Been There, Done That

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

So that’s it then. We’re done. Eight months have passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye and as we write this we’re at 35,000 feet above the Atlantic aboard our nineteenth flight, our last flight, and in the final leg of our complete circumnavigation of the globe…the conclusion of our around-the-world adventure.

What a trip. It has been a truly memorable journey and an experience we will cherish forever.

We’ve seen some amazing places…

We’ve watched the sun rise over the ancient Temples of Angkor in Cambodia and watched it dip below the trees in the African bush. We’ve seen snow-topped mountains, verdant rolling hills, and white sandy beaches. We’ve been lost in the chaos that is Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, we’ve chilled out on deserted beaches in Thailand. We’ve visited some of the most amazing historical sites in the world and seen more World Heritage Sites than you could shake a really, really old stick at.

We’ve done some pretty cool stuff too…

In New Zealand we held on for dear life in a white water raft on Grade 5 rapids and then jumped out of a plane. We camped with dingoes on the largest sand island in the world and then wiped out learning to surf in Australia. We dined on insects in Bangkok and went on an elephant trek in Northern Thailand. In Laos we jumped into a waterfall, went tubing into an underground cave, swung into a river, and fell off of a motorbike. We had our feet cleaned by fish in Cambodia. We motorcycled along the coast from Hue to Hoi An in Vietnam and partied all night with the locals in the tiny fishing village of Mui Ne. In South Africa we went wine tasting on bicycles, tracked the big five on safari, and watched our boys compete in the World Cup Finals.

And along the way we’ve met some wonderful people…

During our trip we’ve visited over 50 places in 11 different countries. Although we were only really passing through on many occasions, we were fortunate enough to meet some amazing people. Like Pop (P-O-P as he would say) the 8-year-old street bookseller from Cambodia who goes to school in the morning and then sells books in the afternoon to help make money for his family. He had the biggest smile you’ve ever seen, a great little personality, and he could teach you more about world geography in 5 minutes than you ever learned in school! And the Vietnamese woman who, after chatting with us briefly one day, invited us back to her home to meet her family over some tea and coffee. We met her mother and father and some extended family over a cup of strong Vietnamese coffee and she told us how she’s trying to help put her daughter through college in Danang by selling nuts and coconut treats that she makes in the streets everyday. And then there’s the 25,000 South Africans that we danced and sang the night away with in Rustenburg to celebrate the opening match of the first ever World Cup Finals in Africa. Black, white, rich, poor all came together to celebrate the World Cup and get behind the Bafana Bafana. Magical.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

Of course, the trip wouldn’t have been the same without some of our fellow travelers that we met along the way, like the slow boat crew in Laos who helped make Lee’s 31st birthday one to remember, Chris, Sarah and Shop-run Gary who we chilled out with in Southern Thailand and who inspired Lee to get some new body art, the cyclists who cycled the length of Africa and then boozed their way around South Africa with us, Foxy/Moonhead/Taff/et al who made the football much more enjoyable even though our teams were terrible, and last but certainly not least are our favorite travelers – our partner’s in crime, our trip buddies, our travel companions, Kate and Lizzie, who we’ve had some brilliant times with over the last 8 months and we feel like we’ve known them forever (we mean that in a good way guys ☺)

It really has been the trip of a lifetime. We already feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do this but it will be over the coming weeks and months, maybe even years, that it starts to sink in how enriching this experience has been for both of us.

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

Round-the-world in numbers: the story so far

Most of the counting we have been doing on this trip has been related to money - how much is this hostel room?  What is the exchange rate? Lee you've already spent this much on beer already, Courtney if we forgo using moisturizer we'll save this much money, etc, etc.

After just 2 days in New Zealand we realized that we were going to have a tough time keeping track of our daily expenditures, and therefore our budget, so we invested in a cheap calculator to help.  With the assistance of that same trusty little number crunching device, we decided to look at some other numbers related to this trip and the result is the following summary.  Our trip by the numbers...

