25.10.09 Glacier Country

We arrived late in the evening and seeing the 'questionable' state of the spare tyre following 300 miles decided to camp it out under the glare of the New Zealands two glaciers... until we could resolve the situation at the local mechanics... unfortuntely the bank holiday meant a couple of days sleeping in the local car park!
While waiting we walked to the base of the Franz Josef Glacier and were wowed by the vastness. They are quite amazing and really made us try to recollect GCSE geography lessons! It just makes you want to touch it... but numerous signs and recent newspaper articles of people killed by falling ice was enough to keep us well behind the barriers.
The Fox Glacier was equally amazing with a different valley approach and enormous cliffs scarred by the monstrous power of ice and gravity. We carried on to lake Mathieson to see the 'view of views'... although it was closed - so we got by with the view next to the 'view of views' - a better view in our opinion and still of Mount Cook.
Onwards to Queenstown... and jobs, of some kind.

23.10.09 The West Coast

Moving on from Nelson we headed over to the west coast, another new area for us. The plan to discover the northern west coast and then head back over to Christchurch for jobs.

We drove up to the Operara Basin, checking surf spots as usual along the way. Some of the driving tracks have awesome scenery, twisting around the mountains and alongside the coast, also making for some scary roads. We stayed the night at a beautiful beach campsite and then headed to the limestone karsts in the form of arches and caves. The operara arch is a huge arch which as the guide book says - defies pictures! Unfortunately the bumpy tracks didnt do our tyres any good and we ended with a puncture - a moment for Charlie to feel manly and change the tyre.

We drove on down towards Rapenhoe stopping off at Pancake rocks, a set of amazing rock stacks and blowholes formed by the sea. At the local pub that evening we had the pleasure of being greeted by the landladies artful belching... a beautiful bunch!

Next we had a sudden change of heart, we were at the point of turning east to head for Christchurch when we thought, why not somewhere else - somewhere more exciting, more adventurous? Lets head for the one and only adventure capital of the world; 'Queenstown' - so we pushed on south past the greenstone and crystal waters of the Hokitika Gorge towards the glaciers.

21.10.09 Wine Appreciation Experience

3000 Vines, $200, 4 days of pain!!!

16.10.09 Kaikora and Nelson

From Methven we had meetings in Nelson to head for so we rounded back up the East coast. We stopped at Kaikora to check out the coast, surf spots and seals. There are seals all over the rocks around the headland so you really have to pick your route around the headland so as not to disturb them. We may head back here sometime and spend some money on whale watching but not at the moment. Point break galore - Charlie was excited by some of the surf spots we will probably come back for them too, when the conditions are better.

In Nelson we had a couple of interviews for jobs but unfortunately they are only for in the new year, as everyone is certain the new year is when work will be picking up again. It just means the adventuring can continue until then......

12.10.09 Arthurs Pass

Seeing the snow on the hills from Christchurch we decided to head for it.....Arthurs Pass. We didnt really know what was there, we just went for the journey and adventure, what an adventure we had. After a stop off at some huge boulders in the Kura Tawahiti Reserve which we tried tried to climb and failed, we found cave stream.

Cave Stream is a stream which runs deep into the earth in a cave. In their depths somewhere there are a number of waterfalls and eels. As the water only just reached our chests we decided that the DOC advice not to go in if it reached your chest would be conservative and so we opted to go in and see how it went, or as the Kiwi's would say 'she'll b'awight'. We packed 2 torches, an emergency light with an emergency battery and donned our caving gear (as pictured!)... what could go wrong. We waded in through the initial pools freezing in temperature due to snow melt and into the dark. It was so exciting, feeling a little dangerous but they have signs to it so it cant be that bad, then the first torch failed.... its ok, we will just get the other out of the bag, so lights on again lets continue. We are here at a bend, listening round the corner I think there is a waterfall, but no I can't see because the second torch has failed. My little heart started beating a little faster and I clung to Charlie! So we got out the emergency light and made the sensible decision to turn around and come back to complete the length of it another day with better batteries and torches......... awesome experience though.

After this our visit to Arthurs pass was a little more sedate, we met the local Keas, walked the Devils Punchbowl to see a waterfall and the Bealy Spur Walk for the view and the snow. We built a snowman and met the mice in the hut. We headed back through Methven to meet with Joey in the Blue Bar. There are two pubs in town one blue and one brown so it was easy to find her!

