TravelStream™ news feed for member peteandmandy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/peteandmandy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:36:00 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1168443420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1168443420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1168443420/tpod.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:36:00 -0400 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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Sunshine Coast, Australia

Hey All,

This is the first entry in our first ever TravelBlog. We still have three months until departure but are already into the advanced planning stages. I think our preoccupation with trawling websites re travel is getting a bit much but its just so addictive>We will be leaving from the Sunshine Coast, quitting jobs, renting out our house and leaving our best mate Gemma behind to travel the world...

To be continued....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1201168680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1201168680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1201168680/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:00:44 -0500 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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Fiji, Fiji

17th - 22nd December 2007.

Our final stop on this incredible trip was Fiji. We had pre booked and paid for all our accommodation and food and drinks (including beer) before we left, which was a good thing as we were almost out of money. The transfer bus picked us up from the airport and proceeded to break all land speed records en route to our resort. The islands wide speed limit is 80 km/h but our bus driver never went below 100....ever.

We decided on the Hideaway Resort on the Coral coast as it looked pretty nice on the internet and had a reef break straight out the front. Unfortunately, the waves didn't get over ankle high for the five days we were there until the last afternoon, but by the time the tide came in enough the wind was up so no waves in Fiji.

We went to the watersports counter to hire a kayak one day but they told us the tide was still too low, so we grabbed a couple of spyboards. Spyboards are small plastic boards with a Perspex viewing hole to see the reef. We got a couple of strange looks from the scuba divers as we strutted past with our spyboards thinking we were pretty cool. When we reached the water we realised that spyboards are probably for kids rather than those in their mid thirties, and are pretty dam uncomfortable.

Our time in Fiji was a great way to finish off our trip. Warm days by the pool, tennis challenges, happy hour fiji bitters, and some great food. On our last afternoon we got a surprise as an old friend, Melissa, walked past our room as we were playing cards. We caught up with her and her husband Jason and their two kids later on and had a few drinks. Then Jason and I had a few more drinks. Fiji bitter is a great beer when you are drinking it, but not so good the next day, as we both found out. Seedy!!! To make matters worse we had to leave and catch another a transfer bus driven by an even more psychotic bus driver. This guy was texting, looking out the side window on the wrong side of the road and hitting every bump he could find whilst playing Christmas carols at full volume on the crappy one speaker sound system. Did I mention that I was extremely hung over...

We caught our plane and arrived back on Aussie soil mid afternoon on the 22nd December. It's been hard to finish this blog off as it only confirms that our big trip is over. It's been a month since we returned and we've just finished our first day of work in ten months. Our minds keep drifting back to the places we have visited and the people we met along the way that made it so special. We have been asked by so many friends and family, "How was the trip?" , but there is no way to answer. They ask, "What was your favourite part?" and there is only one answer...."ALL OF IT!!!!"

Coming up next....

Saving for the next trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1201167780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1201167780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1201167780/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:45:32 -0500 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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San Clemente, California, United States

3rd - 14th December 2007.

Our time in San Fran was at an end so we pointed the PT Cruiser south and headed down the famous Highway 1 scenic coastal highway. This road trip had been talked up by all the Californians we had met on our travels and we had been looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the weather decided not to co-operate. The ocean was a foggy stone grey with overhead cloud and drizzle. Not the most ideal conditions. It was still pretty spectacular though.

Our destination on day one was the small surf town called Santa Cruz. Late in the afternoon the swell was beginning to build. Quite a few surfers were out all wearing thick wetsuits, hoods, and boots. The water temperature was a frigid 11 degrees. Bbrrrrrr.

By the next morning the swell had built considerably. 12 to 15 foot waves crashed into the cliffs that are a feature of the coastline here. There were a few gutsy surfers out there taking it on. I had sold my only board as we left Costa Rica to avoid the ridiculous surfboard freight that airlines are charging these days, so I couldn't surf..... I probably wouldn't have gone out anyway, it was, er, a bit, er, small still for me!!! We drove around the nearby coastline checking out all the surfspots, some were big, some more manageable, all were cold. The swell peaked that afternoon with some massive sets and hundreds lined the coastline viewpoints watching. Watching fog that is, because all day the fog had been getting thicker. Through the soup you cold barely make out tiny surfers dropping into big waves.

