Back to Reality

So the reality is that while November in the UK is undeniably cold...at least the sun is shining. We got back into Heathrow in the early hours of this morning after a 36 hr slog from Koh Chang via Bangkok via the Koh San Road for some last minute bargain basement shopping. The trip is officially now over so we both wanted to recap, for our benefit and for anyone else still reading, on the best bits and worst bits of the trip

Trip highlight:

NG: Doing a 60m freefall canyon swing in Queenstown, New Zealand

JW: Our Whitsunday cruise upgrade that saw us enjoying a glimpse of luxury and playing beach cricket on the best beach in the world...or living on the road for a month in New Zealand in Taniwha the campervan

Trip lowlight:

NG: Getting our passports replaced in Brisbane
JW: Phillip Island. Great Penguins, shame about the tourists

Friendliest locals:

NG: The three thai barmaids at the 'You and Me' bar in Kai Bai Beach, Ko Chang.

JW: Impossible to call between the ozzies and the kiwis...and the thais outside Bangkok.

Biggest surprise:

NG: That thai women don't use toilet paper and that James survived a night in the jungle in Chiang Mai.
JW: The rabid dogs with massive boobs in Bangkok...or the fact that we didn't actually encounter any bugs of consequence...or that I survived a gay night in Sydney

Biggest disappointment:

NG: Shelling out a hefty sum in New Zealand to swim with the dolphins and instead spending four hours speeding accross the ocean, desperately trying to find any form of marine life (we saw and swam with nothing)
JW: Doubtful Sound in New Zealand. No doubt stunning on a beatiful day but the rain, cold and wind (and shabby boat) meant all we wanted to do was go home.

Best place visited:

NG: Will get the full photo album up on Facebook soon to give you any idea of how hard this category is! ...Probably Kangaroos and sunset at dawn on the road trip to Melbourne. Whitehaven beach also features highly.
JW: Too many to choose from but probably Whitehaven Beach on the Whitsundays. Nearest thing to paradise we found.

And the worst:

NG: Backward Brisbane

JW: Probably Brisbane. Just...very...boring

Most drunk:

NG: Nothing compared to the below for Jim, but possibly the last night of our travel adventures in Ko Chang...
JW: Erm...Chiang Mai.

Best animal:

NG: Dolphins swimming by the Whitsundays boat at twlight, the seahorse on the last day in Ko Chang.

JW: Kangaroos at the campsite in Melbourne, or turtle at the Great Barrier Reef.

Lessons learned:

NG: Becoming veggie is much easier than first expected.... also you do really need about a year to really see all of Australia
JW: it is hypocritical to say how cute kangaroos are when they're hopping around, then eat kangaroo steak for dinner

Most missed about home whilst away:

NG: My family and friends
JW: Chicken Jalfrezi and cheese platters

Will most miss about being away:

NG: Forgetting which day of the week it is because every day is a holiday.
JW: Beautiful landscapes, sunshine and the sea

So that's it. And if anyone can be bothered, our THOUSANDS of pictures can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11623316@N08/sets/72157603191858037/

Sun, Sea and Singha

So the trip is very nearly all over. We have spent an extremely relaxing seven days on the island of Koh Chang, 5 hours south east of Bangkok doing...well, pretty much nothing.

The weather has been a particular highlight - it has been HOT hitting the high twenties every day (despite a massive monsoon like thunderstorm last night that knocked out electricity and flooded roads across the island). Another plus point has been the abundance of restaurants and bars on Lonely Beach where we're staying (actually not that lonely) meaning we have eaten lots of quality thai food, drank lots of Singha, played a lot of frisbee (see blue disc in Nadia's hand in the shot to your right), had several thai massages and even had time to get ourselves a couple of suits tailor made by a very nice Burmese man called Henry at a very reasonable price (they've yet to be delivered so there's always the chance he'll flee the country but I'm fairly confident he'll do the business). We have also found a very cool little bar called the 'Treehouse' which sits out in the middle of the water at the south end of our beach where you can while away the evening/day relaxing in a hammock...if you ever find yourself out here, we highly recommend a visit.

Another bonus is that we've managed to catch up with Chris and Sarah, two of our friends from back home who happened to be on holiday out here at the same time which has led to a few late nights, lots of very poor pool playing and some slightly higher quality beach sports.

All in all it's been exactly what we needed to round the trip off. We return home in a few days nursing sun burnt faces, numerous mosquito bites (although we are hopefully malaria free) a lot of knock-off clothes and a more relaxed demeanor than when we left a few months ago. Back to Bangkok tomorrow before flying back home to the glorious November sunshine (we live in hope)

Jungle Fever

Sadly we are now passing our last few hours in Chiang Mai... a small city north east of Bangkok. We have spent the last two days treking through the jungle, riding elephants, living with the resident hill tribes and generally leaving behind modern comforts...electricity, flushing toilets and bricks and mortar there were not.


