We have a plan. Seeing as this is Mum and Dad's last week coming up in Vietnam, it was a unanimous decision to travel in style to visit the Mekong Delta and then lastly Phu Quoc island, both of which I think will be the highlights of Vietnam.

We booked through a well-established and recommended local tour company called Sinh Balo who specialise in booking private tours. We have opted for the 3 day/2-night cycling tour around the famous Mekong Delta which includes all transport, private guide, homestay in the village of Vinh Long, mountain bikes, food and private boat and minibus just for the four of us for the entire journey. We continue our travels to Phu Quoc island which will be paradise island jokes for the last 3 nights here. I won't lie, this has all come at a not-so-backpacker cost but I'm sure we won't regret it one bit :)

P.S. Managed to put photos up of Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hoi An:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kejalashra/sets/

Ah - It's been an exhausting few days! Hoi An has got hundreds of tailor shops and walking around all of them is tiring work, believe it or not. We originally had planned to stay 3 nights, giving enough time for the clothes to be made, however, had decided to stay an extra night. The hotel we are staying in, Thien Nga, has turned out to be really nice but it comes at a price of $25 a night (a lot in Vietnam!).

Hoi An seems a lot quieter and civilised in comparison to Hanoi. There are a lot of tourists, mainly for the shopping, yet the town remains interesting and full of character with many lantern-lit lanes adding to the ambience. Perhaps a little more commercial and 'resort-like' than we'd expected, but still well worth coming to.

Now the best part - the clothes. Both Ketan and I set out with no budget (mistake) and I had been looking forward to getting some tailor-made dresses for a while. We had print-outs of all the designs we wanted from high-street shops so replicating the clothes wouldn't be a problem. Bargaining was half the fun. Because there are *so* many tailors you'd need to spend at least 2 days just doing research in each shop to see how the prices compare. Being on a tight schedule puts the pressure on but we found a great tailor who catered for our needs perfectly with good quality material/labour. In total, Ketan bought two 3-piece suits, jeans, casual trousers, trench coat and hand-made shoes all for $310. I bought 3 summer/casual dresses, 1 silk dress, jeans, smart trousers & trench coat for $173. I have to say these prices were a lot more than I'd thought they'd be - especially with the exchange rate not being in favour. I thought we'd roll in and it would be a fraction of the price compared to London - how mistaken we were :) It seems like the Vietnamese are catching on to the fact tourists have money to spend - damn them!

We've had some great eating experiences yet again, including an Italian place called 'Good Morning Vietnam' coming up trumps. The sight seeing went as far as the tailor shops and cute lanes we saw everyday, and the ridiculous amount of lanterns lit up all over the town! Overall a great, but costly, stop :)

The first thing anyone would recommend to do after Hanoi is Halong Bay - about 3 hours from here. We opted for the deluxe overnight junk boat (costing $79 pp) and I'm pretty glad we chose that because the boat and rooms were luxurious and clean. The food was mediocre (although Dad would use the term 'rubbish') but the scenery made up for it. We were a bit unlucky with the weather as it was quite foggy so seeing the thousands of islands surrounding the boat was quite a challenge. Neverless, it was beautiful in a more mysterious way.

Mum and Dad have been with us for a couple of days now and it's certainly been eventful with them here! So far Dad has spilled two drinks, slipped down the stairs on the boat and had a VERY loud foghorn blown in his ear on the boat - amusing :) They both really like Hanoi & Halong Bay too, which is a relief. Although going up North of Vietnam to Sapa is something that Ketan and I want to put into our itinerary, it would be a tight squeeze for Mum and Dad on their holiday so we'll travel down South first and if we have time to go at the end, we will.

Today we've been cramming in the last of Hanoi before we flee. There are some great French patisseries in Hanoi from when the French were around, as their influence lingers in some respects. Before dinner we pigged out on mille fueille, profiteroles, cakes etc - all for only 3 pounds. We were recommended by my brother to go for some 'Bia Hoi', fresh local beer pretty much in street stalls full of locals for only 15p a glass - what a bargain :)

As I type, we are waiting in Hanoi Guesthouse for a 16-hour sleeper train to Hoi An, which leaves in 1 hour. Dad tried to convince us to take a plane from here to Hanoi, but I thought it would be a good experience for us to take a rickety old train.. We'll find out tomorrow afternoon if that was a wise decision, or whether Dad will be saying 'I told you so'. I'm looking forward to Hoi An. This is the place which is famous for getting an entire wardrobe tailored for yourself for about 100 pounds! We've been on all the high-street shop websites and printed a lot of pictures for the tailors to copy, perhaps a little over-ambitious but it's worth a try, eh..?

So we've been in Hanoi for 2 whole days now. It is my favourite city of the whole trip (so far). You don't get hassled like you do in Bombay, the people are so chilled out. The restaurants are small and lively and the motorbike traffic is immense! (But the city doesn't smell at all - Phew!) Initially, I was pretty overwhelmed by urban life in Hanoi. All we needed was a little nap to revive ourselves though, it had been a long flight.

Before leaving the hotel for dinner, it felt pretty daunting to go out in 'that world'. It might sound silly but it was so busy and vibrant - we hadn't seen that since Fiji, and even that isn't on the same league as this place!

Yesterday night was one night I won't forget. We went to a restaurant called Bar 69 for some amazing fresh local food which I've been longing for since leaving home. Both of us had a bowl of pho (pronounced 'fer' - rice noodle soup dish), which the locals traditionally eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, accompanied by Hanoi-style pork spring rolls - to die for. After dinner we got lost around the Old Quarter and ended up near the Hoam Kiem Lake. There was this huge junction completely buzzing with locals and a 1000 or more motorbikes (being a Saturday night, naturally) and I saw a coffee place on this 4-storey high building. I thought it was the perfect place to take photos from so we went upstairs, still in a daze from the city. The coffee was good, but the photos were awesome. I'm enjoying taking photos in Hanoi more so than any other place we've travelled; There is constantly something to photograph, whether it be a pretty lake, a street vendor with those funny cone hats or the lights of the traffic in the night - there is always a challenge to take a great photo here.

We were still tired from the lack of sleep so we were home by 10.30 for an early night. The best feeling was knowing we'd wake up here and not in some boring, run-down Australian town. Walking around in the daytime was a bit different but I'm pretty sure we were unknowingly walking around with our jaws open just as wide as the night before. Later that day, I had read reviews on Tripadvisor about a place called 'Just Massage', which is run by a local not-for-profit organisation who train and help the visually impaired youth become massage therapists. They specialise in Shiatsu and Swedish massages for as little as 150,000 dong per hour (about 6pounds). The reviews were outstanding so we booked ourselves in and took a hilarious/scary-like-death motorbike ride there each, so fun! The massage therapists mainly use their sense of touch and just watching them was inspiring. We opted for the Shiatsu and the technique was like we'd never seen, the precision was incredible and unbelievably relaxing. The money goes to charities for the blind, so you feel even better knowing it's going to a good cause. So we're back in our hotel now after yet another scarily exciting motorbike ride. There is no lane discipline on the roads and you can come and go in either direction as you please, so naturally we can't leave Hanoi without a bike experience!

Mum and Dad arrive tomorrow so we're leaving all the sight-seeing till then. For now though, walking around town will do just fine :)

Wow, pretty hungover today. It was our last night in Australia last night so Pav kindly took Ketan and I 'out on the lash'. Dreary-eyed today, we have a long 12 hour wait ahead of us until our flight to Vietnam. I speak on behalf of Ketan too when I say we're both Australia'd out. It's been longer than we wanted to spend here and way over how much money we budgeted for it!

Some favourites in Oz:

- Fraser Island
- The weather (at times)
- Sydney Harbour Bridge
- Great Ocean Road
- The cool statistics of how amazingly HUGE the country is
- Road trips
- Melbourne
- Western Australia crystal-clear beaches

Pet-hates of Oz:

- Majority of the people
- Standard of accommodation (oh, how we miss New Zealand!)
- The immense heat at times
- The dangerous Aboriginal culture in major cities

So, we move on to better places tonight. The day before flying out to the next country I reflect on the trip as a whole and imagine what's to come. Butterflies in my stomach? Check. For those of you who don't know, my parents are meeting us out there in 2 days time for 2 weeks. I couldn't be happier about that, it's coming at the right time and I'm sure they are going to love Vietnam as much as we will. I'm looking forward to some culture - to walk around the busy streets in awe of the lifestyle, food, drink and locals.

I look at SE Asia as a whole new journey, and I've got no doubt that it will deliver past the expectations.. :)

I feel satisfied. Finally, we've seen what Australia is about. The on-going landscapes, the long, never-ending roads and scenery which takes your breath away. It was the best decision doing South West Oz, and then going up North for a couple of days.

After Margaret River, we went to Pemberton, which was a bit dry to be honest - after you've seen one National Park in this region, you've pretty much seen them all. But none-the-less, the brewery tasting and windy roads were well worth it. The lonely planet raved on about D'Entrecasteaux National Park so we had to pay a visit. The lookouts on to the coastline were awesome, together with the white-sand beaches and remoteness of it all. Albany was our final stop in the South West, where the weather wasn't on our side so we weren't able to see that much. The town was split into two different concepts in a way - one oldy-wordly, the other new and full of shopping malls.. Hmm. Not really worth the 3 hour drive there, but we stayed in a nice enough place and relaxed so weren't to bummed about it. I had some great squid n chips right on the harbourside - can't go wrong really :)

Seeing as we had the rental car for an extra one week, I read the Lonely Planet to figure out what else we could do in Western Australia within reach. We headed back to Perth for an overnight stopover, which happened to fall on Valentines Day, hence splashing out on a nice hotel and Italian meal, and followed the road to Cervantes the next morning - about 250km North of Perth. The town had nothing to offer, but was used as a base to visit the Pinnacles Desert at sunset. Was it worth it? Hell, yeah. So peaceful, this 'desert' had thousands of eerie limestone pillars, none standing taller than 4-5 metres. The sun set perfectly on them, giving the best light to photograph them in. We watched sunset and headed straight home. It is *not* about driving at night in Australia - that's when all the Kangaroos think it's playtime.. (and then you see all the roadkill the next day - beurgh!)

