End of the road...

Last stop...Melbourne!! <3

Sooo we have arrived at our final destination and i'm sad already! Just got off our plane where i cried because an old guy was waving his granddaughter off at the airport...Oh god I'm gonna be an emotional wreck here..cannot believe this is the end!!!!!

So we've booked ourselves into a cool hostel called Home @ Mansion it was a former Mansion converted into a hostel and it's fab!! Went up to our room were we met a scouse girl! So we were chatting to her for ages! We took the free tram into the city but we could have walked because our hostel is 2 mins away from the centre. We had a good look around and went and bought some supplies for our last few days! So we have spent the last few days going to the museum's and seeing all the cultural sides of Melbourne, we went to the biggest backpacker bar and met up with a guy from Singapore and an Aussie we had a few beers with them then headed back to the hostel.

Tonight we decided to get a tram to St Kilda where you can see a colony of the smallest penguins in the world in their natural habitat! we got the tram down thier ealr and to our surprise after looking arounf for 5 mins we got to see a family of penguins all cuddles up between some rocks! They were soooo cute :D then as it became dusk more people began to arrive on the beach, as we were all looking out to the sea waiting for the penguins to come in 2 little fellas came swimming in and then ran as fast as a penguin can and ran into the rocks to keep warm! It was one of the cutest things we have ever saw, and soo cool because it wasn't in a zoo or anything just sitting on the beach watching them! After seeing many clambering upon the rocks trying to find a warm spot we couldn't stay much longer as we were so cold! So we got the tram back into the city centre and went to watch some of the Olympics were us 'pommys' as the Aussies call us won a gold medal for the rowing woohoo go Team GB!! It was getting late so we headed back to our hostel for our last nights sleep away from home booho!! Today we visited the Famous Victoria Market and got some souvenirs and headed to Melbourne Airport to fly back home :(

We cannot believe our trip has ended..We really have had the time of our lives and have had the best experiences ever..Walking with Tigers, to Elephant Trekking through the jungle, Tubing in Vang Vieng, partying until the sun rise at the Full Moon party, eating Crickets in Bangkok, Seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Skydiving in New Zealand, Driving both island of New Zealand in a Camper, Getting the Camper stuck in snow haha, Sailing on a Yacht around the Whitsunday Islands Australia, Seeing Whales, Dolphins, Sharks, Sting Rays, Little Penguins and Turtles in Australia and Seeing the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House! That's just a few to mention! We have met some of the funniest craziest people that we will probably ever meet, and hopefully made some friends for life! Possibly the Best 6 and a Half months of our lives!!! Looking forward to getting home now to see all our family and friends...and hopefully planning the next trip hehe!!! :D xxxxx

Gem n Ben :D xxx

Liverpool - Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - Cambodia - Thailand - New Zealand - Australia - Liverpool !!!

30th Jan 2012   -  4 Aug 2012!!

World Famous Sydney!

When we arrived at Sydney we realized we were staying in the party district! Meaning we weren't going to get very much sleep for the next few days :-(. The hostel we were staying in was reasonable and we decided to just cook up some tea watch a film and have an early night so we could get up and out early tomorrow and go exploring!

The next day we headed into the center of Sydney to get some snaps of the world famous Opera House, The Bridge and the royal botanical gardens! The weather was clear and sunny for a winters day (unlike ours!) We seen signs for a free cruise along Sydney Harbor to a nearby island filled with art exhibitions so we thought it was worth a try! The cruise was great and the exhibitions were strange but it was well worth going for the photos of the bridge from on the river :-) That night we chilled out again and realized the Olympics would be starting at 6 a.m. so we were probably going to have to get up for that! The opening ceremony started and Gem was wide awake for the whole thing despite really being remotely interested in the Olympics! :-S I woke up to see Team GB and Paul McCartney play a few tunes (just in time!).

Off out again we went to Paddy's market. We grabbed some much needed souvenirs from this place but wont be saying what they are on this blog because there surprises for family back home ;-). Afterwards we headed over to China town where we got stuck into some cakes and pies and all kinds of tasty stuff! We had dinner in china town and started the long walk back to the hostel!

The next days plan was to head to the famous Bondi Beach where the program 'Bondi Rescue' is filmed. There was a bus that took you directly to the place for a couple of dollars from outside the hostel. For a pretty overcast day Bondi was pretty scenic! We walked down the pier and got some snaps of the place before treating ourselves to good old fish and chips! Felt a bit like Blackpool for a millisecond but it passed...

Our time is Sydney was coming to an end and we were soon packed up and on our way to the aiport to catch ANOTHER flight to the last stop....Melbourne!

Surfers Paradise!

Brisbane!

We have been excited for Brisbane for a while partly due to it being a cool city with all kinds to do...partly cos our fab Irish friends that we met in Asia live here and have invited us to stay with them for the week yay!
So after stepping off the plane and being pleased that the weather was still pretty good we boarded the train and set of to Wooloongabba where the girls have a house! We arrived in Brisbane central and had a walk around it looked soo pretty at night  all lit up :D then we got on the bus to the girls house! We arrived and the fab Jean had gave us her bedroom and made up a delicious chicken and broccoli bake yummy!! We had lots of chocolate beer and crisps and waited for Jayne and Lorraine to come home from work, once we were all together we sat around catching up on travels as the last time we were all together was in Vietnam! We stayed up chatting and met the 2 other girls Michelle n Eva who also lived there and they were lovely too! as we had been traveling all day we were soo tired n went to bed so we could get up early and explore tomorrow!

Today we decided to go and explore Brisbane, its a big city that reminded us a bit of Liverpool! The Southbank was gorgeous and they were filming Masterchef live on the esplanade! (Masterchef is bigger then Xfactor here) After watching them film for a bit we realized there was a competition on so it didn't take long for me to want to get involved lol! You had to separate egg yolk from the white add whisk as fast as possible until you could lift it above you head without it  falling outta the bowl! Three people would win hehe! I WON YAAAYYY!!! i was made up cheering and everything...then i got to take my prize home..a Masterchef apron hahaha!! Oh well it was deffo worth the laugh :D. We spent the rest of the day wandering around shopping and sight seeing with Jean and Lorraine. That night we bought some Kangaroo
 burgers and loads of food n beer for the barbie and spent the night having a BARBIE Aussie style!! We all stuffed our selves with beer and kangaroo burgers and relaxed ahead of tomorrows Sunday all day drinking session!

Sunday had been planned before we arrived and it was going to be a full day drinking day lol! So we all had a good brekkie and cracked opened the beers..at 12pm! Needles to say it was a good day/night we took the bus into Brisbane and went to the Normanby Hotel a cool outdoor bar with a great atmosphere we stayed there all night until we went the Vic (the girls local) Then after it being a long day we headed to Hungry Jacks aka burger King! We went home laughing after a crazy day and decided we didn't want to leave Brisbane at all haha!

Next day everyone woke up feeling a little worse for wear! We only had two days left here so while the other lounged around or went to work we had to go n sight see lol! what a hard life! We went to the museum and cultural centre which was really cool for learning about the aboriginal culture of Australia. After having a wander around we somehow ended up in a theatre watching a musical for free!! Were still not sure how we managed it haha! the musical was really good, one that had recently been written in Australia and was hoping to make iot big internationally! We will have to keep a look out for it! afterwards we went back to the girls house had a domino's and relaxed on the sofa..Bliss after staying in hostels for 2 months haha!

Awww today is our last day! We fly to Sydney tomorrow afternoon. We decided to go up the Gold Coast to Surfers Paradise. A famous beach were the waves are great for surfing! As always we didn't want to do things the easy way and go with a tour agency we decided to get there ourselves on public transport! so after a bus, 2 trains and a bus, we made it!! It was beautiful and the waves really were huuugee!!! We watched some surfers and the skill they have is unbelievable! It really felt like awe were in Australia now watching people surf on the beach haha! We spent the day at Surfers and went back to the girls to get ready for the cinema tonight..the Dark Knight rises woohoo!!! After one cinema selling out we walked to the next one which we luckily got tickets! We piled up with sweets and goodies and watched the film....Amazing! We went home had beers talked and laughed more and then all went to bed after a crazy couple of days!!

Today we leave the girls...boohoo!!! We have had a ball didn't wanna move on, but then we realized we were going onto Sydney and got all excited to see the Harbor bridge n Opera House! something I've been excited about seeing since we arrived in Oz! We got seen off by Jayne and after saying some sad goodbyes we left for Sydney!!!!!

Our place at Bush Village!

Airlie Beach again and onto Brisbane!