Our next stop down the coast was Monterey. This area is a golfers paradise, a rich golfers paradise anyway. Home to a number of spectacular golf courses, including one of the most well known golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach. We drove the 17 Mile road that winds around the golf courses and along some stunning coastline. A thick sea fog hugged the exposed coastline but when we swung around the point and headed towards the protected bay that Pebble Beach is situated in, it cleared leaving us with a picture perfect day to watch some of the wealthy enjoy their round.

The next morning we took off down the coast heading for Santa Barbara, visiting a beach with a colony of elephant seals en route. More than 100 oversized ocean slugs lined the beach, sleeping and snoring away the day. We arrived in Santa Barbara late afternoon and were followed down the coast by some very cold winter weather. Icy winds started blowing that night. A lazy morning was followed by a walk into town, then out onto the pier. The walk on the pier was fairly short lived due to the cold.

The weather warmed up a bit the following day as we headed further south. We made a brief stop in Santa Monica to pick out a new board from our friend from Mexico, Spencer, who works at a surf shop there, before finding our new home at San Clemente. We found a motel with rooms right on the beach for $100 a night. It also had a kitchen so by cooking for ourselves we actually saved money. I went for my first surf on my new board at Oceanside but the waves were very small and the water very cold. We are spoilt with our water temps in Queensland.

One of our other friends from Mexico, Mikey, lived nearby. He came down for a surf the next morning but the tiny swell had all but disappeared. We couldn't find anywhere to surf so settled on breakfast instead, followed by a walk out onto the San Clemente pier.

We spent a few more days here cruising, taking in the relaxed Californian beach lifestyle. The weather was perfect, blue skies, light winds and warm sunshine. The waves even picked up slightly on our last day.

Our next and final stop was Fiji.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1197775380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1197775380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1197775380/tpod.html Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:34:02 -0500 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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San Francisco, California, United States

29th November - 2nd December 2007.

We both had been looking forward to visiting San Francisco since we decided to add it to our trip. The flight up from Vegas took only one hour and we were sitting next to a San Fran local who gave us the insiders guide to the city. Armed with our newly acquired knowledge we set off for an action packed weekend.

We stayed at the Hotel Union Square, right in the heart of the shopping district. The streets were packed with Christmas shoppers, and we could take in the atmosphere from the fire escape outside our window. The cable cars ran right below our window towards Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown while trams ran from the bottom of our street in another direction towards the waterfront. We bought a three day transport pass which covers all the crazy forms of transport this city offers, which was good value at $18, considering one ride on the cable car costs $5.

The weather was perfect for our first day so we took advantage of it and caught a cable car to the waterfront then the ferry to Alcatraz for the tour. The third level of the ferry produced the best views of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges and the "Rock", the small island on which they built Alcatraz. Our tour started with some history and tales of escape attempts, before we climbed the hill to the prison grounds. We were each given headsets through which a commentary from an ex-warden and several prisoners describing the different areas of the jail and some of the things that went down there complete with sound effects. Later we caught a tram "home" before tucking into our first American hotdog with ketchup and mustard.

Saturday was cooler and a bit overcast but we would not be deterred. We jumped back on the cable car and rode up to the top of the hill then turned right and walked down to Chinatown. The streets were buzzing with the small market stalls overflowing. With sights and smells it was easy to imagine we had left San Francisco for the orient. We walked two blocks down towards the waterfront and were transported back to familiar territory. Our path took us to a cross roads, where to turn right would have taken us to the city centre or left would take us up the steepest hill we'd seen so far. We chose the steep option as it promised a great view from the top. We weren't disappointed with sweeping views of the bay and city. The road on the other side down had been replaced with gardens and a staircase that wound its way down to the next block. From there we walked back down to the waterfront to explore Fisherman's Wharf and find some of the "locals" that lived there that we had heard about. Pier 39 is home to a family of sea lions that have lived there for a number of years and become a tourist attraction in their right. We ate really bad fish and chips for lunch, which was disappointing. Catfish is the wrongest fish in the world.

