Hi folks sorry it’s been a while but this internet stuff is so expensive here.

Firstly,

Good Luck

To my tutor group 11.55 for there exams and the BTEC group for their work. I’m sure you will all do us proud.

We have been in New Zealand for about three weeks and have toured round most of the north island in our second van, Colin. He is a bit older and less sexy than Kylie our Oz van but he is reliable hence the name (dull but reliable). We have been assisted with the driving by the big man so it hasn’t been as tiring for Miriam (Being a man he is safer anyway!! OW.)!!

We have always wanted to tour the islands and we have not been dissapointed yet!! We started in Christchurch and slowly worked our way down the East coast. In a couple of places we have been fortunate enough to see lots of wild animals, one of which was little blue Penguins that we waitede in the freezing cold at night to see them crossing. It would have been easier to just run one over then have a better look. We also saw Yellow Eyed Penguins on a beach a few days before.

As well as nature watching we have been doing the natural sights of the volcanic island. One of which was the volcanic boulders that have been left on the beach. As you can see they are bloody huge. Thankfully they were impressive though as it was freezing on that day. You will all be delighted toknow that we have had a fare bit of raijn but it isn’t freezing so we don’t care.

On another day we walked along the Oltaga Penninsular and met some Hooker Sealions that were massive. We tried not to get too claose as the bull was near by. One tourist nearly trod on him but thankfully jumped at the right place, so still has 2 feet.

One of the best things we have seen were the Hector Dolphins on a very cold wet day. We were just about to leave as we were watching them at quite a distance when they came closer. They were darting about in the surf just 10 feet away from the shore. They were darting about in pairs putting on quite a show. Definately one of the highlights so far. Click on the image to enlarge and you can see 150cm long dolphins. 

We have seen some amazing scenery which has been made even more spectacular through the weather conditions. This photo was taken in a campsite near Te Anau with low level cloud. We have driven through mountains and looked down on the clouds. 

As well as admiring animals and scenery we have had a go at some land art – this piece was inspired by Andy Goldsworthy! Miriam did a very good job and with her watercolours could soon be serious competition.

Below is us with the big man and Colin!

We have also been out on hired bikes for a bit of track riding – this was around Lake Wanaka. Beautiful place for walking but it made a nice change to do some mountain biking

We have visited a couple of glaciers on our travels, this is a Fox glacier where we were able to get close enough to touch the ice itself (we weren’t suppose to cross the rope but how often do you get the chance to touch a glacier!) The ice face was towering 20 meters above us with a huge glacier running 100 meters up the mountain. There was also a ‘’spiritual group” who’s chanting and singing scared Miriam into venturing over the rope into the glacier zone.

Not quite up to Portsmouth standards, but there is some pretty nice scenery around here! This is the suitably named ‘Mirror lake’

On the West coast we visited the Pancake rocks and Blowholes. These amazing rocks are built up of hundreds of layers that make them resemble pancake stacks. The sea rushes in a such a rate that it is forced up between the rock and into the air forming 10 meter high jets.

In a week or so we will be moving up to the North Island which I’m sure will be equally impressive. Bit worried as we only have 4 1/2 months untill we return to the UK- sounds alot but time is really flying.

Hope you are all well – keep in touch and LEAVE US COMMENTS. Ta. x

Hi trusted viewers. I know it as been ages but stop nagging. Here is a whirlwind tour of our trip to Oz with lots of silly photos so it was worth the wait.We have been here 6 weeks- five weeks in a camper van driving down the east coast from Cairnes to Sydney and the last week in Sydney itself. Don’t forget to click on the thumbnails.

For those who don’t know, this is a koala. Very cute and cuddly but I didn’t get to eat one! However I did have kangaroo sausages on one of the numerous barbies!! We saw several Koalas in zoos and sancturies but despite hunting we didn’t see any in the wild. This is also true for platypus and tree kangaroos so we draw the conclusion they do not exist.

This is us, some bloke that had been to Peterborough, and the Bunderburg rum girl in Surfers paradise. We went there in hunt of surf- there wasn’t any, but it made for a good night out! Many of the surf spots had no surf, which was a pain in the ass as that was one of the reasons we came to OZ

On occasions we had sucess. This is Coolangatta which is one of Kelly Slaters favorite breaks and you can see why. Me and my mate Kel showed them how to do it! It was great fun to surf in clean waves in just boardies – no wetsuits needed except for the day I got stung by a jellyfish. I didn’t cry too much and Miriam said I was very brave. 

