TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com TravelStream™ most recent 25 entries from TravelPod.com. Travel Blogs | Travel Journals | Travelogues | Travel Diaries ( Since 1997 ) http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:32:22 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Markets and Jungles — Tena, Ecuador http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jrm110675/1/1328301618/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jrm110675/1/1328301618/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jrm110675/1/1328301618/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:32:22 +0000 James does South America
Tena, Ecuador






A lot has happened in the last week. I am now in Tena, having spent the last four nights in the jungle but, before that, I was in the town of Otavalo, famous for its market. We got up early in the morning to see the animal market, which took place next to the Panamerican Highway and was rather choatic, with cows all over the place. We saw a stall which included a basket full of guinea pigs but the woman on the stall assured us that they were being sold as ´mascota´, which is Spanish for pets. I did not quite believe her. Later in the morning, we went to the craft market and the textile market and then did yoga on the roof of the hostel (thankfully, not pictured).
















In the afternoon, we walked to the nearby Peguche waterfall, which is close to an along a patch which led us through the outskirts of the town and an indigenous village, where everyone seemed to be dancing all of the time, I suspect only for tourist consumption. I am pictured by the rather impressive waterfall with some of the group that came to Otavalo with me. They are fellow students of the Spanish school in Quito and are from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.
















I will be blogging a lot more about my time in the Amazonian rainforest but here are a couple of pictures from my first excursion into the jungle. The bird is called a hoatzin and is a curious creature with some apparent prehistoric throwbacks in its DNA. It is in a family all of its own and its young have claws similar to that of the long-extinct missing link between dinosaurs and birds, the archaeopteryx. I should note that this picture, and the one of the small monkey, were not taken by me but rather by the indigenous guide, using a telescope. He was rather incredible, using his tracking skills to spot amimals. On the nightwalk, he would just wave his torch and see a frog immediately. More birds to come in the next few days...


]]> For those of you who are wondering.... — Andong, Korea Rep. http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/frisone82/1/1328354418/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/frisone82/1/1328354418/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/frisone82/1/1328354418/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:30:17 +0000 There's so much more to see....
Andong, Korea Rep.

We found an apartment in BA and we LOVE it.
It has an oven, a queen size bed, big bright windows, and real closets!!!
It does not get any better than this!

http://www.enbuenosaires.com/alquiler/a v-caseros-san-telmo-41027.html

You can click this link and view the pictures of the apartment.

After living in a one room apartment in Korea, this is going to be a dream!

Moving day is June 4th!

]]> Letzter Tag in Boston — Boston, MA http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/steeven/1/1328304114/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/steeven/1/1328304114/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/steeven/1/1328304114/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:29:52 +0000 Steeven's Worldtrip
Boston, MA

Mein letzter Tag begann in Boston genau so entspannt wie gestern. Um 9 Uhr bin ich aufgestanden und habe mit Carmen zusammen gefrühstückt. Die Kinder waren schon in der Schule und wir hatten den ganzen tag bis um 2 Uhr Zeit.

Deshalb haben wir uns auch gegen halb 11 Uhr auf den Weg in die Innenstadt gemacht. Wir haben in einem Parkhaus geparkt, bei dem man einfach reinfährt, seine Schlüssel abgibt und dann geht, für uns unvorstellbar^^. Vor allem die Parkkosten sind für uns unmenschlich, für eine halbe Stunde bezahlen die hier ca. 7 Euro und für unseren AUfenthalt waren wir rund 22 Euro los (2,5 Stunden)los. Dann hat sie mir ein Stadtteil gezeigt, dessen Grund früher Meer war, dann aufgeschüttet wurde und anschließend im Pariser Stil Häuser gebaut wurden. Nun finden sich dort alle Designermarken und kleine Boutiquen wieder.

Außerdem sind wir in der ältesten öffentlichen Bibliothek der USA gewesen. Dort ist im inneren alles aus Marmor und den Eingang zieren zwei Löwen, welche ebenfalls aus Marmor sind. Wir sind dann noch ein bisschen durch die Straßen geschlendert und waren in ein paar Geschäften. Am Ende waren wir mittags noch einen kleinen Snack bei einem Italiener essen und haben dabei einen Kaffee getrunken.

Dann haben wir uns durch den Park auf den Weg zurück zum AUto gemahct und haben Robin und Pia von der Schule abgeholt. Den Nachmittag verbrachten wir dann noch mit Essen und ein paar Spielen.
]]> Toucans Too! — Iguazu National Park, Argentina http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/happy_feet_too/1/1328354492/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/happy_feet_too/1/1328354492/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/happy_feet_too/1/1328354492/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:27:59 +0000 Happy Feet Too - A Great Adventure
Iguazu National Park, Argentina

(Foz de Iguacu hotels)


3rd February 2012 – Friday

A gorgeous morning started with a group photo in front of the Brazil side of the falls in front of our accommodation Hotel das Cataratas which opened in 1958. We then drove to the world's largest hydroelectricity plant, Itaipu Binacional, 20 minutes away from the hotel.

We enjoyed some exercise for the day , staying on the Brazil side of the Iguassu Falls we took an hour walkway snaking along the river, for the most panoramic views of the falls at the bottom of the Devils Throat, where we could take in the depths of the magnificent, and multiple cascading falls. The photos tell the story, we both believe probably the most beautiful falls we’ve ever seen.

We saw more of the Coati, they seemed to be just part of the scenery wherever we took walks in the rainforest/jungle, they really do have a cheeky personality, so I included a few more photos.

Lunch was at a nice restaurant at the falls organised for us after our walk, it was buffet style, lots of salads and fruit which we both enjoyed.

Our last adventure for the day was a visit to the Bird Park, were we saw the charming Toucan! The Toucan is up there with the Penguins, with real personality. In the bird park we were lucky enough to be able to walk through the bird aviary free to the birds, and the Toucan seemed to get close to both E and I, we thought maybe because we had bright colours on that day. We could have stayed there a lot longer than we did as we really enjoyed seeing all the different species of birds, the park also included elegant flamingos, magnificent scarlet Ibises, cautious and extremely large harpy eagle, the exotic crown-crested crane and various brightly coloured macaws.

It was lovely to be able to use the hotel facilities when we returned to the hotel; obviously Fitness Freak immediately headed off to the gymnasium to do an one hour and three quarters on the treadmill, as he’s almost lost a stone (how cool is that, good on FF!), and I spent time blogging with a cool watermelon juice until the suns sting disappeared later on in the day and then I was at the swimming pool, where FF joined me after his gym session and before dinner.

We both put the visit to the Iguassu Falls National Park as one of our favourite places to have seen, we’d recommend it to anyone, another special place for natural beauty.

And we dig the Toucan too!
]]> Masons In Fiji - Day 6 (Day at the Wyndam Resort) — Nadi, Fiji http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/masonsineurope/6/1327076184/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/masonsineurope/6/1327076184/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/masonsineurope/6/1327076184/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:27:51 +0000 Fiji The Sequel
Nadi, Fiji

(Denarau Island hotels)


Today started out as any and we ended up down the brekkie area and had another omlette. Yep another omlette. They are very nice however and Malani and I both had one each.