We hired a car for the next two weeks for our road trip down the coast to LA, but first we took our PT Cruiser over the Golden Gate Bridge to the north of San Francisco to explore the coastline and visit Muir Wood forest. Muir Wood is home to an ancient redwood forest with trees several hundred feet high and three metres across at their base. The beaches looked OK from the car but with the temp hovering at 14 degrees with 30 knot southerly winds blowing a swim was not on the cards.

Next, we take off down the coast.... Road Trip!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1197774540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1197774540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1197774540/tpod.html Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:23:10 -0500 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Friday 23rd November - 29th November 2007

Two days and three flights later we arrived in Las Vegas. The airport at Las Vegas is full of slot machines (pokies in Australia). Welcome to Las Vegas.... Let's gamble!!! After seven weeks in the tropical climates of Mexico and Costa Rica, Las Vegas in November was a bit of a shock.

We checked into our hotel, which could probably be described as the tackiest of all the Las Vegas casinos, The Excaliber. The Excaliber is a medieval themed casino complete with fairytale castle and interior to match. Even the waitresses dress up in costume. Our room was on the 22nd floor and had views of two other casinos, Luxor, an Egyptian based Casino and the Mandolin Bay Casino and the airport. Rooms facing the other direction looked down over the "strip" but cost more. The airport's fine.

We spent the first day walking up and down the strip taking it all in. There is a water show at the Bellagio Casino where hundreds of fountains spring to life perfectly choreographed to music. Las Vegas is obviously a fairly strange place and attracts its fair share of strange people as well. It also seems to empty your wallet in record time and before we new it we were back at the ATM once again. This is even before we started gambling or drinking.

In Las Vegas there are a number of Cirque du Soleil productions, most of which were booked out. But we did manage to get tickets to a very interesting show called Zumanity. Zumanity is the adult version of a Cirque du Soleil show. Comedy mixed with nudity mixed with acrobatics mixed with nude acrobatic comedians. A great show. The hula hoop girl dressed in a schoolgirls uniform was one highlight as was the two almost nude girls in fish bowl. There was a few guys running around too but they didn't hold my attention for to long.


We walked down to the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign to take the obligatory photo then took a taxi down to the outlet centre. Hundreds of stores selling name brands at a fraction of the cost. We spent more than we had planned but scored some great bargains. So we'd been in Las Vegas a couple of days and had spent all our gambling money on shopping already.

We hired a car for three days and drove out to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam.
Hoover Dam is a pretty awesome feat of engineering when you see the height of the wall and the amount of water it has to hold back. But manmade monuments were not what we had come to see, so we headed off into the desert to find the big hole. We arrived late afternoon and the temperature was dropping fast. The sunset was pretty spectacular and the five layers of clothes we were wearing kept us reasonably warm. The same couldn't be said for the sunrise. We set the alarm early to drive up to the rim before the light show began. As we stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon shivering, (I say shivering because it was - 6 degrees.) We tossed up whether to take the helicopter flight over one of the world's great sights. Our money was running low and Mandy was pretty nervous about it but we thought, what the hell, we'll never come back so we might as well.