We got the bus up to Brian and Judys place - Bush Village where we would be lounging about for the next few days getting over our sailing trip! We moved to bush village to volunteer for accommodation and it really turned out to be a good idea! We had to do a few hours work in the morning (Gem cleaning and making up the rooms for the guests and I was doing the odd jobs about the hotel). They really treated us well giving us an apartment to ourselves including on-suite kitchen, bathroom and dining room! We were made up and thought it was the best place we had stayed the whole trip! We went for a wander into town a few days to try and get some clothes for our trip to Brisbane where we would be meeting the Irish girls we had met in Thailand. We managed to save a lot of our budget by doing the volunteering and would be able to fly to all of our next destinations! Brian and Judy were great hosts treating us to beers in their living room and watching movies with them in the night (feeling like true Australians!). We were gutted to be leaving but excited to be meeting up with the girls again and staying in their home. As usual Brian went out of his way to drive us to the port where we would be getting a boat to Hamilton Island Airport where we would catch our flight to Brisbane Airport. We shook hands and said farewell and hopefully we will see them again some time soon!

Whitehaven Beach

Sailing on the Whitsundaaays!!

Well this is the trip we have been waiting for... The Whitsunday Island trip!

Soo we got up early and took at walk down to the pier with the Swedish girl we met at the hostel. We had a box of 30 beers and a bottle of wine...too much for 2 days...we don't think so lol! As we arrived at the port we had to wait for our boat...We got given our wetsuits and had to sign disclaimer forms to say if we dies scuba diving it wasnt the boat company fault..aww gr8! After being given our wetsuits and ben laughing cos i was the only person on the boat to get an 'Extra Short Suit' we walked down to the boat. Our's was a yellow green and white Maxi Yatch called the Apollo. It was really cool and we went down to our rooms under the deck! In our room their was us to 2 German girls, 1 Dutch 1 Russian girls, and 2 Welsh lads...who would turn out to be the funniest people on the boat! They had bought 28 litres of Goon!!! Now Goon.....is a disgusting form of wine..made from FISH and EGGS don't ask me how or why but it is! it is sold in boxes of 4 liters and tastes like absolute crap! One box of it and your bladderd....they had bought 7 boxes for 2 people for 2 days haha!!!!! No one could believe it...they said they were going to try and set a world record haha!!! So we got sailing along the sea and it was amazing, me and Ben helped to sail the boat which was a really cool experience as we didn't realise so much effort had to go into sailing a yacht!When we got to our first stop the deck hand on the boat..who was a typical Aussie...long blonde curly hair, tanned skin, shark tattoo on his belly and always says...."Duuuddee' haha i told him he sounded like the turtles from Finding Nemo and he thought it was hilarious but it actually true! He asked who would like to be the first to go Scuba Diving, me n Ben said we would go first! It was amazing, such a great experience we learned how to equalize and use the mask and everything and we went into the deep blue sea to see what we could find! We saw some amazing fish and Coral and it went so fast before we knew it we were heading back up to the surface again! Afterwards we had tea on the boat and the drinking started...Everyone was drunk before tea was even served..2 Asian people where bladdered and in bed by 6:30pm!! We all stayed up untill about 12:30AM drinking and playing cards and drinking games, the Welsh lads had 2 boxes of goon, spewed up and were in bed by 8pm haha! We spent the night talking to Vince and Julian 2 French guys who were really funny and Julian was the SPIT absolute image of Captain Jack Sparrow!!!

Next day we got up a few people really rough and red faced and we sailed to another island called pearl island and we went snorkeling, we saw some amzing fish and coral once again! We basically spent the whole of the second day in the sea snorkeling, in the afternoon we went to Whitehaven beach! One of the most beautiful beaches on the world! It really was beautiful but unfortunately the weather was bad and we couldnt get any good pics! We spent a few hours running around on the beach ion our wetsuits and we saw, Sharks and Sting Rays swimming past our feet argh!!! In the afternoon we got back on the boat with the weather being miserable everyone wanted to stay below deck but we thought it was better to stay on deck even if it meant getting wet as we wanted to see everything and not miss out! The Captain of the boat was laughing at us and said he thought we were crazy but great lol! It payed off for us siiting up on the deck though because to our surprise we got to see a WHALE, DOLPHINS and TURTLES!!! it was amazing and we couldn't believe how lucky we were! The Captain let Ben drive the Boat and he went inside and just left us to it! Afterwards he asked Ben to fish from the side of the boat and if he caught anything we could have it for tea, unlucky for us we didn't catch anything but it was still fun trying! That night we had our tea and had another party on the boat Welsh lads were still trying to drink thier goon but they had admitted defeat there was no way they could drink it all before they got off the boat haha! After another night drinking playing card and drinking games we all went to sleep knackered and cold but happy! That night the baot was rocking crazily and everyone struggles to sleep. At 6am in the morning the boat crew put Metallica on full blast to wake us all up arrgghh haha what a way to start ya day lol! One of the crew was really funny and kept screaming in an Aussie accent 'Sailing on the Whitsundays' about once everyone half an hour! We went snorkiing ina place called turtle bay which was lovely! We got given a speed boat ride back to the Yacht and had our last lunch together! We were all gutted to be getting off the boat after such a fun few days!

We spent the morning watching dolphins jumping outta the water and drinking beer and listening to Johnny Cash whilst 'Sailing in the Whistsundays!' Amazing!!!!!!! Couldn't have asked for a better three days! After getting off the boat we made our way back to the hostel and got changed and ready for the after party! All 30 of us from the boat met us and had a meal together in a bar and then went out to say goodbyee! After a great laugh we all headed home cos we were soo tired from the past 3 days!

View from our Hostel!

Airlie Beach!

After leaving Magnetic Island and getting a bus, ferry and coach to Airlie Beach we were shattered! We cooked up some of our special fried rice and met our room mates in our dorm. 2 of the guys were from Canada and were telling us funny stories about how one of them had a fight with an Australian girl with the result being getting slapped in the face with a steaming hot steak and kidney pie! The other was a Swedish girl who we were about to get on the Apollo boat with and sail on the Whitsunday islands. We had an early night and got our drink supplies from the local bottle-o and packed our bags ready for our 3 day - 2 night sailing trip!

Magnetic Island Sunset

Magnetic Island!

After a beautiful boat ride over from Cairns we arrived at the beautiful Magnetic Island! It was a beautiful day and it was like something from paradise! We got the local bus sround the island and arrived at our hostel Base (party hostel lol.)  We decided to have a wander around the island so we stepped out of or hostel and onto the beach where there was a 5km stretch of golden sand...Bliss! We spent the afternoon strolling along the beach and talking to a few Aussies who advised us where to go what  to do ect. That night we went to our hostel and treated ourselves to a meal at the restaurant it was delicious!! We had some cocktails and watched the sun setting on the beach it was a beautiful way to end the night!

Next day we got up early to see the sun rising unfortunately it was too cloudy, so we had brekkie and set off for today's walk up a mountain! We decided we would do this as there uis a chance to see wild Koala's and there is a lot of history from ww2 on the mountain! 1 litre of water 2 peanut butter sandwiches later we made it to the top woohoo!! The view was great as we could see the whole of the island! on the way up we got to see the ammunition houses for the guns of ww2 and the gun stands where the Aussies used to shoot as the Japanese ships trying to invade. It was all really interesting and we made our way down the mountain unfortunately we didn't see any wild Koala's! That night we packed up all our stuff and got ready to leave for our boat early in the morning. We stayed up swapping stories and laughing with the 8 people in our dorm and then went to sleep night night!

Cairns Esplanade -The place for a BBQ!

Arriving in OZ - First stop Cairns!

The flight from NZ was easy enough and a free shuttle transfer to our hostel was just what we needed - no worries mate! We stayed in our own room in cairns which was a nice change and we sampled the night life on arrival...as usual! We ended up going out with a guy from Newcastle and his girlfriend from London. From what we can remember it was a good night and apparently one of the best places to 'party' in Australia! We realized pretty early on that we would be staying in Cairns for a while because the weather was so good so we had a look around for some work for accommodation! With a bit of luck Gem got a job the same day we started looking which was basically an hour of cleaning a kitchen followed by mopping two floors. Our accommodation was now half price and Gem didn't mind doing the graft while I done my master chef thing and cooked up our meals! We spent the next week or so saving up and sunning ourselves on the beaches. We had a couple of BBQ's on the nights and booked our trip with the local tour agents. We would be heading into the rainforest just north of Cairns called Cape Tribulation. The day of the tour came and we were up and out early, taken to a number of walks through the rainforest watching dingo's (small kangaroos), a hidden beach and a Aboriginal show in the jungle also. We had dinner in cape tribulation were we ate Coral fish and chips which were delicious! It was a long day so cooking wasn't on the menu that night and we went to the local Irish Pub for the meal deals - Guinness Pie, chips and Steak!. The next day we were off again to visit a place called Magnetic Island which Captain Cook sailed past and named due to his compass reading strange directions!