5 number of continents visited
11 number of countries explored
144 number of days traveled
43 total number of places that we've stayed in
2 number of motorbikes rented

before the "incident"

50 percentage of rented motorbikes that were crashed
20 number of books read
18 number of flights taken
4 number of different cameras used (so far)
2,195 number of photos taken
10 different modes of transport used

One of the higher quality buses we rode on

35,317 number of miles traveled
24,901 distance in miles around the world at the equator
1 bag of insects eaten

Yum

15,000 height in feet from which we jumped out of a plane
15 number of beaches laid on
3 number of public rallies/riots/protests we have witnessed (civil unrest seems to be a theme on this trip)
9 number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited

Sydney Opera House - UNESCO World Heritage Site

190 cost in US dollars of one speeding ticket in Australia
26 number of bus journeys taken
23 percentage of bus journeys where we feared for our lives

This was a contender for worst bus trip

65 percentage of bus drivers in New Zealand named "Peter"
10 number of capital cities visited
8,500 approximate weight in pounds of the elephant we rode in northern Thailand

53 current age of former England captain and all-round footballing legend Bryan Robson, who we saw hanging out near our hotel in Bangkok
171* number of canadians met while traveling (*estimate.  actual number unknown but it felt like at least that many
27 number of new facebook friends
8 average cost in US dollars of a beer in Australia
0.45 average cost in US dollars of beer in Vietnam
15 number of dorm rooms stayed in
36 percentage of dorms that had smelly and/or noisy roomies
7.5 size of the flip flops Lee inherited after his were stolen from outside an internet cafe in Laos (they are a bit snug)

With only 3 days to go until the start of the World Cup, we'll likely have plenty more statistics to think about over the next 4 weeks.

Sydney to Bangkok

Our flight to Bangkok left from Sydney so we had to make our way south on the train the day before to ensure we made our flight. We took the Countrylink train from Byron Bay (shuttle bus to Casino and then train) which ended up costing us less than the bus would have as they offered student discounts for ISIC members (Courtney is a member). It was a marathon 14 hour journey on the train to Sydney. The night train would have been a better option but our flight was leaving at 6:30am so we had to travel during the previous day. The scenery from the train was beautiful though and offered us some different views to the ones we had on the way up the coast in the car. We also got to see tons of Kangaroos! Apparently they prefer hanging out by the railroad rather than the highway.

We "slept" overnight in the airport to save a few bucks on accommodation (if you can call laying on the hard, cold, concrete floor of an airport with about 50 other people around you, cleaning vehicles constantly coming by, and bright insutrial strength lights shining down on you sleeping) but we basically squandered our savings the next day eating ludicrously over-priced food in the airport (eggs on toast and a coffee each cost us a whopping $30!)

From Sydney we flew to Melbourne where we had a 5 hour layover before finally boarding our flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

Kicking back in Byron

For our last week in Australia we decided it would be nice to stay put relax somewhere rather than moving from place to place as we've been doing pretty much the whole trip so far.  We loved Byron Bay so we decided to go back and spend the week on the beach.  We stayed at a great place called Belongil Beachhouse (http://www.belongilbeachouse.com/).  Belongil is located right on the beach slightly out of the main town - a perfect spot to kick back for a week.

We were pleased to discover that Belongil offer extended stay rates for guests staying more than 3 days so we got a great rate on a private room (only the second time on the whole trip we've not had to share a room with a bunch of strangers!)  The outdoor spaces around the beachouse were great, we had dinner outside most nights under the thatched roof huts, listenting to live music from the little cafe next door.

Unfortunately it rained almost constantly for 2-3 days so we didn't get as much beach time as we had hoped.  Instead we ended up relaxing at the beachouse, doing a lot of reading and recharging our batteries for the next leg of our trip, Thailand.

The rain didn't stop us taking surfing lessons though.  We weren't too worried about getting wet as we knew we'd be spending plenty of time in the water anyway.  We took lessons with a company called Kool Katz (http://www.koolkatzsurf.com/) whose owner is apparently known as "the Steve Irwin of Learn to Surf" - he was definitely quite a character.  The lessons were the cheapest in Byron Bay too at $49 for four hours - perfect for our budget.  We were both able to stand up and ride a few waves (as promised by the company's flyer) and, other than Lee almost crippling the Steve Irwin of Learn to Surf, we both returned from our first surfinf experience in one piece.