We were scheduled for a presentation at the Wyndam; anyway after the presentation; Malani and I doing the math on what we have spent on accommodation in the last 4 years; we decided to become Wyndam Property Owners. We bought a time share in Wyndam Group of Properties - a 5 star resort group of properties that has a large resort style place in most country's across the world.

We decided our next journey would be the Great Barrier Reef; so its Cairns (been there before) and/or Port Douglas. There are two 5 star resorts in both cities; so its all good. We also factored in that for our 20th year anniversary we want to do either Vegas or Italy; it seems we both agree on going to Italy; so we will make back most of our dosh just on that trip alone. So we think its a great investment for a family that travel overseas every year.

We spent a good 6 hours at the Wyndam next door here to the Radisson and its equal to this 5 star property and in fact they are refurbishing it quite seriously with a new wing; pool extention and slide; new restaurant and adult pool with pools for the extentions in the next 18 months.

So we enjoyed our Wyndam experience and hope that we get lots more years out of our investment; and when we die, we get to hand it down to our kids. Thats pretty cool.

Hung about the pool for ages and had a few beers with some calamari and chips; with a tandoori wrap.

Back to the Radisson Pool and the kids were pooled out; so it was just Malani and me at Happy Hour; we had a Toblerone and a Pineapple Cocktail full of white spirits. Both yumola. We then spent the next hour or two in the adult pool and the large adacent spa. Ahhhhhhh.

Back to the hotel room for a shower and Fiji Baby.

Dinner was the Orient Bar for a quick Green Tree Frog Cocktail; the kids had 4 Fantas.

Dinner was also at the Orient Bar with Asian food. Battered prawns with Spring Rolls for Entree; mains were Singapore Noodles with Sweet N Sour Pork; Lemon Chicken and a Beef n Black Bean. Very yummy.

During dinner Jamie and I went and saw part of the Fijian Meke Show which was cool.

Back to the room and we are chilling out; Malani spreading around the Aloe Vera spray coz a few kids got sunburnt today...against better advice.

Im writing today off with a Rutherglen Grand Muscat. Ahhh the only way to finish.

]]> Rückflug — Seekirchen, Austria http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hasch/16/1328322216/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hasch/16/1328322216/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hasch/16/1328322216/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:26:01 +0000 Cambodia 2012
Seekirchen, Austria

In zwei Stunden brechen wir zum Flughafen auf. Felix pennt noch und in den Pool will er auch noch. Aber es hilft nix: wir haben gehört dass der Wallersee zufriert, also müssen wir heim zum Eishockey!
]]> Füllen einer Reisetasche — Bangkok, Thailand http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hasch/16/1328347412/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hasch/16/1328347412/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hasch/16/1328347412/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:23:31 +0000 Cambodia 2012
Bangkok, Thailand

Der letzte Tag in Bangkok steht unter dem Motto: wir kaufen eine Reisetasche, und die muss jetzt auch gefüllt werden! Die konkrete Reihenfolge ist zwar anders rum, und wir tragen schon beide haufenweise Sackerl, bis wir zur Erleichterung die Tasche kaufen, aber der Plan war so. Wir fliegen nur mit einem Koffer los und kommen mit zwei heim. Wir fahren mit dem Skytrain wieder ins MBK, und dort renne ich für vier Stunden hinter Felix her. Eigentlich ist Einkaufen ja net mein Traum, aber hier hat es schon was. Felix steuert zielbewusst durch die Gegend, kennt die Marken, ich kann nur staunen. Von wem er des hat? Er ist auf jeden Fall ganz glücklich, freut sich wie er sein Geld investiert hat. Leiberl, Jacken, Hosen, Badehose, PC Spiele. Bis 3h halten wir durch, dann mampfen wir noch im Food Floor. Bis zum Abendessen liegen wir noch am Pool. Abschiedsessen wäre eigentlich im 99 Resthouse Backyard geplant (der Koch von dort war mal im Hangar 7) , aber der Taxler erklärt uns glaubhaft, dass wir da am Freitag Abend 1h im Stau hin brauchen. Bangkok ist diesbezüglich echt eine Katastrophe! Also Plan B, ein Restaurant in der Nähe, ein altes Teak Holzhaus mit thailändischer Küche. Wir bekommen ein ganz leckeres Essen und besprechen unsere Reise. Es hat alles super gepasst, Reiseroute, Einteilung, Unternehmungen. Felix ist ein angenehmer Reisegefährte. Auf dem Heimweg wollen wir noch in eine Bar. Zuerst verirren wir uns ein wenig in ein Rotlichtviertel, dann landen wir in einer Bar, wo es neben Live Musik noch drei verschiedene Sportübertragungen gibt. Die Cocktails werden in Weissbier Gläsern serviert. Beim zweiten müssen wir schon passen. Aber wir schaffen es noch ins Hotel ;-)
]]> Ushuaia Feb 03, 2012 — Ushuaia, Argentina http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dwmjmm/3/1328255965/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dwmjmm/3/1328255965/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dwmjmm/3/1328255965/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:21:05 +0000 South America
Ushuaia, Argentina

(Ushuaia hotels)



]]> Chili : Noel a Valparaiso et Santiago — Santiago, Chile http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/julielolo/1/1328296739/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/julielolo/1/1328296739/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/julielolo/1/1328296739/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:19:14 +0000 JulieLolo's Great Adventure
Santiago, Chile

(Valparaiso hotels)


Hola de Chile,

La route entre Mendoza et Valparaiso et en particulier la traversée des Andes a été magnifique. Dès le départ de Mendoza nous pouvions apercevoir au loin le sommet de l'Aconcagua, le point culminant de la cordillère des Andes et de toute l’Amérique qui s’élève à 6962m. De quoi rappeler quelques souvenirs a Laurent qui y avait passé trois semaines en 2005, encore un endroit bien beau où il faudra revenir faire du trekking ! Le passage de la frontière chilienne a un peu traîné en longueur (2-3h) et nous a un peu rappelé l’ambiance de la quarantaine à l’arrivée à Perth : tous en file indienne, passage des sacs aux rayons X et les chiens qui nous tournent … Nous sommes arrivés à Valparaiso en début de soirée avec un peu de retard.

Nous étions bien contents de découvrir notre auberge Acuarela perchée dans les vieux quartiers colorés et bien typiques de Valparaiso avec terrasse sur les toits et vue sur la baie... super ce petit triplex bien douillé... Nous y sommes restés quatre jours en compagnie de Marie, David et Patrick (deux français et un suisse) que nous avons rencontré sur place et avec qui nous avons passé les fêtes de noël… un noël improvisé à la dernière minute mais bien réussi… on aura bien cuisiné (poissons, crabes, coquilles saint jacques,…) dégusté du bon vin chilien, et beaucoup papoté et rigolé… un vrai noël avec même un petit sapin ! Nous avons profité aussi de ces quelques jours pour découvrir les ruelles bien pentues et les impressionnants graffitis de Valparaiso, la maison de Pablo Neruda et aussi la ville sœur Viña Del Mar moins typique mais où nous avons pu nous racheter un appareil photo compact (dur dur de s’y remettre au compact après 8 mois de reflex…).