We forked over our $150 each and watched the safety video then began our wait - the longer we waited the more nervous Mandy got. She couldn't sit still. She's overcome her fear of riding cable cars up steep mountains but this was a whole new ballgame. Finally our names were called and then we were told we had been upgraded to another flight in a better chopper so we were stoked. Mandy got the window seat, not sure if she was too impressed with that. We took off and headed for the edge. The pilot (or driver as Mandy called him) pumped the classical music through our headphones and the orchestra peaked just as we crossed the precipice. There's nothing that compares to the feeling of cruising just above the tree tops one minute, and the next the ground just drops away. The size of the Grand Canyon can only be appreciated from this vantage point. We thought (and Mandy hoped) that we were only going for a 20 minute flight across the canyon and back, but it soon became obvious that we had been upgraded to more than just a better helicopter, we had also been upgraded to the 45 minute flight over the north rim loop as well. Mandy relaxed after a while and enjoyed the ride, and we were both glad we did it. One of the highlights of the trip.

We set of back to Vegas buzzing. We checked into the Excaliber again, (they did us a great deal) and went straight downstairs to balance the lopsided budget. We needed a win we'd already spent over twice our weekly budget in just 5 days. We put $10 in an Egyptian themed slot machine and won $60. So we threw $20 bucks at the roulette wheel and lost it in 4 spins....OK. The next day we put $30 back in our lucky machine and lucked into the extra spin feature and won $280. We played a few other ripoff machines then went back to old faithful and won another $130. Mandy was starting to get that glazed over look in her eyes as the gambling bug started to bite so I suggested firmly that we should call it a night $410 in front. WOOOHOOO!!!

Even after our big win we still left Las Vegas having smashed our all time spending record. The budget had been blown but with only three weeks to go we were on the homeward stretch anyway....how much more damage could we do?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1196268660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1196268660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1196268660/tpod.html Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:40:22 -0500 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica

24th October - 22nd November

We arrived late Wednesday night in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. We spent 2 nights there before catching a mini van to Playa Hermosa. On the way down to Hermosa we stopped at a viewing platform that overlooked a lush green jungle valley. The calls from many different birds, monkeys and frogs told us straight away that we had arrived in Costa Rica. Once we dropped down from the mountain range we stopped at Crocodile Bridge. It is home to 20-30 massive crocodiles that bask on the river bank.

We arrived at Hotel Las Olas in Playa Hermosa. Our room was on the second storey. It had no glass windows, just fly screens. Our balcony overlooked the surf. Within 30 minutes I was waxing my board and straight out the front for a surf. We had booked our room for 5 nights but ended up staying two weeks.

I surfed most mornings early in waves ranging from 3 - 6 foot while Mandy videoed or took photos, before a mid morning breakfast of bacon, eggs, fruit smoothies, and banana pancakes. Mmmmmmm. Some days we'd walk the beach, on others we'd lounge by the pool reading, swimming and relaxing. We spent many hours in the hammock on our balcony that overlooked the surf. Late afternoon the waves cleaned up again so the last few hours until dark I was back out there. We ate mainly at the restaurant at Las Olas, BBQ ribs, coconut encrusted mahi mahi, and lime and garlic pork chops and more. We also managed to find the local pizza restaurant, which made pretty good Pizzas...we still love pizzas.

One day we got energetic and hiked up a steep dirt road into the jungle. We were told to look for a path off to the left that wound through the jungle, but we couldn't find it. What we did find was a large padlocked gate with a hole just big enough for us to squeeze through, well I only just squeezed through it, Mandy made it quite comfortably. Once through, the path took us deep into the jungle. Here we saw our first sighting of White Faced Monkeys climbing and playing in the trees above us, but no toucans yet.

After two weeks in Hermosa we felt we needed to see some more of the country, so we packed up our day packs, stored our big packs at Las Olas, and drove down to Quepos, a small town an hour south of Hermosa. Quepos we used as our base for our visit to Manuel Antonio National Park. While in Quepos we continued our search for a head cleaning tape for our video camera. We already looked everywhere in Jaco (near Hermosa) to no avail, and it was the same case in Quepos, so our video camera remained out of action for the majority of our time in Costa Rica.

