Bart and the Bomb

mix it up baby

2009-05-18T17:46:00.005+01:00

I love cocktails. (Oh...you knew that?? How, pray tell??!!)

So when I was told that, to celebrate the last days of freedom of my 'BFF' Caroline, before she walks down the aisle to her proud fiancee, Andy, a group of fun and funky hens would be scoffing down a great multitude of cocktails, I was overjoyed. But, imagine my excitment when it was added that, not only would we be scoffing...but we would be behind that mahogany bar, shakin' em up ourselves.

Revolution bar in Clapham Junction does feel like a second home to me sometimes, but never have I been so involved in the making of my own ice-cold drink. a shot here and half a shot there (and perhaps a little extra for good luck) and I was sipping on my own creation - the mintiest of mojitos with just the right amount of lime.

The bride to be's cosmo was worthy of Carrie Bradshaw and, with a peach bellini to wash down the chocolate fondue, we spent several hours of hilarity mixing it up with our fearless cocktail extrodinaires, batman and his trusty sidekick, robin.

Staggering our way onto the train out of CJ I herded our hens all the way to Leicester Square and the delishousness that is Browns...complete with stomach lining grilled chicken with hollandaise sauce.

Revived, we waltzed to the next place - Ruby Blues - for some classic R&B and a boogy on the dance floor...and finally onto Onanon...a huge club in Piccadilly circus where the music was cheesy and the punters quite interesting for people-watching purposes!

Quite a night! and one that required some recovery after an epic journey home...a memorable evening for an incredibly beautiful bride to be...next...THE wedding of 2009! We're practiced, our dancing shoes are broken in...bring it on!

stay tuned.

Normalcy (whatever that is)

2009-05-13T11:59:00.003+01:00

So i have formal complaints made about the lack of blog updating over the past few weeks since we have been home.

Understandable - though I have wondered just how interesting my long hours spent slaving over job websites would be to people - no matter how hard i try to glam it up.

True, there has been more happening than that. Lets see...countless hours in pubs and restaurants and bars across Sussex and London catching up with this person and that person, dinner parties in small villages complete with grappa and wine, the odd trip to london to visit 26 pubs in 12 hours as we raced around the city Monopoly style, days spent in the Brighton sunshine (well, ok...the rain) with 'da boys' one day and 'da girls' the next....

We have fallen back into a rollercoster of social activity which, of course, suits me completely down to the ground. If only all the glamorous outings could really take my mind off the issue at hand...the fact that I am currently a homeless, jobless bum...!

I have been working on getting the issue resolved...as i say, countless hours sending off my cv and chatting on the phone to an endless array of recruitment agents. Considering the current climate I seem to have done quite well with 4 serious interviews in three weeks. I have even turned down one particular job...a scary decision to make but one must weigh up a few more weeks of job hunting versus a year (or two or three) in a job that my instincts are telling me I would hate...

Matt, on the other hand, has thrown himself back into work at PBE...ok, it's not ideal perhaps but, for the moment, it's keeping me in cocktails and him in beer...and, perhaps more importantly (or not) it's keeping us fed.

His parents have surprised him for his 30th by arriving at a cozy morrocan restaurant in Covent Garden unannounced...a reunion that bought tears to eyes and a bellydancer to our table. Having them here is so exciting as we introduce them to the friends who are our main reason for being back here and show them around our 'hood'...the little flat above the car yard where we used to live and all the local sights (a tour that took a grand total of five minutes!).

We are staying with the Weggs...I only hope that one day we will be able to pay them back for their incredible hospitatality! It mustn't be easy to have 2 aussies completely take over your house!! (believe me - i once had 5 of them...i know what it's like hey Ash!)

And so life goes on. week by week. This weekend Matt will be far far away exploring with his parents and I will be hitting london town yet again in true glam style...Caroline's hens night brings an array of cocktails and funky bars and sunday brings yet more chilled out catch ups...

stay tuned... (i promise to update regularly!!) xx

home sweet home

2009-04-19T21:54:00.004+01:00

England is a funny place to love. More often than not people wonder loudly whether we are crazy...why do we live in a land of grey skies and warm beer over one of sun soaked beaches and barbeques? And sometimes I wonder it loudly myself. Loving two countries, worlds apart, can break your heart.

But england has charms of its own...in a cozy pub on an icy day surrounded by loving friends, the warmest of beers can taste like heaven. So many of the people I adore and hold dear live in Australia - there will never be any doubt about that...and so many of them live in England - there will never be any doubt about that either....my heart aches when I'm traveling, i miss my family and i miss my friends...not so carefree then i guess!

so arriving at the airport to the welcoming arms of some of our dearest friends was coming home. and to trudge around the corner that night in the pouring, freezing english rain for a cup of tea with more friends was coming home...and, the next day, cooking lasagna for yet more much loved friends and trooping down to the local for drinks with the whole crazy gang....THAT was coming home...I will never say that England will always be home but, for now...albeit with a whole quandary of questions and uncertainties and problems hanging over our heads...for now, it's home.

It was always going to be difficult to put down a few sticks once more. no one ever said it would be easy to start all over again...again....but this time we're lucky. we have friends here and what we would do without them i really and truely dont know...

For now England is home....but ask us again in 6 months....there's always sun soaked beaches and barbeques and another world full of our adored and most loved....

stay tuned. xx

The Finale...pics from china

2009-04-19T21:44:00.002+01:00

Three Gorges

Xi-an

Shanghai

Beijing 1

Beijing 2

The Best and the Worst of It....a 6 month journey around the world...

2009-04-16T16:08:00.007+01:00

Three continents. Twelve countries. 201 days. From the most western of worlds to the most eastern of worlds we have taken every conceivable form of transport to negotiate countless miles over the past 6 months. Memories upon memories....we have climbed mountains and snorkled with the fish, ate anything from duck tongue to the most succulent of steaks, partied in practically every place we've visited with some of the most amazing people we've ever met....ahhh - the people! we have met some of the best, some of the craziest and some of the most genuine...people from all over the world...thank you all for helping to make this trip so memorable.

Want some stats? Want the best memories? and the worst? Here's what we've come up with - so many memories...

Countries visited:
USA – New York State, Massachusetts, California, Navada, Washington
Canada – Quebec, Ontario, British Colombia, Alberta
New Zealand – North Island, South Island
Australia – Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory
Indonesia
Thailand
Vietnam
Cambodia
Laos
Hong Kong
Macau
China

No. of days:
201 - from 29 September 2008 to 17th April 2009

No of £ spent:
Unthinkable amounts!

types of transport used:
car
overnight train
seated train
seated bus
overnight sleeper bus
local bus
rickshaw
cyclo
plane
dragon boat
cruise boat
junk boat
chinese trekker wooden boat
canoe
row boat
motorbike
scooter
bicycle
tandem bike
tube/underground
taxi
tram
jetboat
gondola
bamboo rafting
elephant
tuk tuk
and many miles on our own two feet!

Most delicious meal:
It had to be Aussie....juicy aussie surf and turf accompanied by aussie red on the banks of the Brisbane River.

Worst meal:
Matt – yellow-ish lasagna served at Italian restaurant in Chiang Mai, thailand...he was quite ill the next day!
Kirsh - Just the thought of a scorpian kebab - Beijing, China

Weirdest food:
Matt – duck tongue in Yichang, China
Kirsh - licking chicken's feet, Xian, China

Top 12 nights out (this was a hard one and try as i might i couldnt get it down to Top 10!!):

1) On 'the island' in Vang Viene, Laos - with our favorite spaniards, Jo, Blanca, Alberto and Jordi and a few Canadians thrown in for good measure...add some happy shakes and buckets and OH what a night!
2) Halloween. Vancouver, Canada with John (aka Buddy Holly!), Jorden, Marty and Christine...dress ups and live bands in THE funkiest nightclub in the whole of Canada!
3) Welcome home party. Toowoomba, Australia - Megs, Clare, Stace and the rest of the gang! home sweet home really doesnt get better until you fall down the stairs!
4) Full Moon Party, Koh Phangagan, Thailand - Em, Emily, Katie and some awesome Swedes...add a drinking game or two, buckets and a full moon on a thai beach - it doesnt get better
5) Belinda and Scott's wedding, Inverell, Australia - with a great crowd and a karaoke machine!
6) 1+1 bar, Xian, China - with our awesome Gap tour group, Serena, Doug and Andy and a bit of beautiful D-floor action from the boys
7) New Years Eve. Newcastle, Australia - with some of my fave people in the world - Ashman, Bundy, Toad and Jbot - plus all their mates and an awesome live gig
8) Gas Lamp District, San Diego – with Christy....the coolest yank in the USA and some of the worlds biggest margaritas!
9) Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong - with South African randoms, Hong Kong Rugby 7s and 'litre' beers...
10) Vegas, USA - with Erik and Lovisa, Charlene and Jo and a very lucky streak on the Roulette table
11) Banff, Canada - with our fab and funky 'Moose' tour group and more than a couple of 'ski shots'
12) Kao San Road, Bangkok, Thailand - with many a random on the street and the obligatory buckets

Top 4 Best Alcoholic Drinks
1) fishbowl margaritas in the Gas Lamp district of San Diego
2) buckets in Koh Phangan, Thailand and Vang Viene, Laos
3) glass of aussie red on the streets of Luang Prabang, Laos after drinking nothing but beer and spirits for 2 months
4) rice wine infused with dead roosters and snakes..for vitality...mmmm. The Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

Best Sporting Event Attended
Ice Hockey, Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Canada

Best Late Night snack
Poutine, delish canadian snack of chips, gravy and cheese curd - sounds gross but OH so nice!

Worst hangover
Kirsh - Beijing, China...it's the rice wine that did it!
Matt – after night out with randoms drinking too much whisky in Bangkok

Longest time spent in transit
Vang Viene, Laos to Hong Kong – 28hrs via bus and plane

Top 2 hotel rooms
1) The Luxor, Vegas, USA
2) The Rio Casino, Macau

Worst hotel room
Boat on Yankse River, Three Gorges, China - think grotty, small and a bathroom in which you could shower whilst sitting on the toilet complete with the smell of sewerage.

Best hostel
San Diego, Downtown HI - funky rooms and within stumbling distance of the action

Worst hostel
New York – Central Park Hostel - old lady wandering round in only her undies the whole time didn't exactly create a wholesome family atmosphere.

Accommodation set in the most picturesque place
Matt – Franz Joseph, NZ - mountains and green green grass...and the occasional mooing cow
Kirsh – Junk boat on Halong Bay, Vietnam - looking out the window to majestic limestone mountains towering out of the sea...

Top 3 Shows:
1) 'Cirque du Solei', Las Vegas
2) 'Shanghai Acrobats', Shanghai, China
3) 'Chicago', Broadway, New York

Best Adventure Activity
Matt – Bungee jumping in Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh – Shotover Jet, Queenstown, NZ

Best Airline
Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Koh Samui...free pastries and coffee...yum!

Top 4 Most Scenic Drives
1) The Canadian Rockies - everywhere you look is yet another eye-popping mountain or breathtaking lake...waterfalls, glaciers....for picturesque scenery you really can't go past the Canadian Rockies...
2) Boston – NY - autumn leaves...say no more.
3) Arthurs pass, NZ - the most breathtaking of mountains...
4) Te Anau – Milford Sound, NZ

Most Interesting Animal
Matt – Cresent Bear, luang prabang, Vietnam
Kirsh – glowworms, Te Anau,, New zealand

Best Beach
Box Beach, Nelson's Bay, Australia...with Ashman, Mitch and Elise...a beach to ourselves and the bluest, clearest water.

Top 3 hottest bars/clubs
1) 1+1, Xian, China
2) 'Ivy', Sydney, Australia
3) 'Roxy', Vancouver, Canada

Best Tourist Attractions
USA - Universal Studios,LA
Canada - Maid of the Mist boat, Niagra Falls
NZ - Boat cruise on Milford Sound
South East Asia - The Temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
China - The great wall of China, Beijing

Best Natural Wonder
USA - Whales Watching, Boston
Canada - Lake Louise
NZ - Milford Sound
South East Asia - Halong Bay, Vietnam
China - Limestone Mountains, Yangshuo

Most Breathtaking Moment
Matt - Bungee Jumping, Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh - first sight of Lake Louise, Canada

Scariest Moment
Matt - Bungee Jumping, Queenstown, NZ
Kirsh - About to get a tattoo, Auckland, NZ

Funniest Moment
Matt - 'I'm so Happy!' night out in Vang Viene
Kirsh - Matt, Doug and Andy and a stage in a nightclub in Xian

Most Interesting Cultural Difference
China - spitting on the street, talking loudly through shows....let alone the things they eat! ;-)

Best City (this could only be narrowed down by country and there were many contenders
USA -Matt - San Diego; Kirsh - New York and Vegas (i couldn't choose between them!)
Canada - Vancouver
NZ - Queenstown
SE Asia - Matt - Chiang Mai, Thailand; Kirsh - Luang Prabang, Laos
China - Hong Kong

What a trip of a lifetime...!!

and now, back to normalcy (whatever that is). stay tuned for wat happens next to bart and the bomb! xx

Of Peking Duck and Other Chinese Whispers

2009-04-16T08:14:00.006+01:00

We've been on the road, traveling, backpacking, seeing the sights and drinking in the culture of 12 different countries for 200 days. It is over. unbelievably, sadly, happily - the emotions i'm feeling are endless. Today is our last day as free and careless vagabonds before flying back to london tomorrow morning...at least until our next trip - as we all know travel is our addiction and we will work only till money allows us to follow our hearts to the next blank canvas waiting to be explored.... I'm excited to be returning to england. i've missed my friends there incredibly. i've missed roast pork and mashed potatoes. I've missed routine. i've missed understanding the language. i've missed understanding (most of!) the culture. I've missed knowing where to go to buy shampoo. But how could i have missed a life of nine to five in a life where one day is completely different to the next, where i can fall asleep on an overnight bus and wake up the next morning in a new city, a new state, a new country. And how could i have missed the miserable english weather when i have spend the greater part of 6 months following the sun around the globe and basking in its glory on golden beaches, watching it set over gentle, majestic rivers and sky-high mountains.

all good things must come to an end, i'm told, and what a way to end this trip with a bang - in the thriving, historical city of Beijing - rich with thousands and thousands of years of cultural heritage. this city tells the tales of wealthy dynasties and socialist ideals, of war and, only occasionally, of peace. We've seen a lot this trip - natural wonders, beautiful animals, the tallest of buildings....but what better way to culminate 6 months of awe inspiring wonder than to stand on the Great Wall itself and breath in the fresh morning air carrying the memories of thousands of years of history - a country once divided, finally united and, soon, a world power...the stories that wall could tell us if only it could speak....

We have tramped across Tinanaman square, imagining it filled with tanks and protesters....glided through a Forbidden City, the home and castle of many a vicious ruler and his thousands of loyal concubines. Watched monks performing kung fu, eaten succulent Peking Duck rolled in pancakes, and drunk cocktails by a lake in the Hutongs - tiny grey villages of one-room houses on narrow streets and curvy lanes where thousands of Beijing locals live their lives still abiding by ancient traditions and class structure beliefs. We have played cards whilst drinking rice wine and partied afterwards on flashy dancefloors while around the corner the locals are sharing toilets with 20 other families.

The city is exciting, its our grand finale. we're glad to be sharing it with those awesome guys we've become quite close to over the past 18 days in china over many a game of 'Arsehole' and many a shared experience.

Tomorrow we fly home to a real life...to our friends that love us and a country, not our own, but one that still, somehow, has control of our hearts.

stay tuned. xxx

Shanghai Noon

2009-04-13T07:54:00.005+01:00

1/5th of the world's cranes are in Shanghai making it one big construction site...2 years ago there were something like 60 skyscrapers...now there are hundreds...each one slightly closer to touching heaven...soon it will overtake Hong Kong as THE finanial centre of China and THE city to be for culture, shopping and the odd cocktail...already the city sparkles.

Now that we are hitting city after city with our tour group of partiers...including a troop of particularly interesting dancers in the form of Matt, Doug and Andy...we have hit our stride when it comes to the Chinese nightlife and we are showing them just how it's done in the west...heading out on our first night in Shanghai after drinking a bottle of barcardi, a bottle of smirnoff and a bottle of soy sauce between the 6 of us, we stumbled into 'soho', a club of white sofas, sparkling chandeliars and random tunes - anything from britney to jamiraqui had us bouncing on the dance floor, chatting to the locals and beating the pro dancers to the stage...outdone only by a group of breakdancers who almost put our boys to shame...but not quite...we tend to draw a crowd...the Chinese party elite adore us...and we adore being adored...

Waking up the next morning we stumbled down the Bund with it's beautiful skyline, river views towards 'Higher Ground'...a sunny restaurant offering steak and chips (yes please) where we met up with Caitlin and Alex and their little boy Jonty, old friends from Aus who just happened to be in Shanghai at the same time. A good old catch up and some chocolate cake later we all flew up the elevator to the top of the 'bottle opener', a fancy-smancy financial building offering views of the city from over 400 meters above the ground - the highest observitory in the world at the moment (till they do their thing in Dubai at least...)...

Meeting back up with our party people again we gave the beer a miss that night in respect for our hangovers and went instead to watch the Shanghai Acrobats...how, pray tell, does one realise that one's talent is to swing a hula hoop well enough to do it for a crowd? or to ride a motorbike with no hands round 'the ball of death'...or to balance 30 wine glasses on one's foot whilst upside down and twisted in half?? amazing stuff...though of course i could do it all....

We've seen gardens and shops and eaten and been drunken in the shanghai noon...and it's time to move on...one last train ride (oh thank goodness) and one last tub of instant noodles...and one last city. Beijing is the ultimate...the last hurrah before we return to a life of nine to five...at least for now....watch out beijing.

Stay tuned. xx

of skipping ropes and vodka chasers

2009-04-10T06:30:00.002+01:00

the chinese like their games....mahjong, cards, dice....and, it seems, skipping rope....in a concrete world their exercise seems to be a group activity in any given courtyard in the city....hundreds of business men in suits and girls in heels join in the fun, skipping a big rope like 10 year olds, running in and out like pros...or kicking around a hacky-sack before rushing off to their offices with take out starbucks in hand. it's a sight to see...

and after a long day at work boy do these guys like to party! having scoffed 20 different types of dumplings last night we felt compelled to wash them down with a couple of cocktails at 1+1...THE bar of choice for the fashionistas and party elite of the city. We stood out like a sore thumb as we downed our Absolut but as the night wore on we got down and dirty with the best of the locals, our boys taking to the stage to strut their stuff as I cut up the rug with the chinese girls before we all staggered home in the wee hours...

it was good to let our hair down after spending most of the day perusing a beautiful 2000 year old treasure which i had been looking forward to seeing ever since we decided to come to china - The Terracotta Warriors. ordered by a young emperor thousands of years ago to protect him in the afterlife, the thousands of clay men and their horses stand in position, ready to fight. Each face is different and has personality plus...they are commanded by generals in a command centre and each carry weapons (or used to before they disintegrated) appropriate to their position. It is more than fascinating and a highlight for me....

today a spot of retail therapy - despite the fact that it's Good Friday....I guess the chinese don't put too much importance on Easter! and then yet another o/night train - this time to vibrant Shanghai...

stay tuned. xx

sick aussies travel china

2009-04-08T10:09:00.004+01:00

of all the times to get sick when traveling the world, our stint in china could well be the worse time to choose. funnily enough choice hasn't really come into the matter and Matt and I have both found ourselves struggling against a vicious fluey/stomach bug thing whilst catching overnight trains complete with squat toilets, phlem-clearing chinese and overactive heating systems...things could be better but we are soldiering on as we must in order to make the most of this amazing country.