Goodbye NZ...It was fun!

Leaving NZ...:-(

After returning to Auckland we were on the wind down to leaving NZ and starting our next part of the trip in Australia starting in Cairns - a north eastern city of australia in Queensland. We visited a few of the last attractions Auckland had to offer and packed our bags sorted the shuttle and were on our way before we knew it. Goodbye NZ it was fun while it lasted!

Geysers in Rotorua!

Rotorua Maori Cultural Village

So we arrived at the Maori Culture capital of New Zealand, we booked into our hostel which was right in the heart of the action, great news for us no walking miles with backpacks lol! We set off out n took a walk down to the local Maori village. We gatecrashed someone else guided tour and learnt all about the village it was discovered in the late 1800's. We wandered around and got talking to a few of the locals who were more than happy to discuss Maori culture and heritage it turned out to be a really interesting afternoon. Afterwards the sun was shining so we decided to take a walk along the lake it was a lovely walk where we saw black swans and beautiful fish we kept on walking until we came to a secluded little beach that no one seemed to know about! it was beautiful just a small beach but it was soo quiet and beautiful and we were the only ones there...Amazing! We decided we had a hard day adn took a walk back to our hostel where it was free pizza night woohoo!! We kept quiet that we had al;ready been to the Dominoes next door n had a pizza already hehe and stuffed ourselves with as much free pizza as possible haha! Then we chilled out watching movies, eating pizza and drinking beer with a Dutch guy and a guy from Columbia all swapping traveling stories and having a laugh! Then it was bedtime Goodnight :D xxxxxx

Next day we went to the Maori cultural centre called Te Pui. We had a tour around the place it was really cool the first thing our guide taught us was how to say his home towns tribal name .......Taumata­whakatangihanga­koauau­o­tamatea­turi­pukakapiki­maunga­horo­nuku­pokai­whenua­kitanatahu!! Yes it was hard to say and no we cant remember how to say it now haha!! We saw Kiwi birds which were really cute and we went to see the geysers which were amazing! Geysers are due to volcanic eruptions underground and make huge jets of steam and water burst out of the ground! It was amazing!! It was hard to believe it was natural and not man made but the guide explained how it all worked to us and we were impressed! After me asking the guide a million and one questions our tour ended! he was really cool and explained to us all about his tribe took us into their village hall and explained their way of life..he also told us that he was going out hunting tonight wow! After trying to hitchhike home (but no one would pick us up...we must have loked bad haha) We got the local bus back. That night we went out to a local farmers market in the middle of the village, it was great with lots of yummy food n arts and crafts made tbe the locals! we got talking to a lady who sold homemade garlic sauce and houmus and fresh pitta bread she was asking us all about our travels ect and liked us so much she said we could have as much of her tasters as we wanted for free and then gave us to cups of homemade lentil soup which was delicious, and told us we could take home a pot of garlic cream and bread for free wow!! We were made up because it was so delicious :D after trying some more samples of bread cheese ect hehe, we went to the local pub where we made friends with the barmaid she was from Wales and she gave us free drinks all night haha! We couldn't believe our luck! after our drinks and watching the rugby we went home happy full and tired and went to bed!

Auckland

Got to Auckland eventually and extended the lease on the van because we couldn't bear to part with it! Had dinner in the car park, it was delicious but we looked mental as usual. Aucklands main draw is the Sky Tower which happens to be the tallest building south of the equator. Inside there was a casino bar and restaurant. We werent allowed in the poker room because we looked too scruffy so we observed the games in the casino instead! Grabbed some sweets and watched films in the van! We gave our lovely van back the next day said our farewells and hopped the bus back to town. We stayed in the Ymca hostel and had our own room! Bliss! After speaking to a French couple who thought we were German we had dinner with two Irish people who told us to get to Father Teds 24 hour bar to drink the home brew beer and watch the all blacks play Ireland. After a close game Ireland lost by one point and everyone in the pub was going mental. The atmosphere was electric even though Ireland lost there were plenty of happy kiwis!! So we had a few beers and watched the amazing live band :-) then we got talking to an Irish lad called Johnny and his two mates, we went around Auckland drinking n having a laugh and at 5am we got the standard kebab for the way home n got a taxi home...which we could have walked in 5 mins! Massive hangovers the next day so we done nout! We decided to go and see the geysers and culture in Rotorua (the Maori capital of NZ) so we booked our bus and off we went!

Taupo and LOTR scenery!

We were up early today and had look around the local museum. Back in the van and started the five hour drive to Taupo, home of NZ's biggest lake. The scenery along the way was nothing short of breathtaking and we were alone most of the way. We were sure we had seen the mountains and ranges in the Lord of the rings films! When we arrived in Taupo you couldn't miss the lake. It was a nice clear day and we wandered around the town. Stocking up in the supermarket and finding a hostel to get washed and cook some food in and realising Ireland would be playing the all blacks tonight! We had some Tui's with dinner and found an Irish bar to see the game in. Its been 39 years since Ireland has beaten the all blacks and we soon saw why. They were pretty good. The Haka at the start which is a Maori cultural dance was amazing aswell and really got the crowd going. Ireland lost and the bar was packed anyway so we stayed out and can't remember what time we got back the van! We were awoken by what sounded like loads of people outside and it turned out we were right. We'd parked in the middle of a weekend market and it was in full flow! We had a chat to the local llama farmer and butchers. We got some sausages for dinner and taste tested everything on offer :-). After cooking

Windy Welly

After staying in kaikoura and being told the weather was too bad to go swimming with wild dolphins (another problem! :-( ) we drove to seal bay were wild seals lazed about in the morning sun and getting really angry when you go near them! After that we drove to Neston to get the ferry to Wellington, NZ's capital city. We parked the bacon wagon in the car park on the boat and went upstairs for dinner and a walk around. Ben got sea sick because the boat swayed everywhere and went on deck and got talking to the locals. The locals told him about how Peter Jackson had bought some land in Wellington and built some houses and showed him where they were. The ferry across the strait was pretty quick and we were back in the wagon and in Welly quick as. We parked up in the centre and went out to sample the night life because apparently it was one of the best places to go. We walked down the bar street and found a nice place with a fire beer bands and house wine :-D perfect! After a few local brews we were back in the van and fast asleep.

The Day from HELL!

Today we got our Campervan!! But first we had to wade through knee deep snow to get to the office. Its a jucy one which means it's purple, green and orange with a hot chick called juicy Lucy on the front, really easy to blend in like ha! We got to the rental place n it began to snow, we were going through all the important/boring stuff n the woman tells us she thinks it would be a good idea for us to also hire snow chains! We thought this through....n decided nah we can do without them...$40 think how much other cool stuff we could buy! The woman didn't look very impressed n said she thinks we would be silly not to hire them especially the route we were taking, so we ummed n ahhed n reluctantly decided to take them, little did we know what a good idea it would turn out to be! After driving for an hour or so the snow was getting thicker n heavier, and we were in the middle of nowhere. As we drove through a load of open fields and up a hill our bacon wagon (as it was later lovingly named) got stuck!! Oh no...literally stuck on snow n ice in a hill with a campervan! Ben was as cool as a cucumber n i started freaking out i was convinced we would die on the mountain! We were stranded in the middle of nowhere,with no one or nothing around for miles! So here's where the heroic snow chains come in...oh yeah but we forgot one thing...we didn't know how to put them on!! After me being knee deep n Ben lying in the snow in just a tee shirt we had them on in some fashion n we decided to go for it,1..2..3.... The car wouldn't move n inch it was really stuck! We looked around and laughed Haha what else could we do! Next minute we heard a noise and in the distance we could see a tractor coming this way! Woohoo! After the famer struggling also with the snow chains, he digs us out with his tractor! We said thanks and waved as we drove off into the deepest snow we have ever saw! We had to carry on as we were in the middle of nowhere n we thought it was pointless going back so we went for it. We drove down another road where we followed another campervan for a few miles until he turned around thinking it was too dangerous...but we cracked on! After driving about 20mins we had the nightmare of trying to get the snow chains back off which meant more lying in the snow! After getting them off we drove for about 10mins when the car drifted nearly off a cliff n we missed crashing into a bollard by inches! It was too close for me n i started freaking out Haha! We drove further down the road when a huge tree had fell blocking the road so we decided thee bacon wagon would probably drive over it if we reversed and hit it at top speed. Luckily it did. We carried on further n got stuck in the snow once again, 2 metres away from us some fella had rolled his car into a ditch n was getting winched out by some helpful locals! Snow chains back on then...lying in the snow...fingers frozen brrrr! After talking to the locals they told us that this road had actually been closed as it was that dangerous but the snow must have covered the sign. They said they had never seen anything like this, i was Sooo cold i thought my fingers would fall off, and this woman felt sorry for us n give me a hug n told us if we get stuck we are welcome to stop over at her place! They were lovely but we wanted to get out of this weather before it got worse, the locals helped us out of the snow n literally escorted us to near a main road as they had land rovers to help us out if needed, they all told us to be careful as they couldn't believe we'd made it this far in a campervan. We thanked them for being so kind!