Manuel Antonio National Park is situated just south of Quepos. The road to the entrance is a narrow, steep road with spectacular views of the jungle and the Pacific Ocean. To enter the park you have to cross a small creek about 3 metres wide. Shoes off, cross the creek, shoes back on. There are a number of jungle backed beaches in the national park that are home to more white faced monkeys that are very good at stealing visitors lunches from there bags when they are swimming or not paying attention. They seem to have a plan as a few come down out of the trees to distract people and then the others sneak down to go through the bags when no-ones looking. We also saw more iguanas, a racoon, a rat looking thing, and a sloth. Sloths are cool! Still no toucans though.

We left Quepos to head for another beach called Esterillos where we stayed at the Pelican Beach Hotel. There we spent a couple of relaxing days surfing and making friends with other travellers, Chris and Ellie from London, Sofia and Harvey from Majorca, and Sarah and Chip from Colorado. The waves were quite small but still fun and there was hardly anyone out. We also enjoyed some of the best sunsets of the trip here, the food was great as well. Still no toucans! No video head cleaner either... if you come to Costa Rica bring one with you as they just don't sell them here.

We headed "home" to Las Olas for our last 6 nights to enjoy Aaron's cooking and the extra power of the waves of Playa Hermosa. Unfortunately, the swell was dying here too, with only small weak waves. Cameron (part owner of Las Olas) and Christian (employee of the month) took us surfing down the beach further where it picks up more swell. There is a turtle conservation farm where we surfed and our visit coincided with the release of over one hundred hatchlings while we surfed. Mandy watched on and took photos of the little fellas making their way across the beach to the water. About fifteen minutes later all these little heads started popping up around us out in the surf. They were everywhere. One swam up to me so I put him on my surfboard to give him a rest. Turtles are cooler!

There are quite a few Americans that live in Costa Rica. One of them, Joey, told us about a waterfall nearby. He gave us some directions and we were off. One of the landmarks he said to look out for was to turn left into the road with a row of palm trees on either side. We found them and started to make our way down the road when Mandy stopped and whispered urgently, "Toucan right there". Sitting in the palm tree straight above no more than twenty feet above us was our first toucan. Toucans are the coolest!!! We found the waterfall and climbed up to the top rockpool and went swimming in and behind the falling water.

Christian took us surfing the last two days of our stay with Bryan, a Floridian surfer down for a week. Bryan also bought a video camera and a head cleaner. Woohoo. Mandy videoed both surfs and to thank Bryan we made up a little video of our waves we shared together. We were both pretty stoked.

Our time in Costa Rica has flown by and we rank it as one of our favourite countries. Great food, friends, waves and wildlife. We hope to return again someday soon. Now for a slight change of pace, we're off to Las Vegas, Nevada USA....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1193175540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1193175540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1193175540/tpod.html Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:59:51 -0400 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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Puerto Escondido, Mexico

Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca Mexico. 3rd - 23rd October 207.

Our flight from Amsterdam to Mexico City took 11 hours. As we approached we noticed snow capped mountains out the window. We hadn't even landed and we were already learning new things. Another thing we learnt when we landed was that Mexico City is over 2200 metres above sea level, you don't notice it that much but every so often you realise that your really out of breathe. After spending the night in a local airport hotel, and spending $20 each on a fairly average buffet breakfast, we made our way back to the airport for our flight to Puerto Escondido, home of the famous surf break "Mexican Pipeline".

We had booked into a hotel called Hotel Aqua Luna for three nights, but when we got here we loved it so much we didn't end up leaving. We have spent our entire three weeks in Mexico right here. After constantly being on the go for the last four months in Europe we felt like a holiday. No driving, no finding new accommodation, just relaxing by the pool and surfing. Our room had ocean views, a small kitchen with fridge and plenty of space. Our hosts, Clive and Adriana, along with the always smiling Corelle, looked after us like we were friends from day one.