9.10.09 Dinner and David and Janines!!

On Friday evening as a break from vegetables and pasta, and our own wonderful company we went for dinner with friends of friends; David and Janine (and Henry the dog). Living in a suburb of Christchurch and overlooking the sea it was great to explore more of Christchurch and meet such generous and welcoming people. We enjoyed fantastic food and great conversation and unexpectedly the comfort of their guest room!! So following a dinner invitation we had landed ourselves on them for the whole weekend. From theirs we walked around the coast and explored Sumner and Taylors mistake, some lovely beaches and headland looking out towards the snow capped mountains.

6.10.09 Christchurch

We stopped in Christchurch for a few days to check it out as a possible place to stay for a longer with jobs.

The Art Gallery had some interesting exhibitions on so in the evening we decided to go to a free talk / demonstration about sound art. I'm glad we didn't pay to listen to a helicopter landing for about 45mins - what a load of rubbish, cant believe we sat through it for that long... I'd like to say I felt bad about leaving halfway through but in the interest of health and safety and my ears it had to be done! We checked out the arts centre market in the oxford college style quadrangle and indulged in the fab food stalls and waited half an hour for some awesome souvlaki. We sat by the Avon and watched boats punting up and down - Christchurch is a lovely place but also a strange idealised state of English cities!

02.09.09 Upper Moutere

From Picton we travelled straight to Upper Moutere (just past Nelson) where we stayed with Martin. He has a house with fantastic views over the water towards Nelson. We had a great break admiring the countryside, cycling, kayaking and continuing the job search. We enjoyed eating oranges and making lemon juice from the fruit in Martins garden, and sampled the wine we had bought in Napier.

With such a great place and fabulous hospitality it was difficult to leave but we needed to move on to Christchurch.

29.09.09 Wellington

Wellington was the first spot we had identified as potential job hunting. We had ambitiously thought we would have interviews lined up all over the place! As this wasn't the case we spent time getting our portfolios printed, looking into job agencies and sightseeing. We went on the tram to the botanic gardens, to the 'beehive' parliament building, the art gallery and finally the Te Papa museum. The art gallery was exhibiting work by Kusama - an obsessive compulsive with dots all over the place, even on the outside of the building - very impressive. The Museum was a whole lot bigger than we expected, we were lost in there for hours and nearly late to meet old neighbours of Charlies. Wellington seemed like quite a happening city, and a windy one..

The ferry took us from Wellington to the south Island. It was a great introduction to the island going in through Charlotte Sound. Beautiful and very windy, we were nearly blown off the boat!

25.09.09 East of the North Island

The rain stopped us doing the Tongariro crossing so we are saving that one for another day. We stayed in Rotorua and extra day to sort out a vehicle fine given to us unfairly (we still wait for conformation they aren't charging us $200!..). Onwards and upwards to Whakatane which Im sure would have been a lovely drive - if we could see it. We headed for Manganuku campsite which had a few walks close to it which sounded great..... One of the walks was an instant no as we got to the river crossing point which consisted of a rope over a raging torrent of water! The rain started to ease affording us some sunnier weather over the next few days.

The drive to Gisborne was fairly spectacular - the roads here seem to be one or the other - dead straight or carzily twisting up and down. After a little searching we found the best thing to do in Gisborne - the Rere rockslide - awesome! It was advised to use a bodyboard or tube, all we had was a camping mat, Charlie was game, I was a little more cautious! A 40 degree slide made from smooth rock.

We camped at Mahia Peninsula, lovely with lots of great surf opportunities. We drove around and assessed the potential and then went to the beach that had the only 2 other surfers on it! Great surf, I think Charlie would like to revisit. Next stop Napier and Hastings, a great area where we spent time Wine tasting, buying wine, and checking out the Art Deco Architecture. The earthquake background to this was very interesting - with the town being flattened in 1931 allowing the subsequent planning and cohesive 'art deco' one can now see.

From Napier we drove straight down to Wellington.

17.09.09 North of the North Island

With our life in our van we set off North of Auckland with sight seeing and shopping on our mind. We had decided Raincoats might be a sensible purchase - after living in flip flops and boardies for a few months the wardrobe lacked some winter wear.