Avant de descendre pour la Patagonie, nous avons aussi passé deux jours à Santiago, capitale du Chili qui y concentre un tiers de sa population et qui se situe à 2000km de chaque extrémité du pays. C’est une ville au centre accueillant et plutôt bien placée, entourée de nombreux domaines viticoles, à 1h du ski dans la cordillère des Andes en hiver et à 2h d’un petit bain dans l’océan pacifique en été !
]]> Landed. — Brasília, Brazil http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natalie.tillen/1/1328309151/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natalie.tillen/1/1328309151/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natalie.tillen/1/1328309151/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:17:25 +0000 Natalie's Great Adventure
Brasília, Brazil

Where I stayed
Marnie and Bert's
(Brasilia hotels)


Well...after 48 hours in and out of airplanes and airports, I've made it to Brasilia: destination number 1. Not without a little misfortune: delayed plane, missed connections, lost bag... and after spending the day in the Rio de Janeiro airport I was starting to feel like Tom Hank's character in the movie Terminal.
But now I can happily say I am sitting here at Marnie and Bert's with a beer in my hand and the bed is just a hop away... it will be oh so nice to sleep horizontal again. Until next time, boa noite.

]]> Ma vie à la ferme - épisode 1 — Boyup Brook, Australia http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/isala/1/1326566143/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/isala/1/1326566143/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/isala/1/1326566143/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:16:53 +0000 Around Australia
Boyup Brook, Australia

Salut à tous,

Me voici donc à Boyup Brook, petite ville de 500 habitants au beau milieu du Sud Ouest de l'Australie. Je loge et travaille dans une ferme de poulet (chook en autralien) qui se nomme Gardenup. Il y a actuellement dans cette ferme : Jacqueline, une cinquantaine d'année, gérante de la ferme - Oma, 87 ans, Maman de Jacqueline - Ananda, une cinquantaine d'année également,une amie de la famille.

Mon boulot consiste à m'occuper des chooks matin et soir, cad les nourrir, nettoyer leur cage, ramasser les oeufs, et également d'arroser le jardin. Il doit y avoir une 30aine de poule et poulet de plein de races différentes et de tous les âges.

Du coup, ça me prends environ 4h par jour. le reste du temps pas grand chose à faire. Les gens sont sympa mais bon dans la journée chacun vaque à ses occupations et les miennes sont assez limitées ! Je lis, je fais le ménage, je fais des bouquets de lavande pour que ca sente bon (!) et je vais sur internet.... etant donné quil fait 40° je ne peux meme pas aller me balader. En meme temps la ville ressemble à une ville fantôme ...!!!

Comme je l'ai dit plus haut, la ferme est bio et donc ils mangent bio. Ils font eux même leur beurre, leurs yaourts, leurs confitures, leur farine. Ils mangent beaucoup de graines. c'est cool les legumes et les fruits frais, mais j'avoue qu'au bout de 4 jours je rêve d'un bon steak et d'un bon mc do !!!! les graines au petit dej c'est pas forcément mon truc !

Vednredi la fille de Jacqueline arrive avec sa fille et son mari. cela va peut etre un peu changer les choses. si jamais je membete toujours dici dimanche je m'en vais autre part !

Je vous tiens informé e la suite ! a tout bientot

]]> The Tassie tour — Hobart, Australia http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/flashpacking/1/1326911821/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/flashpacking/1/1326911821/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/flashpacking/1/1326911821/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:16:46 +0000 Flashpacking's around the world
Hobart, Australia

We arrived in Hobart after a very hungover flight from Melbourne. Not sure who started the rumour that Taz was cold, because when we got there, settled in, and it had reached 37 degrees! Which was actually hotter than most places in Australia that day. We decided a pub lunch was in order, which turned out to be huge. At this point the only locals we had met was the moody old man behind reception, a sarcastic/angry pub lady who didn't want to serve me any mash potato and some rough lager louts shouting at people on the street from inside the pub. We weren't very hopeful we would meet anyone nice in Taz! After lunch we walked around the docks, planned our week driving around the island and had a healthy home-made salad dinner. In the evening we walked around the boats down at the docks again (some nice reflections in the water to keep my camera happy), when a big storm hit. There were some amazing photos in the newspaper the next day of the thunder and lightning over the city and water.

The next day I took Helz on a walking tour of the city, trying to tell her a few facts here and there of stuff I had read and whatever info was in my pocket guide at the time. We went past the parliment gardens and building, Salamanca shops and courtyard, down a street that used to be the red light district when sailors stopped in the port for the night, a very nice cafe where we had a posh brunch, a viewpoint and lastly a walk back along the sea front. Basically everything we saw had been built by convicts as the worst of the Aussie convicts were sent to Taz (this I found out a few days into our Taz tour in a very deserted dodgy town - I'll come to that in a bit!), and it was pretty much just them on the island building everything. After our tour we sat in the sun by the boats and had another healthy dinner and went to the pub for a 'quiet' drink and to watch the tennis. The 'quiet' drink got us in at the hostel at 2am, after meeting some professional cricketers who play for Melbourne. Luckily we did have a late night though as we wouldn't have slept otherwise, as there was a very creepy and smelly old swiss man in our room, who couldn't stop staring at our legs when we walked past!!

We picked up our new car (nick named 'big blue') the following day and hit the road after picking up our bags from the hostel, was harder than it sounds as all the streets are one way in Hobart and we didn't really know where we had to go! I was first in the drivers seat and pulling away from the hostel waving by to some randomer I stalled, pretty embarrassing, but that started our bet that whoever stalled the most during the week had to buy the other a cider at the end (cider is pretty expensive out here!). I'll relieve the suspense and tell you it was a 2-1 win to me! We drove up the coast, and 'seven mile beach' was our fist stop. It was a pretty long beach :) We then carried on up the coast where we picked up lunch from Orford, a cute little village with a couple boats, jettys and a nice little beach full of tiny crabs. Just down the road was Spring beach and Shelley beach, both of which were stunning, turquoisey-blue sea and white sand, and it especially helped as it was a sunny day. We got to Swansea (nope, not in Wales) and checked into the backpackers there. Literally the only people we saw in the town were at the backpackers and a lady from the cafe who made us a coffee and milkshake! Oh, and a few men made out of wire, sat in peoples gardens and one next to us at the cafe, very creepy but I guess they needed to make it look like the town was busy somehow! Not sure if you can even call it a town as it only had 1 shop and 1 restaurant...but there were lots of sheep, so it did feel a bit like Wales after all.

The following day we drove up to Coles bay, a little fishing village where we had the tastiest scallop pie. We checked into our hostel and headed straight to Frecinet national park and walked up to the Wine Glass Bay lookout. It was a bit of a walk up hill, but it was very cloudy so not too hot anymore. The views all the way up were beautiful... lots of trees, colourful rocks clouds drifting over the top of the hills and then a good view out to sea. Wine Glass Bay looked pretty good from up there too! Afterwards we went to Sleepy bay and Honeymoon bay, both of which were lovely, pretty rocky with no sand but the colour of the water was an amazing turquoise-blue again and there was a good view of some of the mountains around us. We also drove up to Cape Tourville lighthouse, which had good views out to sea where you can see whales at certain times of the year. We didn't see any though. Me and Helz tend to make up a lot of rubbish to make into a story of what were seeing or doing... which was hilarious this time as we heard a buzzing sound, Helz asked what is that, I replied that it was the native flying hippo and then something big flew at us out of a bush and we jumped out of our skin! In the evening we had a free drink in the local pub as the barman felt sorry for us for being 'poor backpackers', and then we got back to the hostel and blagged some apple crumble from a nice guy who was staying there.