The best part about staying here has been all the people we have met. Jake Stone, a kid from the Sunshine Coast, Glen Thurston and Matt Lackey are three professional body boarders who were shooting some footage for a surf movie they were making. Glen's brother Bryce does all the videoing and MikeyT from California was there taking photos. All these guys were great fun, especially Jake who kept us in stitches and Glen, who liked to smear his entire upper body in aloe vera. Glen's also quite competitive, so when someone mentioned that the record for underwater laps of the pool was 6 he decided to challenge it. He made eight but failed to surface, having passed out underwater. Clive was luckily on hand to drag him out and revive him. We've also met some cool people from the USA, Spencer and Shaun, and a crew of Israeli body boarders, Michael, Eden, Kirril and Mor, aka Mini me.

Animals.
There's a lot of different animals around here that you don't see much at home. There's heaps of dogs, including Bali, Clive and Adriana's dalmation, chooks, a turkey, horses, a big hairy tarantula, fluoro green iguana's, goats, brown pelican's, a bull, and last but not least, a crocodile. The first day we got here we went for a walk to the beach. A small crowd had gathered up the beach and as we approached they waved us away from the water. We weren't sure what was going on until a dark shape surfaced on the shore thirty metres in front of us. An eight foot croc was swimming around the surf where I was planning to surf the next day.

Surf.
The wave known as Mexican Pipeline wasn't at its best while we were here. A lot of waves close out and it never got all that good while we were here. Every now and then there is a screamer that comes through that shows some of the waves potential. I got one on my birthday and pulled into a nice wide barrel. Every ten to 15 minutes a freak set comes through and everyone scrambles to get under them. I didn't make it once and after taking two on the head the third wave broke my board clean in half. That was the last time I surfed out the front. After having my board repaired expertly by Miguel, I spent the rest of our stay surfing the fun waves on offer at La Punta, a walling left hand point break at the end of the beach. Mandy sat on the beach, filming, taking photos and making friends with the dogs that seemed drawn to her.

Poker.
The bi-weekly poker tournaments drew up to 15 players from surrounding hotels and is fast becoming a feature of a stay at Aqua Luna. One guy from San Diego, Micah, is particularly obsessed with the game, not only playing the game, but also commentating, dissecting every hand and discussing options each player could have taken and the effects these would have had on other players etc etc. He loves it. I hadn't played all that much poker but I went OK. Three seconds, a fourth and a fifth and one eighth. Just couldn't break through for my maiden victory. Mandy played other card games and pool with some other friends we made from WA, Sam and Kaz. We met a lot of people here!

We took a taxi to another beach called Playa Carrizalillo, a small tree lined bay to the north of Puerto Escondido. There's a good wave here for people to learn to surf and we spent a few hours here watching tourists from all over the world take their first waves and get the stoked feeling of standing on a surfboard. Pretty funny to watch too. As we were walking home a live eight piece band was playing Mexican music and a couple of fellas were dancing and waving us to come in. I couldn't resist and started laying down some of my moves for them. I think they were more interested in getting Mandy up there with them but she wanted to get a few photos.

We've had a great time here in Puerto Escondido and will miss our sunset beers from the top floor deck overlooking the beach, all our new friends and the relaxed days round the pool.

Tomorrow we fly to Costa Rica for a month.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1192387200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1192387200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1192387200/tpod.html Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:10:06 -0400 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

26th September - 1st October 2007.

After the big drive from the north of France the day before, a lazy morning was on the cards. In fact it turned out to be a pretty lazy day all round. We gave the Citroen the once over at the local car wash in preparation for its return the following day. When Steve and Karin got home from work we cracked a few beers and a bottle of wine and Karin cooked us a traditional Dutch meal called Stumpot.

Both Steve and Karin had Friday off. First we had to drop off our trusty set of wheels, the now famous Citroen C8. It all went smoothly and we were out of there in 15 minutes. We then drove up to a small tourist town called Vollendam to the north of Amsterdam on the water. Karin had a great idea that we should all dress up in traditional Dutch clothes complete with clogs, and have our photo taken. Every one of us was in hysterics especially when I started playing the piano accordion, possibly the coolest instrument on the planet. The girls looked great, and Steve just looked funny.... Until I looked in the mirror and realised I looked just as ridiculous. My pants were extremely high, higher than any pants I have ever worn before. There's nothing more liberating than dressing up as a high panted piano accordionist.