On route back down to Perth, we stopped over at Lancelin. This tiny town is known for.. well, being windy. It's famous for being the perfect place to wind/kitesurf and for the expansive sand dunes which are only a stone's throw away. We weren't feeling adventurous enough to try windsurfing (especially with the numerous shark attacks going on at the moment) but visited the dunes instead. Our Yaris got stuck in the sand - there was Ketan pushing the car from behind and me revving as much as I could shouting 'It's not working!'. Ten minutes later, it worked - phew. If only the rental company knew where we had taken this car..

So, even though the towns themselves have nothing to offer, the surrounding areas are full of beauty. Western Australia is by far our favourite state due to the vast, barren landscapes, beautiful rugged coastlines and just the feeling you get when you're driving on a never-ending road with not a car, nor soul, in sight. Brilliant.

It's been an eventful few days.. :

- Ketan got a tattoo done on his neck in Perth by a very scary looking man, looks great (see photos)
- The following day, after driving 150km en-route to our next stop, Ketan realises he's lost his wallet.
- We phone the bar we were at that afternoon, they are holding the wallet at reception (HOW lucky?)
- We drive back to the bar in the early evening, find no accommodation - so we sleep in the car (Boo!)
- Bushfire hell near Melbourne causes havock across the whole of Australia, all over the news
-Bushfire hell predicted for the route we plan to take for the next week, here in South West Oz..

So, that all sums it up briefly. It's been an amusing and memorable few days, to say the least! But after all the missions, we're now at the beautiful small town Margaret River, about 300km South of Perth. En-route we passed Fremantle, Busselton (which happened to be hosting a swimathon that very day) and a few other coastal wonders. We have based ourselves in Margaret River for the past 2 days so far, with the intent of staying one more night at a cosy little B&B. Edna, the sweet old lady who owns the B&B, pretty much gave us a whole days itinerary of what to do. This included visiting Lake Cave, enjoying free wine tasting at two huge wineries (Luewin Estate & Voyager), going for a dip at Hamelin Bay which had clear turqoise sea and white sand, and a few other great stop-offs along the coastal drive. All in all, a great day, topped off by going to Surfers Point for sunset:

Driving in a new car is fun. There are no funky noises coming from this car, yay! It's an automatic Toyota Yaris, which is the most BASIC car - I think a child could drive it. The landscape around the South West is awesome, probably the best driving we've done so far. Although, for long-distance driving I miss having a huge, powerful engine which the car we bought had. We still have a fairly long drive ahead of us. We plan to go to Albany, which is still another 400km from here. In between we will stop at various forest/timber towns and hopefully come away with fond memories from our last month in Oz.

P.s I've uploaded photos, but I couldn't organise them because Flickr wouldn't let me today. Sorry for all the sunset repeats etc, will organise as soon as I can!

After arriving at our pre-booked accommodation in Perth, One World Backpackers, I cheekily asked if they had any private double rooms, knowing they only had dorms left.. The owner happened to over-hear, and clearly warmed to us instantly, saying "Listen guys, for a lovely couple like yourselves, I can offer you our modern apartment/villa we have down the road. It's got two bedrooms, bathroom, open plan kitchen/diner, and a lounge" Thinking it will cost the earth, I asked how much. He said, "Ah, we can do it for the same price as what you were gonna pay in the hostel, you seem like you'll take care of it" - (Er, what?) No conferring needed, we both said yes. He took us to the apartment in his car. We were amazed at our luck, it was perfect. The owner, Steve, was so genuine and just said he'd rather rent it to people like us than riff-raff backpackers - oh, yeah ;-)

Since being in Perth, we have met up with Pav, a friend of Ketan's from Finchley. He moved out here a year ago, good seeing a familiar face. Perth is quite glum, and not really a city.. reminds me of Milton Keynes a bit - haha! We leave tomorrow morning (in our ridiculously cheap rental car) for a 2-week road trip down South West Oz..

Finally, a place that was genuinely lovely to see. So far for us, the theory is true - the further out from the cities you go, the more beautiful the experience. Long, windy stretches hugging the coastline was exactly what we needed. A special mention has to go out to our hostel in Apollo Bay, Eco Beach YHA - what a beauty (as you'll see in the pics). It was completely eco-friendly - a bit like a grand design with the big, cosy living rooms, contemporary kitchens, open-plan idea etc.

On the drive down, in our newly rented car, (what a luxury in comparison to the car we had bought) we were lucky enough to catch some rays. The luck ran out pretty quickly. The next two days were misty & cloudy! So the photos are bad, but I promise that's not due to the photographer ;-) Still, we got the jist of what the Great Ocean Road was about and weren't too gutted by the weather. The stops that we made along the road were Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay & Port Campbell.

The hostel-owner recommended some awesome inland driving to do, including the 20km Lighthouse Road, which was *full* of wild koala's.. what a treat to see that. Cars were going about 10mph on the road and you could spot people from the windows looking up and pointing! All in all, after a bit of trekking, driving and generally relaxation, we're ready to move on to the next stop tomorrow morning - Perth. For now, we're in Melbourne for one more day. I like this place, it has something about it.. :)

I have to have a moan first. Think of a human-sized hairdryer, on the hottest setting, being blown on you all day - and then you may have an idea of what the weather has been like in Melbourne since we arrived. It's 45 degrees today, and has been for the past three days (oh, and 35 degrees at night). We've had to do a lot of bookings for flights, accommodation, car rental etc and walking around the city to do it all is exhausting in the heat! It's apparently the hottest Melbourne has been in 106 years - eek.

Anyway, face-melting aside, Melbourne is.. different. It's not like Sydney, or London. It's more like small towns all pulled together, rather than the 'city' feel. On our first night here we walked to Southbank, the nice side of town, to the Skydeck 88 Tower. The views were *incredible*. We went from 8pm - 9pm to really soak in Melbourne by night. (See the Melbourne set on Flickr).

After an uncomfortably hot sleep at the Melbourne Metro YHA, we headed for town for yet more exploring and walking the next day. The Melbourne craze at the moment is the Australian Open, so, to keep in fashion we went to Federation Square to watch the Federer vs. Roddick semi-final game. What an awesome atmosphere! Slowly people were arriving by the tens and the whole Square was full with avid tennis fans. No suprises who won.. I think we'll be heading back there tonight for the Nadal vs. Verdasco game.

From tomorrow onwards we have rented a car, as we head out of Melbourne for Great Ocean Road, where we will be staying for 3 nights. I'm looking forward to a bit high-class scenery and driving on long, windy roads :)

I'm pleased to say we've sold the car, and not for a bad price either - $2000 dollars, so we've made at least half our money back :) It was a long and stressful process. Selling a car from one state to another in Australia is an absolute Mission, but thankfully is do-able with a bit of hard work. The guy who bought it from us, was an Israeli guy called Yoav and if it wasn't for his patience the deal probably wouldn't have gone through. So, we've now booked our flights from Sydney to Melbourne for next Wednesday. The Australian Open is on this week in Melbourne so we're hoping to soak in some tennis culture when we're there and rent a car and travel around the coastal towns for a few days too. Things are looking good! It's going to be very strange using our backpacks again, we haven't for the past two months - eek! Looking forward to it though.. The luxury of having a car will be missed, I'm sure.

We're actually at the Apple store in central Sydney at the moment (using free internet, ahem) so must dash.. We're off to get our Vietnamese visa's now, we should be there in one month. Woo!

As more time goes by, both of us are keen to leave Australia sooner than originally planned. This is mainly because Australia is just as expensive as London now. Suprised? We certainly were! It hasn't impressed us as much as we thought it would and although there is still a lot more to see, with a backpacker budget we're realistic enough to realise we can't be here for another 3 months, which was the plan. Oh, and the economy is slumping more and more by the day, doesn't exactly lift spirits!

So, the new plan is to try to sell the car in Sydney, and if there is no luck within the week we will drive to Melbourne and attempt to sell there. I'm gutted we won't be driving the *long* and challenging Nullabor stretch, which would get us into Western Australia - we will fly from Melbourne instead. I know there some people shouting at the screen, saying "You're crazy!", but you would be crazy for taking a semi-reliable car into unknown desertland. Plus, I'm *itching* to get to SE Asia now.. a bit culture is just what we need :)

Of course, I'll keep the blog updated of what goes on. Wish us luck!

Pretty awesome view, right? :)

A week before NYE, people were talking about which point had the best views for watching the fireworks and every person had a different answer. We were very fortunate to have been told how amazing 'Blues Point Reserve' was. It was the most perfect patch of grass I'd ever seen - right opposite Sydney Harbour bridge, on the north side of Sydney, so that we had the Opera House in the view too.

We got there at 12 noon - 12 hours before the fireworks, in the blistering 31 degree heat, however, fully prepared with all necessities like water, rugs, umbrella and of course, tripod & camera. Although the fireworks only lasted 10 minutes, every minute of the 12 hour wait was worth it. I had the best time, even killing time was fun. The uproar when the clock hit midnight was immense. We were celebrating it with 2 million other people watching the bridge, and around 3,000 just on our patch of grass.

