TravelStream™ news feed for member sarah.guerin on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sarah.guerin en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:06:45 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1197081480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1197081480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1197081480/tpod.html Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:06:45 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Wollongong, Australia

We were supposed to be leaving on 14th Dec, but we ran out of money had didn;t really want to spend anymore time than we had to in cold and rainy NSW. The only flights we could get home were in 2 days time (today).

So on our last day (yesterday) we decided to head out to Woolongong to visit some rellies.

First stop was Donovan's Gran.... he hadn't seen her since he was a teenager so we were a bit nervous about whether she;d remember him or not!! We had a great visit, she was absolutely lovely and funny as hell ... it was nice to see so much spirit.

We left there early afternoon and headed 10 mins down the road to my great Aunt and Uncles place - spooky that they live so close to each other! I hadn't seen Tom and Greta since I was 10 years old, but they looked exactly the same as I remembered them and the really weird thing was that she is the spitting image of my Gran (they were sisters) in appearance, voice, mannerisms, everything! They fixed us up with a lovely lunch and some vino to wash it all down with. Greta is a fabulous cook and much like my Gran, makes a mean cake! The thing that really struck me about these two was how much of a couple they still are... best friends indeed. They really are there for each other and compliment each other so well.....

Last night was a sedate evening of cocktails before heading off to the airport in the morning... still managed to get trollied... they make a mean Mai tai at Bourbon Bar in Kings Cross!

This morning was quite an emotional affair, we had to leave Lou behind - see was carrying on with her journey to NZ the following Day.

Fortunately there was plenty going wrong to keep me occupied. Our bag that was supposed to be fixed by Virgin Blue after they wrecked it on our last flight, we now found out was not going to be fixed and they had replaced it with another suitcase 'approx' the same size (definitely not the same quality). They were supposed to have delivered it to the airport for us to pick up..... 5 mins before actually boarding our flight I find out that they can't get it to us and they won't return our original case!!! Instead they've allowed us up to 300AUD to spend on the suitcase of our choice ... gee that is so nice of them!

We also lost a bunch of clothing we'd just bought from the surf store at the airport... someone nicked off with the bag when we put it down... unfortunately we'd been held in queues and had to get through customs quickly, as we only had about 30mins before our flight left... no chance to report it so no insurance claim...

Hey ho, we getting on our flight now and heading back to dear old blighty...... it's been a truly awesome year, one we will never forget!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1196978700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1196978700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1196978700/tpod.html Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:34:54 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Sydney, Australia

After a hectic drive down we finally arrived in Sydney .... we suddenly realised that we had 3 hours to get the car to Sydney and we were still 250km's away!!

Somehow we made it and managed to find somewhere to stay.... Sydney get packed out at Christmas time and all the prices go sky high. We ended up at a motel (inc Breakky) for the same price as a dorm in a hostel .... bloody ridiculous!!

We had a cracking day at Bondi with Lou..... messing around in the water for hours on end. I met an old guy who apparently knows/knew Francis Ford Coppola and \Marlon Brando.... he went on a bit and was cutting into my surfboard rental time, so I made my excuses and legged it.

We had a couple of cracking nights out in Kings Cross, one was particularly messy and apparently involved me insulting various ladies of the night... or so i thought... they were wearing next to nothing! Took me 3 days to get over that hangover!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1197181920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1197181920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1197181920/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 03:20:57 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

After roughing it in a backpackers we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of days of luxury. We found a fabulous deal on Expedia for 50% a star in a 4 star hotel in Honolulu.

So we packed our stuff and got a lift down to the bottom of the Island. When we got there we immediately upgraded.... you should have seen Donovan's face when we walked into our suite. This was his first stay in a hotel ... not a bad start! We had awesome views out over the pool and to the left Waikiki Beach.

We basically did more of the same.... charged over the road with our boards and spend the next few hours surfing!

