Japan was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. Over the last 11 years I’ve heard countless stories from Isaac about his time living in Japan (Okayama, 2005). I found that nearly everything matched what I’d pieced together in my imagination from Isaac’s stories. Next time we’ll explore the south island, but this time…
Sun 24th Jan Leave Mt Maunganui 05:00 – 08:00 Auckland Airport Korean Air Lines KE0130 – 09:55 Auckland Int. – 17:50 Seoul Incheon Int. Korean Air Lines KE0795 – 21:25 Sapporo Chitose – 18:50 Seoul Incheon Int. Air Terminal Hotel – Chitose Airport -> Mon 25th Jan Bus to Niseko 09:30 – 12:50 Mon 25th…
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I won’t lie, the Taupo Cycle Challenge was bloody hard! It’s interesting how quickly you forget, though. The very next day I decided I want to do it all over again next year. At our wedding a couple of months earlier, Dee managed to convince Isaac and I to take part in this madness. We’d…
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We spent the night at one of our most favourite places – Warm Earth Cottage. Beautiful gardens, running creek, outdoor wood fire heated bath, big breakfast. Our Photos
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Cat – she came to us in our time of need and delighted us with her funny antics and affectionate disposition. She visited us every day for a few months. She totally changed my mind about cats. But one day she was not waiting at the door for us in the morning. A few weeks…
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Massive jammin’ session at Gene and Louise’s! Our Photos
The lovely mountain. Our Photos
Mum and Dad visited us at Mount Maunganui in February. I loved to show them the place I’ve fallen in love with. We did some kayaking and general exploring. I’ll never forget the morning Mum came into the living room and said to me, “Shall we walk up the mount, Meg?” I perked up like…
Its Auckland day long weekend and there’s jet fuel in the air. As usual during my lunch break from work I pedaled my little bike on down to the airport…a little busier than usual. Normally I sit there alone and relax whilst a few cessnas practice taking off and landing, gyroplanes hover about and the…
Our friends Gene and Louise are awesome! They were kind enough to invite us and the parentals (Ma & Pa Jaensch) around for a bite to eat. Little did we know the feast that awaited us. Crayfish, venison burgers, fresh fish… It was amazingly amazing! [google-map-v3 width=”620″ height=”100″ zoom=”10″ maptype=”ROADMAP” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”-37.836052,176.054862{}5-default.png”…
We had a lovely time in December and January with Sue and Tim, Ma and Pa Jaensch. Lots of kayaking, fishing, walking, exploring and table tennis! [google-map-v3 width=”620″ height=”100″ zoom=”10″ maptype=”ROADMAP” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”Auckland{}5-default.png” maptypecontrol=”false” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”false” scalecontrol=”false” streetviewcontrol=”false” scrollwheelcontrol=”true” bubbleautopan=”false” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”] Our Photos
A few weeks ago we moved into our new place at Mount Maunganui, near Tauranga NZ. Slowly beginning to find our feet, but still unemployed, which is becoming a drag. Nevertheless something will turn up soon, fingers crossed! Our new address: 1/18 Miro St, Mount Maunganui Bay of Plenty, 3116 [google-map-v3 width=”620″ height=”100″ zoom=”10″ maptype=”ROADMAP”…
What better way to finish off a Monday afternoon – lets go fly a plane. Meg decided to throw me into a Cessna 182 for my birthday and see if I could crash it. Sadly I disappointed her and took off and landed without incident. She decided to give me a short introductory flight, I…
Our final stop before jumping on a long list of flights back to Brisbane – Helsinki. An unusual mix of cultures, quite Scandinavian with a dash of Russian and Eastern Europe thrown in. It was our first snowed covered city in a long time. The brisk air, the gritted streets, the romantic lights strewn throughout…
After breakfast and suiting up in our warm gear our group of 7 plus our two guides were gathered in the dog yard preparing to go. On day 1 the dogs were already harnessed but we were each required to attach our team of four dogs to our sleds. The dogs are very strong and…
We initially planned to have a rest day once we arrived at our cabin in Karasjok in Norway, but our host at Engholm Husky Lodge suggested a trip that we just had to take up: a ride out on a snowmobile-pulled sled to the Finmark Plateau to see the reindeer herd and have a traditional…