I was photographing the entire way through the fireworks display because it was a personal goal for me to a achieve the best photos I could on this night. It was the first time I took photos of fireworks and it hard work! Slowly but surely I found a technique which gave me the best results. I've put them up on Facebook as well as Flickr, because people were moaning at me to put them on Facebook! I hope you enjoy them, it was certainly overwhelming seeing them in real life.

(I've also put up other photos from Sydney & Nimbin on Flickr.)

We've been in Sydney for ten days so far. Taking a break from backpacking is welcomed like a sweet gift from above. Having a laugh and getting up late pretty sums up our daily lives with Hinesh & Tanya.

Christmas Day started great. Tanya cooked up a lovely roast with all the trimmings. Later in the day, along with some friends, we (wastefully) bought tickets to Bondi beach Xmas party. Little did we know that we didn't need to pay a dime to get into the beach - the $55 (?!) fee was actually for entry to the Pavilion where the live acts were going to play.. Boo! Had a great time on the beach though, even if the Pavilion was infested with chavs.. We attempted to sell our tickets, (unsuccessfully, I'll add) and headed off in search of our own party. A memorable day in it's own special way - It's always going to seem a bit mad celebrating Christmas in blistering heat, especially on a beach.

I'm eagerly trying to get back into photography in Sydney. Seeing as East coast disappointed so much, I lost inspiration to take photos for a while. Tonight we are going to a restaurant for a friend's birthday meal, which I've been told has awesome views of harbour bridge/opera house, so you can be sure I'll be taking my tripod along to dinner ;-)

I'm on my way home now to do more research on which spot is the best place to see the fireworks on NYE.. it's proving a bit of mission, with a million people recommending a million different points, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.. You all can be the judge when the photos are up I guess!

Happy New Year to you all, and a belated Merry Christmas. x

Phew - it's been a hectic over the past week or so! Hence the lack of blogging.

We are now in Sydney, but more on that later when I describe what an amazing set up we have here, thanks to Hinesh and Tanya.

Whilst finishing off the East coast, it all got a bit samey-samey so both of us were in agreement to sail through. We took some people's advice on board and didn't stay at Surfers Paradise or Byron Bay, and we're thankful for that because they were way too commercial and backpacker-y. Instead, we arrived in a small flower-power town called Nimbin. Now, Nimbin.. where do I start? It was like being transported into the 1970's, with all the whacked out hippies - and all with a small population of 400. The town is infamous for pot-dealing (Relax, Mum & Dad), but it was so surreal how this place worked. It was so unbelievably liberal and 'free-spirit', it took some time getting used to. The YHA hostel we stayed at was, by far, the best accommodation we've had in Australia. The room was cosy, and the pavilion at the back of the hostel was used as the ultimate chill-out area. It was also refreshing to find some cool backpackers - and I don't mean cool as in "chavvy", I mean cool as in "Wow, some intellect - nice." As much as we could have stayed there forever, we had plans.

After Nimbin, we drove a good 7 hours where we ended up in Newcastle, (only an hour north of Sydney) using it primarily as a base. I have to say, it was a good feeling to know we would be seeing two good friends the following day in Sydney. We suprised Hinesh and Tanya at their door, no other way of doing it, right?! We realised we'd hit the jackpot as soon as we stepped into their flat. It's an open plan, modern flat with a spot-on balcony at the back. Could it BE any more perfect for two backpackers? We're happily settling in there with our new inflatable mattress. After almost 4 months of backpacking, we're looking forward to being 'normal' again, and live the way other normal people do. We bought Hinesh and Tanya the Jamie Oliver easy cookbook as a house-warming present, and have all vowed to cook something from there when we can. Luckily for us, they both tend to eat home every night and happen to be great cooks - score! :)

From what we've seen in the small space of time we've been here so far, the actual city centre is like London, and unfortunately so is the weather.. It can go from one extreme to the other in the space of a few hours. We've got some events coming up for Christmas and New Years in the following week, as I'm pretty sure all of you have too, so we're psyched for some good times.. :)

We're in Brisbane now - and I've managed to find an A/C internet cafe to hibernate for a while.

Right, seeing as I haven't really explained what we've been up to the past two weeks, this could end up being a long post so I apologise.

I admit I was a bit hasty saying that East coast was chavvy, but I think we have the best part yet to come. The journey from Cairns down to Rockhampton was actually like being in country towns, and I'll miss out details of this part because they were literally used as bases to sleep. But since then, we've been to some uber-cool places such as Noosa and the gorgeous Fraser island.. more on those later.

We're slowly climatising to the weather here, but it's so on-and-off with storms/sunshine/humidity/showers and that's not making it easy for us. And with the sun being about a mile away from us, putting sun-cream on everyday can get vvvery boring! Another thing to get used to going from NZ to Australia is the creepy crawlies, UGH! There are so many and they are so big.

Anyway, on to the interesting things we've done so far. A place called Airlie Beach was soo backpackery and was like being dropped in the middle of Enfield town, in terms of chavvy people. Wasn't really our scene, and seeing as the car temporarily broke down on the day we were meant to go to the Whitsundays islands, we left with only seeing the worst part of that area. We weren't really that bothered seeing as we knew we'd see other places that were similar, if not better...

..And we were right not to be so bothered, because going to Fraser island more than made up for it! We took a day tour from Hervey Bay, but in hindsight I wish we stayed for a couple of nights. Fraser island is a fairly big island (122km x 14km), which is basically a huge, beautiful pile of sand with rainforests, amazing crystal clear waters etc. I wasn't prepared for it, if I'm honest. The first lake we visited was Lake Mackenzie. The silicone sand was great for exfoliating, the water was amazing for your hair and the sun not so good for your skin..!? Wandering round the island in a 4x4 truck was awesome. The 75-mile beach was one of the best beaches seen on the trip so far. The beach is also the 'Highway 1' on the island meaning you can go 100 km/h only metres away from the Pacific ocean - awesome! We even took the opportunity to take a scenic flight over the island because we just couldn't get enough, that was a GOOD idea.

After some more long-distance driving (obviously, it is Australia) we headed to Noosa. Now, I only thought to go here from what Lonely Planet said it had to offer. It sounded something like what we needed - LUXURY. We loved it. The uber-trendy Hastings Street was lined with designer boutiques, plush restaurants, swanky bars and of course, gorgeous people. It was so pretentious, but I think we'd forgotten what pretentious was by this point into the trip. We totally indulged and joined in. Maybe not so wise for the wallet, but very wise for the soul :) We ate well, slept well and shopped well. (and, interestingly enough, ended up sleeping in the car for one night as we couldn't find accommodation due to Christmas holidays.)

On the way to Brisbane, we were recommended to go to Australia Zoo. I was a bit hesitant as I don't really dig the whole 'caged-animal' thing, but we were told it really wasn't like that - and, thankfully, they were right! The animals live in semi-natural habitats in this Zoo, so basically you'd walk around and find (the harmless) animals wandering around with you. The 'Roo Heaven' was utterly suprising, we walked in to find 10's of Kangaroos chilling out on the grounds! Along with the ever-cute Koalas, lizards etc. It was a very well-organised and caring Zoo which was in memory of Steve Irwin, who actually set it up. There were all sorts of Steve Irwin photos, stories and ideas that had come to life since his unfortunate death - it was a great experience.

So, to where we are now - Brisbane. We were really looking forward to coming to a city as it'd been so long. Arriving in Brisbane on a Friday night was an eye-opener, the atmosphere was buzzing. The trendy plaza's were rammed with late-night shoppers and the restaurant/bars were alive. We happily settled for Wagamama's & a couple of drinks that night. Seeing as it's the weekend, we've joined everyone else aimlessly walked around the city in search of cool markets and places to visit. The one annoying thing is the car is playing up again, so it's going in for it's first full inspection tomorrow so fingers crossed the repair work isn't too major.. Hooray for car warranties, eh? :)

We'll probably be here for a few more days, and then head to the places that we've been hearing about by other travellers - like Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay, etc along the way to Sydney... Ahh.

Finished! x

hey all!

East coast is Chavvy, with a capital C.

Just a very quick post - We're racing down the East coast in our new car, at Rockhampton now. Weather has been pretty stormy, but now as we're down south of Queensland, it's not as humid. The car is playing up a little, I have to admit - ho hum, we'll look back and laugh one day I'm sure? :)

We're planning to stay in Sydney longer now, so maybe get there a week before Xmas eve, hence the 5 hour-a-day drives here (which still gets us no-where - Oz is TOO big!) :)

"Welcome to tropical Cairns."

Boy, is it HOT and HUMID. I mean that in all seriousness. It's averaging about 33 degrees at the moment. If it was dry heat I probably wouldn't complain this much . But we've heard the further south we go, the dryer the heat.

Cairns being a primary spot for buying a car, as travellers start and finish their trips here, we had decided to buy a car here and drive it to Perth in the upcoming 5 months (some 10,000 miles ahead of us). It's been a bit hell-ish trawling around dodgy car dealers, but after a long 4 days, we've got it. It's a red Ford Falcon 1994 Sedan.

The dealer, going by the name 'Spiro', is an old drunken, rude man to put it simply. Some may even wonder why we're buying off him? Well, the price. We've parted with $3500 today, which is one of the cheapest cars we've seen so far, and by far with the lowest kilometres done and in reasonable nick. It's a bit damaged in a couple of areas but after seeing some expensive rust-buckets, this came out top. We've done all the official paperwork through the Dept of Transport ourselves, just to reassure ourselves of anything dodgy, but it all went through fine (phew!)