We have reached Xian - the former imperial capital and spent the morning forcing down starbucks (thank God for global American brands and a breakfast that doesn't consist of some sort of noodle/rice/dumpling affair...)and cycling energetically on a tandem bike around the old city wall (turns out I don't particularly trust my husband when it comes to not crashing two-wheeled, two-seated death machines on 700 year old city walls...but you live and you learn). After stuffing up one bike by practically breaking off the back wheel, we made it around the 13km circuit and restored our energy with 'hot pot'...not the beef stew we might have been expecting but a delicious soupy mixture in which you cook your own little bits of beef, lamb or vegies, scooping them out when they're done with chopsticks (not an easy task) and washing the lot down with gulps of chinese beer...yum.

apart from the tricky health dilemmas we are still loving china and i particularly am glad to be back in a city...surrounded by pizza hut and maccas - time from a change from chinese food me thinks...!!

stay tuned. xx

latest pics

2009-04-07T03:59:00.001+01:00

Hong Kong 2

Macau

China 1 - Yangshuo

Gorgeous Gorges

2009-04-07T03:28:00.002+01:00

We have spent the past three days sailing the Yangtze river in the Three Gorges, marveling at towering cliffs and technologically advanced dams....along with several hundred chinese tourists (we stood out like a sore thumb!) we have taken little boat trips down smaller streams branching off the river, listening to folk songs sung by the local minority boat men and singing our own (row row row your boat...!!!) in return.... Originally fascinated by the Three Gorges dam (well, matt was fascinated....can't say i was too much!) we became very blase about it as we spent much of our time stuck in the various locks on our way up the river, playing cards endlessly and the odd game of marjong...but the scenery, when it wasn't raining and misty, was stunning and the trip an experience - though if i see the inside of a boat again in the next month i think i'll scream! Luckily we're moving on to the cities next, tonight we make our way to Xian and the much anticipated Terracotta Warriors...

China is a culture shock, no doubt about it. The people are very different and there are some things we find quite an assault to our sensibilities (blowing nose goobies onto the pavement...nice...). Many are not used to seeing foreigners and we are stared at a lot....! often groups of girls will go into fits of giggles when they see us....the boys have been asked to have their photos taken with them as if they are celebrities...but often the locals will just wave happily and shout 'hello'! The food is crazy...chicken feet is a favorite and matt tried duck tongue and eels last night...i resisted using the fact i wasn't feeling 100% as my main excuse!! Duck head, intestines....fish head is a delicacy - especially the eyeballs....it's all a bit stomach churning at times but we have been living on a daily diet of delicious lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork and pork and mushrooms....

we are glad we are doing a tour as, not surprisingly, china is not set up for tourists and very few people speak english outside the cities. Our guide, Frank, gets us around with no hassle and is happy to share about his culture and, most importantly, explain the food! the company is good, the scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly....

there is much to discover here in china....stay tuned.

xxx

Chinese checkers

2009-04-02T06:01:00.003+01:00

overnight trains are something of an experience in China....catching one from Hong Kong to Guilin in China with our tour group - 4 intrepid travellers from britain and our chinese tour guide, Frank - we settled in for the night on our hard sleepers....'hard' being the operative word....! apart from being awake most of the night our sleep was good and we arrived in Guilin ready to explore china....only to find it was freezing and pouring rain....and it hasn't stopped.

We are in a little town called Yangshuo...a teeny tiny town at the base of towering, mist covered limestone mountains. Set on the shore of the Li river it is a picturesque tourist trap but, with the rain, we have actually spent more time in bed and in cafes drinking 2 for 1 cocktails than exploring. This afternoon, however, we are exploring rain, hail or shine, cruising down the river before going to a water and light show designed by the same dude who organised the olympic opening ceremony....should be a sight to behold!!

Stay tuned xx

This is how i roll baby...

2009-03-30T13:04:00.005+01:00

Flashing lights, loud music, bonus rounds, WINNING! who doesn't love the pokies???!! I'm not much of a gambler myself usually but when I was in Vegas I found i have a lucky streak for 2 games...Roulette and the pokies (slots)...so, on arriving in Macau, 1 hour on the ferry from Hong Kong and the only place in China that you can gamble, we hit the casinos with a vengance.

We are putting stamps in our passports faster than you can say 'immigration'. Macau, like hong kong, is a state of china with pretty much it's own independence to do whatever the hell it wants. So it has become a kind of mini vegas - complete with the big names - MGM Grand, Wynn etc...i wiped them all out. Talk about a lucky streak - i managed to pay for our entire weekend plus some on a combination of roulette and pokies...paying for a gorgeous, lush 4 star hotel, incredible food, and many a delish cocktail from my winnings...thank you and goodnight!

Enjoying a celebratory cocktail after my streak of luck we settled in the bar of the MGM Grand, bopping away to an awesome covers band which had the place pumping with old school R&B...in one of their breaks they came over to have a chat with us...turns out one of them will be famous - he's auditioning for X-Factor and, since he's so awesome, i'm sure he'll be on tv...i'll be able to say 'i knew him when...'!! Towards the end of the gig they had a group of russians, all professional ballroom dancers from the Venetian casino nearby, on their feet and doing the sexy cha cha with more than a little pizazz...2 shows for the price of one...well none actually since it was free!! Needless to say one celebratory cocktail turned into several as we had a fabulous night, staggering home, once again, in the wee hours...

I still adore hong kong, love that it's so close to Macau and, to be honest, am dreading leaving. But leave we must and tomorrow we join our tour group to head up to mainland china - overnight train and all....once more we become the nomads.

I don't mind the backpacking life - it serves a purpose - but living it up is pretty cool too...that is how i really like to roll baby. ;-)

stay tuned. xx

Live it...love it

2009-03-27T14:45:00.003Z

one minute you're walking through a maze of ancient streets with chinese vendors selling birds nests (for vitality and longevity), sea slugs and flying fox on a stick (complete with head and wings of course - how else would you eat a flying fox?)...a 5 minute tube ride later and you're drinking cocktails in a cosmopolitan bar surrounded by countless other cosmopolitan bars in Lan Kwai Fong - THE district of choice for the sexiest bars and the hottest clubs....

one minute you're on the seaside, bright white sand and english style pubs lining the street...half an hour later and you are back in the city, unable to see the sky for the skyscrapers, making your choice of restaurants from the hundreds in Soho, a choice of every type of cuisine under the sun...if only you could see it...

its a jumble of the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the technological...the asian and the european...this city has it all. Advertisements for HK use this slogan - 'Hong Kong...live it....love it'. I could do both. Already i love it...am IN love with it. And I think I could so easily live here given the right salary which would of course have me living right in the thick of things!

Yesterday we caught the famous Star Ferry across to hong Kong Island, excitedly speeding closer and closer to the heaven-touching skyline. We wandered through expensive shopping malls full to the brim with designer wears, before mozying along streets full to the brim of chinese medicine men and antiques from the Tang Dynasty....eventually we found ourselves in Lan Kwai Fong and settled in with a margarita to do some serious people watching. it's the world cup rugby 7s at the moment in hong kong and the place is overflowing with rugby boys from the uk, south africa and australia...and they were all in lan kwai fong to party on thursday night....the party spilled out on to the street, good spirits helped along by yard long beers hung around the necks of the punters and pumping music spilling out from the bars along the road. We were having so much fun meeting and chatting to people from all over the world that we stayed out drinking till 1am and almost missed the last train home....!

feeling slightly the worst for wear when we woke this morning we took things a little slow, catching a local bus to Stanley, a beachside resort only 30mins from Central, boasting a famous market of cheap clothing rip-offs and souvenirs. The fact that Hong kong city is so very close to beaches and cute little bays just makes it so much more livable in my mind...though i imagine that on a nice sunny day it would be standing room only around there. unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, today it was pouring and we had the place to ourselves...well, us and some rugby boys from england. a 30min bus ride back to the city and we wandered the streets of Soho, spoilt for choice with the countless restaurants whipping up every cuisine imaginable....we settled on a homely little italian with huge servings of pasta and generous glasses of red...i can't tell you how much i have missed a good glass of red, normally my everyday drink, it was expensive and awful most of the way through SE Asia....lets just say i'm making up for it now...

I have a list of Top 5 cities I have been to. cities i love and would love to live in...it didnt take long for Hong Kong to comfortably make its way onto my list...Live it...Love it.

stay tuned. xx

Lots of Pics!

2009-03-26T03:35:00.002Z

Due to lack of Wifi access in Laos and Cambodia photos have been few and far between...here they are - the Mekong Delta to Hong Kong...

Mekong Delta

Cambodia

Don Det, Laos

Vientiane and Luang Prabang

Partying in Vang Vieng

Hong Kong Part 1

The Hong Kong flu

2009-03-25T16:23:00.003Z

When i was growing up Hong Kong was spoken about often in our home with fond memories and interesting anecdotes. When he owned a successful, Sydney based advertising agency back in the 70s and 80s my dad used to do a lot of business here - flying over often to wine and dine and to be wined and dined. 30 years ago, give or take 9 months, Mum decided to go along with him for a little holiday. She spent her days mozying around the city, shopping and having tea in the Penninsular Hotel, before being whisked off to meet dad and his clients for dinner. Needless to say they lived a little more of a high flying lifestyle than we are now but it's fun for me to imagine them here 30 years ago...loving the city so much that they seriously discussed emigrating here until mum went to the doctor one day back in Sydney complaining of the 'Hong Kong flu' that she must have contracted whilst on holiday and found out that actually she was pregnant...with me....I guess, in a way, this is actually my 2nd time in Hong Kong!

I wonder whether mum and dad ever made use of the 'Free Wednesday' days at the museums....? perhaps not, but, as the cheapskates we are, we did today...cruising round the interesting History Museum with its exhibits explaining the evolution of hong kong...from prehistoric nothingness to thriving, cosmopolitan city via wars and opium, colonialism and chinese handovers...it was very interesting since I had never really understood how the british managed to acquire hong kong in the first place (a very long and sordid story involving the importation of drugs....) and the exhibit explained a lot about the layout of the city and the psyche of its people. Next was the science museum...much like the one in london (though admittedly i've never been to that one!) Matt was as enthralled as the 10 year olds around us as he played with the exhibits. Even I was rather taken with the hall of mirrors (particularly the one that makes you look tall and thin!) and the optical illusion exhibition.

All museumed out we trudged across town looking for food...a bowl of wan ton noodle soup later and we were in the midst of the Temple Street night markets - stall after stall of chinese kitch, jade, fake handbags and souvenir t-shirts. since arriving in asia I have been checking out the handbags - waiting for the right ones to jump out at me...and finally i found them - a Jimmy Choo and a D&G - how true they are to the originals Im really very doubtful but they're still rather nice i feel...

it's been a long day. i'm finding the city exhausting after spending the past couple of weeks in quiet, sleepy laos...the bed in our closet sized bedroom calls and tomorrow is another day...hopefully this time we'll actually make it on to the ferry and over to Hong Kong Island itself.

stay tuned. xx

a city of culture....shocks.

2009-03-24T14:05:00.004Z

I'm not sure that you could get much more of a culture shock than what we have experienced today...having spent the past few days relaxed by the riverside, unwinding with a beer and good company in Laos it was rather a shock today to land in the busy, busting, modern metropolis that is Hong Kong.

Dumping our bags in our closet...sorry, i mean hostel room....on the 8th floor of a building in Kowloon we descended to street level to pound the pavements and investigate our surroundings. A bit of exercise and some fresh - well, ok, not so fresh really - air helped to clear the cobwebs bought about by too many hours spent on buses and trains...it only took 28 hours it took us to get to Hong Kong from Vang Vieng via Thailand....!

Our wanderings this evening took us down to the tip of Kowloon where the lights of the immense skyscrapers of the Hong Kong skyline shimmer in the water of the beautiful harbour. nothing can really prepare you for the sight of a majestic city's skyline I find...but Hong Kong likes to surprise its visitors with a special little show to make this city stand out against its contemporaries of the likes of Manhattan, london and Sydney. A spectacular light show, choreographed to music, plays out every evening at 8pm. As we watched from the Kowloon side of the river the buildings on the other side, resplendant with global brand names galore, came to life with neon lights ablazing and lazer beams lighting the foggy night sky. All i could think was 'imagine if you were working late in one of those buildings....how annoying if your office light kept going on and off for the show...!'

First impressions of Hong Kong for me? exciting and vibrant. Im looking forward to exploring and am glad we have a decent amount of time to spend here...I have a feeling we'll find a lot of cool things to do!!

Stay tuned.xx

A tube to remember

2009-03-23T09:06:00.003Z

there are some experiences you have when you're traveling that you know are unforgettable...you may have the photos to prove them, but, even without them you know those moments will be forever in your memory...

Such is the case with our day yesterday...tired and chilled and oh so slightly hungover we met our four Spanish friends from Barcelona and a couple of other mates from Quebec, Canada, for some tubing...the activity for which Vang Vieng is most famous. Grabbing our big rubber tyres excitedly and jumping on a tuk tuk for the 10min ride to the first bar on the river we discussed our plans - most people, when tubing, rarely get past the first 3 bars on the river, grabbing the rope being thrown to them they are pulled in by the crowds and the buckets and perhaps never leave till closing...spending the day jumping off the flying foxes and swings into the river...we, however, decided to tube all the way down the river first and then come back for the bar scene...good intentions don't always work out however - Matt and Alberto were enticed into the first bar early on for a beer to carry with us down the river...and so began the blissful ride, sipping on our beer laos as we floated, gazing up at the soaring mountains rising high from the banks of the river, letting the current gently sweep us along, sometimes getting a little stuck in the shallow bits and bumping faster down the tiny little rapids. It took us 3 hours to get back to the town...after another couple of stops for beer and refreshments (the Spanish guys had us craving a few olives to go with our beer - not so easy to find in the middle of laos unfortunatly - chips had to be the replacement)and by the time we got back it was a little too late to go back to the bars...

Not to be deterred we decided on a little nap (siesta?) before meeting up again for dinner and buckets back at the 'island'...the happening place for bars and debauchery. A quieter night definitely than the one before, but chilled and calm, enjoying the people watching and the company...

A day to remember...

we are now on our way to Hong Kong and it is sad to say the least to leave indochina. We have been traveling in this area for over 2 months now and have become accustomed to the ways of life here. We are used to seeing the same people as we move around the backpacker trail, friends and aquaintences, people to nod to in the street....but china will be exciting and a new adventure.

Stay tuned. xx

Chill-laos

2009-03-21T09:13:00.003Z

Laos is fast becoming one of my favorite countries that we've visited in South East Asia...we have spend a very interesting, chilled out couple of days in the former imperial capital of Luang Prabang before making the (once again fairly hidious) bus trip down to the backpacker haven of Vang Vieng...

Our days in LP were spent exploring caves hauntingly filled with ancient and discarded budda images, crazy temple caves which you can only walk in with a torch, the light picking up thousands of little budda statues in the far reaching corners...before diving into the clear blue waters of a swimming hole under a waterfall...freezing water straight from the mountains massaging my shoulders as i stood under the stream of water...bliss...

The nights have been spent eating and drinking with some Spanish friends that we originally met early on in Vietnam and randomly ran into again in LP...for a few days we will follow much the same backpacker trail through Laos and it's been fun to hang out with this group - a laugh a minute. We have sat outside in the warm evening air by the river drinking Beer Laos and barbequeing our own meat at our tables before heading to a wine bar to allow the Spanairds to experience the heaven that is a full bodied Australian shiraz...

Vang Vieng is quite a different scene from Luang Prabang...its all about cocktail buckets and tubing down the river, dropping into riverside bars on the way for a beer before finishing the day lounging in bars watching Friends re-runs. It's not exactly a typical 'Laos' experience, but fun for a few days...for hanging out with other backpackers and exchanging stories and anecdotes...tonight we will meet up with the spanairds again for some buckets of our own and tomorrw will try the famous tubing...

All too soon we will be leaving South East asia and moving on to China. It seems quite strange as we have been here so long - we have made a lot of friends on the backpacker circuit and have become quite used to everything that is Indochina...but all good things come to an end and China will be another adventure all together...

Stay tuned...xx

Monks on the Mekong

2009-03-18T09:14:00.002Z

Luang Prabang is a heritage listed town on the banks of the mekong river in northern Laos. While once the thriving royal city of this country, the revolution and its subsequent removal of the monarchy left LP a sleepy little city albiet in a gorgeous setting. Since it's heritage listing however, tourist numbers have swelled and, other than monks in their orange robes walking down the street, its more likely to see a western face than Laos....

There's good reason for it though. With it's multitude of shimmering, ancient temples, riverside restaurants and opportunities for trekking and boating and general mayhem in the jungle this place is tonic for the soul...

Getting here, however, was a trip i would sooner forget. Northern Laos is incredibly mountainous and the roads here still leave a lot to be desired. It took us 9-10 hours (in despair i stopped counting...!) to get here from Vientaine...and afterwards we felt as if we'd been in a washing machine on the hot spin cycle (the air con that we'd paid extra to have had broken of course..) and our teeth were jarred from our heads being jerked...i'm sure i have a bruise on my shoulder from being thrown against the side of the bus...hmmm - as i keep telling myself....these are the experiences you get when traveling through South East Asia...enjoy them!! lol! It's not the destination, it's the journey and we did see some specacular sights when we weren't squeezing our eyes shut in preference to watching the bus narrowly miss the side of the cliff....

As we trundled along in 1st we were able to catch glimpses of village life around here...these mountain villages have no running water in their homes - and only the wealthier ones have any electricity. So at about 4-5pm it seems, all the families in the town go out to bath, the women wrapped in sarongs and the men in their undies...the babies naked...they wash themselves, their kids and their clothes in mountain spring water piped through to a central place, normally the side of the road it seems which is how i saw the ritual! We watched the older women threading leaves together to patch up the hut roof and kids chasing eachother along the dusty lanes...not necessarily an easy life I wouldn't imagine, but a peaceful one...

We ended up only spending a day in Vientiane before heading north to Luang Prabang...while there are quite a few sites to visit etc our day was spent mooching around the city looking for WIFI to do some banking. WIFI, it seems, is easier said than found in this country! but our day was rescued when we decided to get ourselves a stiff drink and some dinner down by the river and noticed a hullaballoo a bit further on....wandering down to investigate we found a fete in full swing...old french style, with toys and games from the 50s and little tables where you could sit and drink vin rouge. French tourists are in their thousands in Laos and, it seemed, they were all at the fete, celebrating and chatting...it was easy to imagine we were in some little French village along the Loire rather than a Laos city on the Mekong! It was all very oldy-worldy until we spotted a stage and heard some rock music...heading over we watched a modern dance troop and a Laos kid doing some of the best breakdancing i've ever seen...you see it all here in Asia...

Stay tuned. xx

Making tracks on the tracks of Laos

2009-03-15T10:31:00.003Z

Spending an extra day lazing and eating and sleeping and floating downstream on tubes and cycling to pretty waterfalls on the remote Laos island of Don Det has meant we must now make tracks quickly...from the south to the north of Laos. There is so much to see and do in the next week or so as we explore this country, many many other travelers we have met going the opposite way to us rave about Laos and already i can see why. The Laos people are so laid back and their country has a dusty beauty...green fields dotted with calves and piglets, much loved puppies scamper down dusty backlanes. 'Roads' are actually tracks and no one seems to care. The food is fresh and full of seafood straight from the Mekong. So far we've experienced much less hassle than in other SE Asian countries we've been to...in fact, on Don Det, it was sometimes quite a job to get the shopkeepers or the waiters out of their hammocks for some service....definitely a change when you are used to people clamoring for your dosh.

So another overnight bus is in store for tonight. No big deal for us now as they are almost a second home - for better or for worse. We will spend a day in Vientaine, the capital city of Laos before making our way up to Vang Viene...another backpacker mecca for it's bars and tubing, but also for it's beautiful caves which we may or may not see, depending on the bars and the tubing.... ;-)

Time is running out now. Our trip will end in 4.5 weeks. I'm excited, SO excited to get back to England and play with my friends again...but how will I cope after being 'home' a month or 2...I worry about my perpetually itchy feet and wish there was a cream I could pick up at Boots to solve this problem. Apparently there's not any treatment for wanderlust apart from saving up the cash and hitting the road again. Already we are planning our next trip. It's an addiction.

