Well when we finally dried out from the Phnom Penh adventure it was time for us to head north to Siem Reap and the Temples at Angkor. We travelled by bus, and had a delightful lunch stop at a little village where they had some rather charming delicacies on offer including frog (whole) and deep fried tarantula. Yes, you heard - tarantula. Not only were there women walking around with trays full of crunchy looking spider crisps, but one woman was strolling about nonchalantly with a live spider on her shirt, occasionally stroking it as she went about her spider selling business. Did we try one, I hear you ask? Hell no! I'm all for trying out the local cuisine but the though of biting into one of the chubby little hairy legs didn't really appeal - we stuck to the safer and less repulsive option of a salad baguette A chap on our bus did buy a rather large bag of them although sadly we didn't see him tucking in to them. That was pretty much the highlight of a relatively uneventful trip, and about an hour ahead of schedule (unheard of!) we arrived at our destination.

Siem Reap is a pretty little town, that seems to exist entirely to service Angkor - it is thus full of 5* resort hotels and some rather lovely restaurants. We had a day to relax and get our bearings before being collected at 5am by Lee, our tuk tuk driver for our first view of the temples and a spot of sunrise. On the first day we visited 13 temples, including Prah Prohm - otherwise universally know, it would seem, as "The Tombraider Temple". Haven't seen the film myself, but we overheard many a tour guide explaining the scene in detail to people...something to do with tigers apparently!

The following two days followed a similar format - up at 5 for sunrise, a good 7 hours of templing, back to town for lunch and a rest then back to the temples for sunset. The three days were exhausting, most of the temples are in a pretty bad state of disrepair, and there are lots of very steep flights of steps to scramble up and down (not easy in flip flops, I can tell you!) - but it was an amazing experience. Words can't really do it justice, all I can do is pop some pictures on Facebook and encourage you all to go and see for yourself!

After our three days it was time to return to Bangkok - yet another terrifying twin prop plane (Siem Reap Air...would you trust an airline from a place with a population a fraction of the size of Reading? Think Air Wokingham!) but we made it back safely in the knowledge that our next plane would be something of the sturdier variety, and not with an airline that's not allowed to fly over Europe due to it's poor safety record as is the case with many of the SE Asian airlines! We had a pretty quiet few days of winding down and getting ready to head home, including a bit of shopping, a trip to the Grand Palace and the Khao San Road to see how the backpackers actually live and a visit to the most amazing cinema EVER! The room had no more than about 30 seats, and each of them had individual controls to allow you to completely recline, they gave you a blanket in case the air conditioning was too chilly and they even brought us beer which we stowed on our rather handy side tables. Awesome. We discovered just how patriotic the Thai folk are when just before the film commenced we were treated to the national anthem (everyone stands up at this point) which was accompanied by what can only be described as a music video with "We love the King" tag lines and lots of footage of him giving money to the poor and generally being an all round good egg. Can you imagine that in the UK?!

So before we knew it, we were sitting at Bangkok airport waiting for our 12.45am plane back to the UK. Four months, 10 countries, and more amazing people, incredible sights, stunning scenery and good times than you can shake a sizeable stick at. We hope you've enjoyed the blog, although it's occasionally been a bit of a pain finding internet access good enough to write it, it's been a good way to recall all our favourite moments and reassure people that we're not lost in the big wide world somewhere

That's all from us, hope to catch up with you all soon!
Over and out,
Sue & Chris xxx

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We've had some rainy days while we've been here; apparently it's what it does and you get used to it. However, the day before we were set to leave for Siem Reap the rain had something else in mind.

Having set out to check email early doors the heavens quickly opened. After 20 mins or so it was coming down thicker and faster so safety was sought in a local restaurant. Usually, monsoon rain lasts for a couple of hours and has dried up in no time, leaving little trace that it was ever there, and that was what we expected to happen. An hour later, however, and the water had covered the road, overflowed onto the pavement and before much longer it was lapping at the doorway of the restaurant. At this point, we were still confident that it would stop raining and drain away pretty soon so we thought we'd sit it out and have some dinner. Slight problem though, no money! We'd only planned to be out for a short while and having read the many warnings about how many muggings apparently happen in Phnom Penh we'd left most of our cash back at the hotel. Being the gentlemen that I am I volunteered to go and get the cash from the hotel...if only I'd known what I was letting myself in for! I took a deep breath, tried hard not to think about the dead rat we'd seen on the pavement on our way to the restaurant, and waded in. After only a few steps out of the restaurant the water was ankle deep. Before long the water was up to my knees, then to my thighs (forcing me to sexily pull my shorts right up and dazzle the local population with a whiteness they've never seen before!). In addition to this things kept hitting my legs, and with no idea what they were an inner monologue occured:

"What was that?"
"A leaf"
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, can't you tell by the way it wraps around your leg??"
"Hmmmmm.....OK something hard just hit me"
"That was just one of them hard leaves"
"Hard leaves?? You're trying to tell me that....wait, that was definately furry!"
"A furry leaf I think you'll find"
"A furry leaf?!?"
"Oh sure, it's good luck being hit by the Cambodian furry leaf"
"A Cambodian furry leaf, you've got to be kidding...bloody hell that was a door!"
"You got me, that was actually a door"

And so this continued all the way to and from the hotel. On the way back I had possibly one of my favourite moments from our time away. As I waded through the hard, furry leaves I noticed a half sunken Tuk Tuk. I stood for moment and was saddened by it's half sunken predicament. While standing there, brolly in one hand, a set of flip flops in the other (I had to leave my shoes at the restaurant ) I heard a distant and hopeful "Tuk Tuk?". Looking up I saw a smiley man, the obvious owner of said sunken Tuk Tuk, looking at me with a cheeky grin. We both contemplated for a few moments before deciding that I was possibly best left to wade the streets myself.