A few snagging problems, but he's sorted them out (although unwillingly).

One point though - literally 1 hour after buying the car, a Japanese couple rocked up outside our hostel with THE nicest, newest, better car for just over what we paid Spiro - gutted. Due to paperwork and cooling off period rubbish, we can't get our money back as we've signed papers and transferred registration names etc. (Nilesh & Jo - It even has WA registration plates till May 2009!) We're majorly bummed about this but have to look past it! The couple selling it are seriously genuine too :( Let's hope our car makes it to Perth with no problems and then maybe we won't feel this bad!

Anyway, to the point - Cairns. We, personally, quite like it. It's got the whole Esplanade water-front thing going on, but it remains dignified as it isn't as tacky as most promenades normally are. There are also night markets, street entertainment and is always buzzing every night so it keeps us busy and happy. Cairns is nothing like what I expected; I suppose that's the good thing about travelling - that element of suprise.

We've already done Great Barrier Reef snorkelling, which was cool but I wish we went to further out reefs where there was more marine life. You always hear how there is dead reef around, and as much as you try to avoid it, you won't find a company (charging a reasonable rate) who will take you far away where no other has explored. We managed to see an enormous sea turtle, lots of colourful fish, and other strange looking sea creatures.

'Travellers Oasis' is the highly recommended hostel we've been based in for the past 6 days, and it serves its purpose well - but the lack of A/C is not cool. Only since being here and speaking to people, have we heard that Cairns has a tropical climate (well, we didn't really need telling once we stepped out of the plane - Duh). Darwin also has a similar climate, but that will hopefully be travelled during the end of our stay in Australia.

We leave Cairns the day after tomorrow, heading for Townsville, a five hour drive away. It's a month today till we are in Sydney for the Christmas & New Year period - bring it on! We also meet Hinesh & Tanya there, looking forward to seeing a friendly face. Tonight we are going to the Casino near the Esplanade to win the car money back - wish us luck! ;-)

Ah, the time has come to leave New Zealand tonight! After being here just shy of two months, it feels both good and bad to be leaving..

The aspects I liked about New Zealand were:

- Undoubtedly, the views & scenery
- Cafe/coffee culture in the cities, especially Dunedin's - best coffee you can get
- Escapeism - How, within a few hours drive, you can go from a busy city to snowy mountain bliss
- Ease of travel
- The adrenaline-fuelled activities
- The outstanding tourism organisation system

The things I didn't like were:

- The weather, at most times
- Intercity coach drivers
- How North island resembled England a little too much
- And of course.. bed bugs!

I'm really excited and curious to be heading for Oz, however, I do find it a little daunting due to the sheer size of the country. Let the next adventure roll on.. :)

I'll be honest - I'm slightly tipsy as I write this blog. We've just come back from a full days' wine tasting tour and we consumed a lot of wine.. The four wineries we visited were The Mud House, where we had lunch which was included in the price, Torlesse Wines, Pegasus Bay and Waipara Springs. The whole Waipara region, just North of Christchurch, is famous for it's wineries.

After the tour, I asked to be dropped into the city centre, avoiding the 20 minute walk into town, to put photos up.

I think the two of us actually learned some wine etiquette and knowledge, that's a plus point, right? Being a lightweight always gives it the edge though ;) Lunch was amazing as you'll see from the photos, I think we were expecting a backpacker tour but it was so posh - We weren't complaining! My new favourite wine is White Reisling. Any boxed gifts welcome :)

Ah, this is the way New Zealand should be seen! In 25degree heat with full sun out :)

We've taken advantage of the weather and been pretty busy the past few days.

From Christchurch, we went to Kaikoura with the idea of staying two nights there, however, it slightly disappointed us so we ended up staying only the one night. The highlight was the seafood. The town is crazy for Crayfish! So oBviously I had to be part of it and bought myself a whole crayfish, freshly caught locally that morning. I followed a simple but tasty recipe - lemon, olive oil & cracked pepper. What a beaut! Bit of salad on the side and there I had one of the healthiest dinners I've had so far :)

Now on to the fun stuff. As the weather was looking great for today, I decided to go ahead and book the swimming with Dolphins adventure in Akaroa. Ketan didn't want to come seeing as he's already swam with dolphins elsewhere, so I was on my lonesome (first time in 2 and a half months - wierd!).

After the two hour shuttle journey from Christchurch to Akaroa, I immediately felt the charm and warmth from the small town harbour. It has a very 'French' feel to it, even the road names begin with 'Rue de le' blah blah.. The cafes all had French names etc, you get the jist.

So - the dolphin swim. Well, firstly, I had to get into a vvvvery tight wetsuit. I was a wetsuit-virgin and had been warned that they aren't meant to be comfortable or look good - yes and yes. Still, after much stretching and jumping around I was successfully sucked in, as the photos will prove. We were told on the boat by our skipper, Andrew, how to spot the Hector's dolphins as they had a small black fin which pokes out of the water. We spotted a few about 10 minutes out of the harbour and therefore all got into the water. FREEZING. The wetsuits are supposed to provide warm! But we got used to the cold after half an hour. The swim was awesome. The dolphins were so playful, they'd come within a metre of you swimming around and poking out, blowing water through their blowhole. In total, we were told there were 13 dolphins in the space of 45mins we were in the water - amazing! Hector's dolphins are the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world, so it was pretty special being surrounded by them. They were so cute and small! I don't have any photos of me in the water with dolphins but I tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to snap photos of my own once back in the boat, as you'll see.

It's quite a surreal feeling to think we only have two more days in New Zealand. We are using Christchurch as a base for our last week here, so I've uploaded some random photos of the town on Flickr too. Tomorrow we're going on a days' wine-tasting tour - oh yeah ;-) Hope you're all well at home! Keep reading x

Enjoy! x

We were recommended to go to Mount Cook, seeing as it is Australasia's highest mountain peak coming in at over 10,000 ft. Mount Cook is situated in Aoraki National Park, where there are 27 mountains, 22 of which are the highest in Australasia. We were staying at the YHA which was a great little place, had a cabin feel to it. The village (if they could call it that) had no supermarket, consisted of about 10 places and had no phone reception. The view from our room was awesome! We were lucky enough to get AMAZING weather for the two days we were there for - I mean cloudless.

Nilesh and Jo recommended the Red Tarns track at sunset, as the sun sets on Mount Cook leaving a red glow glazed all over the mountain. Little did we know, (and why didn't they tell us?!) that the track was over 1000 steps long! Oh. My. God. Steps are actually the bane of my life, and not being prepared for this was not cool. And, to add to it all, we were late leaving the hostel because of my faffing around so we had to like sprint up to make it in time for sunset. We made it - with 5 minutes to spare. You'll see from the photos how magnificient the view was, but I was a little disappointed as you couldn't see the whole mountain, just 3/4 of it.

I think I took well over 50 photos that evening - but I've just put a small selection so I don't bore you :)

The next day, whilst sipping on some Cosmopolitans at the 5* Hermitage hotel round the corner, I wanted to take more photos at sunset. Funnily enough, the view was better this evening! Even though we were on ground level, we could see more of Mount Cook. So, again, a 100 more photos.

After a very relaxed two days in this quiet retreat, it was on our way to Christchurch. It's typical that the weather has now decided to turn very amazing, in our last week in NZ. We're looking at about 20degrees +. Tomorrow we're going to Kaikoura, a small fishing town not far from Christchurch - we've heard great stuff about it (especially the whole catch-your-fish-and-it-eat thing) so I'm looking forward to that. Not sure if I speak for Ketan on the fish side of it!

It's only 1 week till we leave now, and we've still got a bit to fit in. Some advice please - should I go to Akaroa for some dolphin swimming or stay in Christchurch for a well-renowned wine tasting day tour? Hmm...

Wow - a great few days! For those who have not yet read the last post, (and if not, why not?) it was a busy week so we've taken a few days to relax in the sun.

We're in Queenstown at the moment and have met some friends from the Fiji Experience so it's been fun.

The weather here on the first day was gorgeous - not a cloud in the sky. We thought we'd take this opportunity to go up the Skyline Gondola and do 'luge-ing' (not sure how to spell it). As you'll see in the photos, luge-ing is like go-karting with no motor, but picks up speed faster. It was thrilling, even if we did look like geeks wearing the helmets!

The views from the top were AWEsome. We chilled up there for a while and took in the wonderfulness of Queenstown. It is another place which is like an apres-ski town feel to it - like Wanaka (although, personally, I prefer Wanaka).

We were psyched up for the evening purely for Fergburger. Now, Ferburger. AH! It's a burger place here which is nationally famous for being too tasty. We ordered the meatiest thing on the menu, and it served us well :)

Ketan and I were up for a big night, and seeing as there was a little Fiji reunion, we all decided it was about time for a messy night out :) It was good fun catching up with friends we had met 2 months ago, and hearing all their stories about New Zealand - along with hearing ours all over again.

Queenstown is renowned for being THE place for adrenaline junkies. It literally has all the activities available to do such as bunjy jumping, jet boat rides, helicopter rides, luge-ing, skydiving etc. But seeing as both of us are feeling a little cheap we only did the Luge. (Well, the real reason is that we're shit scared to do the bunjy). It's a great little town, which for some reason always has the sun beaming down on it - but hey, we're not complaining :)

I've put up pics of Milford Sound, Dunedin, Stewart Island and Queenstown - too rare!