Day one involved a two hour truck drive to the outskirts of the jungle - eight of us piled in the back with a small thai man hanging on the bumper for luck. It was an hour's uphill hike to the village camp where we were shown our bamboo stilt hut for the night and a 20 minute breather before the four hour slog to the waterfall in the pic above. The water was as cold as it looks (check out James hunching on the end) and ridden with leeches due to it being the end of the wet season (luckily we both managed to avoid being bitten thanks to the 95% deet repellent). The march back (fast pace is an understatement) took us through deep mud, strong creeks and lots of lush greenery. The day was rounded off with a superb thai feast prepared by our excellent guide, host and now friend Noi. There was laughter, drinking, singing and games a plenty before dropping onto the floor and under the mosquito net in the early hours for a solid night's sleep...


A late start kicked off day two, (that and James throwing up the previous night's rum, whisky and beer to a round of applause as he tried to hide behind a tree). An action packed day included elephant riding, white water rafting and more treking. The evening ended in a farewell meal with our fellow travellers preceded by a white knuckle tuk tuk race and more whisky in a tourist free local Thai bar (thanks to Noi).


Chiang Mai has been a world away from Bangkok, friendly people, real Thai culture at its best and food and massages out of this world! Back to Bangkok tonight for a quick stop before heading on to the south eastern island of Ko Chang for some sun, sand and clear blue sea (we hope!).....

Landing the Big One...

There are a lot of people out there of the opinion that men are the hunter gatherers and should be the ones putting food on the table whilst the women stay at home and cook it. I'm not of that opinion which is why I was more than happy to let Nadia land one average sized Travelly and one MASSIVE Snapper (see pic to your right) on our recent fishing trip with 'Captain Bucko' around the Bay of Islands. Her rod had been in the sea literally no more than twenty seconds before she landed it on the first cast of the afternoon (she's clearly a natural). I, on the other hand, didn't get a bite all day. Still, at least the sun was shining...

Anyway, back to the Snapper, we reckon it was about ten pounds based on an estimate against the twenty pounder that some other bloke pulled out of the sea shortly afterwards. Now that was huge, however Nadia's provided us with enough sumptuous barbequed fillet o' fish to feed us and a local cat that evening (and provide lunch the next day). It's only fitting that we should catch our own dinner on our final night of sleeping rough. Bucko himself, well, he's something of a local celeb and was full of bad jokes and fishermans tales that passed a great afternoon. Look him up if you're ever out here.

So the Bay of Islands has been good fun on the whole with the exception of a failed dolphin swimming expedition. We've seen dolphins at Fraser Island, The Whitsunday's, Byron Bay, Milford Sound, on the Manly Ferry - in fact, pretty much anytime except for the one occasion we paid to find them. Still, you can't blame them for scooting if there are killer whale in the locality (which there apparently were - didn't see them either).

Even more disappointment today as we have had to return our truck to the rental company which we'd both grown quite attached to. I'd never thought being cramped, cold and uncomfortable could be so much fun however we've both agreed that Taniwha (our campervan) was the right choice for seeing this country.

We're now in Auckland catching up on a few bits and bobs and enjoying the luxury of a proper bed for the first time in a month. We head to Thailand tomorrow afternoon - haere ra Aoterea, it's been awesome.

Next stop: Bangkok!

Worm hunting in Waitomo...

As anyone who's been out here will know, you can't go to New Zealand without going to Waitomo and there's no point going to Waitomo unless you're going to see some glowworms. So we've just spent the last 24hrs in this little place a few hours west of Rotorua and have returned from an epic 4hr+ underground adventure that saw us rappel 30 metres down into a cave, spend a few hours exploring on foot but more excitingly on rubber rings - 'black water rafting' down the freezing rapids (often in complete darkness) and finishing off with climbing out of the 30 metre hole you dropped yourself in in the first place. The pic you see is of the intrepid caving team staring in bewildered awe at the gloworms - all except for the American tourist on the left who preferred to give a big smile for the camera...some people just don't listen.

It was awesome stuff and the gloworms themselves were a sight to behold - literally millions of them lighting up the cavern...akin to staring into a starry sky. And for those that care, glowworms aren't actually worms but the larval stage of the fungus gnat. The glow they give off is merely to attract bugs and other prey that they feed off. Interesting huh?