After all the madness we eventually reached a motorway where it was a bit clearer, we were soaked..tired n cold n we still had a 3hr drive to do...!

We finally reached Kaikoura and got our tea! Just as luck would have it, turns out this towns electric had been turned off because of the weather n everything was shutting at 7:30pm it was now 7 grrr! We went to a chippy where we got a well deserved fish n chips with a half price pie n 2 free sausage rolls, yes i know it sounds loads and it was, but after the day we'd had we deserved it Haha! After stuffing ourselves till we felt sick the lecky went off n we watched a movie n slept on the street in our campervan! What a crazy day!!

Christchurch Earthquake

We jumped the naked bus to Christchurch and stayed in New Brighton, one of the few places not destroyed by the massive earthquake. It was a quaint sea side village so we headed into the city centre and were shocked to find it had been destroyed. The whole city had been ruined and barriers placed everywhere. There were no cars or people and it was like ghost town. The road had been cracked and crumpled and the windows had fell out of buildings. The cities main feature was St Peters cathedral which had been destroyed beyond repair (so they say). However, there is alot of controversy surrounding the issue and people are protesting regularly to rebuild it. It was shocking to see and it was like trying to imagine Liverpool abandoned as it was once a thriving city. After we seen the destruction we looked online n found that everyday for the last ten days there had been earthquakes in the Christchurch area. The only place open was the local library so we headed back to the hostel and got off at the wrong stop (Bens fault) but seen alot of houses abandoned through the earthquake. It was sad to see so many homes abandoned and destroyed. We went the pub that night to play poker ans spoke to the locals who told us that snow was due the next day...the day we will be leaving (hopefully we'll miss it!).

Dunedin - The Edinburgh of NZ

Sooo after recovering from our terrifying but brilliant Skydive we spent the next day chilling out and booked our bus to Dunedin. After a night relaxing and sat in the tv lounge watching 3 lord of the ring films :-0 we went to bed.

Next day we got up early and made the long walk to bus stop where we would be getting the 'naked bus'. We got on the bus and prepared ourselves for the 5hour journey. Surprisingly the buses here were more sickly than in Asia and it was a long journey! After taking in the beautiful scenery and fighting the urge to spew we made it to the student town of Dunedin! We found ourselves the backpacker hostel in the centre aptly named 'central backpackers'. We stocked up on food and went for a beer and watched ufc :-). The next three days we wandered around the centre of Dunedin and planning the journey North via campervan :-D.

Queenstown for a quick Skydive...

Had a great sleep in the hostel and jumped the bus back to Queenstown were we walked along the lake in the night for some more scenic views and an early night at base backpackers. We decided that a sky dive was a must while we were here and booked ourselves in for the 12,000 foot plunge! They told us today was the best day to do it which we thought was just sales talk but there wasn't a cloud in the sky! We were shuttle to the N-zone building were we were briefed on how to do the banana when you leave the plane and what to do while free falling :-\. After donning our overalls Gem got slightly nervous and had a cry while trying to have a conversation with her tandem partner. I had to wait for my tandem partner to land as he was already mid fall with someone else, the place was like a conveyor belt! He landed and i other harnessed up and we got on plane. Me and Gem sat at the back and soon found out we'd be last off...oh god. As we reached 9000 feet, which seemed high enough, the door opened and the wind howled through the plane. A cameraman climbed out and stood on the wing waiting for a diver to roll out so he could film her! As the last diver was sucked out the plane it finally hit us that we would be next! Gem asked the instructor why the plane was flying backwards not realising she was just sitting the wrong way and looking at the back of the plane and i put my flight hat on backwards! Good start! I went first and my stomach turned for the first time, we shuffled to the door and it opened. We were above the mountains and clouds with my feet dangling out the plane. The sky above us was dark blue almost black and clear as could be. We rocked backwards and forwards twice then frontrolled out the plane and in the sky three times. I seen Gem leave the plane above me and we fell at 200 km per hour. It felt like a second but it was nearly a minute of freefall i looked around at the mountains and heard the wind whistling around us, it was amazing! He deployed the chute and we were sucked upwards, then we had an eagle eye tour of the mountains and lakes of Queenstown. We headed for the landing spot and hit the ground running and full f adrenaline. Gem landed thirty seconds later and we were in shock! We got some photos and had a brew to calm down and was gutted it was over. On the way back to Queenstown we stopped at the airport got our passports back which topped it off. We celebrated with dinner in the locally famous burger shop and had a few beers in the bar. What a day...

Queenstown

After sleeping a night in a cold dark cabin we woke at 3am because we couldn't sleep with the cold. We got up cooked some noodles as we were still on Thai time. We packed r stuff and waited until 6am to go the supermarket n get some brekkie, we bought bread n eggs n teabags n milk. After 3 months of noodles n rice it was the best egg on toast n brew ever Haha!! We left and went to see lake Tekapo it was beautiful! We continued onto Queenstown, we had a quiet night as we still hadn't recoverd from the crazy time.difference we were unsure what day n time it was Haha! The next morning we had to take the car back so we said goodbye to our lil getz, and decided to walk the 5mile walk home to save £7 Haha! When we got.back.it was dark but it was a beautiful walk n the scenery was unbelievable! We went home n.cooked a pizza for tea yummy! We chilled out again n decided to have an early night Cos we had to get the bus to te anau at 7:30am but jet lag had different ideas...4:30am we were both still wide awake with no sleep grrr! We got up packed r stuff when Ben said where are the passports?? Then a horrible feeling struck when we realised we had left them in the car!!!! We couldn't cancel r bus so we decided when we got to te anau we would email the rental place. After arriving we got a bus to Milford sounds which is meant to be one of the nicest places in New Zealand and it was beautiful! Ice capped mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and blue lakes, some of the nicest landscapes we have ever seen!! We got lots of pics and unfortunately we couldn't do the river cruise because the boat got cancelled for the first time ever ha! Unlucky! We wernt that bothered because with no sleep we were both Sooo tired so we got back on the bus for another 4 hour journey back. We got some supplies n made spaghetti bol for tea yummy, we got some drinks n chilled out with everyone else from the hostel, before heading back to r room for a well deserved sleep!!

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BKK --> NZ

We got our bus for Kanchanaburi and met an Irish guy called Mike and arranged to meet for drinks later on as this would probably be the last time we drank in a while :-(. We had a great night from what we can remember and woke up to find pictures of ourselves eating crickets and drinking more buckets....The next day we headed to the local shopping centre were Mike picked up a camera for the start of his travels and we wished we were starting again with him! We had tea that night and ha an early one as the next day we were going to the biggest market in the world apparently! The following day the market was insane and the heat was almost unbearable but we managed to get a few bargains for NZ and some souvenirs. That night we met Mike again and th days were going faster than we thought possible. The next day we packed our bags and sorted our tickets then watched the cinema to see the Avengers which was a surprisingly nice change of scenery. Once again the Thai patriotism surprised us by the whole cinema standing to the national anthem before the film started. That night we got the best sleep we could as the next days journey would be the hardest we'd done to date! 1 bus and 3 trains later we made it to the airport and were checking in our backpacks hoping we'd see them again at the other end. Our flights with Emirates were great both planes were empty so you could have four seats each and the transfer in Sydney was great. Despite the flights we hadn't had much sleep between us and the two hour drive to Lake Tekapo was hard going! Didnt really help that when we got there, there had been a power outage and we went to bed cold and hungry :-(

Scenery at Milford Sounds

Milford Sounds

The jet lag had different ideas and we were both still awake at 4:30am! We got our stuff packed up when Ben said where are the passports?? Then a horrible feeling struck and we realized we had left them in the hire car and we were about to get on a bus and head ten hours the wrong way with no way to pick them up! We would just have to phone the rental place when they opened...After arriving in Milford Sounds which is meant to be  one of the nicest places in the whole of NZ and it was beautiful! Ice capped mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and the bluest lakes, some of the nicest landscape we have ever seen!! We got lots of pics but unfortunately for us (which is a common occurrence for us in NZ by the way) the river cruise had been cancelled through a boat fault for the first time ever! We weren't really that bothered because with having no sleep we were pretty tired anyway and the four hour journey back we managed to get some zeds in :-) We got some supplies from the local shop and had Spaghetti bolognaise for tea which was yummy! We got some drinks and chilled out with everyone else in the hostel after a long day!

Our Open Spa Bath with the stars!