So far so good. A little bit of jumping around with flights but we’re up north, far north. Been a bit of a hectic few days, wrapping up things in Edinburgh and leaving our Scottish home and jumping on three planes. Yesterday we flew from Edinburgh down to London then onto Helsinki. Got in late,…
Well it was an early start for a Saturday, well for us anyway. We’d organised to go for a bit of a hike up through the Pentlands Hills, with some new friends Renata & Pawel. We work with Renata at RSTO and they just recently made the move from Paisley to Edinburgh. Last week we…
Well aren’t we lucky… We just had Isaacs parents come to visit not too long after we had Megs parents visit, we really are spoilt. We did the usual Edinburgh site seeing stuff – the royal mile, princes st, arthurs seat, you know.. Edinburgh. Ma got a bit cold walking around the base of Edinburgh…
We are happy to report we are now both employed – finally! Isaac is working for a company called Gekko as a Samsung Promoter. He is training in London next week and starts work in Edinburgh the following week. I am working for a company called RSTO as a Junior Web Developer. I begin training…
HOB’S FAVOURITES Favourite Place: Cinque Terre, Italy. Memorable Stuff: Navigating through the Marrakech markets at Djeema El Fna, absolutely packed with scooters, bikes, donkeys and people somehow managing not to collide :: Eating the best pizza ever in a dodgy-looking pizzeria in the grungy streets of Naples. Next time: Lake Como, Italy :: Cheverny (Captain…
After such a hot and humid stay in Milan we were surprised to find that it was quite cold when we set out to the train station on our final day. It was windy and rainy and miserable. We dressed very light thinking it would be hot again and this was a bit of a…
Well we had planned to stay near Milan in Lake Como, but found at this stage of the game it was more trouble than it was worth. It is a little out of the way from Milan and would’ve made our next leg far more difficult than we anticipated. We thought it would be a…
Venice was everything we’d hoped it to be and more. It was a lovely city just to walk around in. Each night we took a walk to Piazza San Marco and it was such a pleasure to watch the classical bands playing at various restaurants. Where we heard show tunes, Disney classics and of course…
On the tedious train down to Sorrento we glanced out the window at the wonderful views of the Mediterranean, whilst looking on the other side there seemed to loom a large cylindrical mountain…Mt Versuvius. As we passed through station “Pompei – Villa dei Misteri” we saw some ruins perched on top of a nearby hillside,…
The Amalfi Coastline is another one of those incredibly beautiful places in the world. Thanks so much, Kate, for recommending it to us! We stayed in the town of Praiano, which is situated in between the two more well known and larger towns of Positano and Amalfi. From Rome we caught a train to Napoli…
While we were in Rome we made a last minute decision to take a guided tour into the Vatican, a decision I’m very glad we made. On our final morning we rose early and caught the metro over to Vatican City to join our tour, which was to begin at 8am. On arrival, we were…
When in Rome… Sorry, had to say it. Well, Rome was just wonderful! There was so much to see and do. We participated in a couple of tours and also had some great meals out. The first night we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant and had some incredibly good pasta and pizza…
Unfortunately it was raining and cloudy while we were in Florence. Nevertheless we managed to join in a free walking tour, which took us around the city. We checked out the Ponte Vecchio (“Old Bridge”) which is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, noted for still having shops built along…
We’d been looking forward to Cinque Terre for some time and are happy to say it pulled out all stops and lived up to our expectations. The great weather, perfect temperature and beautiful scenery contributed to a really great time. We took the train from Nice along the French Riviera over the border and were…
We took a day trip out of Nice to see Monaco. I found Monaco to be very amusing at first, just because of the immense wealth being showed off everywhere. Everything was so shiny and bright and new and expensive. Huge luxury yachts and speed boats shining in the water. Ridiculously expensive cars cruising around…
It was very windy in Nice. Saw some good views from Le chateau, which looked down on the bay and across on the other side to the port. A very cool waterfall up there, which with the wind blowing we inadvertently decided to run through. Unfortunately the camera battery died after a short time so…