2 hours (and a rather lovely meal) later we were very kindly driven to higher ground by the staff at the restaurant who managed to get an impressive number of people and a mopeds onto a pick up truck and made our way back to our hotel where we sat and watched people optimistically riding mopeds through tidal waves from our balcony. Impressively, the following morning all was (relatively) dry.

Sue will be with you soon to update you on our movements since the great flood!
Much love

Chris

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Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, Southern Laos and Cambodia don't exactly have the best internet access in the world! So yep, you guessed it, we're in Cambodia. Let me tell you how we got here

So after Luang Prabang we decided to head south to the captial Vientiane and see what it had to offer. This involved a supposed 6 hour bus journey, but nothing is as it seems in South East Asia! The drive out of Luang Prabang is weavy to say the least. You twist and turn all the way up the hills...and then you twist and turn all the way back down them again (anyone that could introduce the concept of tunnels of bridges here would make a killing!). The bus tips at angles you wish it wouldn't tip at, over crevices you wish you hadn't seen, past landslides over the road and made out of the road, and from the lush tarmac to the pot-holed wastelands. We arrived safe though, if not 4 hours later then expected

Vientiane is a nice place, but it's population is smaller then Reading so as you can imagne there's not a great deal to do there! We visited the main Wat (Buddhist home), saw their fake Arc De Triumph, and visited the COPE museum which is dedicated to helping the victims of the bombs that America dropped during the Vietnam conflict (amazing and just horrible at the same time. Hard to believe that a country that wasn't really involved got hit so hard!). While we were in Vientiane the Mekong was looking to burst it's banks too so there were sandbags everywhere and a lot of activity down by the riverside. We think it finally burst a day or so after we left which was nice of it

So after Vientiane we headed for Cambodia and the capital Phnom Penh. Cambodia is a hell of a lot different to Laos, and we'd heard mixed reports about how safe the capital was so we were a little apprehensive to say the least. We booked ourselves into a little guesthouse (one we later found out had been frequented by Elton John (they had a signed piccie and everything!)), and the owner (who looked and spoke a lot like Jimmy Wah from 'Good Morning Vietnam') and his family turned out to be the most helpful people we've met so far! Phnom Penh is a bit grubby though, with lots of rubbish on the streets and more poverty then we'd seen in a while, but if you cut through it all it has some nice places to visit. We saw the National Museum (a stunning building built in traditional Wat styles) on the first day, and then went to the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) in the evening where we counted 16+ geckos crawling on the walls and ceilings much to Sue's delight.

The following day we hired a driver and set about seeing some of the sites of the city. Naturally first up was a shooting range (a lotttttt of guns in Cambodia). Sue and I choose an AK47 and the M1 to shoot, and let me tell you, it was so much fun! We got two targets and had go's using the single shot and then automatic function (the latter knocks you back of your feet!). We did pretty well when using single shot, but the backside of a barn would have been safe as houses when we were using the automatic!

After this we headed to the Killing Fields where we would be presented with the horrific sight of 8000+ skulls and over 120 mass graves the Khmer Rouge left during their reign of terror and madness. It's a pretty sobering sight seeing these skulls and reading all about what happened there, but it's nice to see that something is being done to lay these people to rest. After that we headed to S21, a former school turned into a prison and torture camp. This was even worse as you got to see the conditions of the prisoners (cells no bigger then a single bed, chained up all day and only let out to be tortured etc) and read real stories about many of the people involved. Something I'd recommend seeing but not something I'd like to go back to.

In the afternoon we went to the Russian Markets (crazy local markets selling all kinds of weird and wonderful things) and then the Royal Palace (a stunning place that houses, amongst other things, a full emerald Buddha and a room with a solid silver floor!). In the evening we went to a local restaurant called 'Friends'. Awesome little place which takes former street kids and trains them to be chefs etc. Its a not-for-profit organisation that ploughs all the money back into helping the kids, and god knows they need it!

Right, waffed on enough here. Not actually up to speed with where we currently are but can't keep on at you

Hope all is well where you all.

Sharm and Sue

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When we finally managed to leave we headed to Krabi where we spent a night before the long trip up to Bangkok. That trip, it has to be said, left us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouth and a rather poor opinion of the Thais and their attitude towards tourists. We paid for an air conditioned bus to take us from Krabi to Surat Thani, which is where the train to Bangkok goes from. The first observation upon getting on the bus, was that I've felt stronger, colder air on my face from passing butterflies than was being achieved by the so called air conditioning. Hmm...it was clearly going to be a warm trip. As we sat waiting for the off, the driver started bringing luggage on to the bus - it seems the luggage hold could only take about 4 cases, and any surpluss was to spend the journey in the aisle of the bus, piled up 2 cases high and from back to front. Heaven help anyone who might need to exit the bus at any point! As we were sitting towards the back we were starting to feel a little hemmed in, but at the one toilet break we were afforded (10 baht to wee in a hole in the ground - happy days) I managed to run the gauntlet of luggage, and even exacted some accidental revenge by breaking one of the arm rests...oops!