Hey all, sorry it's been a while since blogging, been in some pretty remote places in the past week hence lack of internet connection.

So the last place I blogged about was Wanaka - a lot has been going on since then. We moved onto a quiet place called Te Anau, which was really just used as a base to get to Milford Sound. We were fortunate enough to stay at a great place called "Rosie's Homestay', which was more like a home than a hostel.

Milford Sound is a HUGE fiordland which runs 15km from the Tasman Sea and famous for its sheer size of the mountains/cliffs - you'll always find it on people's travel itineraries in NZ.

We were recommended to visit Milford Sound in late afternoon to avoid the tourist-y boats. So, because of this, we had to stay one night at Milford Sound Lodge as a base, as there wasn't a coach going back on the same day.

The following morning we woke up to heavy showers and cloud. But not all was bad. We were told by the locals that they actually prefer the sheer peaks of Milford Sound when it rains as you get to see lush waterfalls throughout the cliffs, and the misty, moody clouds hanging over the peaks. So although the weather was sh*t, we didn't cancel our booking - and boy was that lucky! It was Awesome seeing it in the rain. Just as we expected, there were temporary waterfalls gushing down, the whole vibe to the Sound was so spooky and it really gave it the edge. It's a real shame I can't find a good place to upload photos because that would really explain what I mean!

After a grim sleep at the MS Lodge, it was back to Te Anau for one more night before moving on to Invercargill.

Invercargill is another place which is meant to be the 'chav town' in New Zealand. I admit, it was a little glum but not as bad as the reputation it had. This small town is yet another base for traveller's who want to go to Stewart Island. Stewart Island is a very small island, only a one hour boat ride from Bluff - New Zealand's most southern town. Stewart island (or the officially named 'Rakiura') is reknowned for it's bird wildlife and abundance of nature, and for being a very serene little place to relax by the tiny harbour to get away from it all. Not all traveller's have the luxury of going to the island because it's fairly expensive to travel across to, and also the accommodation is highly priced.

Upon arrival, (after THE worst, rocky, sea-sick, scary-like-Titanic boat ride) we were lucky to have a bit of sun, but *really* strong winds. Due to our budget, we allocated two nights here, seeing as the accommodation was costing $160 per night (the lovely Bay Motel). We didn't waste time here, we got straight into the nature side and went on a couple of treks. We were given a bird guide of what would find on the island. Some of the birds were only native to New Zealand and some of the rarest birds in the world. Of course, Ketan and I had absolutely no idea what we saw but it was interesting none-the-less. We came across beautiful secret golden bays, untouched beaches and so on. Oban is the only township on Stewart island and it had a beautiful harbour to it's name, with lush native forests surrounding it - 85% of the island is a National Park. After a relaxing afternoon and some good food down us, it was time for a bit of luxury in our apartment - a TV! All night there were random birds perched on our balcony, including Kaka's, robins, parakeets etc.

The next day the weather was pretty similar. But this was OK because it wasn't raining. We were to go to Ulva island that day, which is officially became a bird sanctuary a couple of years ago. Only a ten minute bumpy ride on a water taxi there, we arrived on the peaceful island. It was absolutely untouched - not a guide, tourist attraction or anything alike in sight. Bliss! There were of course avid bird-watchers ready with their binoculars around - it was good to try something that was so special to some people. During the trek, we pottered around trying to spot all the birds listening for their distinct noises. We were fairly successful in our findings - I bet we probably spotted the rarest birds but we had no idea! 3 hours later it was back to Stewart island for more relaxing. We got a good feel for the islands and what type of people visit them. To bird-watchers and nature-lovers, this place was heaven with a cherry on top.

So a week later from my last post, we are in a city called Dunedin (which is Gaelic for 'Edinburgh').

It's heavily influenced by the Scots and it's a place with a good bit of history to it. So far, we've been here for two nights to chill out a bit. Yesterday we took the Elm Wildlife tour which took us to Otago Peninsula where were in close proximity to sea lions, fur seals, yellow-eyed penguins and other sea-life. It was snowing all day (but not settling) and it was freezing, but *well* worth it.

Tomorrow we are off to Queenstown where all the adrenaline-induced activities will take place. We're not sure which one's we'll choose, but let's hope the weather picks up.

I've probably taken my best photos yet in this past week, but as usual, finding a place to upload photos at a reasonable pace has been difficult. I'll keep trying, of course.

What a chilled out few days!

We're at the end of our 4 days in Wanaka, and it's been one of the best times in New Zealand. The weather has been awesome everyday bar one, where it actually pissed down.

The highlights of Wanaka have been:

- 'Cinema Paradiso'. Now this is what cinemas should be like at home. Comfy sofa's, home made ice cream/cookies/meals to eat during the film, vintage posters up everywhere and generally a unique experience:

- 'Puzzling World'. This place is great fun - there is the Great Maze where you have to find the four coloured corners, took us longer than it suggested on the sheet.. who would have thought? The main highlight were the illusion rooms. You'll have to watch the short movie on flickr too see what I mean!

- The views:

We're spending tomorrow in Queenstown for a one night stopover. We're hoping for some cool events seeing as it's Labour weekend in NZ (like our bank holiday weekend). I'll update you with the latest soon!

Right, after all of you’ve had a good ol’ laugh at the skydive video, back to the boring stuff :)

We left Nelson only a few days ago, and we’re already quite far down the West coast (which, may I say, lives up to its expectations of being untouched and ridiculously beautiful).

A very small town called Punakaiki was our 2nd stop in South island, after Nelson - and what an unexpectedly serene place it was. The pristine coastline on our right and mountains on our left, this town was the ultimate retreat. We stayed in an amazing hostel called Te Nikau, which was a home away from home. Our room was amazing and the cottage-like feel to this ‘hostel’ gave it the edge (and so was the owner Hamish, who baked us fresh bread in the morning). We met a Dutch couple there, Ruurd & Froukje, who we are currently travelling with for a while.

The main (and only) attraction that Punakaiki is known for is the Pancake Rocks and blowholes. It was a one hour walk there and back – ah, the mission of not having a car. Was worth it though, the rock formations were interesting and we caught quite a cool effect from the blowhole.

The following morning we jumped on the coach to the much acclaimed Franz Josef glacier. Again, we missed out a couple of towns on the way which may seem silly seeing as we have so much time here, but we heard the in-betweeny towns were nothing special. The drive from Punakaiki via Haast and then onto Franz Josef was sensational. I’ve never seen such untouched beauty before. Blue skies, snow-capped mountains, rugged green mountains and gorgeous coastline were upon us for the 5 hour journey. That evening we went to see some glow-worms in the forest in PITCH dark. Luckily, Ruurd had a flashlight but for 4 people it wasn’t that effective.. Still, we got to see some glow-worms so that was cool.

The next morning we were to ice-climb the Franz Josef glacier, which is the main reason travellers stop in this area. I was quite possibly more nervous about climbing this than the Tongariro Crossing because it seemed a bit more intense and nerve-wracking. We were in a group of about 15 with a guide, and as you can see in the photos, we were fully equipped with boots, crampons, jacket etc. Ice-walking is fun and unusually relaxing.. possibly because the concept of having crampons to help you walk relaxes you. The sun was beaming down, and the glacier was on show in its full glory. Seeing as ice-hiking wasn’t half as scary as we expected, we regret not opting for the full-day hike, as we only did the half day (which was still 4.5 hours). After a productive day it was back down to Franz Josef village, where we were based, to the swanky bar round the corner where we treated ourselves to a few après-glacier cocktails..

We are now in a town called Wanaka, which honestly is THE best town we've been to so far in NZ. It has an après-ski town feel to it, and the weather has been awesome for the past 2 days here. Oh, and another great pick for accommodation - Wanaka Bakpaka.

Enjoy the photos :)

Hey all,

I sent a copy of the skydive vid to my brother and he's kindly done all the technical stuff with putting it up.. You may have to fiddle around with it to make it play (i.e I have to keep it pressed where the time shows at the bottom line - but this may be because the net connection is very poor here) Enjoy! Let me know if there's any probs with watching it and we'll try to sort it out :)

Kejal's Skydive, Taupo from Kejal Ashra on Vimeo.

..OK, so only about 10 photos, but even that took me an hour.

There are a couple of Nelson carnival where my tripod came to use, and the rest are Abel Tasman National Park as promised. There are oBviously loads more but a backpacker can't spend all her dosh on buying net time.. :)

Start of South island is going well so far!

We are in a small-ish town called Nelson, staying at a another YHA which is spot on.

On the first day we got here there was coincidently the Arts festival on in town (only held once a year), which included a masked parade and carnival afterwards. The masked parade was full of young kids, but the carnival was OK because there was lots of people around, street food stalls, some small rides etc. We ate at a great restaurant called Cafe Affair, which had basil pesto pita & coriander hummus to die for :) The mains were cool too - we had to basically cook our kebabs to our liking on a stone sizzling plate. We didn't read the menu properly so weren't really expecting to cook our food but definitely a unique experience..

We went to Abel Tasman National Park today; It's known as a one of the most scenic National Parks with its golden beaches, native bush walks and alike. The weather was OK, but a bit cloudy. From a place from Kaiteriteri (the base of the park), we took a boat up a certain part of the coast and then walked from Torrent Bay to Bark Bay (2hrs), which is known as the most beautiful part of the track according to locals. It was comfortable walking, no Tongariro Crossing.. ;-) There is an option to do the full 3-5 day track of the whole of Abel Tasman which would be So amazing in the summer, but considering the weather is just 'OK' we decided it wouldn't be worth it in this season.

