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SupandNic


41 Blog Entries
1 Trip
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Trips:

Sup and Nic's World Tour!

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http://blogabond.com/SupandNic



After a crazy last month in the UK, hustling at car boot sales and on ebay, spreading joy to charity shops all over Reading and squeezing every last possession into any place we could find, we finally made it out with just one piece of hand luggage each and 2 immense backpacks - Black Thunder, bursting with a selection of electrical goodies and Silver Lightning, overflowing with makeup & hair straighteners!

It's been an emotional few weeks and parts have been quite surreal at times. We have had a lot of farewells from family, friends and work friends... thank you to everybody who supported us along the way and gave us a great send off, you will all be missed.

Now just so you know, we'll both be taking turns at writing entries on the Blog, so it may sound a little schizophrenic at times!

We hope you all enjoy sharing our adventures with us!



Ko Phi Phi Time!

Ko Phi Phi, Thailand


Ko Phi Phi was stunning. Phi Phi consists of 2 islands: Phi Phi Lee and Phi Phi Don, the latter one being the inhabited island where we were to stay. The tsunami hit Phi Phi in a devastating way, in terms of loss of life and damage to property. Standing on the beach it was hard to comprehend what actually happened on that disaster day.




My fiancee and I ;-) enjoyed the beautiful views of the beach, relaxing on the powder white sand and cooling off in the refreshing turquoise sea. The area was amazingly picturesque and I enjoyed snapping away on the camera. It was crazy how the weather changed so rapidly, in a matter of minutes to be precise. After a heavy and refreshing downpour the weather soon picked up again so it was never a big issue.

Near to the beach we took refuge in a little food shack. The lady was making some Thai salads which looked very appetising so we ordered two. She asked us how spicy we wanted them and I of course disclosed my love of the chilli pepper asking her to make it extra hot. Oh dear. She almost killed me. They were next level. The food was so hot but I couldn't stop eating it. It is like a kind of pleasure/pain addiction. I actually felt high off
of the chillis. My lips began to burn, my face went numb, my ears began to hurt intensely and I went very light headed. Looking back now knowing how hot the chillis were would I have asked for it less spicy?... Of course not! I realise that this is a situation I need to address. Eating something until you can't feel your face is definitely not a good look.

Later that evening I nursed my chilli overloaded body with some of the renowned Thailand buckets! We opted for vodka, lemonade and Thailand's famous red bull. There were a number of street stalls selling a variety of drink combinations. They were good value and did the job.

As some of you know I have a strong dislike of jellyfish. Walking back later that evening we noticed that the beach was littered with dead jellyfish that the tide had bought in. Not nice.

On one of the days we signed up for snorkelling tour of Ko Phi Phi Lee, a beautiful island surrounded by soaring cliffs. The long-tail boat trip over the high seas to the island was a little nerve racking, especially when the boatman had a look of anxiety on his face. It was all okay in the end as we arrived safely.
We stopped off at the first snorkelling area of the day and were treated to turquoise clear water and beautiful coral, home to a number of fish. Nic had mastered her snorkelling technique and was swimming about like a fish. The practise in Fiji had certainly paid of. This was my first time snorkelling and I did have a bit of trouble with the breathing. When I did get it right however, the experience of being surrounded by that many fish was amazing. I appreciate why so many people go diving.

The trip was centred around a visit to Maya Bay which is where the film 'The Beach' was set. The sea was so rough that half of our group decided to stay on the boat and not pay the visit. Not the rest of us though, we jumped straight in. Getting to the Bay was the best part as it involved swimming across choppy high seas and scrambling up a ladder to the entrance of the bay. Nic recognised parts from the film instantly and was excited to be on the set of the film. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos of Maya Bay as we didn't have a waterproof bag for our camera ;-(

We stopped off at Monkey Bay on the return journey and captured the photo on the left. We arrived just as a tour group were feeding them monkey nuts. One cheeky monkey had found a cool refreshing drink! Monkeys have been the most common animal we have seen on our travels and they seem to get more cheeky every time.

Phi Phi was great fun. We were off to a brilliant start in Thailand and we knew it was only going to get better. We were really enjoying the ease of travel within the country. Thailand is so touristy that travelling around has currently involved little stress at all (once we had adjusted to Asia time of course i.e lateness!). There are so many different modes of transport and companies to get you from A to B and the hardest decision is merely chosing which one. Next up... it was time for me to make like a gecko in Railay...



permalink written by  SupandNic on September 1, 2010 from Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Ko Lanta The Diamond Island!

Ko Lanta, Thailand


First stop on our Thailand tour - Koh Lanta. We had arrived in low season. This was great for us as not only was the island deserted, the resorts had drastically slashed their prices (the hardcore ones that were still open). Add a negotiating Sup to the mix and you get a bargain ;-)

Below are some of the photos taken from the resort we were staying at. It was a great place for little money so it was a winner!