Saturday meant Rugby. Australia was playing Canada in the World Cup so we made our way into town to Coco's Aussie Bar. When we got there the place was full.... Of bloody Kiwis. Note to all cuzzy bros. Get your own bar!!!! Once their game finished a bit of class returned to the establishment but not for long. Australia dispatched with Canada with ease but didn't feel it necessary to humiliate them with a blown out score. Anyway this is all old news as we all know that Australia was beaten by a quality opposition in England and New Zealand choked again. Do you realise that New Zealand has only won one more world cup than Canada!!!!

The following game was where the fun really started. Fiji vs Wales. We'd all had a few by then, well me and Steve had had a few and then a couple more. (It's funny that had had makes sense sometimes) We'd also been joined by a few other Aussies at our table and we all started backing Fiji. The large group of large Welshmen took notice of this and gave us heaps during Wales' second half revival. One in particular came over to us whenever Wales made some progress to let us know his team was coming back. He did this by throwing comments our way, getting us in headlocks, and for some unknown reason he decided to lick my head.... A number of times. When Wales finally got close to the lead the whole group of them felt they needed to drop their pants, exposing a wide collection of female underwear they were wearing. Well, it sort of covered most of what we would've liked covered. I think I'll add Wales to the "List of countries I don't feel the need to visit" list.

After that "fun" we grabbed some dinner and took a stroll through the Red Light District. The girls walked ahead slightly disgusted and wondering how the women can do that to themselves. Steve and me were a bit too busy to think of the moral implications, rejecting numerous offers of freebies for a couple of hot fellas on the town. That's how I remember it anyway... I think I'd had a bit to drink by that time so the memories are a bit cloudy.
Some of the "workers" were actually really good looking, a trend that didn't continue the next day when we found ourselves back there again. The morning shift sees a different kind of women working the windows.... A much larger, less attractive and slightly scary kinda woman. We surprisingly didn't hang round there for long. Besides, the girls had some shopping to do. One store in particular where Mandy bought her leather jacket on our last visit, got a lot of business, with Mum, Mandy and Karin all walking out with a couple of items each. I can't wait until we are spending Peso's instead of Euro's. That afternoon we all went on a relaxing cruise through the canals of Amsterdam.

We had one last dinner with Steve and Karin before flying out the next day for Mexico and a complete change of pace. Thanks again Steve and Karin for making our staying in Amsterdam so much fun, look forward to seeing you guys at Xmas.

This brings to a close the European leg of our trip, aka Eat as much as you can for four months so here are a few stats:

Kilometres travelled in the mighty Citroen C8: 17444
Hottest Temp: 37
Coldest Temp: 5 (Dashboard Temp Readout)
Countries Visited: 12
Number of Times we put up our tent: 21
Most Expensive Camping: 36 Euros (A$60)
Best Pizza: Vianno de Costello Portugal (also the cheapest)
Number of Vomits: 1 really bad hangover in Venice
Worst Drivers: Italians Second: Daylight
Friendliest Europeans: Croatians, French.
Favourite Country: Switzerland and Croatia.
Hail Storms: 4
How many times we got lost: 100's
Percentage of times getting lost led to a fight: 50
Amount of different Beer I tried: 26
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1191641520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1191641520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/peteandmandy/peteandmandyrtw/1191641520/tpod.html Fri, 05 Oct 2007 23:54:29 -0400 20 Countries in 9 months.....Pete and Mandy are doing a lap.

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St Malo, France

24th - 25th September 2007.

We drove right through to St Malo from Lacanua which took most of the day. We checked into a budget hotel chain and went next door for dinner....at Macca's. The first time we'd resorted to the golden arches through the whole trip, but after driving so far we just didn't want to get in the car again to look for something else.