Besides the rain there was one other unfortunate experience during our stay at Belongil...bed bugs!  Courtney was practically eaten alive by them.  We didn't discover them until the third day, after they had had a good munch on Courtney's skin (for some reason they didn't really like Lee) and the bites are soooo itchy (they get worse before they get better as Courtney later discovered).  The staff at Belongil were great about it though and couldn't stop apologizing.  They immediately moved us to a new room, payed for us to wash all our clothes to make sure there were no stowaway bugs and refunded us a night's stay for the inconvenience.  Our new room was fine with no trace of bugs so it was probably an isolated case.

Surfers Paradise

Most backpackers traveling up the east coast continue north from Hervey Bay towards Cairns.  For us Hervey Bay was our northermost stop and from there we started to travel south again to our next stop, Surfers Paradise.  Travel pals Kate and Lizzie will eventually be following the traditional backpacker route and heading all the way up to Cairns but luckily for us, Kate's Aunt had arranged a brief stay in a resort in Surfers for a few days so they had to backtrack a bit before going north again.

Surfers Paradise is sort of an Australian Florida, or Miami to be more precise.  Beautiful beaches with a backdrop of high rise buildings containing hotels and condos above restaurants, bars, and shops.  We booked ourselves into the YHA by the harbour and were rewarded with free wine and cheese at reception, a nice treat after the 6 hour drive from Hervey Bay.

The following day we went down to Scrapper Rocks, a beach just south of where we were staying, to check out the Quicksilver/Roxy Pro Surfing Contest - the perfect way to spend a day in Surfers Paradise!  Later in the evening we met up with Kate and Lizzie for a night on the town and our last night together before we go our seperate ways :-(  The night was almost ruined before it got started when we were refused entry to the first bar we went to on account of Lee's flip-flops.  Apparently there is a "dress-code" in Surfers and guys cannot wear flip-flops into a bar.  It's a beach town!  Called SURFERS PARADISE!  Determined not to let this minor setback spoil our fun, Lee went into the nearest store and picked out a pair of the cheapest shoes he could find.  As he was buying them the girl in the store commented "buying some pub shoes are you?"  Apparently this store sells shoes regularly to bemused tourists who come to Surfers and can't get into bars because of their footwear.  In the end we had a great night out at Waxy's Bar, the place that originally turned us away.  Rather than try to describe it in words we'll let the pictures do the talking.

The dingo stole my ham

3 hours north of Noosa is Hervey Bay, the gateway to World Heritage Site Fraser Island.  The only way to see Fraser is by 4x4 vehicle as all of the driving is done either on the beach or on trails made of deep, soft sand.  We decided to book a package deal that included the 4x4 plus 2 night accommodation in Hervey Bay (to stay in before getting onto Frase and upon return to the mainland) and 2 nights at a campsite on the island.  All of the camping equipment was included with the vehicle which was handy as we only own 2 sleep sacks and a spork between us.  The 4x4s hold 9 passengers so it was us, Kate and Lizzie and 5 young Swedish guys.  The idea is that everyone who can drive takes turns on the island.  All of the Swedish guys were under 21 so for insurance puprposes couldn't drive.  Lizzie left her license in the UK.  That left us and Kate.  The vehicles are all manual which makes sense as they are 4 wheel drive off-road vehicles but we figured even though we both only drive automatic at home we would pick it up quickly and be just fine.  Then we were informed that the clutch and gearbox are NOT covered by insurance.  Without much choice in the matter, Kate was quickly designated official driver for the trip.

The Fraser Island team with Sheila Svensson (our aptly named 4x4)

We were made to sit through about 45 mins of videos informing us of all of the things on the Island that could either injure or kill us including reckless driving, various snakes, Tiger Sharks (Fraser Island is a breeding ground for them), and Dingoes (the video actually said if a Dingo threatens you remain calm and back away slowly.  However, if a Dingo attacks you "defend yourself aggressively"...what?!?)

We loaded up our 4x4 with food and booze (plenty of Goon) and headed for the ferry.  Once on the Island we were immediately in deep sand on narrow trails surrounded by tall trees and bush.  It was like something out of Jurassic Park, especially with the huge hungry prehistoric bugs flying around and attacking us any chance they got.  After about 40 mins driving on the bumpiest trails in the  road we were shaken, a bit sweaty, and ready for a dip to cool off.  Luckily our first stop was Lake Mackenzie.

