From the west coast we headed inland and hit the Tongariro National Park, home of the carrot! Where the majority of carrots are produced in New Zealand, the place is carrot crazy. They hold a carrot festival every year where the population of the town increases from hundreds to thousands.

The Tongariro National Park is dominated by four 2,000 metre and upwards high dormant volcanoes, the most famous of these is the conical shaped one used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. As we saw the bad weather staying behind us we used the opportunity to go mountain biking on the famous ‘Old Coach Road.’ The road was part of the main route from Auckland to Wellington, though in those days the journey took a few months.

For us it was an uphill struggle for around an hour to reach our target; a viaduct which spans a deep valley. This bridge was the first one AJ Hackett used for his commercial bungee before it was deemed too dangerous (jumpers had to cross four train tracks to get to it, not in the jump off go splat sense!) It was then moved to Queenstown, (incidentally the same one where did mine.)

The original rickety tracks still remained, though fortunately for us there had been some additions and a safety fence and new footpath put either side. The gruelling uphill ride turned into a 8 minute superfast downhill section and was very rewarding.

The next day all three of us decided to hit the famous Tongariro Crossing, this is a 17km walk taking an average of 6 hours. It goes up over the top of one of the smaller mountains and beside the rest. It is one of the most popular one day hikes in New Zealand. After a few scary moments reading posters in the information office; sturdy walking boots a must, first aid kit, 4 – 5 warm layers of clothing (it was 25 degrees at the bottom.) We were then told this is to stop tourists going up in jeans and flip flops, or high heeled shoes as one Chinese lady thought was a good idea.

So the next morning we got the 8am shuttle to the top and began our ascent. The crossing is so famous it was a bit like Piccadilly Circus! There were hundreds of people walking, which did give it a bit more security in case something serious did happen. We started the first ascent up the devils staircase, steps put in by the national park because of the amount of people walking the track. After a gruelling few hours we trekked up to the highest point; 1,900 metres. There were other walks to the top of the other mountains but we felt the view was good enough from where we were!
The weather was good when we started but when we reached the top it closed in very quickly so the views were a bit limited but on our decent down we saw some beautiful lakes. We set off at 8:15 and got back at 3:50 so it was a very long day but well worth the few blisters between us.

Next we headed to Taupo; the extreme capital of the world, (although I may have said that about Queenstown!) I’m pretty sure New Zealand is the extreme country of the world so it may have a few extreme towns in it!

So I would have a few extreme stories to tell if I had partaken in any such activities but unfortunately it was my comrades who did the 48m high bungee over water and 12,000 feet skydive. But I will tell their stories from my point of view.

Sophie’s day began on an overcast morning (bungees are cheaper before 11am, yes we are stingy even on our extreme sports!) After being checked in and weighed she was then taken to the end of a platform 50m over a river and VELCROED to what really is a long elastic band. They have a section of the cord in the booking office for ‘piece of mind,’ which is basically your normal office elastic bands, hundreds of them twisted together.

I’ve emphasized the velcroed part as when I did mine I had a harness on my waist and the cord was then thread through my feet so I ended up the right way, or rather the wrong way up. The only other person I’ve heard having their feet velcroed together is CJ in Thailand, not very hot on its health and safety. But Sophie came out in one piece so I can’t use Velcro as one of my bungee horror stories, on this list is naked bungees (do it naked and you get it free) and (Leanne’s) James being asked ‘what’s more scary than this?…THIS!’ [James is then pushed/rugby tacked unsuspectingly off the top.]

I was contemplating doing a bungee swing, a variation of the vertical bungee, the ‘bunger’ is dropped and then swung into oblivion. This can be done in a multiple of positions; sitting, backwards, mid flip etc, but common sense got the better of me and I declined. My final bungee horror story is from Sian doing this bungee swing, she was positioned to fall off backwards (apparently less scary!) and as she was falling off all the guys on the platform started yelling ‘NO, STOP, you’re not attached’ – not exactly the words you want to hear as you are falling off a 50m high platform. So understandably enough Sian starts praying, life flashes in front of her eyes and starts scrabbling wildly to try and save herself. She manages to grab hold of a piece of rope and then realises what it’s her bungee cod and then hears the guys above her cackling like hyenas.