We have also played a fair amount of crazy golf- some more crazy than others! Action man can be seen here mounting the rabbit! He hasn’t been out much in Oz because it is too hot and he was melting!

Oz loves big things. So far we have seen a big crab, Pineapple, Banana, but the best was this big Prawn!!

This place has the best name in the world  according to the wife! This may be true as we couldn’t find a Richard Vale. It was a bit of a odd little place but they even had their own fridge magnets!!

Better still was the Town of Forster, which was much bigger and had Forster art gallery, Forster information centre, Forster Arcades………..etc etc

One of the highlights of Oz was seeing hatchling loggerhead turtles running through our legs to the sea!! We assisted them by shining our torches for them to follow, but they ended up climbing over our toes as well. 

Continuing our animal adventures, we feed a wild dolphin at Tin can Bay. They swim up at the same time every day, get their fill of fish and the swim away. This one, named Mystique had previously been attacked by bull and tiger sharks but lived to tell the tale.

This was taken in the Australia Zoo. We hand feed roo, stroked wombats, Koalas and Baby crocs. The animals were greatbut the whole place was abit cheesy due to the Irwin’s influence. I really got annoyed by Bindy singing everywhere. One of the cheesiest bits was the Crocosseum where they did bird and croc shows aimed for kids- but Miriam loved it.

One of the trips we did was to Fraser Island which was a beautiful place. It is the largest sand island in the world and we toured around it in a 4×4 bus, hacking through the forests and over the beach. Took a dip in the freshwater lake and paddled through streams etc. We were on the bus with crusty old people but the sights we saw were incredible. On the way out we saw this ellusive Dingo as well as a massive white fronted sea eagle. These have been added to our list of new animals seen on our travels which currently amounts to about 50.

The end of our trip to Oz has been spent with my parents seen with me in front of the opera house. It has been great to see them and they have put us up in a really posh hotel. It’s not quite up to the standard of the camper that I named Kylie, but it will do for a few days. We have been to the opera house, the Aquarium, the wildlife centre, several arts galleries and gardens and all the main sights around the city

This is our posh hotel and we are on the 33 floor with views of the harbour. We look slightly out of place amongst the rich people and got some funny looks when we walked in with our rucksacs! We are currently typing this in the hotel lounge, with views of the opera house and harbour bridge with free food and beer.

On the other side of the harbour is Luna Park -not quite as classy! I have made some new friends though!

Yesterday we watched the QE2 pass the Queen Victoria cruise liner. This is the view from the lounge bar window. It was a big event here with at least 10 news helicoptors circling the harbour, they were probably looking for us.

We leave Sydney in 2 days and head for New Zealand to spend the next 2 months in a camper van, back to our normal level of accomodation.We look forward to your comments and will update soon(ish).

Cheers.

Currently in Oz and loving every minuit of it. Swimming with turtles on the reef, feeding roo’s and plenty of surfing.

Running out of time with the internet so will do a proper update soon. On a computer that will allow me to upload photo’s.

Keep the comments coming and Jack, hope the hair looks good!!!

Cheers folks.

 

Well this is the final blog from Asia as we are about to embark on Austraila. I will try not to mention the rugby world cup too often but it will be hard. From the last speedy update we got as far as Vietnam, so onto Laos. Surprise surprise it is a beautiful country with very friendly people. Started in Luang Probang and did some more of the temple stuff before moving on to Vang vienne for the action bit of the trip, well we are only 30ish!!! The photo above is the river that ran through the town, and not a bad picture it makes either. Despite it looking calm and serene in places it is the complete opposite. Along comes tubing. This envolves floating down rapids in a tractor innertube whilst being dragged into numerous bars by a stick. Sounds hard to believe but great fun. We also did some kayaking down the river and mountain biking to caves. 

 

Another popular passtime envolved visiting caves and the odd waterfall. This one was huge as you can see from the photo and amazing to look at from the base. But, some silly bugger decided he wanted to walk up and over it!! The climb was bad enough but it got worse when we got to the top and only had 15mins before the bus left. We got there 5mins late, just!!

