 So, for the 3rd year running we've done an Easter road trip... This time we hit the South Coast of NSW! As always, we started our trip early in the morning on Good Friday to avoid traffic. We were out and on the road by 6am which meant that the roads were mostly empty and we made good time to Kiama where we stopped for a quick breakfast while staring at the Blowhole. Unfortunately, the sea was too calm for the blowhole this morning... still a nice spot to have breakfast though!. Our goal for the day was to reach Ulladulla at some point, but since we didn't have to be there at any specific time, we took our time and made a side trip to Jervis Bay and its beautiful beaches. The beaches and waters at Jervis Bay are just stunning. |
April 22nd 2011
 Back in Khao Lak and Thailand once again... This trip was a spur of the moment decision as we hadn't planned to travel anywhere for at least a couple of months and were originally going to have longer time away. But a few things at home changed all of that ;) As we found out that we were expecting we realised that if we wanted to travel on our own again (for a very long time), we had to take the opportunity and do it right away! We debated on where to go and since we were only travelling for slightly over a week, we did't want to have to travel too far! |
January 22nd 2011
 Why would we fly over to New Zealand to go skiing when we can do that here in Australia? Because we can of course ;) It does help when you have enough frequent flyer miles to get the return journey for free... Unfourtunately, as we only had enough leave to do a very small trip the plan was to do skiing for two days and then catch up with some friends in Auckland! It all started very early... It's good to get an early start to the day but a flight at 6.15am meant that we had to be at the airport at 4am. Which of course if way too early for the trains to be running so we had to get a taxi. At least it was there on time to pick us up and at that time in the morning there wasn't any traffic either so it was a very quick trip. |
August 17th 2010
 We've saved the very best to last... Our stay at the Tokoriki Island Resort was the highlight of our trip! Our time in Fiji was coming to an end which was a bit sad... luckily we had decided to have a real luxurious end to our trip and we found our next island thanks to recommendations from some of our friends that have been there previously and loved it. And yes, it was really really good! We loved every moment we spent there... The staff here, were if possible, even friendlier than previously (and that's a tough call), they had an infinity pool that was just like a dream and don't get us started on the food... Five star meals every single day!! |
May 9th 2009
 Viwa island, to get here we had to get a bit off the beaten track... but it was really worth it! Travelling between the islands in the Yasawas is quite easy as there are large catamarans to ship you around. On these ships you barely feel the movement of the ocean and it's only if you were to board a smaller boat that this might be an issue. Well, Viwa island is not along the Catamaran path so you have to board a fairly small boat for the last 45min of travel. On the day we choose to cross the ocean it was a bit rocky and we were heaving up and down quite a bit but luckily we made it to Viwa without any incidents ;) |
 We've been travelling all around the world and all this time, paradise has been just around the corner from us... The idea to travel to Fiji came after Suz suggested that she wanted a nice and calm holiday to make up for India. She said that since India was MY holiday then Fiji would be hers ;) Well, I didn't take much to convince and our trip was booked. Just 5 days before the trip we almost didn't think we would be able to travel, but the doctor said that I just needed some rest and I was free to travel.... so we did! It was actually quite nice to get on a plane and travel for just 3½ hours, we are so used to travelling hours upon hours. Upon arrival we were too late for the boat to the islands so we spent the first night on the mainland. Early the next morning... |
 Another Easter long weekend and another road trip... this time we're exploring some areas of Central West NSW! It's almost becoming tradition now to go away somewhere over the Easter long weekend. With 4 days off you can cover quite a bit of terrain and get to see a lot of different areas. As we have a beach holiday coming up soon (Fiji is up next) we decided to skip the ocean side on this trip and travel inland. After a bit of investigating we decided to visit Orange and Mudgee (for some wine samplings) and Dubbo for its zoo. Well, what can you do... We had a look at the track from a distance, took some obligatory touristy photos and continued on our way... |
 We're visiting the most sacred site for the Sikh's, the Golden Temple in Amritsar... The trip here though wasn't without its problems... or rather inconveniences. It all started in Udaipur, we had booked a taxi to the airport to pick us up at 5.30am. We were down there at reception on time but unfourtunately our taxi wasn't... Waiting for a taxi at this time in the morning isn't fun as there is no other alternative (we had the same problem in Havana earlier this year) but luckily it showed up eventually and still with plenty of time to reach the aiport. We were supposed to fly to Delhi and then to Amritsar but apparently we had missed that our flight was to make a stop in Jaipur as well... We had to sit in the plane and wait for more passengers to load.... |
November 26th 2009
 Udaipur is the most romantic city in India... We couldn't be in a better place to celebrate our first wedding anniversary! We left Jodhpur in the morning and made our way towards Ranakpur and the Jain Temple located there. On the way, our driver informed us that this would be his last drive with us as we're getting a new driver in Ranakpur. We obviously thought that this was a bit of a shame since we were so close to the end but accepted it... The Jain Temple in Ranakpur was amazing, the outside is enough to impress anyone but the real treat starts once you step inside. There are carved marble pillars everywhere and from what we heard, no two of them are alike... |
 Our trip through Rajasthan continues, this time we're visiting two Forts in two cities, one Golden and one Blue... We had a uneventful few hours after leaving Bikaner, the road out to Jaisalmer was mostly empty (in Indian terms of course, we still had the occasional cows here and there walking as if they own the streets and also the insainly overpacked lorries) and very straight through the desert so we made quite good time. After a while the driver asked if we wanted to see the cranes in Khichan. We had to admit that we had no idea of what he was referring to.... Apparently duing the winter months thousands of cranes come to this area and it's quite a sight to see so many in one spot. |
 Our road trip has finally begun and after the hectic pace of Delhi the countryside of Rajasthan is well welcomed! Our mornings didn't have the smoothest of beginnings though... The company that we booked our trip called to advise that our car wasn't available and they would send an ungraded car for no extra cost. Unfortunately the car that arrived wasn't an upgrade in our eyes, it was a fairly old Indigo that we weren't sure was going to last the entire trip. I made a bit of a fuss and eventually a similar car to the original one was provided. They just had to drive us to it, clean it and we were ready to go.... a bit later than planned but at least happy. |