So after a short but sweet stay in Nelson, it's time to head off again tomorrow morning. Have to wake up at 6:30am - Ugh. We're going to Punaikaki, which is about 5hrs west of here. It may seem like a big jump, but we checked out other places closer to Nelson but they sounded shit to be honest! Let's hope we've made the right move :)

I have tried to upload the Abel Tasman photos in the past hour, but no suprises it doesn't work. You'd think somewhere like NZ would be good for fast connections.. I promise it's not just me being lazy!

We're currently in Wellington, staying at YHA Wellington City, which so far has exceeded itself. Bar the room being on the small side, it's a good base, and better yet - NO BED BUGS (sigh of relief). It has been tough trying to decide how to work our way around the South island.

These were our options:
- continue using Flexi-pass & doing hostels (same as North island)
- Buy a Motorhome
- Rent a motorhome
- Rent a car

Seeing as the bed bug issue has been very trying, we were eager to rent/buy a Motorhome and in turn not have to worry about bed-bug ridden hostels. This would be an extremely efficient option as we could drive, sleep and eat in it. A lot of travellers recommend this too, but once we'd done our research into prices/pick-up locations it just wasn't working out.

Renting a car was working out way too expensive, especially as we're coming into Summer season now, so that didn't make any sense especially as it wouldn't accommodate us either.

After racking our brains and trying to figure out how to work around the problems - we came back to square one. But it's a good square one, I think. We're going to continue to use Flexi-pass, which is a coach ticket to use at your leisure around the whole island and carry on hostelling but be extra careful where we stay.

After booking our ferry and accommodation in the South island, we're set to leave the North island.

So, back to Wellington. It's way better than Auckland. Much more of a vibrant city with the usual cafe cultures, restaurants and plentiful bars. We went to Wellington Zoo today which was fun! Saw a lion, tigers, cheetahs etc, all for the first time in my life. (well, of what I remember anyway).

There are also some ace places to eat around here. We've been pigging out on desserts, pizza's, sandwiches etc.. Ketan has a sweet tooth, and in turn I guess I do too now. Dammit! Tonight we're going for a curry... I'm a little sceptical of curries around the world because 95% of the time they aren't a patch on the favourite curry houses back at home - but I could be proven wrong.

The highlights of North island, by far, have been the skydive and the Tongariro Crossing. I *really* want to put the videos of our skydives up but it's proving difficult finding a internet cafe with a fast enough connection. They are just TOO funny!

Another hugely action packed day - we did the Tongariro Crossing. For those who don't know, this is an 18km full day hike in the Tongariro National Park, which is full of beautifully scenic snow-capped mountains and a really tough challenge. It's recommended as one of New Zealand's greatest walks.

There were times when were walking on a steep slant across snowed-in mountains with no barriers, no walkway, nothing. So literally at death's doorstep for the majority of it. We finished it in 6hr 30mins which is not too bad.. they say it normally takes between 7-9 hours. At one point I was just dawdling along and then *woosh* - my foot went knee-high into the snow. Wasn't expecting that! Even though you try to follow in other people's footsteps (quite literally) it's still hard to judge the snow. It was SO bright that your eyes play wierd tricks on you. The views were *out of this world*, and the challenge of it was even more satisfying.

Although now both Ketan and I are limping and complaining a lot :)

And we have photos again - I'm getting good at this photo malarkey!

(A quick backtrack as I forgot to blog about it - before Taupo we went to Waitomo, which is famous for the Glow-worm underground caves. It was spectacular sight, like thousands of little stars lit up just above your head in pitch black - unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos there but I thought I'd tell you all about it none-the-less).

Yes.... We skydived! It was AWESOME.

We got picked up in a limo at 11am this morning but strangely enough I was more excited than nervous - very rare! Getting to the place after a short journey was when the nerves kicked in...

My instructor, Alex, had done 4000 jumps in his lifetime and was totally cool, or 'rad', should I say, so that was reassuring. Ketan had a big Brazilian dude called Mac, who was a random beaver but again, very cool.

Taupo is known to be the skydiving capital of the world, so what better place to do it? We went up in a tiny pink plane (as you'll see in the photos) and rose 12,000ft. Spectacular views and amazing weather was upon us. I was sitting opposite Ketan and his face was a picture! haha. (But he was going first so it was understandable).

It was so cool watching Ketan fall out of the plane! I was SO excited, nerves had vanished. My turn came - head back, legs dangling, cold wind, big smile - we were out! The first 3 seconds was by far the most intense, overwhelming and surreal 3 seconds of my life. The feeling was incredible. On a 12000ft dive, the freefall part lasts 45secs + but it honestly felt like 10 seconds, if that. I could see Ketan beneath me once my parachute had gone up. After seeing the beautiful Taupo from that distance, it was sadly time to descend but the fun didn't stop there. For the handycam, which Alex was holding in his hand the whole way down, we did loads of spins and turns, that was the queasiest part of the whole ride!

(The video is SO good, you even got to choose your own music for it from an extensive playlist! Alas, I can't upload the video on here because they don't have the right software to change the format to something which Flickr accepts - I will try elsewhere!)

Enjoy the photos, we certainly did :)

P.S I've managed to put up FeeJee experience photos up too - more to come later.

Hey all,

So we've done a fair bit since I've last blogged. It's nice to read all your comments!

As most of you know, I like to plan. I like to know what's going on, where and I'm going and when I'll be there. I knew travelling would inevitably change this, and it has - but all in a good way as you're about to read..

We got to Hamilton (a 6hr journey from Bay of Islands) and got the hostel after a painful 15 minute walk with our heavy backpacks. It resembled an old people's home - gulp. It was OK, but Hamilton was another city which should just be used as a base. We decided there and then (after paying the hosts, and then having to get our money back again) to hop on a bus to Raglan, which is the tiny coastal town about 45 mins drive away. It was by now 6pm and we were tired from travelling. Good news, the hostel (Raglan Backpackers) was amazing. It is the 'authors choice' in Lonely Planet and fellow travellers had raved on about it - so we expected as much. The people there were the highlight, a lot of people told us that you'll fall in love with Raglan, as had they, and one night will end up being two nights.. they were right. I mean it's no place I would live because the whole town is made up of two roads (a strange experience coming from London), but none-the-less a great stop-over. We met some more hilarious travellers and went out to a reggae night in one of the local places. After a sweet couple of days, it was on the coach again to Tauranga & Mt Manganui.

Tauranga is a town on the east coast with Mount Manganui as the main tourist attraction, which is a 230m high mountain to climb (small in comparison to some Mama mountains we're going to see throughout NZ). Things got a little bleak once we arrived at the hostel here, although conveniently located on the harbourside, it had us agreeably worrying about bed bugs - and no, it wasn't paranoia! The guy in charge, Paul, was a lovely guy but was itching when he was talking to us and to my surprise I looked down at his arms and they were COVERED in bed bug bites! (Uh-oh.) I asked him what they were (knowing exactly what they were) and he shrugged us off saying 'oh, probably, like sand-flies, mosquitos, you know..' and I said again, 'erm, are you sure? What are they?' Very naughty, he didn't tell us. So obviously we decided not to sleep in our beds, instead we slept on the couches in the kitchen because by now it was too late to search around for another hostel. (Sigh) More on that later..

After obviously wanting to cut our nights short in Tauranga, we had to do the Mountain climb the following morning so we could leave that afternoon. After a very dodgy, broken 5 hr sleep, we were on the bus to Mount Manganui. It was only a 2hr trek, but the views from the top in the summit were worth it. On our way back to the coach, we stopped in at the hostel to pick our things up and complain - we got our money back.

Once this was over, onto the coach to Rotorua.. Or as it's known here, Sulphur City. It STINKS here! This city is world famous for the smell, thermal pools/spa's everywhere and some extreme sports.

So in Rotorua, a hostel called 'Funky Green Voyager' was highly recommended on paper and by word of mouth and quite rightly so! (We both bought a BBH card, for $45 which gives you minimum $3 pppn off at BBH hostels. Within this $45 we also get $20 phone cards - very useful.) We have a massive double en-suite room with great facilities at hand. It makes the experience so much better when you know you are staying at a kick-ass hostel :)

Yesterday we went Zorbing - our first extreme sport of the trip, Oh yeah! Zorbing is simple enough: climb into a plastic sphere/bubble full of warm water and then roll downhill for 150m. Ketan and I went together in one bubble, but there was the option of going individually. You feel a bit like a foetus in a womb rolling downwards? It was great fun, and we got a lift back to the centre by a nice couple who owned a car. Although we soaked their car as we didn't have change of clothes.. woops.

The owner at our hostel recommended the popular Polynesian Spa and mentioned it's better to go in the dark because it's quite chilled out. So around 9pm we got there and it was so relaxing. I would go as far as to say I felt 'posh' ;-) There were 5 pools in total, all with Sulphur in them, of course. Some good for aches and pains, some good for your skin.

Today is our 2nd and last day in Rotorua. This morning we did the typically tourist attraction, which is Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. There was bubbling mud baths, steaming pools and many things alike - a definete must-see here. We went for a huge & authentic burger meal at the Fat Dog Cafe, yum.

Tonight we go to Rainbow Springs Nature park, where we also get to see some Kiwi's (The native bird of NZ). We have an early morning start to the Waitomo, to the world famous Waitomo Glow-worm caves - looking forward to that.

Keep reading! Love to all from the both of us x

What a week!