We then spent a few days in Vientienne where we spent a few days in temples and wandering around the river, basically how we spent the rest of our time in Laos.

On then to Thailand again but from the north downwards. Milled around for a few days before reaching Chaing Mai which was our destination for the festive hols. A few temples and galleries later we were up to christmas eve. I know lets go to the zoo!! The place was incredible, set in the jungle over acres of hilly land. We were the only silly buggers to walk it. The zoo contained the usual animals (tigers hippos, elephants etc) but Miriam still prefered her chat with Santa. The highlight had to be the pandas with one of them being the biggest ponce I have ever seen, posing for the cameras constantly.

Christmas eve was spent in the What Bar which was owned by an English guy as were most of the people in there. It was a great night and we met alot of people such as this group of punks that were sitting outside the bar.

As you can see we both had a few but still managed to make it home in one piece

With new year looming we decided to head back to Bangkok for the third time, for the celebrations. After an photo shot with Action Man we headed for the town. There were plenty of bars and beers to choose from, so we sampled as many as we could! We ended up at Nats bar for new year with some folk from Canada and some from Fareham of all places!

Moving South West onto Kanchanaburi, which is famous for the Bridge over the River Kwai. Above is the famous bridge that we kayaked under. 14 KM in a piece of plastic got very uncomfortable but was worth if if only for the Kingfishers along the banks. Also visited the Death railway memorial where hundreds of graves of troops that died building the rails for the Japanese in ww2. Very eeiry with all the plaques in perfect lines, especially when you read some of the stones. To continue with the morbid theme we then did the Death Railway ride which was 2hrs long with about 20mins of amazing views. The coach loads got on for 2 stops and probably had it spot on. The train then led us to hellfire pass  another site where hundreds died. Aren’t we fun people?  

To chear us up we decided to visit Tiger Temple. Sounds stupid and probably was in hindsight. There were about 5 or 6 fully grown tigers in a lovely gorge and you were led around and got to stroke and cuddle them (here Kitty Kitty). I remember saying goodbye to my arms and legs whilst in the queue. On the way out we the foound 3 cubs that were away from the coach loads (ever get the impression I don’t like them very much?). There was a very friendly 4month old cub that we got to stroke and pose with. There were also two 5 month olds that were a little more lively. One of them patted a girl when we were there and the warden then showed us the scars from their PLAYFUL ANTICS. We survived though with all our limbs intact.

We then moved on to Ayatthaya to see the 11th to 13th century ruins which were incredible – like a mini Angkor Wat. We cycled round the site on what appeared to be vintage bikes from a similar period! Above was the best of the bunch but we went to see about 5 temple complexes in all. These look very impressive flood lit – but only untill 9pm as we found out when we walked in to town one evening!

We have now moved on to Khorat ( eastwards) where we have seen several Khmer, Angkor style temples. We travel back to Bangkok tomorrow in order to get our flight to Australia. Looking forward to it as I’m abit templed out now and looking forward to a change of scene and some SURF!!!!

There will be a new blog site for AUZ - I’ll put a post on this site when I have the details.

Cheers folks keep watching and leaving comments.  

Ok this is going to be a whirlwind catch up to fill you in on all we have done in Asia – Two countries in one hit!

Firstly Cambodia The home of the most fantastic ancient temples. It is one of the places I have always wanted to go. Our favourite Temple was Angkor Wat – which is also the more famous, but there is actually dozens of temples in the area and we spent a week seeing about 20 of them! We got a bit templed out by the end!

The highlights were Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prom – which was where Tomb raider was filmed- I tried to find Angelina but she was nowhere to be found!- I think Miriam scared her off!

This is us with some monks at one of the temples – they were very happy to have their photo taken with you as long as he could take a photo of us with him!!

After Cambodia we moved on to Vietnam where we spent just over a month.  We started in Ho Chi Minh city in the south and worked our way north to Hanoi. 

One of the first places we went to were the Chu Chi tunnels which is where the Vietnamese Soilders hid from the Americans. The  tunnels stretch for over 200km and some went almost underneath the American base. the tunnels were definately built for the locals as they where only 100cm by 80cm so at best you have to be doubled over to walk in them and at worst ( as with me) you are crawling on your hands and knees!

