Travel Blogs

When we weren’t getting thrown out of planes or lugging it up sand-dunes we did quite a few other things in Namibia; best shown in photo format me thinks. :-)

1. Largest Baobab Tree

Largest Baobab tree in Namibia. While we did get some lovely photos taken of Mike and I in the tree; even some very arty black and white ones, we couldn’t resist the group jumping shot. Hilarious. (From left to right: Sam, Chris P, Graham, Vicci, Me, Mike, Kat. MIA: Chris D, Hussain and Alex). We (illegally) bush camped near-by on our first night in Namibia and fortunately didn’t get busted.

2. Chris Brit's dam photo

Bush camp at Dam on our last night in Namibia. Noteworthy/memorable for two reasons: Firstly needing to put both very large rocks inside the four corners of our tent and to use multiple tent pegs for the first time on the trip to avoid getting blown away – think desert sandstorm. And secondly for having breakfast while watching an incredible sunrise over the dam. I thought I would include a photo of the actual dam and not another photo of a sunrise as would be my usual inclination.

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Living on board the world’s largest cruise ship has some similarities to other large ships and similarities to large all-inclusive resorts but it truly is quite unique. The sheer size of the ship means that there is a tremendous variety of activities and venues all operating simultaneously and all creating their own din of noise and buzz of activity. Just to add to the frenetic atmosphere many venues play loud rock music to pump up the level of hype and encourage the party atmosphere. Below is a picture of a Parade on the Promenade featuring all the nationalities of the crew.

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We woke at our KOA campground in Queeche, Vermont and decided to grab some breakfast in a nearby town. We headed for the border town of White River Junction VT and enjoyed a quiet coffee and eggs, got our fill of liberal magazines, papers and bumper stickers and sadly, saw more flood damage to a local bridge whose pylon had been shifted in the huge wave of water and was being fixed by a giant crane.

We then crossed the White River into the state of New Hampshire....one more state and we're back on the east coast! Wow! We crossed the bridge into a town called Lebanon which was very cute and neat and tidy. This whole area of the country just has a lovely small progressive town feel to it, people take pride in the buildings and houses and from what we saw....education, as we drove through the town of Hanover - home to Dartmouth College. The college campus was beautiful and reminded me a lot of Oxford in Cambridge, England. We have hit the heart of New England.

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Once again we had to drag ourselves out of our extremely comfy bed at silly o’clock in the morning to go to the airport. After an extremely smooth journey we arrived in Auckland at about 6pm, hopped in an airport shuttle, and were at our hostel by 7. Much to our delight as we walked into our room, we realised that we had been upgraded; instead of the standard double with shared bathroom that we had paid for, we had a ‘deluxe studio’ apartment complete with kitchen, t.v, sofa and bathroom. After settling into our apartment we ventured out into the late afternoon sunshine to get our bearings and find some food. Our hostel was really well located and it only took us 5 minutes to walk into the CBD. The city was very spacious and clean. We soon arrived at the Viaduct Harbour area of the city where there were several restaurants and bars.

However we opted to go in search of a pizza place and so trekked up Queen Street. We eventually came to a quirky pizza bar in the upstairs section of an ‘old’ building’. It was centred around New Zealand Rock Music and as such all of their pizzas were named after Kiwi bands, none of which we had heard of. We were pleased to learn that NZ is cheaper that Australia. We were able to have 2 large pizzas, a draught beer and a cider for grand total of $44, around £22. After filling ourselves with much craved pizza we strolled back to our hostel. On this journey home we realised that NZ isn’t as warm as Australia so were a little bit chilly in shorts.

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Wow, Fiji. What can be said? Not much to be honest, it is just paradise on earth! I know im not eloquent enough to do it justice...but sure ive never been known as a quiet one so I'll try and describe it anyway.

We had been enjoying the New Zealand section of our trip so much that to be honest, we hadn't planned ahead for Fiji at all. So a few days before we left New Zealand we called into a travel agency to see if we could blag a package/transfers etc for the 2 weeks we would be in Fiji and we were in luck. So our Fiji trip was for the most part planned and arranged before we'd even left New Zealand which was very different then the rest of our trip to date. Knowing exactly where we'd be every hour and day for the next 2 weeks seemed strange, we normally dont know where we'd even be staying one night to the next but we planned on doing nothing but relaxing so it was a welcome change.

It was a short flight to the city of Nadi on the main Fijian island where we landed without any hassle at all and were transferred to the hotel where we'd be staying overnight before moving on to the outlying islands the following day. This was the first time we had stayed in a 'proper' hotel in some time, and we immediately felt the difference. We were on a package holiday for 2 weeks now, not so much travelling anymore. It was bitter-sweet!

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Thailand is known more for its wild parties than wild animals, but away from the fleshpots of Bangkok and Phuket the country is blessed with some extraordinary natural treasures. We planned our fortnight in southern Thailand to include some of the area's wildlife hotspots, and we weren't disappointed.

The chain of karst mountains that we had seen earlier in our travels in Vietnam and Laos raise their heads again in southern Thailand. They stretch all the way from Guilin in China to Sarawak in Borneo, and are the eroded remains of an ancient coral sea that was thrust up when the Indian and Eurasian plates collided. The limestone peaks are at their loftiest in Khao Sok National Park, reaching to more than 3000ft, and it was here that we spent New Year.