 The Taj Mahal, one of the modern wonders of the world! While giving birth to his 14th (?!?) child, Emperor's Shah Jahan's second wife passed away... He was sticken with grief and as a memorial and in her memory he built her the Taj Mahal!! How is anyone supposed to be able to compete with that? Our original plan was to travel to Agra before we started our Rajasthan trip but we'd read so many negative reviews about the city of Agra (dirty, polluted and with some very aggressive touts) that we decided to just make it a day trip from Delhi. We thought about doing the express train first but ended up arranging the trip via our Delhi hotel and with our driver Anil. |
 We're finally in India and it's just as crazy and exiting as we thought it would be! We landed in Delhi at around 2am, walked through immigration without a problem and proceeded to collect our bags. After around 45min they finally arrived and it was time for us to leave the safety zone of the airport and into the real Delhi. I'm not sure if it was because of the time, or the fact that we've read so much about the arrival and the shock that's supposed to come with it, but it was nowhere near what we were expecting. |
 We're in Macau, the Vegas of the East... Since we were in Hong Kong and only an hour away from Macau we decided to pay it a quick visit too. Our ferry took an hour to cross the distance and was very comfortable. Suz and I decided to splurge and get the Superclass tickets, the seats might have been the same but we were served breakfast and the best part was that the rest of the boat had to wait for us to disembark before they were allowed to....hehe, talk about feeling like a VIP. Getting off the boat first was great though as it meant we didn't have to line up for too long through immigration and customs (and yes, Suz didn't fill in the option regarding her cough here either). |
November 7th 2009
 Our trip to Hong Kong didn't have the best start. We were checking in and the person behind the desk tells us that our specified seats that we'd pre-booked over 6 months ago were not available. Hearing this at 6am when you're barely awake is not what you want, she then went on and said that we might have to sit seperately before finding us seats together in the middle of the plane. We were at the very end of the plane and not in the best of spirits when we noticed that the doors of the plane had closed, we were taxiing towards the runway and we had no one next to us.... |
November 7th 2009
 It's taken me almost 5 years since I first arrived in Australia, but I've finally seen the Twelve Apostles... As a combination of both our birthdays we decided this year that we would travel to Melbourne over the long weekend and also incorporate a trip down the famous Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles. We left Sydney after work on Friday on a Tiger Airways plane. We weren't quite sure what to expect as we'd read a lot of bad reviews about the airline and also seen the TV show "Airways". But we had no problems, the plane left on time, it was comfortable, staff were friendly and at $39 each one-way you just can't complain... |
 After a few months of staying at home it was now finally time to head off again, even if it was only for a long weekend! We decided to make our way to Port Stephens during the Easter long weekend, and to try and avoid traffic we started driving on Friday morning at 6am. Our plan worked nicely as we managed to make it out of the city in no time... Just a few hours later we arrived at Nelsons Bay, the main town in the area of Port Stephens. For those of you that don't know the area, Port Stephens is a peninsula located north of Sydney containing a few small coastal towns, some nice beaches and also the largest continuous coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere, the Stockton Bight. |
 Our last stop before the long trip back home.... San Francisco! Suz and I have both been here before, but this was actually the first time that we were here together. On arrival we met the nicest person we've ever run into in immigration. We had applied for the new ESTA online to be able to enter the USA but apparently you still need to fill in the normal visa waiver (what's the point with the new system then?!?). We didn't have the correct paper work and normally they just send you back to the end of the line to fill them in. We were told by the woman behind the counter to just grab some and fill them in at her desk... We had a bit of a chat with her while we were doing it and we were through right after that... |
January 23rd 2008
 We were now at the end of our Mexican trip and Puerto Vallarta was our last stop! When we were planning our trip we wanted to finish up somewhere on the west coast where we could stay at an All Inclusive resort (we've never done that before) and just do as little as possible before it was time to head back home. We chose Puerto Vallarta as it had everything we were looking for, beach, sun and the possibility for AI. When we planned the trip and were searching for a place to stay we were recommended by Kate to stay at the Hacienda Hotel & Spa where she had stayed just a few months ago. It was AI and according to her and the photos we saw, also quite nice! |
January 22nd 2009
 Guadalajara is located in the heart of the Jalisco state... the state known mostly for its Tequila production... After leaving the Mayan Riviera, we arrived in Guadalajara where we were picked up by our hotel Quinta Don Jose in Tlaquepaque (which is an area of Guadalajara). As soon as we checked in, we knew we were going to love our stay here. I mean, first of all... an airport pickup is bound to score some extra points isn't it? Once we checked in we were given a tour of the place and it even had a pool (which we didn't use since it was just too cold). The room was lovely and what Suz liked the best was the fact that it had a filtered water container in our room. How good is that??? |
 Upon arriving in Tulum we realized that we had reached paradise.... Quite fitting that we should we staying at El Paraiso! When our taxi dropped us off at El Paraiso we knew we had made a great choice, first of all... everything was on the beach (literally), the parking, reception and all the guest houses as well. And the beach itself.... it's one of the best ones that we've experienced so far, it soft, white and just wonderful!! Checking into our room was a nice surprise as well, the room was simple yet elegant. And it's always a nice touch to everyday walk in to a new towel animal on our bed =) |
 Upon arriving in Tulum we realized that we had reached paradise.... Quite fitting that we should we staying at El Paraiso! When our taxi dropped us off at El Paraiso we knew we had made a great choice, first of all... everything was on the beach (literally), the parking, reception and all the guest houses as well. And the beach itself.... it's one of the best ones that we've experienced so far, it soft, white and just wonderful!! Checking into our room was a nice surprise as well, the room was simple yet elegant. And it's always a nice touch to everyday walk in to a new towel animal on our bed =) |