But, for now, we must take each day as it comes and appreciate where we are today and where we will be tomorrow....

Stay tuned. xxx

The Beach

2009-03-13T11:27:00.002Z

Our little island, Don Det, set among the Si Phan Don (4000 islands) of the Mekong river in Laos kinda has that feeling you get while watching the movie 'The Beach'...with our fave boy Leo....So many travellers, from all over the world converge here to do nothing but chill out, swimming, tubing down the river. If the mood strikes them perhaps a little kayaking...then all converge on one of the few bars which line the river of an evening to drink beer Lao and chill some more. Some never leave.

Its a simple place...electricity only from 6-10pm...the internet is sattelite and expensive so i must be quick..as for WIFI...????? If you're lucky your bungalow has a fan but you'll probably nap in the hammock out the front anyway...

We love it here. And we have already prolonged our stay by a day or so...unfortunately we can not stay longer but we need the break so we will continue to do nothing but...chill...

stay tuned. xxx

Tomb Raiders

2009-03-10T07:13:00.002Z

Set deep in the Cambodian jungle, near the thriving city of Siem Reap, lies an ancient city...a source of national pride and the symbol of the Cambodian flag (and it's national beer!)....Angkor Wat.

Some call it the 8th wonder of the world and over the past 2 days we have clambered happily over the moss covered ruins of the formerly majestic temples...some are more than 80% in ruin - including the one that the movie 'Lara Croft, Tomb Raider' was filmed (during the making of this film Angelina Jolie fell in love with this country and decided to adopt one of it's children...). The rain today lent an haunted air to the grand structures, choked by jungle and the smell of incense. watching the sun rise (at an ungodly hour!) this morning over the towers of Angkor Wat itself i could not have felt more peaceful. As we made our way up to this beautifully restored temple at 7 in the morning we basically had the place to ourselves and were able to find a quiet corner and appreciate the age of this place...the history. Today ranks up there as one of my favourite days on this trip...suddenly cambodia, 'Kingdom of Wonder' has gone up a notch or 2 in my 'amazing countries' register!

The temples are what one comes to Siem Reap to experience...that and the 'happy pizzas'....so tomorrow we will leave. We need to make tracks quickly to Laos as we are running out of time now and still have so much more that we want to do! oh for another month!!! ;-)

stay tuned. xx

PP

2009-03-08T10:25:00.002Z

The initials PP, in my mind, stand for Phnom Penh...the capital of cambodia and, i imagine, the most modern of its cities...but not long ago this busy city was rendered a ghost town by another 'PP'...Pol Pot....tyranical, evil leader of the gut wrenchingly murderous Khmer Rouge....

this morning began with yet another eye opening visit to a museum which spoke of untold crimes and inhuman torture. I think it is important to go to these places - in this case the toul sleng genocide museum which was once S-21, a prison of detention, interrogation, inhumanity, torture and murder...in vietnam, the war museum...these places bring to life and reality the history of yesterday, much more than reading a book will do. But it's horrendous all the same and, by the end of the visit, after viewing a movie about the regime, walking close to instruments of torture and the bare skulls of victims, viewing the hundreds of mug shots of solumn and scared victims, my emotions could not have handled a visit to the 'killing fields'where the victims throats were slashed before being buried in a mass open grave....

Instead we sat down to regroup and to marvel over the way that this country has also regrouped - all within my lifetime...there is wealth in this city - more so than i noticed anywhere in vietnam...so many more cars - in fact i don't think i've ever seen so many lexus 4WDs...but the devide between the very poor and the very rich seems so much more pronounced here. I'm more likely to give to the beggers here...there is no government help for them...we give bread to the children dressed in rags and don't mind tipping extra to a tuk tuk driver who goes out of his way to help...

But on sunday arvo here in PP people are happy...walking past a park we watched families out for a stroll...their babies chasing the pidgons...teenagers flirting under the trees and a group of boys playing football, dressed in their man city shirts...we could have been anywhere in the world...not least a country which was decimated only 30 years ago.

tomorrow we head out of pp and spend some more quality time with a bus as we head to Siem reap (SR) and the magnificent Angkor wat Temples.

stay tuned. xx

The river runs wild

2009-03-07T13:36:00.004Z

Its funny how the days can just melt away when you are cruising your way from one country to the next along one of the most spectacular rivers in the world...3 days ago we left Saigon, busy and bustling, and were transported to a different world...one where villagers sell their goods from the boats they live on...where fishing is survival and where the great Mekong River splits itself into thousands of canals and smaller rivers, the lifeblood of the millions of vietnamese who call the 'Mekong Delta' home...

It's been an interesting few days as we've meandered through markets, both on land and on river, watched and learned how to make coconut candy (yum) and husk rice (who ever knew rice needed husking??). We have drunk rice wine infused with dead, feathered rooster and coiled snake to make us strong (it had a decidedly 'dead bird' taste that i wasn't entirely fond of and I felt particularly weak kneed afterwards rather than strong!) and eaten frog stirfry with rice. We have rowed through floating villages and tasted exotic fruit....We have gone out for dinner with new friends and sat by the roadside like the locals drinking mango fruit shakes. we've seen women washing their children by the river's edge and children washing their cows...and, many waterlogged hours later we have found ourselves in the capital city of Cambodia, Pheomn Penh...

The children, in both Vietnam and Cambodia have been a highlight for me...while their parents are sometimes stern and intent on making money from us, their children are full of big smiles and waves. At one point yesterday (i think...) while leaving a ferry (one of many...) I stopped to watch some children playing nearby, jumping off a high fence into the river, screaming, shouting and laughing...as I got out my camera to take a photo of them one little girl clocked me, shouted 'hello!!' and made sure i had the camera pointed at her before performing a spectacular jump...leaping out of the water she came running up and grabbed my arm with her river doused fingers to practice the english she must have learned at school...'hello, how are you? what is your name?' On the whole the children are full of smiles, they love to wave at the foreigners and they are just so cute!!

As for Cambodia...well, it has been a very long day lazing around on boats (tough life..) and tomorrow will take care of itself. Perhaps we will visit the museum and, more dauntingly, a visit to the 'Killing Fields'.

Stay tuned. xx

pics from nha trang and saigon

2009-03-05T00:36:00.000Z

nha trang and saigon

Miss Saigon

2009-03-03T15:09:00.006Z

Pictures are worth a thousand words, they say...and a photo does not lie.

We are in Saigon...or, as it's now supposed to be known, Ho Chi Mihn City (though no-one seems to call it that except the street signs) in southern Vietnam....ground zero for the worst battles and atrocities of the vietnam war which ended less than 40 years ago. The battle scars run deep here.

My knowledge of the history of this war is rather sketchy i'm afraid...whether that's because i was asleep during history lessons at school or if it was never taught to us comprehensively i'm not sure, but i'm ashamed to say that before today it was limited to what i learned from hollywood movies and passing references to 'Nam'...But round here the people have not forgotten. Even back in Hue we wandered down the street beside hawkers selling 'war memorabilia'....scraps of medallions, dog tags, diffused bombs....obviously savaged off the battle fields...

And here in Saigon one of the main tourist attractions is the 'War Remnants Museum'. If I had been hoping to be enlightened about the allied philosophies behind the war and understand Australia's involvement in it, I would have been sorely disappointed. however, I was prepared for the fact that this country is still, justifiably, hurting and the story told here would be one sided...entirely the perspective of North Vietnam...communist propaganda not withheld...for Vietnam calls it the 'American War' and 'this is what America did to us...' was the theme....but pictures do not lie and the sights we saw as we took in the journalistic photos of the battlefields, farmer's bodies carelessly flung next to their ricefields, civilian mothers and their children lying dead in rough trenches, shot in the back of the head, the aftermath of the deadly 'Agent Orange' chemicals - the aftermath of which still affects the next generation today with horrific birth defects. This is not propaganda. These things happened. and they are heartbreaking to see. Whilst being an incredibly sobering experience, this afternoon this war, which i may or may not have learned about in history lessons, one in which my own country was involved for reasons I still do not entirely understand, became real...and heartbreaking and horrific as it was, it has helped me to understand this country and its people even more...understand why, in Saigon, almost everyone is young and it's rare, actually, to see an older man....understand why the people in this country are a just a little more hard-faced than their neighbours before they flash a beautiful smile and why this city, which was razed to the ground in the 60s and early 70s, is so brand spanking new. appreciate the fact that Vietnam, in less than 40 years, has picked itself up from devestation and begun to make something of itself...

Desperate to hear the other side of the tale I came back to the hotel and read what is probably a much less biased view of the war online...the conclusion I've come to is this - horrible, unspeakable atrocities were committed by both sides in this country....and tomorrow we will be even closer to understanding some of the conditions experienced by soldiers of the Viet Cong as we visit the Cu Chi Tunnels....

Saigon is not all about the past...the future is bright for this bustling city...one of my favorite asian cities so far for its energetic, pulsating vibe....we are staying in District 1, the undisputed heart of the city...within the 3 street triangle which makes up backpacker central here....cheap hotels, cheap beer, cheap 'pho'...and some familiar faces from cities further north....still, in the largest city in vietnam, we are running into people we know!! crossing the road is still taking your life in your hands, even more so here than in Hanoi, and the hawkers are still selling pineapples...but there is something exciting about being here...the promise of something special...a vibe which suggests hope...the suggestion of future wealth...a country well and truely on the mend.

stay tuned. xx

Nha Trang

2009-03-01T10:56:00.002Z

even travelers need holidays. We've been going pretty hard for a couple of weeks now - ever since we left the oasis that is koh phangan really....so we have used this beachside resort, Nha Trang, as a place to stop for a couple of days and take a breath.

We could be anywhere in the world....if not for the hawkers on the beach trying to sell us anything from massages to mentos we could even be somewhere on the east coast of aus...the area around the beach is as western as i've seen vietnam get...one can relax in a western style bar with a western style cocktail (albeit in a non-western sized bucket!), dance to western style music and choose from western style restaurants - anything from italian to mexican. Its comforting in a way since we have now been in Asia for a month and it's nice occasionally to have a few of the homestyle comforts.

So we've relaxed and read and slept and matt has been indulging in the odd massage on the beach. i have topped up my tan till i'm almost black and we are ready to move on again tomorrow...a day on the bus (joy) and we reach saigon.....back to the city for culture and fried noodles...

stay tuned.. xx

Pics of towns in vietnam begining with 'H'

2009-02-28T10:56:00.002Z

halong bay

Hue

Hoi An

It's not the journey...it's the destination.

2009-02-28T02:45:00.009Z

travelling is really not just about going from place to place and ticking off the sights....often, as the cliche goes, it is the journey, not the destination, that makes the experience one which makes you fall in love with a country or, alternatively, fall in love with your own country all over again.

we took another overnight bus last night from Hoi An to Nha Trang...a seaside resort town, with a beautiful beach and a westernised night life i believe. I say 'I believe' cause it's bucketing down outside and, since there's not much point exploring a beach in the rain I must believe the lonely planet guide....always a slightly dangerous item to put one's trust in, i find.

It seems that the concept of suspension in vehicles is one that has not yet been fully embraced by the vietnamese. Neither has the concept of paved roads on highways. both of which together make for an overnight ride much resembling a night spent on the spin cycle of the washing machine. I'm quite sure i was airborne much of the time. However, it's the experience isn't it...? it's vietnam.

Whilst on the subject of experiences...a word about toilets if i may? and i warn that my observations may not be for the faint of heart. Squat toilets don't bother me. I mastered the technique whilst under the influence of alcohol at a party in Turkey last year and now consider myself quite the expert. It's the western toilets which have the ability to bother me here....and one that i used at a roadhouse last night is a good case in point. The toilets themselves are always soaking because the Vietnamese do not use paper - they wash themselves. At least I hope that's why the toilets are wet. The floors are caked in mud and dust and what i hope is just water, and, if you don't roll up your trousers, so are their hems. The toilet i used last night had the added bonus of being completely infested by bugs of all types...on the floor, on the seat.... The light did not work...only the thin strip of light from above and below the door lit the way. The smell in these places is indescribable. The sink was caked in years of dirt and grime...there was no drain which i didn't realise until the water that i ran to wash my hands also splashed all over my feet. There are no magical solutions other than to hold your breath and put it down to a 'traveling experience'...however I do have a few hints for the next time you are in the orient. antibacterial hand sanitiser is your friend. It goes everywhere with me and i use it generously and regularly. However, it is like gold dust and I have not seen anywhere to buy more so, much as i'm tempted to lather it all over my body after using a toilet like this, i can not. Toilet paper is an even better friend and is also my constant companion...there is very rarely paper in public toilets. I have also recently become a friend of wet wipes in the absence of a shower...one swipe and you go from smelling rancid to smelling of baby powder and soap...breath deep....

it is hard not to become disillusioned with vietnam i find. The people here are hard. and justifiably so....they have been through so much in both recent and not so recent times...much of it at the hands of westerners. They blame the west entirely for the recent tragedies inflicted by the war here only 40 years or so ago...they hurt still...but they must let us in....we have money. they do not. and so we walk down the street with store keepers constantly yelling out...'you! buy something.'...grubby fingers reach out to pull our sleeves and draw our attention to the pineapple they are selling...or the beer nuts. but yesterday, an event restored my faith in the friendliness and resilience of the vietnamese. Sitting in a little cafe with half an hour till our bus was to leave, we gulped down some fried rice. getting up to pay and leave a young girl approached me and pressed an origami paper swan into my hand. It was, her friend translated, made just for me because she thought i was very beautiful. Touched and flattered, with tears welling in my eyes, i thanked her profusely. She did not want money. She was just being sweet and generous...i will treasure that little paper swan.

So now we are in a party town and might just let our hair down a bit...which, to be honest, we did on our last night in Hoi An too - with some friendly Spaniards and a great deal of 25p beer. it will be nice to chill out a bit as we've been going pretty hard. a couple of days here and then we move on to Saigon.

stay tuned. xxx

Hoi Hoi Hoi

2009-02-26T10:58:00.003Z

It confuses me that most vietnamese cities on the backpacker trail begin with H...we are moving so very quickly that i often find myself wondering exactly where i am...but then, let's face it...i'm quite easily confused at the best of times, let alone when my brain has been unused, on the whole, for 4 months!!

Actually, we are in Hoi An...and, suddenly, I am in love with Vietnam. This town is exquisite...it's a magical mixture of shopping and the beach...alongside teeny tiny orange cottages and french colonial architecture....wondering around the old town last night i was transfixed by chinese lanterns lighting the quiet streets and atmospheric little bars inviting us in for local beers costing 25p....

Now,listen to this girls...Hoi An is famous for its custom made tailors and, as we have made our way down the coast of vietnam all anyone talks about when discussing Hoi An are the suits and the shoes they have had custom-made....the proceedure goes a little something like this....you duck into one of the many little shops along the street...sitting down comfortably with a cold bottle of water and the most recent Next catalouges (for the aussies Next is a very popular High Street shop in the UK....) Flicking through you point out the style of the clothes you want before picking out the materials from a large range on their shelves...less than 48hours and one fitting later you have yourself a custom made item...just for you....

As you can imagine, i could well have gone a little crazy here....however I (read matt)have managed to control the purse strings and have settled for a stylish business suit to win me (hopefully) a brilliant job in my first interview back in England (well, one can dream) and a pair of blue jeans without the gaping hole at the back which always seems to be my problem when buying off the shelf...Moving on the to shoe shop I was measured up for a gorgeous pair of black leather boots - riding boot style - which will be a perfect replacement to the pair I wore out last winter in England. I'm in heaven...

And while in Hoi An, while one's wardrobe is being improved, one can rent oneself a scooter and motor on down the 2kms to the beautiful, white sand beach with it's multitude of palm trees and chilled out vibe...we spent today there...taking a well earned breather and soaking up some vietnamese sun over a glossy novel before spending 75p on some seaside grub.

tomorrow we head on down the well trodden backpacker trail on another overnight bus...ending up in Nha Trang for more beach therapy...and maybe a party boat or two?? Who me?? ;-)

stay tuned. xxx

Hue's view

2009-02-24T23:27:00.002Z

vietnam is looking up...Hue is a pretty city in central vietnam on the banks of the Perfume River (which couldnt smell less like perfume) and with gentle, tree-lined streets sporting little bars, cafes and restaurants.

yesterday, jumping a ride on a colourful dragon boat we cruised our way down the river, visiting temples, pagodas (the 2 are different - the vietnamese respect their national heroes in temples and worship their gods in pagodas) and the beautifully landscaped tombs of a past emperor...one who is famous for sleeping with five of his wives in one night with 3 of them falling pregnant. I guess he needs a tranquil resting place after that performance!

It was a relaxing day but we pulled out of seeing any other tombs and came home....i am sick you see. struggling with a lingering cold picked up on the junk boat in halong bay. a few nights of little sleep and some incredibly hot weather (37 degrees) are also helping to make life a little less fun...so i spent the night in bed feeling miserable while matt went out to play.

Pretty as Hue is, there is not too much to do here, so today we are outta here...heading further south to Hoi An which is known for its tailored made clothing and pretty old town....

stay tuned. xxx

saying Halong to a bay and goodbye to Hanoi

2009-02-23T10:43:00.002Z

Halong bay, to the north east of hanoi, is purely majestic. A unesco world heritage listed site, the bay is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of limestone islands jutting up from clear blue water. The 'must do' on any trip to Hanoi, we found, is to jump a ride on a junk boat, sailing far into the bay and spending the evening over a cocktail watching the sun sink behind the islands before slinking off into your little cabin to be rocked to sleep by the waves. in our case, unfortunately, there wasn't much sun to speak of....in fact it is the first time since we left NZ that we have actually been cold (sorry to my dear friends in the UK....i'm afraid i couldnt resist the gloat!) but actually the fog and mist gave the bay a haunting beauty of its own. Hopping into kayaks on the first day we got down closer to the action - paddling gently (well, gently after matt had broken 2 oars by paddling not so gently...a very good way to piss off the kayaking powers-that-be we found...oops!) into a little section of the bay, surrounded by islands, greenery, monkeys....i felt like we could have been somewhere completely undiscovered. the silence was deafening.

Day 2 dawned with no electricity for a hot shower and an irrate vietnamese tour guide banging on our door demanding we show up for breakfast. oopps...in trouble again! but you take the good with the bad and really enjoyed our night floating on the seas. Our second evening was spent on Monkey island...we were the only group of people there, a deserted beach which just happened to sport lovely little bungalows and the best vietnamese food i've eaten yet. By this time we were tight with our fellow adventurers and we spent a very pleasant evening munching on vietnamese cuisine, chatting and sipping the odd vodka...in between shooing territorial monkeys from our front porch...

It was a relaxing few days away from the hussle and bussle that is hanoi....as we arrived back in the city the craziness of the place hit us again and we couldnt wait to get out....so we jumped straight on an overnight bus to Hue...

Overnight buses can be an oddity here in indochina....'sleeper buses', slightly more expensive than the normal version but infinitely more comfortable, contain rows and rows of bunkbeds....you literally can lay down almost horizontal and dream vividly of horns beeping and swerving motorbikes as you make your way down the country.

So we are now in Hue....a much more appealing city than Hanoi....with a peaceful river and tree lined streets. Tomorrow we are off to see some tombs which, hopefully won't be as depressing as it sounds, and tonight a few beers and some fresh spring rolls should see us through the night.

stay tuned. xxx

asia pics part 3

2009-02-19T15:22:00.002Z

pics of cheeky elephants and ricketty rickshaws...

Chiang Mai part 2

Hanoi, Vietnam

good morning vietnam

2009-02-19T12:26:00.004Z

hanoi, vietnam....fast, furious, filthy, fearless...

i wasn't sure what i would think of vietnam. we all know how enamored i was by the 'land of smiles', thailand, and how sad i was to leave that beautiful, friendly country. As always i have entered this new country with an open mind and an eagerness to see and experience everything i can in the short time we have here....but i'm afraid vietnam is going to have to do better than it did in hanoi to impress me....