Queenstown

After sleeping a night in the cold dark cabin we woke at 3a.m. because we couldnt handle the cold. We cooked up some noodles as we were still on Thai time, packed our stuff and waited until 6a.m. to go the supermarket and get some breakie. We bought the essentials and went home to have eggs and soldiers which was long awaited after months of rice. We left the cabins and went to see Lake Tekapo which was beautiful! We continued onto queenstown and had a quiet night as we still hadnt recovered from the Jet lag.The next morning we had to take the car back so the little Getz had a good send off and we decided to do the 5 mile walk home along the Lake for a bit of exercise which was very scenic! That night we had booked ourselves in for a spa bath with a view of the stars lit by candles which was going to be pretty romantic! It was lovely and the bath was nice and warm! You could see the mountains and stars and it was a crystal clear night! Perfect! We got home and cooked upto pizza for tea  and chilled out again in the night because the next day we were headed for Milford Sounds at 7:30am!

On the road again in NZ

BKK - - > NZ

We got our bus from Kanchanaburi and met an Irish guy called Mike and arranged to meet for drinks later on as this would probably be the last time we drink in a while :-(. We had a great night from what we can remember and woke up to find pictures of ourselves eating crickets and drinking more buckets than necessary...The next day we headed to the local shopping center were Mike picked up a camera for his travels and we wished we were starting again with him! We had tea that night and had an early one as the next day we were going to the biggest market in the world apparently! The following day the market was insane and the heat was almost unbearable but we managed to get a few bargains for NZ and some souvenirs. That night we met up with Mike again and the days were going faster than we'd wanted :-(. The next day we packed our bags and sorted our tickets then went the cinema to see the Avengers which was a surprisingly nice change of scenery. Once again the Thai patriotism surprised us by the whole cinema standing to the national anthem before the film started! That night we got the best sleep we could as the next days journey would be a hard one 3 trains and a bus to the airport. When we made it to the airport we checked our bags in hoping we would see them again in NZ! Our flights with Emirates were great we had to get a plane to Sydney then transfer on another one to Christchurch and both planes were empty giving us 4 seats each! :-D. Despite the flights we didn't get too much sleep and picked up our Hire car (which was the exact same as Gems back home) and done the two hour drive to Lake Tekapo which turned out to be a hard one! Didn't really help that when we got there there had been a power outage and they couldn't remember the last one they'd had in town! The whole place was in darkness so we got into our dark cold cabin beds and went straight to sleep!

Kanchanaburi & Bangkok...for the last time!

Soooo we arrived in Kanchanaburi with the idea of spending the next four days relaxing by the pool, eating at the sisters and planning our NZ trip in ways we have never done before and it was actually quite scary the thought of leaving S.E. Asia and planning where we have to be and at what date! So now were eating our final Cow Pat Gai and doing our last Thai bus journey to Bangkok and its been emotional! (Gem started crying).

Kanchanaburi & Bangkok

Sooo we arrived in Kanchanaburi with the idea of spending the next four days relaxing in the sun by the pool, eating at the sisters and planning our Nz trip in ways we have never done before and it was actually quite scary the thought of leaving S.E. Asia and planning where we have to be and at what date! So now were eating our final cow pat gai and doing our last Thai bus journey to Bangkok and its been emotional! (Gem started crying).

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Our elephant 'Shirley'

Sangklaburi Yo

So after a four hour bus ride which was supposed to be three but in Thailand nothing is ever on time, we arrived in the middle of the mountains in a much cooler climate which was well deserved. We decided to travel here for an escape of the typical tourist trail what the Thai's call 'farangs'. Apparently it means potato? Anyway we got a moto ride to a guest house with spectacular views of the reservoir and the Mon bridge. We found the night market straight away and got a scooter to explore the hills. We visited the Mon village and seen the local night life. The following day we found what looked like a party in a field which was another local market which sold some pretty random things. From leggings and betel-nut to play-stations and pigs heads! We crossed the Mon bridge and seen the floating village. The Mon people are refugees that fled to Thailand from oppression and abuse in Burma and now unfortunately the Thai government will not grant them Thai rights and are now in a no win situation. Unfortunately the Mon people do not have rights to education, health care and cannot travel out of sangklaburi through border checks forbidding them entering other parts of Thailand. Sangklaburi is known for having the biggest ethnic hill tribe communities throughout Thailand including Mon, Karen and Laotian  tribes so we were excited to explore! We visited the Mon village and souvenir stalls and met a friendly Mon shop keeper nick named 'Yo'. He taught us that Mon used to be a country between Burma and Thailand but 500 years ago through a war it was split between the neighbouring countries therefore making Mon people refugees. Yo served us up some tasty pork rice and spicy basil with Chinese tea for afters. He also taught us some phrases and told us about how himself and his other ten family members live in his small house but the Mon village is his real family. Gem bought a ring carved from elephant bone and we headed back to our guest house to change. That night we booked our elephant trek and bamboo rafting through the jungle for the following day :-D. We started at 9a.m. but managed to get some boiled rice with pork veg and an omelette for breakfast. We sailed down the reservoir through the floating village to where we would be getting a tuk tuk through the jungle. The road was rough but it was worth it because when we arrived two huge elephants were crossing the river to take us on our trek. After getting mobbed by Thai people wanting photos with the westerners we climbed the bamboo ladders onto our elephant. We wandered through the trees and rivers for over an hour taking turns sitting obvious the elephants head and steering her (Shirley gem named her) down the paths. Our tour guide got some great photos and we were devastated when we had to get off :-(. We had dinner and our rafts arrived which we got on and nearly sank straight away which the bamboo captain found hilarious! We floated down the river looking at the picturesque views when suddenly it got abit out of hand. The river soon turned into rapids and the bamboo captain of the raft just ahead was having a bad time! He fell off his raft head first and lost a shoe then tried to jump back on and slid with both feet and landed flat on his back! We thought it was hilarious but he obviously never and was splashing us with his oar and tried to flip our raft. We reached the end of the river and our trip was over back in the tuk tuk we went and we headed back to our guest house. The next day we crossed the bridge and went to see the Gold Pagoda that made the city glow at night which contained Buddha's thumb bone and the local temple where we seen some young monks and a white and jade Buddha statue! We got there just in time before more torrential rain and waited with the young monks for into go off. We had lunch with Yo and he made us the best Mon curry ever! He gave us local bananas for desert along with some green spaghetti looking stuff with milk and sugar in which he couldn't explain in English...We had Chinese tea afterwards and watched Thai 'Take me out' on tv while the rain went off :-). We said our farewells to Yo and headed to the centre for a wander. We went back early to pack as tomorrow would be the four hour bus journey back to Kanchanaburi :-).

Tiger Temple!