Anyway, back to Sophie. Sophie performed her jump admirably, she decided against having a water landing (please see jump menu attached). She was advised on her arm position so to stop jumping straight off the platform like a frog aka. Gini, or like diving off a diving board and having your hands straight in front of your face so that when you hit the water you give yourself black eyes aka. Sally (Sorry that really is my last bungee horror story!)

Sophie did really well, no hesitation, bouncing and dangling gracefully into the rescue boat.

In the same morning we then moved straight onto the airport for Holly’s tandem skydive. She flew up to 12,000 feet, had a 45 second freefall and then glided the other 4,000 feet. Falling 8,000 feet in 45 seconds is pretty immense, followed only by Sophie’s 48 metres in 3 seconds, Cara on the other hand just walked around normal pace all day with no falling L !

Luckily we were told the out of the 8 people up in Holly’s plane only Holly had a blue jumpsuit, so from the outset we could see her and took some pretty good photos. We saw some pretty ropey landings, some landing hard straight on their bums, but Holly’s was very smooth. When asked how it was, Holly’s answer (for everything) was ‘it was alright’…!

While in Taupo we stumbled across a body painting festival and unlike another broke traveller from Preston we didn’t take part! Some of the models were pretty amazing and it made a nice change to hang out in the city with its residents.

We then moved onto Rotarua and saw a Maori concert. Although it was set in a hotel we still got a feel for the culture and friendship between the Maoris and got an amazing dinner. Even though the Haka was performed in forced circumstances it still had the desired effect and made everyone’s hairs stand on end. Maori warriors used to use poi (weighted balls on strings) to strengthen their wrists before battle, now they are used more with the women as a object for entertainment. Both me and Sophie got up on stage to have a go and they looked far harder than imagined!

A trip to Rotarua wouldn’t be complete without looking at the geysers, the town didn’t smell as bad of eggs as is advertised everywhere and we used it as a launch pad to travel up to the Coromandel.

After a brief stop and a surf at Mount Manganui on the East Coast we made it to the town of Whangamata (said Fangamatar). Here the surf was amazing and both me and Soph tried our hands at SUP ‘stand up paddle boarding.’ These giant surfboards with extra grip are stood on and paddled. It was great to cruise up the river, which was flat as a pancake, making no noise apart from the occasional splash of the paddles. Though our activity wasn’t without mishap; we moved into the sea to try and catch a few waves as our instructor said we were naturals.

We were told it was easier than surfing because standing up is the hard part, but as soon as we hit the waves we both hit the water! Unfortunately Sophie fell off and while trying to jump back on she was hit in the face with her board and as with all cuts on faces it bled ferociously. But she battled on like the Maori warrior she is and we still had a great morning. A black eye and a few steri-strips later and it’s slowly getting better.

We’ve travelled around the whole of the Coromandel region with its stunning beaches and breathtaking cliffs and now in the final few days of our beloved van. We have 4 days left of the Cocaine Mobile. We are heading to Hamilton then to the east coast surfing town of Raglan then up to Auckland to return our van.

Our adventure seems to be stepping up a gear; in a week we will be in Fiji, in two; Hawaii and in a month mainland USA. We are now looking into getting another Wicked van in America as it seems to be the cheapest way to travel around and they are pretty cool.

Talk to you soon

Kofi x x

Onwards and upwards

So we’ve hit the road! We’ve hired a 2/3 (emphasis on the slash) berth camper van. They are small vans which have been adapted to fit a “kitchen” – sink, shelves, camping stove and a table and chairs which then turns into a double bed at night. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze with three of us in, but boundaries have been broken pretty quickly and we are now all bezzie mates!

‘Wicked’ the company we hired our van from, have 300 all over the country, we did ask for a nice one and which they replied with one which says ‘sniff more coke’ and ‘enjoy cocaine’ so we’ve had a few funny looks along the way! Although on the back it does say ‘hugs not drugs’ which is always our moto! But we’ve seen quite a few more dodgy ones than that, so I think we’ve been lucky!

From Christchurch our first adventure took us to Kaikoura home of whales and dolphins. The Kaikoura coast has a large deep canyon a few miles out to sea and so it can support the resident whales and dolphins all year round and it’s the only place in New Zealand that has this.