The next day we visited Mont St Michel, a tidal island just off the coast of Normandy. At low tide the mud flats stretch in all directions for km's. But when the 14 metre tides come in the island is cut off from the mainland except for a man made causeway where hordes of tourists descend daily. Parts of the car park are submerged daily on the high tide and signs are posted when this will be. Cars are drowned regularly.

Once inside the main gates and through the drawbridge the narrow alleys are full of tourist shops, bars, and restaurants. Stairs wind upward towards the gothic church and out to the lookouts over the endless mudflats. (It was low tide when we visited). We stopped at a coffee shop for a break. Coffee for mum and a crepe for all. Once the owner realised she wouldn't make much money from us her demeanour changed completely. The crepes where crap as well. What a bitch!

From there we returned to St Malo to visit the walled city. We've seen some great walled cities on our tramp through Europe but the views from the walls of St Malo are pretty hard to beat. Facing directly into the English Channel and fully exposed to the elements the walls cop a pounding from the wind and waves. In front of the walls they have sunk stumps of wood as thick as power poles to break the wave action. I searched the internet and found there is occasionally some pretty good waves around this area but no luck when we were there. As it was only 12 degrees I may have baulked at going out even if it was good. Instead we walked right around the walls dodging heavy downpours, only for the sun to reappear five minutes later. We had dinner in a deserted restaurant and it turned out to be one of the best meals we've had the entire trip.

We took off the next morning for the American War Museum, the resting place for over 9000 American soldiers who lost their lives mainly during the beach invasion of Normandy, the turning point of WWII. The cemetery is located on the cliff overlooking Omaha Beach, one of five beaches where the allies came ashore. The museum gives the whole story. Not just the facts but personal stories of some of the soldiers and multi media displays. Mum had been here before and knew a lot about it already but Mandy and I both learnt a lot.

We headed off further west, our destination, Steve and Karin's back near Amsterdam where it all began four months ago. We drove all afternoon and arrived at ten o'clock that night. A bloody big day. It was a good feeling knowing that the driving was all but over.

Coming Up Next:

More Fun with Steve and Karin....
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Lacanau-Ocean, France

22nd - 23rd September 2007.

I hadn't surfed since June. So a snap decision was made to drive across France to the Atlantic coast for one last shot at some European waves. The surf reports looked good and the weather was expected to be fine. We dropped Mick and Sofia off at Toulouse airport and took off for Bordeaux then straight west to the coast. The previous three months out of the water had left me in less than ideal shape. Way too many pizzas and too much beer had taken its toll.

We found accommodation a bit hard to come by as the official summer season had finished a few weeks ago and most of the rooms and apartments simply close up their shutters and remain that way until June next year. We found a room in a 2 star hotel for the three of us (side by side in three single beds) for 100 Euros.(A$160) Sounds expensive but the location was awesome. Just a small café between us and the beach. After settling in and catching up on the Rugby scores it was time to break the drought.

I scrambled into my wetsuit and waddled down to the beach for a few stretches ...oooowww I haven't done any stretches for a while and things have stiffened up somewhat. I slid onto my board to paddle out and thought for a moment that someone had hidden a volleyball down the front of my wetsuit, but no, it appears that the volleyball is internal. My first three attempts at standing resulted in three graceful face plants as I can't seem to get my front foot past my volleyball.

Things improved slowly from there and I actually got a pretty good wave to come in on an hour and a half later. Mum and Mandy spent the afternoon cruising the streets and shops and found some great end of summer bargains so the decision to come to Lacanau had paid off already.

The next day we "skyped" home to the rest of the Hutcho's who were celebrating Gran's and Robbie's birthday. It was good to catch up with everyone after being away for so long. Then girls took off for the shops while I went back to surf school. A better start this time and things continued to improve but there was still a long way to go to get back to my best.

The weather turned for the worse the next day and our next destination was right up on the English channel so we packed up the Citroen and hit the highway. Not long left in Europe now before we fly out to Mexico in a couple of weeks so that's when the diet and fitness regime begins. For now though, more food and drink and fun times in Europe...
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