We headed up to the northern peninsula above auckland which includes sights such as the bay of islands, 90 mile beach and absoloutly massive Kauri trees - each about 5m wide. Inbetween driving to these we did some great short walks.

Down at Piha on the west coast we stopped off to see the surf, I say see because I think Charlie is taking a bit of time to get used to colder waters again and so wasnt so keen to get in....! Back to the northern coast to the Cormmandel Peninsula which was beautiful. Here we went to Cathedral cove, the bays next to it and then hot water beach which was more surreal than I thought it would be. A fairly cold beach with water coming out the sand at 64 degrees. All you need is a spade to dig yourself a hot hole and if you can handle the heat you can sit in it until the tide comes back. We had to add some cold sea water to our hole to make it bearable!!

In a random route plan we then drove back to the west coast to Raglan, another world renowned surf spot (again too cold for Charlie!). Then on down to Waitamo Caves to lower ourselves into the underground world filled with glowworms twinkling like stars. Brilliant.

Next stop Taupo and Rotorua - volcanic activity. There is steam coming out of the ground all over the place! We jumped in some dirty stream which were hot, jumped in some nice hot spa pools at our campsites, watched geysers shooting water into the air, marvelled at the variety of colours in the earth and got a little annoyed at all the rain!!!

10.09.09 Auckland

So here we are in New Zealand.......... First on the list a campervan.......

We started our search positive and ambitious....... then we met some car salesmen and then we met some dodgy dealers, and then we saw some of the heaps they were passing as campervans........we were a little dispirited!

We went back to the cosy hostel and consoled ourselves with an amazing hot chocolate and made a plan of attack for the coming weekend car markets. The car market had a few backpackers and then the same group of dodgy dealers we had already met, oh and we forgot to take along any money!

In between van hunting we did manage some sightseeing, following which I would say Auckland is a beautiful place with a dissappointing centre.

Then came some hope from a car we found on the internet, but our first viewing was in the dark so Charlie (more positive than me!) convinced me not to worry about the smell of fresh paint and look at it again in the day........... We had found the one at last, yay we were so pleased. We took it for a mechanical check before trusting our own limited knowledge and shook on it..... let the travels begin!!!

02.09.09 Sydney

So we are a bit late on this but we did have an awesome time in Sydney! We were straight into it when we arrived - off the plane (into the cold..) to meet Charlies Australian family and then straight to the Opera House to watch the Mikado ( a play which scarred me at Primary school but I feel I am over it now!) It was a fantastic introduction ( and re intro) to Sydney.

Could the rest of the week match it? With Charlie as my personal tour guide how could it not...We went to Palm beach (Home and away) which was beautiful, I can instantly see the attraction of living in Australia. We were excited to see quite a large snake on a rock there and hurried to the internet to see how poisonous it was - it was a common green snake or something equally boring sounding - how disappointing!

In the city we visited the architectural and the art, the entertainment of Kings Cross and the drinking establishments, meeting up with friends of Charlies from the past. Our first drink was at Summit bar, a revolving bar on top of a tower - great views of what we would visit over the next few days.

And what made the whole week was how welcoming the family were.

Cairns 24.08.09

A bizarre place, possibly the free dinners we got with our accommodation (in a smelly loud club) put us off at first and the fact that I had kind of forgotten that Cairns is backpacker party town central. However such good timing you’d think we’d planned it, we arrived in Cairns in time for the yearly city festival which meant we got free stuff including jazz, massage and manicure, art gallery entry amongst other things. DIVING DIVING DIVING had become the main focus for Cairns as we had decided to opt for the highly recommended and more expensive Pro Dive 5 day Padi Open Water course, 2 days in the pool and then 3 days and 2 nights aboard a boat. Definitely the right choice, I think one of the best things we have ever done.
We had two days doing theory and pool diving to learn some of the basic skills necessary before embarking on our 3 day trip on the barrier reef, it took the first couple of dives for us both to feel comfortable 18meters under the sea and get used to ‘equalizing’ (which wasn’t helped by recent colds) as you went deeper. Such an amazing sport; we saw sharks, turtles, sting rays, Nemo, trumpet fish, sea cucumbers and enormous bumphead parrotfish… oh and some coral. The night dive was spectacular if slightly eerie especially when your torch lights up the evil looking eyes of a 2 meter grey shark! The weirdest thing is being back on land and still swaying slightly after two days… land sickness!