After enquiring at the dolphin swimming centre and told they were booked up for 6 days and our only option was a 5.30am share swim in which we could only go into the water when someone else had completely finished. So kitted out with our two layers of wetsuits, hoods and snorkel gear (that we might not use!) we headed out on a search for the sometimes 500 strong pod of dolphins. These (pesky) Dusky dolphins are smaller than the more common (hence the name) Common dolphin and are very inquisitive.

Fortunately for us the water was 15 degrees and so there were drops outs early on. The swimmers were designated 40 minutes swim time and so it was highly likely that we would get in. We were instructed to make noises through our snorkels and dive down (very difficult with the temperature and buoyancy of the wetsuits,) to try and get the dolphins attention. The first few times we jumped into the water the pod of around 30 just swam on, but as we move around the coast the pods all joined together and we swam with at least 200 individuals! Making stupid noises and actually looking the dolphins in the eye you can engage them, spin around with them, make them dive down, where they will mirror image you by swimming with their belly up to yours.

An incredible experience, the water temperature forgotten within about a minute!

After Kaikoura we travelled to the northern part of South Island and travelled around the coast. Following our noses around the wine trail of Marlborough Sounds. In the Abel Tasman National Park we divided and conquered, Holly took to the seas with her kayak and me and Sophie the mountains on bikes. On a very rare blue skied day we were driven to the top and taught a few skills before being unleashed down skree and stony tracks. Apparently balancing on your pedals, off your seat, then squatting down behind your saddle is the way forward, or rather down when mountain biking downhill. Also go as fast as you can, ‘momentum is your friend’ – guide/devil woman Anna, so if you feel like you’re wobbling, go faster! Hmmm…

Well it was very enjoyable, even if I did get off and walk down a few hills. We were shown around old marble mines, which were used in the buildings in Wellington, this leads us on nicely to the next part of our journey. We crossed the three hour ferry from Picton and came to the capital city; which compared to the other smaller, one road towns we had come across was really like a metropolis.

Rugby fever has really hit the country with the 2011 world cup being held here. New Zealand are high up in the IRB rankings as well as being the top international 7s competition at the moment. We visited the rugby museum which was very small but informative, though with an extra 50,000 people are expected during the world cup it had been given a $800,000 grant for improvements. Being big sports fan’s we went and watched ‘Invictus,’ the new rugby movie set during the SA world cup at the start of Mandela’s reign. Truly a great movie but we were torn during the ending with the NZ vs SA final being surrounded by Kiwis, emotions stirred to the maximum with the Haka being performed in wide screen, Joana Lomu practically spitting at us from on screen. (Who I incidentally met in the toilets of the Rugby Museum, slightly off putting have a cardboard cut out of him leering at you on!)

So far we have covered around 2,500 kilometres and there is still Taupo upwards yet to do, our van is still in one piece and so are our friendships, though mainly due to Scrabble, Denominations and Rummy. We covered the Surf Highway of the west coast which due to poor weather and bad surf led us to no time in the water and chased us inland in search of clear skies. The summer weather here is the worst it has been in years and everyone is hoping for a change before autumn properly starts. We are now hoping for some walking tomorrow if the weather holds in Mount Doom country. We have the van until the end of the month and we hope to cover a few more miles and get a bit more sunshine.

NZ with the parents!

Sorry this is a bit delayed, the internet is a bit dodgy here in NZ and so no where has fere wifi :( Here is what happened when we met up with my parents, pictures hopefully will be added later

xx

It’s been two weeks since the last entry and A LOT has happened since then. I didn’t want to waste time writing while my parents were still here, so now that they’ve gone (bad times) I shall try and recollect the last two weeks (good times).

Even though Asia was a whole lot warmer than NZ we’ve been surprised by the warm weather and how long the days stay light. In Asia it was in the high 20s everyday, but here we have had sunlight from 6am until 9pm which makes a really nice change.

The landscape has been spectacular and I think both of us have fallen in love with the towering mountains matched with the most unbelievable blue lakes.

We all flew into Auckland and began our journey north to the Bay of Islands. Here we came to Pahia for a spot of dolphin watching and swimming. I had done some dolphin swimming on my last adventure in New Zealand; it involved us chasing a large pod and then jumping in the freezing water. To catch their attention we had to spin around making noises through our snorkels, very amusing to watch from the boat – 30 snorkelers splashing and flailing all whilst trumpeting and trying not to drown.