We finally stopped in what we assumed to be Surat Thani. Where we actually stopped was down some random back street outside the driver's mate's restaurant, where they proceeded to not know what was going on for long enough for everyone to buy food and drinks, at which point they started sorting out who was going where. Four of us had paid to go to the train station, but the chap who appeared to be in charge told us that only two people had paid to go, and that there would be a charge for the other two. Our polite pointing out that the 4 of us had all paid the same only lead to him saying "ok, you have paid, they have to pay" to the people who argued the loudest at any given time. Luckily the four of us clubbed together and shared the additional cost, but by the time we had been put on a public bus (think 50 people per square metre with windows open in a thunder storm travelling at an average speed of 8 miles per hour) and finally made it to the station our tempers were more than a little freyed! Add to that the joy that as it's off season they don't bother putting sleeper carriages onto the overnight trains and by the time we rocked into Bangkok sleepless and achey we were quite the picture to behold!

Putting that behind us, we found ourselves a hotel in an area called Sukumvit, which is nice and central, but some of which houses one of the red light districts. It was fascinating to watch, it has to be said - all the bars had beautiful Thai women hanging out in packs catering to the mostly overweight, mostly aging, entirely white male population of the area. At one point I was on the phone to my Mum and when asked what the area I was staying in was like, I was able to describe the scene as "well, there's an elephant walking down the road, and a Thai midget dressed as a Leprauchaun standing outside the (omnipresent!) Finnegan's Irish bar across from my phonebox" Bangkok is not for the faint hearted!

We had a fun couple of days checking out markets and designer malls, and taking in a more-expensive-for-two-drinks-than-our-night's-accommodation beverage at the Moon Bar - 61 floors up and completely open air bar and restaurant...again, not for the faint hearted but the views are stunning!

From Bangkok we flew to Laos. Our original plan had been to land travel, but the amount of time it would take would limit what we could see on arrival so we got ourselves some cheap flights to Luang Prabang. The bus journey from terminal to plane quickly showed us why it as so cheap. "Oh look," I said to Sharm "There's a funny little twin propeller plane over there!"...moments later it became worryingly clear we were aiming for it! Us and the other few white folk on the plane all began to look terrified...the plane was so small, it only had about 5 steps up to it, and two rows of two seats inside. The seatbelts looked like they may have come down the mountain with Moses, and in the absence of those new fandangled "lifejackets" one was encouraged, in the event of a landing on water, to pick up the base of one's seat and hold on to it. Reassuring!

Amazingly, we made it in one piece, and are now in beautiful, relaxing, friendly Luang Prabang. A former French colony, there is still a strong Gallic influence with baguettes for breakfast, some stunning architecture and coffee that is marginally more bearable than in the rest of Asia. Ooh, and you can get a decent drop of wine here too. The Laos people are incredibly friendly (to give you an example - there is free internet at the hotel we are staying at, and when I gave up my terminal for someone they hurridly ushered me over to the computer behind reception so that I could continue this post!) and a welcome antidote to our disappointment with some of the Thais. We have mostly been relaxing and exploring, but today went on a day long cookery course which was so much fun - genuine Laos food is on us when we get back! This evening we had an amazing thunderstorm and powercut (Candlelit Luang Prabang is even prettier!) and tomorrow we're off on an elephant trek and swimming in waterfalls. And did I mention that a 640ml bottle of Beer Lao is about 50p? Can't complain!

Right, that's quite enough from me, apoloies for the length of the post!

Love to one and all,
Sue xx

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So where have we been since our queueing expedition? Well not far it has to be said, but the heat here will kind of do that to you! We took a few days in KL to check out some of the sites which were just fantastic. Less humid then Singapore, but no less hot, KL is a city covered in greenary that helps break the place up. We were staying just off the chinese market; a place which is a hub of activity from 9 in the morning till midnight. We just loved the fact that when the guys at the food stalls had enough they simply folded down their blinds, kick started their bikes, and rode down the street

We caught an overnight train up Malaysia aiming for the Perhenthian Islands on the east coast. Satisfied in the knowledge that we'd combined our travel with accommodation we settled in for the night and awoke the next day shortly before being kicked off the train where we'd grab a taxi to Kuala Besut; the port town where we'd get our boat. A 2 hour taxi ride cost Sue and I about 5 pounds, and the guy kept running commentary of where we were

I have to say that the Malaysians are so laid back. Nothing really runs to any kind of time other then when people can actually be bothered to do it. A little frustrating at first but you get used to it. What I struggled to get used to is that beer is limited due to it being a Muslim country! Oh well, a few days break never harmed anyone

We got a boat to the little island of Kecil and stayed on a place called Coral Bay. The island was so good, with limited people due to the low season, clear water, and plenty of places to eat and drink. The first night we spent chilling out after the travelling (hard life you know!), and the following day we went a sun worshipping. Being the typical Brit that I am am (drilled home further by my recently shaved head...I fought the mullet and the mullet won!) I got nicely burnt and have spent the remaining days dazzling people with my bright red torso The final day we went snorkeling which was amazing! We saw so many fish (so good were we at the identifying that we chose to ignore their actual names and instead were shouting things like "Did you see the one with the flappy tail and orange head" at each other ).