People don't tend to stay here long...it is, for most travellers to vietnam, a jumping point to other places in the north - Sapa or Halong Bay...and now i see why.

the place is crazy...the roads chocka-block full of death defying vespa riders flying in all directions, each leaning on their horns as they join the other 50 or so commuters in the middle of the intersection dodging eachother, pedestrians, petrified tourists and the odd chicken. I think i have used up my 9 lives just crossing roads today! At one stage matt and i stood at a 'crossing' by the side of the road just watching a wall of traffic coming towards us for about 5 minutes until finally a local came along and showed us how it's done. The trick, you see, is to walk confidently and slowly in front of the oncoming mass of vehicles, parting the motorbikes, rickshaws and taxis like the red sea...yes, they beeped their horns fiercely at us but they were doing that before we walked out in front of them too...the first time we crossed a road this way i truly thought i would die....but after a day of stepping out carefully in front of fast moving traffic i am still wary but so far so good...don't try this at home kids.

the place is filthy...while having a shower this evening my legs actually changed colour as the dirt washed off....despite the fact that i was wearing trousers today. through a crack in the pavement as we skirted past women making their lunch on the street, matt pointed out a scurrying furry creature under foot...a rat....mmm. well, so long as he didnt end up in our dinner...!

Am i not selling you this city? Here's the crunch. Today we were robbed. Only of the equivalent of £2 mind...but it's the principle really. We are pretty cynical travellers actually - sometimes i think we are too cynical...until now we have never been robbed or scammed, touch wood....but, even though i'd been warned of the scams in hanoi, this time they got us. We had been wandering around the area near the Ho Chi Mihn museum...I had been keen to go in and learn about this man who, it seems, this whole country still revolves around...but the museum was closing in 20 mins so, disappointed, we wandered away, deciding to head back to the old quarter near our hotel and find ourselves some non-rat infested dinner. We were approached by a man offering a cyclo (rickshaw) ride. we bargained him down to 50,000 dong - still pretty expensive but we were too tired to argue any more. The next thing we knew he had grabbed his friend and 2 motorbikes were standing in front of us...some cyclo! still, it would save our legs so we hopped on...gripping on for dear life as our drivers expertly negotiated the suicidal traffic, i was quite relieved when they pulled over...
trick 1 - we had asked to be dropped near the lake....there was no lake in sight but we were told it was 'just up the road'....yeah like by about 2kms! we were nowhere near our destination!
trick 2 - matt offered his driver 100 000 dong whilst asking if he had change. Yes, said the driver before taking our money and speeding off down the road and into the traffic....we never saw our change. he had robbed us of £2 and we were nowhere near our destination. we were livid!

but we realise that we were silly. we let our guard down, and we learnt from the experience. It was just a little thing really but its put a sour taste in our mouth about this city. We are keen to leave and are glad we only decided to spend a day here.

Tomorrow we are heading to somewhere much more scenic and serene...Halong Bay with its limestone islands rising majestically from the sea...we will sail around on a junk boat for 3 days, spending one night on the boat and another in a bungalow on monkey island, near cat ba island....the days will involve sunbathing on the deck, kayacking, swimming, and generally chilling. Sounds much more appealing than coping with the hassle of hanoi right?! i agree...

stay tuned.xx

of chiang and chang...

2009-02-17T14:13:00.007Z

we have had so many new experiences in the past three days in chiang mai, north thailand, that I hardly know where to begin...

Chiang Mai is somehow of a different breed to bangkok....it's still a large city...frantically busy, crammed with tuk tuks and taxis and fabulous night markets. but somehow it is more chilled out and the people are a million times friendlier...

we have been relishing thai cuisine for the past 2 weeks...i have, quite seriously, lived on pad thai and could do so for several more weeks quite happily....and yesterday i learned how to make my own so that i can continue with my latest obsession in the comfort of my own kitchen...in fact i think a thai party might be in the cards if anyone fancies it??!! under the tutorship of a thai chef we visited a local market in the morning....inhaling the scents of barbequed fish and fresh fruit and veg, we learned about the more obscure of thai ingredients before heading back to Perm's house to cook up some delish dishes...alongside my (rather yummy, even if it didn't look conventional...!) pad thai I made some of my other faves - thai green curry, chicken and cashew stirfry and coconut soup while matt whipped up an amazing red curry, big fat noodles and sweet and sour stirfry...it was such a fun day - we met some great people and had a laugh, learnt a lot and played with food....what's not to love?

and today we traded saucepans for sneakers and woks for waterfalls as we trekked high into the mountains...another activity that Chiang Mai is famous for...travellers come from all over to spend 1, 2 or 3 days hiking in the hills around northern thailand to see what the jungle holds....does the lion sleep tonight?? but, since damaging my foot whilst dancing in the sand (as you do) i felt I could only cope with a couple of hours walk, a decision i was grateful for as travel hasn't exactly increased my fitness levels!!! The day began by leaving the walking to dumbo...magnificent creatures, the elephants plodded along while we rode high on their backs like kings....our 'chang'(thai for elephant) was a cheeky fella, preferring to throw his trunk back for any wayward bananas we might have in our possession than concentrate on keeping up with the others...quite often we had the baby trailing along beside us...only 2 years old he is about to be sent to a conservation camp to be trained but in the meantime he likes to play with the tourists...almost barging me over as i tried to pose with him for a photo....you'd think that, being as cute as he is, he might be used to the paparazzi!

after that magical experience we walked a way to visit a hill tribe...primitive villagers living in the hills around chiang mai...in the past they survived by trading opium. Nowadays the King of thailand has discouraged drug use and has encouraged other forms of agriculture which the villagers trade while their children go to school. Hot and bothered after trekking through thai dust we stumbled across a waterfall and took the opportunity for a swim in the fresh mountain stream before checking out another (more advanced) hill tribe village - that of the Karen tribe who migrated from burma and somehow, despite their simplicity, have satelite dishes and electricity set up in their little timber huts....

After a spot of lunch the final item on the agenda was a float down a river on a bamboo raft....not unlike punting down the oxford river but a tad more primitive...the raft is literally a few bits of bamboo strung together, controlled by a punter front and back...matt happened to be driver on ours which was slightly concerning but we quietly sailed down little rapids and slid between jutting rocks, watched by elephants on the side of the stream and surrounded by jungle....it was all rather idealic and dreamy and a perfect end to a brilliant day full of new experiences....

It will be sad to leave thailand...i have loved it here and i see myself coming back for more exploring (read 'shopping'!) sometime soon. But tomorrow we move on to Vietnam...Hanoi to be precise...a new and exciting country where lots of new adventures lie just around the corner...

stay tuned. xxx

Asia pics part 2

2009-02-16T16:09:00.001Z

tuk tuks and temples...lots of pics...

Bangkok

Chiang Mai part 1

tuk tuk trouble

2009-02-14T03:20:00.005Z

getting around bangkok is an adventure in itself. It seems that each mode of transport has it's own problems...the taxi's are reminiscent of the classic french movie, 'Taxi'...with their pink toyotas souped up to the max complete with spoilers and flashing neon lights, the drivers come with an extra dose of attitude. We have learned fast, mostly through experiences in bali, how to avoid being ripped off...often, im afraid, to the point of being unnecessarily suspicious when faced with a friendly thai...however when it comes to taxies, being ripped off seems par for the course. they refuse to go on the meter and bartering is difficult for a traveller with no idea where he's going...and when, as we did yesterday, you do succeed in getting them to switch on the meter, they rip you off anyway - driving miles in the wrong direction, hoping you don't notice.

The tuk tuk drivers are a breed unto themselves - simply crazy and often, it seems, with a death wish, for themselves, their passengers, and the chicken on the side of the road.. It is, I feel, a new form of high in Thailand as they get their kicks from driving down the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic....

and the ferries don't turn up at the port. We're not game enough to try out the buses!!

but so far we have survived with a few thrills and, once you do get to your destination, it's worth the ride. last night we turned up on khao san road...smack bang in the centre of the old part of the city, surrounded by quiet temples and the king's palaces, this henonistic road was the hippy hangout of the 60s. surrounded by hostels and cheap beer, things haven't changed that much. nowadays it's a tourist destination but you can still watch hoards of travellers arriving, packs on backs, to experience the bangkok vibe for themselves....and with its £1.50 cocktails and £4 buckets lining the street we played on that road for hours, meeting locals and travellers alike, perusing the markets and munching on spring rolls and pad thai for our midnight snack...

today, feeling slightly the worse for wear, we will pack up sticks and move on...this time to chiang mai in the north of thailand where we will learn to cook our own spring rolls, ride an elephant or two and cruise down a river on a plank of bamboo...

stay tuned... xx

temple tantrum

2009-02-13T03:01:00.002Z

We have landed back in civilization with a thump....bangkok is a busy, dirty city but boasts some beautiful historical buildings and some great shopping! We are only here for 2 days and yesterday we felt the pressure to see as much as possible....so we started temple hopping...the grand palace with it's emerald budda temple (wat phra kaew)...the breathtaking reclining budda (wat pho)....by the end of the morning if I had seen another budda belly I would have screamed....

So we changed tact...hopping on a ferry we chugged our way down the dirty cho praya river towards the towering buildings of the modern city. skyscraper after skyscraper as far as the eye can see, bangkok is business central with many a shopping mall boasting shop after shop of designer goods...we mozzied round siam paragon, complete with a car showroom floor selling lamborginis, bmws and minis....

Our plan was to go back to our hotel for a shower before hitting kao san road - the famous backpacker hangout - but when we stumbled across a muay thai bout on the side of the street we were hooked and ended up watching an internatioal bout - thailand vs italy - for free! since we were still in town we decided to check out a night market and wandered around until our legs just simply wouldnt let us walk another step...

we will take it a bit easier today. we have discovered that, despite the hype, there actually isn't too much to do in bangkok and we will see what we want to see easily in the 2.5 days we are here. tonight we are hoping for those beers in kao san road and, beforehand maybe a touch of budda and a little bit more burberry...

stay tuned.. xx

Full moon magic

2009-02-11T14:39:00.005Z

at the risk of sounding like a broken record, because i know ive said this several times before, one of my favourite aspects of traveling is meeting all sorts of interesting, fun, travel obsessed people from all over the world while on the road...sharing experiences, advice and a beer or 10...you can meet the world while seeing the world... And, since i have a very special talent for keeping in touch with new friends, it's not unusual for us to stumble across people we know again and again...if we're lucky each time in a new, exotic location...

and so it is with Em....a brissy gal who we met in Greece and who is now traveling with her mates Emily and Katie for 6 months round south east asia and india. Like all good backpackers they had heard of the magic of the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan and made tracks there pronto....

so on Monday, FMP eve, we all got together over pad thai to plan our attack on the party the next night before preparing our muscles for a full night of dancing with an energetic thai massage. fully cracked and pummeled we moved on to relax our brains back at the amsterdam bar....famous for it's chilled out vibe and breathtaking sunsets over the ocean...it was, we all decided, important to have an early night so we would be on our best form for the party. so we went our separate ways for pre-party sleeping. it cannot be said that we didn't strategise to the extreme for optimum full moon party enjoyment...!

FMP-day dawned on Tuesday and I was one very excited party animal. so excited, in fact, that I couldn't relax for my final planned afternoon sleep... Finally night fell, the full moon rose and our party night began. We went first to Em, Emily and Katie's resort and invited Mike, a swedish backpacker (the place was swarming with swedes who are prolific travellers) who we had met on our snorkelling tour a few days before. We had had a beer and a chat with him, discovered he was traveling solo and was a fun and funny guy and so included him in our plans. The resort had an 'all you can drink' deal which we made the most of...slurping down sang son, a potent thai rum, before moving on to 'buckets...the famous drink of choice at FMPs....basically a bucket like one a child might take to the beach, filled to the brim with alcohol....adults only thank you! Hanging out with another group of swedes who were staying at the resort it was aussie vs swede in an intense drinking game which took us close to midnight....and finally it was time to hit the beach...

Sensory overload...music pumping...bodies crashing past, dancing wildly....fire twirlers and fire rings....neon body paint...and a very full moon...

we tried to stick together but we had a big group of 10 including all the swedes and with thousands of revelers moving around on a small beach in the dark it was hard to even keep up with one friend....a few of us stumbled down the beach, making friends along the way before finding a bar playing music we liked and dancing, dancing on the sand...heading back up the beach again we miraculously ran into our friends the swedes, now covered with body paint and dancing ecstatically under the stars...the party was everything I had been hoping for and I had the time of my life...

but today we paid the price for our excess as we joined the hoards of hungover travellers, still in their sand coated party clothes and their neon paint, being herded onto the ferry and back to wherever it was they came from...our destination was bangkok...away from paradise and back to city smog...we could not have been in more different worlds....

It was sad to leave koh phangan...we had a great time there and I believe I have fallen in love with thailand. I could quite happily exist for the rest of my life on pad thai, chang beer and banana, chocolate and coconut pancakes that cost 30 baht(60p). But there is still a week left in thailand and many more adventures are just around the corner...

Stay tuned. xx

Asia pics part one

2009-02-09T13:56:00.002Z

check out paradise...

Bali, indonesia

Koh pangan part 1

just another day in paradise

2009-02-09T01:06:00.002Z

what a busy and adventuresome couple of days it has been here in koh phangan....this island is relatively small and still fairly undeveloped as far as tourism goes though they are catching on and the days of 100 baht cabins on the beach are long gone. there is no airport and only a few roads....but there are an overwhelming number of beaches on which to chillax. the locals around here zip around on little scooters....so on saturday we figured 'when in rome' and got hold of a little vespa ourselves...skitting around the island we went first to haad rin, the venue for the full moon party (FMP) tomorrow night. this is definitely the commercialised, touristy part of the island and the beach was already swarming, the music already pumping...all pre 12pm and with the party still days away - it's going to be mad!

after a swim and a drink and a fair amount of people watching we moved on through the main town of thong sala - a rather depressing port town - and stopped for lunch on haad yao...with its swanky resorts this seems to be the domain of the richer, older tourist - mainly germans it seemed to me...moving swiftly on we ended up in mae haad where, when the tide is low, you can walk across to the teeny tiny island of koh ma. word on the street was that the place to be at sunset is 'amsterdam bar'...high in the hills near haad plailaem....a stoner's paradise definitely but the view of the sunset was to die for....

zooming back to our hotel via a thai bbq for dinner (where you cook your own food on a stove on your table) we encountered 'Arm' a very enthusiastic staff member at our resort who had promised us the day before that he would 'make on the beach' meaning, we figured out eventually, that he wanted to set up a table on the beach for us. we had forgotten, but he had not, and we walked down to find a candlelit table complete with carpets, flowers and a sign that read 'just for you...' so sweet! the least we could do was have a couple of beers for his efforts so we sat there contentedly, at our table on the beach, listening to the waves...

Yesterday was another day of exploration...joining a tour group we were promised a day discovering the island...first stop was an elephant sanctuary where we cuddled dumbo and fed him bananas....next we climbed a mountain....ok probably more like a hill....but it almost killed me just the same....it was jungle, no track, just stumbling over tree roots and trying not to fall down waterfalls - you know how it is....but it was worth the trauma - the view from the top was breathtaking

we recovered over lunch before checking out a chinese temple complete with budda, and a thai temple also complete with budda, but apparently a different budda....yeah- i didn't quite get that....finally we all jumped into a long boat and motored around the island to do some snorkelling amongst the stunning coral and pretty little fishes of the tropical reef before heading to bottle beach for a beer and some downtime chatting to our new friends - german, swedish, aussie and canadian - all here, of course, for the FMP.

today is a little more chilled. but tonight marks the warm up to the party....we are meeting with our friend Em and her travel buddies for lunch to plan our attack on haad rin tomorrow before heading back to amsterdam for another beautiful sunset....

stay tuned. xxx

just a touch, a touch, of paradise...

2009-02-06T06:59:00.008Z

allow me to describe the view i have as i type out this rambling entry to you...a hammock swings gently on the front porch of our tiny, thatched roof cabin under palm trees heavily laden with ripening coconuts...i can hear the tiny waves lapping on the shore and gentle, chilled out music from the speakers by the pool...if i manage, in time, to rouse myself from the crisp white sheets of the bed i will only have to step from our front step to the pool, i will pull one of the poolside chairs into the sun and read my novel...or write...10 steps more and my toes will be digging into white, glowing sand....deserted ban tai beach on the thai island of koh phangan...i would share the little thatched shelter on the sand with a cute white dog...presumably a stray but a friendly one nonetheless and hope he doesnt have a taste for cocktails...surely this is as close to a tropical paradise as one is ever likely to find in this day and age of beachfront highrises and commercialised coastlines....

we arrived early this morning after a 6am flight from bangkok - hell for poor matt who had met a thai speaking, nottingham born, indian guy in a bar near our hotel and had been shouted to one too many whiskeys last night (not too much sympathy from me i'm afraid!) ....but we made it with much less hassle than i thought we would....

i have just scoffed the best pad thai i have ever tasted and downed 2 beers...i'm full and relaxed in paradise....i am considering a swim....perhaps a nap....life is good and I wish we were staying here longer. the end of our time here will be given to hedonistic partying....the backpacker's ultimate party - the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin beach - about 15 minutes from here....even today the plane to samui and the ferry to koh phangan were filled to the brim with backpackers arriving for this mecca...many an aussie accent amongst the americans and europeans....many have obviously been on the road for a long time...tattered clothes and well used backpacks, messy dreadlocks...woven bracelets and charms bought in the asian cities where they have stayed for a day or two, perhaps even a month or two...they are the hippies of the noughties and we see them everywhere when we travel...but particularly here, following in the footsteps of the ones that paved the way in the 60s, 'finding' this island and trancing out for the first time under a full moon....then there were the fresh faces of the boys from sydney who chatted to me excitedly....they had only just arrived and will be heading back to sydney after the party...they have come all this way just for a few beers on a beach....but what a memorable few beers it will be....

until then, we shall enjoy a touch of paradise. Tomorrow we might rent scooters and dart round the island exploring....maybe hire a jetski or 2...or do a little snorkling....anything is possible in paradise...

xx

one night in bangkok makes a hard man humble....

2009-02-05T11:14:00.002Z

we have stumbled into thailand today and, to be honest, i am quite glad to leave bali behind us....it has it's charms - friendly people and interesting scenery (when you get out of kuta town) but i found that i could not have taken too much more of kuta itself - the humidity, the rain, the hassle of the storekeepers...if we were to go back we would stay elsewhere...and if we were to go back it would be with plenty of money and an empty suitcase to stock up on D&G and Jimmy Choo handbags and quicksilver shorts....

I do try to be openminded about the places we visit and i am aware that i have travelled in western europe for many years - i know asia will be so very different and it is these differences that I am interested in discovering....but kuta (and i deliberately say kuta rather than bali...) just wasn't for me this time....

but now we are in thailand...in bangkok for less than 24hrs...apparently, according to the song, one night here makes a hard man humble....we'll see - it will definitely make us tired as we get up in the wee hours tomorrow and make our way to koh phangan....to white sandy beach and a little bungalow and a big, crazy, drunken party under a full moon...

stay tuned.... xxx

bloody cheeky monkeys...

2009-02-03T12:24:00.002Z

we hit the town last night....in a quiet kind of way really in bali terms....but i wanted to check out at least one of the cocktail bars in kuta so off we toddled to dine in a Mediterranean restaurant (when one is travelling in asia for 3 months one doesn't feel the need for EVERY meal to be rice based...) followed by a bali long island in 'maccaroni'...featured in my lonely planet guide this bar is everything you might find in london's west end....with prices to match....but we felt right at home as the DJ spun his stuff and we people watched to our hearts content....