That was in Kaikoura one of our future destinations. Unfortunately in Pahia there are strict rules about swimming with the dolphins; one being no one was allowed into the water when there was a baby around. This is because they feed so regularly that if we were to dive in and distract them, they might miss a few feeds and not recover. Unfortunately this was the case for us, one of the little buggers was spotted in the water so no swimming for us, but like I said our next stop is Kaikoura so hopefully we can get into the water there.

Our next stop along the northern most tip of New Zealand was 90 mile beach; exactly what it says on the tin (although 90 kilometres is more accurate.) This beach is so expansive that cars could drive 5 abreast and still be fine. We drove in our 4x4 and didn’t have much trouble (apart from the large log that Dad “didn’t see!”)

We also made it to the geographically (although not actual) most northern point of New Zealand; Cape Reinga. Here you could see the clash of the titans; where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet and on stormy days these waves can reach up to 10m. We also enjoyed a spot of sand boarding; an idiotic sport achieving a high consumption of sand and burnt feet. In the Te Paki Recreational Reserve there are incredibly scenic (incredibly high) white sand dunes. Me, Soph and Holly grabbed a body board and ascended to the top of these slopes. Here we slid down using our feet as both a steering wheel and brakes, very exhilarating and scary sport.

This part of North Island we found was highly populated with the Maoris and their traditions and beliefs. In the Waipoua National Forest we saw Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest) a massive tree with a height of 18m. These once extensive Kauri trees are sacred in Maori Cosmology and from their sheer presence you can see why. We also saw Te Mahua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) although not as tall as Tan Mahuta was over 16m in girth; take 8 people holding hands in a circle to get a slight idea… In the picture you should be able to see my Dad in the bottom right of the picture to get an idea of scale.

After our jaunt in the North Island we flew down to Queenstown; extreme adventure capital of the world. It is the site of the world’s first commercial bungy (where I did mine four years ago) and two other’s including the 134m high Nevis Highwire. After a scenic ride up a hill side Gondola we threw ourselves down the Luge track on slightly modified go carts. IMG_3139 There are only three countries with Luge tracks in the world; New Zealand, Singapore and Canada…two down one to go!

As a continuation of the action yet to come in South Island we moved to Shot Over Canyon to ride at 80km/hr down a narrow canyon on a “Shotover Jet”, narrowly avoiding the sides and doing 360 degrees turns along the way!

Another day, another long drive for Dad took us to Franz Joseph and beautiful glacier country. Complete with waterproofs, walking boots and crampons we set on a 4 hour hike up the glacier with a guide. Following freshly cut steps made by our guide and a pick axe we wound are way up the glacier taking in the valley and rainforest views – it is one of two places in the world where you can do this. The glacier was spectacular and a really worth while climb.
We moved onto Greymouth were me, Dad, Holly and Sophie we let loose on 300 acres of land with four 600cc quad bikes. After a brief introduction/lesson and donned on gumboots, waterproof trousers and hairnets (apparently for hat hygiene?!) We headed off though large puddles and didn’t get stuck once!

Me and Sophie had a brief fling with some horses in Punakaiki, Sopie’s horse CB (Charlie Brown) should really have been called CC (Copy Cat) as he just did exactly what the horse in front did. I had a part Arab scaredy cat, who wouldn’t cross bridges but when it came to galloping on the beach left the others for dust.

In Hanmer Springs me and Sophie got back on bikes of two wheeled variety (without a engine I hasten to add!) Dad loved getting back on his bike after being snowed in for three weeks back in England. After an energetic cycle we headed to the natural hot springs what Hanmer is famous for and moved from spring water of 25 degrees to sulphur smelling baths of 42 degrees (didn’t stay in them for long) .