Beautiful Lake Mackenzie

Lake Mackenzie is rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world, not sure who decided this but they weren't wrong.  The lake is in the most amazing setting.  The water is crystal clear and warm and the beach is a long stretch of fine white sand with a backdrop of trees and bushes.  We had lunch here and were joined by a huge Moniter Lizard who was invariably looking to score some food.

We left Mackenzie in the early afternoon and after a brief stop at Central Station, a former logging depot with a crystal clear creek runnning through it, we headed for camp.  Because the main north south road on the island is the beach you can only travel at certain times due to the tides.  If you're not sure when high tide is you could find yourself stranded on the beach, getting a bit wet, or worse.

Setting up the tent was a bit of an ordeal.  None of us are campers so it was pretty much the first time we had seen a tent, never mind construct one!  The Swedes put us to shame by effortlessly erecting their tent before we'd even got a stake in the ground.  We finally got the thing together and as we were admiring our accomplishment we were joined by some of the local wildlife - two dingoes.  Now, after the scary videos we were made to watch before getting onto the island our natural reaction should have been one of terror.  However, in this case we weren't too alarmed as the Aboriginies that look after the campsite where we were staying said that these particular dingoes had been around for years and were sort of their pets.  They did look pretty well-fed so we felt fairly safe and confident that they wouldn't attempt to chewing on one of our legs.

For dinner we decided to have mince meat and pasta.  Not the original plan but our ice had melted much earlier in the day and it didn't look like the mince would make it through the night.  We also had burgers and sausages in the cooler and we all agreed they stood a much better chance of still being edible the next day.  After dinner pretty much the entire campsite decided that copius amounts of Goon and other alcoholic beverages should be consumed.  After all, what else is there to do when you're on a huge sand dune surrounded by deadly animals and insects?  Not much sleep was had on the first night due to a combination of loud partying, frequent dingo fights right next to our tent, and Lee's snoring.

Up at 6am the next morning, we had a quick breakfast before jumping into the 4x4 and traveling north up to Indian Head and the Champagne Pools.  Indian Head is the furthest we could drive in our rental so we walked the rest of the way to the Champagne Pools, an hour round trip.  It was definitely worth it.  The pools are set in craters formed in volicanic rock and are filled with ocean water crashing onto the rocks.  They get their name from the bubbling and fizzing that occurs when sea water fills the pools.  Its the only place on Fraser Island where you can swim in salt water as the ocean has strong currents and is teeming with Tiger sharks (the east coast of the island is a Tiger shark breeding ground) so swimming is NOT recommended.

After a dip in the pools we hiked up Indian Head which provides incredible views of the island and Pacific Ocean and is a great spot to try and catch a glimpse of sharks, rays, and whales.  In the short time we were up there we saw a shark, a large sea turtle and a stingray, very cool.

Back at camp for lunch we decided to cook the rapidly deteriorating burgers (they were delicious and nobody got sick) and then drove inland to Lake Allom for a swim.  The lake is full of tea tree oil from the surrounding tea trees so apparently very good for the skin.  It was very different from Lake Mackenzie.  The water was very dark due to the tea tree and other deposits in it so you couldn't see through it at all.  We were a bit apprehensive about swimming in it until a Hungarian man that was hanging out there said using some very limited English that a group was there just before us and they were all swimming it in.  That was all we needed to hear so we all waded in, being careful to avoid stepping on any of the numerous turtles that had come over to see what we were up to.  We all enjoyed cooling off in the lake but in retrospect the Hungarian guy's English was so bad that he could have been saying a group was there earlier and they were al eaten by giant Fraser Island crocodiles.  Anyway, we all survived and returned to camp with silky smooth skin and clean, soft hair.

The second night was a little calmer than the first with a lot of the campers still recovering from the first night's partying.  We taught the Swede's how to play Farkle and then took a nighttime walk down to the beach with one of our aboriginie hosts.  The sky was clear so we saw so many stars including the Milky Way which was clearly visible.