Our first stop, as I've mentioned, was Auckland. Unfortunately we didn't get off to the best of starts.. Firstly, I was *this* close to getting a $200 fine in the Airport for not having declared my dirty hiking boots.. I never declare anything (maybe I shouldn't be posting that) and have never got caught doing so. I got called over in the corner, and he said instead he is going to give me a warning letter which is basically an indefinite blackmark against my passport, but only in New Zealand so it's not all bad.

Anyway, to the hostel. Home, right? Wrong. Don't ever stay at Surf N Snow in Auckland. Cut a long story short, we were put in a 6-bed dorm in the Basement - ugh. Ketan got top bunk, I got bottom. The next morning Ketan woke up to having Massive bites all over his body - GULP - We had bed bugs. I'm not sure if many of you are aware of the severity of bed bugs. The bites were enormous and very itchy and they lay in your clothes, as well as beds. The worst was to come though. We immediately headed to reception to get our money back, which we did. They were not sympathetic at all, but let us use their tumble dryer (because apparently the 175 degree heat kills them). Ketan had found an adult bug crawling on my bag.. Eek! We were sitting on the roof of Surf N Snow, pulling in and out loads of washing, which was literally our whole backpack and everything in it. We left the place as soon as possible (5 hours later), and checked into a 3* hotel down the road - phew. That night Ketan got bitten again during the night, and we found one crawling under the pillow. Then I got a trail of bites. So the following morning it was all hands on deck, it was like we were contaminated. ALL day, for two days, we were washing, drying, washing, drying etc. It was emotionally distressing because I actually lost hope thinking we were never going to get rid of them. 6-7 hour days went on this, and I just wanted to get out of Auckland. So after a short delay, we wanted to actually start the travels so we bought our Flexi-Pass which is a coach pass taking you round the whole island as you please, depending on the number of hours you have bought for travel (we bought 20hrs for North Island).

4 hours North of Auckland is the Bay of Islands. It is known to be a scenic area in the North Island, consisting of different towns/islands scattered close to eachother. Currently we are in Paihia, a cute town, and the accomodation is GREAT. It's called Peppertree Lodge and it's so homely, clean and very welcoming by the hosts - Jan, Brian and their son Matt. Upon arrival we took a boat accross to Russell island, which has a lot of history behind it but seeing as I loathe historical sights (and to an extent so does Ketan), we headed for the high-up scenic lookout point. Took some great snaps and then headed back to Paihia.

We've started to finally cook our own food and it feels good. Eating out all the time gets boring and makes you put on weight.

The next place on the itinerary was Kerikeri. Travellers had recommended this place and it was only 40mins on the coach so we headed up. There was a walkway/hike to do which incorporated some waterfalls and fairy pools but apart from that I thought Kerikeri was quite average. There were no coaches going back to Paihia so Matt offered to pick us up and take us back to the Lodge (for $20 - about 7 pounds). Once we got into the car though, we asked if we can be dropped to Haruru Falls which he was fine about. It was a really nice waterfall. We headed back to the main road after, which turned out to be a State highway.. no one there, hardly any cars going past and certainly no cab services. Then I got a random thought - Hitchhike! After a bit of hesitancy, my thumb was out. (first time I've hitchhiked) The second car swerved over - Result! And we were in luck, he was a good guy and I was pretty sure he wasn't a paedo/rapist/murderer or anything of the sort. We were chatting and he told us he used to hitch-hike from Paihia to Auckland - that's a 4 hour journey! Too funny. We felt a bit silly going only half an hour down the road. Back at the lodge, Jan (the owner) asked Ketan how we got home and once he told her she was like, "Oh yeah, that's Dan, he's a great guy!". Random?!

It 8pm now, and we're about to make some Chicken Fajita's - yummy. So everything is going well, and touch wood we haven't been bitten by bed bugs again so we think the tumble drying did the trick - Well it should do with 10 loads of washing! (Sigh). We're off to Hamilton tomorrow, a 6 hour drive down South where I will try to find a high-speed internet cafe to upload photos - fingers crossed :)

Hey all!

So at the moment we are back in the Nadi backpackers resort where we started off on the first day in Fiji. It is our last night here before heading off to New Zealand tomorrow.

Today we have come back from the Yasawa Islands of Fiji, where we've been for 7 days. It's all the usual stuff you hear about Fiji - sun, sea, sand etc. In total, we stayed in 4 resorts over the course of the week.

Our first stop for one night only was Beachcomber Island. Now, I know a few of you had warned us off Beachcomber for it being the "non-stop party island" - but we ignored you :) For those of you who don't know, this island accommodates you in a skanky 100-bed dorm room, but we were lucky (if you can call it that) enough to get beds on the top level (Although I did find droppings on my bed...) We were told that we had missed the party, which was the night before, so that evening we were there was a chill-out night. It suited us fine! I guess it would have been nice to see what the party would have been like, but some people already on the island were saying it doesn't live up to its reputation - No Ibiza apparently ;-) I woke up the following morning with a swollen bottom lip probably from something rank having a nap on my lip - I was glad to be getting on the boat for somewhere new...

Next stop was Mantaray Island Resort, which was about another 2 hrs on the boat up North. This island had come highly recommended by lots of people, past and present, so it was a must. Upon arrival, I have to admit I couldn't see what the fuss was about.. It looked average. We got a Treehouse Bure on the beachfront, which literally was a bed in a room, not a bedroom. There was no space to manoevure round the bed, but still it was a double room so it was a luxury. We were acquainted again with fellow FeeJee Experience travellers, so that was nice. This island is known for it's Mantaray snorkelling trip, so the following morning about 10 of us went on the trip. There was one Mantaray - and I was the only one who didn't see it, what a disappointment! Ketan and the rest of the group saw it, but it obviously didn't like me. The guide was saying there used to be 24-25 Mantarays around last year but annoying tourists used to try and touch them, so they don't come back anymore. The guide kindly took me in the water again for a third try, but no such luck. The longer we were at the island, the more I warmed to it. It had a nice atmosphere and a good crowd. After much lazing on the beach, it was off to Island no. 3.

Coral View Resort, which is one of the most northerly Islands was our 3rd stop for two nights. I won't go into too much detail, because there just isn't much to say. It was EXTREMELY windy, the staff were just plain wierd, the guests were rude and the beach was average. The only good thing was the room, it was spacious and we had our own (cold) shower and toilet - what a luxury for backpackers :) We were glad to leave this resort after two stormy, boring nights.

Last but not least was Octopus Resort (www.octopusresort.com). Now... THIS is what I call an island. We had heard brilliant reviews of this place, on paper and by word of mouth. As soon as the boat floated to the island, Ketan and I had big grins on our faces. The beach was 10x better than all the other beaches we've seen (voted in the Top Ten beaches by Conde Naste Traveller). The resort itself was picturesque, had a gorgeous poolside, friendly staff and the list went on. The dorm room was clean, tidy and not a bunk-bed in sight (very rare). After spending a few hours there, we got the very obvious feeling that this was more of a family resort. We were speaking to some older people there and they had mentioned how they booked this place months in advance to get a week's booking. What!? I think we were very lucky to get the night we did, and boy was it worth it.

Most of the islands were much of a muchness (except Octopus, oBviously). Because of this, seven days was plenty of time in the Yasawas. It really is a place to do nothing, and doing nothing gets boring after a while..

We are leaving Fiji tomorrow evening for our flight to Auckland. We were originally to leave in a few days time, but by then we probably would have outstayed our welcome in Fiji. It's been great fun being here and I would definitely recommend it. In hindsight, ten days would have been enough time here, but I guess it depends on the person and how much of "nothing" you really can take. It's a place I won't forget in a hurry, but I cannot WAIT until New Zealand now. We're both itching to be busy and have things to do! Bring it on..

Next post: New Zealand - Yes!

After being in Fiji for 8 days so far, it is going wonderfully :)

The FeeJee Experience is something I would recommend to anyone who is up for a LOT of adventure, games, socialising and anything else fun-like. It's a 4 day trip around the main island on Vitu Levu, hopping on and off a big green coach doing all sorts of activities and cultural experiences.

It went something like this:

Day 1: Being introduced to our guide, Bola, and our driver, Arvind, we hopped on the coach, which by then was full of other like-minded travellers, so it was a little intimidating at first. We headed to the beautiful Natodola Beach, which Bola mentioned was voted the 7th sexiest beach in the world.. It lived up to it's expectations. We conversed with some locals there, getting an idea of their daily life, but they weren't best pleased with me leaving their stalls empty-handed. The waves were Huge at this beach, it felt good to be there. Our guide/driver had prepared a meaty BBQ feast whilst we frolicked in the sea - yummy.

It was a good opportunity at the beach to talk to the other 20-odd people on the experience with us, who happened to be similar to Ketan and I - so far, so good.

The next thing on the agenda were the Sand Dunes. Now you wouldn't think you have to climb up the VERY steep dunes first in order to sandboard down them.. What a mission! There was I, panting and trying to catch my breath walking up and then facing the daunting task of coming down! But, rest assured, it was thrilling and not as scary as it looked. Everyone else made it look like a doddle, typical.

Now for the cultural part of the day. We visited a typical Fijian Village, called Malo-Malo. Bola was very passionate and respectful of his country and his people, and therefore knew what he was talking about. We all listened intently and fell in love with the lazy life of the Fijians.