 We're finally in Cuba and Havana or La Habana as the locals call it... Before travelling to Cuba we had read about their money system (two different currencies, one for the locals and another one for the tourists) and the fact that they don't have ATM's in the country that work with our debit cards. Sure, we could always walk into a bank and get some money out through the credit card but you always lose a lot in the conversion plus the commision fee. So, we had to decide how much money we might need so that we could extract it while in Mexico and then change it over to Cuban Convertibles once we got there. We had also read that the worst money to bring over is the US dollar since they give you a really bad rate... |
January 8th 2009
 When we left off last, we had just left Caye Caulker on our way to Belize City to catch a bus into Guatemala... When we booked the bus we were promised that it would be a big express bus (with toilet) that would take us on the five hour journey all the way to Flores in Guatemala, they even showed us a photo of a nice big bus. So imagine our surprise when we first discover that the bus is really nothing more than a larger minibus. Secondly, the bus seemed to be packed to the rafters and we wouldn't be able to fit on it. Some guy was even telling us that we would have to wait for the 14.30 bus. What?!? What are we going to do in Belize City for 5 hours?? |
January 5th 2009
 We boarded the taxi boat in San Pedro and around 40min later we arrived at our next destination.... Caye Caulker! The first thing that struck us about the island was its laidback nature. We thought that San Pedro was nice and relaxed.... Cayes Caulker managed to top it a hundred times over. To start with, there's only one main street here and it's not paved.... only dirt roads. You don't see as many golf carts or other cars and the island doesn't contain the same type of resorts that San Pedro did (not yet at least). We had a booking at the Seaside Cabanas... |
January 2nd 2009
 Belize it or not, here we are.... We started our morning in New York, caught our first flight at 3.20am, changed planes in San Salvador and finally arrived in Belize City. Here we had two options... Either we took a taxi to the dock and then a water taxi to the island or we just pay a little bit extra and fly for 15min to the island of San Pedro. It didn't take too much to convince Suz to fly, and this way we also got some awesome aerial views of the reef on the way there. When we arrived in San Pedro and found our hotel, it was still a little bit too early to check in so it became beer o'clock... |
 We were hoping for it and we did get to celebrate a white christmas! But first we had to get there. We flew for around 14 hours, disembarked in LA, passed immigration, collected our luggage, walked through customs just to hand our luggage back in and get back on the same plane and same seats.... Anyway, another 5 hours later we landed in New York and were able to see that everything was white and covered in snow! Of couse we had to go for a walk in the snow, this was Suz's first white christmas and we wanted to take full advantage of the situation. So just after we reached my parents new house we bundled up with a thick jacket, gloves, scarves and hats and we felt like little kids again =) |
 These last few weeks we've had family over from overseas.... They came for the wedding but obviously when you travel this far to a place you've never been to before you want to explore and see some parts of it as well. So, Suz and I have been playing tour guides, taking them all over Sydney to show them the sights! Zilia, Pär and Theo arrived a few weeks before the wedding on their round-the-world trip (they are doing what we normally do...hehe). On one of the first nights we drove into the city, parked in The Rocks and showed them the most famous landmarks in Sydney, the Operahouse and the Harbour Bridge. |
 After several months in planning the day had finally arrived... The morning of the ceremony was an interesting one. Suz was staying at our hotel in the city while I was at home with my family. We were in constant talks with each other via phone, since it was raining and we had to decide if we should use plan B and have the ceremony indoors. There were even warnings about gale winds that afternoon.... Eventually, we decided against it, as we knew that there was a rotunda available at Observatory Hill that we could use in worst case.... we still wanted to be outside and in the end, we made the right choice! The ceremony was great, Zilia and Julia both did some readings and then we were pronounced husband and wife by our celebrant.... |
 We realized the other day that we haven't posted a new blog in a while. The reason for that is that we haven't really done any travelling since we got back to Sydney.... then again, everything that we've been through since then could be worth including in a blog. We knew that the first thing we had to do on return was to start my resident visa application, we just didn't know what a circus it would turn out to be. Before I applied, I needed to be able to show police checks from every country that I've lived in for more than 12 months. Well, the Swedish one was easy, got the form online, signed it, sent funds to Zilia in Sweden to pay for it locally and about 3 weeks later I had the document stating that I've always been a good boy =) The Australian police check was also that easy... and then we had the Irish check. |
 A few months ago when we were planning our trip we told ourselves that we wanted to finish up somewhere where we could relax and do nothing for a few days. Our decision fell on the island of Koh Tao. To get there from Khao Lak we first had to cross to the other side of the country and the best way to do it was to take a local bus to Takuapa and there catch another bus to Surat Thani. The trip from Khao Lak to Surat Thani took us around 4½ hours in total (we had to wait for a while in Takuapa). When we were getting close to Surat the guys on the bus asked us where we were going, we told them to Koh Tao... |
 Visiting Khao Lak was not part of the original plan but after a few pleas and a guilt trip we decided to make a quick visit and visit our friends there... and we're glad that we did! Getting there was no problem.... we just caught a flight from Bangkok to Phuket and were then lucky enough to have the luxury of being picked up at the airport, always nice! We booked our tickets to Phuket through AirAsia when we were in Zagreb, while we were booking them online we realized that we needed our passport numbers so while I ran to get them Suz decided to check the Sydney paper online to see what was happening around the world... |
 We arrived in Kanchanaburi at noon and the minibus dropped us off on the door step of our chosen accomodation... We checked in at VN Guesthouse and got a decent room with a double bed and fan that was located in a raft bungalow on the river for only 275 baht which is around AUD$9 dollars. We knew we had found a good deal but later on when we found out that the place offered free WiFi we KNEW we had an awesome deal! We strolled around the main area of Kanchanaburi, looking for information on what to see in the area and how to get there. There is a lot to see in the area, the problem is that most of the sights are quite far away from Kanchanaburi town itself. |
 Since Ayutthaya is only located around 90km north of Bangkok it's very easy to visit it via a day trip and there are many operators offering tours. Suz and I decided to stay over there for one night instead. Ayutthaya served as the country's capital from 1350 to 1767 and is full of ruins from that time.... Instead of taking a bus, we decided to get there by train so we made our way to the train station, approached the teller and managed to get two tickets to Ayutthaya, in third class, for the price of 15 baht each... That's around AUD 0.50 each, we knew it was going to be cheap... but not this cheap! |