Sadly it was our time to go and we headed back to the mainland and then to the Thai border. We managed to get ourselves a taxi for out 80 ringetts (about 12 pound) for a 200 km journey, and found a man that had 101 uses for his tissue (wiping his head, his nose, his windscreen, his wing mirrors, passers by...etc). Crossing the border was nice and easy and we headed to the train station to continue to a little place called Trang where we would set up camp. We managed to get most of the way but had to swap to minivan in Hat Yai. Luckily we met a Canadian guy that comes to Thailand every year and he helped us get a good deal (he couldn't however get us out of the 20 baht round-the-block-trip we experienced from the station!). Minivans are a new thing to us, but not that bad if you know what to expect and how to deal with the people that run them. On the way to Trang train station they tried to convince us that a cafe was the train station, then that a bus station was the train station, then (my personal favourite) that a Tuk-Tuk was the train station

After Trang we headed for a little island called Ko Lanta on the east coast and haven't been dissapointed at all! I'll let Sue carry it on from here as I feel like I've been waffling!

Hope all is well back home.
Sharm

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The activity in question is not so much a pass time as an institution. An art, if you will. It is the mighty art of queueing. Let me explain. Having seen Entrapment, we thought we should probably visit the skybridge at the Petronas Towers in KL (If you don't know what I mean - Petronas Towers = huge twin towers in KL, formerly world's tallest building, currently world's tallest twin towers. Two towers, connected half way up by a bridge...not one for those with issues being up high!). We went along one day to pick up our free tickets and were told to return the next morning at 8.30 as they had an allocation and they ran out pretty quickly. We were advised to turn up around 8 for an 8.30 opening so landed at about ten to and were greeted with what looked at first glance like a complete melee of people. But no...this was not chaos, this was an area about the size of a badminton court with a queue of people snaking up and down in a neat, organised mannor. Those at the front looked like they'd been there for some time - picture the footage you see of queues at Wimbledon, or for major launches of computer hardware. This was all impressive enough but the icing on the cake came when we noticed the guards. Yes, they had about 10 people marshelling the queue, and when the office opened at 8.30 they barracaded the entrance to the queue to prevent people jumping in, and from that point on would only let one representative of each group join the queue and they were escorted by a guard to the back to ensure no pushing in type shennanigans! Marvellous. A wonder to behold! Especially as the rest of queueing in Asia consists of people standing at the front ignoring any gathering of people who may have been waiting for the same service. In fact just yesterday Sharm was hassled away from a train ticket counter by a chap who came up beside him and actually stuck his head between Sharm's and the plexiglass in order to usurp him in the queue

I thought I'd share that with you all, and Sharm will return soon with an actual update of our activities!
To all in the UK - you'll be delighted to hear that it rained yesterday here and is cloudy today. It's still about 30 degrees, but at least we're not geting tans

Love to all!
Sue xx

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I believe in past times we may have rashly made comments about wanting to be hot again...having arrived to 31 degree heat and 85% humidity I'd like to take a moment to remind people to be careful what they wish for!

More about that later. Sharm last blogged as we were about to head to Sydney and do so we did...flying into the middle of World Youth Day which, for the uninitiated, is a global gathering of Catholic teenagers with a guest appearance by Old Red Socks himself (although I'm not sure if the red socks thing was a specific Pope or is a general Pope prerequisit...answers on a postcard please!). The streets of Sydney were heaving with matching hat wearing pilgrims and the locals didn't seem too impressed - quite the spectacle to behold!

Anyhoo, whilst in Sydney we managed to catch up with Jen (Lilley) and Suze (Dansey) who send big hellos back to all who know them. It was quite surreal going out for a few beverages with people you associate with being out for beverages in Reading...disorientating but fun! We also went fishing in Manly very unsuccessfully, did some general loafing about and had a lovely relaxing time.

Come departure time we had our first travel hiccough - a delightful 16 hour delay on our flight that we only found out about when we got to the airport Got put up in a local hotel, and fed dinner and brekkie before being put on a massive plane with only 26 people in economy which was cool....until they couldn't get the in-flight entertainment working for the first 7 hours of the 8 hours flight. Ah well!

So we're now in Singapore - humid, busy, shopping obsessed Singapore! Great place, lovely people but not as cheap as we hope the rest of Asia is! There are a few random sights to behold - we saw a dog wearing a nappy earlier today which I'm not too sure how to deal with - genius or a bit odd?! Went for the obligatory Singapore Sling in Raffles which is the only place in Singapore where there isn't a $200 fine attached to littering and you are encouraged to throw your peanut shells on the floor for some reason...random! Nice cocktail, although had a distinct mass-produced feeling to it as it appeared about 30 seconds after we ordered it but it was fun to experience how the other half live for an hour or so

We also visited Sentosa, a little island off the south of Singapore which is where someone has decided that the people of Singapore need somewhere to sunbathe and play beach volleyball so have created a huge man made beach. Palm trees, coconuts, clean sand...and a slightly dubious view into the South China sea which is full of oil tankers and off shore oil storgage platforms and the like - it's all a little surreal!

All in all though, it's a very civilised place (yet another tube network that makes London's look a tad antiquated - paperless ticketing, aircon throughout, clean enough that you could eat your dinner off the floor if it wasn't illegal to eat on it) and it'll be interesting to see what the rest of Asia is like which we shall start oing in a few hours when we get on a train to Kuala Lumpur.

Unlike NZ t'interweb here is either free or cheap, and there are internet cafes everywhere so we should be better with our blogging again...be prepared to be bored

Hope all is well in whatever part of the world you're reading this from!

Sue xxx

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Sorry for it being a while since we last posted something, we've been doing a lot and finding it hard to get decent internet access that's not a complete rip-off!

