retaining their individual identities. We went across to Little India one night in search of a good curry but actually came away disappointed. All we could find was row upon row of textile shops.

Speaking of shops, this is something that Kuala Lumpur does very well. They've some of the largest shopping centers that i've ever seen. There is one called Times Square which has 10 floors of shopping and an indoor theme park complete with large rollercoaster running very close to the walkways. Unfortunately the themepark has been closed for maintenance since we've been here so we didn't get to ride the coaster.

All in all it's been a good experience in Kuala Lumpur, there have only been a couple of things that has made it perhaps a little more difficult than it should be. Crossing the road has become an artform. They don't beleive in pedestrian crossings that work, every road is a main road and getting from one side of the street to the other is often quite a challenge. They also seem to be firm beleivers of paths that either stop alongside the main road forcing you to walk into the road or they just generally don't go anywhere in the first place. But it hasn't been that bad getting about really. The public transport metro and monorail has been very good even if you do have to buy a new ticket every time you take a trip or change lines. One final night here now and then off to Singapore tomorrow, we've decided that we're going to go by bus as the trains in this part of the world are very very slow and the bus looks more comfortable. Plus there is the added bonus that the bus station is the other side of the road from our hotel, so it's just laziness really!!

Well that's it from me for now. Next update in a couple of days about Singapore I expect.

Chris

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A lot has happened since our last brief update, in particular our current location which has shifted from Thailand to Malaysia. Further good news is that we all passed our Open Water Diving course (with varying degrees of success - I drank half the sea for example).

We took our diving instructor Kung out for a few drinks to celebrate which turned into a mini session by the end. We reckon he hustled us drinks wise, he was struggling with beers but then got us on Thai rum (Sangsem) and coped a lot better. Needless to say we were all surprised by his prowess with some rum, Sprite and small bucket of ice.

After Koh Tao and diving, we got back to the Thai mainland to get a sleeper train down here to Malaysia. As we waited on the platform the Orient Express turned up and they watched us waiting as they ate their over priced dinner - which amused us. Eventually our train turned up and we all had our own bed compartment with curtains and windows and stuff - very nice. Apart from the loud noises and shaking we may have got a good nights sleep but hey ho!

We arrived in Butterworth having gone through immigration some four hours earlier (fairly straight forward affair really) and found the weather in Malaysia to be very hot and humid compared to what we're used to. It wasn't the sort of place to hang around in so along with a couple of American hang-ons (Dan and Justin) we got on a boat to Penang more specifically Georgetown. This was quite a big port once but has floundered (like the Empire).

Georgetown isn't the nicest we've decided, but is ok. Our hostel is cheap and friendly and very ample in headroom. Laura and Locky got a moped today to explore more of the island and found some nice things apparently but also got a bit sunburnt (much to my amusement). I explored Georgetown some more on foot - which turned out to be a bit of an error really - not much to see other than a 5-storey shopping centre which was quite modern and nice - not a patch on the Bullring tho!

Next stop for us is Kuala Lumpur on another sleeper train. We're quite looking forward to this one, with soaring skyscrapers nestled between lush green it should be a nice contrast with our other big city experience of Bangkok.

I know we promised some photos and they're coming soon. We've got a few diving shots (or wetsuit shots) which will please you and we'll also try and get some more stuff on as well. Sorry for another rushed blog - we're all quite hungry now so are gonna shoot off!

Until next time -
Hugs and Kisses,
Woodie (with Laura and Locky perched on each shoulder)

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Just thought we'd stop in to say hello and to keep you up to speed with our goings on. Today (Saturday) is our fifth day in Koh Tao at the Black Tip Diving resort http://www.blacktipdiving.com. Koh Tao is a small island to the east of the Thai mainland and is quite remote but very picturesque (look for it on Wiki or something).

We're doing an Open Water course which should see us qualified by the end of the weekend (all going well). So far we've watched videos, done reading, completed tests (and a multiple choice exam) and done some in their pool and over the past couple of days in the sea, going to depths of 13 metres.

To say its a new experience would be a big understatement, but once we got the hang of the basics (don't stop breathing pretty much!) - its about perfecting the skills and trying to get more advanced e.g. so we can swim as close to the bottom as possible without hitting anything.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we have our final dive which if we do successfully (we have a few skill tasks to do during the dive like taking our mask off whilst still breathing and then replace it and clear it of water) will see us PADI qualified Open Water divers, meaning we can dive without instructors anywhere in the world (but must be with a buddy).

Our instructor Kung (thats his nickname, his full name in Thai is very long). is extremely patient and very nice so we're confident we can pass before we head off on our travels again.

Once we've completed our course and got somewhere with a bit more infrastructure - we'll post a full blog about our diving and maybe some embarrassing wetsuit photos.

Speak soon!

From Woodie

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On Thursday we didn't really do that much. Our good deed for the day was to help a fellow english tourist who had been taken for a ride by one of the Tuk Tuk gangs and left miles from his hotel. We took the river ferry all the way round to the sky train and he followed us along as his hotel was one of the stops on the train. If only their public transport ran all over the city - it would be much easier to get about without the constant hassle!!

We spent most of the afternoon back in Lumpini park where we had been a couple of days previously. It is a great place just to sit and relax. Laura and I took a pedelo out round the lake which covered our days exercise! Afterwards we had a walk around the park and Woodie spotted a huge lizard down one of the drains. Unfortunately we were not quick enough for a picture. Again we stayed until 6pm to watch the entertainment of the national anthem and to watch the crowds do their aerobic exercises in unison.

On Saturday we decided to take an organised tour offered by our hostel. It did however mean getting up at 06:00 which was a bit of a struggle.

First stop was the floating market at Damnoen Saduak, this is one of the oldest floating markets in Thailand but unfortunately now it is a tourist trap. As you can see from the photo below it is a bit chaotic

It was good to see it though and we enjoyed walking around taking in the different sights and smells of the goods that were on offer. We even sampled a couple of foods we'd never had before. Something like a lychee but not....we still don't know what we were actually eating, and a Thai sweet pancake, again what was in it I really couldn't say. We also got a ride down the canal in a long speed boat as seen in James Bond - Man With The Golden Gun.

After the market it was another 1 1/2hr drive in the minibus to see the bridge over the river Kwai. We stopped near the bridge for lunch and had freshly cooked food on a pontoon on the side of the river. The views were spectacular and a lot more like we thought Thailand would be rather than the hustle and bustle of the city that we had expreinced so far.

After lunch we were taken to the bridge. First we walked around the Thais attempt at a World War Museum which unfortunately was in rather poorly executed and perhaps missed the point of the whole thing. Following the museum we got to walk over the bridge. The bridge is the only surving piece of the death railway and is still a working railway today, we actually got caught on the bridge as a train came across and had to all take cover in one of the small platforms to the side until it had passed.

The final stop of the day was to a Buddhist Pagoda in Nakhon Pathon. It is one of the oldest Buddhist structures in Thailand and holds a commanding presence over the town. It was an impressively large structure and although we didn't know too much about it before we went to it, it was a nice way to break up the journey back to Bangkok.

Well i'm going to leave it there. We've taken the train down to Hua Hin this morning (another 6am wake up call) and we're staying here until Tuesday enjoying some of the beach life. Unfortunately it's a little windy at the moment but still hot. We'll probably do another update when we get to the diving at Koh Tao.

Until then!!

Chris

P.S I'm winning the competition for biggest mosquito bite so far!!

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