After a decent night's sleep we were up early again for our last day on the island.  The day got off to a bad start when we discovered that the ham we had planned to have for lunch that day had been stolen by one of the resident dingoes.  Apparently all the years of hanging around the campsite with drunken backpackers, the dingoes have learned how to open coolers!

They may look cute but they WILL steal your ham

We packed up our tent and supplies and headed south towards the ferry.  On the way we stopped at Eli Creek for a swim and Lake Mackenzie for one last time.  As our ham was being enjoyed by the dingoes we had no choice but to eat what was left of our food supplies - cornflakes, bread and jelly (jam for the English readers).

Mmmmm

Back on solid ground in Hervey Bay we grabbed some much needed showers (Courtney's first for 3 days!), washed some clothes, then headed into town and treated ourselves to a nice dinner.

Noosa

From Byron we continued up the east coast to Noosa.  We stayed in a great hostel creatively named Noosa Backpackers.  We got a 4 bed room with a double bed which Kate and Lizzie kindly allowed us to have.  Noosa is a gorgeous beach town with lots of things to do.  It has some great beaches, a huge river and bay, and a National Park, all of which were very close to where we were staying. 

The hostel offered a variety of things for free including surf boards, body boards, and kayaks.  Kate and Lizzie decided to take the kayaks out as soon as we arrived and had quite an adventure.  They went out on the river and headed into the bay.  They had no problems on the way out but getting back was apparently a bit challenging.  The current was fairly strong as was the wind so they weren't able to make it back to the jetty.  After floundering for some time they flagged down a boat whose owners offered to tow them back to shore.  The girls gladly accepted grabbed on to either side of the boat.  Just as they were getting comfortble the boat sped up slightly and Kate's kayak started to veer from the boat.  She ended up hanging on for dear life on the side of the boat and screaming before a couple of guys were able to drag her up into the boat.  During all the commotion, Lizzie lost her paddle and the boat was forced to double back and pick it up.  They eventually made it back to dry land safely. 

Lee decided to get up early the next morning (ended up being earlier than he thought as we discovered later in the day that Queensland is an hour behind New South Wales as they don't do daylight savings in these parts) and take a kayak out himself (Courtney decided to pass after hearing Kate and Lizzie's story!)  The bay is awesome with lots of activity including fishing, boating, kayaking and jetskiing.  Lee even saw a couple of big stingrays while out in the kayak.  Very cool.

Tea Tree Bay

We spent the afternoon at Tea Tree Bay, an awesome beach in the National Park.  Steep hills covered in trees, bush and rocks provide the backdrop for the narrow beach which is pretty popular with local sufers.  Apparently the park is home to a lot of Koalas but despite our best efforts we didn't see any.

Byron Bay

So it's only right we begin with a brief apology to our followers (we're up to 36 official fans!) for the distinct lack of updates over the last couple of weeks.  We have been experiencing a bit of blog updating fatigue.  It's very taxing trying to maintain a blog as funny and informative as this and furthermore, it's also quite expensive ($5 an hour just to get online.  It's outrageous!)  Anyway, these are all just lame excuses, we need to do better and, from this point on, we promise to try our hardest.  Now that's out of the way, lets talk about what we've been up to over the last week or so.

View from Cape Byron

After a long but uneventful drive from Coff's Harbour we arrived in the beautiful beach town of Byron Bay.  We checked into an 8 bed dorm at Aquarius Hostel which was was located a stone's throw from the beach right in the middle of town.  It was early afternoon so we decided to drive up to Cape Byron and check out the lighthouse.  On the way back we stopped at Wetago Beach to take a dip and relax for a bit before heading back to the hostel to prepare for a night on the town with Kate and Lizzie.