We were up early the next day and headed straight to Bicheno, where we looked around the shops of the little village and got a coffee/hot choc before driving on to Binalong. This had to be one of our favourite beaches, again, white sands and nice colours in the sea but also orange on the rocks and a huge Australian pelican in the water, which swan towards us as soon as we sat down to watch it. I had a bit of a David Attenborough half hour too, where I found, muscles, anemones, crabs, starfish and big suckers on the seaweed. We then drove onto the Bay of Fires, another very long lush beach and a few sand dunes. We checked into the hostel at St. Helens, which was owned by a lovely man who loved the welsh and cavers; so we were treated nicely. We met some interesting people that night, one of which was an old guy (actually a successful author) in the bunk below me who sounded like he was snoring in my face all night so I had to move beds, but the other people were locals in the dodgy pub opposite. It was literally a scene out of star wars, there were a lot of scary looking half-humans, luckily enough a few people from our hostel walked in which made us feel a bit safer until we realised they all looked like they belonged there too, so we called it an early night. We were scared half to death when a girl from our dorm pulled back the curtains and opened the door, when we were trying to get into the dorm (both of us screaming when we saw her).

Our first stop the next day was St Columbo Falls (up some winding roads), which was a walk through the fresh morning rainforest (we were the second lot of people to get there that morning, so it was nice and quiet). The next stop was Launceston, where we had a picnic lunch by the river and then drove up some more winding roads to the Gorge, where there was a lake, swimming pool and cable car. We would have loved to have stayed there longer and have a swim but we were on a tight schedule for the day so we moved on, got some petrol from Davenport, another quiet little town, and finally arrived in a place called Penguin for the night. The beach was stunning, and the town had pictures and statues of penguins on everything. Although, after dinner in our hotel we went looking for some in the wild, we couldn't find any (mainly because it was freezing cold in the wind and we gave up). That night had to be one of the worst/scariest. We were staying in a hotel/pub/casino/restaurant, and no-one else was around after the staff had gone home. (No-one but the ghosts). It was like being in a horror movie... long empty corridors of a deserted hotel and no-one to hear the two backpacking girls scream! Basically Helz didn't get any sleep that night and was praying for the sunrise to come, where I was trying to ignore where we were and was out like a light until she woke me up panicking about ghosts and murderers.

(Tracey's birthday!!) We survived the night anyway and made our way to Cradle Mountain National Park the next morning. On the way we pulled over at the top of a big hill to take a photo. Bad idea. As soon as we opened the door these little wasp/bee/flies came into the car which meant we didn't want to get back in, but there were even more flying around us outside! I finally persuaded Heledd to attack and kill them (telling her 'it would be good for her'). So we carried on down the road a bit more to the bottom of the hill and I had to pull over again to jump out as they were still flying about. This let more in. We were pretty much dancing around on the road trying to kill them, two cars even pulled over asking if we were OK because we were making such a fuss, one said they thought we had a spider in the car, which was a
bit embarrassing when we said no its just fly/bees! When we finally made it to the national park
we checked into the hostel and headed into the park and down to Dove Lake, where there was an amazing view of Cradle mountain over the water. We even saw a wild Echidna sniffing about for food, it didn't even care when I was in it's face taking photos. The next stop was Pencil Pine falls, a little circuit to see the waterfall and walk back out of the rainforest, we had a bit of sunbathing time on a bench before moving on to Knyvet falls. This was a bit of a longer walk through the forest on a boardwalk, which was a lot darker and cooler than it had been out in the open. We tried to spot Wombats as we could see where their homes were (and poo) but no luck. Our next walk was the 'enchanted walk' along a stream and through the trees again. When all the walking was done we headed back to the hostel/shack for dinner and then made our way to the only pub in the area to have some wedges (dinner was too healthy and boring that night) and to watch the tennis. We managed to blag some free ice cream with dessert!! After the pub we drove back to the hostel at about 10kmph, scared that we might run something over (I hadn't drunk anything by the way!) and the first animals we spotted were BIG possums just outside our car. On the drive back we saw wallabies, more possums, a quoll (looks like a rat cross wallaby with deer spots on it) and the best one of all... a few wombats! One literally walked out into the road, didn't care that we were there so we stopped and watched it waddle along in front of us!

On our last day of our Tassie Tour we started our epic drive back along winding cliff roads, then through flat straight roads with vast landscapes that looked like it should be on an African safari, down to Lake St Claire. It was really nice apart from the signs telling us that we might get bitten by poisonous tiger snakes and the stupid amount of fly/bees flying around our faces. The drive back really was epic, amazing roads and scenery, definitely the best roads we've ever driven on!
We got back to hobart, dropped 'Big Blue' back home, bartered on how much we owed in petrol - I managed to save us about ten dollars and had a shop on the way back to the hostel. In the evening we went to a well recommended fish and chip restaurant down by the docks. We managed to blag free sauces, a big bowl of salad and discount on our food! And it was one of the best fish and chips, with fresh scallops and calamari too! We headed to the Irish pub afterwards, had some drinks bought for us by some businessmen, (who we left swiftly after we had finished the drinks) and got an ice cream before heading back to the hostel for the night.

The day after we got up and headed to the airport to get our flight back to Melbourne.

Until next time...(I might be a while before I post again!)
Love Jen xxx

]]> Atlantida - close to the International Airport — Atlántida, Uruguay http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trekamerica/1/1328072443/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trekamerica/1/1328072443/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/trekamerica/1/1328072443/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:16:23 +0000 TrekoftheAmerica Expedition 2011
Atlántida, Uruguay

Where I stayed
Hotel Cabanas
(Atlántida hotels)
What I did
Beach, Zoo, Fishing, Heated Pool


Atlántida is a resort town of the Costa de Oro in the Department of Candelones, 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of Montevideo. It is located on route 1-A, near the junction with Route 11.
It started in the beginning of the 20th century as a resort for the
elite class of Montevideo and remained so until the mid 1950s. Today it
is mainly a middle class resort with more than 4,600 permanent
inhabitants.The first plans of a resort in the area were drawn in 1911 and in the
next year the parcelling and selling of plots began. In 1913 the Hotel
Las Toscas was built near the beach,which in 1915 took on its actual name, Atlántida.Dieste's Church of Christ the Worker, built in 1958-60 "El
Águila" is an enigmatic and attractive stone building that gave rise to
several legends, from a smuggler's haven, a Nazi observatory and a
"cosmic energy centre". It was built by Michellizzi, who originally
called it "La Quimera". For a while, La Quimera was used by Michellizzi
as meeting place with friends and to spend long hours of reading in
solitude. After he died, the building and its gardens deteriorated.
Michellizzi also founded one of the first hotels in the area,The beaches of Atlántida are frequented by mainly by wealthy
Uruguayans. They are characterized by being bordered by pine trees. the
main beaches are Playa La Brava and Playa La Mansa. La Mansa is ideal
for families, since the water is very calm, whilst La Brava typically
has much rougher currents and is very popular with young people who
enjoy water sports. These beaches are completely deserted in the winter
months.