 No, not that City of Angels, we're in "Krung Thep" meaning "City of Angels" and better known as.... Bangkok! And this is just a shortened version of its official Thai name. If we were to translate it all we would end up with: "Great City of Angels, Repository of Divine Germs, Great Land Unconquerable, Grand and Prominent Realm, Royal and Delightful Capital City Full of Nine Noble Gems, Highest Royal Dwelling and Grand Palace, Divine Shelter and Living Place of Reincarnated Spirits". Quite a name for quite a city! |
 As we mentioned in our last blog we decided to do a short day trip to Slovenia and its capital, Ljubljana. Since we already had the train tickets we just showed up at the train station in Zagreb, grabbed a quick breakfast and then jumped on our train early to be able to get seats together. Luckily we managed to get two seats next to each other, in a cabin that we shared with another Australian couple. We started to chat with them and it turned out they were on their honeymoon and visiting a few European countries. Of course we had to start swapping a bit of information about this place, that hotel etc... |
September 17th 2007
 Arriving in Split was a bit of an anticlimax, we'd had so much fun on the islands in the adriatic sea! But, all good things come to an end... Since Alex and Laura were catching an overnight train to Zagreb that evening they were not going to be out looking for accomodation. Suz, Trina and I managed to find an older lady offering rooms. We followed her for about 10min and were actually shown the best room that we've had so far. Trina even had a TV in her room (but then again, the day we left she was forced to leave so that they could put two people in that room and get more money....not very nice!). Anyway, back to our day in Split.... |
September 16th 2007
 Arriving in Hvar, all of us still wanted to see if we could arrange accomodation together in the same house and decided to look for the people offering rooms. It seems that we didn't have to worry though, on every other port here in Croatia there has always been 3-4 different people offering us accomodation. Upon arrival in Hvar we were literally attacked by a dozen people who wanted us to stay at their place. The ongoing rate started a bit high but as soon as they found out that we were all together they started dropping their prices. At the end we just followed a man who had three rooms for us and at a decent price. |
 After a few days in Dubrovnik the time had come for us to move on, unfortunately that meant that we had to split up our group as well. Carl and Karine stayed in Dubrovnik and Sylvain just caught the catamaran with us to the island of Mjet for a day trip. So, it was just me..... and 4 girls, could be worse =) The 5 of us arrived on the island of Korĉula, Marco Polo's birthplace, and once more we were approached by several people that were offering rooms. We told them that we were looking for a place where we all could be together. An elderly man approached us and told us that he had three rooms for us... |
 We arrived in Bari around 8pm and had no real clue on where to move on from here. Luckily, we managed to spot a few other people walking around the train station with backpacks that looked just as lost as we were. We were not quite lost though, we knew that the dock was about 2km north, but at night you don't want to be lugging that much luggage. We checked with taxi drivers and they wanted 50€ to take us to the dock....yeah, right! So, Suz and I and three French-Canadians, Sylvain, Carl and Karine, managed to find a bus to take us to the dock. Here we managed to find out where to pick up our tickets and then we had about 3 hours to wait before we could board the boat. |
 While researching the different ways of getting to Positano we found out that most people recommended to take the train to Naples, change to the local train which takes you to Sorrento and the from there take the bus. This all sounded way too complicated, could this place really be worth all this hassle? Well, we decided to do it slighty different, we caught the train to Salerno and then the plan was to catch the boat to Positano. Unfortunately we found out in Salerno that they weren't running any boats since the ocean was too rough according to them..... we looked at the ocean and could barely see any ripples.... Italians! |
September 5th 2007
 Realizing that the Vatican is actually a sovereign state (it might be the worlds smallest one but it's still one) we figured that it deserved its own blog, so here we go! As we mentioned in our last blog, during one of our walks of Rome we ended up at the Vatican City. Originally the plan was to just stroll the area and its impressive square, the Piazza San Pietro! But after arriving and walking around on the square (which is magnificent by the way) we also noted that the queue to enter St Peter's Basilica was very short and jumped on it. We were not entirely sure if we would be allowed to enter since the top that Suz was wearing might be a bit too revealing (her shoulders were showing...) |
September 3rd 2007
 A classical saying is that all roads lead to Rome... and here we are! Suz has been to Rome before, but that was a good 8 years ago so she was looking forward to revisiting sites, and seeing new ones... I've never been here, so it was all definately new to me! We arrived by train to Rome Termini, I had heard and read that the area surrounding the train station was a bit "dodgy" with lots of pickpocketers and gypsies all over the place. Well... I saw a few gypsies here and there but nothing out of the ordinary really! We had booked accomodation at a place called "The Beehive", it's a hostel nicely located just two blocks away from the train station. |
 We left Florence and caught a train that took us to La Spezia, here we changed to a local train and 8 min later the train arrived at our destination, Riomaggiore. Riomaggiore is the first of five villages that make up the Cinque Terre, a Unesco World Heritage site, national park and a protected marine area. We had heard lots of good things about this area and had decided to check it out ourselves. When we started looking for accomodation here we knew that it was going to be difficult to find something to fit our budget, but we eventually stumbled upon A Casa Cinque Terre and they turned out to be magnificent! |
 After a few days in Venice it was now time to move on to our next stop in Italy, Florence. We caught the train from Venice and three hours later we arrived in Florence, the train was fast, comfortable and had power outlets where we could keep our computer connected while we were on the train... perfect to write blogs =) On arrival in Florence we walked the 5 min it took us to our hostel. We were staying at a place called "Locanda Starlight". And it was more a mix between pensione and hostel. It was a long corridor in an appartment that contained five rooms. |
 Leaving Amsterdam we flew with Lufthansa to Munich and then we were supposed to change to another plane which would take us to Venice. We were at the airport with plenty of time to spare (as always) but the plane was late and then it took forever before we took off. In Munich we were only supposed to have 40min before the next flight (yes, it's very tight but we didn't book this, we just booked a flight from Amsterdam to Venice with a change) so we were afraid that we would not make it. As it turns out, we made it just in time (had to do some running), the plane took off and we flew over the Alps while being served some nice wine, mortadella, cheese and biscotti (all of this on a one hour flight....take advice from the Italian Airlines). |