Apologies for such a quick round up, we have done so much in such a short space of time that it’s hard to put it all down in this blog. We are so thankful for spending time with Mum and Dad, it has been incredible, in an amazing part of the world. They now have begun there 5 flight conquest back to Yorkshire and we now have over a month of New Zealand left to fill. We have booked a camper van for the three of us for 3 weeks which should be great. Surfing in the nearby beach is first on the cards and then onto Kaikoura for a spot of dolphin swimming. Sophie is planning to fly over to Melbourne to see a new Aussie arrival for a couple of weeks.
So over and out from Car-ie, I’ve changed my name its not in keeping with the Sophie/Holly combo. Also Amy, Lucy, Holly….Cara – what went on there?!
xx

So when I just began writing this current blog we had come full circle and back to KL after a holiday away in Sri Lanka. After a three hour flight to Colombo and going back in time we found ourselves with the lovely Acarnley’s in the famous Galle Face Hotel. ‘Asia's Emerald on the Green ... since 1864,’ very quirky hotel with signs on the walls like the one in the picture.

Our main purpose for going to Colombo was to witness the wedding of the now Amy and Ben Hunt, Ben’s parents are old friends of Liz and Patrick. The whole wedding wasn’t without its Sri Lankan traditions, an unreliable priest, no rehearsal, a beggar walking down the aisle in front of the bride then singing loudly while the vows were being said until he got paid to leave. All in all a very memorable day, in a very beautiful setting.

Some more pictures are on Facebook of the wedding, please click the link below;

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=139870&id=503754742&l=c01cbe48f6

After five days in Colombo we drove three hours down the coast to the beach resort town of Hikkaduwa. Here me and Sophie were in surfing heaven, board hire started at 2 pounds an hour and the waves never disappointed. The town is well known for custom-made boardies (3 pounds) and rashies (5 pounds) so we went shopping to our heart’s content. Our villa we stayed in was a great modern build with a sofa (! – first one in ages!) It is owned by a English women so had been furnished to a high standard and was nice for us to have a proper base for more than two days.

During our time there we witnessed a surfing competition held by one of the surf schools. The competition was to a very high standard off the large reef break to one side of the beach, where we actually saw a few barrels (not were we usually surfed!) At the time Hikkaduwa had been infiltrated by the Welsh, 30 beach bums had come for a 6 week holiday, but none of the Welsh could beat the Singaliese talent.

One day we visited a Turtle Farm and Hatchery which was an enlightening experience; In Sri Lankan turtle eggs are viewed as a delicacy and so people actively search for turtle tracks and nests to claim recently laid eggs. The farm we visited finds these eggs and hatches them in safety and then releases the day old baby turtles into the sea en-mass to give them the highest possible chance of survival and even with that they only have a 1 in 1000 chance of surviving due to other sea creatures and birds. They had some day old babies (which Sophie tried to steal!) At the centre they also rehabilitate injured or sick turtles with the hope to release them at a later date.

We also had the privilege of meeting two of the biggest wild Ridgeback turtles I have ever seen, they were easily a metre long. They are wild turtles although are lured into the shallows most mornings with some seaweed, *Caution when feeding turtles or tortoises, their teeth/beaks are sharper than they look!* As well as seeing these turtles in the shallows nearly ever day while we were surfing we would see the odd head pop up in the surf or glide along in a wave, a very cool experience!

If you want to see more photos from our time in Sri lanka pus more cute turtle ones, please click the link;

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=139878&id=503754742&l=c8ec6af5b2

As on Phi Phi the stories of the tsunami were still as raw as ever. The owner of the farm Nimal, had lost his wife, sister and daughter in the disaster. Hikkaduwa town lost 1,200 people on one train after it was swept inland and over 50,000 people died in Sri Lanka alone. Our Welsh contingent on Boxing Day joined in a memorial service in the sea. Fifty-some surfers gathered in a circle on their boards and laid petals in respect for their brothers lost. Talking to friends we made the actual area we stayed in wasn’t so badly affected as the reef there took most of the impact and they only suffered from high water levels, whereas further up into the town there was more damage. Someone suggested this is because they have pulled up their reef to sell to tourists so had no breaker, true or not it is a example as to why not buy and take coral or shells from your holiday.

We heard many other sad stories from survivors; One man we met escaped only by climbing to the very top of a coconut tree with a broken leg and clung on for dear life until the water levels had dropped. Another one of our favourite beach sellers had suffered a lot of injuries after the water came into her house and left her with inches of air by the ceiling. She now even five years on has trouble sleeping. It just makes you think it was an ordinary day for ordinary holiday makers and locals. It appears the government has learned from this disaster, all the houses previously built on the coast have been moved inland, but the ruins of the homes are still there as an ever present remind to the tragedy. If my parents had fallen in love with Sri Lanka or Thailand instead of the Seychelles mine might be a very different story.

