Jump to the full entry & travel map Santiago, Region Metropolitana, Chile With my University commitments finally resolved, there now lies nothing between me and the open road. Our dear friend Saint Augustine once said that “ The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page .” My friends, it is time to get reading.
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Fare thee well Santiago, adventure awaits.. — Santiago, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Jump to the full entry & travel map Paihia, North Island, New Zealand today was hotter but went into the main town just to send off my tax code number and just to browse also now started asking around for work though Bay of islands has had heaps of CVs in sao many have said more unlikely to get a job but also went on a little cycle along the coast and also with one of the english couples i met we all went off for a Kayak on the bay whihc was lovely in the evening time many beautiful boats on harbour at the bay and also huge cruise ships Bay of islands is a massive tourist hotspot the evening spent sharing travel tips and travel stories another cool day
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A day in the sun — Paihia, North Island, New Zealand
Jump to the full entry & travel map Paihia, North Island, New Zealand Well yesterday was a day of travel and also hanging out with Em shopping doing groceries the day before that, due to rain, and i mean rain, auckland flooded in some places, just chilled out and watched movies, thats why i love CS you can do that!! Bay of islands is the place Paihia is famous for, and when you enter inot it down the hill it sure is beautiful!! i love traveling just for the peple you meet! i met an awesome deutch woman on the bus, she just flown in and fell asleep so fast, jet laged is not fun but the ride was great too, because got to see NZ lots of greenery, farms, towns then no towns until 50km then another town, very similar to OZ, so different to the UK arrived to Paihia and didnt realy have any idea where i was going, the beauty of travellig on your own you sort of have to aks anyone, so i did and got a lift to my accomdodation!! so grateful!! i have ot say i havent actually met a bad kiwi yet today spent some time looking at the treaty grounds this is where in 1840 the british settlers and governement came in and finally signed an agreement to share the land with the moari people it was really interesting place to see and it was great to learn how New Zealand came to be as it did today the moari moved to the island 1000 years ago and white man as they call the people that came in evry so often used to come ovcer to the land to kill whales, and other species and take them home, when they saw the maori they used to give them, metals, pots and guns too to be able to stay on the land to hunt and fish then overe time british, irish and other europeans immigrated across to the NZ, whihc caused conflict, so the treaty caem about to stop all this happening apart from learning this at the museum is also the grounds whre the treaty was signed, and also other items to celebrate the treaty the hostel owner was actually a Maori and it was great to actually see when i was up further north how maori get along with the people that came in and shared the land of course there is still conflict, but the country next door in OZ you dont see the same bond i also spent the day walking to a waterfall which went thorugh mangroves and rainforest, it was a beautiful walk, and it was great that there was sun and not just rain!! also it was great to stay at a hostel too, camped up and met other english people doing the same as me, they have been travelling here but also looking for work too one english couple had already been here, great thing ive learnt about travelleing is that youi learn so muc from other s who have done that or been there etc, so already learnt some tip swhere to find work or where to go to get certain items awesome sunday
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welcome to beauty and the history to NZ — Paihia, North Island, New Zealand
Jump to the full entry & travel map Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Well so far in Adelaide i have done rather little, i fact, i have done nothing except go to the beach and going to one of the coolest markets around. We are heading to Adelaide Hills tomorrow which should be amazing as it is where all of the wine is made. Then we are heading to Haigh’s Chocolate factory on the Saturday so that should be so much fun.
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What is there to do in Adelaide? — Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Jump to the full entry & travel map San Miguel de Allende, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico I don’t even have to open my eyes to know that I’m not in Spokane anymore. The ringing of church bells and the incessant crowing of a neighbor’s rooster tells me
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How it all began — San Miguel de Allende, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Jump to the full entry & travel map Los Angeles, California, United States 4TH DEC bob and kelly picked us up and took us too the staples centre and we had an amazing all you can eat meal before going to the box next to the owners centre court !! The lakers were playing Miami and coby Bryant scored the match winning 3 pointer in the last second of the game it was amazing 5th december we woke up early to go and see the KINGS against ST LOUIS at the staple centre in the same box me and matt had the same all you can eat meal and sat in the same all you could drink box there is a bit of atrend starting ..the kings lost on penalties but it was still amazing ‘ Matt met a guy he played rugby with at uni who was with anton and kate who we hounded into coming on a night out that night we went to the purple lounge on a hostel tour and ended up really really drunk in the campervan of the hostel 
6th december me matt tom anton and kate headed for malibu and hit the beach well matt went in the water and it was freezing but still a great day 7th dec we said by to the other guys and dropped the camper off in the rain and got back to sant amonica for $1,75 result !!!! to celebrate we went to hooters and got mangled with a mexican and americasn guy ended up drinking 12 % beer and having a kebab good times !!!