Our backpacker status requires that we maintain a strict budget which means we have to be creative where possible.  Booze is expensive in Australia and definitely a luxury purchase so nights out have been few and far between.  Luckily, thanks to a rather friendly but very alcoholic Swede we met in Sydney, we discovered Goon, the champagne of Australian backpacking.  Goon is basically wine (using that term very loosely) in a box.  It tastes pretty bad and does not make for a pleasant morning after.  Nonetheless, it's cheap and it gets you good and drunk, so it ticks all the boxes for us backpackers.  After a few glasses of Goon we headed down to the bar.  Our hostel was offering a nice special in the bar - buy a drink and get a free meal - so we thought that was a good place to continue the festivities.  Dinner was surprisingly good, vegetable lasagna and salad, and was followed by a bit of limbo.  Courtney is the undisputed champion of limbo at Lee's old apartment so we thought she was in with a good chance of taking the honors here.  A free bar tab was up for grabs!  Lizzie joined Courtney in the competition and although they both gave good perfomances, an unnaturally flexible dreadlocked man took the prize.

Limbo!

With happy hour winding up we headed back up to the dorm for some more Goon with our roomies.  Wasn't long before the playing cards were out and Kate introduced us to "Ride the Bus" (not recommended with Goon!)  This is where things get a bit hazy...

We're a month into our trip and have only been out for drinks on a couple of occasions so our drinking abilities have diminished somewhat (we're mainly talking about Lee here) (editor's note: It's Lee who is writing this and unfortunately I can't remember much of what happened after we left the hostel.  Quite embarrasing for a man of my age I know but there you are).  The stamps on my arm the following day suggest we went to a few clubs but I was told the following morning by Courtney and the girls that we were turned away from more places than we got into because of my "dead eyes."  Courtney, Kate and Lizzie now refer to me as lightweight or "Sally" (a name also used to make fun of my apparently slow driving).  Personally, I think I was roofied.

Come on.  Does this guy look drunk to you??

An extra couple of hours in bed were required to fully recuperate from the Goon, but when we finally surfaced, we headed down to the beach for some tanning.  Lee managed to fall asleep sans suntan lotion and got a bit burnt and then we all cooled off playing in the surf for the rest of the day. 

Overall, we had a great time in Byron.  The beaches are beautiful, the water is warm and turquoise and the waves are huge.  From what we can remember, the nightlife is decent too.

Road Trip!

We are now officially flashpackers.  Gone are the days of 1am departures and 7 hour bus rides.  For the next 3 weeks we will be cruising the east coast of Australia in our own set of wheels!  We picked up our ride on Wednesday and with Kate at the wheel, shes from England so used to driving on the left side of the road, started traveling north up the east coast.

We had a long drive ahead of us as Coffs Harbour (our first destination) was 7 1/2 hours away. The road trip bonding session commenced - Courtney and Kate established they had been living parallel lives across the pond from each other! Lizzie and Lee established they both like Sparrows. We passed the time Roo and Koala spotting. Lot's of Roos were spotted (and a road kill) but no Koalas.


We decided to take a detour to Nelson Bay on the way. We found a great little beach to eat our lunch on, but it was not worth the 2hr detour (we did get slightly lost!).  Lee took over driving and quickly received a barrage of abuse for driving too slowly!  We arrived in Coffs Harbour quite late and decided to explore the following day. Coffs Harbour as it turns out is just that - a harbour. So we popped out for a coffee by the harbour before leaving for Byron Bay.

E noho ra New Zealand, G'day Australia!

Sadly, the first leg of our adventure came to an end last week as we said farewell to New Zealand and headed west to Australia.  3 weeks in NZ is not nearly enough time.  Although we covered a lot of ground and explored both the north and south islands we still weren't able to do it all.  Based on our experience and after comparing notes with other travelers we met on the road we've decided that 5 weeks is the minimum amount of time one needs to do NZ justice, so we'll be keeping that in mind for our next visit as we've already decided we have to go back!

As sad as we were to leave New Zealand, we were very excited about our next stop, Australia.  The luxurious flight we took to get there also softened the blow.  We had the pleasure of flying with Emirates Airlines on the new Airbus A380 which is a double-decker airplane.  Yes, that's right, a full double-decker airplane.  This thing was a behemoth.  It's baffling how something that big can actually move more than 10 miles an hour let alone get off the ground.