So when Sue last posted we were in Franz Joseph having climbed the glacier and were about to set off to head to Wanaka and check out if there was any snowboarding afoot. We woke in the morning to find that overnight it had snowed and our journey through the winding roads of the west coast were both picturesque and a little bit scarey at times. On the road to Wanaka you enter Mt Aspiring National Park which is just beautiful, with huge mountains and dense forest all bathed in lovely blue sky and sunshine. Arriving in Wanaka we found that there had been little snow so no snowbaording, just a lovely small town filled with skiers and boaders enjoying some apres-ski (or apres-sitting around waiting for snow). We only stayed a night and instead decided to push on to Queenstown where we would stay a few nights and see what was to be had.

Quuenstown is a great place. It's a small-ish city that seems to serve the needs of the snow and adrenaline seeking masses quite well. Again there was little snow but there was a lot more to do during the day then Wanaka. It was here that Sue and I decided we should embark on the leisurely pusuit of a bunjy jump We chose the one in town called 'The Ledge'. It's a 47m high jump from a platform that overlooks Queenstown. The view is stunning, once you've got over looking down! We both managed it first time (and without a friendly push from the guys running it). We have a video of it too which shows the before, during, and after. Most entertaining

After all this excitement we headed further south to a place called Te Anau which is essentially the gateway to Milford Sound. We took in a tour of the glow worm caves while we waited for the road to Milford Sound to open. We drove the 120km up to Milford on this most amazing road, taking photo after photo as we went along, each corner turning up something even more spectacular then the last. We had arranged a cruise around Milford Sound which takes you out into the Tasman Sea to look back at the entrance and then back in to take a close up look at many of the waterfalls and rock formations. While out at sea we were lucky enough to spot dolphins and unlike in the Bay of Islands they came right up to the bow of the boat and swam with us for a while. They were far more friendly then the other ones, jumping and playing around until we had to turn back.

Back at Te Anau we headed across to the east coast to Dunedin where we would take in a train trip, a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, and the Otago Peninsula to see an Albatross colony. The following day it was up to Oamaru for a spot of penguin watching (they have two types there. The rare Yellow Eyed penguin and the most common Blue penguins). Very cute and even more entertaining to watch as they waddle up the beach and then into their nests

Next on the list was a place called Methven which is an hour outside of Christchurch. This place is the base for the Mt Hutt ski resort and where Sue and I would hopefully take in some boarding. We decided to upgrade to a B&B while we were here, and good job too as the second day we were there we had a blizzard that covered the whole area! Good for the mountain and for boarding, but we couldn't get up there as the road was closed due to high winds. We finally got on the slopes and weren't dissapointed at all Both of us picked it up well again (to our surprise) and after a couple of lessons were happily sliding down the slopes on our boards rather then backsides! However all good things must come to an end and eventually we had to say goodbye and got back in the van to head to Christchurch; our final destination and where I write this post from We handed the van back and are now enjoying the space and creature comforts a hotel room offers.

Next stop is Sydney and then onto Singapore where hopefully we'll get some warmer weather (although the last forecast we saw was 33 degrees and thunder...nice!).

Hope you are all well and we'll post again soon.

Sharm

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Having successfully made it to Napier by the skin of our teeth, our next stop was the capital - Wellington. We had a couple of days to have a good nose around before our ferry crossing so we got to get a good feel for the place. Our campsite was a little way out of town but the bus links were good so no complaints there It was also bizarrely full of ducks. We made the mistake when we first got there of throwing a bit of bread to the two ducks by our van. Within a matter of seconds the two turned into about 15, with ducks materialising out of nowhere and quacking a lot....this was the sound that was to wake us up on all of our mornings there

Our first night in town was spent camped in a pub watching the first test against the All Blacks...I don't think I need to say too much about that now do I! Other activities to note were the tour we did around parliament...really good guided tour and their house is almost identical to our house of commons, except they seem to have comfy arm chair type seats rather than benches...evolution in action right there

We had bright blue skies and beautiful still weather....until the day of our ferry crossing. At this point we woke up to something resembling what I imagine the weather during the apocolypse might look like - howling winds up to 100km/h, driving rain, and all of a sudden the bright blue mill pond we watched the ferry sailing majestically across the previous day was a grey, angry looking cauldron with 4 metre swells. This is the first time I have ever been nervous on a ferry - we started the journey sitting at the front and there were massive waves crashing across the windows and lots of people gasping....this front area emptied out pretty quickly as the captain announced that people with sea sickness would feel less ill towards the back of the boat We made it in one piece thankfully, but the storm continued to rage in Picton - at one point I was walking around the campsite and was hit with a blast of wind so strong it stopped me in my tracks! It also managed to dislodge a solar panel from a roof which shattered about 5 metres away from me....such drama!

The next day, the weather was back to being perfectly calm and the mill pond sea returned. Hmm!

We had a quick look around Picton which is a lovely little place - we even visited the Edwin Fox - the worlds 9th oldest wooden ship (who counts these things?!) and a place called Seahorse World (somewhat of an exaggeration, as it turned out, we saw one...) before heading off to Blenheim. Here we did a rather pleasant spot of wine tasting and met Tomi the grape eating dog who is something of a celeb in the Marlborough region - apparently she can sniff out the difference between a ripe and unripe chardonnay grape...how useful

Next stop was Christchurch for the rugby. Even though the result was rubbish we had a great time, and the English kid holding the "At least we can beat France in a World Cup" sign was something of a hero amongst the travelling supporters

From Christchurch we proved how small the country is by driving from one coast to the other in a matter of a couple of hours We stopped off in a place called Franz Joseph that exists purely because of the rather large glacier on it's doorstep. But I'll tell you all about that one next time - you can see piccies of it on Sharm's Facebook til then!