20.08.09 Alice Springs and Puli Rock

Due to our wonderful planning we allowed ourselves just enough time to do Darwin and central Australia at a sensible pace, unfortunately we hadn’t realized it works out a lot cheaper doing an organized tour to Puli rock than a one way rental car or bus. This meant that the only tour in Alice Springs that was affordable and went in the right direction for our schedule was fully booked… thanks to Imre our friendly local (Norwegian we think) tour agent we managed to reschedule our flights and get on the ‘Rock Tour’ the next day. Three days walking around rocks and two nights sleeping in ‘swag bags’ under the stars at £150pp is believe it or not a bargain in comparison to the other tours on offer.. and although not sure about the bag thing we both really enjoyed it and sleeping under the stars was one of the highlights.
Kings Canyon was awesome, truly amazing geology and a very hot three hour walk, this was our first true taste of an organized tour and reminded us sometimes it is good not to do everything on your own – the guide was really informative and friendly, we crammed in loads of activities without feeling rushed, Gioia was convinced to sleep under the stars where sleeping in a car had previously been rejected, the food was awesome (my first real chilli con-carni in four months) and we met some cool people. Next on the tour was Kata Tjuta (Olgas Rocks) where we managed to see some rock wallabies before heading to the big daddy itself Puli rock (Ayers rock). Both were amazing and I even got tubed in a rock formation. We decided not to climb Puli rock to respect the local Aboriginals wishes and considering how many people fall off and die doing it each year. It seems things are getting better but it is amazing how royally screwed over the aboriginals have been since the arrival of white man in Australia, they are slowly having land returned to them but for example Puli rock (very sacred to them) it would seem has been returned but only on the agreement that they rent it back to the government… mmm sounds like they didn’t really get it back at all. I could ramble on for ever here but I’ll resist and merely suggest a visit is worth the cost – I was dubious until I got there but it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip so far.

17.08.09 Darwin

More Kakadu national park than Darwin, we arrived at 5am, got a taxi to the rental office and picked up our ‘Mitzibishi Colt’ 2 person berth campervan and what a beaut she was. The park was beautiful and we saw birds, crocodiles, aboriginal art work and attended a few very well organized and interesting ranger talks, walks and events – we even had a go at painting a Barramundi and a long necked turtle in the traditional Aboriginal style. It really was a treat being able to cook for ourselves and NOT having to eat in boring restaurants anymore, bizarrely it is cheaper to eat out in Asia than cook for yourself! The huge long straight roads, the clear blue sky, red brown of the earth and fairly sparsely populated area was also quite a contrast to Asia’s denser population, hazey skies and bumpy roads. Easy access to clean toilets, food and accommodation was also a welcome relief.

16.08.09 Singapore

Not much to say…. We relaxed and picked up my surfboard that the hostel had very kindly looked after for two months.

13.08.09 Phnom Penh

During our brief stay here we visited the extremely moving Killing Fields and Genocide museum from the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot regime. Both acting as a memory to the death of 21% of the Cambodian population who died during this period (largely due to Pol Pots efforts to create year zero and create a new race). It was scary to think that this happened so recently and affected so many people.

10.08.09 Angkor

We had three days in siem reap to explore as much of angkor (meaning city) as possible. We decided to save the big one for later and not do it immediately. We hired a tuk tuk to drive us around for the day and allow us to go further afield. We went to the Kbal Spean - a river in which some of the rocks are carved with images of vishnu (much of the carving is buddist hindu) and 1000 lingas. We then visited Banteay srei - the woman's temple which is the most intricately carved of the temples. We then went to banteay samre and ta som. We were amazed at how many and the scale of all these buildings. Siem Reap is very touristy and all of the prices are in dollars so you definately get ripped off, you just have to go with it here!