...stumbling back to our hotel we passed a teeny tiny reggae bar off the beaten track....cannabiez (sound it out...there you go!) featured a dreadlocked band pounding out marley hits with fervor so we stopped for a beer and a listen...'hello my brother, my sister' welcomed the frontman when the song was finished and when his set was done he sought us out and joined us for a drink....telling us that we should be 'shhhh' if smoking marijuana in bali (um thanks....we would prefer to go without the death sentence so might steer clear) and warning us about the 'bloody cheeky monkeys' that we would be seeing on our day trip around the island today. apparently the little rotters like to steal children's glasses and break them....nice....

but today was everything i'd been hoping for out of bali....hiring a guide and his car off the streets of kuta we arranged for him to take us around the island. unfortunately it was raining but thankfully that didn't dampen our spirits too much as we visited the sacred monkey forest with no adverse affects from those 'bloody cheeky monkeys'...in fact they were very cute. we saw wood carvers at work, silver and gold manufacturers and drank real balinese coffee....we donned a sarong and wandered around a temple with its 'magic' spring waters and viewed a smoking volcano from a restaurant with a birds eye view.

today changed my opinion of bali. if you get out of the touristy areas full of hawkers and aussies (!) you see a different island. a beautiful one....

we have one more day here before we head to thailand...

stay tuned. xxxxx

the rain in spain falls mainly in bali

2009-02-02T04:32:00.002Z

it's the wet season at the moment in bali....tropical storms bucket down...heavy, soaking rain...two or three times a day. we have taken refuge from the current deluge in a small restaurant boasting free wifi...we scoff fried noodles and orange juice for breakfast...an unusual combination but somehow it works here....we try to eat as the locals do.

we planned to sample the bars along JI Legian - the main street of kuta - last night but instead we found ourselves drinking copious amounts of bintang whilst huddled around a small and flickering tv in the corner of our hotel's outdoor bar, with a dozen or so other guests from all over the world, to watch the men's final of the australian open. barracking for federer i texted my parents who i knew would be doing exactly the same. The world is a small place really...

...i'm bored of kuta now. over being hassled into buying more stuff i don't want with every step i take down a dirty, soggy street.... i can't understand why so many australians come here instead of our own, much more beautiful and accomodating east coast. perhaps this is asia and perhaps i will have to learn to accept it with 10 more weeks to go...but for me, kuta is too touristy, too commercial....this can't be the real asia. tomorrow we will explore the rest of the island...bring me monkey forests and hindi temples and beautiful sunsets. that, surely, is the real asia.

stay tuned. xx

kudos to kuta

2009-02-01T02:50:00.002Z

as this is my first time in asia (other than countless hours in airports between brisbane and london...)i'm not sure what i really expected from bali. a culture shock certainly... a lower standard of living perhaps....a bit of dirt and grime amongst the palm trees and the rolling waves....my expectations are not, as perhaps some westerners are, for paradise on a deserted tropical island...i have, after all, carefully read the guide books....

we are staying in the thick of it all...near kuta beach, on the indonesian island of bali....it has long been a surfer's paradise...a backpacker's mecca....full of shops selling rip off D&G handbags and billabong boardies...cheap as chips hotel rooms...hawkers on the streets trying anything to sell you their wares. most of them have perfected an aussie accent and, as they see you coming from a mile off they yell out....'gday maaaaaaaaaate...how you going? cheap sunglasses...we have shirt in your size...you want?' on the whole they seem friendly, the balinese, with their big smiles...they are just doing their job, just trying to make a living...

our accomodation must be cheap and cheerful as we have another 3 months to make our money last....but we have managed to find a room with an ensuite for £15/night...it is basic, but clean and, most important, boasts an efficient air conditioner. I was not prepared for the heat...so humid that it takes your breath away as you step outside. I have given up wearing makeup - there's no point if it slides off your face the minute you walk out the door. our shower has cold water only but we dont mind....it helps us cool off.

the nightlife here is legendary but potentially dangerous. 7 years ago 2 nightclubs were blown up and 88 aussies died amongst many indonesians and tourists from other countries. this morning we saw the memorial....the australian government, even now, warns against us playing amongst other westerners on the main streets of kuta....so we are keeping our heads low...a few drinks tonight perhaps but we will be in bed early...this is a holiday. a time for us to get our heads together before our whirlwind tour of asia....we will spend the days wandering the streets, palming off the hawkers, drinking bintang (indonesian beer) with our satay at lunch and swimming in the luke warm waters of the hotel pool....

kudos to kuta...

stay tuned... xxx

celebrating australia....and me!

2009-01-27T00:58:00.002Z

aussies are known for a lot of things - friendliness,loyalty, mateship.....and patriotism. we passionately love our nation because it is, without a doubt, the best and most beautiful country in the world, and we are not afraid to be so proud about who we are and what our country represents. my birthday falls 2 days before Australia day, a public holiday in australia...a time for aussies to let their hair down and party....bbqs in the backyard, drinking beer...eating lamingtons and pies....we wear our flag proudly around our shoulders and tattoo it on our cheek....we celebrate who we are...and, as its my birthday, i celebrate who i am as well...

in fact, i've spent the whole weekend celebrating my birthday - well there's no point letting an opportunity to party slip on by....so i went out with my friends on sunday night to the newly renovated fibbers....cocktails and wine and lots of fun with my toowoomba gang...i was the 'international guest' and the birthday girl and my gorgeous friends made a huge fuss of me before slipping home one by one....finally leaving just ann and stace and i to close the bar...in high and tipsy spirits and with an alias or two to match.....in the wee wee hours....

...and the next day, tired but happy and feeling every one of my 21 years....we toddled out to mum and dad's for my favorite lunch and birthday cake....hanging out with a labrador and my family i chilled out for the afternoon before pulling myself together for an aussie day celebration of my very own....The Spotted Cow.....back in my toowoomba days it was the pub where the cowboys went to party in their big hats and big boots, kicking up their heels in a line dance to lee kernigan.....nowadays, apparently, it is THE place to be on australia day....dress code - aussie....aussie flags, aussie shirts, aussie tattoos, aussie....um.....aprons, stace?! if you were feeling particularly australian you would drink bundy rum and coke i guess....or at the very least, a beer...but i stuck to my staple diet of vodka and felt no less aussie amongst my mates - stace, letti, ann, shad, stacey.....aussie, aussie, aussie.....

xx

fun and sunshiney days in beautiful queensland

2009-01-27T00:51:00.002Z

a weekend in brisvegas

a country wedding - belinda and scott

my birthday and aussie day

weddings...parties...anything...

2009-01-25T06:53:00.003Z

i'm one of those people who loves birthdays - anyone's of course (well, it's an excuse to party isnt it!) but particularly my own.....i'm certainly no wallflower who will keep quiet the fact that it's her birthday - i want the world to know and the world to acknowledge it....and the world to celebrate it...!!

for the first time in 4 years i am in australia for my birthday and, since my birthday falls on the Australia day long weekend, i plan to make the most of being close to my family and oldest friends by drawing out the celebrations as long as everyone will let me...

so tonight is a dinner in my honour with my crazy toowoomba-ite friends and monday is lazing by the pool with my family gorging on my favorite mum-made dishes....but last night's celebration was in a whole new ballgame and, dare i say it, a much more important one than my 21st (hehe!) birthday....

Belinda and Scott FINALLY got married!

We have known this gorgeous couple for years - 9 years or so i guess (and now im showing my age!) since Belinda and I went to uni together. We were the three amigos - Katherine, Belinda and myself as we submitted our final year thesis together after working on it for the full academic year....a pressured project that could, and did, break many a mate but which bought the three of us an unbreakable, lifelong friendship. it's another of those special relationships between us all - there's no need to be in touch all the time - we know that they'll always be in our lives and we'll always be in theirs....and having been distraught to miss Katherine and peter's wedding because we lived in england, i couldn't bear to miss scott and belinda's too....

Im so glad i didn't. Certainly one of the best weddings i have ever been to. simple.... so relaxed... so 'them'....a stunning bride and a handsome groom, standing out against the backdrop of her parent's property - real country australia....big bellied cows in the paddock....barbed wire....the corregated shed was the dance floor and hay bales were our seats.....sunset over the gumtrees....pour your own beer from the tap...cheese and crackers.....real aussie blokes in akubras and their boots - buffed up to a high shine for this special occasion....so much laughter....so much fun.....so very australian. it was perfect. and as we ended the night crooning along to garth brooks and at the tops of our voices thanking God we were country boys....i couldn't stop laughing....and neither, i noticed, could the beautiful, beautiful bride....my very dear friend.

congratulations belinda and scott....we wish you every happiness in the world....

xxxxx

Mamma mia

2009-01-22T09:49:00.006Z

I do sometimes wonder how i cope without my mummy whilst living so very far away. I miss her terribly of course, and am often quite jealous when my friends in England do little things with their parents - popping round for a 'mum' cooked meal or hitting town for a spot of shopping. So when my mum suggested the two of us creep away for a bit of r&r together on the beautiful sunshine coast, near noosa, there was no way i was going to say no! and after a few days with her I'm not sure that I have ever felt more relaxed. Set up in a lovely apartment only a block from the beach, in a village which had everything we could want - teeny tiny cafes serving the nicest coffee i've had in 'yonks', fancy yet casual restaurants boasting a half price 'oyster hour' from 5-6pm (yes please!)accompanied by rather tangy margaritas, an unpopulated beach........a bottle'o where we could pick up our wines to go with our romantic chick flick in the evenings......what more could we really want? We watched movies, we read books, we went on walks, we swam in the pool, we lay on the golden sand, we took afternoon naps, we ate, we drank.......

It may seem that these luxurious little breaks are all i ever seem to do these days - and i must say I've done rather well on the beachside holiday front on this trip to Australia - my deep brown skin does suggest that i've caught more than my fair share of the aussie sun in the past 2 months! but this holiday was one I really needed. I needed quiet time with my mummy....i needed a(nother) break. This coming week will be crazy. We leave Australia in 7 days and, my, how the coming 3 months in Asia has crept up on us!

I have so much planning to do, much booking of flights, accomodation....bali, singapore, bangkok, koh phangan.....i can't think beyond the first couple of weeks. It will be a crazy whirlwind but I'm excited.....i've been reading about some of the things that lie ahead of us - thai beaches, fake fendis, elephant rides, ancient temples...glorious, exciting, alive, ASIA..............

But we've made a big decision this week - one we've been thinking about for a while....as much as we are excited about Asia, we miss our 'other' home...we miss England - or rather, we miss the people there....and we want to be there. Sooner. We're coming back early - only by 3 weeks, but it's enough for us......and now we fly in on 17th April....I can't wait for the reunions! Who's up for a welcome home party???!!!!

But that is still 12 weeks away and a lot will happen before we reach heathrow....
...stay tuned.... xx

the sunshine state

2009-01-17T23:03:00.006Z

When people think of the 'sunshine state' of queensland they conjure up images of beaches and rainforest....for me, queensland means home...i've been 'home' a week now...darting between brisbane where a lot of my friends are, and toowoomba where my family is. i've been shopping with mum, swimming in my parent's pool, catching up on emails and photos, and playing with the family dogs.

this weekend is a busy one....we are on a countdown with less than 2 weeks before we leave australia to continue on our travels and the pressure is on to see as many people as possible.

Brad is an old school friend...matt's best friend from high school the two were inseperable in their teenage years. now married to Beck, the two live in brisvegas and we caught up with them for dinner and drinks in newmarket on friday night....chowing down on delishious turkish mezze we caught up on the year that's past and went home to play with their gorgeous kitten, stanley....the following day i was in the city again....this time in new farm, drinking wine in very windy new farm park and catching up with some girls we met in greece...em, cat, sarah, jess and bec....they were all there and we got pleasently tipsy together whilst wishing em well in her future travels....i love knowing fellow travellers, i love meeting up with them again all over the world...and, since em is going to be travelling in asia at the same time as us, i have no doubt i'll see her again soon.

recovering with pizza and a beer back in the brissy suburbs last night, i chilled out with gorgeous clare, just hanging out like old times...comfortable and relaxed with my dear old friend....

today will be spent catching up with my old uni friend, katherine, and her two kids, erin and emma....and then to the beautiful sunshiney queensland beaches for just a few more days.

stay tuned. xx

a month worth of pics

2009-01-15T22:37:00.002Z

there's a few of them! grab a cup of tea, make yourself comfortable and start flicking!

big cats and cocktails

christmas at the coast

party party party - NSW

the 'castle'

2009-01-11T10:59:00.003Z

I have spent my four remaining days in new south wales in newcastle, 2 hours north of sydney...it's not a pretty town....it's harbour is drowning in cranes and shipping freighters....it's known to be a rough place, fights on the streets....a drug town....a coal town...

but for me it holds some mates that mean the world to me, boys with hearts of gold, and i have come here to take a breath, relax, to just be 'me' amongst friends who know me very very well and to prepare for 2009....

so i've slept in, i've shopped, i've lazed on beautiful beaches watching the boys surf, i've read books, i've cooked, i've taken myself to arty, bohemian movies and i've drunk and danced the night away loads of fun people...

the boys have a lot of friends! this apartment, my latest home, ashman and nikia's place, is a busy one - there's always someone coming or going, laughter, a phone ringing, texts - 'what are you doing - wanna come for a drink???' it's great but it was nice tonight to get away from it all, to have pizza just with ashman at a pub in stockton, overlooking the harbour...talking...it may be a year, maybe more till i'm back in this part of the world and able to spend time with my dear friend again - i feel the pressure to make the most of it...

tomorrow, back to queensland. this time in australia is flying past....3 more weeks in queensland then we hit the road again....

stay tuned. xxx

city chic

2009-01-08T04:35:00.002Z

I've seen a lot of cities...ok, there's so many more i still need to drop in to...but i think it's fairly safe to say that i've seen my fair share....and i'm really not being at all biased when i say that sydney, beautiful sydney with its bright blue harbour dotted with little white sailing boats, big green trees and red roofs....is the most gorgeous city i've ever seen. no matter how many times i visit sydney, and i don't think there's a year in my life i haven't been there, my breath is taken away as i travel over the harbour bridge and look at the opera house, centerpoint tower, the sun playing on the water like a fairy dropping sparkly dust. i love it here.

one of my favourite things to do in sydney is to catch the ferry from circular quay near the opera house to manly beach....and on tuesday i did exactly that with my dear friend dougie and his girlfriend sam....i met dougie four years ago on that fateful contiki trip and, like 'my' other 'boys' we have been firm friends ever since, despite the fact he lives in melbourne and we live in england. we always try to catch up when in aus and this time he came to me....playing in the water round manly we finished a gorgeous arvo with a cocktail in one of the cafes on the foreshore before heading to star city casino for dinner and a flutter....

the next day i was back in town for lunch with my cousin Bee...in a plush 'food court' where mcdonalds is replaced by homemade pizza and fresh salad we surrounded ourselves with corporate suits and i had an insight into what it must be like to work in the city of sydney...i loved it....and i loved having bee all to myself...well, with the inclusion of the little one who is due in only a couple of months....my cousin looks so gorgeous and happy and as we chatted over lunch i did find myself wishing we could do this more often....

little social butterfly that i am, i soon found myself on sydney's northern beaches meeting up with our close family friend, jan, for dinner...with a house litteraly on the beach i am always content to just stand on the patio and watch the waves from this house that i practically grew up in....but this time we walked down to town for a yummy curry...talking non stop and then coming home to call alex in london....i felt torn....i love sydney....i love the beaches....but, in a way, i wanted to be with alex, scarf around her neck and a big winter jacket....snow falling outside....

today i'm back in newie....i'm back from a lunch date with the gorgeous jbot....a few glasses of wine later and a really good chat...i'm content...

stay tuned...xxx

Australia's most wanted

2009-01-04T03:08:00.003Z

usually, when we enter the New South Wales state lines, we begin to feel like australia's most wanted...and this time is no exception...

we have had a very busy week catching up with some of our dearest friends and family, who all just happen to live within the 2hr radius between sydney and newcastle.

In reality, though i sometimes claim queensland roots due to the fact i grew up there in the main, I am, in fact, sydney born and bred. My aunt and my 3 gorgeous cousins, their husbands and children, still base themselves here...but on the 27th we found them all at thier favorite holiday spot, their waterskiing cabin on the scenic banks of the hawksbury river...my family have always been keen waterskiers but somehow matt and i have, until now, missed out....however, that day matt gave it a go (i was happy to sit in the speedboat driven precariously by my cousin soph...!)...matt, being the talented sportsman he is managed to stand up and ski 3 times before calling it quits in utter exhaustion...

the next day we headed up the coast to newcastle...a working town, gritty and tough...but with some of the most beautiful beaches and, therefore, keen surfers, on this part of the east coast. newcastle is home to some very good friends of ours...'the boys' whom i've written about before...ashman, dane, bundy, toad, jbot....and their assorted mates...many of whom i've met on past trips. They are all hard working tradies, surfers, hardcore partiers...and some of the most genuine and caring guys ive ever met. NYE began quietly...breakfast with ashman, mitch and elise at nelson bay...overlooking the yaghts at the marina followed by a swim at secluded box beach....heading back to ashman's apartment - smack bang in the centre of town with amazing views of the harbour - we found that the party was already well underway by 12pm...more and more people kept arriving until the apartment was well and truely pumping...many drinks and much banter later we wandered downtown to the 'brewery' and danced the night away to some talented aussie bands...

The following days have been a bit of a blur...catching up on much needed sleep back in sydney at my aunt's house on the north shore, pizza at a local italian overflowing with celebs in newport with my cousins jane and bee and their husbands, kids and a very beautiful pregnant belly!...brunch at our friend mel's apartment in manly, overlooking the harbour there with our close family friends the smiths...back to newcastle for drinks out last night with the gang and down to the beach this morning to watch ashman go fo his morning surf....it's no wonder that i'm quite happy to be sitting here, in his apartment after popping matt on a plane bound for queensland...taking a deep breath and catching up on emails and blogs....! it's been crazy but so much fun...I love being in NSW...I love our friends and family here...and I love being australia's most wanted...

stay tuned...xxx

pretentious kirsh!

2008-12-28T08:43:00.003Z

I've writen before about the fun we had in greece this year and the funky people we met there....so, upon flying into sydney yesterday amid a swirly whirly storm which delayed us by 1.5 hours, the first thing on our agenda was to scrub up quick and meet up with some of the fabulous sydney and canberra-ites....going for dinner with bec, lidia and jeff in sydney was a surreal but fun experience....we had so much to catch up on so chatted at a million miles an hour before bec took us to 'the ivy'...the 'It' bar of the city centre with several bars, dance floor, open air courtyard and the sort of pretentiousness that just makes you want to get in despite the fact that you're not wearing designer and 10 inch heels like the girls getting pulled out of the line...thrusting their noses up as they waltz past the 'others' still in line because they are obviously not quite as cool....pretentious yes but oh so hip and the dj spun tunes that were anything but pretentious....killers meets JT meets TLC....I danced till my 4 inch heels were killing me and felt oh so at home back in my birthplace....Sydney...

tomorrow it's waterskiing - my first time which should make for a very interesting blog...stay tuned!! xxx

the return of princess kirsh

2008-12-26T04:25:00.004Z

two weeks seems an awfully long time for a non-camper to have been camping....it's been fun, relaxing, sunny...i'm full to the brim with bbq-ed steak and coronas plus lime, chilled in eskys filled with ice. but i'm very much over sand through all my stuff, hot and stuffy tents and airbeds that dont protect my aging back!! needless to say that i'm quite looking forward to making a triumphant return to civilized society tomorrow as we fly to the bright lights of sydney...parties, cocktails, pretty dresses, make-up and hair straighteners...a triumphant return indeed of princess kirsh...

i've missed her!

stay tuned! xx

It's christmas time in Australia

2008-12-24T08:22:00.002Z

It was all i'd ever known....a hot, steamy, southern hemispherian christmas....only when we started travelling did I experience the 'white christmas' of the christmas carols...stumbling around on the snow fields in austria – we didn't have to dream of it that year....

and then there are the christmases in southern england....freezing cold but snowless....dreary, grey....but filled with fun and cheer, surrounded by our 'english family'...mulled wine...hot mince pies....a roast with all the trimmings....crackers...champagne....paper hats....christmas eves spent at 'bar vin'...dressed in my party season finest with the girls...drinking cocktails....

but this year its back to my roots....it looks like it will storm – quite normal for christmas day in queensland – tropical storms by the beach....our plans for tomorrow are for plenty of big, juicy aussie prawns, cold ham and fresh salad – it's too hot for roasts and we are camping so we're keeping it easy. ..croissants for brecky....aunty sandy's legendary christmas cake and pudding...Christmas eve means chocolate and port after dinner....lots of cold beer.