As you can see it is pretty small. We made it about 2 thirds of the way down a 50m tunnel due to back ache, darkness and heat! How they lived down there I don’t know.

We moved up country abit to Dalat where we did canyoning ( which involves abseiling down waterfalls!). At first Miriam found it abit daunting (understatement) but after the first few practices loved it. We did several runs the highest was 20meters and one involved a drop into water.

The guys that were supervising were nutters, but very helpful and got on well with me, Miriam and action man. Despite threatening to cut the rope on Miriam a couple of times we all came out unharmed! They made us lunch in the middle of the river and afterwards we did some sliding down waterfalls! Great fun but a little chilly.

As you can see from the pictures, most of the time we were having great weather, but when we got to Hoi an they had been having terrible rain and flooding. Some of the shops had tidemarks 6 foot high on the walls. When we arrived 2 sets of roads were flooded and the locals were using boats to get to the flooded properties.

We loved Vietnam so much we extended our visa so we could stay a week longer.

We will update with Laos and north Thailand soon. Keep the comments coming.

 The 3 of us.

Hi folks sorry it has been such a long time and our sincerest appologies from the 3 of us.

We are currently back in Thailand in Chiang Mai but have done 3 countries since the last installment. First was Cambodia then Vietnam followed by 2 weeks in Laos. I will update the site with silly photos etc and try to fill you in with everything we have done, Kayaking, Tubing, caving, canyoning, drinking etc.

Looking forward to Christmas but it would have been nice to spend it in Eng. The weather here is fantastic so will be in shorts and t’shirts but we have located a pub which serves roast dinners(Phew)

Well must go, lots to see etc.

Happy Christmas to you all.

Love Rich and Miriam xxx

Hi folks finally found a computer that just about works and is capable of downloading pics.      

 

So here we go.

Well we did quite alot of watersports in Thailand and here is one of them. I think I have already said about a few of these but here are a few images to make you sick. This was in Koh Sumui in the national park. Crystal clear waters and amazing rock formations. Oh and I have had my haircut in case you didn’t notice. It was too hot and I was fed up with lugging around my hairdryer and straighteners. Im still getting used to it how about you?

p>Had an amazing experience feeding the elephants. we got to feed them and wash them before an hours trek through the jungle.

One of the oddest sights so far had to be this one!! In Ko Samui we were looking for a place to watch the rugby and were recomended this place. The PFC run by a bloke from Pompey. Nice bloke who moved from Portsmouth a few years ago and set up this bar. There’s no escaping Pompey!!!

There’s  another snorkelling trip we took action man with us as he was getting a little lonely stuck in the room all day on his own. AHHHHHHHH. Again it was another amazing day with lots of colourful little fishies. At one point the crew threw in some rice and we must have been surrounded by at least 100 fish eating out from our hands. Some of them even nibbled our hands. Greedy buggers.

Next installment will be in Cambodia.
All the best, Rich and Miriam

Hi folks are you all missing us in wet and windy England. The last time we updated the site we were in Goa and have since left India and are now in Thailand. Started in Bangkok in an amazing place called Khaosan Rd which is amazing. Full of other travellers and a bit chaotic but definately easier than India. Visited a few temples and palaces before heading to Ko Tao which a picture postcard Island off the east coast of Thailand. Spent a few days just relaxing before jumping in the water with massive reef sharks. It was on a snorkelling trip where we were swimming around reef bays. We saw some amazing coloured fish(parrot, Clown,Angel fish etc.), but the highlight of the day had to be swimming with the baby reef sharks. They were about 60cm long and at one point we were swimming with 4 at the same time. Despite having an amazing day we suffered for it later. 4 layers of suntan lotion and we still managed to get seriously burnt resulting in me getting heat stroke. We were bright red for about 5 days and are still peeling off skin nearly 2 weeks later. The other highlight was watching England beat the Australians in an Aussie bar.