I got picked on by a bunch of aging surfers. I was clearly not the greatest but they never gave me an opportunity to get on a wave. As soon as one got out the back, he'd call his mate onto the wave and so it continued ... so i thought screw'em I'm just gonna go. That's when Grandpa #1 laid into me, apparently I'd gotten in his way blah, blah, blah, etc. Aloha spirit my arse! I watched them for a while, all in there 60's and 70's. I bet they've been riding this spot since they were kids. They looked like a bunch of hoon's just with wrinkles. Funny really! When Donovan realised what was happening he helped me get in a few waves and I could finally get on something that I could stand up on ... thanks sweetheart XX

We took a helicopter ride over the Island.... it was awesome. They filmed it as we were flying around, so you could hear the commentary in the cockpit and see the views from camera's all around the outside of the chopper. We flew over Magnum PI's place and where they film Lost.... that was stunning scenery... these sharp mountains covered in thick, lush greenery. We also flew by a waterfall that can now only be accessed from the air as there have been loads of landslides so you can't hike to it anymore... phew! I'm always up for the easy option! The helicopter DVD got sent directly to my Mum and Dad's in the UK, so they watched it with my niece. By this point she's used to seeing us on the computer screen when we Skype them, so she hadn't quite worked out that when we were on the telly it wasn't the same. Apparently, she was busy banging the TV going ''excuse me. Auntie Sarah, excuse me. Look at my new flip flops" I can only imagine how cute that was.

We went to Hanama Bay which is now a marine reserve and has some truly beautiful fish and LOTS of turtles. We made friends with one little guy, we were diving down and swimming along with him and he posed for photos (honestly!!). We must have spent 30mins with him alone. That was definitely a great way to spend the day..... little tip if you go, take plenty of water... it's a bloomin' steep hike back up from the beach to the nearest drinks vendor!

Honolulu itself is really not worth the visit. It is purpose built high rise buildings and upmarket shopping stores specifically for the Japanese tourists .... if you want to get a feel for Hawaii get out of town.


Other than that we just chilled on the balcony of our luxury suite sipping cocktails and watching the sun go down... Mahalo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1177540140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1177540140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1177540140/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 03:14:03 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Haleiwa, Hawaii, United States

This is it, we have found paradise and we are loving it! The second we arrived we dumped our stuff, grabbed our snorkel and mask and ran across the road to the beach were we snorkelled for hours. We are staying in a somewhat grotty backpackers (the only one and formerly owned by Mark Foo the surfer... now owned by his sister, since his death) which is just opposite 3 Tables Bay. The reef starts about 20cm into the water and is jam packed with lots of colourful fish and turtles!! It's called 3 tables as about 50-60m from the beach there are 3 huge, completely flat rocks which shelter this section of water. On the really rough days waves were breaking over the rocks but it was still pretty calm within the bay.

The sand on the beaches up this side is a bit weird, the grains are like sesame seeds. It's a bit sharp under your feet.

We're staying only a couple of hundred metres from Jack Johnson's house and apparently it's not uncommon to bump into him at Foodland (the only supermarket for miles). Unfortunately for us he was playing a concert down at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, so was probably busy with that. The tickets were ridiculously expensive at 175USD per ticket... so we couldn't afford to go.

One of the girls staying here is a nanny for Matthew Fox (of Lost fame), she has confirmed he is a hotty but very boring ... i still have no idea who he is!

The roomies on our floor were a Cherokee Indian called Thunder and is Eskimo Indian partner called Lelani ( i think ). They were nuts, but excellent fun. We arrived to find her doing the hula in the lounge... he invited us to 'break bread' with them, which was very sweet. Apparently they come here a lot, but always spend the first day cleaning - even the balcony furniture ( i think they get a discount for doing it) because it is always so disgusting.... all of the staff bar none spend large portions of the day smoking dope and surfing .... even the guy who's supposed to drive you up from the airport!

We met quite a few lovely people in random situations whilst we were here. They kept telling us that they thought we were local because we had such an 'Aloha Spirit' about us... i thought that was a really nice thing to say to someone. They even gave us a few secret spots to visit, only known by locals ... we were a bit unsure about visiting them though, as some locals seem to lack the 'Aloha Spirit' and are very territorial.