 The reason we visited Amsterdam was thanks to Zilia and Pär, when we were planning the trip they told us that they were going there just a few days after the wedding together with Kira and Freddy and asked us if we wanted to tag along. Sure, why not! As we mentioned in the last blog, Suz and I had to catch a flight at 7am so that meant a really early start to the day. On arrival in Schiphol we had to walk forever to get to the luggage pickup, it's a big airport. After a bit of confusion getting our luggage (they kept telling us to go to different carousels for collection) we eventually stepped out and grabbed the train into the city. |
August 21st 2007
 Suz and I arrived in Sweden and were picked up at the airport by my mum, who we had taken to the airport just three days before in Newark....what is it they say, what comes around goes around =) My mum took us to my sisters place where we got to say hi to Zilia, my brother and also to meet my nephew, Theo. He is now 11 months old and I haven't had the chance to see him before. So for quite a while Suz and I were playing with him, Suz even managed to teach him how to high-five =) Pär arrived a bit later and so did my cousin Sandra as well, she came to pick us up since we were going to stay at her place. |
August 18th 2007
 And so we have arrived once again in New Jersey to spend some time with family.... The flight over from Las Vegas was with US Airways and I think they have the number 1 spot on our "shitty airplane list". There isn't all that much to tell about our first few days, we spent some time with family as usual, this time we also met a few family members from my mums side of the family that were visiting for a few days. After about a week Aaron arrived down from Boston to stay the weekend and we decided that we had to go into the big city, New York, for a quick tour. He, as well as us, had already seen the major sights in the city, the tall buildings, some museums etc. But we were not going to do any of those... |
 Grand Canyon.... originally we planned to rent a car in Las Vegas, drive to the Grand Canyon and then spend a night or two at the South Rim. After calculating the costs for the rental, accomodation, food, petrol and the time it would take for a return trip from Vegas we opted for a day trip instead, and the one we found had it all, airplane, helicopter and some time at the rim itself....perfect!! And the best part of it all? It ended up being a bit cheaper to do this than the road trip would have been. The main reason that we chose this tour was the fact that it would take us all the way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon which is supposed to be a lot better than the West Rim which is not really part of the National Park but on a Native American reservation. |
 Our flight from Hawaii to mainland USA was ok but in no way good, we flew with United airlines again which I had swore to avoid like the plague. This airline doesn't serve food on their domestic flights (nevermind the fact that we are flying for 5 hours) and the only form of entertainment is a small TV in the top corner.... and the service, non-existent! In the future we will just have to make sure we fly anything but United (and this time I mean it!!). Anyway, after touching down in San Francisco, changed airplanes and flying for another hour, we reached Las Vegas. Our first impression? |
 Our decision for staying in Hawaii was done quite early on. Flying from Australia to the main land of the US takes around 14-15 hours, flying to Hawaii takes 9 hours.... and it's well worth a small stop! We flew with Air Canada (anything to avoid the US airlines) which turned out to be quite a nice airline with friendly people and movies on demand. On arrival 95% queued up on the "Foreigners" side of immigration where one person was working while the other 5% that went through the "US Citizen" side were served by 4 officers..... can someone explain the logic of that to us? |
 The time has arrived for us to travel on another round the world trip! Obviously the main reason for this trip is to be in Sweden for my sisters wedding, but since we are travelling that far we might as well do a few stops along the way and see a few new places. We organized this trip with the help of the program "Star Alliance Mileage Calculator", just as we did for our last trip. We originally had quite a few more stops planned on our trip but quickly realized that our trip was getting too rushed and that the taxes were getting way too high. So we cut out a few of the stops that we had planned and ended up with the following flights... |
 When Suz and I arrived in Auckland the original plan was to stay 1 maybe 2 months and then return to Sydney. But, we all know that it didn't quite turn out that way though, did it? =) 8 months later and the time came for us to leave the country, the only reason we stayed for so long was because we both managed to get good jobs so that we could support our stay in NZ and also save for the next trip. Since the last blog we haven't really done anything so there is not much to tell..... but we will try and make it worthwhile. When we came back in April from our trip to the South Island we both realized that we pretty much had seen all we wanted to see in New Zealand, sure we still haven'd done the Abel Tasman national park and Hawkes Bay but we had seen everything else that this country has to offer. |
 The time had come for us to leave Queenstown and make our way north to visit some glaciers! Since this was to be the longest drive of our whole trip, we decided to start really early, that way we would have plenty of time to make a few stops and not have to rush. We got out of bed early and then it was time for me to have one of those days.... It started in the kitchen while I was preparing my oats for breakfast, making them in the microwave I missjudged the time and ended up with oats all over the place.....so I had to start all over again. Not long after this while driving out of Queenstown we stopped to re-fuel the car and I end up with petrol all over my jacket, what a start to the day (I found out later that this was friday the 13th....figures!!). |
 Another early morning for us and we were ready to leave Dunedin. It's getting cold to get up in the mornings now, you can tell that winter is on its way (we even slept with the heater on the night before, that's a first for this autumn/winter). After getting lost in Dunedin (Again?!? The town is quite small, how do we succeed?) we eventually found the right highway and headed south towards "Invercargill". The weather was very pleasant to drive in, a few clouds here and there kept the sun out of our faces and very soon we made it to a small town called "Clinton". As we were driving through it we noticed a sign indicating how far it was to the next town "Gore", the sign also told us that this was the "Presidential Highway"....funny! |