The kids are excited. Santa comes tonight. But in our family they are also taught the true meaning of christmas. As i write they are putting tea towels on their heads, helped by their grandma, ready to be shepherds and joseph....They will perform a play for all the adults...Ella is an angel and laura is mary....one of her little dolls will play baby Jesus....they accept it all with wide eyed innocence and fun...they have spent days drawing pictures of mangers and donkeys and reading picture books about their Lord Jesus who came to earth that first christmas day...

Merry Christmas everyone....we are thinking of all our friends and hoping that christmas day brings you family and fun....just like it will for us....and, if you're lucky, maybe it will bring you some sunshine...

of soothing rainfalls and racing along the sand...

2008-12-21T02:20:00.003Z

Rain smells different in australia...it's a heady aroma of eucalyptus...dusty heat....cold relief...it's fresh and beautiful and is welcome in our drought stricken country...we love the sound of it hitting the dusty tin roofs and, in our case, our tent last night....finding it's way into the screens we had left open to catch even the slightest cool breeze so we could sleep.

my blogs, i'm afraid, have been few and far between as one day blends into another here on the sunshine coast. we have had visits by old school friends, spent hours chatting over cold beers and I particularly have spent many long hours just reading novels and thinking about the one i will write one day.

Today marked the most important day next to christmas on Matt's family's camping calender....it was the day of the big race...an annual tradition which involves every member of the family (including the most reluctant ones - ie me) racing across the sand for 50meters. This race has been run as long as I can remember....this year i'm sure we had the biggest field....11 kids, 12 or so adults....we had been psyching ourselves up for days....in the end the older kids (with a slight advantage of a headstart) thrashed the adults with PE teacher Sam and my fast and fit friend Clare close behind....exhilarating excitement amongst a quiet life of sun and sand...we have another week of this....

This is the longest we have stayed in one place in the past 3 months and I'm not particularly surprised to find myself with itchy feet again...ready to move on....i'm not used to doing nothing....i feel uneasy and antsy with no plans....nothing to do....nothing to explore when i know this part of australia back to front....but I'm forcing myself to relax....soon enough we will be hitting the road and, no doubt, i'll be wishing myself back on the sands of Maroochydore...

stay tuned. xx

camper than a row of tents...

2008-12-16T06:06:00.004Z

I was 6 weeks old when i met my first friend for life....Alex had just been born....her mum was my mum's flatmate in their wild and single party days....we spent our first 5 years playing in eachother's backyards before my family moved away from sydney....so we became penpals - the old fashioned kind before emails and instant messaging where you actually sent a letter, in our case usually 10 pages long....as teenagers she came to queensland to see me and i went to sydney to see her and we were as close as ever....we've hung out in our mutally favorite city, paris, and when, a couple of years ago, alex spent a few months in london we partied hard together. so when it turned out she would be in brisvegas last weekend we arranged to catch up for brunch....a little catch up before we meet again in london in a few months time....pancakes and coffee and a sad 'see ya' later we were whisked off to the 'sunshine coast' of queensland....an iconic holiday spot for aussies - beach after beach of golden sand stretching up the coast....caloundra, mooloolaba, maroochydore, coolum, the fashionable noosa....we are in 'cotton tree' a tinsy winsy village with a campsite stretching out between the maroochy river and the pacific ocean....

It has not taken long for princess kirsh to acclimatise to a camper's life...waking with the sun and making tracks to the beach, the whole day continues in the same vein....maybe a little nap, another swim....I've been known to make a little trip up to the shopping mall and slowly mozzy around checking out the aussie fashions....as the evening draws in the beers come out and the bbqs around the campsite start to smoke....Im hanging out with my old school friend, clare and her boyfriend, Joel, matt's 3 siblings and their partners, their collective hoard of 9 children, and his parents....it's a crazy gang - a laugh a minute....stories, memories, children playing...life is good.

It's hot...my tan is glorious....i'm more chilled out than mr chilled and all his chilled out friends....and there are 2 gorgeous weeks of this stretching out ahead...

stay tuned....xxx

Princess Kirsh

2008-12-13T21:39:00.004Z

I'm a fairly easy going kinda girl i think....it doesn't take much to make me happy....some interesting company, a few drinks (preferably alcoholic of course) at hand and perhaps some kind of food item and you've got Happy Kirsh....pick up that scenario and place it somewhere amazing and exotic in the world and I'm estactic.....i'm easily pleased....

....but sometimes...a little 5 * luxury does not go astray for a girl like me....and, since we've now been married for 9 years, matt and i thought we'd shout ourselves to a bit of that to celebrate. A huge apartment (bigger, i think, than our old flat in horsham!) overlooking Brisbane's botanical gardens and seconds from the shops and cafes lining the streets we were smack bang in the centre of the 'Sunshine Capital'. drinking bubbles and watching mysterious goings on in the park from our birds eye view (what WERE those cops doing?) we spent the first night in. after all...if you pay for the luxury you may as well spend as much time there as you can....

Brisbane is hot. Always muggy....always time to relax in a cool pool complete with fountains and waitresses that bring you cocktails...needless to say we spent significant time there before heading for dinner the next night....

a table by the river, a menu crammed with the best australia has to offer - steak and seafood and deep rich reds...so, greedily, i had it all.....a bloody mary oyster shot first to get the senses going...crab cakes...then a petite eye fillet so tender and juicy complete with prawns and Bearnaise sauce....'surf and turf'...an all australian specialty....

But now our 5 * living comes crashing to a close as we head this afternoon to the Sunshine coast where we will swap our big bed and white sheets for a mattress and a sleeping bag and camp in a tent for 2 weeks....no more Princess Kirsh.

but first - brunch with my oldest friend....

stay tuned. xxx

New Zealand pics...

2008-12-12T05:54:00.002Z

indulge in the beauty...!

Last night in auckland

NZ 1

NZ 2

NZ 3

xxx

dreams....don't stop dreaming

2008-12-12T00:04:00.003Z

It's been a busy few days....when Matt and I come home we sometimes feel like 'Australia's most wanted'.....its nice that everyone wants to see us but makes for a busy time...

But this week has been all about spending time with my sister, Tam. While matt went back to work for his old employer (making him REALLY feel like the past 4 years hadnt happened!) Tam and i have spent our time shopping and swimming and generally relaxing. being a high school teacher means that she works like a dog during term time....the fact that many of my good friends are teachers has helped me realise just how hard these guys work... and she needs her summer holidays to recupe....and it's my job to help her do just that!

but on Wednesday we made ourselves even more exhausted by going to Dreamworld and regressing to circa 10 ans....we made ourselves sick on crazy rides....marvelled over magnificent tigers... and pigged out on ice cream and pizza....unfortunately not only had it seemed we'd chosen the hottest day of the year so far, we also chose a day where the park was filled to the brim with students on excursions during their last week of school....i've never seen so many bratty kids in my life...but we fit right in and played with the best of them...

spending time with my god-daugher, Harriet and her sister Georgia in the pool yesterday we continued to play like children....horsey rides and underwater ballet....how far can YOU swim underwater?? marco POLO!!

but tonight i must once again pretend to be an adult for, to celebrate our 9th (yes 9th) wedding anniversary Matt and i are treating ourselves to some five star luxury in brisvegas...right on the river and in the city....the weekend might include some strawberries...perhaps some champagne....a little chocolate....a nice dinner or 2 in the city....a stroll along the waterfront....perhaps some magic....

then...to top it all off we will spend a gorgeous sunday morning relaxing over lunch with my oldest friend, alex....(old as in length of years spent as dear friends rather than years of age....!)....

stay tuned. xx

hot stuff

2008-12-07T07:27:00.003Z

One of the things the British seem to like the most about the idea of Australia is the heat...the idea that the sun is always shining while bronzed aussies run down the beach in a slow motion, baywatch-esque manner...what non-aussies don't seem to realise until they get here is that our country's famous heat can be uncomfortable, humid and oppressive...

It's the kind of heat where you lie in your own sweat at night....where there's no point putting on makeup as it runs off your face immediately....where drying your hair with a hairdryer becomes a thing of the past unless you want to faint of heat exhaustion....where the only thing to do is to float in the pool and be cool....

so that's what we've been doing....yesterday and today at my parent's pool...sipping ice cold water and watching the tropical storms roll in...

I feel more relaxed than I have in a long while. there's nothing I have to do but laze around and the biggest decision I have to make is whether I can be bothered to move from poolside to the water or vice versa....

And the best thing about it is that I have weeks of this stretching out before me....jealous much?

stay tuned....xxx

A trip down the stairs

2008-12-06T03:02:00.004Z

When you wake up with a raging headache and cuts and bruises down your leg it usually means one of 2 things....a) that you've had some sort of minor accident or b) that you've had an awesome night out in your home town with some crazy friends. Apart from falling down the stairs due to some sort of mohito induced haze our big reunion was everything I'd been looking forward to and more.

Clare and Megs are my girls....my schoolyard friends, the three amigos - together we have seen eachother through everything from the playground to first kisses to teenage anxst to break ups and to weddings....they know me back to front and inside out and somehow still they love me!! I miss them terribly when I'm in England....so to see them again yesterday and to fall back into fun banter as if we'd gone for lunch the day before was such a treat...

and their friends.....that crazy fun gang that we met and loved last year at Megs and James' wedding were there to join the girls in welcoming us home...drinking and chatting and falling down stairs at Megs and James' place (and I vaguely remember trying on hats???) we laughed and chatted till the wee hours, even bringing the poor neighbour in on the act, before heading into town to Tomba's. Toowoomba's main nightclub...new since I moved to England...the place is huge and pumping. Gorgeous Stace, cocktail designer extrodinaire, knows the people in the high places and got us in and cutting up the rug before we could say 'margarita please'....

Toowoomba might not change so much in 4 years...and it might not be one of the hot spots of the world...but i tell you what - it can be a pretty cool place...and the people here are legends...

i'm off to nurse my wounds....stay tuned. xxx

I still call Australia home

2008-12-04T22:19:00.002Z

That qantas song keeps playing on repeat in my head. You aussies know the one i mean...

"I've been to cities that never close down
from New York to Rome and old London town
but no matter how far or how wide i roam
I still call Australia home..."

I can't ever imagine not referring to Australia as 'home'. No matter how long I continue to live in England or if I ever live out my dream of living in France...those places will also be home and I love them....but nothing compares to the sunburnt country where i spent my childhood. Where I was formed to be the person I am - a fun loving, beer swilling aussie who, just like the majority of my fellow countrymen, just loves to have a good time, who cheers on the underdog, believes strongly in loyalty and mateship and who is, and always will be, immensly proud to call this great country home.

and yesterday as i walked up to the immigration officer and passed him my blue australian passport and as he greeted us with 'gday guys, how ya goin?'...I knew I was home. Driving the familiar 2.5hrs to my home town of Toowoomba from Brisbane through a tropical queensland storm I began to feel the same way I always do when I come home - that the last 4 years of living overseas may have just been a dream...that I was home and I had never left. Getting to my sister's house and enjoying delicious food and some bubbly to welcome us I was content to put down my backpack for a while and just relax...at home...

stay tuned. xxx

Wilderness

2008-12-03T09:23:00.003Z

to say we have traveled through the most remote of New Zealand wilderness over the past few days would not, i dont think, be too much of an exaggeration.

after my skydiving disappointment in queenstown we left on a gorgeous day (perfect for little hops out of high-flying aircraft....typical!) and headed towards franz josef....a glacier halfway up the west coast of NZ where, also typically, it was absolutely pouring. I had hoped to walk on the glacier itself....a 4.5 hour hike that would have taken me up the terminal face of the glacier, the part of the glacier that, scarily, tends to break off every now and then....strangely - perhaps due to remnant adrenaline from queenstown, that didn't worry me as much as the prospect of getting soaked. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it...) the hike was booked out so we instead walked, dripping, to the public access point where we looked at ice and oohed and ahhhed appropriately before heading quickly back to our lovely boutique hotel and feasting in the dry and warm dining room on homemade pavlova...a much nicer, if not quite as dangerous, experience!

it does seem as though the gods of NZ weather are conspiring against me though. we left franz josef this morning on another gorgeous day which would have been perfect for glacier hiking....well, that, alongside jumping out of planes, will be experiences kept for the next time we are in the south island, which, if i have my way, will definitely not be in too distant a future....for, as we drove across Arthur's pass and the Alps which stretch across the centre of the island, I was again floored by the breathtaking beauty of this country....over the past few days i've fallen in love with the lakes, the sounds and the fjords....this time i fell in love with the mountains....wilderness indeed - i imagine there are sections of this part of NZ which are almost unaccessible by humans....the colours of the rock...the sheer ruggedness of the granite....forests which seem to go on for miles - untouched, i imagine, by a human's axe. True, pure wilderness....

But for now, we are back in civilization...in fact this afternoon I went shopping! and tomorrow we are experiencing 'antarctica' before getting on a plane bound for home sweet home......we will arrive in brisbane and embark on the familiar 2 hour drive to our home town, where my beautiful sister will have put together a delicious, warming, welcoming meal and her husband will have picked wines to match....i can't wait.

stay tuned. xx

Dreams of flying...crushed!

2008-12-01T03:13:00.003Z

I'm gutted...after spending a night of very little sleep psyching myself up for my skydive the bloody NZ weather turned on me....today dawned with a thick layer of cloud and, when i turned up at the skydive shop i was told that they weren't jumping in the morning but would book me in for later in the day...much nervous retail therapy later I went back...only to be told they still weren't running and probably wouldnt for the rest of the day....and there went my dreams of flying over queenstown.....the dream of jumping out of a plane lives on though and, one FINE day I will do it....maybe, in fact over my own home state of queensland...us aussies know how to do extreme too you know!!

I did not miss out on adreneline altogether though...this arvo I went with Matt to watch him do the 'Nevis' bungy....134 meters off a pod suspended over a rocky canyon...his life depended on a few elastic bands tied together! Trying to be brave for him since he was so nervous I kept pretty quiet but I have to say I was very glad when it was over. The scream he let out as he jumped was a sound I never want to hear from him again! But he was so glad when he'd done it - a big tick off the 'must do' list for Matt!!

Tomorrow we leave queenstown behind and head for the beautiful franz josef glacier...our time in NZ is drawing to a close but ahead we have our reunion with all our friends and family back home to look forward to and i'm starting to get very very excited!

Stay tuned... xx

Crazy queenstown

2008-11-30T18:41:00.003Z

The main street of Queenstown is mostly filled with various shops advertising and selling extreme and wacky adventure sports - bungy, skydiving, rafting, river surfing, para gliding....you name it, they do it in queenstown.

yesterday we started off our adreneline rushed few days with a gentle luge down the 'scenic' (as opposed to fast and furious) part of a mountain after a quiet gondola ride to the top....queenstown really is beautiful...nestled beside the lake it is really only a small town but caters to a young, thrill seeking crowd....so there are countless backpacker hostels, bars, cheap burger joints....

after a scenic overview from the mountain top we got down into the thick of it and had lunch in a busy little cafe before going our separate ways - mum and dad went shopping in the little boutiques scattered around the town....matt and i went to the famous Shotover Jet....

500 horsepowered little red bullets...these jet boats have so much power it's unbelievable....they can skim across as little as 10cm water and turn on a dime. our driver must be crazy.....so many times i seriously thought we would crash into one of the sharp boulders at the side of the shotover canyon....or get bogged in the shallow water....and, yes, at one stage, during a fast 360 degree turn i very nearly went flying out of the boat!!!! but it was great fun and a must do if you ever find yourself in queenstown.

we ended the day with hot mexican and cold cocktails as we froze our little fingers off in the 'minus 5' bar....queenstown's equivalent of london's 'ice bar'

so, we've got the adreneline pumping....and now it's time for the big one. in an hour or so i will be heading to an airfield somewhere in the centre of New Zealand to meet the hopefully incredibly experienced and brave jump instructor who will teach me the moves and be strapped to my back as I step out of a plane at 12 000 feet before freefalling for 45seconds. I could barely sleep last night with the butterflies having a party in my stomach!! i'm crazy - if there was ever any doubt..!

stay tuned....xx

the kingdom of mordor....

2008-11-29T09:39:00.005Z

Queenstown....just the name brings images to mind of crazy, adrenaline pumping, extreme, adventure sports....and here i sit, on the banks of Lake Waktipu, in a luxurious apartment, drinking a cold beer and tossing up the pros and cons of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...here is what i've come up with so far:

Pros:
- I pride myself on being a 'try anything once, no matter what' kinda person
- I've always said i'd do it
- It would be awesome fun
- I could use it for boasting material/dinner party stories/drunkenly exaggerated tales for the rest of my life
- there'll be someone behind me who (hopefully) has done it before and will therefore pull the right cords thereby making it much more appealing than bungy
- the view would be spectacular (if my eyes aren't squeezed too tightly shut)

Cons:
- It could be slightly unsafe (ie. i could die!!!!!)

yep...i think i'll do it!!!

So tomorrow we'll go and arrange that little activity to take place for sometime over the couple of days while we are here in the adventure sports capital of the world...now that i've told you i'm thinking of it i cant back out!

today we enjoyed something a bit less extreme....a chilled out boat cruise on Milford Sound. Driving there i half expected to see Frodo Baggins, Legolass and Aragon come flying through the forest chased closely by the dark knights.......this is lord of the rings country.....spectacular, breathtaking wilderness....craggy mountains, rivers, fjords....everything you imagine when you think of new zealand....it was a rainy day (as it is 2 days out of 3 in the fjordlands apparently....almost as bad as england!) but the mist only served to make the sound more mysterious and beautiful....as we cruised along we saw more wildlife - fur seals and a little penguin who amused us by hop skip and jumping down the rocks to the water....we putted right up to a waterfall 3 times higher than niagara falls....so close that i could feel the heavy drops on my face and was soaked to the bone...but worth it to feel the power....

I find it really hard to describe to you the immense beauty of what we're seeing here.. soon i will post some photos but even they wont do it justice. I'm really falling in love with new zealand....perhaps one day we might consider it our 4th home...?

I'll keep you posted on adventure activities here in queenstown...should be an exciting few days.

stay tuned. xx

"I wish i was a glow worm..."

2008-11-28T09:12:00.002Z

"I wish i was a glow worm
A glow worm's never glum
Cause how can you be gloomy
When the sun shines out your bum?!"

The grotto is pitch black.....so dark that you couldn't see your hand if you held it to your face. You hear a waterfall in the distance but no one makes a sound for fear of scaring the creatures and causing their bright lights to dim....tiny pricks of light scattered over the ceiling and walls of the caves....lying in wait for their prey, sticky poisonous beads of death draping down from the hammock where the glow worm lies languidly, ready to catch unsuspecting bugs and moths as they happen past, fatally attracted to the light...

To get to the glow worm caves at Te Anau we are ferried across beautiful Te Anau lake....I feel as though, for the past month or so, all I have done is gaze at beautiful scenery....from the Canadian Rockies to the South Island of New Zealand I have lost count of the number of breathtaking lakes, snow capped mountains, rolling green hills and pretty little babbling brooks. But I am in no way complaining. How fortunate am I to be able to say I have seen and experienced some of the most beautiful places in the world!?