Marseille is very beautiful and Mediterranean-like. We began the day with a walk up the mountain and then up millions of steps until we reached the Notre Dame Cathedral, where we took in beautiful 360 degree views and soaked up the sun. We then made our way down again to the Old Port Vieux where…
After a restful day in our apartment we made our way to see the old cite of Carcassonne. Our room was so dark that we slept most of the day thinking that it was overcast and rainy outside. However, when we opened the shutters at about 8pm we were faced with a perfect sunset. We…
After leaving Granada we traveled up via another night train to Barcelona. We had our own room on the train with a bathroom, which included a shower! Can’t say I’ve ever showered on a train before… We arrived in Barcelona on Sunday morning and began the walk to our hostel when we came across some…
As sad as we were to leave Morocco, it was time to go. Isaac was pretty put out by our run-in with gastro, not to mention an infestation of bed bugs! Fest! Anyhoo, since we ended up staying in and around Marrakech the whole time, we were in for another long trip back up to…
Yesterday we rose early to join a tour into the desert where we camped out in the dunes for the night. This tour (via mini-bus) took us up the Atlas Mountains again, but this time continued over and into the edge of the Western Sahara to a place called Zagora, just spitting distance from the…
We have become quite the bargaining team, Isaac and I. We go to a shop in which we see something we want. We inspect the item until the shop owner approaches. We ask how much, then gasp and carry on at the outrageous price they offer. Then the negotiations begin: they say “Name your price”.…
We’re back in Marrakech! Well we did enjoy our trip to the High Atlas Mtns although seems we got a bit of a tummy bug and spent a chunk of it on the loo 🙁 So unfortunately spent the best part of yesterday indoors. To make matters just a little more uncomfortable it was REALLY…
Yesterday we caught a taxi from Marrakech to Imlil in the Atlas Mountains. The taxi driver was arranged by the owner of the Riad we are now staying in. He came right to the door of our hostel in Marrakech (which you cannot drive to, he had to get out and walk through the winding…
Awoke to a knock at the door at 7am. “You have tour today? You have just 5 minutes!” (imagine in an Arabic accent) I thought it was leaving at 8am not 7am, well we’ve been wrong before. “Meg, quick get up, five minutes, lets go!”. We hurriedly got our stuff together and headed to the…
Well, Marrakech is an absolute delight to the senses! This is my first time in a Muslim country and I’ve never experienced a culture so different to Australia. We are staying in a very luxurious Riad, a Moroccan house with an internal courtyard. Most windows are inward facing towards the central atrium. This design of…
We are at the southernmost point on our journey (Marrakech), from here its only up. Sorry no pictures as of yet. It was a pretty drab day, overcast and rainy and an overnight on a train. Concentrated mainly on the travel, with over 1000kms or travel down and starting to feel it a little. Caught…
The town of Sevilla is like a labyrinth! Luckily, Isaac has an internal navigation system built into his head and we haven’t gotten lost. Many of the streets are very narrow as well – only the width of a person or two – and this contributes to the feeling of being in a labyrinth. Sevilla…
After a lazy morning, we went on a free walking tour around Seville at 4pm. It was great because we walked through many places in town that we may not have found had we been walking around ourselves. We learned a bit about the history of Seville, various different landmarks and stories behind each of…
Seville is sunny and warm. We arrived yesterday afternoon to a very nice hostel with a garden out back and a terrace on the roof (on which we are now relaxing). We had a mountain of paella and a few sangrias again, same as the night before! We are going to get back into the…
We decided to stay in Madrid just for one day, as it was more of a stop over on our way to Seville. The hostel was very friendly and accommodating and pretty much everyone spoke english, which was nice. For dinner, the hostel put on a paella and sangria for us all, so we had…
Got up nice and early and headed to the train station with what we thought was heaps of time but… turns out day light savings put the clocks forward 1hr and no one decided to tell us…YAY! No thats not right, okay missed the train. We had checked out, had our bags with us and…