]]> Chiang Mai — Chiang Mai, Thailand http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/myslowtravel/1/1328323602/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/myslowtravel/1/1328323602/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/myslowtravel/1/1328323602/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:15:25 +0000 Myslowtravel
Chiang Mai, Thailand

(Chiang Mai hotels)


Dagens regnvejrs-liste

- at sidde 10 timer i natbus fra Bangkok til Chiang Mai
- bumpet buskørsel, selvom thailand har ganske fine veje (jeg begynder lidt at frygte busturene i Laos og Cambodia)
- at busselskabet seriøst vælger, at bruge ½ time på at tanke 5 minutter EFTER at vi alle er kommet på bussen
- at lyset i bussen bliver slukket klokken 21, så man ikke har andet valg end at følge med i den thailandske transformers-wannabe film, der kører højlydt på skærmene i bussen
- stadig ikke at have fået lagt alt sit nye musik over på ipoden
- stadig ikke have fundet nyt oplader stik til kamera
- tuktuk mænd som er umulige at diskutere priser med
- at føle sig doven over at være de eneste, der ligger ved poolen hele dagen, mens alle andre er ude at ride på elefanter, trekke eller riverrafte
- at være de eneste backpackere på hotellet, som ikke taler flydende engelsk eller amerikansk

Dagens solskins-liste

- at være ovenud tilfreds med min mini-bog-læse-lampe, som gør det muligt at trodse lys-forbud i bussen
- at ankomme til Chiang Mai og med det samme føle, at det er en by, som vi kommer til at synes om (Steph naturligvis på grund af poolen og solskinsvejr og mig på grund af muligheden for at tage på thai-koge-kursus og klatre) J
- at være i en by med rimelig hardcore meget trafik, men endnu ikke have set en eneste trafikprop
- at starte dagen med at løbe en lille tur ind til den gamle by i Chiang Mai
- at bo på guesthouse med pool og stort værelse med air-con + spise dagens måltider + 2 tuktuk –ture + 1 drink for 170 kroner i alt (you've gotta love Asia)
- at snakke med Mike fra Canada, som rejser alene, men som snakker med ALLE der krydser hans vej
- at drikke drinks på THC rooftop-bar med neonlys, overmalede vægge, chill musik, bambusmåtter og luft
- at forsøge sig med thailandsk øl smagning til frokosten (Tiger, Chang, Singha, what to choose??) :’)
- at ligge ved poolen det meste af dagen
- at blive enige om at gå på værelset om 10 minutter, for derefter at vågne 1½ time senere efter en ordentlig skraber ved poolen
- at være de eneste backpackere på hotellet, som ikke taler flydende engelsk eller amerikansk, men som derfor kan sige lige præcis, hvad der passer os, fordi ingen forstår os
- at se en munk pulse på smøg i nat (er det os eller munken, som har mistforstået noget???)

I dag har været en dejlig dag med afslapning ved poolen ovenpå kun 4 timers søvn i nat. I morgen chiller Steph atter ved poolen, mens jeg vil leje en cykel og undersøge Chiang Mai by nærmere
]]> Barefooting it — San Ignacio, Belize http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/journeyjoy/5/1315841920/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/journeyjoy/5/1315841920/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/journeyjoy/5/1315841920/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:14:04 +0000 Mexico to Panama Journey!
San Ignacio, Belize

Where I stayed
Barton Creek Outpost
(San Ignacio hotels)


Woke up to a beautiful forest surrounding the bunkhouse screening! We had a full view of the creek and the trees and flowers. There was a deck off the bunkhouse complete with awesome wooden chairs and colorful hammocks. The creek was surrounded by large tall rockfaces and wines from the trees around it. Birds were calling and I was instantly awake and ready to see the rest of this place!


We played Blink with Logan again and ran around with Sianne (spelling?) who was their youngest. She had the best time climbing to the high ceiling on the tiny rope of the porch swing. These kids are seriously awesome. The family is originally from Florida and moved to Belize to own this property and run the place and so the kids are now growing up in the jungle of Central America and meeting people from all over the world. Speaking of the world, we had some quite exciting times that day trying to piece together a 3D puzzle of the globe with Kyle from Canada.


Logan later got out of his schoolwork for the day to rake us on a jungle trek and show us the flora and fauna. He pointed out a large tarantula and I later found a salamander on a huge leaf. Bright orange millipedes were everywhere. We learned about the give and take tree that one called Poisonwood or something like that. Logan was very knowledgable and became a fun guide. It was a bit rainy the night before and this morning so the trails he took us on were muddy and for some reason Mike and I had pictured marked out and flat trails but were taken on uphill and muddy sort-of-trails. We ditched our sandals fast, clearly unprepared, and hiked the jungle in our barefeet. Logan led us through fire ants too! "Wanna see the soldier ants?!" *Stomp stomp stomp on the hills* Leo, from Sweden, did a mock wildlife TV show and pretended to be on film. "Now here we are in the jungles of Belize, led by our fearless leader Logan, a 10 year old boy wonder. On the right you'll see the mud we've picked up while trekking through the dangerous paths. Now, Logan, what can you tell us about this mud?" Hilarious.


Some of us were then led through thigh high water while 2 others chose to try out the uncleared path and wound up getting back to the creek before we did. Mike had also slipped into a give and take tree which has thorns on the bottom and said his foot kinda stung for a little while after that. I lost the bandaid on my toe from my tight snorkeling fins, somewhere in the jungle.


Mike tended to my toe wound once we were back and had clean feet again. I hung out at night with the 3 guys and the helper and Caitlin, Jackie and Jims 13 year old daughter after a wonderful dinner and dessert, while Mike went to bed. We stayed up for a few hours looking up each countries inventions and making fun of what each person had contributed to this world. Leo from Sweden shared one of his rap songs called Gangster in which he must of said the word Gangster as the entire song. HA! So great.

Time for bed!

]]> Additional photos of Palau and American Samoa — Santa Cruz, CA http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/buffalosister/2/1328319042/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/buffalosister/2/1328319042/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/buffalosister/2/1328319042/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:13:19 +0000 More photos of Palau and American Samoa
Santa Cruz, CA


More photos to share of Palau and American Samoa...thanks to the Marys!

The first 11 are of Palau...more shots of our boating fieldtrip with some of the Head Start staff and some experiences at the Palau Pacific Resort. The other last 8 are of American Samoa...additional photos of some of the Head Start staff, the rainbow the Marys and I encountered on our last day driving back from Tisa's, and the fiafia.

Hope you enjoy!

]]> Beach to City to Jungle — San Ignacio, Belize http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/journeyjoy/5/1315755510/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/journeyjoy/5/1315755510/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/journeyjoy/5/1315755510/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:12:51 +0000 Mexico to Panama Journey!
San Ignacio, Belize

Where I stayed
Barton Creek Outpost
(San Ignacio hotels)


This morning we helped Madi with the usual feeding and talked with her for a little while before catching the 1:30pm water taxi from Caye Caulker to Belize City. We got a taxi to catch a bus to San Ignacio but it had JUST left. We were approached by a taxi driver and her husband, looking to go home in San Ignacio and wanting to drive us there for an insane price. We backed out and went into the bus station. She approached us again with a lower price but it was still a little crazy. We walked away to talk about it, since we didnt have a bus schedule and it was getting late. She finally came back over to us with an even lower price and we decided to just go for it in hopes we would make it to San Ignacio in the daylight. We said goodbye to $25 each.