The name Te Anau is translated from the Maori to mean 'cave of swirling water' and it is the second largest lake in NZ. The water is deep and pure - so pure you can drink it straight out of the lake....the tiny township of Te Anau itself stands on its shores but in the main it is surrounded only by farms and wilderness....it feels untouched by time and civilization....

Today i took some time to be alone and drink it all in....I find that sometimes, when travelling this far and wide it is important to just stop and think about where I am, what i'm seeing, what i've seen...where i'm going....wandering to the lake I sat with hot sunshine beating down on my back and stared at the lake, the trees, the mountains, watching a cheeky dog chasing sticks thrown into the shallow water by her daddy just below me...I could not have been more relaxed....

tomorrow an (other!) early start takes us to milford sound where, I believe, awaits even more spectacular, breathtaking, indescribable scenery!

stay tuned! xx

the tale of polly the penguin and other wild creatures

2008-11-27T04:56:00.004Z

They sit proudly in their little breeding huts, guarding their babies while their mate marches off busily in search of food....as we peer out of the camouflaged viewing huts we quietly watch as the little one pops its head up and nestles into the soft down of his mummy's tummy. The yellow eyed penguin is incredibly rare and endangered and this area of new zealand, near dunedin, is one of only a few areas that they nest, coming back to their territory year after year. They are quite unusual penguins in that they like to be alone...just them and their mates, no friends, no bill and betty round for dinner....they do things their way and they do them alone....

Dunedin is known as the 'wildlife capital of new zealand'. and we continue on after watching the penguins to watch the albatross...a slightly bigger bird (3m wingspan!) which also breeds in the area...learning about the albatross is fascinating....after being bought up by mum and dad (the albatross mates for life...) the young albatross is fed and kept safe but is never taught to fly....when along comes a windy day the mum and dad say 'bugger off' and the poor little thing runs down the hill and flies for the first time....and does not come back for 5 years. the scientists aren't sure where they go....but they do know it travels the world at least as far as south america....then back they come, do a little song and dance to find a mate, and settle down to raise a family....it all reminds me of the life cycle of many an aussie i know....!

below the albatross a colony of stewart island shags nest on the waterfront watching a frolicking seal....

So our road trip is cruising along just fine. we're covering a lot of ground but it's beautiful ground, and we're doing it with style and finesse. we do have our 'blonde' moments....mum: generally doors open when you push or pull them, rather than just stare at them hoping to use kinetic energy! dad: in new zealand we drive on the LEFT hand side of the road...this generally reduces the risk of crashing into oncoming traffic.... Matt: it may surprise you but Ireland in January has been WINTER rather than summer for, i dunno, forever....?

I, of course, have not said or done anything remotely 'blonde'...!!

tomorrow we move on to Te Anau...stay tuned. xx

of rivers and oceans and hills and mountain peaks

2008-11-26T21:21:00.003Z

It can be difficult, sometimes, when participating in activities of a purely english nature to remember that we are actually in New Zealand... Punting down the Avon river yesterday alongside ducklings and goslings - with a plummy accented english boy in straw boat hat and waist-coat we could well have been in oxford....the only thing that flagged this trip as kiwi was the 'extreme adventure' nature of the originally quiet punt as we became stuck on a rock (perhaps if i hadn't had the pizza for lunch it wouldnt have been as much of a problem!) and our poor punter earned his wage by jumping into the freezing stream in bare feet to dislodge us...

continuing our road trip in the afternoon we made our way down to dunedin via world famous custard slices...i'm afraid i must now wax lyrical as, to describe the countryside we drove through with anything less than excessively flowery adjectives would not be doing it justice. Imagine the lushest, richest green, rollling hills you have ever seen...filled to the brim with chubby calves and skittish lambs...an ocean on one side, snow capped mountains on the other...Dunedin itself is a sprawling metropolis filled with scottish heritage and a hip and happening university city vibe which we hope to experience tonight.

today we visit penguins and albatross and a scottish castle....remind me which continent we are in??

stay tuned.. xxx

la ville par la mer

2008-11-25T08:00:00.001Z

the last thing you might expect whilst traveling around a overtly english country like New Zealand, is to stumble across a little village with a distinctive gallic flavour.....yet little Akaroa, on the banks of a beautiful harbour, with street names like Rue Jolie and Rue Lavaud made the francophile in me jump for joy...settled by the french in 1838 the town is full of picturesque cottages, restaurants with names like l'hotel and french flags flying proudly next to kiwi over teeny tiny boutiques....

lunch (pizza - hmmm italian rather than french, oh well...) and an ice cream by the sea later we mozied back into christchurch and matt and i headed out to enjoy the last of the evening's sunshine and the famous christchurch river....with a river named 'Avon' lined with old willows and a neo-gothic cathedral you could be forgiven for mistaking christchurch for a forgotten corner of old england. old fashioned trams are juxtaposed with post-modern sculptures....the city has a calming feel about it - i would have liked to spend more time here - but i'm finding i feel that way about any and all of the places we've visited here...guess that means i'm coming back!!

tomorrow we move on to dunedin.

stay tuned. xx

see ya

2008-11-24T09:42:00.003Z

everyone knows that goodbyes can truly suck...unfortunately, when traveling, they tend to become a part of life....you meet people you like, you hang out, one or other of you moves on, goodbyes are said, promises are made to keep in touch....

goodbyes are even worse if the people you are saying goodbye to are your own flesh and blood and the city you are leaving holds special memories of a week spent with them...as i've said before though, family is family, and when that is the case, goodbyes always have a way of becoming just 'see yas'...

our last day in auckland was spent first having lunch with Gina, a gorgeous aucklander we met and loved in canada....to celebrate her 21st birthday we dallied over chardonnay at spectacular city restaurant 'Mecca', soaking up the warm auckland sunshine and reliving memories of a week spent drudging through ice and snow in the rockies....it seemed a world away and a lifetime ago!

having sent gina on her way for further birthday celebrations we rejoined the family for our last supper....the last for now as, remember, this is only 'see ya'....laughs and wine and hugs and family photos later we left the city of sails with very fond memories and the most well meant promises to come back as soon as possible.

and so the road trip began....the 4 of us, mum, dad, matt and i, have travelled far across these little islands over the past 2 days....first all the way down to wellington where we walked through a pumping windy city and had dinner in a busy little italian with great food and a fun atmosphere....we continued the next morning on the 'inter islander', a 3.5 hour ferry journey across the seas to the south island after which these intrepid adventurers needed a drink....or how about a whole vineyard's worth? Mum, the brilliant little tour guide that she is, had found out about a beautiful restaurant called the 'twelve trees', nestled into one of the wineries of the malborough region we let the tiredness from an early start and all the driving drift over the grape vines and ate and ate and drank and drank....followed by, of course, more drinking, as we sampled sav blancs and rieslings from various wineries across the region.

and now we have arrived in christchurch....by way of a colony of NZ fur seals (oh so cute and furry!) randomly sunning themselves by the side of the coastal road, we are safely ensconced in a stunning apartment smack bang in the city centre...and, suddenly, after months of travelling as simple backpackers, i'm starting to get used to this life of luxury...! oh dear.

stay tuned.. xxx

a fairy on my hip - pics of Auckland

2008-11-21T11:59:00.001Z

Auckland and tatts

the world in her hands

2008-11-20T19:58:00.002Z

tattoos can have all sorts of connotations...and I fully understand and accept that some people hate them....others, like my cousin Trevor, love them...and when he tattooed me on Wednesday we made a mark which has significant meaning to me and will always remind me of this time in my life when i'm young and free, exploring the world and indulging my passion for seeing and exploring new and amazing places....

the fairy is kneeling at the back of my right hip...with her head of luscious dark hair thrown back she is dreaming of flying far far away...somewhere exotic and interesting. her wings are ready to take her there...she can fly, she is free....she holds the world in her hand...

trevor is a very talented artist. originally a jewellery designer his passion was always tattoos and tattooing and eventually he fell into the profession himself...I was excited to have my cousin tattoo me and thrilled to see a design i had been thinking about for over a year finally on paper....it adds an extra special dimension to my tattoo that Trev was the one to do it....but by the end of 2.5 hours I could have killed my masochistic cousin for putting me through the pain!! the pain is soon forgotten though - and i love my fairy. photos will be up soon.

...and yesterday another event I had been looking forward to for over a year came about....my parents joined us in auckland. picking them up from the airport I could not have been more excited to see them....the breathless suspense of waiting at the airport gate, the rush of excitement as they walked through the door....we have two lush weeks to spend time with mum and dad as the 4 of us travel round the south island together. tomorrow we hit the road again...but for today there are final meals and fun to be had with my lovely family.

stay tuned....xx

the boy

2008-11-18T17:55:00.000Z

i refer to them as 'my boys' (or when in england 'the aussie boys') ....they are some of our dearest friends....i adore them....

I remember the first time i met Dane and Ashman like it was yesterday....though i doubt very much that they remember the moment quite as clearly...! we were in a dark, sleazy bar in the red-light district of amsterdam 4 years ago....i saw them from across the bar and decided that they looked quite interesting. So i went over and introduced myself. the conversation went something like this:

me: hi. where are you from?

ashman: newcastle

me: (very excited) Oh WOW that's so cool......do you know daniel johns?? (for the ignorant Dan is frontman of my fave band Silverchair and comes from newcastle, australia...)

dane: (not so excited) um. no.

me: oh ok....see ya!

and off i flounced to get another vodka before spending the next 15 days traveling round europe with these boys from 'newie' and discovering that they're pretty damn awesome.

since then the conversations have improved somewhat (thank goodness) and over the years we have snatched as much time together as we can considering we live on opposite sides of the world....luckily, we all travel far and wide and therefore tend to find ourselves meeting up in many an exotic location....london (where they and 3 of their mates lived with us for a month...that's a whole other story...!!), munich, sydney, stuttgart, dublin....and, now, auckland.

At any particular moment in time, it seems, Ashman could be anywhere in the world.... So it was a lovely surprise when we worked out he would be in NZ at the same time as us....and i could not have been more excited! It has been over a year since i last saw the boy...WAY too long for my liking!

Ash has traveled the world extensively...from asia to europe to the usa to south america....and an airline has never lost his bag...fly 40 minutes from new plymouth to auckland, however, and the thing disappears into thin air. not ones to let such a thing spoil a fun day we had a yummy lunch, watched penguins and stingrays at the aquarium and picked up where we left off last year in New South Wales with a few kiwi beers...

meeting my cousins Joe and Trev for dinner we were the rowdy table in the restaurant before coming home to trevs for a chilled out evening....spending the day with close friends and family...what could be better? thanks for coming to see us Ash....luv ya.

stay tuned...xx

land of the long white cloud

2008-11-16T08:10:00.003Z

have we really only been in new zealand for 2 nights? we have fit so much in that it feels like we've been hanging out in this awesome city forever....and that we only saw my family a week ago rather than 12 years....

with the sun threatening to hide over the land of the long white cloud, my aunt and uncle took us on a road trip yesterday to the beautiful Bay of Plenty...rolling green paddocks and surprisingly very few sheep later we were checking out some kiwi surfing beaches and having lunch overlooking the waves...

heading back to the city full of ice cream and fresh sea air we went to meet my little baby cousin, Joe....only to find that he's grown up a bit since last we saw him! Its quite obvious that joe and i are cut from the same cloth....he's full of life and fun and laughs and we immediately fell into the kind of fun and easy banter usually only born through familiarity. taking us to a south african 'braai' thrown by some of his friends we spent the night enjoying a good steak and a few beers...and exchanging teasing aussie/kiwi jabs with some very fun people.

today was auckland sightseeing day...the clouds were nowhere to be seen as we ventured downtown - the sky tower with spectacular views over the city and it's beautiful harbour, the museum....being led around by my 7yr old 2nd cousin, Natasha, we couldnt help but catch her enthusiasm on seeing 'Sue' the T-rex...! 10 pin bowling (i need practice!), racing car comps and a very lovely pub dinner ended the day. there is no doubt that my family is awesome and i'm loving spending the time with them in the 'city of sails'.

stay tuned. xx

family ties

2008-11-14T06:47:00.003Z

Family is family... and, in the mind of my whole family- both immediate and extended...it really is as simple as that.

My dad's brother Steve, and his family, have lived in Auckland as long as I can remember...although there was a stint in Sydney when I was a very little girl. growing up in 2 different countries meant, of course, that we didn't spend as much time together as any of us would have liked. My childhood memories of my aunt, uncle and cousins though are even more vivid and special as a result....my cousin Trev as a teenager hanging out at our grandad's house....(as an 8yr old i thought he was just so cool....and i still do....)! The whole family hanging out together at Movieworld on the Gold Coast.....Trev on my wedding day laughing with me as we wired up my bouquet of colourful gerberas....

as we walked through the arrival gates at Auckland airport this morning, to be met by Uncle Steve and Auntie Maria, I knew we would be met with hugely welcoming arms even though we had not seen eachother for 11 years....We could not have asked for a more warm reception back to our home hemisphere....and as we stepped into the warm southern hemisphere sunshine - it felt like we'd never left...

coffee...lunch...eagle eye views of auckland....an all encompassing tour of big boy's toys....indian for dinner....and lots of fun laughs and chats with very special, loving family...

more tomorrow - stay tuned.... xx

of icy canyons and ice cold beer

2008-11-12T03:49:00.005Z

i know i've been having an awesome time when i forget to update this rambling diary and my loyal readers start to bay for blood....or at least a few bits of gossip about what we've been up to....!

we are back in vancouver....exausted after spending the last week partying every night before getting up early to hop on the lurve bus and cruise around the canadian rockies - peering out at more and more spectacular scenery....and enjoying good times with some very fun and cool people.

some highlights:

- our night in a timber cottage, drinking vodka and playing cards before taking our booze and jumping into the outdoor hot tub....staying there till we were all wrinkly....chatting away till all hours with great new friends.

- lake louise....everything i imagine when i think of a canadian lake....spectacular

- the feeling of relief having not fallen over and broken leg, hip or head whilst scrambling up and down an icy pathway on the way to Johnson canyon....

- snowfights and snowmen. if there was snow, there were fights....quite often the bus bore the brunt of the attacks...and so would have i if jeremie, our fearless tour guide, hadn't been quite as quick at closing the door when a barrage of balls came towards me - a sitting duck in the front seat!!

- karaoke night in banff....4 key ingredients - an awesome hostel bar swarming with travelers, lots of vodka, some pumping tunes, and some great friends. and, no, i didn't sing...though i won't say i wasn't tempted!

and much much more....all in all it was a trip to be remembered....

and, tomorrow, we leave canada and head to nz. in a way i am sad.......we've had some great times in canada....and, having been in north america for 6 weeks now it feels strange to leave...but leave we must and, with my family waiting at the other end i am so excited to be getting closer and closer to home.

my next post, therefore, will be from the southern hemisphere....in the meantime these pics should give you a taste of the good times we've had this week.

canadian rockies 1

rockies 2

rockies 3

stay tuned...
xx

moosing about

2008-11-07T05:00:00.004Z

sometimes, when you're traveling, it's fun to let someone else do all the hard work, relax and just go along for the ride. So, when it came to exploring the canadian rockies we turned to a moose....

we are traveling with 'moose tours' for a week....led by a crazy, fun quebecois and surrounded by 23 aussies, kiwis, brits and irish - all travelers, all on their way somewhere interesting, having been somewhere interesting...all with a story to tell...

together we have spent the past 3 days driving through spectacular, picture postcard scenery.....craggy mountain peaks, deep blue lakes, waterfalls, canyons, rustic litttle ski villages.....fresh mountain air and gently falling snow...by the time we arrive back at our hostel we are ready to party....and last night Banff showed us how it's done. The place is swarming with aussies as they start to pile into town for the ski season....the hostel pub was pumping and, as we drank shots off skis we got to know our travel buddies the best way possible....with a drink (or three) in a hand....

there are 4 more days to go in the rockies....more parties, more mountains, more snow....more fun.

stay tuned. xx

photos galore

2008-11-04T04:49:00.002Z

more photos for your viewing pleasure....

San Francisco

Alcatraz

Halloween

Vancouver

xx

passions

2008-11-03T17:37:00.002Z

Vancouverites are passionate about food....the city is drowning in plush and interesting, little restaurants....none more so than in the gastown district which is a hop, step and jump from our hotel....so when we met our old school friend, Layne, for dinner on Saturday night we only had to wander down a couple of streets to find a modern irish gastro pub serving the kind of food we've been craving....bangers and mash...fish and chips....pies with lashings of gravy....There's something special about meeting up with childhood friends - sometimes it can seem as if you only met up yesterday, and as we reminisced with Layne about the old school days and mutual friends we felt so lucky to have dear old friends dotted around the globe...

it's refreshing, when you're visiting a new city to have the opportunity to hang out with locals who are passionate about their country and their city and are keen to show how beautiful, how wonderful, the place is...somehow they manage to infuse you with the same passion and, by the end of the day, you love their city too.

John, Jorden and Marty took to their roles as our vancouverite tour guides like ducks to water on Sunday....taking us first to the famous Granville island, we visited a microbrewery and downed a beer that tasted like chocolate (seriously) before heading to the 'sandbar', a waterfront seafood restaurant where Christine works...delicious, succulent, fresh crabs are their specialty and i enjoyed mine on a 'benny' (benedict)....mmmm....

piling back into the tour bus (!) we headed next to Stanley park...a large and lush parkland filled with autumnal trees, picnic areas, beaches (1st beach, 2nd beach and 3rd beach...these vancouverites prove themselves very creative beach namers!!), an aquarium, a golf course and spectacular views....the park is so huge we felt as if we were driving around it for hours...

John, like many canadians it seems, is a passionate ice hockey player and we were were excited to end the afternoon by watching him and his team chasing a 'little black thing' around the ice...eventually winning in a nail biting finish...

now and then, in life, one is lucky enough to stumble across kindred spirits...people who share the same passions, and often, similar goals in life. In our case, it seems we share with john and jorden a passion for food and a passion for travel....preferably both at the same time....and so we decided to indulge ourselves by ending our perfect day at their favourite restaurant, Guu...modern japanese cuisine served with a bite of humour and a ladle-full of loud and eclectic atmosphere, we enjoyed strange and wonderful 'japanese tapas' ...a little bit of this and a little bit of that....and by the end we were full as guu and rather happy on some sort of bubble-gum flavoured, vodka laced beverage.

What a perfect day in Vancouver...thank you so much to our vancouverite tour guides....we love your city.

xx

Pretty pics from LA LA land

2008-11-02T05:41:00.002Z

The magical world of Disney

Hollywood nights and santa monica beach

Universal studios

remembering ouzo

2008-11-02T01:04:00.005Z

less than six months ago we were relaxing and partying on the beaches of some of the most beautiful grecian islands...mykonos, santorini, ios and paros...surrounded by some of the most fun, interesting and crazy people you could ever hope to meet....(most of them read this blog so that was for you guys....!! hehe). they came from all over the world, had traveled far and wide and together we had an awesome nine days soaking up sun and ouzo....

...ouzo has it's own special place alongside the islands in the fond memories of that group of people and when that liquid gold came out of hiding last night we knew we were in for a good time. John, Jorden, Marty and Christine are Vancouverites we met in greece and for a long time we have all been looking forward to getting together to party on halloween in vancouver...and the night did not disappoint. starting with ouzo and ending with 'frites' - the perfect late night, greasy, gravy covered snack - we partied late into the night at the Roxy - THE club of choice in the downtown area...dancing to live music and drinking the night away alongside a bevy of strangely costumed canadians. by the end of the night my head was spinning with skeletons, ghosts, many jack sparrows, various action figures and a very brave Borat...(who, incedently, i saw on the news the next morning...certain parts of his anatomy discreetly blurred....)