 When we last left off we had just spent a few days in Wellington, and time had now come for us to make it over to the South Island!! After another early rise and some breakfast, we made it down to the harbour where we got on the Interislander Ferry. The trip between the north and south island lasted about 3 hours and during that time we just sat reading, napping and strolling around the ferry. Upon arrival to the south island we made our way to the top deck, from here we had quite a nice view of the sound as we travelled into Picton.... |
 The day had finally arrived, our trip down south! But first there were a few small things that we had to take care of, first of all the apartment, we realized that it would be better for us to leave the apartment and just get a new one once we returned (we were quite sick of it anyway). We now had to figure out what to bring on the trip and what to leave behind and also where to store our stuff. Luckily my mate Daren from work kindly helped us out (again!) by letting us store a bag (or three) at his place. |
 Our first intentions for this weekend was to make it all the way to the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, to Cape Reinga, we were going to see the 90 mile beach and all that comes with it. After a bit of reading we realized that this should only be done with a 4x4. That meant that we would have to be on a big bus with lots of other people, just to see a beach?!? We've seen a beach or two before so we decided not to stress and just relax during the weekend, and that's what we did..... |
 Tongariro Crossing is supposed to be one of New Zealands best one day hikes. We hadn't done any hiking together, before we arrived in NZ, but we decided that a day hike would be a good way to start. We had planned to do this hike (or tramp as they call it here in NZ) for quite some time now. We had purchased some good shoes for walking (which are going to be perfect for us when we travel as well), found some good rain coats that take no room in our bags and also an extra daypack since we only had one to start with. |
 About two hours away from Auckland you'll find the Coromandel Peninsula, we had been planning on going there for a while but hadn't gotten around to it since we usually go away for a whole weekend. Well, this time we finally made it! Our original plan was to rent a car for just a day but a friend from work heard about our plans and just let us borrow his car for the day (thanks Darren!). What we really wanted to see on this trip was the Hot Water Beach - this is a place where you'll find thermal waters just below the surface. You only need to dig down a little bit and you'll find it. |
 'So tell me again why you chose to drive down this road?', says Mike from the back of the car. We are driving along the "Forgotten World Highway", a road that not many people know about, not even the locals. It's a road that runs for 150km between the towns of Taumarunui and Stratford in the Taranaki region. The "highway" (not really a highway, only one lane in each direction) is listed as a Heritage Trail and we just thought it might be something different to try out. |
 Yup, that's the first question you might ask yourselves when you arrive in Rotorua, also known to some as "Fartopolis" and "Rottenrua" It has been given these lovely nicknames due to its rich scent of rotting egg-like odour which is sulphide gas, produced by the thermal activity....they also say that the smell is at its strongest when it's cold and rainy and the clouds are low.... We picked the right weekend to visit then, didn't we! But hey, the smell is just part of the fun here in Rotorua, that and loads of other things. |
 Well, another Christmas and New Years have come and passed, we haven't really done too much during the holidays but if you really must know, this is what we've been up to so far in Auckland. A few days before Christmas Eve Suz and I went walking, together with lots of other Aucklanders, up and down Frankling Road, which is famous for its Christmas decorations. We saw quite a few nicely decorated houses, saw people standing around in groups singing carols and also some people selling tacky Christmas decorations.....very festive indeed! |
 We've now been here in Auckland, New Zealand for a month and we're both doing good. We've found jobs and have just (this past weekend) moved to a much nicer apartment than the one we first stayed at. It didn't all start out that easily though....and we encountered our first problem at Sydney airport. Suz, being Australian, has no problems travelling and working in New Zealand, I on the other hand had to apply for a Working Holiday Visa before I was allowed to work over there. |
 Since Queensland doesn't use daylight savings time, people from New South Wales (and Victoria as well) say that when you cross the border you have to turn your clock back 1 hour + 10 years. People there are supposedly crazy. This has been one of the reasons that I've wanted to see Queensland for quite a while now. And on this trip we made it happen! Our plan was to drive along the coast road all the way up to Brisbane and on our way back home we would drive inland. That way I would get to see as much as possible during our trip. Since this is such a long drive (Brisbane is around 1000km north of Sydney) we borrowed Suz's mothers car. It's a bit bigger than ours, is an automatic and the most important feature.....it has cruise control. |
 To celebrate out one year anniversary we decided to have a weekend away, and what better place than the Hunter Valley! I had never been there before (well, I had actually never been north of Sydney before to be honest) and Suz had only been there once so it seemed like a good idea to explore the area. After looking for accommodation online we realized that most of the resorts make you book both nights during the weekend and it's also quite expensive. We ended up booking accommodation for only one night, a Sunday night. Suz had to take the next day off from work but it wasn't really a problem. |
 We've now been back in Sydney for a while....in Suz's case a little more than a while. She came back to Sydney in early August and within a week, managed to score herself a three month temping contract with a facililities management company - the pay is quite good, considering she now has to support the both of us for the next few months. As I'm in the country on a Tourist Visa, I'm unable to work.... so since I arrived in the beginning of September, I've been living the life of a kept man!!!! |
 California.....I've been to the US quite a few times but I've never managed to make it over to the west coast before, until now! My last day in New Jersey I had planned to do some packing and just spend time with family. Since my plane would be leaving the very next morning at 6.45am I decided to skip sleep and just stay up all night instead of having to get up at 3-4am to get to the airport. To make it easier for me to stay up all night I stayed up until 5am the previous night and was planning to sleep through most of the day. Well, it was a good plan but at 8.30am the phone rang! |
 Well, well, this time I really have an interesting story to tell you all!! But first, some background information. So, Suz left to go home to Sydney about 2 weeks before all of this happened. I dropped her off at Newark Airport (at 4am) and there we noticed that her flight to San Francisco had been cancelled.....great, another star for United. Everything got sorted out though, they managed to put her on the LA flight that was leaving just 30min later than her original plane. There she barely had time to jump on her next flight to take her to San Francisco. Now that she had landed in SF she had a few hours to spare and went strolling into the city. |