The park was created in the 1970s to protect the rich tropical forests that cloak the hills, a dense jungle older than the Amazon rainforest. Subsequently, the creation of more National Parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the surrounding areas mean that Khao Sok is now part of the largest tract of old-growth forest in Southeast Asia. So vast is this protected area that it still holds viable populations of wild elephants, tigers and gaur. I decided this was the place to watch wildlife in Thailand.

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Well 5 months after starting out on our trip it has already come to the end of our Latin American adventures. Even though we are excited about the next travels, we are still sad to be leaving such a great area of the world. We had so many incredible experiences in the brief time we were there, met some great people and will have many memories to keep for the rest of our lifetime. We will be back, as there are still lots of things we still need to do.

We thought that it deserved making a top 10 (limiting it to 10 was tough) of our favourite memories from the 5 months as well as pointing out a few of the small things that we noticed which makes it truly unique to travel in Latin America. If you have been to South or Central America before, hopefully you chuckle at a few of these which you encountered; otherwise, if you are heading there, you have this to look forward to.

TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS

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In this month's Talking Travel series, we chatted to regular TP contributor Glynn Hammond (aka nzhamsta). A prolific traveller and blogger, he has mapped over 40 trips and shared more than 2000 photos. Glynn is an avid believer in making the most of travel opportunities, having spent his life balancing work with long trips overseas, and takes his inspiration from the Mark Twain quote: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Glynn with the Great Sphinx

Most recently you spent four months travelling through Europe and the Middle East both on organised trips and also on your own. What do you like about organised travel and what do you like about making your own plans?

I like to use organised travel for places that are less “easy” to travel around independently. Some of the Middle East falls into the “easy” category (Dubai, Oman (wonderful place by the way), Egypt), whereas in other places it falls into the “less easy” (on this trip, Syria). The use of an organised tour can eliminate all the headaches regarding transport, accommodation, arranging guides and so on. The downside is that you are with a group and that does not suit those people who do not like being herded, having to be ready by a certain time or be left behind, group meals and so on. The make up of the group is also very important.

The trip went to all the places I wanted to go (with the exception of the Western Desert oases) and was well organised with a decent standard of transport, accommodation (notwithstanding Egyptian plumbing), guides and food.

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Kevin’s parents were waiting for us when we arrived back to Perth from our road trip. After some discussions on timing, it was decided that the four of us would head down to the Margaret River region for some wine tasting while Anya and Justin finished up their work before the holidays. We spent three days and two nights in the Margaret River region tasting local cheeses, local wine, local venison, local sodas, local fudge, local wood fired bread, local olive oils, local breweries, local coffee, and local yogurts, don’t u know I’m loco! It was a foodies paradise! The top three highlights were visiting the Yallingup Wood Fired Bakery, having a formal coffee tasting at Yahava and wine tasting at The Growers lake side cellar door. The map below shows all the places that we tasted and traveled.

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Our first stop in the journey to Machu Picchu was the town of Aguas Calientes, at the base of the mountain on which the city was built. It has the facade of a frontier town but the character of one large tourist trap.

Machu Picchu (elevation 8,000 ft) was believed to be constructed sometime around 1430 for the Incan Emperor Pachacuti. Archaeologists are still at a loss as to the purpose of the site. The current theory is that it was a retreat for the nobility and priests as well as a site of extreme religious importance due to its location in the mountains. The numerous terraces also prove that the city sustained itself through agriculture, enough to support almost 1,000 people. It was abandoned less than 100 years after it was built, perhaps due to smallpox which was brought by Spanish Conquistadors and introduced to the city by travelers.

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1. Photo Competition Winner: A view in Puno, Peru. Photo by kostlin.

2. Runner-up: Water Dandelions in Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo by dinah1.

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So I decided to go to Akihabara the gadget mecca of the world! All bright eyed with the possibilities of the wonders I would see I set off on trying to navigate my way through the subway system, which I'm now getting the hang of (they have a my I kind of myki system here also which helps me alot), I've wanted to take pictures on the train but I think it would be frowned upon and have not yet built the courage to quickly snap one. Here are some pics so you can get a feel of what I'm seeing in Akihabara..

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Like said earlier, Dunedin wasn't anything special (except for the fact that Ipa finally found a proper wool shop!), and we ended up doing pretty much nothing while there. We met some of the frenchies from Treehugger's, but otherwise the only thing worth mentioning would be Baldwin St -the steepest town street in the world! It lies just a few km outside the center and on the side of it there are stairs for the pedestrians We did see a small van getting to the top of it, but Judith didn't feel like putting Daisy to the test, so we just walked it up (huffing and puffing).

Baldwin St

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Day 2

I slept suprisingly well considering my inevitable fall from the heavens but once awake the excitement started to build. I say excitement, it was kind of a sense of impending doom mixed with excitement. I tried to skype my mum to let her know what I was about to do but after a few failed attempts called my friend Guru from Norway instead as I felt I had to tell someone I loved them before I set off and Jayne was out running!
I very light breakfast for fear of seeing it again shortly and then we trotted off to the agreed bus pick up point to take us to the airfiled

45 seconds and it was as if my mind started to realise what was happening, I was falling to earth at 120mph and a wave of fear started to creep over me again as I hoped the parachute would work first time.

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Ok so this blog update might be a few days late, but it's Christmas so get out of it! gon git

Our short flight from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam lasted around 50mins, they had just enough time to rush through a round of drinks down the aisle before we were already descending. Crazy short. In Hanoi we had planned to take a 2 day trip to Sapa, a mountain village in the north of Vietnam. In the end however we stayed in Hanoi for a full 7 nights, mainly due to our laziness and not wanting to go through the hassle of having to pack up our homes again and move.

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