Although we had sadness in our time in Sri Lanka the good times and the amazing people bowled us over. We met a very nice Tuk Tuk driver and his family who gave us possible the best dinner of our entire trip. Lonely Plant also agreed that this was the best way to sample Sri Lankan cuisine. The whole family is geared around getting their daughter, who has dreams of becoming a doctor, the best education possible. The schooling although free in Sri Lanka isn’t great; the teachers even hold private lessons after school which parents have to pay for, which does bring up ethical issues as to whether they hold back teaching in order to get paid more in extra tuition!

So we have begun our 6 day journey to New Zealand to see the folks! Two days were spent in KL where we found possible the best hotel in the world! For a bargain price of 17 pounds a night (relatively unheard of in KL,) we stayed in the AirAsia hotel. The entire place is a walking advertisement which is how they keep their costs down. It was like staying in halls again though my room at university didn’t have a sign above the bed; ‘McDelivery 24 hours a day – NO MINIMUM ORDER!!’ It was hard to resist having a MacDonald’s brought to our bedside but we managed it, no wonder Malaysia is full of fatties!

We spent a brief day in Singapore with our new Kiwi friend Larnie, who we met in Southern Thailand. We wandered around the city in awe, the streets were clean and quiet. The public transport system worked and people didn’t drive cars like they are being chased down the road by Godzilla. Possibly the nicest city we have visited on our travels, although more expensive than we are used to, it was still cheaper than London…and did I mention quieter…and nicer...and everything worked…and the weather was hot! There are actually signs up saying ‘low crime doesn’t mean no crime, please stay vigilant’…! Not the London equivalent; ‘keep hold of your personal belongings as you're about to get mugged!’

We visited the world famous zoo and Sophie saw her nellies so all was right with the world. We also went to the newly renovated Sentosa island where a new Universal Studios is being built, we had great fun on the rides and attractions currently there, including a man made beach (see again better than London!) We all went on the Luge and our picture of using going to the top is pretty funny (none of knew there was a camera there!)

So in short the past two weeks have been amazing, a massive thank you to the Acarnley’s for putting up with us and for taking back 15kg of our stuff (aka rubbish!) We gained an amazing experience going to Sri Lanka, a country we probably would never have visited and also loads of toiletries, a bottle of gin and champers! We are looking forward to meeting the Magoo’s although not so much the 20 degree weather of NZ!

After parting ways with Sophie we met again a 24 hours later on the island of Koh Samui, the most southern of the three main islands of the eastern coast of southern Thailand. A very popular island because of its major airport, the beaches were a little crowded fill with door-to-door resorts. Because we arrived so late in the evening I prebooked us accommodation, though the website neglected to state that it was right next to the Muay Thai boxing arena. This martial art, not unlike kickboxing involves bare feet and fists and very painful knees to the ribs. Every night we were greeted by a Thai Tim Westwood who kept repeating every third word…’tonight, tonight, tonight, the greatest fight of the year, the year, the year!’ Well it can’t be THE greatest fight of the year every night! Every night there are around 8 fights starting with under 8’s then under 10’s. With crying children in the ring and screaming parents in their corners it is an event to be missed. Because of the lack of beaches and lack of sleep we moved on very quickly…

Koh Tao, well known for its amazing diving was our next destination. Here we met up with some friends we met in Vang Vieng, Laos and spent 5 days swimming, snorkelling and joining in with the night activities when all the divers returned from their trips.

We were booked for 5 nights on Koh Phanghan from the 22nd to 26th, although we were anticipating absolute chaos and mania we were presently surprises by the beautiful beaches. Every month around 5,000 people descend onto this island for the party which takes place when there is a full moon party. For the first time in 80 years actually lands on New Years Eve, so the party goers are expected to be around 50,000! They put on a fake full moon party on Christmas day which we joined in, alot of fun where the bars are vying for your attention and Baht by putting on firework displays and fire shows. Christmas day unfortunately just felt like another day, although we were in paradise it would’ve been nice to fly home to see friends and family for the day. We cheered ourselves up by hiring a red Jeep (called Rudolf) and going to the only English pub on the island to have a great roast dinner (and a snakebite!) We both got to talk to our families on Skype around Christmas day which was really nice, although it did seem like there was more staring at us than talking!