So our days basically consisted of surfing, swimming & snorkeling. We borrowed some bikes (they were so surfer like - the old chopper type bikes, no gears and mine was purple with white Frangipani's all over it) and rode all around the North Shore with our surfboards and snorkel gear hanging off the handle bars.

The waves in Hawaii are very steep, not at all like I'd gotten used to in South Africa so I decided to go on a surf lesson with a local to get my confidence back. I was recomended 'Uncle Bryan' a true Hawaiian and a long time surf coach with 9 world champs under his belt. He coaches Andy and Bruce Irons, Keala Kennelly, etc. He offered to phone Bruce for us for a chat .... we declined cos we wouldn't know what to say to him anyway.

He took us out at Pu'ena Point which is now my fav Hawaiian surf spot and the place where Donovan caught and rode the biggest wave of his life (about 8-10ft or 6 Hawaiin feet, they meaure differently!!). We had such a great afternoon and Bryan was quite complementory about my ability and drive. He offered to coach me the next day and teach me to turn, but unfortunately I got a tummy bug which rendered me strapped to a toilet!

Pipeline was just a bit further up the road from us, that really started cranking a few days after we got there... the waves were like 15ft and it's only just off the shore line. Very intimidating.

We also went body surfing a Waimea - that was a beautiful beach. The shore break was about 5ft and barreling. I never managed to muster the courage to stand there and wait for it to barrel over me, every time it looked like it was going to come crashing down i dived through the face and out the back. Donovan managed to take an awesome photo of the wave as it started to barrel over.

We also hired a car and drove right around the Island, visited Pearl Harbour, walked around Diamond Head crater and visited the Polynesian centre for a Lu'au (that was awesome fun and the Lei's they gave us were just beautiful.... shame they wouldn't last).....

.... so we're off to Honolulu today for our last few days in Hawaii. I can honestly say that we have never been so happy , peaceful and content
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1172731020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1172731020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1172731020/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 01:28:00 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Los Angeles, California, United States

I'd been to LA previously and wasn't overly impressed with it then .... it hadn't gotten better with age! Our primary reason for stopping here was Donovan's friend lived here ... the bugger when and moved back to the UK before we got .... was he trying to tell us something?
The highlights of our trip here were:

Being on TV and meeting (kinda) Alice Cooper - we got given tickets to the filming of Carson Daly's show ... I was hoping for tickets to the filming of Ellen De Generes show cos she gives away those Apple Mac TV's to every studio member!!! Anyway we had to settle with brushing shoulders with Alice Cooper, he was really sweet... I wanted to challenge him to a sing star battle, cos I've almost got 10,000 points on his song Poison - I want to know if he can do any better.

Santa Monica - was awesome. I love this place so much, it's so chilled and friendly. We cruised around for a bit, before hiring roller blades to get us down to Venice beach (freaky place). On the way we found a small hill that was all wiggly (like the Crookedest street in San Fran) so we thought we'd give it a go on roller blades. I'm pleased to report we are both still alive... although I'm not sure about the dog we ran into!!

We stopped off at the old Muscle Beach and watched these guys swining round on those rings - you know like the Rrussians at the Olympics? It was quite amazing the shapes the pulled and how long they could 'perform' for. We also found a bunch of people doing the hoola hoop. One girl had about 10 of them going at the same time ... that's talent for ya!

I also spotted a celeb... probably about Z list but he's been in a major motion picture so it counts. He's and aussie actor that was in neighbours year ago, but more recently was in the Matrix as the little runt that created a virtual world - the crowning glory the woman in the red dress.... He got killed about half way through ... can't remember his name... anyway he was crossing at the lights next to me! Matt Perry must have been out of town when we got there as he never left a message for us to come over! Ooh speaking of which we did a star home tour (it was pants) we went to Matt's place (Lindsay Lohan lives in the same building).... when we drove back later do you think we could find it! We weren't stalking ... honestly ... no really ....

Six Flags theme park - once we'd packed up and left the hotel we had a whole day to fill before we had to be at the airport. So we drove to the theme park just outside LA and had a blast on all the rides. They have a 4D roller coaster ride, which not only goes up, down, round, but the chairs move independantly. So your swinging round and round the whole time... best not to have any lunch before hand! It was a great day!