 Back in New York again for a few more days and a few more sights..... We started this time in the Greenwich Village, where we quite soon found the building that's used in the show "Friends". Soon afterwards we found the "Magnolia Bakery", from "Sex and the City" (yes, we are doing Suz's TV sightseeing tour), where we had some great cupcakes. From here we made our way across Manhattan to the East Village, passing St. Mark's Place on our way where we tried to find a "Vote for Pedro" t-shirt....unfortunately we couldn't find one in the right size (they are just too damn popular). |
 As most of you know (at least you should know if you've been following the blog) we almost made it to Washington DC when we arrived into the states but ended up with just a really bad experiance at Dulles Airport. This time we just took the train, Amtrak....not only is it faster than flying (takes 3 hours from Newark to Union Station in Washington) but there are no complications either. Well....we almost had a small one just when we got on the train in Newark. My brother Denis, Suz and I stepped on the train, we didn't have reserved seats, and saw that there weren't any empty seats. All of them had 1 or 2 people sitting in them. |
 New York, New York, here we are..... Our first stop in the city was Brooklyn. We went to visit my cousin Veronica and she showed us around Brooklyn by night and day. It was lots of fun and interesting as well. Suz had never been to New York before and I've only scratched the surface of Brooklyn previously. We walked around for a while in Brooklyn Hights, just looking at the buildnings, some of them are really nice! We also spent a great deal of time walking in Prospect park, which is different from most parks I've visited in Manhattan. |
 We've now been here in New Jersey for while, relaxing, laying by the pool, eating lots and lots of good food and haven't bothered about updating the blog for a while. So we figured that it was about time we posted something at last... Well, the first night we arrived, there was a big family dinner at my Grandma's place and Suz got to meet almost everyone from my side of the family that very night (good thing we didn't arrive from Europe that day, no jetlag to complain about)!! It was lots of fun and they all liked Suz (I knew they would) and she liked them all as well. |
 So it was now time for us to visit Canada, getting to the airport in Boston was fairly simple, we just caught the subway all the way. Once there, we checked in (no queues as we flew with AirCanada but we could see the United desks next to ours...... long lines there) made our way to the gate and left. The flight was short and soon enough we were flying over Montreal. While descending we got some really good views over the Olympic Park, the downtown area and Mount Royal. |
June 27rd 2006
 Right...so when we left you last time we had flown into the Washington DC in style, Business Class and all. Well, our feelings turned sour quite quickly.... As we mentioned we decided not to cash in the vouchers we were given in Copenhagen on advice from the staff there. They told us we should wait and cash it in and get US Dollars straight away instead of having to go through the procedure of changing from the Danish Krona to Dollars. Well, as soon as we landed we found a ticket office for Scandinavian Airlines and told them we wanted some money!! |
 Well, let me tell you the full story.... Since we once again had to be at the airport for a 9am flight, our day started early (why, why did we book all these early flights). Luckily we were kindly dropped off that morning at the airport in Arlanda (Stockholm) by tio Clifton. We were to catch a plane to Washington DC and change planes in Copenhagen. We discovered on arrival at Arlanda airport that the plane from Copenhagen was almost full, and that we were not seated next to each other. The lady at the counter told us to enquire about getting this rectified once we were in Copenhagen. |
June 23rd 2006
 So, we have now reached the end of our stay in Uppsala...we've been here for over three weeks and we're so settled in that it almost feels like we're leaving home. We're just about to hit the road again (well....airport at least) and do some more travelling. But before we get to that, what have we been up to here in Uppsala?? Well.....to be totally honest, not much! Most of the time here we've spent with either my family and friends and just catching up on old times. But we'll try and give you san idea of what we've done so far.... |
 After spending a few days in Sweden at my sister's and her fiancé's (Zilia and Pär) appartment relaxing, sleeping, and eating Havre Fras (it's a cereal....and Suz's new favourite Swedish word to say!!!) we decided it was time to visit Stockholm, and what better time to go than on Sweden's National Day. We made breakfast and brought it with us on the train ride to Stockholm (the train is only 40min but we saved some time this way and it meant an extra half hour in bed!!!). Once in the city we walked into "Gamla Stan" (Old Town) making sure to stay on the sunny side all the time since it was really cold. |
 After 3 days in Lisbon the time to explore other parts of Portugal had now arrived! We woke up early, both of us looking forward to hitting the road. Our plan was to get to the airport where we would pick up a car from any of the car rental firms available. The main reason that we wanted to pick up the car in the airport was that it would save us from trying to drive through the narrow and steep streets of Lisbon. However, when we checked out of our Pension and the guy behind the desk found out about our plans he suggested that we rent a car through them. |
May 30th 2006
 After spending 5 days in rainy London we needed some sun.....and we got it, in Portugal.... but before we start with this blog maybe we should clarify that I'm back at the helm....(yup James, it's me Amaru writing again...) Anyways....since we seem to have booked all our flights early in the mornings it means that we have to get up really early every single time....and this time was no exception. Sue kindly offered to drive us to the airport on her way to work, and we really appreciated that (thanks again Sue =))) It's hard to find public transport at that time in the morning. |
 Well, finally we reached London, it feels like it was a week ago that we left Kuala Lumpur and both of us were exhausted to say the least.... OK, so this blog is written by me, Suz, instead of Amaru (so I appologise in advance if it is not as witty or "in-depth" as he would make it). The plane from Vienna to London finally touched town at Heathrow, after having to circle the city for around 30mins in a holding pattern. It was great actually, we'd never been that close to the city from the air - and being night time, we were able to make out quite clearly several landmarks including Piccadilly circus, the London Eye, Tower Bridge etc.... Spectacular. |
May 22nd 2006
 Europe, we are finally here..... The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Vienna took us around 11 hours, but it didn't feel that long. Since this flight also had an in-flight entertainment system (though not on demand as Singapore Airlines had) with lots of movies, we managed to kill time efficiently. About 40 min after take-off they served us food, which you might think a bit odd considering the time was around 1am, but hey....if they serve it, we'll eat it =) |
May 18th 2006