Kanchanaburi & The abduction

We arrived after our hell journey to the quieter town of Kanchanaburi. There was a section of the road which resembled the Khoa san of Bangkok where bars where full of Thai women in skimpy clothes shouting 'helllooooo u wan drink?'. Fortunately our hotel was a short walk away and we had the blessing of air con and a nice room :-). We stayed in Sams house for two nights while we got our bearings visited the local night market and found we were the only white people in sight which was a stark contrast from patong. We visited the bridge over the river khwai (pronounces quare!) made famous by a film showing how the Thai prisoners of war built it because of American forces wanting a link between Thailand and Burma. Many people died through malnutrition and mistreatment but nowadays you can get a train along it for 40p per person unless it lashes down and you have to make a quick dash for the nearest coffee shop! And when you arrive at the coffee shop you sit next to a tiger from the local temple and find out where your going the next day! The following days activities got cancelled because of the rain so we hung about in our new hotel 'Pong phen guest house'. The next day we decided to visit the tiger temple where Gem as per usual went dressed in 'innappropriate' shorts and had to buy the strangest pants that would probably fit an elephant! We think they called them fisherman's pants because you could possibly fit his boat in them! At the temple you got to take the tigers for a walk, watch them play and pet them in the shade of a valley. The tigers didn't appear drugged despite claims they are and they all seemed to have some effection for their owners. We got some photos with the tigers and wandered round the sanctuary until the heavens opened and we made our way to the exit. As we left the rain was torrential and 200 meters from the entrance an unsuspecting mini bus driver got himself stuck in what could only be described as a swamp! So next thing me know were up to our knees in mud while another motorbike rider is wheel spinning the bus all over the place. After lodging rocks and branches under the wheels we got him out eventually. We headed back home and it soon stopped raining gem was convinced it was Buddha's doing. We made it home got changed and went to the restaurant we named the sisters for obvious reasons. They made a good sweet and sour not like the one we know! We called it a night and had our plan for the next day ready...it was going to be a long one. Breakfast of chicken fried rice in the sisters and off we went on our 100 mile round trip on a 100cc motor bike in 35° heat. After getting about twenty miles into our trip i was curious as to why the petrol gauge on our bike hadn't moved from half full for the last 12 hours and thought it might be worth visiting a petrol station soon. No more than two miles later our bike was chugging and the tank was empty...in the middle of nowhere...with no idea which way to go. We laughed for abit then seen a pickup truck heading our way...we thumbed him hoping he was Thai, could speak English, had spare fuel and didn't think about taking this opportunity to fleece us of everything we had. In true Thai spirit they were the perfect people you would want to meet when stranded. A humble farming couple who looked as though there truck was on deaths door, they were shoe-less, teeth-less and the biggest smiles you could imagine. They found it hilarious that our petrol gauge didnt work and that this kind of thing happens all the time! Their first idea was flagging a taxi but seens as though there wasn't a cab in sight that wasn't going to happen. The next idea was to syphon the petrol out of his van but he didn't have any either! The third idea was Gem would go with them and come back with the goods in 20 minutes. We know what your thinking and it goes against everything your taught as a toddler but this is Thailand and these people are more likely to take you home and serve you up some chili beef and spicy basil with sticky rice than abduct you. So Gem got in the car and left me with a...'hope i'll see you again....'
Gem - okaay sooo maybe it was a bit dramatic to say that but all in all i was a lil bit nervous haha! So i got in the car (sorry Mum!!) Gettin in a car two people ya don't know Ben forgot to mention the angriest dog in the world was also keeping me company in the car. So i got in the car and sat down well tried to lol there was stuff everywhere...oh yeah an no seat haha! So i sat on whatever i could n we set off. I eyed up two forks on the dashboard at the ready incase they tried anything funny! After being in the car for two mins i new i wouldn't be needing the forks, they really were the nicest people you could meet! The man kept patting my head and asking me questions about England we also had a good conversation about Buddha! We arrived at the petrol station the lady got out and sorted everything for me i just sat while the guy asking do we have Buddha in England i told him we had Jesus he then said amen and made the sign of the cross and laughed ha! Then we made our way back to Ben waiting at the side of the road with the bike. In the way back the guy showed me he had nearly no petrol himself i offer him some money and he wouldn't take it! He patted my head then patted his heart and said no problem you are baby we look after you! The woman then give me the biggest hug ever and smiled from ear to ear! We pulled up next to Ben and gave him the bottles of petrol he filled up and the bike was ready to roll again yay! We offered the couple some money again but they refused,they wished us good luck and watched us drive off, is there no end to these peoples kindness?!!
Ben : We headed to the petrol station and had a coke and walked around to relieve our numb bums from the non-existent seat on our bike. We drove the other twenty odd miles of scenic roads with ease and made it to the seven steps waterfall named Erawan. The waterfall was full of locals having picnics and diving into the cool pools. We headed to the first pool were we saw a monkey grabbing a plastic bag off a woman which was full of picnic supplies! He quickly climbed a tree and sat at the top eating her crisps and nuts cheekily. We headed to the fourth step and swam in the waters and slid down the natural slides of the fall. We took some photos and headed back to our bike because the park was closing. The fifty mile journey back wasn't too bad but we were glad to have the feeling back in our rears :-). We had our dinner in the centre of town and bumped into a French Canadian friend we spent our night at the full moon party with but we left early so we could pack because the next day we will be leaving for sangklaburi which is a border town near Burma.

The fantastic water show...

Patong & Going Back North..

After leaving early from Ko Phi Phi we went to get out boat to Patong. The boat took about two hours and it was by far the WORST boat trip yet! The sea sickness was unbelievable! We kept telling each other to look at the horizon and don't thronk it! Haha. Anyway we finally made it to Phuket and jumped in a mini bus to Patong which was supposed to be the lively part of Phuket. Patong didn't let us down....it was lively and also....super seedy! There was prostitutes and pole dancers everywhere! We had heard of places like this in Thailand but hadn't came across one yet. We found a nice family run hotel not far from the main strip and found ourselves to be next door to a huge superstore called Jung Ceylon. We basically lived out of this place for the next few days as we couldn't find any street food anywhere! We visited the beach which was pretty nice and basically chilled out for the rest of the day.

The next day we had breakfast in the superstore and had a wander round the town to look at the local shops and attractions which were few and far between to be honest!. Patong was basically a stop off point for people heading to Phi Phi and didn't have much in the way of culture or entertainment! We watched a water show in the centre of the shopping mall were we got absolutely drenched! We had the best Tom Kha curry yet off the Thai chefs in the shopping centre which is basically coconut milk and other tasty ingredients! Gem had herself a facial for 6 pound which lasted about an hour and according to her it would of cost alot more if she'd had it done in Liverpool. That night we met up with a couple we had a night out with on the full moon party in Ko Phangan. We went out for a few beers and ended up stumbling home at around five in the morning not remembering a thing!

The next day we got on our way to Kanchanaburi which is West of Bangkok. We booked our bus and psyched ourselves up for the hellish journey that would take around seventeen hours....First of all we bargained with the local tuk-tuk drivers to take us to the bus station which took around half an hour to get to. We then booked ourselves on the next bus to Bangkok (2nd class obviously which we didnt have a clue what it was but it was the budget option!). The bus took a horrible 13 hours to get to the south bus station in Bangkok, Gem didnt get a wink of sleep but i managed to grab a few hours ;-).  At the bus station we had breakfast (around 9.00 am) which was KFC :-). We then got the ten o'clock bus to Kanchanaburi train station which took another 3 hours but was fairly good through having the back seats to ourselves and the mini bus being air conditioned. After getting to Kanchanaburi station we jumped a Tuk-tuk with the friendliest guy we have ever seen! Exactly what we expected and what had been lacked on the islands and south of Thailand :-(. The guy charged us 50p each and we got to our hotel finally safe and sound!!

Paradise....

Ko Phi Phi and The Beach

We took another boat and arrived at Phi Phi we had been looking forward to coming here as we have heard do much about it! This is meant to be one of the most beautiful islands and it is where Leonardo Di Caprio filmed the movie 'The Beach'. We arrived and it was a nice change from Ko Lanta this place was bustling and full of life! We found our hotel called Harmony House and it wasn't to bad for the price, and we went out to get some brekkie! What a change from noodles and rice....They sell PIZZAAAA!! I was soo happy i have been craving a Dominos since i arrived haha! the slices were huge so we got one to share, before heading to an American bar called Breakers to watch some footie and have a few cold drinks! Afterwards we had a wander around the island, it was so small and cute but it was sooo hot and after about 40 mins we needed another drink, so we stopped at the Banana Bar, a really cool chilled out bar made out of Bamboo it was on the roof as well so the views where spectacular! Tonight we decided we would come back here as they showed a movie every night at 7pm! We went back to the room for a shower and change and came back out for tea..Pizza again! When u have been eating rice and noodles for 3months Pizza is a real novelty hah! We went up to the Banana Bar watched the sun go down and got ready for the movie, we met a lad called Mark from Manchester and he sat with us. The movie was Paul, it was great! Afterwards we had a few buckets played Beer Pong and then met a really nice couple from Leeds! We all ended up going out first to the Irish bar then onto a beach party! We had a great night and ended up getting home around half 5! We went to bed with a belly full of pizza...again hehe, and went to sleep!

Next day we relaxed on the Beach...Not the Beach from the Film another beach. We relaxed and eat more pizza and headed to the Banana bar to watch tonight's film...The Beach!! This was cool because we were going to this Beach tomorrow! We watched the film had a few drinks then headed home for and earlyish night for our trip tomorrow!

We got up and got ready for our Trip, we met our guide and the rest of our group it consisted of 6 Thai women and a French family. We got on the long tail boat which resembles a fishing boat, me and Ben got right at the for the best view :D we drove around Phi Phi to Monkey Bay, but there was no Monkey there today oh well we have seen enough monkeys in Asia to last a lifetime! We headed over to Maya Beach (the beach in the film) and we learnt that we had to swim over to it, like they actually do in the film! Ben got lumped with everyone's cameras and phones cos he was the strongest swimmer..(hah he is gonna get a big head) and we had to swim over. Now this sounds simple enough but the waves were huuuge and the current was soo strong, i thought i was gonna drown arrgh! I lost me shoe! And scraped me leg on the coral and have nice black and blue legs now to prove it! We walked through the jungle as they do on the film, which was really cool...there was no dope on this island tho haha! (for anyone who has seen the film.) We arrived at Maya Beach and it was Beeaautifull! Everything you imagine paradise to be, we had an hour to relax here and take in our surroundings. That hour went waaay to fast before we had to make the death swim back to the boat! Well 9 started flapping thinking i wasn't gonna make it and Ben got lobboed with all the stuff again, but thankfully we made it alive and only bruised! We got back to the boat to watch the sunset when our driver informed us that there was no sunset today!! We had to laugh!! You could only get away with saying that in South East Asia! Even he laughed! We said how unlucky we were to come on the day when there was no sunset...he said "no sunset today madame, maybe tomorrow" We  laughed again and to be honest we weren't even that surprised its usual for anything to go completely smooth around here! So we headed back on the boat and found a really nice secluded beach and stayed there for about half an hour before heading back to our Side of Phi Phi. All in all it was a brilliant day apart from the near death experience, and were pretty sure we did see a sun that evening and it definitely was setting...hmmm! We had tea and headed home for a change and freshen up. That night we missed the film but headed to the Banana
Bar later on for Buckets Beer Pong and Flip cup! We had another crazy night at a beach party and got in about 5ish again! We had to  get up and on the boat for 9am oops! We got on feeling a little tired and seasick, and made our way to Phuket! We loved Ko Phi Phi and had such a good time! Maybe one day we can go back :D x