We also went to a steak house where they had a bucking bull ... neither of us were drunk enough to have ago!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1176077280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1176077280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1176077280/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 00:29:46 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Sawtry, United Kingdom

We arrived home from South Africa for a week before we head off on the rest of our tour.

It was really good to see my family in the flesh again after 3 months... I'd never been away from home that long in one go..... and that record is about to be smashed!!

We were home over the Easter period and had THE most fun on easter Sunday playing easter egg hunts with my 3 year old niece. My brother brought over a bunch of little easter eggs and hid them in the garden and my niece frantically chaced round trying to find them all.
It took a little while but she managed to stash them all in her easter egg bucket before they melted in the sunshine. Thinking that this was great sport, she made us all close our eyes before she hid them and then we had to go find them .... slight problem when you're 3, full of sugar and very excited you tend not remember the finer details.... so 1 easter egg remained missing in action. Then apparently it was her turn again, we had to hide them all ... and you see where this is going.

We finally abandonded the easter egg hunt when we could only find about half the easter eggs....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1195274880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1195274880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1195274880/tpod.html Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:22 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Kurranda, Australia

We are all aching sufficiently this morning after a punishing day at the cable park. Lou was awesome. She started out on a kneeboard and just flew around the park. Since it was just so easy she gave the wakeboard a go. She did really well, trying to get up at the dock. It took a few goes to figure out which way was most natural and try to remember all the instructions ... toes up, knees bent, hips up, lean back, handle to hip, look up, etc !!! By the end of it she had made it into open water but her arms were not about to take any more punishment!

So today as our arms ache, we figured we'd move on to arse-ache by heading out on some horses..... Oops gotta go catch a boat will finish this off later
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1195186140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1195186140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1195186140/tpod.html Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:48:05 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Atherton, Australia

So we're back in Cairns and waiting for a few days to get on our dive boat.

We hired a car and headed for the Tablelands. Now following her recent driving experience on the Great Ocean Road (long, not very windy and not many cars) Lou felt that she should continue her good work by driving up to the tablelands (long, VERY windy, LOADS of cars, trucks, etc!!). Unfortunately we had hired a manual which she hasn't driven in some time so we needed to find a vast open expanse for her to practice. The first space that became available was Lake Tinaroo, there certainly was space... however there was also a BIG lake and boat and a couple of houses. So Lou hops in and all is going well until we need to turn around. There was some confusion between the brake and the gas and we shot backwards towards the boat...... over my screaming Lou managed to remain calm and stop just short of the boat... phew!! From there she drove us to a diary farm a couple of K's out of Yungaburra where we tasted the most yummy cheese, chocolate, cakes, yogurt...... mmmmm!

After we rolled ourselves out we headed for Milaa Milaa falls, unfortunately it has been persisting it down with rain since we got here and it was toooo cold to consider a swim in the pool, but the falls still looked spectacular! To make up for the lack of swim we spotted a handful of turtles in the pool, the smallest of which you could fit in my hands four times over. He was so small that he had to come up for air every second, but he made it branch in the water a plonked his butt down until he's recovered... it was sooo CUTE!

I took over the driving at the falls and Donovan was navigating, so he decided that we should take a short cut to make sure we got back to the car rental place before it shut. Unfortunately the map didn't make reference to the fact the road was covered completely in red, wet, slushy mud. By the time we got back up on the main road our previously white car was now orange and white!!! It was caked in mud up to the door handles!! Figuring the rental people might get a bit upset about this we headed back to lake Tinaroo to try and wash some of it off ... there's a drought on so you're not supposed to wash your car, except with grey water ... we figured lake water would do just as well ! Turned out to be a waste of effort as the car rental people didn't even look at the car when we brought it back !