So, back on the Green machine, we headed to our first night's stay at a *lovely* "flashpacker" resort, called Mango Bay. We opted for the dorms, considering we knew all the people who would be staying with us, including a couple called Marc & Charlotte who we seemed to click with almost immediately :)
We were all called for the "Kava Ceremony", which is the root drink that Fijians drink and it happened to be quite a formal affair. The locals would chant in their language, (like a proper ceremony) and then we would have to follow and then drink. Kava numbs the tip of your tongue, a wierd sensation. They say that if the root is not diluted and then drunk, your whole body will fall back in numbness - eek!

After a lovely dinner and lots of talking about other people's trips, it was an early night as we had an early start the following morning. We were told to prepare ourselves for day 2..

Day 2:
Today entailed a 3 and a half hour trek in the Namosi Highlands, it was a LOT harder than it sounded.

We all keenly started the trek which started off with steep, gravel-y, slippery slopes so you can imagine my face. It then got a lot worse as the sun came out, and the clay-like floor become even more slippery. Ketan was the first to fall in the group - Yes! But.. I fell in total of 4 times, so I can't laugh. For a 45min period, we were trekking through a river, which at times was thigh-high, but mostly up to our knees. Then came the rainforest - lovely (!) It was a really tough trek, not for the faint-hearted, but the sense of achievement at the end was all worth it.
The beautiful Navua River arrived at the end of the trek was surrounded by tall cliffs, which we "tubed" down. (Rubber tyres floating down). Tubing was fun - splashing about, having jokes, etc. We eventually got to some waterfalls, I jumped into one of them, but not the highest one - because I was a chicken. And so was Ketan :)

By this time it was raining hard, so we eagerly got on the longboat ride down to River heading back to the bus. But little did we know HOW long. Myself, Charlotte and Ketan were laughing at first because it was pouring with rain on a windy, fast boat ride, and 45minutes later the looks of our faces were completely different! Never-the-less, it was a memorable end to an even more memorable day.

An hour later on the bus it was still raining, and hence we arrived at the aptly-named resort - Raintree Lodge. It was a bit glum, but the company made up for it - we had made friends with some tres cool people on this experience, who had a lot of stories to tell..

Day 3:
Another cultural experience in the morning, we visited a local school. All the students were very friendly and I got some good snaps of the local culture. Most Fijians were quite fascinated with the fact that we are Indian so we got special attention sometimes. It was great meeting the students and teachers, they have a good life and they were grateful for it.

Another wet activity was on the cards that afternoon. We went Bilibili rafting (rafts made from bamboo sticks). There were 4 rafts with 5 people on each. We raced down the river, but we cheated a lot too :) Well, everyone cheated actually! These sturdy rafts are used by the locals' daily, but it looked difficult to steer them so we left it to the professionals.

The last thing of the day was to visit another village, this time mainly for a very formal Kava Ceremony. We all had to sit in a circle, while in the middle the Kava was being prepared. We all looked around to each other as the chants began, but then it was Kava Time! It tastes like muddy water, and no, it's not alcoholic unfortunately :) After the ceremony had finished, the ladies were taught how to weave and got to keep the bracelets as a keep-sake.

Another fun-filled day over, we got to our 3rd and last overnight stay in a yet another beautiful resort called VoliVoli Beach. We got dorms with Marc & Charlotte and Karen & Steve - a married couple from Manchester who I found quirky and funny. The view from our dorm was spectacular.

It was dinner time by now, so the whole group gathered around a table together for food. After dinner, the drag-queen of the resort, Sasha, had prepared some standard backpacker games for us and most of us drank the night away.. Ahem! ;) Around 11pm, we were beckoned for a Beach bonfire, which was awesome. Steve had his guitar out, everyone else mingled with eachother, it was a starry night - and so on. I didn't think the Experience could get any better! We were both sad to think it would be over tomorrow though.

Day 4: (I'm almost finished, OK)
This day was basically just travelling from VoliVoli back to Nadi. In between we stopped over at the mud pools/hot pools. The mud pools felt so wierd! It was all watery on top, but we stepped into knee high thick, smooth mud. Quite therapeutic really. Then to wash off, we went to the natural hot springs - lovely.

We all also got to have traditional Fijian curry lunch - you can imagine myself and Ketan were happy about that. We got the chance to make out own Roti's, and of course ketan and I were pro's at that, so took our chance to show off :) hehe.

The time had come - it was the end :( We got dropped off at the airport, as we had to take our transfer from there to Fiji Beachhouse. We were the first to get dropped off, it was quite emotional for a lot of us, which was suprising. It was been an AWESOME 4 days, quite easily tops off any experience I've ever done. It was made better by the fact we've made some great friends out of it too.

If anyone comes to Fiji, I strongly recommend the FeeJee Experience - you won't be disappointed.

For now, we are at our last day at Fiji Beachhouse - (where Celebrity Love Island was filmed) and tomorrow morning we head off to the northerly Yasawa Islands, for some sun, sea and sand. Oh Yeah. Then after that we head off to New Zealand. We've heard So much amazing stuff about it, we cannot wait.

Till then, adios x

(If only you could all know HOW hard I've tried to upload photos here. I've managed to get San Francisco and half of Big Sur up, which are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Latest Photos").

Sorry it's been a while, have been on the move constantly for the past few days.

So, Cook Islands. The weather didn't hold up for us the 3 days that we were there, which was a bit disappointing.

We arrived there at 6:00am and went straight to sleep. Waking up to the sound of chickens cock-a-doodling was a bit annoying! First thing we did was take a wonder round the hostel, which was steps away from the beachfront. After much snoozing in the hostel's hammock, we decided to take the bus to 'town' (consisting of limited bars and restaurants) and it certainly wasn't paradise!

To perk ourselves up a bit we went to an 'Island Night'. The larger resorts in Rarotonga hold them twice weekly to encourage tourists to learn more about the local culture of Cook Islanders, and it certainly did that. There was drink, food, music, dancing etc.. a good night out :)

After a bit of a lie in the next day, I thought it would be fun to hire a scooter for the day and drive to Muri Beach. It was a 20min bumpy ride with no helmets involved, but boy was it worth it - the aqua-marine lagoons, white sandy beach, need I go on? This was our last night in the Cook Islands, which, to be honest we weren't so sad about. It's a place to go where you can afford the luxuries, but they are few and far between I found. Backpacking there isn't ideal, maybe because of the season, or maybe because there is just not much to do there.

After hours of waiting for our flight and more hours spent in Auckland airport for the connecting flight, we are now in Fiji. And already we both love it! We've met some fun people, got a great resort (which is a 32-bed dormitory but otherwise a 4* resort - strange, I know) and the general vibe is looking good.

Tomorrow we go on a 4 day trip on the FeeJee Experience. We've already heard some great things about it from people who have done it so we are both looking forward to it a lot. Watch this space!

(Still can't upload photos, but will try again in the next place we stay)

Driving down to Big Sur in an Automatic round the long windy roads was fun. To our relief, the resort/cabin we stayed in was cute, cosy and clean. We went on a 2 mile walking trail (or TREK should I say), which led to the coastline. Big Sur is definitely a 'do nothing' place with stunning scenery - lovely.

Driving from Big Sur to L.A took around 6 hours. WHAT A DUMP. Well, Hollywood at least. Ketan and I were seriously contemplating staying elsewhere tonight, our hostel is a tad too seedy and unpredictable for our liking, as is the area. In the end, we've decided to soldier it out for one more night.
To make it better though, we saw the production 'Wicked' at the theatre last night, very nice!

Having a car in LA is SO useful; we've been to Venice Beach and Santa Monica, it was nice chilling out on the beach. At the moment we are back in the hostel to sort things out as we fly to Cook Islands tomorrow. In the morning it's a trip to the Hollywood sign, sunset strip and anything else left out.

P.s This computer doesn't allow me to upload photos either, so the wait could be a little longer :s

Tonight is our last night in San Francisco. The highlight being the Golden Gate Bridge - breathtaking views but absolutely freezing when walking across it. Got some good photos, but these computers don't have the facility of putting photos up.

Setting off tomorrow morning to Big Sur, which is a 150 mile scenic coastal drive from S.F, where we will be staying overnight.

Well I can assure you it's been a brilliant first two days here - all quite surreal too, being the first stop of the trip. It went something like this:

My friend from uni, Justin, was at San Francisco airport to meet us - Haven't seen him in about two years so that was a good feeling. He drove us to our hostel and as you can imagine, the whole 25 minute journey on route, Ketan and I were somewhat overwhelmed, tired and in shock slightly. All in a good way, of course.

Later that day Justin took us to Fishermans Wharf - amazingly tacky but fun place and very busy as it was Labour Day (equivalent to our Bank holiday), which we didn't realise until I thought to ask Justin if San Francisco was always this busy...

We went to Haight Ashbury which is full of hippies, homosexuals and general eccentric sorts. Something very obvious about SF is the eccentricity, wierdness and diversity of the city. It's a very socially liberal place. Each neighbourhood is unique by personality, yet the layout of the long, steep hills really makes the city what it is.

This morning we headed straight to Pierr 33 on Fisherman's Wharf to get our boat to Alcatraz Island. We actually caught our boat in the nick of time - slow walking and confusing maps didn't bode well with our time management. Still, was definately worth it, the prison seeps with history and stories to tell. Got some fab photos, which will be posted when I leave here.

We met Justin again in the evening and he took us to more amazing parts of town like Castro, which is the gay neighbourhood, and we headed towards Western S.F where we went to a beach with stunning panoramic views. As the sun set, the views brought the city to life. We were quite high up at one point, and the views were out of this world.

So back at the hostel right now and looking forward to our last day here, especially seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. Sorry for the length of this post, I promise it's just First Day Fever!