Regardless, we agreed that this was probably the best flight either of us have ever been on.  Huge seats, tons of legroom (we scored one of the seats with no seats in front of us so we could stretch our legs), our own generously proportioned flatscreens with about 100 movies and TV shows to choose from, and the best meal we've eaten since we left home.  Granted we've basically been surviving on pasta and rice for the last 3 weeks but this meal had a lamb appetizer!  Not to mention the wine and cheese.  Courtney even tried to sneak the roll and cheese off of the plane to eat later on but the Australian Quarantine forms we had to fill out sufficiently scared her into leaving them behind.  Suffice it to say, based on this experience, we would definitely recommend Emirates for anyone flying to Australia or any of their other destinations.

We arrived in Sydney at around 8:30pm and headed into the city to our hostel, Harbour City. Sounded pretty fancy on the internet, anything with "Harbour" in the name has to be decent, right?  Apparently not.  It wasn't even anywhere near a harbour for starters.  A more appropriate name would be "Harbour S______" (rhymes with city).  Still, it was cheap and gave us a place to crash for the night.

Our plan for Australia is to rent some wheels and travel up the east coast with our travel buds Kate and Lizzie, the 2 English girls we met in New Zealand  They have a similar itinerary to us so we thought it would be fun to explore Oz together (and save all of us a few bucks in the process!)  They stayed in NZ a few more days than us so we decided to hang out in Sydney for a few days until they arrived.  We've been moving around a lot so far on the trip so we welcomed the chance to stay in n place for more than just a day or two.

On our first day in Sydney we took a walk through the Botanic Gardens which are beautiful and also offer great views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.  They're also home to thousands of fruit bats.  It was pretty cool to see all of these huge bats hanging from trees and flying around in the middle of the day.  We stopped at the Opera House for the mandatory Opera House and Harbour Bridge pics before heading to the infamous Kings Cross section of the City to find a place to stay for the night. 

Like it namesake in London, Kings Cross is a bit of a mixed bag with trendy cafes and restaurants alongside strip clubs and seedy bars.  It also happens to be Sydney's main backpacker area with tons of cheap hostels to choose from so we thought it made sense to try and find a place there.  We found a little place called "The Pinkhouse."  Located in a old Victorian building tucked away from the main road in a quiet part of the neighborhood it seemed like a good spot to spend a few days relaxing while we explored Sydney.  We were WAY off.  This place was a dump.  It made Harbour Sh*tty look like a 5 Star hotel!  It was the hottest, dirtiest place we've ever seen.  And the icing on the cake was when we found at that 2 of the guests currently staying there were the lucky recipients of some pink eye.  Maybe that's how this place got it's name?  Urgh.

After that we promptly got ourselves over to Wake Up!, a trendy hostel right across from Sydney Central Station.  A few dollars more than the other places but well worth the money.  Clean, spacious, air conditioned and, most importantly, free from nasty eye infections.

Spent way too much time describing crappy hostels here so running out of time for full updates on all our activities but some highlights include a day trip to the Blue Mountains, very cool, and a visit to the Sydney Wildlife World where we got to see Koalas, Kangaroos, and a massive Crocodile called Rex.  We also enjoyed a few days on the beach out in famous Bondi Beach and got to hang out with Courtney's friend Kemi who has been living in Bondi since September (lucky girl) and took us to a great beach next to Bondi called Tamarama.  Thanks Kemi!

That pretty much brings us up to speed.  We pick up our car tomorrow morning and are hitting the road, first stop Coff's Harbour.

The Itinerary

Where are we going?

Planning a round-the-world trip is HARD.  We’ve been planning this thing for months and here we are less than 2 weeks before we leave and we still haven’t figured out all the details!  It turns out the world is quite big and you can’t possibly see it all in 8 months.  So, we tried to create a bit of a plan that will allow us to visit quite a few countries but also left it fairly open-ended so we can linger in places we like a little longer and duck out of places we’re not keen on earlier.  The only thing that is set in stone is the flight to South Africa.  We’re heading down there for the FIFA World Cup, which starts in early June and ends a month later.  Did we mention Lee likes football?

Here’s our itinerary as it stands today (Jan 5, 2010):

Los Angeles      01/17 – 01/19                       

New Zealand     01/21 – 02/10                       

Australia            02/10 – 02/23

SE Asia             02/24 – 04/08                       

Europe               04/08 – 06/01           

South Africa      06/02 – 07/19           

England             07/20 - ??