Today we are taking Lou to the cable ski just outside of town ... it's time to reap our revenge !!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1194874260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1194874260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sarah.guerin/roundtheworld07/1194874260/tpod.html Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:55:37 -0500 Round the world in 339 days

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Melbourne, Australia

We picked Lou up from the airport on Friday fresh from her 3 week trip around China. We normally save the bawling until we are leaving, but I was so excited to see her I got all over emotional before she's even set foot on Aussie soil! It may have been relief that I can finally got to bed....... 2am she finally strolled in .... 4.5 hours later than originally planned ;-)

We made it just in time for the last day of the Melbourne Cup Spring carnival - Emerates Stake Day. Our understanding was that this was the most casual day in the spring carnival, by the time we made it to the train station we realised the aussies love nothing more that to get decked out and have a good time.

We scoffed our picnic and champers on the lawn just by the finishing post, getting the nerve up to place some bets. By the end of the day Donovan and I we up 60cents, however we meet a few people that were doing considerably better than us. One guy in front of us collected his winnings of $8800... yes you heard me $8800 on a $36 bet! Another woman won $66000 on a trifecta and couldn't stop screaming! Other than a German bloke falling asleep on Donovan's shoulder there weren't too many drama's.

The next day we decided a great hangover cure was to drive for 6 hours along the Great Ocean Road. We figured it would be a couple of hours and almost fell over when the lady at the tourist info took great delight in telling us we'd be lucky to make it in 4 hours.... despite the lengthy journey and despite Lou deciding now was a good time to get behind the wheel of a car )for the 1st time in 6 years) we had a good laugh. Stopped in at Bell's Beach the home of Australian Surfing.... and flippin' cold water! We motored along to Lorne, a cute little village with some nice restaurants and a beautiful waterfall - if you were game enough to walk down the oh-so-steep steps. We finally made it to the 12 Apostles just as the sun was setting. It was actually quite a breath-taking site. I was fully prepared to go "Oh, some weird rocks, cool lets get a drink" but they were quite beautiful and as the sun was setting the colours were changing from a very yellowy colour through to a kind of reddy colour. By the time we hit Loch Ard Gorge, near Port Cambell, it was pretty much dark so we headed inland to the motorway..... that was very 'Blair Witch' with the odd white Parrot darting out in front of the car ...certainly kept you awake. I think we finally rolled home just gone midnight.

We spent today wandering around the town and spending a large portion of our time playing at a kiddies park ..... we'll never grow up!

A lot of people have told me that Melbourne is their favourite city.... I'm really struggling to find it's charm. The buildings are a just a mishmash of archecture and I'm finding it hard to appreciate it. The people are fairly pleasant until they get behind the wheel of a car when they become the most hostile, impatient, unfriendly a55holes I haved ever met. God forbid you should wait for a traffic light to turn green before you move. If you aren't on the move the moment the other lanes lights have turned to red they stand on their horns. Or if you slow down to take a turn, you;ve just cost them a while second in lost speed ... BBEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPP!!!!

Arrggghhhhh Get me out of here, it's all too much !

Tommorrow we leave for Cairns (again).... we've finally gotten booked on what promises to be a very spectacular dive trip ....tell you more about it later.
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Coolangatta, Australia

We spent the next couple of days hanging out around Kirra ( a world class surf spot). Unfortunately the weather has taken a turn for the worst and it's just rainy and overcast. Campervanning turns out to be less fun when you're forced to stay inside it!

Donovan caught the best wave of his life down at snapper rocks and I have to agree I have never seen him surf so stylishly as he did on this wave. He cruised along for about 60 or 70metres (a lifetime in surfing terms), the wave was just over his head height and he carved his way up and down the face... just beautiful.

On our last day before we hit Melbourne we decide to go deep sea fishing about 10k's off the coast of Surfers Paradise. I was the first to catch a fish and even surprised myself... I forget the name of it, but apparently it was edible! Donovan out did everyone by catching a trevally - big bugger... but no-one managed a Marlin, tuna or shark... very disappointing! The funniest was when this old man caught a scorpion fish...TWICE! These things are seriously poisonous and he had no idea!!! The skipper wasn;t too impressed about having to get this thing off the hook without touching it.

A couple of hours in and the smell of raw fish, diesel and 2metre swells are starting to take their toll. One lady heaved over the side and suddenly everyone was catching fish... weird!!
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