The next two days we hired bicycles and pedalled about 20 - 30 km each day. Day two we thought best to cycle to the furthest and then work our way back so we went to neak pean, preah khan, prasat prei, banteay prei and then into angkor thom which contains a number of temples. Bayon was particularly interesting because it has huge Buddha faces everywhere! For sunset we went to the hill bakheng with everybody else who was in siem reap area that day!!! The next morning we decided to get to angkor wat for sunrise so we arranged to collect bikes at 5am and set off in the dark with a torch on the back. As it got lighter we weren't sure if we would make it in time but we did and it was great (if not a little cloudy). By 10am we had seen the whole of angkor wat and moved on to Ta Prohm the temple which has been left/ maintained in a similar state to that which the temples were found in - overgrown by huge trees and their roots (of tomb raider fame). It was great especially once you wandered off the boardwalk to the quieter areas! No long lie-ins for us here, it was up early the next morning to catch the bus back to Phnom Pehn.

04.08.09 Hoi An

Hoi An, a city which used to be a major trading port and so has made its name in silk and tailoring suits and dresses in an instant for the tourists. So we spent a morning checking out a number of the tailors and their selections of materials (acting like we knew what we were looking for!) After all that hard work we found it neccessary to blow our daily budget and treat ourselves to delicious chocolate cake at cargo. It was here that money spending went down hill! So we proceeded and decided on the most expensive tailors (with the reason that these suits and dresses are to assure us jobs in New Zealand and satisfy our paranoia about dodgy workmanship).

We knew hoi an was also well known for its lantern festival (because we saw it on top gear!) and decided to find out when the full moon was - just incase we needed to stay a couple of days longer for it. We were so lucky because it happened to be that evening and it was really special. They turn out all of the street lights and have lanterns everywhere - particularly floating along the river. We had dinner on the roof of a restaurant (first yellow building in the picture) overlooking the river which was very romantic.

The next day we went nervously for our 2nd fitting but all fears were eased and so I ordered a second dress ( a silk party dress rather than a work one). We seemed to be enjoying just chilling out in Hoi An and so stayed a few more days than we initially planned- sight seeing around the old traders houses, clothes fittings, eating, buying gifts and generally spending our money!! Quick we needed to move on...... having overstayed we now didnt have time for the mekong delta but we had taken the decision that we didnt mind. So two days of travel were ahead of us- one bus with beds on it - luxury, a night in saigon and then a day bus to take us all the way to siem reap in cambodia..... 48 hours of fun.

01.08.09 Hue

We got ourselves set up in the Bao Minh Hotel and spent much of our first day doing internet and organising stuff. We ventured into the city and explored the citadel and its city walls which provided interest for a whole day, although the hot weather made us weary at some points! The next day we got energetic and went by bicycle, out of town to tu ducs tomb (called a tomb even though he was buried somewhere else secret!?). After arriving back in town sooner than we thought, we decided to take a leisurely cycle inside the city walls. It was just a shame that they all drive like maniacs and traffic lights dont seem to mean much so some of the cycle was less leisurely and more hair raising!!

30.07.09 Ninh Binh

Moving on from Halong Bay we were still excited by the limestone karsts so we stopped off at Ninh Binh, a similar kind of landscape to Halong but on land. We were only there for a day but managed to pack it all in to one brilliant bike ride. Charlie looked particularly suited to the bike with basket! The day started early with a 9km cycle to the Tam Coc river and then a row down river for a couple of hours with local rowers who row with their feet when the arms get tired (or when they want to sell you something!).

We then pedalled our way around the limestone karsts along tracks among rice paddies. Every now and then we stopped off at a pagoda for a hot climb and a stunning hill top view. So excited by the cycling and views we forgot to have lunch so compensated with a bia hoi once we had worked out how far we were from home. I wouldn't say we got lost, more took a slight detour... in the pouring rain - at least it kept us cool. A full days cycling which tired us out suitably for a sleep on an overnight bus to Hue.

27.07.09 Ha Long Bay

After a HARD nights sleep on the train back to Hanoi we hopped on the bus and boat to Cat Ba, an island which borders Halong Bay. We had an easy afternoon before getting up early the next day to board our junk boat and cruise the waters of Halong.

There were a few mixed emotions as we and the Italian girls we had booked with weren't quite sure if we were getting what we had paid Mr Phong for. But by the end of the trip we were over awed by the views, the experiences and the $5 refund helped.