Ko Lanta

So after anotheeerr boat journey we arrived at Ko Lanta, a quiet fishing village in the South of Thailand. We got there and booked a bungalow on the beach, it was made of bamboo and was pretty basic but it was nice. We decided to rent a scooter so that we could explore the island more. We drove around in the unbelievable heat and decided to stop for lunch at a local street stall, we looked inside the silver pans and we didn't know what anything was...so we just pointed at some yellowy greeny looking sauce and hoped it was nice. It was nice but it was sooooo spicy my eyeballs started to burn my nose started to run and even Ben thought it was spicy! So we eat what we could thanked our chef and drove of on the scooter.We drove to the other side of the island and stopped in the old town. It was really cute and full of locals this place was hit by the Tsunami in 2004 and had just finished rebuilding itself, they had done a great job as it was lovely! We visited the Hammock museum...we weren't quite sure why...but it turned out to be good hah! Its surprising how many different types of hammocks you could need! Even one for the cat!! We Stopped of at a bar had an ice tea and a coke and decided we needed to get back, as the weather was taking a turn for the worse. We headed back in the rain...and thunder and decided after our long day tonight would be a good night to relax! We bought some snacks and drinks and played cards till early hours in the morning on the beach...Bliss!

We decided that our bungalow even though it was cute was a little bit far out for the center, so we went to look for a new gaff, we found one in the name of Lanta House..Should be called Bargain House!! 5quid per night for both of us and it was surprisingly nice! We took our backpacks down to Lanta House on the scooter we looked like a right pair! The 2 of us with 2 backpacks and 5 litre of water and a beach bag all squashed onto a tiny scooter haha! Well its the norm round here! After moving house we went to the 'Lanta Animal Welfare Centre' We thought it would be good for us to do our bit the community like, so we decided to take some dogs for a walk. After taking a tour of the centre and learning all about how the dogs came to be here (pretty sad!) We got our dogs, I took one and Ben took two and we took them on a half an hour walk, it was lovely and relaxing and we felt good after some exercise! So we decided we would come back again tomorrow. After eating tea at our favorite local street food place we went to a bar to watch the Everton Vs Man U match! After the good result we had a few drinks and went home to play a few games of cards. Ko Lanta is a really quiet village so there wasn't much nightlife however after all the partying we have been doing it was a nice change to relax!

So as we promised the next day we came back to walk some more dogs, we were looking forward to it and today we got different dogs, it was all going well until 5 seconds out of the gate! My Dog "Lanta" decided she hated another dog that was passing and tried to leg it after it, she was barking crazy and was dragging me everywhere...She was an Alsatian..So pretty strong haha! Then after that we headed towards the beach as we were doing an hour walk today, when suddenly Ben held up an empty lead and said 'OH NO'................ THE DOG HAD RAN AWAY!!!!! So he gave me his other dog and ran after him! Meanwhile the 2 dogs i was holding were going crazy because they knew something was going on, and poor Ben was legging it round everywhere after this huge dog! I had no idea how we were going to catch it, luckily Ben had picked up a few doggy biscuits from the shelter and lured him back with these! PHEW we had all three dogs back again! Next minute my dog Lanta froze on the spot and literally wouldn't move, i was pulling her and trying to get her to move but with no joy, then we realized that she was scared of Thai people as her owner abused her and threw hot oil on her! We felt so sorry for her, and continued to try and persuade her. Finally we were on the way back to  the shelter..sweating.. knackered... sweating...hungry...SWEATING and thirsty! But not before the dogs gave us one last challenge and all decided to chase a cat, its surprising how hard it is to control such big dogs! We arrived back and the owners of the center thanked us, and we hurriedly got on our scooter and drove of before they could ask us to walk anymore dogs haha! That was not the leisurely dog walk along the beach that we had in mind haha!

For the next four days we decided we could allow ourselves to relax, we chose a really nice pool in a really posh hotel and kept on going there that much the people who worked there actually thought we were staying there so they never even tried and kick us out!! We met a really nice pair of American sisters who we had a laugh with, they thought it was hilarious we were paying 5quid per night and spending most of our time in a 40quid hotel haha! We thought the joke was on them really tho! We spent our time swimming sunbathing and chilling out...What a hard life! We decided we have had enough time relaxing and we wanted to move on, so after much haggling we booked our bus to Ko Phi Phi, for the next morning. That night we spent the night in our hotel with 2 couples from Bristol a German Guy and a South African guy, we swapped stories, drank beer and had a really good laugh! We went to pack our backpacks around half 12 and got ready to leave in the morning!

Krabi Town

Sooo after our looong journey of an overnight boat a mini van and a coach we finally arrived at Krabi! We met two english girls and we all jumped in a tuktuk together for 50baht, bargain!! We had a wander around and settled for a guesthouse near the pier. The owner showed us two rooms the first one looked and smelt like someone had died in it haha, the second was surprisingly alot nicer so without much thought we picked the non deathly tramp room an went for the half decent one for an extra £3 lol! We went over the road to the local eatery and had a feast of pork an rice, pad thai and soup with ice lemon tea for £2! We wandered around the centre and it was a lovely quiet town with mostly locals an no tourists, it was great! We had a wander around the night market had tea and a delicious chocolate pancake then headed to a rooftoop bar.....then the weather.took a turn for the worse and instead of watching the sunset we watched lightning and a thunderstorm it was still pretty cool from the rooftop! We headed to buy our ticket to Ko Lanta for tomorrow, then hit one more bar on the way home, only to keep dry from the rain of course hehe and we bumped into a couple we met at the full moon party! Soon we were back into the room packing again for the next journey....

Ko Tao

So we arrived in Ko Tao after a four hour boat journey (who said travelling was easy?) and made our way through the barrage of tuktuk drivers. Yet again we had no hotel so off we went to find one. After not realising how hilly the island is we settled on a nice guesthouse with AC! We headed out for brekkie and had a wander round the pier. We booked our diving trip for the next day and had a few drinks in an english pub watched the sun go down and had dinner in a locals house which was delicious and we were soon asleep!

The next day we had brekkie in the 7-eleven and found our boat for the trip. The tour guide was a funny american guy and he made it even better. We stopped at a place called shark bay where friendly sharks swim but due to the recent earthquake they had all left for deeper water. The next stop the water was alot deeper and the captain took photos of us diving off the top deck and Gem did it aswell! (and it was dead high so I was proud of myself haha!) We stopped at 5 dive sites and visited the nearest island which had a great a beach and some great scenery too. The boat headed back and we went home for a quick change and out for dinner to the locals house again. We booked our bus and night boat to Krabi for the following night and went home to pack our stuff.

The next day we spent on the beach and in a few bars while we waited for our ride. The boat was an experience as it was ten hours long sleeping on super thin mattresses on an open deck in a thunderstorm so it was fair to say we didnt get much sleep! We then got on a two hour bus then a half hour tuktuk and wallah we were in Krabi Town! (Lazy backpackers you say?)

Our Thai Friend x

Songkran and Samui

So we arrived at Ko Samui after a heard few days in Ko Phangan. We thought we would have some time to ourselves and get some much needed rest but that wasnt about to happen as Ko Samui had different plans for us...We started off touring the island looking at all the beautiful beaches and Waterfalls including the Big Buddha statue and elephant sanctuary which was amazing. You got to handfeed baby elephants which was a first! The next day was the Songkran festival which in Thailand is when there new year starts and they celebrate it by throwing water and talk over oncoming people! We got straight into the spirit and got ourselves some water guns and buckets to join in the fun. We hitchhiked all over the island soaking people as we went past! We enjoyed it more than the Thai people we think. After a few afternoon drinks on the balcony we headed out and found ourselves in a Ladyboy show! Ben didnt find it very interesting (which is what he told me) but i loved it because it was just like a musical! Infact the all the Ladyboys looked better than i did! I was jealous haha. We went back out onto the strip were all of the bars were absolutely soaking. The water fights continued on throught the night and we even managed to meet a couple from Liverpool who were on there Honey moon :-). They were lovely and we had a laugh, we drank lots of buckets and danced in the Mango club until 5 a.m. The next day we took it easy as our heads werent really feeling very good not suprisingly. We booked our bus that day and the following morning we were packed up and ready to head to Ko Tao to do a spot of a diving on what is supposed to be the best places for it! Cheers!