I had of course been very much looking forward to the food of Thailand and I am very glad to say that Koh Lanta sure did deliver! Red and green Thai curries became my staple diet. This was awesome news.

The island itself is fairly small and as Nic had perfected her moped skills back in Langkawi we decided to hire a scooter to check out the coastline of the island.
The further South we travelled the quieter and more beautiful the beaches became. At times it felt like we were the first to discover the island. It's such a great feeling to find deserted beach after beach, to be the only ones on these vast stretches of sand surrounded by tropical sea, cliffs and lush green vegetation.


We had one last beach left to visit and as the sun began to drop we hurried ourselves on to make it in time for the sunset. It was definitely worth it! We decided to engage on a sunset tour stopping at various beaches we had passed along the way! Below are my favourite photos from the journey.


As some of you know I have been planning to ask Nic to marry me for some time. I have always wanted to ask for Nic's hand in marriage abroad and I had originally intended to ask her when we were thinking of going travelling a few years back. Then came the issues with my eyes which halted my plans.

I bought the ring back when we were in Hollywood. It is a token ring that was fit for the purpose. We are going to pick the real one together on our return. I didn't want to devise a plan, instead I wanted it to be completely natural. Well... after a perfect day and a lovely time chilling on the beach with just the two of us, I knew that this was the right time. My adrenaline was pumping and I had butterflies in my stomach. It was very romantic, we had the beach to ourselves along with a full star filled sky. I took Nic's hand and asked her the question. She responded with silence, and then some giggles as she thought I was joking before telling me.... YES!!!!!




permalink written by  SupandNic on August 31, 2010 from Ko Lanta, Thailand
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Malaysia Peninsular... tea, snakes, mopeds & chicken!

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia


After our short sweaty time in Kuala Lumper we made our way up north to be welcomed by the cool air of the Cameron Highlands. It turned out to be a great place to spend a few days. An area full of tea plantations, jungle and rolling green hills. We checked into an old army barrack style accommodation costing us just under £4 a night for a room. The architecture of the town gave it a rather English feel and it was like no place we had visited on our travels.


Many of the Malaysian tea plantations are based in the Cameron Highlands and we arranged a tour for the following day. Taking a drive to the tea fields we saw where the tea is grown, how it is picked and learnt about the different parts of the leaves that are used in different quality teas. The young leaves closest to the top of the plant are considered to be the best and therefore are the ones sold as the premium quality teas. It was interesting to learn that if the plants were not constantly maintained they would grow into full sized trees. Also all teas eg green, black etc all come from the same plant and it is the process the leaves go through which determine the type of tea.


Many of the original tea pickers were south Indians who were bought over to undertake the work that the Malays were not prepared to do. The Indians soon realised, however, that they could earn a far better income selling cuisine from their home country. This explained the many South Indian restaurants that lined the town along with the general Indian influence of the area.. It clearly took off very well (and I am very thankful the South Indians decided to look further afield as the tandoori chicken was immense... chicken cooked in a modern day tandoor oven = amazing!). Today the tea leaves are picked by mainly Nepalese and Indonesian workers.

Later in the day we stopped off at an area of forest known as Mossy Forest (for a pretty obvious reason). Our guide taught us about the plants around us and their medicinal purposes. Also present were some crazy flesh eating plants. I feel I can now give good old Bear Gyrylls a run for his money!


Moving on we made our way to Gunung Brinchang, the highest point in the area. When we arrived we were surprised to see that a statue of me had been erected! Climbing the tower we were rewarded with superb views that were surrounding us. We were able to see as far as the town of Ipoh in one direction, and in the other direction we could see as far as Taman Negara National Park.

Making our way back we stopped off at B'oh tea estate to see the processes of turning the picked leaves into drinking tea leaves – a process of withering, rolling, fermenting, drying and sorting the leaves. We also sampled a fine cupper overlooking the very impressive Sungei Palas plantation. The Sungei tea plantation is one of the smallest in Malaysia producing 600,000 kg a year. As Nic is now a huge fan of both tea AND coffee, she picked the Teacino - an interesting combo but apparently pretty damn good!


Our final stop of the day brought us to a butterfly farm (which also housed a number of reptiles and other animals). Nic enjoyed the number of colourful butterflies. I on the other hand think they are merely moths with
a splash of colour. They can't fool me! The health of the animals was questionable, there were quite a few dead butterflies on the floor that appear to have been squished and the other animals looked a bit too docile for my liking.

There are a number of hiking trails around the highlands and Nic and I decided to go and explore later that afternoon. We were treated yet again to beautiful scenery and at times it felt like we
were in our own little world. On our journey we passed a lush waterfall. The water did look very inviting but we had distance to cover so we just stopped for a quick photo. Nic was still recovering from Kinabalu...!!