Love to all, we'll be back soon!

Sue xx

Wellington and the trip south remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So if I pick up where Ms Magoo left off we were in Paihia in our little campervan called Rabbit. Turns out that although Sue and I are not to shabby with our camping our van was a little more ancient then we first thought. The first couple of night were spent without electricity, a serious lack of running water, and only a small duvet to cover us from the cold!

However we survived and made our way up to Cape Reinga which is the most northern part of New Zealand. You get to drive along 90 mile beach (which is where New Zealand's Maori name of 'Aotearoa' (The Land of the Long White Cloud) comes from as it is the first part of the land that they saw when they migrated across...fact!) and visit the lighthouse on the very tip for some spectatular views! Back in Paihia we took a boat ride out into the Bay of Islands which again are amazing. Even better was on this trip the organisers managed to find a pod of Dolphins and we got the boat right up close to them! We then took the boat through Cape Brett (loving the name) and back to Paihia where we continued our journey back through Auckland (where we changed vans to one a little more modern and with mod-cons like working electrics) and then onto Waitomo.

The next morning we got up and booked our caving tour to see glow worms, and weren't to be dissapointed. Due to it being the off season Sue and I were the only ones on the tour which meant we got to do more and go further. We started about 100 meters up and got as far down as 90 meters into the caves, seeing glow worms, cave crayfish (which are huge) and some fantastic cave formations. The tour also included 3 abseils and 2 rock climbs (the last one being a killer of a climb) so although the water was freezing we were kept warm.

Finally back into the world of daylight we once again boarded our van (now called 'Junior' in respect to our now retired 'Rabbit') and headed for Rotorua where we would find some crazy thermal pools and geysers. We went to the main place in Rotorua called Te Puia where we got to see some traditional Maori rituals, dances (including an upclose redition of the Haka) and housing. We also saw (and smelt) some of the most famous geysers in New Zealand. Out of Rotorua we went to another thermal park with some even better thermal pools (I think Sue has got some photos up of these) and a buried village where Mount Tarawera erupted some 120 years ago and killed off many local tribes and industries. Have to say the local people love their history and will spend so much time telling you all about it which is just fantastic.

Anyway, after all that we headed for Napier to see the 1930s architecture and get some fresh fish for dinner on my birthday. From there we drove through Taupo and stopped for a cuppa by the lake, and before setting off I spotted a sign saying last petrol station for 130km. I thought nothing of it until I looked at the dash and saw we had only 1/4 tank of petrol left! Several reassuring conversations back and forth and we were convinced we had enough to cover the distance...until the light came on and we'd only gone half way. A quick chat with the locals confirmed we were out of luck (that's not exactly how they put it shall we say!). However we persevered, free wheeling the car out of gear on all the down hills, gathering as much speed as we could to get up the other side before reluctantly putting it back into gear and hoping for the best! We got to Napier by the skin of our teeth and our van has now started to make some worrying noises!

And now I'll leave you to digest all that and hopefully be back soon for another thrilling installment

Hope all is well with you all.

Sharm

Caving with glow worms and a cross country adventure remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Apologies for the radio silence - you would think that New Zealand would have plentiful internet access but it turns out that free internet at every stop is a luxury that we left behind in South America...who'd have thought it?

We've been busy, and as I've been offline for a while I will make this succinct...Santiago is a lovely city, and travelling there from La Paz would make you swear you were on a different continent. From the second we left the airport we noticed the difference - gone were the plumes of black smoke behind every vehicle, the 2000 car horns per minute and the suicidal buses with 20 more people that is physicaly possible in them - instead, you are welcomed by well tarmaced roads being driven by seemingly sensible motorists! The differences didn't end there - Chile is much more expensive than Bolivia, and with 938 Pesos to the pound it's tricky to work out what you're spending! It feels far more like you're in Spain than South America, quite disorientating

As we only had two days, we spent a hectic time trying to see as much of the city as possible. The main square, the fish market, San Cristobel hill (up on a funicular railway, down on a cable car) and lots of walking! We even visited the stock exchange which wasn't quite the frenetic hive of activity one expects from a stock exchange....just one guy who I think may actually have passed away at his computer without anyone noticing and one chap jabbering on his mobile...that was it! All in all we concluded that Santiago is a pretty nice city and I think we will visit again.

After a manic few days, the time came to leave South America behind and head for NZ. It was actually quite pleasant arriving in a country where language is no longer a barrier - travelling with very bad Spanish in South America was pretty tiring after a while! We arrived in Auckland at stupid o'clock in the morning and sent a long day exploring the city before meeting up with Ursula for a few beverages (the Kiwi who used to live with me for those who don't know her!). Our second day saw us doing some more exploring of the suberbs - lots of trendy shops, markets and restaurants to be found. Day 3 was spent visiting places around the bay by boat - breakfast in a place called Devonport followed by some wine tasting on Waheke Island...this backpacking lark is tough, I tell you!

Day 4 saw us leaving Auckland behind in our new home - a campervan called Rabbit It's basically a toyota hi-ace with a teeny sink, cupboard and gas stove in the back as well as two bench seats and a table that convert into a bed. Our first stop in Rabbit was up north to a place called Paihia, which is the gateway town to both the far north and the Bay of Islands. On our route up there we passed one museum we decided to give a miss - Sheep world Even the sheep that had been dyed flourescent pink and sent to roam enticingly around the entrance couldn't convince us it was worth a visit!