Ready to Party!!

The Full Moon Party

Ko Phangan

So after the relief of getting our bag back we decided to move abit closer to the partying side of the island. Turns out we were three doors down from our Dutch friends which could only lead to one thing...five days of none stop drinking. Night number one was the much anticipated pirate party were we drank flesje sterik and made our way to the shindig. Turns out the pirate party was a full on rave with techno music on all night needless to say it wasnt really our scene but were threw a few shapes nobody had EVER seen before! cant remember what time were fell in - always the sign of a good night. Round two - Mushroom mountain. You cant pretty much guess what went on here and No we never had any shakes. We spent the night with lots of new characters there was around fifteen of us and we had a scream! Round 3 - The jungle Party. Which was a rave in the middle of the jungle with UV lights techno music and fire shows. It really was a one off experience and Ben managed to get a lift with Wessel on the roof of the tuk tuk all the way home while Gem was squashed in the sweat box all the way home with about ten German guys.Round 4 - The big one - The full moon party!! All 12 of us got ourselves neon painted up and Ben looked stupider thanks usual haha. Jonny shaved a face into his hair on the back of his head to try and freak people out haha. We got the full moon party where 30,000 people were waiting for us - Bring on the buckets! Were instantly lost everybody and wandered from bar to bar watching all the crazy events (30000 people dancing on.a small beach with alot of UV paint!) About four hours later were met everybody again had more buckets and danced til the sun came up on Haadrin Beach. Round 5 - Quiet drinks at cozy bungalows and a few games of pool (maybe 100) and a recap on last nights antics. We watched a few films had some beers and called it a night. Round 6 we visited the local english pub and night market for food and drinks and watched manchesters'united play arsenal while jonny sang every MUFC song her knew and high fived the whole bar when they won. We played ping pong,pool and darts drank more beer and said farewell to our friends as tonight was the last night we would see them all :-(. Tomorrow we will leave for Ko Samui but its there were we will celebrate Songkram the Thai New Year water festival.

The Happiest Bag In The World

Ko Phangan - The beginning

After walking in a torrential storm to the south bus station we got on our night bus southbound. The bus was quite comfy and we got a doughnut with potato filling, vegetable juice and some coffee flavoured peanuts what more could you ask for? We arrived Surat Thani at 5:45 and jumped on a tuk tuk with a fella from Newcastle. We then booked our bus boat and hotel with a travel agent.....then the madness began if you didnt think it had already! After a two hour bus journey to the port Gem got locked on the bus and the bus started to drive away aswell as the boat trying to leave without us. Gem dived off eventually and we legged it to the boat forgetting one small thing....We got on the boat for the three and a half hour journey to Ko Samui then to Ko Phangan when we realised we had forgot our bag. But, this wasnt any ordinary bag....it only had two ipods, camera, phone, ipod speakers, three pairs of headphones, Jimmy Kelly's swiss army knife (one of a kind), five books, two bottles of suncream and ALL of our malaria tablets....oh and Bens snickers. We both went white. Gem nearly spewed it...Ben went white. There was nothing we could do...except the obvious dive off the boat which wasnt going to work. We got off at Ko Phangan and got our Tuk-tuk to the hotel coming to terms with losing the bag and having to buy everything again which was around the 400 pound mark. We had a word with the hotel owner who was quietly confident and thought we would get it back. We thought no more about it and stayed in the Hotel resort for the rest of the night. We were going to play cards but oh yeah they were in the bag too. That night the hotel manger told us he had spoken to the travel agent who had spoken to the bus driver who admitted he still had the bag (suprisingly!!) who would take it to the port to get on the next boat to Ko Phangan!! We had abit of hope but didnt want to be sure. At 7:30 we were given the news that the bag did get on the boat but got dropped off at Ko Samui (the wrong island) two hours the wrong way and it would be spending the night in the port :-( Gem nearly cried picturing the bag with a sad face all alone on the pier in the rain. Gem didnt get much sleep that night.

Morning arrived and we didnt pester the hotel owner because we thought it was gone anyway. So at 2 o'clock exactly the time we had arrived at the hotel the tuk-tuk driver pulled into the resort. Gems face lit up. He had the bag! We still didnt quite know whether it would have anything in it due to the 150km round trip it had made in the possible 7+ thai peoples hands. But could you believe it, everything even down to the melted snickers was still in there. We could not believe it, we tipped the tuk-tuk driver 100 baht and all our belongings were back with us again. Gem drew a smiley face on the bag, hugged it then cried. In exactly that order. Everybody else thought she had gone mad but this was the norm for me. That night we celebrated in the local burger bar and got our favourite bottle of Samsung whiskey and played cards and drinking games until the small hours. G'night!!! :-D

What happens in Bangkok stays........on Facebook :-/

One night in Bangkok...

Soooo we arrived in Bangkok after getting our 6 hour day bus which actually turned out to be about 10! We heard this happens alot and since being in south east asia for so long we can pretty much expect this to happen every time. We dived out of the mini bus thanked the bus driver for sharing his fried bananas, grabbed our bags and strated searching for somewhere to stay. After walking round for twenty minutes completely lost we come across Khoasan road where an Indian guy told us of some cheap rooms and low and behold he was right! We decided we really need to start listening to the locals abit more often! Threw our bags in the room and found the nearest Pad Thai street food specialist. After waiting two months for some of their specialty we thoroughly enjoyed it! So we went on our way to find a way of getting to the South bus station in Thailand. After arguing with many Tuk-tuk drivers about a fair price we decided to just get the bus! Easy! We paid 8 baht each instead of the tuk-tuks recomended 150 each, each way! The bus station was a fairly new one were gem got two pairs of denim shorts she'd been wanting for the tasty price of 2 quid! I got meself some socks (boring) for a quid and we got out bus ticket to Surat Thani which is in the Southern Gulf of Thailand and is were you get another bus then a boat then a tuk tuk to Koh Phangan....We headed back to Bangkok pleased to not be getting ripped off by anyone and going it alone. Then we ended up getting the wrong bus ending up in the middle of nowhere were nobody could talk english and got another bus back to Bangkok from there! (It was for the story) We decided to go straight out on the ale and stay out to 4 drinking buckets of Samsung? (sangsom??) local whiskey and dancing in a thai locals night clubs with a couple from Russia who were constantly scrapping. Fell back the room and slept til the cockerels hooted.

Hero

Siem Reap & The Angkor Wat

We arrive in Siem Reap after our six hour day bus and got dropped off in the rural cambodia with absolutely no street signs anywhere. After trying to find which direction to go in we thumbed a lift from a tuk-tuk with two people WITH backpacks already in it. The driver then assured us we could fit in....he was right but we were both hanging out of it for the three km journey. We wandered around Siem Reap and after taking the advice from a random local bicycle rider of 'CHEAP ROOM THATAWAY' he was pretty much spot on! The room cost 4 quid for air con and a fan private bathroom hot water tv for the both of us! After checking in we headed down 'Pub Street' for scoff and beers. We met our Ozzy friend from tubing and had a few beers and caught up on each others travels. We called it a night and got some much needed rest.

We started our day by getting up at 4:30am! Hired two bikes and rode the 6km in the dark to the biggest religious monument in the world. The ride was pretty nice despite getting up so early and when the sun rose over the Temple it was definately worth it. We visitied a few temples such as Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm also know as 'The tomb raider temple'. We think we cycled around 25km and 5km into it Gem got a flat tyre and carried on riding through the day on it! We decided we'd taken enough photos and done enough sightseeing to warrant ourselves a tuk-tuk ride home so Gem could take it easy. Some street food and beers and we were in bed before we knew it.

Today we visited the Landmine Museum ran by a ex-khmer rouge child soldier turned bomb removal expert called Aki Ra. He was known as a local hero who we cannot begin to explain what he has done for his country so here website have a look at it for more info : http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/
The Museum was heartbreaking Gem cried the whole time we were there but with good reason lol. Behind the museum is a orphanage which houses the children whose lives have been affected by devastating landmine accidents usually losing limbs. After watching a short film on Aki Ra's life and his works we met a Californian who has also dedicated his life to the cause. We bought some t-shirts and other merchandise and headed back to our hotel once again not realising how lucky we are to come from such a carefree country. We reluctantly booked our bus out of Siem Reap to Bangkok that night and looked back on how little time we spent in such a brilliant country with possibly the friendliest people we have ever came across! We decided one day we will go back to Cambodia!