 The flight to Kuala Lumpur went without a problem, it took us around 50min. Once we landed we got our luggage quickly and caught the shuttle bus in to the city. On the bus they were showing a movie (it takes around 60-90min from the airport to the city), MI3, what a coincidence, we just saw that movie about a week ago at the cinemas in Penang. Obviously a pirated copy, which we could definately tell when the guy recording the movie accidently dropped the camera....weird. |
May 17th 2006
 So after our stay in Penang we decided that we needed a holiday, so we purchased a combined bus and boat ticket to the Perhentian Islands on the other side of the country. The only reason for purchasing bus tickets was that there were no direct flights to our destination. Ah well, the bus departed at 9pm and would arrive at 5am the next morning, before boarding a boat over to the islands. Just before we got on the bus we remembered that we had read somewhere that there aren't any ATM's on the islands, so we made a quick dash over to one and withdrew some cash. |
 Ok, so we are now in Malaysia, or to be more precise, in Georgetown, Penang.....we've been here for about three days now and actually haven't seen a lot yet. Why you may wonder, well, let's just start from the beginning shall we.... First of all, we forgot to mention that when we were walking the streets of Patong people kept asking me if we were from Australia (and this is before Suz had said anything). I dunno, do I look Aussie now? We thought it was a lot of fun and to be honest, down here where there are so many signs in swedish I rather be taken for an Australian than a Swede. |
 So the minibus to Koh Lanta...what can we say about that? Well, it took us around 5-6 hours from the moment we stepped on the minibus in Khao Lak until we stepped off at Koh Lanta. The minibus was on time and picked us up at Poseidon Bungalows at 8.00am as promised. We then made our way into Khao Lak and picked up another couple that also were going in that direction. So now, off to Lanta we thought.....which is to the south. Imagine our surprise when we found ourselves in Khao Sok National Park (again) which is to the north. It turned out that the driver was picking up another 4 people here as well. |
 After some hectic days on the boat, doing lots of swimming, snorkeling, diving....and of course drinking (come on people.... it's a stafftrip =))) we needed some peace and quiet, and what better place than in the middle of a National Park. We set off early in the morning, Suz and I, Olof and his girlfriend, Michael, Marcus and Maria.....we lost two from the boattrip, they had to work (suckers...). The trip took around 2½ hours in the car and then we got off at the dam where a longtail boat ride waited for us. After another 30-40min we finally reached the place......or so we thought. |
 Alright....so we haven't really had the time to write until now, sorry for the delay, but we've been busy busy. When we left you guys last time we were just about to leave Singapore. Everything went without a hitch, we got a taxi around 5.30am and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare before the flight. I started to feel a bit sneazy.... always happens when I spend time in a really hot place and the aircon is freezing, so I got myself a nice chicken noodle soup for breakfast..... yum!! We later found a place that had free Internet and also X-box games for anyone that wanted to play. |
 Alright....so last time we left off at Chinatown and the fact that the rain kept us from doing anything else that day. But the rain cleared up later on and in the afternoon we just took a casual stroll through Orchard Road. This is the heart of the shopping in Singapore, there are some massive shopping centers here and you can find pretty much anything you want (non piracy of course, we'll save those goods for Thailand). We walked into one of the food courts and ordered in some satay sticks for all of us, chicken, pork and lamb....mmmmmm. |
April 17th 2006
 Our trip started EARLY, we had to get up at 4.30am, get dressed and off we went to the airport. We both felt like walking zombies but after having a cup of coffee before boarding the flight we started to feel human again. This first leg of our trip we flew with Singapore Airlines and it was as good as we've heard. The flight was 7 and a bit hours but it felt way shorter than that. Both Suzie and I are used to travelling alone so the fact that we now had someone to spend the time with really made a difference (and of course the inflight entertainment also helped.....that is the movies on Demand, don't think of anything else ;)) |
 It's getting close now, less than two weeks before we leave on our around the world trip. Have purchased Tickets and travel insurance. We used the program "Star Alliance Mileage Calculator" to calculate our milage and it worked perfectly. Created our itinerary, went to the travel agent and he used the exact times and dates to almost all of the flights..... |
 Since I've met Suz we've talked about lots of different things, one of them is where the whitest sand beach might be! I've always told her that it has to be one of the beaches I saw in Thailand, on the Similan Islands, and she tells me that she thinks it's down in Jervis Bay. Well, let's go and have a look! We took off from Sydney and headed south (Jervis Bay is around 3 hours south of Sydney), we pulled over at Berry on our way down and had a look at a very cool sign post with directions to many different places....and a weird building covered with hub caps, odd to say the least! |
 Cricket, before arriving in Australia I knew of Cricket, but had absolutely no idea on how the sport was played. I had seen it on a few occasions before, not a full game mind you, just a few minutes here and there while it was being shown on the TV at Pubs and in B&B's all across Ireland (they were shown on a Brittish TV channel of course). Everytime that I saw glimpses of it I tried to understand some part of it, but eventually got bored and resumed doing some other more interesting things....(like finding out what was on the bottom of my beer glass). |
 The time to visit Australia's Capital City had now arrived....although I wouldn't really call it a city, it's more like a town. And a small town at that! Canberra was built in between Sydney and Melbourne in 1913 and its design was the result of a competition. The winning entry happened to be a very symmetric one in many ways. The first thing that strikes you though isn't that but the fact that the whole town feels like a big park. There are trees and big lawns everywhere... Not really a bad thing, but it just leaves so much empty space. |
 January in Sydney is very hot so to get away to a cooler area we decided to head to the Blue Mountains. But before going there we continued on towards the Jenolan Caves, the best known limestone caves in Australia. They are located approx 175km west of Sydney, and the last part of the road is very, very interesting due to the fact that it's very narrow and there's a huge drop on the side of the road. |
 I've been here in Australia for about 7 months now and haven't really ventured that far outside of Sydney yet. We decided to change that so Suz and I booked a long weekend down to Melbourne as an early X-mas present to ourselves. The flight there took around one hour or so. We flew with Virgin Blue where the flight personel were joking around a bit with all the passengers....very different to other airlines I've flown with, and it's good to see that they don't take themselves too seriously. |