And now I plan to leave you all on tenderhooks (well, maybe slightly less bored at work then you were before you logged on!) as my t'interweb pennies have run out and it's time for dinner!

Our next two stops are cities so we should be online again soon, until then I shall bid you Kia ora (that's Maori dontcha know, and has nothing to do with orange squash!) and sweet as Bro! Sue xxx

Santiago & a change of scenery remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Feels like it's been a while since we last posted but so much has been happening since then (apologies in advance, this could be a long post, but stick with it, we're interesting, honest ).

When we last left you we were about to head to the Salt Flats in Uyuni, so i guess thats a good place to start.

On Tuesday we rose early for a four hour bus ride with our grumpiest driver and shoddiest bus yet. We headed to Oruro (south of La Paz) where we would catch our train to Uyuni from. It's a 7 hour ride but we had comfy seats and The Shawshank Redemption in Spanish so who could complain?? We arrived in Uyuni about 10.30 and man was it cold!

Wednesday we checked out Uyuni (which took about 10 mins) and enjoyed some peace and quiet away from the streets of La Paz. Uyuni is quite flat and open and it's the winds that make it really cold. We booked a one day tour of the flats for Thursday and settled down to some pizza in a little place called MinuteMan that did the best pizza!

Thursday was amazing! The Salt Flats are so cool with some of the best scenary you could imagine. We started out in a place called the Train Cemetary which contained loads of old steam trains the Bolivians essentially retired when the electric train came into play (they like just shoving stuff out into barren land when they're done with it the Bolivians; the approach to La Paz airport fills you full of confidence!). Then we headed for the Fish Island which is near the middle. This has lots of funky cacti on it and at the top you gat a fantastic 360 view of the flats. It's this mass expanse of just white as far as you can see in all directions with the occassional moutain scattered here and there. We took some of those silly perspective photos on the flats before heading back to the outskirts for sunset (not before our guide stopped to show us the holes in the salt and chip away at some to show us how thin it really was to the water below!).

Friday we headed back to La Paz to book our trip on the Worlds Most Dangerous Road for Saturday. This is essentially mountain biking 64km down one of the most dangerous roads in the world, so as you can probably guess Sue and I were nicely relaxed on Friday night over dinner

Saturday we headed up the mountain (4750 meters above sea level at the top which is 15583 feet! Everest base camp is only 17000 feet!) before getting suited up and heading off. The first 30 km is on concrete so not too bad. Only thing to avoid here is the other people pelting it down, and the occassional bus and car that try their well reputed overtaking manoeuvers on blind corners etc. The next 34km is on dirt track that's about 3 meters wide, that twists and turns all over the place, and that has lorries, buses, and other such distractions along the way. The scenary is amazing, on both sides, and it's so hard to believe that this used to be the main route used to transport food, goods, and people! Once at the bottom we got food and some well earned drinks before, oh joy of joys, being told that we'd be going back up the road in the bus. This is probably one of the single most scariest things I have ever done. To give you a taste the road is no more then 2 foot wider than the bus at times, and the driver used his hopefully perfected hand in front of the eyes technique when the sun was shining at him! We did however make it up unscathed, and the stories we heard on the way up were amazing; of how people had come to fall, how many people had bounced off trees and made it, how the road used to be used etc. New found respect for the Bolivians after that

And how I've waffled enough so I'm going to sign off and hand you over to Sue to tell you about Santiago and the rest

Sharm

The Salt Flats & Death Road!! remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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-the proposal - (Machews, that one's for you!)

that was lovely and we're both still smiling but the rollercoaster that is travelling in South America lead to our first (albeit mild) issue of the trip. We decided to do some laundry but as they don't have central heating in Cusco our washing wasn't drying at all so we thought we'd take advantage of a local laundry service instead. We found one proudly boast a 2 hour service, dropped off our washing and were invited to collect it 8 hours later (bless the Peruvians). When we came to collect they were still drying our stuff, and I noticed that a few bits seemed to be missing. Being the fuss-bag that I am I then insisted on counting everything, only to discover that I was missing 5 pairs of pants and 4 pairs of socks. Hmm. I explained this in my ropey Spanish and all bar one pair of pants were recovered. I pointed out that a pair was still missing which was met with the universal gesture of a shrug, the return of our change and the movement to serve someone else. I suppose for 1 pound 50 one can't complain, but when you're only carrying 7 pairs the loss of one is quite significant! I can only hope that whatever Peruvian ended up with them is enjoying my pair of M&S finest

Hey ho, trauma aside we've been having an absolutely fab time. Got back from trekking the Inca Trail yesterday and we're both still a little achey. You only cover 49KM over 4 days, but what I don't think we appreciated before starting is just how many of those KM are vertical! Still, we were rewarded with some stunning views, great company in our group and the most amazing food cooked for us along the way. Those who have done the trail will know what it's like - you are basically waited on hand and foot by the porters in your group. While you are wheezing your way uphill in your fancy walking shoes carrying little more that some sun cream and a bottle of water, they are legging it on ahead, carrying up to 25kg of stuff and wearing sandles in order to ensure that by the time you get your sweaty, sunburned self to camp there is a tent waiting for you, a bowl of hot water for you to wash in and a 3 course meal for you to enjoy...unbelieveable. They also break camp down for you so all you have to do in the morning is eat breakfast and go. 5 star camping, if you will

Macchu Pichu was a sight to behold - quite how the Incans put it together in the middle of a jungle 2500M above sea level is beyond me, but making it to Sun Gate after 3 and a half days of hard trekking was absolutely amazing. Sadly a few hours later the place was teeming with tourists which seemed a little surreal after spending the preceeding 3 days in relative isolation, strolling around cliff edge ruins with 10 other people and trekking up mountains and through jungle seemingly alone...but it's a popular place and I think we both walked around the site with more of a sense of achievement than those who'd got the bus there would have felt. We smelled worse, too

We're off to Puno tomorrow to check out the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, then on to Copacobana (which is clearly not north of Havana I have to point out...) and La Paz. We'll write more soon!