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LAKERS — Los Angeles, California, United States
Jump to the full entry & travel map Kanchanaburi, Kanchanaburi, Thailand Okay so for my first full day in Kanchanaburi I had already booked a tour to see the Erawan Falls (this amazing 7 tiered waterfall in Erawan National Park) and the Hellfire Pass Museum and Monument. I had booked the tour because each these attractions were an hour out of Kanchanaburi in different directions. The day did not begin all the well, my tour left at 8am so I wanted to get breakfast before then.
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Erawan Falls and the Hellfire Museum — Kanchanaburi, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Jump to the full entry & travel map Orlando, Florida, United States Christen was in her “terrible” two’s so for the 16 hour drive, Leah had packed a number of gifts wrapped up as presents for her to open and items for her to play with. Well…..after about 2 hours of travel, she had run out of these presents….In a stroke of genius, Leah just began re-gifting, re wrapping the gifts and giving them to Christen again. Well Christen was nobody’s fool and figured this out after the 2nd time it was done.
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The most I ever laughed — Orlando, Florida, United States
Jump to the full entry & travel map Gangtok, Sikkim, India Traette af vejrets kedelige konsekvenser for udsigten og oplevelserne i det vestlige Sikkim, koerte vi med jeep oestpaa til statens hovedstad Gangtok, som viste sig at vaere en forbavsende moderne stoerrelse med en trafikfri hovedgade, der kunne vaere et lille land i mellemeuropa vaerdigt. Ovenpaa en perleraekke af smaa og primitive flaekker og landsbyer var det sgu meget rart med noget, der mindede om civilization, og vi kastede os straks over en af storbyens goder og gik en tur i den locale biograf
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GANGTOK – Et muntert moede med verdens undergang — Gangtok, Sikkim, India
Jump to the full entry & travel map San Miguel de Allende, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico The wheels leave the tarmac and so begin, “The Great Experiment.” A 3:15 AM wakeup call and in 45 minutes I’m ready and saying “goodbye” to everything I’m leaving behind in Spokane. Packing went almost too smoothly so naturally I’m wondering what I’ve forgotten. At the airport a major ‘rearranging’ of articles ensues to avoid charges for bags over the 50 pound limit.
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The Great Experiment — San Miguel de Allende, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Jump to the full entry & travel map Irkutsk, Siberia, Russian Federation “Don’t get to the station at the last minute,” was the sound advice I had read in relation to taking Russian trains. “Never underestimate the time it takes to find your platform and walk the length of sixteen carriages before you can board.” Ever cautious with transport times, I allowed an hour on the metro to get to Moscow’s Yaroslavsky Station, and a further hour to navigate to my actual train, thinking this would be fine. On reaching the station, I looked at my ticket to check the train number – 68- ready to identify it on the departures board and find the relevant platform..
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Riding the Russian Rails — Irkutsk, Siberia, Russian Federation
Jump to the full entry & travel map Botswana, Botswana Woke at 4am,dressed packed and ready to go for 5am for the road trip into Botswana.. Our guide Mike is a super guy (or should I say lad) of 23 who has the responsibility of us for the next 10 days! He drove us for 12 hours picking up new group members along the way (verity and grant) eventually arriving at Elephant Sands at Sunset… We had a lovely open fire braai including warthog sausages, whilst watching elephants drinking from both their waterhole and also coming right into camp to drink the swimming pool water! Thirsty Ellies! The journey had been extremely bumpy and I did wonder if we were in the right country because all we saw en-route were Donkeys and cows all over the place! We crashed out to bed so we could be ready for the 5am alarm to be on the road by 7am to travel the 3 hours to the Zambian border..