On the 27th we made the 8 hour journey due south to Krabi in Southern Thailand, the next day we hopped onto a boat and went to Phi Phi island. Phi Phi is where Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘The Beach’ was set and every man and his dog capitalises on this. The beaches are white sand with magnificent limestone cliffs surrounding them. We took a day tour around 8 of the islands in a longtail boat with 10 other people. Once again we attract misfortune; whether our boat was overloaded, the captain lost control or something entirely different, we managed to crash into one of the cliff walls of an island and come aground on the coral underneath. After we were pushed off from the wall we discovered the engine had failed. Trying to stop numerous luxury speed boats, as was our preference to carry on the rest of the journey on them, none stopped and some even just waved back. Another long boat came to our rescue and when the battery was finally jump started off we went missing half the front end of the boat. When we made it to Maya beach, where ‘The Beach’ was actually filmed; ‘Leo actually stood here!’ [Sophie]. We were met by hundreds of other tourists and their boats. It was undisputedly beautiful though this was spoiled by everyone else being there.

Our time on Phi Phi was humbled by its history and resilience. The island was hit by the Tsunami nearly exactly 5 years ago and was completely wiped out with masses of casualties not just Thais. Five years ago, hundreds of boats were out cruising the islands just as we were and thousands were sunbathing on the beach and this monstrous wave came and decimated it all. You can see by our pictures we took from a high viewpoint how low lying the town is so would have been completely covered in a matter of minuets with little warning. Now the town has been rebuilt with escape routes and a warning system.

In Koh Lanta we met up with our good friend Sarah who we worked with at CNCF which was really nice. The plan was to ‘rave it up’ on New Years but unfortunately Sophie got really ill so it was a quiet evening in.

We flew to Kuala Lumpur early on the first so it was a good idea we had an early night, we’ve done a whistle stop tour of KL ready for an early morning flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka for a Acarnley reunion and some English goodies.

Just for an update, me and Soph are back together after oe lonely day apart, so no need to worry!

Our elephant photos are now up if you want to have a look, (again no need for a Facebook account, just click the link below)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022141&id=220700053&l=e159c3b23e

Apologies for the lack of blogging but not a lot seems to have happened since our last adventure, mainly due to having to ‘take it easy’ as advised by the doctor. We spent a few days making our way from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to the southern part of central Laos. After a border crossing involving a bus, a stamp, another bus and a tuk tuk we came to the very French looking capital of Vientiane.

In Vientiane we spent a few days sampling the excellent bagels and pizzas and having our first carafe of (nice!) wine in over two months. Sophie recently acquired a new SLR so we many a Wat (temple in the city); “What Wat is this?” So you should be able to see may of the spoils of our photography. Our main aim of our trip to Laos was to visit the tourist destination for Vang Vieng which is well known for its tubing down the river there.

Vang Vieng in one word is… tour! (A few of you will know what I mean!) Tubing is the activity of floating down the river in a large floating doughnut. Along the 4km stretch of river there are a superfluous of bars, rope swings, slides, trapezes and other such delights (and no me and Sophie did not do any other them!) There was body painting, acrobatics and general drunken antics. The river itself is set in beautiful surroundings and at low season (when we were there) it was very slow flowing with few rapids. In high season it takes only 2 hours to do the 4km stretch and with a mixture of alcohol fatalities are unfortunately heard about often. There are people who have arrived to Vang Vieng planning to stay one day and have stayed (the longest record) 3 years!

Our time there was really good fun, (Sophie is still getting the St George’s flag which was spray painted on her back off!) We met a really nice group of Americans who currently teach in Bangkok in our guest house who we stayed with us to our next location of Luang Prabang.
The journey to Luang Prabang was eventful; the journey time was 8 hours so we decided to make this journey overnight, though it wasn’t the sleeper bus with beds like in Vietnam. We were travelling on the ‘newest road’ in Laos but this still included every turn being a hairpin bend so it was the most comfortable of journeys. The entire journey was 180km and took 8 hours so you can guess at the condition of the road.