Strolled along the beach across the the other headland of Monte Igueldo. Beach was abuzz with all manner of activities on such a super saturday. Kids playing soccer, people out sailing, paddling kayaks and generally lazying about sunbathing. Headed up Monte Igueldo on the funicular, a very steep train carriage thingy, for some awesome views.…
5 good things: 1. Sleep-in 2. Coffee 3. Pintxos 4. Pastries 5. Movies (Trains, Planes and Automobiles) Bueno! [google-map-v3 width=”620″ height=”100″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”ROADMAP” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”43.325763,-1.972046{}5-default.png” maptypecontrol=”false” pancontrol=”false” zoomcontrol=”false” scalecontrol=”false” streetviewcontrol=”false” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” bubbleautopan=”false” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”] Our Photos
We didn’t do much at Bordeaux because the weather wasn’t great. Yesterday we took the train down to Hendaye, which is right at the border of France and Spain. The weather cleared up the further south we came, and the scenery grew more mountainous. It was great to get our first glimpse of the Atlantic…
Just a quick walk around town this afternoon. There are chocolate shops everywhere with all sorts of easter themed chocolate – proper chocolate. We haven’t yet seen any wrapped Red Tulip or Cadbury bunnies and eggs that you get at home. Got a small slice of cake and caneles…miam! [google-map-v3 width=”620″ height=”100″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”ROADMAP” mapalign=”center”…
Well, things weren’t looking too crash hot this afternoon when we arrived in Bordeaux. After a five hour journey (including connections and waiting time) we were pretty tired and pissed off. Then we had to wait an extra hour before we could check in. However, Bordeaux really pulled out all stops and ended up winning…
We wandered around town today. Another cloudy day in Blois. Since we are staying in a hotel (Renaissance – see pic) there is no kitchen for us to prepare food in, so our diet is going a bit downhill. Today it consisted of baguette and jam, croissant and jam, baguette and nutella, coffee, nutella out…
Yesterday we hired a couple of bikes and rode out to the chataeu “Chambord”. We chose an unfortunate day for bike riding! It was very cold and cloudy and slightly depressing. It could have been worse though – at least it wasn’t pouring with rain. We also slightly underestimated our fitness level for bike riding.…
Not too eventful day. Caught the train from Paris down to Blois via Orleans(first of many I think). We had a lovely walk through this quaint ville de blois. Tomorrow chateaux’s. [google-map-v3 width=”620″ height=”100″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”ROADMAP” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”47.586463,1.324209{}5-default.png” maptypecontrol=”false” pancontrol=”false” zoomcontrol=”false” scalecontrol=”false” streetviewcontrol=”false” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” bubbleautopan=”false” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”] Our Photos
We took it easy today. Spent the morning playing cards at Buttes Chaumont, which is a beautiful park in the middle of the city that used to be a quarry back in the day. We also had a pretty awesome banana and nutella crepe purchased from a street stall this afternoon. I’m sure there was…
Isn’t sleep great? Especially 12 hours of it in one go? Well that seemed to cure our jet lag a bit and we woke feeling more like human beings again this morning. So much so, we were able to set out on a full day of token sightseeing of many famous monuments in Paris. We…
We are finally here, 27hrs of travel and surprisingly we have caught up the time pretty well. Got into Paris @ 630am caught the train into town, dropped off our backpacks and headed out. Was very impressed with Gare-du-Nord, will have to take some pics of it. Walked down Blvd Rochechouart on the way to…
1. Paris – Orleans – Blois – Amboise – Tours 2. Blois – Bordeaux – Gujan Mestras (seafood) – Arcachon Basin (Coastline, pine forest hikes, fishing villages) 3. Bordeaux – San Sebastian 4. San Sebastian – Madrid 5. Madrid – Seville (stay) – Seville – Algeciras – Tanger – Marrakech – Marrakech – Casablanca –…
Backpack Invest the extra money to get a comfortable backpack that fits well. Your backpack is your constant companion and the key to comfort and convenience on your trip, so take care to choose the right one. You’ll be glad you did! Anything larger then 4500 CUI is going to be more trouble then it…
12mths Travel & Work Plans March – Sept (7mths) – UK UK work Sept Mid Travel Paris, North France Sept End – France Do a Chalet Host course for 1wk, involves cooking etc in Chamonix (great for B&B and hosting, possible option in NZ) Oct-Nov – Europe (between UK & start work in France) Travel…