Hope all is well back in Blighty/France/Canada/Australia* (*delete as appropriate!)
Sue xxx

The Inca Trail and the pant thief remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So we landed in Cusco after another thrilling 9 1/2 bus ride. 6a.m and we´re standing in the middle of a yard in the rain waiting for our bags and not having a clue where we were (sounds about right!).

Will miss Arequipa, the place where I found my first Peruvian Liverpool fan, a green Santa, and discovered the wonders of deep fried Guinea Pig (which looked a little too much like A.L.F for my liking!).

Cusco is pretty cool. Nice and busy if not a little touristy. Even though we´re really high up we haven´t been suffering from altitude sickness too much (although i´ve found out that even a couple of beers can have a nasty effect in the morning ). Lots to see here if you get out of the centre, including an amazing market, churches galore, and lots of stunning views.

On the 13th it was our 3 year anniversary so we booked a nice little restaurant overlooking the main square in Cusco. And yep, most of you were right, I proposed and luckily Sue said yes (could have been an awkward 13 weeks otherwise!). So close the sweepstake (hopefully i´ve made a killing) and worryingly talk has already started on the where and when of the big day

Tomorrow we start the Inca Trail which we´re really looking forward to. Four days trekking and then back to Cusco for some well earned rest. Weather is playing nice so hopefully it´ll hold.

Right, enough said. Till next time. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Sharm

Cusco, and the end to the sweepstake remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So we´re out of Lima, the land of the constantly beeping taxis (trust me, they beep to see if you want a ride, when dropping someone off, when changing lanes, when letting someone in, when berating someone, and i´m convinced sometimes just for the love of beeping ). Nice place, if not a little too polluted for my liking.

After a 16 hour bus ride (only made bearable by the fantastic cinematic experience of ´The Peaceful Warrior´(*ahem) and Peruvian Bingo (all in Spanish, of which we only know numbers 1 to 10...we didn´t win)) we´ve landed in Arequipa. Great place, full of character and fewer taxis!

We´ve tried the local cuisine of Osterich Carpaccio and Alpaca burger (Sue was opposed to me eating Alpaca to start with until i told her they were responsibly for thousands of Peruvian deaths every year...vicious i tell thee, just look at the photo! Giving the Alpaca death stare)

One more day here and then another bus ride to Cusco to prepare for the Inca Trail. Sue is trying to get me to have a Peruvian haircut...i´m less convinced though

Gotta go now, already spent 10p on internet access!
Sharm

16 hour bus ride aftermath remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Firstly, apologies for any random puntuation in this post...the Peruvian keyboard is a little different to ours¿`Ñ

Our journey over was relatively uneventful, apart from being adopted in transit by a rather mad old Peruvian lady with stripy rainbow coloured socks - we named her Mildred as it seemed to suit her. She latched onto us as we were the only other people she could find heading for the Madrid-Lima flight and she wasn´t sure where she was going...quite why she thought we knew I'm not too sure but she followed us nonetheless, all the while jabbering at us in loud fast flowing Spanish despite being told by an air hostess that we had no idea what she was saying-Bradders, she's obviously been to your school of speaking to foreigners!

We arrived in Lima and were met by a chap called Fermin who was to take us to our hotel....what's one of the first things we saw? A Manpower office...something for you v- sorts to bear in mind should you fancy a change of scenery!!

The hotel we're in is absolutely beautiful-amazing works of art everywhere and stunning views across the pacific...not strictly what you could call backpacking, and sadly I don't think our budget will allow us to stay in places like that all the way around, but it's a nice start after 15 odd hours of travelling!

Day one in Lima took us to the centre which is full of beautiful old buildings such as the presidential palace and the San Francisco church and monestary. The walk between the two is where we saw the dog wearing a coat, hat and glasses. Actual glasses too, not even sun glasses...most bizarre.

We spent the day strolling around before heading back to the district called Miraflores and from there we walked along the coast back to Barranco where we're staying. All in all a lovely start to the trip! The Peruvians are all very frindly, even if they do drive like people possessed....makes Parisian driving look like something Miss Daisy might be involved in!

And that's about all I have time for right now - Sharm will be here with the next installment soon

Love to all,
Magoo xx

Mildred and the land of strange dogs... remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So, first stop Lima, a city that I have in my head as being a cross being 3rd world poverty and modern day consumerism. I bet I'm wrong on both fronts, but then what's new? Luckily Sue has managed to wangle us emergency exit seats for the flights over, and for those that know us I'm sure you'll agree we need the leg room!

But I won't bore you with too much detail, I'm sure we'll be able to keep you posted by the magic invention of the World Wide Web. Hopefully you'll manage to stay in touch with us for the time we're away, and please write back, it'll give us something to do after we're bored with each other

Sharm

The big day cometh! remains copyright of the author SooMagoo, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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