We cruised around the limestone karsts which jut out of the water, with kayaks in tow. Every now and then we stopped and kayaked to have a closer look at the emerald waters - We jumped straight in but after observing the numerous jellyfish from the kayak we were more careful about getting out!

After a tiring day lying aboard the ship, having lunch and dinner cooked for us, we anchored surrounded by the karsts to watch the sunset. We were lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the boat and awoken early by........ to my surprise - Charlie, eager to make a move and get out in the kayaks! It was raining in the morning but that only added to the atmosphere.

Mr Phong had saved the best till last. The boat took us to a spot where they put us in kayaks and pointed us towards a dark cave. As we went deeper into the cave I got a little scared and thought about suggesting we turn around, but before I could I saw light at the other end. It was not a cave but a long tunnel to a secret lagoon. There were more to come, with three consecutive lagoons, some of the entrances less obvious than the others. It was awesome - we felt like adventurers.

21.07.09 Bac Ha and Sapa

We decided a breath of fresh air was needed and so following some brief research in our travel books we jumped aboard the night train to Bac Ha for some rice terraces, minority folk and trekking. Unfortunately we soon realised that Bac Ha 'the non touristy' alternative to Sapa was not touristy for a reason being less picturesque and more expensive. Following some advice from a friendly French couple we decided to change our plans and head across the mountains to Sapa. A word of wanring; for some reason Vietmanese ladies, hills and minibuses = bags full of sick been thrown out of the window.

We arrived ready for the assualt of beautifully dressed tribeswomen and girls (5 years old +) trying to sell you some of their 'traditional' clothing or accessories and quickly found accomodation. Early the next day we set off with water and food for two days to go and visit the villages of the black h'mong and dazo tribe villages, we soon had company and had acquired two hmong ladies (Kha and Cjki see above) who would guide us for the rest of the day, take us to their villages and feed us lunch (in an unofficial but morally obliging purchase of cool craft goods including bags, shawls, blankets, pillow cases and braclets). About three hours into the trek and much to the amusement of Kha and Cjki we realised there were cafes and small shops selling food and water and so the 20 kg pack was highly unnecessary!

We eventually ditched the ladies in the afternoon (they kept on following us even after we had purchased the goods and insisted we would prefer to travel on our own that afternoon) and set off on our own, of course we quickly got 'lost' and kinda free styled it until we came to a up or down the mountain split in the path...seeing as it was getting dark and the uphill was really uphill we headed down and back to the safety of the river and road on the opposite side of the valley.

Just to keep things logical we then headed back to Bac Ha to see the Sunday market which was truly spectacular being filled with the tribesfolk, cattle, flowers and anything the locals could possibly need for the forthcoming week (a new pair of plastic flipflops for the tribeswomen and a haircut for the men).

Wicked place and the cooler weather was a welcome break from relentless sweating.

18.07.09 Bia Hoi in Hanoi

We spent some time wandering around the old quarter of Hanoi. The street scale is lovely and although it is hectic because of all the motorbikes we enjoyed this city much more than bangkok. During the evenings we enjoyed some bia hoi - the local draught, sitting on childrens plastic stools on the street corner. From here we could observe the moped near misses and be intrigued by what the women had in their selling baskets.

From here we get the night train to lao cai in the mountains - we are pleased to be leaving the cities behind us for the country.

13.07.09 Bangkok

5 days in Bangkok:

Arrive 5am... expensive hotel, sleep, vietnam visa (2 days), green curry, bad films, sleep, shopping mall, pizza, cinema, cheap hotel, cambodian visa (10 minutes), cards, beer, sleep, cooking course, crazy dancing singing Mai Kaidee - http://www.maykaidee.com/, reclining budda, gold bling, green curry, beer, sleep, search for a real floating market, grand palace, gold, bling, tut tut scam, gold buddah, flower market, sleep, flight to vietnam.

highlight: green curry and Mai Kaidee.

06.07.09 Shark Search

So it took a while to get there but after a day or two travelling we made it to our island paradise - ok so there were a few others on Koh Tao too but it was to be a fantastic week of resting - well as rested as Charlie and I could manage.