We got to Rosa's hotel in San Ignacio where we met Jim, the owner of the Barton Creek Outpost, a gorgeous campground area an hour outside of San Ignacio. He has hooked up with the hotel to meet campers and take them out to Barton Creek. Jim told us we had just missed his driver who took 3 guys out to the site! Figures. He called his driver and had him turn around to get us as well, though it would take about 2 hours (and cost about $30 each...). With so much free time we left our packs with the hotel and headed out to town.


We found an internet cafe and did some research on couchsurfers. Mike was getting a little stressed that we hadnt bought a ticket home yet and we decided to buy our tickets. It was a little sad, since this meant we would now have to have a time limit in a lot of places and may have to rush to get to the airport in Panama on time. Once we bought our tickets back, there was a little feeling of having less freedom...but I guess it eventually needed to be done! We bought some groceries to have at Barton Creek and then hung around the hotel until our ride showed up. Our ride was a pickup truck driven by a friendly happy man. He had basically taken the backseat of a vehicle and put it into the bed of his truck. We rode the whole way there on that seat in the bed of his truck with our packs bouncing as we headed into a sunset and dark roads. The landscape quickly became forested and wild. Once we parked in Barton Creek, it began to rain and we scrambled for our pack rain covers and jackets and met Jacquelyn, Jim's wife and 3 kids. She told us the bunkhouse they just completed was free this month so we could stay in there instead of camp in the rain!


We settled into the bunkhouse and then headed over to the restaurant and deck building for a nice dinner made by Jackie and a helper she had. She even had chocolate pudding cake with confectionary sugar! Mike and I met 3 other guys who had come here today too. Kyle from Canada, Barry from Holland, and Leo from Sweden. Mike and I played Blink, a card game, with Logan (Jackie and Jims 10 year old son). It was nightfall but we could hear the creek and the sounds of the jungle as we relaxed in the porch swings on the deck.



]]> Massive snow fall...200kms away back in Denver!! — Vail, CO http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kellben/1/1328353235/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kellben/1/1328353235/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kellben/1/1328353235/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:11:54 +0000 Kelly & Bens USA-Mexico Adventure
Vail, CO

(Vail hotels)


After yesterday evening's predicted snow storm with desperately needed snow fall overnight...This morning...(by morning I mean that the cleck was showing AM but I'm sure it was the moon I could still see high in the star lit sky...) I was awoken by Ben perched at the window expectantly pulling back the curtains.....
Alas...disappointment etched on his face it was easy to read that the predicted 5 feet of snow had not fallen over Vail and it was several hours later and at a far more reasonable hour that the news channel informed us that 'the worst Februrary winter storm in 100 years' had fallen over the eastern plains of Denver. As much as 3-5 feet of snow falling over the town, many of the roads are closed,schools closed, cars covered in snow, the airport is closed and 600 flights cancelled. Hotel rooms in Denver have been exhausted...better buddy up guys and make a friend if you are still sitting in the airport!! 2 days earlier and it could have been us stranded at the airport-snowed in...hhmm deejavu!! Reminisent of being snowed in at Queenstown.

With our slight sprinkling of snow overnight, today we hit the slopes!! With our hotel apartment located in the village, at the base of Vail mountain it was only a 5 min stroll up to the ski conciege to collect our gear. No longer the 21 yo youths keen to persue every lit minute of ski time...it was at a leisurely and far more mature stroll up to the lifts at abot 9.30am after a rather indulgant..but somewhat restrained buffet breakfast....The 'young uns' had clomped past our room in the boots hours earlier..
Yep-face it Ben-we are OLD!!!

Vail Mountain is 5289 acres, the largest single ski mountain in Nth America. The base is about 8,000feet with the summit at about 11,500feet. Means more flash backs of the effects of high altitude..Shortness of breath, tachypnoea, headache, nausea, irritabilty & fatigue..yipee.

At 30 degrees Farienheit- GOOGLE told us that we could expect it to be a little chilly at about -1.1degrees celcius.. so the layer of singlet+thermals+sleeved ski shirt+hoody+jacket+neck warmer+beanie+spaz looking helmet I promised my mum I would wear (thanks mum-picture the poor kid with epilepsy that has to wear a stack hat on the bus that looks like an oompa loompa due to all the layers!!)+gloves & insert hand warmers..I think we were ok.
Deciding on an easy day to introduce ourselves to the slopes we explored a couple of the green runs, the odd blue..and stayed well clear of the blacks....An easy day, free of any big stacks..only an occasional glimpse of that 'mountain irritabilty' we were warned of when Ben couldn't read the map & off course blammed it on the woman'...'it always the woman who can't read or use maps isn't it???' Nope wrong!! Kelly got it right!!!!!
And Kelly chucked a wobbly on the slopes when her boots hurt and she had sore feet... blah blah blah!! (Had to get one word in-BEN)
.
After a *********** the slopes- well maybe not that hard- there was no other way to round off the day than with a dip in the outdoor hot spa tubs... followed by a 'Warm & Fuzzy-Bailey' and a complimentary choc chip cookie ( Khalua & Butterscotch with Hot choc & cream) by the fire pit rugged up in fur blankets rocking way to some classic tunes tunes...
Perhaps after a few more apres maybe we could even get a traditional Nth American Indian snow dance happening...entice some of that powder just 200 kms away to fall over the mountains of Vail.

]]> Its cooler here than in Perth — Albany, Australia http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/petermaryanne/1/1328350064/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/petermaryanne/1/1328350064/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/petermaryanne/1/1328350064/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:10:47 +0000 Petermaryanne's Great Adventure
Albany, Australia

(Albany hotels)
What I did
Bibbulmun Walk Track and Hidden Valley Hut, walking, photos, beaches, town site


Day 263 Thursday 2/2/12 Middleton Beach Big 4 Holiday Resort Albany

We were up early this morning and the weather has changed being a little warm and overcast giving an indication of rain to come. There was a fair amount of rain in the early hours of the morning and we are moving today towards Albany. We hit the road around 8.10am calling into the local IGA to pick up some milk (wanted bread as well but there was none available as waiting for resupply and the baker only makes full loaves and not the cut loaves) on our way out to Ravensthorpe to pick up the mail. The book was there waiting for us from the Friends of the Bibbulmun Track so we will be able to continue with our planning of the upcoming walk. We picked up some diesel and a coffee whilst we were in Ravensthorpe and continued on stopping at Jerramungup to pick up a pie and sauce for lunch as we are not sure of what is available re shops from here on. We were thinking of stopping for a night at Cape Riche but it started to rain and the forecast is for the rain to continue for some days which may make it unpleasant to pack up and set up again. We have decided to continue on to Albany itself and stay there for 2-4 nights which will give us time to have a real good look around and see a bit of the track itself. We found ourselves in Albany around 3pm and found this lovely Caravan Park at Middleton Beach so have booked in for 2 nights to start with and we will see about staying longer dependant on the weather. Our research into the type of foods we will need to pack for the trip has prompted Peter to come up with a recipe of 'half a cup of rice, half a packed of BBQ biltong, half a packet of ready-made soup, a handful of peas and 1 litre of water, boiled up and left to sit for 20 minutes to allow the rice to absorb the water. We gave this a go for dinner tonight, it was not bad but a little watery and hence not as favour filled as we would have liked. We will need to do a little more research and experimentation to see what will be useful as a base for our food on the track as we need to consider weight as well as nutritious value of the meal overall. We watched a movie ‘Karate Kid' before retiring to bed to read for a while. The wind was ok but the sound from the waves was really bad, we soon dropped off to sleep.