Pre and post our cave expedition, the word of the day was 'shearing'. On our way out of Rotorua we visited the Agrodome where they run a very touristy but undeniably fun show of the sheep of NZ incorporating shearing, feeding and some dog herding tricks. To add to that in Waitomo we then visited the 'Shearing shed' - home to some 300 angora rabits - one of which gets its massive locks sheared daily.

We headed from Waitomo and have just spent a day on the Coromandel Peninsula where we found the hot water beach (very cool - dig a hole and have your own thermaly heated bath) and Cathedral Cove...a very secluded bay with some cool rock formations. As the NZ leg of this trip nears an end we've decided to spend our last few days in the Bay of Islands where its waaaaaaarm. Will post a final update from there before we depart for Thailand.

Nadia and me with some Geyser.

Ha ha. So, as you can guess from the pictures we are currently in New Zealands 'geothermal wonderland'. The last few days have been spent in Taupo and Rotorua where steaming lakes, boiling mud pools and spouting geysers (like Lady Knox to your right) are commonplace. Once you get past the smell of eggs the place is magic and a million miles away from back home. For fact fans pondering how these geographical wonders are created - it is apparently all to do with these towns sitting on the fault line between the Pacific and Indi-China (or something) plates and the earth getting heated by lots of (in my best Dr Evil voice) 'Liquid Hot Mag-ma'.

In our few days here we've visited Wai-O-Tapu, a geothermal reserve 30K south of Rotorua where sulphurous lakes and acid caves are commonplace; the Polynesian Spa - luxury mineral baths where you get to soak in the radium waters while watching the sunset over the lake and Paradise Springs; a nature park where you can get up close and personal with some lion cubs (not very kiwi admittedly but cool nonetheless). We also went along to a Hangi (pronounce 'hungi') last night - a traditional Maori feast cooked on hot rocks that are buried in the earth. It was Kar-Pi ('good' in Maori, although the spelling probably leaves a lot to be desired). We also got to see some traditional Maori tribal dancing including the haka (didn't scare me...)

Anyway, we have been on the North Island around a week now. The Sun hasn't stopped shining which has made us both happy and made nights spent in Taniwha (the van, for those not keeping up) all the more comfortable. So, to save me droning on, other North Island highlights so far have included:
- Kayaking a stretch of the Waikato river in a double kayak (which was nearly capsized on more than one occasion) and stopping for a dip in the natural thermal pools - VERY cool (or hot if you know what I mean)
- Taking a ride on Errol Flynn's old yacht, The Barnaby, to go out and see some Maori carvings on lake Taupo (I'm aware we've done a lot of Maori things since we last posted)
- Visiting the Te Papa national museum of New Zealand in Wellington and the botanical gardens on a VERY hot day in what some people told me was a wet and miserable city.

Anyway, we're off to see some sheep shearing - wouldn't be right not to in a country where they outnumber humans 10-1 then we're on to Waitomo this evening to spend the night with some glow worms. More to follow shortly...

Rocks, Rapids and Rugby

We were up at dawn this morning to watch England lose their World Cup title with, ooh, at least half a dozen other Englishmen in a sports bar in Nelson. A disappointing 80 minutes made even worse by the roars of a few gobby South Africans sat to our right. And Nadia now can't decide whether she prefers Percy nice hair or Jonny nice legs. What a dilemma. Still, there's always the football...at least qualification for Euro 2008 shouldn't be an issue (whoops!)

So we have been in Nelson for the last day or so and have become big fans of the place - nice bars, live music, very hospitable locals (who were throwing free wine tasters in our direction last night) and, most importantly - Sunshine! Yes, Nelson is officially the South Islands sunniest place.

The last few days have been as busy as ever. Post Nadia's canyon swing we successfully negotiated the Shotover River in Queenstown on a raft. Rapids were ace and we both avoided taking a dip in the ice cold white water (unlike some poor chinese girl on our raft who had an extended and unwelcome swim). From there we headed to Wanaka and spent a morning marvelling at the mountain peaks that surrounded us before driving up the coast to Glacier country. We did a half day hike onto the Fox Glacier which was pretty awesome - not as cold as you'd expect with ice crevasses (see pic), caves and water run-off's that were straight out of Touching the Void/Vertical Limit/Cliffhanger or any other alpine mountain climbing film you might have seen. A quick look at the Franz Josef Glacier (from a distance - we decided climbing two in one day was a bridge too far) then headed up to the Punakaiki national park to see weird rocks and other cool stuff.

We head to the North Island this evening after doing a loop around pretty much all of the South over the last 2 weeks. We are sad to say goodbye to the South's snowy peaks, glacial lakes, rolling hills, and sheep but are looking forward to volcanoes, hot pools and hopefully some more sun. Next stop: Wellington!