On our final day I decided to tackle one of the other hiking trails. Nic's leg was playing up a little so she chilled at the hostel. I saw more of the lush surroundings. In some parts it got a little tricky and the trail became hard to follow. The end result = I got lost! I stumbled upon 3 kids who didn't speak 1 word of English but understood I was a little lost, and they walked me back to the trail. The kids were very 'jungle wise', snapping big branches downwards (but leaving them attached) every few hundred metres. They appeared to be leaving obvious markers – I assume so they could backtrack on their trail if thy got lost and/or so other people stumbling upon the branches would know that people have recently been along the route.

After enjoying a few days of cooling off we next made our way over to the Perhentian islands. We had heard promising things about the Pernhentians and we were looking forward to the trip. The island did indeed turn out to be beautiful, a little different to what we were expecting but beautiful nonetheless. Both Nic and I can't put our finger on it exactly but we both agree it didn't have 'the vibe'. We didn't get very lucky with the weather (except on the morning we were leaving!). Much of the day was overcast
and we did get a few big downpours. This was no big deal though as I came down with a 24hr bug so spent a bit of time in our bungalow recuperating. In the evenings we enjoyed candle lit meals inches from the sea for less than £2 each!. The evenings turned out to be our favourite time on the island.

Leaving the beach behind, we began our journey to Penang, the oldest British settlement in Malaysia. We were big fans of Penang by the end of our stay there. The majority of our time was spent in the bright, lively bustling area of Little India. Sari shops, temples, restaurants and Indian sweet sellers lined the streets, along with Bollywood movie shops attempting to out do each other by seeing who could play the loudest bhangra. It was here that I ate the best Tandoori chicken of my life! We were beginning to think that we should have included India in our itinerary... that will also have to wait for next time!


We checked out Fort Cornwallis and learnt some interesting information on how it came to be. Captain Light arrived on the island in 1786 and developed a free trade port hoping to lure trade from Britain's Dutch rivals. Surrounding the fort we passed a number of Penang's grand Colonial buildings.


The shopping malls of Penang also allowed us to stock up on our supplies. I also thought I should get another hair cut and see if anyone could save the carnage that had been done to it in Costa Rica, Hollywood AND Kuching (!) Nic convinced me to go to a proper salon. I agreed. The lady was able to sort it out a little although I think I am going to have to shave it all off and start again. Savage.

Our last place left to visit in Malaysia was the island of Pulau Langkawi. We decided that the best was to properly see the main island was to hire a moped. Although Nic was a little hesitant at first, she agreed it was the only thing that made sense. She turned out to be a quality little rider. With exception to the starting and stopping (when things got a bit wobbly) I felt safe on the back ;-) Nic really enjoyed the freedom of our ped and wasn't long before we were zooming along with confidence.
We did have to watch out for the locals who drive super crazy. We stopped off at various points along the way, including rice fields, coastline and harbours, taking photos as we went. Langkawi has an impressive cable car system so we decided to go and explore. The cash points were temporarily not working which was a little frustrating but no big thing as we decided to return th next morning. We took a detour to see one of the close by waterfalls where we were greeted by a number of cheeky Macaques.



The weather the following day was overcast but we decided to ride the cable car anyhow as we thought the experience would be cool even if the views from the top were going to be obscured. The incline of the cable car ascent was quite steep, 45 degrees in places! Our ride took us to the top of Gunung Machinchang, 708m above sea level. On the way out we saw this guy with a BIG sack trying to sell a photo with the beasty 14ft python and Nic stepped up with no fear while I kept my distance!



We decided that we would invest some time going back to Penang to save time overall with visa runs (as we were enetering Thailand via bus or boat we would only have been given a 15 day visa). We had tried to sort the visa beofe leaving for Langkawi but as it was the weekend we would have had to wait for the following week.
Plus we thought we would be able to arrange it in Langkawi. We were wrong. Back to Penang. It was no big thing, we enjoyed Penang. It was an easy place to be for a few more days and it meant I would be able to eat more tandoori chicken and stock up on more Indian sweets from Little India. It was definitely worth it. The visa cost us £8 each and gave us up to 2 months travel in Thailand... value! Visas sorted... onto Koh Lanta, our fist stop of our island hopping tour in Thailand!



permalink written by  SupandNic on August 20, 2010 from Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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High on Kinabalu!!

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia


The 9 hour coach journey up to Sabah was one we had underestimated in terms of ease. Due to the borders of Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah we were required to disembark the bus a total of 6 times! First the bus exited Sarawak and then we entered Brunei. Then we left Brunei and entered back into Sarawak. We couldn't get settled for long however, as we then left Sarawak to enter Brunei again. After a short time we were leaving Brunei to enter Sarawak for one last time. Finally we left Sarwak to reach our destination... Sabah (check the map borders and all will become clear).