Day 264 Friday 3/2/12 Middleton Beach Big 4 Holiday Resort Albany

We had a real sleep in this morning, the sound of the waves drowned out the sound of the birds so allowed us to remain in bed until after 8am. I had a lovely hot shower to start the day and put on some coffee which Peter smelt and he also arose from the warm bed. We discovered that we have both been thinking of the planning and preparation for the Bibbulmun track walk, the costs, the meals, places where we can stay and what we will do on das off from walking has taken over our waking thoughts. It is a little daunting and we are continually thinking about ways to reduce the weight of the packs we will carry without missing out on anything. We spent a fair bit of the morning researching on the web visiting various sites including the Bibbulmun Track page to get a feel of the upcoming walk. I also checked out the cook books I have brought with me for recipes and ingredients that we will need to take with us. Peter did participate in these activities when he was not reading his kindle of course. We had another hot lunch today as it is still a little cool and then decided it was time to hit the sights of Albany again for a looksee. We had intended to the Whaling station for a look but during our drive there, we came across street names that are becoming familiar to us and decided to follow them to see where we will be walking when we start our trek. We ended up near the wind farm at Sandpatch Car Park close to the boardwalk and peter suggested we take a short walk of approximately 2klms to have a look at the Hidden Valley hut. I of course agreed thinking it would only be a short walk there and back, it turned out to be nearly 9klms round trip with us arriving at the hut around 4.10pm. It was worth the walk to the hut not only to see what it looks like as we will be staying there the first night of our walk but also to remind us both of the joy of walking and the feel of the elements such as the feel of the wind, the smells of the surrounding flora and the hidden sounds and visible passage of the fauna around us. Peter wrote up in the red book that we had visited the hut and we returned to the car park. As the time was getting on we decided to buy dinner and stopped at KFC on the way to camp. After dinner I had a quick hot shower and then got the computer up and running as we had promised to speak to Guy tonight via Skype. He was already on the computer so we spoke to him from around 6.30pm to 8pm before retiring for the night with a book. Alas it was not to be an early night as we have had 7 children move in next door on one side and some additional ones on the other side move in during the day, they made a lovely noise until they went to sleep around 9.30pm and then we had to try to get to sleep.

Day 265 Saturday 3/2/12 Middleton Beach Big 4 Holiday Resort Albany

Up before the birds but not before the children next door, they are real little chatter boxes and have a laugh like the sun is just coming up, light and cheerful. The weather is not too good this morning with some rain and very overcast. We are thinking of staying for another night after all and are both wearing trousers today to combat the cold. The forecast is for 19 degrees maximum so I have put on a wash and will put the clothes through the clothes dryer to ensure everything gets dried. It is cold, wet and blowy being a nice day to spend inside with a good book or two. We are not looking forward to packing up a wet camper and then having to set up somewhere else in the rain so we might as well stay put here and enjoy the cold to our advantage. I will spend some time today updating the blog to get this up to date again, it will not be long before I am not able to do this as once we are walking, we will not have the computer with us as it weighs a ton. I will be keeping a diary and take lots of photos so will update the blog once we are home again to enlighten you of our adventure.
]]> Dien Bien Phu — Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1325119728/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1325119728/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1325119728/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:03:45 +0000 Lostinasia's Great Adventure
Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam

Sapa to dien bien phu.

We had been told yesterday that the bus taking us to dien bien phu (near the laos border) would pick us up at "7.30, or maybe 7.40, or maybe 7.50" so when it arrived at our hotel just after 8 we thought we were doing pretty well. We waved "goodbye sapa" with a rather enthusiastic vietnamese man and embarked on what was probably the bumpiest bus ride of my life. It was a common occurrence that as we hit a bump in the road our bottoms would leave the seats and our heads come too close to hitting the roof. The minibus took us on winding unsealed mountain roads which im glad my mother couldnt see, but which offered amazing views of the landscape. We made some friends with some local vietnamese students going to study in laos, which proved helpful with translations and directions later in the trip. The bus stopped occasionally going through villages for the passengers embed driver to lean out the window and buy all kind of produce from roadside stalls. We tried some of the food at one of the bus stops (roadside houses with all kind of food cooking) which was delicious. We finally arrived in dien bien phu at about 4pm and after finding accomodation and having a well-earned drink stop, we went to explore the town with some friends from quebec that we'd made on the bus. At the end of main road was a huge memorial commemorating the last battle where the vietnamese had defeated the french. It was quite a spectacular view of the town and sunset from the top of the 320 stairs. We had a chat to a vietnamese man who spoke good english at the top, them set off to find some dinner. We found ourselves agreeing to have dinner at a street as stall and none of us were quite sure what food was going to come out, but we ended up with a feast of everything you can think of for only $1.20 each! Some vietnamese men asked us to join them for what we thought was rice whiskey but who knows, and we had a chat for a while before heading to our last bia hoi in vietnam, across the road from our guesthouse.
]]> Trekking in Sapa and farewell to the kiwis — Sapa, Vietnam http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1324514888/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1324514888/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1324514888/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:03:01 +0000 Lostinasia's Great Adventure
Sapa, Vietnam

Sapa day 2


We got up in time to make the most of the breakfast buffet this morning, then headed out for another trek. This time we walked to a different village where the black hmong people live. This village was further away than yesterday and a nice walk with beautiful clear views again.

We had lunch by the river and explored the village including seeing the school, and how some of the local handicrafts are made. We also got to visit the nearby village where the tay minorities live, minority people of chinese origin. The costumes that all the villagers wear are beautiful and bright, and differ between minority groups.

When we got back to sapa we had time for another walk around the village and lake. It is all very quaint and beautiful, and very like a european mountain town. Jo and juliet had dinner with us before catching their night train back to sapa, to fly home before christmas. It was sad to see them go, and scott and i spent the evening chatting in the warmth off the hotel restaurant with dinner and a massive cocktail which scott claims cured his cold.
]]> Visiting the hill tribes in Sa Pa — Sapa, Vietnam http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1324428076/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1324428076/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1324428076/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:02:07 +0000 Lostinasia's Great Adventure
Sapa, Vietnam

Where I stayed
Sapa Summit
(Sapa hotels)


After an interesting night on the train with a vietnamese couple spooning in the bunk above and playing loud music on their phones, we arrived in lao cai and took an hour bus to sapa.

We were dressed in the warmest clothes we had brought, after so many people had warned us about the cold weather. We were lucky though and although being a little chilly, it really wasnt that bad. We saw stunning views of the valleys covered in rice terraces as we were driven to our hotel which was like a ski lodge up on top of the hill, cosy and with a buffet breakfast! Much better than we had expected. We met our guide Chu Ba, one of the village minority people, and set off on our trek to see the nearby cat cat village, where red hmong people live.