Vancouver is a friendly, fun place and we're so lucky to know some incredibly friendly and fun people here.....

more socialising to follow...though hopefully accompanied by less ouzo....stay tuned.

xx

editor's note: (!!) for historical accuracy i must point out that the delicious late night snack we enjoyed was actually 'poutine' not 'frites'....'Frites' was the shop we went to to get the 'poutine'....obviously the ouzo had affected me greatly by this point.

sleeping in seattle

2008-10-31T00:44:00.003Z

allow me to give you a very intimate insight into a day in the life of a backpacker...a long term traveler....a vagabond....

TODAY

4am - woken by alarm clock owned by one of the 30 other people sleeping in hostel dorm room. 10 minutes later it goes off again....and again...and again...until every fellow hostelleer in the room is awake apart from the owner of the alarm. much muttering and cursing is heard throughout the room until someone goes and hits the guy's shoulder and tells him to turn the bloody thing off...

5am - 7am - light goes on and off, people move about, banging lockers and doors....sleep comes and goes

7am - give up trying to sleep even though i don't have to be awake for another hour

7 - 9.30 - shower in tiny, dirty cubicle...in a bathroom shared with at least 50 other women. breakfast of stale coffee and waffles - but it's free so whatever....check out of hostel.

9.30 - 2.30 - taxi to subway, subway to yet another airport, airtrain to terminal, check in, eat drink, fly

2.30 - another new city and no idea where to go...catch local bus (could get taxi or shuttle but we're cheapskate backpackers...). change buses....still have very little idea about where we're going....pray that we'll get off in the right place and not end up in Woop Woop...(or, worse, somewhere where people like to shoot backpackers with the arms they have the right to bear...)

4pm - jump off bus and walk, and walk....and walk, backpacks heavier by the minute, till we come to our hostel 20 mins later. luckily we have met a fellow traveler along the way who is also staying at the hostel and knows where to go....he explains that we have managed to book the hostel in Woop Woop after all...and that for all intents and purposes we're not even in Seattle...hey....it was cheap....and there's free breakfast and internet...what else could a backpacker ask for?

.....and tomorrow we do it all over again on our way to Vancouver....

it's not always glamorous.

it's not always fun.

it doesn't always feel like a holiday.

we are very very tired.

but it's a means to an end and as i've written before in this little literary masterpiece that is my blog (haha!!) it's days like these that make the fun, interesting and glamorous days possible. I hate them but they get us where we want be....and that's what matters.

tomorrow, you see, is halloween and we plan to celebrate it canada style with some fun and fabulous canadian friends....

stay tuned.....

xx

escape artists

2008-10-30T04:43:00.002Z

alcatraz...one of the most infamous and notorious federal prisons in the world - the subject of hollywood films and many a popular myth. you can see the island from san francisco itself of course...a mile and a half off-shore and usually covered slightly in mist it looks spooky and uninhabitable. but today we took a deep breath and traveled to the place where the most hardened criminals were sent when there was no where else to go...the place that most san franciscans would have preferred to forget existed only 40 years ago.

the rangers on the national park that is alcatraz island obviously take great pride in regaling the general public with the stories of former inmates. as we followed 'ranger joan' (who could well have been an inmate herself by the look of her...) she told us stories of escapes and attempted escapes...made all the more real as we looked over the frigid water and swirling currents which, it is said, killed those escapees who were never found....the government is very quick to make the statement that no one ever successfully escaped from alcatraz....but there were convicts who escaped and whose bodies were never found floating on the shoreline....did they survive??

There is one inmate who certainly did not escape...who is, in fact, still at alcatraz. admittedly he no longer sleeps behind bars but has written a book, presumably about his horrific experiences, and now sits on a comfy chair in the cellhouse bookshop, signing his autograph and answering the questions of curious tourists. (sir, did you ever meet Al Capone....? um lets see shall we you stupid tourist....NO - alcatraz wasn't exactly a social club..) Seriously though - if you had done time in what was, in the day, the most hardcore prison in the USA...would you really go back of your own free will to work each and every day years later?? having heard what i did of life as a convict as i walked around the now empty cells, I found the whole idea quite strange.

this afternoon i made my own escape...for me the forbidden land is the magical world of american department stores...Macy's, Bloomingdales, Saks 5th Avenue.................for a few free hours i was in heaven. San Francisco has awesome shopping and i'm still making good use of a very nice exchange rate. God bless America.

tomorrow we escape again - this time to Seattle for one night only and then escaping the USA entirely as we finally make our way back into canada....

stay tuned. xxxx

If you're going to san francisco

2008-10-29T05:54:00.002Z

"If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair"

sing along with me....oh....you don't know the words? no...in my defence neither did i till i googled them..but the tune has been in my head all day and now i've passed it on to you...hhehehe!!

we were given the guided tour of SF by mr toad this morning - or more precisely his more attractive sidekick - 'ms tour guide'....we saw it all, including, and most importantly, a close up of the iconic golden gate bridge.

who needs disneyland when you have SF and its famous cable cars? the way those things go up hills and down dales is slightly scary but when ours landed me in the middle of shopping heaven i figured it was worth missing a heartbeat or 2....so tonight we shopped and we ate guacamole (handmade at our table to our specifications of course...) and drank tequila and went to a movie....and generally tried to behave like 'normal' non-tourists for once...

tomorrow we're going to prison...stay tuned. xx

the wild wild west

2008-10-28T16:08:00.002Z

California has some pretty spectacular landscape. one minute you're beachside, ducking roller-bladers, palm trees a-wavin in the sky....the next, if Gabby has anything to do with it, you're in the wild wild west...

i guess we weren't THAT far west but it certainly felt it as we drove over desert mountains, through towns named san this and los that....you could be excused for thinking you're in mexico round here. and when gabby took us through a town called los hicksville (well, maybe not but you get the idea...) we stopped for lunch at a restaurant with a sign saying 'hippies use the back door. no exceptions'. i guess we couldnt argue with that so to the back door we headed...

around here it's so easy to imagine what it must have been like - well, just like an old western movie i guess. close your eyes and you can hear the click of cowboy's spurs, a skewbald pony pawing at the ground, saloon doors being thrown back...and the smell of gunfire in the air....or perhaps i just have an overactive imagination...

on we drove to arrive in san francisco. may i once again state the obvious - america is bloody huge. it took us ages....when we did arrive we felt as though we'd arrived in another country - it is so much colder here, that much drearier than it was in los angeles and las vegas....but we are keen for today as a certain 'mr toad' is going to show us round this hilly city.

stay tuned. xx

stars in their eyes

2008-10-26T04:44:00.002Z

we have spent the day starry eyed...of course, when it comes to hollywood it's hard to be anything but....hollywood boulevard, the walk of fame, sunset boulevard, rodeo drive, beverley hills, bel air...all are as famous as the stars that live and shop in their streets.

Personally i don't agree in principal with the process of stalking the houses of stars... but please understand that i was desperate to spot a celebrity - any celebrity would do....so when, while walking down hollywood boulevard, someone thrust a map of the stars' homes in my hands, what was a girl to do??!!

with the help of our new best friend Gabby (more about Gabby to follow...), we meandered our way through beverley hills, bel air and mulhulland drive....watched by a million security cameras we peeked through thick hedges and over heavy black gates to see a glimpse of a roof here and a statue there belonging to some minor (and some major) stars....but to my dismay, on this saturday afternoon in the hollywood hills, there was not a celebrity to be seen....

a word about gabby....our friend gabby is dark and sexy with a soft, gentle voice. she never gets upset, never raises her voice and, most importantly, never gets lost. she never even has to get out of the car to ask for directions despite the incomprehensible maze that is Los Angeles. Gabby is, of course, a GPS and we are deeply in love with her. (mum and dad, if you're reading this, we have decided that we need to rent a 'Gabby II' whilst traveling through new zealand....!)

when you've had a rough day - whether you've been let down by a friend or work has been tricky....or if your efforts to rival the paparazzi have been dismally unsuccessful...there is nothing quite like being by the water to wash your cares away. and, as we found ourselves watching the sunset dip over the ocean on santa monica beach tonight, we looked into the sky....and finally we saw stars...

xx

the magical land of disney...

2008-10-25T06:12:00.002+01:00

....where once upon a time becomes once upon a day...

i consider myself quite the disney veteran....i was at the disneyland in paris in both 07 and 08...albeit on either side of midnight as we saw in the new year by watching the fireworks over the princess palace...so i was interested in comparing the californian version to the european...unfortunately it didn't quite meet the standard set by paris. but nothing ever really does in my eyes - so i guess i shouldnt be surprised...but we had a fun day anyway. where else can you pretend to be indiana jones, buzz lightyear and captain jack sparrow all in the space of a day!

and when matt's eyes lit up at the banner saying that 'ASIMO' was in the house the day became even more worthwhile. Now apparently ASIMO is Matt's favorite humanoid robot....which worries me twofold. Firstly - that matt even HAS a favorite humanoid robot, and the subtle suggestion the statement makes that he may have favorite robots of other types also??! dog-anoid perhaps? cat-anoid?! But apparently ASIMO is quite the celebrity in the robot world...and i have to say he was quite impressive. actually - i want one!!

so between ASIMO and buzz and jack and donald and a poohie bear....and of course mickey....the day passed in a blur of magic and happily ever afters...

xx

foto frenzy

2008-10-24T07:59:00.003+01:00

when it rains it pours! knock yourselves out my photo-loving-blog-reading friends...

boston - biking around and willy the whale

Sea World

San Diego Silliness

Halloween party in the OC

Viva Las Vegas

leaving las vegas

2008-10-23T17:37:00.002+01:00

for a few days now today, thursday the whatever (ive completely lost track of dates!), has been etched in my mind as 'D' day....the day we leave las vegas....and i didn't want this day to come. I love it here. man, it's my kinda town!!! the kind where you party all night, sleep all morning, spend the arvo sipping cocktails by the pool in the desert sun, then party all night again. last night, for example, was filled with laughter as we made our way to Treasure Island (thats the other thing i love - the names of the hotels make you feel like you have spent a week at disneyland!!) for a comedy club night. we were worried that we wouldn't 'get' a lot of the humour - that it might be based mainly on Obama and McCain....but it wasn't and we did and we laughed. a lot. but that may have also been due also to the free drinks we consumed whilst gambling downstairs beforehand.........whatever the reason it was a very fun night.

today we are traveling in style. after spending a few more hours mooching round vegas....milking the place for all it's worth....we are gettin ourselves some wheels.....no more grey dog for us.....and making our way to anaheim ready to play with Mickey Mouse tomorrow....!!

xx

russian roulette

2008-10-22T08:49:00.002+01:00

what do 2 english chicks, a couple of swedes and some mad aussies have in common?? well, in this case, both a passion for travelling and the fact that we were all in vegas at the same time. we met Eric and Lovisa in NYC, Jo in San Diego and Charlene in Las Vegas...it's one of the most wonderful things about backpacking - you can easily meet awesome, fun, interesting, incredibly well travelled people from all over the world...and, if you have a little bit of vegas luck, you might even end up meeting up with them again...and again. we all met up for a couple of drinks after dinner yesterday evening and ended up staying out all night...its easy to do in sin city. we moved from hotel to hotel...a dollar in the pokies here and a couple of drinks there...sometime in the wee hours we found ourselves in downtown Las Vegas - the original vegas of the rat pack era...where nowadays the streets are seedy and the bets are cheap. It was here that i found myself somehow winning $90 on roulette (must have been cause i was wearing my lucky undies!) and floating home on a cloud....one very happy gambler.

vegas can be an expensive city for the budget conscious backpacker. the place is drowning in glitz and gold, prada and gucci, but if you're a little savvy and are prepared to do a few strange things to save a buck - you can enjoy all vegas has to offer. in the spirit of this we sacrificed our morning to get our hands on $20 tix to a vegas show (usually $80). you dont get anything for nothing in this town and so we allowed ourselves to be dragged miles outside the strip and sit through 4 hours of incredibly boring spiel...do we want to buy a timeshare? no thanks....we just want our cheap show tickets thanks - we're backpackers. and out the door we fled.

but tonight, as we watched high flying acrobats, trampolining fairies, swirling whirling costumes and comedic babies a morning lost in las vegas became an evening gained. 'Mystique' by cirque du soleil was an exotic, eye popping show......incredible and beautiful - i don't think i blinked for 2 hours!

viva las vegas!

xx

Californication

2008-10-20T06:13:00.004+01:00

california - in itself a pop culture legend. crooned about by everyone from the beach boys to the red hot chilli peppers...movies not only set on its beaches and in its cities but born in it's hills...

its not surprising then, that california feels familiar...i've already mentioned how at home we felt as we arrived in san diego and, the only thing that was missing - the thing we had yet to experience as part of our californication experience was the sand between our toes and waves lapping at our feet. so on friday we headed to mission beach to check out for ourselves the sand and surf. and it was everything you would expect from a californian beach...the sand was a welcome relief from the pebble beaches of england and we delighted in ducking away from rolling waves....again i was homesick...but this time for the beautiful beaches of queensland rather than the pebble beach of Brighton....california - despite its fame - has nothing on home.

that night we hit the town and boy did we paint it red. our friend Christy is an Orange County local. a world traveller in her own right we met Christy in England where she had been living in Brighton for 7 years. but now she's back in her home country and was keen for us to go out in the gaslamp quarter of san diego. literally a hop step and jump from our hostel and we were in some of the funkiest bars in the city, drinking margaritas before sushi-ing it up in a japanese restaurant. meeting a couple of fun local chicks in the restaurant, we had interesting conversations on various topics including religion and politics...american politics are, of course, a rather hot topic in the states at the moment and it's interesting to discuss the candidates with the locals... several more margaritas, an insulting waiter and even more margaritas later we were closing an irish bar and stumbling back the hop step and jump to the hostel. awesome night.

waking the next morning with tequila headaches we packed up shop and piled into christy's car. meandering up the famous pacific highway 1 t0 the OC (i kept my eyes out for seth and ryan but must have missed them...) we stopped at Laguna beach for an ice-cream and a taste of how the other half live in these parts. our destination was christy's brother's place and a home bar that could well have charged an entry fee. John and Lisa have converted their garage into the ultimate party venue (matt and i now want one just like it....) we're talking velvet drapes, luxurious sofas, neon signs, smooth timber bar, um....stripper pole (yes, you heard me!) and, most important - an alcoholic selection to rival your average pub. in our honour John and lisa had invited round a heap of mates for a last minute halloween party. we dressed up to the nines - matt was batman (gotta love the 6-pack!), i was a sexy vampiress and Christy had several costume changes from lady of the night to 60s chick to geisha girl to grecian goddess. Bartender Ben mixed up some killer drinks and we had a lot of laughs in this backyard bar in Orange County. Thanks so much Christy for including us in your family and showing us how to party californication style...

and now - viva las vegas!! we're safely ensconced in the Luxor on the strip. the neon lights of vegas are winking at us out the window and we're looking forward to enjoying the treats in store in Sin City itself.. stay tuned!

xx

north, south, east, west

2008-10-17T05:59:00.002+01:00

NEWSFLASH. America is a big country. we have literally spent 2 days travelling...bus (i would say 'coach' but that would be an over-exaggeration) from boston to nyc. a night in nyc back in our trusty hostel near central park....2 hours in the wee hours to commute on the new york subway to jfk....jfk to lax (are you loving the abbreviations?) 6 hour flight. 4 hour bus (yes, bus) from LA to SD and FINALLY we're here in San Diago...and in San Diago we've landed on our feet .

I feel like im home (the aussie one...). as we drove down the coast from LA and watched the sun set - waves on one side, mc-mansions on the other, the heat of the day turning into a chilly night, i could have sworn i was in australia...maybe one of the glitzier, more showy parts...the gold coast perhaps....but aus all the same. and as we stepped out of the taxi into our hostel in the gaslamp quarter, SD's party central, i could tell i was going to be right at home here.

i know i've already complained about backpacking, I imagine there will be more complaining, and i know i've got just under 7 months of it to go (so you're just going to have to put up with it i guess! as am I!)...but backpacking can be quite a strain. and when you've been staying in mixed dorms for 2.5 weeks, in a bunk bed - one of 10 or so strangers - you begin to realise how much you value the odd bit of privacy and the luxury of spreading your stuff wherever you damn well please. so, coming to SD we booked a private room in order to preserve what little bit is left of our sanity - but couldn't imagine the luxury we would be met with - a loft bed, our own sink, sofa, desk.........................and to think we used to take these things for granted!!! Pure, unadulterated, bliss (i can't imagine the pleasure i will feel when faced with a 4* hotel room in vegas!! i mean - our very own ensuite...!!!!!!!!!!!!!! dont be surprised if i don't leave the room...!)

and today we had another special treat....we met matt's cousin, louiza, for the first time. due to the fact that she grew up in vancouver, canada (later moving to san diago) and matt obviously grew up in toowoomba, australia...worlds apart...the two had never met....but families are funny things and somehow it felt like we'd known eachother forever. from the moment we hugged on the street when we met in the morning to the moment we hugged on the street saying goodbye late tonight, it was like we'd only seen eachother yesterday. we chatted non-stop all day and in between and around we played with dolphins (and more whales). the three of us spent the day at sea world, marveling at killer whales and seals and dolphins and puppies and kitties (no, i didn't think they fit in the mix either but the dogs and cats had their own special show - my personal favorite in fact). The day was topped off in absolute style with a meal at Louiza's cousin's (the other side of the family...) restaurant in Little Italy....gorgeous food, a family atmosphere (not surprisingly!!) and plenty of wine....the day couldn't have been any better. Thank you Louiza....was such a pleasure to finally meet you and what a day to remember in beautiful San Diago....

xx

playing with the monsters of the sea

2008-10-14T01:49:00.003+01:00

you hear them before you see them. as they come up for air and blow water high in the sky the fountain of spray attracts your attention and you watch in amazement as they gracefully arch their backs out of the water, sliding along with fin in the air before flicking up their tails in one final wave and diving back down into the depths. humpback whales are supposedly solitary creatures but today a pod of six played beside our boat...only 5-10 meters away from us. the experience was incredible to say the least. only seeing them in real life helps you get a feel for the size and power of these amazing creatures. if you ever find yourself in boston...you must play with the whales.

from playing with whales to playing baseball...i can't say i've ever really sat down and watched a full game of baseball...despite the fact that my brother-in-law used to play it fairly seriously... but keen to experience this american phenomenon and with the 'sox' playing at their home ground...fenway park....we followed the crowd of red down to the ballpark to soak up some of the atmosphere. sitting in a bar drinking red sox sponsored 'bud lights' we tried to get into the game..............and failed. we were bored and we couldnt understand what the drawcard is....but a drawcard there must be cause the crowd was in its thousands...you might even say the figure was 'in the ballpark' of 35 000 (sorry....!) and the most patriotic i've ever seen. but the tabacco chewing, saliva spitting, non ball hitting boringness of it all had us leaving the pub before the game was up...three strikes, you're out.

xx

ride 'em!

2008-10-12T22:54:00.004+01:00

is there better way to spend a crisp, sunny sunday morning in boston, usa than with a 2.5 hour, 12 mile cycle ride around the city?

i think not. however, after a very very VERY long night in one of the most rickety old buses known to man, making our way (with very little sleep) from montreal to boston, we weren't sure we would have the energy to pull it off. but pull it off we did and are so glad we made the effort. the weather was perfect, warm sunshine, slight breeze. the streets were quiet save for people taking long strolls or jogs in the parks...our guide was fun and interesting, a working muso who studied at a music college in boston and could tell us all about college life in this college town to beat them all....there are over 60 unis and colleges in this city and therefore the vibe is very cool...countless student bars, chilled out live music all over town every night of the week...a very young and hip atmosphere. it's a beautiful city too...we cycled through expensive neighbourhoods of brownstones, and along the esplanade next to the river...through 'downtown' where we saw the buildings and landmarks relating to the bostonites' turbulent war against the british.

we've only just scratched the surface of this town really cause, after satiating our ravenous appetite with some mexican for lunch, we came back to the hostel and fell into the kind of coma that only comes with complete and utter exhaustion!!

but tomorrow we'll be recovered and we plan to spend our day with whales and red sox....stay tuned!
xx