We found ourselves a lovely wooden hut with perfect views over the sea at Sunset Bungalows. The next day we decided to do a snorkelling trip around the island to introduce it to us. When Charlie saw there was the possibility that we might see sharks he couldn't hide his excitement. The coral and brightly coloured fish were amazing - such variety. Unfortunately Charlie and I don't know all their names and so cam't really say what we saw! Yellow ones, ones with pointy noses and others that were multi coloured. First up was shark bay and we scoured the bay to the max - to the point where the rest of the boat as waiting for us to swim back from the other side of the bay - I am not fit! we didn't see any sharks but another woman on the boat did. I could see instantly that we would be here every day until we saw a shark - I wasn't sure whether to be excited or scared!

Wednesday we had a relaxing day as we were worn out from the previous days swimmming and I dont think the sunburn on my back was helping! Besides we needed to plan our approach to shark hunting.

Thursday was shark day. We got up at 6.30, hired a kayak and snorkels and headed for shark bay. After some hunting for the right spot we saw one, and then another and suddenly I felt as if they might be circling us! We snapped with my camera in the waterproof bag but to our dissappointment the above is the best blur of a 'black tipped shark' we managed to capture!

For our final day we decided to check out the rest of the island ... including the magnificant view from the top of two view restaurant (310m high hill) - after trekking up a dirt track that clearly becomes a river in the rain we finally stumbled across a sign to the restaurant (small run down huts with hippy type locals just hanging out) and so we stopped for a cup of tea. Then the rain began!! After the most delicious thai green curry and more hot beverages we decided to give the view from the top of the hill a miss (a friendly german informed us it wasn't worth the effort and it was raining gecko's and monkeys) and trecked home .. down the river!

Time to leave and after many days deliberation we agreed to throw the budget out of the window and booked the slow boat (4 quid) over the night boat (2 quid). After 3hrs of hanging about waiting for our boat we finally worked out it wasn;t running when we stepped onto the fast boat (free upgrade). Although having heard the horror stories from the passengers disembarking and watched the previous captain almost sink the pier ... any hope for a calm crossing didn't really exist. I was pleased to reach the other side without being ill and keeping my flip flops clean.

01.07.09 Cameron Highlands

So... we planned a non touristy route from the jungle to our next destination in the highlands by public bus / train. The sole purpose of this was to avoid usiong a 'tour company' that had a direct minibus for ten pounds each (extortionate in Malaysia) whom we had decided we didn't like. Any way two very cheap bus rides landed us on the wrong side of the highlands and the normal story of 'there are NO buses... but you can get there in a taxi' .... lets just say we ended up paying more than the tour company wanted back in the jungle!

Two waterfalls and a lot of rubbish:

- On the first day we decided to trek to the nearby waterfalls... one 1 hour away and the other 2 hours. Maps, distances and directions here are a figment of the imagination - after a couple of hours and walking along paved paths that are more dangerous than the natural terrain we had seen enough of both of the mudddy torrents that spawned plastic and nappies over some rocks and called it a day. Tomorrow we would attempt Gunung Brinchang at a staggering 6666ft.

Gunung Brinchang was awesome... the cooler weather of the highlands (trousers and jumpers at times) made this 2 hr hike / climb to the summit a great trip through mossy woodlands and along treacherous arretes - the views from the top were awesome (excluding the television aerials). As we wanted to stop into BOH tea plantation http://www.boh.com.my/ on the way back to the hostel we decided to take the road down the mountain instead of the goats path we had followed on the way up.

We stopped at the tea centre and spent the rest of the days budget on tea and cheese buns (we would have gone all out for scones but these were 10p more). The tour was brief but provided sufficient information to process the tea leaves that had brushed off the plants into our pockets on the way home.

28.06.09 Jungle Fever, Taman Negara

From Kuala Lumpur we took a bus to Jerantut where we were able to transfer to a long boat to motor up the Tembeling river to the Taman Negara National Park Rainforest. It was a very relaxing way to travel and made you feel like you were going to the middle of nowhere.