In Luang Prabang we had the first task of trying to figure out how we were going to make our way back to Chiang Mai for our elephant project which had been delayed by 10 days due to our injuries. Our orginal plan was to go by bus or boat (trains do not exsist in Laos) but the journey by bus was over 20 hours so we wouldn’t get there in time or the boat option was basically a canoe with a large propeller attached which did the journey in 6 hours along the Mekong River! Unhappy at the prospect that we would miss our elephants we paid a substantial amount to fly with Laos airways, (who according to Lonely Planet haven’t released their safety records publicly because of a bad safety record). Our way back to Chiang Mai wasn’t going to be without incident or so we thought! It turned out that Lonely Planet was behind the times and the plane we took was very new and clean and we had a excellent free meal – something very annoying about Airasia!

After a day detoxing in the very scenic Luang Prabang (see picture of Sophie) we said good bye to our American friends and headed to the elephants!

The Thai Conservation Park houses over 60 elephants; some are rescued from circus or donated after being neglected because machines have replaced them in the logging industry, some are orphans or injured, some have been born and raised in the centre. The baby elephant in the picture is the newest newborn the centre has, she’s only 6 months old and very mischievous. The important factor to remember about Asia elephants are that they would have become extinct if they weren’t trained to be used in the forestry business. Unlike their African relations there aren’t large parts of Asia where they could migrate to or even populate. Although we were part of a ‘show’ twice a day it was used to educate the Thai and tourist audience in the past uses of the elephants and how their natural skills and strengths could be put to use. This did not include balancing on one leg on a podium, spinning around, playing football with a monkey etc etc as I saw in Vietnam in the circus.

On our first day we were designated a elephant and a mahout (the elephant trainer, who works with the elephant usually from birth). I was given Pritheeda a 16 year old male, who was bloody massive and a very friendly, very giggly Mahout called John. Sophie’s elephant was a smaller female called Wan NAAAA (emphasis on the Na is very important apparently) and a Mahout called Mao, though Sophie tended to say Meow much to his delight…!

Our time with the elephants consisted of collecting the elephants at 6am from the forest, very early very cold starts but the elephants were always glad to see us especially with a banana or a sugar cane in hand. The centre has massive of forests of their own where the elephants are put every night. Unfortunately they are chained up, but this is for their own benefit to stop over breeding and so they are forced to graze and not walk off. Elephants in the wild eat all day and because these elephants work between 7 and 4 they need to eat the rest of the time. The elephants did have about 20m of chain so they could still wander around (and still leave a wake of destruction!) The picture shows Sophie’s elephant where we left her at the end of the second day.

We rode the elephants back to main area and we would go off and have breakfast and be back in time for the 10am show. These public shows demonstrated all the skills as I mentioned before and we got to take the elephants for a bath in the large lake. This was the favourite part of everyone’s day including the elephants where they splashed and played and sprayed each other and us without encouragement. My elephant was undisputedly the best at water cannoning, as the picture shows; many a mahout cowered in our wake…MWAHAHAHA!

In the show we have to show off our talents as Mahouts by showing how we got on and off the elephants, throwing objects for the elephants to pick up, generally have a bit of fun. The picture is of Sophie demonstrating getting on/off her elephant; you can see Wannalee Leanne’s elephant she had earlier this year in the photo.

This whole process was repeated again after lunch and then we rode the elephants back to the forest. We had great fun over the three days and learnt a lot of non-transferrable skills (it might be a while before we meet Thai speaking Asia elephant that we need to get our flip flops down from a tree!) It was amazing how much they listened to their Mahouts (their real ones not us!) My elephant was a giant beast who could strip a corn on the cob from its leaves faster than I could using only the dexterity of its trunk. The picture is of Wanna lifting up her Mahout.

I am currently sat on an overnight train (with beds, thank goodness,) down to Bangkok to pick up our other rucksack we left there as our original plan was to fly to Sydney from there. Now we are flying from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to Auckland (New Zealand) instead (via Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Brisbane) so I’m heading down by myself (yes me and Sophie have separated ways for the first time since we left!) I will be meeting Sophie in Koh Samui in a few days to start our Christmas festivities.

Hope that these are getting long enough for you Nick Magoo, and you now agree with the colour changes Mr Acarnley! We can’t wait to see the Acarnley’s in just 3 weeks and the Magoolagan clan in just over 5! Please look out for our article in the Craven Herald, they’ve only just contact me after asking them three months ago!