The weather cleared and we had gorgeous views of the mountains and terraces. The actual village was rather touristy but it was interesting at the same time as we got to see the way these people live, in a beautiful setting by a waterfall. More minority people followed us as we walked and we got to chat to a lot of them which was nice.

The afternoon we had free to explore sapa town, so we went for a wander in the markets where we did a bit of shopping and scott also got a shave! When it got colder we went into a cosy bar and tried some of the local speciality "hot wine", a kind of warmed up sangria-style drink. It got pretty cold at night so we had a nice dinner in our cosy hotel and watched the mist come in to settle for the night.
]]> The Killing Fields — Phnom Penh, Cambodia http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1328353585/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1328353585/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lostinasia/1/1328353585/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:01:34 +0000 Lostinasia's Great Adventure
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Today was a sobering day as we headed off in the morning to visit the S-21 prison used by the Khmer Rouge. The prison is a former high school which was converted into a prison, and reminded me of the Nazi concentration camps I've seen. Only a few people survived the prison, and many people (teachers, educated people, etc.) were tortured or killed here. It was horrible to see the tiny cells that people had been forced to spend so much time confined in, and to read the displays on what went on in the prison. After the prison we visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where many people had been taken from S-21 and killed. It was horrible to see the tree that the Khmer Rouge had smashed children and babies against to kill them (bullets were expensive) and to see the huge memorial tower in the middle of the field, filled with the skulls of victims. We had an audio guide that we listened to as we walked around and it told us about the Khmer Rouge years.

After that pretty intense morning we headed to the Russian Market (one of the big markets in Phnom Penh) to do some shopping. It was pretty big and we shopped around for a while, stopping for some awesome spinach cake things which were delicious! In the evening we headed out to by the river again for some fancy cocktails and dinner.

]]> "We go to USYD. But in Lidcombe..." — Sydney, Australia http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shishan/4/1173122502/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shishan/4/1173122502/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shishan/4/1173122502/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:49:14 +0000 The Roadtrips! Years
Sydney, Australia

Cumbo campus is where health science students go - and it is a pithole. You would think that the suburb would have flourished into a uni/TAFE town with more cafes, pool halls and bowling alleys etc ala Oxfoed/Cambridge; but sadly no. It is a sleepy, rather dusty and dead quiet town, with a handful of Korean groceries and restaurants (which aren't bad at least).

On occasions where I missed the shuttle from the station to the campus, I had to walk
the 30min journey with, to the right, manufacturing factories and various wooden-boarded houses; and to the left, a HUGE graveyard as my companions. Rookwood Cemetery is the "largest multicultural necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere", about 15times the size of our campus. We joke all the time that our cadavers are sourced right across the street.

It's actually a very well maintained, ancient and peaceful place. I know this because 1) we used to take a shortcut through the cemetery - it's a 5mins drive, and 2) I've gotten out of the car and explored bits of it many times with dad while waiting for mom to finish work lol.

Cumbo campus feels like the forgotten cousin of USYD, and my first impressions of it was not encouraging - it's buildings looked exactly like a high school all over again. None of our student discounts collected at the main site works here. The only uni groups here were degree-related or church-related. There is only a sandwich/sushi/salad bar, a forever long queue for burgers and chips downstairs, one coffee joint and a mini-mart. And we had to fight in our third year for an ATM machine to be installed.

And it is so far off from the main campus that I've only visited our glorious main library twice! I was interested in borrowing some old rare books, but I only managed to get The Blue Lagoon (1908) and return it before work/study/family commitments kept me away =(

The only other time we went to the main campus, apart from O-week, was for the graduation ceremony. So, thank god for the friends I made here at Cumbo - uni would not have been bearable without you. You made it fun to go, for the socialization more than the "well-rounded" education our tertiary institution provided me =P

]]> Revisiting the Windy Hopetoun — Hopetoun, Australia http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/petermaryanne/1/1328028917/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/petermaryanne/1/1328028917/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/petermaryanne/1/1328028917/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:48:10 +0000 Petermaryanne's Great Adventure
Hopetoun, Australia

Where I stayed
Hopetoun Caravan Park
(Hopetoun hotels)
What I did
sightseeing, shopping, photos


Day 261 Tuesday 31/1/12 Hopetoun Caravan Park Hopetoun

I was awake at 4.30am this morning with the birds and not able to get back to sleep. I lay in bed until 6.30am to give Peter some sleep time as he was a little tired. I was thinking of the Bibbulmun Track walk and the food we will need and I do have some reservations about undertaking the walk as I also miss the kids. We had breakfast and then showers before packing up for our next move. I managed to fit in some time updating the blog and putting the photos onto the external drive so that the space in the computer is not used up. We left around 9am and went to the shops to pick up the book Challenge in Isolation that we have heard so much about and also and new gauze for the toaster as mine has two big holes in it now. We then went for a drive along the Great Ocean Road so that I could take some photos of the lovely beaches and the wind farm here at Esperance for the blog. We set off for Ravensthorpe which is on the way to Hopetoun picking up diesel at Mungalup on the way as well as some pies and sauce for lunch. We checked in at the post office to see if the book from the Bibbulmun Track had arrived yet but it had not so we carried onto Hopetoun where we booked in around 2.45pm. We may decide to stay more than one night as it is quiet here as the kids have now returned to school but will make that decision tomorrow morning. We called into the local IGA to pick up some ice and I checked the lottery tickets Kathy and Robby picked up for us at xmas and guess what, we won $64.00 which we will use to buy Fish and Chips for dinner tonight as a treat and to give me a day off from cooking. It was a nice surprise for us and I called Kathy to let her know we had won. We returned to camp to relax and read our kindles with me spending a little time on the computer and the blog. We will watch a movie tonight before retiring for the night.
Day 262 Wednesday 1/2/12 Hopetoun Caravan Park by the Sea Hopetoun

We were up nice and early this morning, the birds here are quite settled, a little timid but settled into the area quite well given the amount of young making lots of noise for food. We have decided to stay for another night and use today as a rest day. This will also ensure that we have allowed enough time for the southern part of the Bibbulmun track book arrives at Ravensthorpe Post Office for us to pick up. We read books or our kindle and used the time to discuss options on travelling the Bibbulmun track. We have been planning this for some time and are now trying to fine tune it with making a time frame for leaving and settling the amount of meals that need to be planned for. I had a really nice long hot shower which was very enjoyable followed by time on the computer either researching for our walk of updating the blog. I also spent time cleaning up the computer to make some space as it is getting a bit full from the trip information. We had lunch and generally relaxed the morning away and following a hot lunch (toasted cheese sandwich for me and cup-a-soup for Peter) we went for a walk along the beach to the shops to pick up some ice. I have had a headache for some time today and took some panadol which did not seem to help much. The walk did me good as it was distracting although it was quite windy on the beach. The sun was out and it was a nice view with the sun shining on the water as we walked. We walked back to the camp and came upon a lovely looking blue tongue lizard which stuck its tongue out at us a few times. I took a few photos of him as he had lovely colouring with lots of swirls and stripes. As I did not feel like reading or doing more work on the computer anymore, we decided to watch the movie Mad Max 2 followed by dinner of Sausages, Salmon and chips followed by another movie Incorrigible *******s. My headache did not go nor diminish and finally got the better of me so I retired to bed around 7pm and I believe Peter followed me shortly after this so it was an early night for us both.
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