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Safari into Botswana, Zambia and the Delta! — Botswana, Botswana
Jump to the full entry & travel map Munnar, Kerala, India We took the local KRSTDC state bus to Munnar, a four and a half hour journey in a 50 year old bus that comes with air-conditioning (no windows), luxury seats (blue, hard as a bone vinyl, discoloured to grimy brown because of the years of use), private seating (get your place if you can), careful driver (will race any other bus to prove he is the fastest), tranquil (exhaust noise that blasts away the Richter scale) and open views (if you look through the jail bars).
Jump to the full entry & travel map Alleppey, Kerala, India We arrived in Alleppey or Alappuzha as it has been renamed after British rule and squeezed into one rickshaw for the short journey to Johnsons Nest. There we found the said owner, Johnson who was a bit of a cross between an Indian Rastafarian with red henna dyed hair! His little guest house was pretty basic but we had already decided that it was to be for a night only as we were going to head straight off to Kottayam the next day by local ferry. It was here that we had our first experience of the tropical monsoon
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Kerala Backwaters — Alleppey, Kerala, India
Jump to the full entry & travel map Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa After Mozambique and Swaziland I went back into South Africa and stayed in St Lucia for a few days. It was really nice there, the sun was shining and there was a lot going on. I’m now heading into more ‘surfer’ territory so there are more shops for me to be tempted by! In St Lucia I went to the beach, hitched a lift to Cape Vidal (the local holiday spot with great snorkelling), saw hippos roaming the streets at night (not something I can say I think I’ll ever see again), went to a crocodile show and relaxed a lot by the pool! Not too tiring, felt good to sit back and relax.
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Zulu learning in Durban — Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Jump to the full entry & travel map Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa My attempts at paragliding in Wilderness failed as there was no wind, so I never got to go. After Wilderness I went to Oudtshoorn which is the Ostrich capital of the world (I ate one for breakfast)! Upon arrival I visited the wildlife sanctuary that they have there. The best part of the sanctuary is the cheetah conservation centre.
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Oudstshororn – the Ostrich capital of the world — Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa
Jump to the full entry & travel map Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand Left Camp site around 9:45 AM heading for Rotorua travelling on State Highway 5; found the Waiotapu thermal wonderland on route and decided to pay a visit; very interesting place with lots of volcanic activity. Missed the geyser which erupts at 10:15 AM each day but never the less, a pretty impressive couple of hours; continued our journey towards Rotorua arriving at around 1:00 PM. Found the sign posts for the Blue & Green lakes (Satnav failed to find them!!) so we paid a visit
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Day 17 – Taupo to Rotorua — Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
Jump to the full entry & travel map Taupo, Waikato, New Zealand Left Camp site around 11:00 AM and took a drive around some of Lake Taupo; its huge some 500 meters deep and covers 616 Square Kilometres and hosts 3 volcanoes one of which is active and is the only active volcano you can ski on. Left the lake and headed for Huka Falls; these falls displace some 220000 litres of water every second, that’s enough water to fill am Olympic size swimming pool in 5 seconds!! The falls have no great drop to them but the sheer power is awesome. Huka translated from Mori to English means FOAM and you can see why from the photos
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Day 16 – Taupo District — Taupo, Waikato, New Zealand
Jump to the full entry & travel map Taupo, Waikato, New Zealand Left Camp site around 12:00 PM aiming to go to Cape Kidnappers to see Gannet Colony only to find that this place is private property, so again we couldn’t get in!! So instead headed off towards Taupo via Napier; There are some seriously steep hills coming over the Maungaharuru and Ahimanawa Mountain ranges but the views from up on top are fantastic; stopped off for a bite to eat at the Waipunga Water falls, which were very nice. Arrived at Top 10 Holiday park at around 5:15 PM
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Day 15 – Hastings to Taupo — Taupo, Waikato, New Zealand
Jump to the full entry & travel map Hastings, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand There was a light frost this morning but by 8:00 AM I was sun bathing and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky; already really warm, so a welcome change to the weather of the past few days. Havelock North is a really nice area; some fabulous houses but it a bit pash apparently!! Left Camp site around 11:00 AM and travelled to Te Mata Peak, which provided a 360 degree panoramic view of the Hawks Bay region; spectacular views of the vineyards with an ocean backdrop and snow caped mountains in the distance to the North East. Spent an hour or so on a beautiful beach called Ocean Beach about 20 Minutes drive from Havelock North; hardly a soul to be seen but the water hasn’t got any warmer, still freezing!! Left here and travelled to Napier; this is a very nice town with lots of little caf