After settling ourselves in our room we got a map of the walks in the area and wondered how we would ease ourselves in to jungle trekking. We thought we would have one easy day to figure it out and then do a two day trek with a stay in a hide overnight. Unfortunately the hide was only available for the next night so there would be no easy day and we would be thrown in at the deep end. We set off in the morning starting with the canopy walk - a rope walk up in the tree tops - very cool. Then at about 10.30am it was into the main hike. We were on a route which loosely follows the river and therefore crosses a number of tributaries - as we found out this meant a lot of up and down!! We were on our own which we felt fairly happy about but after a couple of hours realised we really were on our own - we hadn't met anybody - and luckily hadn't met any of the tigers or panthers either (although kind of would have liked to seen one!). After another couple of hours we were sure we should have reached the one landmark that was on our sketchy map.....but there was nothing, were we on the right track?! And then out of the jungle appeared a couple of concrete steps.. a sign of the right track, and then came the bridge over the river, brilliant we musn't be far from the hide then. We decided to stop on the bridge as this was the only place we could be sure the leeches wouldn't try to scale our boots and latch on- eww, horrible little things. Unfortunately we had not really taken a proper break before now and I had forgotten to eat and drink enough in comparison to the sweltering heat and humidity! I started to feel a little bit special once the adrenaline stopped going and had to lie down on the bridge and drink some water before we could get going again! I think Charlie was wondering what on earth he would do with me!

Off we went feeling refreshed. After another while trekking we met a mass group of about twenty - some of them seemed slightly concerned that we were without a guide, it turned this was because they had just picked up a man who had been lost in the jungle for 4 days - and he looked like he had been in a fight with a tiger! Anyway we made it to the hide and were first there of the 12 people who were booked into it. It was a fantastic place to stay with views over a salt lick. Unfortunately we didnt see any big animals - I think with the amount of noise our group was making, there never was any chance! There lots of fireflies which look beautiful. After a dinner of cheese pringles and raisin bun I settled into my wooden bunk above Charlie but I was woken at midnight by the thunder, lightening and heavy rain. The idea of wading through the river the next day suddenly didnt seem so appealing!

We decided to walk back the same way the next day with three other english people we met at the hide, apart from being stalled in our tracks by a couple of wild boar, a snake skin, a monitor lizard, blisters and a few leeches we made it back to the comfort (and shower) of our hotel room.

We had an amazing time in the jungle. Jungle Boogie!!

21.06.09 Beijing

We had a wicked week in Beijing. It started as we got on a flight full of potential swine flu carriers. When we landed at the airport the health officials were rightly cautious and fumigated the plane before they came on to scan all our head temperatures. We were then allowed off the plane and again scanned before they would let us in. We finally got there and decided to spend some of our first day in the forbidden city - as it turns out the forbidden city is massive and needs a whole day! Charlie decided to treat me to a vegetarian dinner - vege pigeon, vege fish, vege beef...mmm!!

The next day we decided to go modern and visited the olympic complex. We took some photographs... and then charlie took some more..., nipped inside the water cube and then went away for dinner and decided to go back to see them lit up at night.... and charlie took a lot more pictures!! (I shouldn't joke they are all very good!)

On wednesday we decided to have an easier day as over the last two days we seemed to have walked about 15km and wanted to make sure we were ready for the great wall. We went to the Temple of Heaven and the ancient architecture museum... and walked a lot in between!

Thursday was the great wall of China. We organised to go with the hostel who take you to a bit which is unrepaired. We did not have the minimum 3 people required but managed it anyway so off me, Charlie, the guide and the driver went. After arriving at the local village a local farmer made lunch for us. I had not been feeling great the previous day and so wasn't feeling like much. The first three plates looked lovely and plenty food for us all but by the time she brought the 10th plate out I was wondering when she would stop! After a rest to let our feast go down we went to the wall. It is pretty immense and seeing it wind off into the distance was brilliant.

19.06.09 Kuala Lumpur

After a few hours on the train and a temperature check at malaysian borders we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. We visited the petronas towers with a full free 3 minutes on the bridge with views over the city! (followed by boring promotional videos) We went up another observation tower to get a different view on the city and then walked miles! Enjoyed the food at the street markets and planned our next move.

16.06.09 Singapore

Charlie and Wes had an awesome time surfing their way across Bali and Java. It was time for me to join them in Singapore. I just about managed to recognise Charlie at the airport with his long locks, beard and moustache! They gave me a whirlwind tour of Singapores sights and then we sadly had to say goodbye to wes as he went back to work.