Next we moved off to Ko Samui which again was another amazingly idyllic island where we had a house rented to ourselves for about 8 pounds a night. It was run by a lovely woman called Si, who we both wanted to bring her home. We did another snorkelling and kayaking trip at the national park which is a group of 40 limestone islands where part of “The Beach” was filmed(of course, De Caprio was no match for me!!). We didn’t see any sharks but the highlight of the day had to be kayaking through the caves around the islands.

The other highlight of the trip had to be on the saturday night when we went to watch the England v France semi final of the rugby world cup. Our whole stay over the last few weeks had been based on my obsession with the rugby(poor Miriam). We stayed up in a bar untill 2am when the game began. We were surrounded by about 20 drunk, and very cocky, French fans. BOY DID I ENJOY SHAKING THEIR HANDS AT THE END(5AM).

We are now back in Bangkok ready to decend on Ko Chang tomorrow. I hope they are ready for us!!! Again the trip is planned around the rugby final. Well, I couldn’t miss it.

Will update you soon with photos.

Please keep the comments coming.

All the best Rich and Miriam.

We have now found a computer which is broadband and allows downloads. We have covered some miles since we last Wrote. We headed down to Goa to maintain our sanity and get away from the chaos of the north (and get some beers down our neck at a chilled

out bar called Willy’s) Green bottles are “lucky’ as you only get one in a hundred! so we had to drink 99 to get this one!

The beaches were amazing and empty as it is just before the season starts. The reason for this is that it is monsoon season and it certainly knows how to rain here! Luckily there is normally a bar close by to shelter in! We had a fantastic meal in a restaurant overlooking the beach at sunset.click here to seeGoan sunset picture.

After a relaxing week we went on a 10 hour bus journey to Bijapur where we saw some incredible buildings. Out side one a groups of kids from the sports college asked to have there photo taken with us! This has happened loads of times, it’s like being a celebrity and here is the photographic proof (Click on the different coloured bit!!!). Are we famous??!!

The best site we have seen in India is the 6th century Buddist and Hindu carved caves of Ellora. The 32 caves were literally carved out of solid rock with the most ellaborate stone sculptures. Several were 3 stories high held up by decorative pillars left in from the original rock. When we went it was quiet and we had some caves to ourselves. These photos are a taster but they have to been seen to be believed. the first is of us in the banqueting hall where the monks ate. it was 80 feet long with benches carved out of the rock.6th Century McDonalds?

The next photo is of Rich with a Budha. They have 5 different hand positions to mean different things, prayer, compassion and TEACHING!! This is Rich with teacher Budha! This proves that us teachers are one of the 5 most important things to this faith( so it should be for all of you!!!!)

Budha teachers

The last 2 are of Temple 16 which was breath taking. It was the largest and most impressive of the temples.Not bad! and Massive!!.

Off to Mumbai tonight- 8 and a half hours on a bus – it’s not all glamourous you know!! We are flying out to Thailand on the 27th and we shall update you soon. We would love to hear your comments. All the best Us

Well the whirlwind tour of India continues. The weather is far too hot so I know lets go to the desert. The place is fantastic though with a great fort and a nice bazaares. Our hotel didn’t sell beer like alot of other places but we did find a shop that did. The kids at school would love it here!!!! IF IMAGE IS TOO BIG, CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE FULL PHOTOS 

We also found a Indian restaurant with no chairs and short tables in the middle of the fort over looking the desert.

We decided to do a camel trek despite being told that it was hot and uncomfortable and you get very little sleep.  All this was true but it was still amazing and I would recommend the experience to anyone.

Our camel were called Johnny and Pablo( very apt for an artist) and our guide was Jammin. We had a jeep ride through the desert to meet with the camels and 2 guides, not bad as there was only the two of us on the trek. We then went through the desert dunes for about an hour and a half and then made camp. We sat and watched the most amazing sun set over the dunes before we had our food cooked over the camp fire, veg curry, rice and chapatis.

Unfortunately the weather set in a little and we got caught up in a storm. The sand got everywhere but the lightening was incredible. As the weather was bad we had to sleep in the hut which was infected with desert mice(I slept through it but Miriam didn’t!). At around 5 am we went out on the the dune to sleep and watch the sun rise.

After breakfast (also cooked over the fire by our guides) we had a 2 hour trek back to meet the jeeps, by this time we were relieved to get off the camels as my bum had gone to sleep!