The eventful journey to Sabah had been undertaken with one goal in mind... to secure us a place on the Mount Kinabalu climb. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea standing at 4095m tall (half the size of Everest). This was something I had wanted to conquer since we first began thinking of travelling to Borneo. Nic originally was not so keen on the idea as she didn't think she would be able to climb it. She soon realised this was of course not true and she bravely stepped up to the challenge and decided to accompany me on our ascent to the summit.

Kota Kinabalu (Sabah's capital) was to be our first point of call, mainly because all bookings for the climb could be handled by the office in town. Whilst in Sarawak we had phoned to try and secure a a place only to be told that you have to book at least 6 months in advance to guarantee a spot. Staying 6 months in Borneo was clearly not an option so we decided to go down to the office in Kota Kinabalu to speak face to face. What a result that turned out to be... we secured 2 cancellation places for the following Monday! The lady asked us if we wanted to climb up the standard route or the newer, longer more challenging route... which of course it was to be! It seems things have changed in the last 6 years or so when Nic's sister visited. There is now no cheap way to climb to the summit. All of the limited accommodation on the mountain is owned by one private company and I think they have lately realised how much tourists will actually pay. It was something I really wanted to do so we had to part with the cash.

Later that evening we went out for a celebratory meal which turned out to be a little traumatic. We found a busy little chinese restuarant and both (not feeling too adventurous) ordered the beef noodles. When the food arrived on our table the bowls both appeared full of ingredients we had not seen before. (Now suddenly feeling adventurous) Nic dived straight in while I hesitantly gave mine a stir. Turns out Nic ate beef ball and beef lung... tasty! Fortunately the beef ball wasn't actually the ball (it was a processed beef made into a ball) but the lung clearly was lung. We both lost our appetite soon after finding out this key ingredient. Both feeling ill we made our way home and I had good fun winding Nic up about her bronchiole adventures!

On the Sunday we made our way up to the base of the mountain. We had an early start the following morning so it allowed us to get a good nights sleep. We stayed at a lodge just outside of the National Park giving us beautiful views of the mountain we were soon to climb. It's a good job the views were so good as it made up for the general shabbiness of the cockroach infested lodge and the rudeness of the staff. They soon realised they were no match for us when we fogged the room with an entire can of the bug spray they threw at us and deposited the giant dead cockroach in a glass on their reception desk for all to see the following day...!

Up early the next day we made our way to the start of the trail picking up our packed lunch, registering at the park office and meeting our guide Hani. Hani spoke little English and was more of a safety man than a guide. He was a good bloke. Time for a quick photo then we were off!

We turned the corner for what seemed like an endless set of steps (and as we were soon to find out there were over 2500 steps just on the way to our mountain hut alone). Nic's face said it all ;-) I did think we had bitten off more than we could chew. Nic was distressed and ready to turn back. This called for drastic measures, we needed to regroup, change tactics and flip this on the B side (should we have just climbed the standard route?!). Off came the clothes, out came the water and it was time to live life like a tortoise for a while as we slowed down the pace. Things improved immensely and we were soon making good progress.


Nic was snapping photos of me calling me a cocky little bugger as I raced up the mountain! Here is a selection of the best few...


Climbing the alternative trail definitely paid off as we very rarely saw any other climbers so the whole place was ours! Hani showed no sign of being out of breath at any point of the climb,
in fact he was smoking most of the way up. He guides people up and down the mountain every 2 days with only 4 days off per month. Hani was a hard worker. We also saw a number of porters carrying people's luggage and also supplies (food etc) up to the huts. Men and women of all ages, packed like donkeys, climbing up in flimsy shoes with makeshift carrying bags crippling their small frames. They looked like they were in severe pain at times and I honestly do not know how they made it. It was a little distressing to see at times to be honest.

It was unrelentingly steep in parts and I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life. The muscles in the top of your thighs really begin to ache as a result of the repetitive motion. We had 8.2km to climb to reach our hut for the night. 8.2km doesn't sound that far but when it is uphill it is a different story. There were markers every 500m showing our progress. In some sections the markers did seem to take a long long time to come round. Our guide said we should be aiming for 1km per hour in order to make it before nightfall. We made it to the hut in 5 and a half hours so naturally we were pretty chuffed with our first day's effort. We ate some dinner and rested our aching muscles before getting an early night's sleep (our mountain hut pictured below). It rained solidily that evening and I was a little worried it wasn't going to stop - if it is raining in the morning you cannot climb to the summit :-(

1:30am the alarm went off. It felt like we had only literally just fallen asleep. We forced ourselves out of bed, got ready and went to get breakfast. The weather had cleared up just for me! We left at 3am in order to reach the summit by 6 in time for sunrise. This part of the climb differed greatly from the previous day. It was pitch black on the mountain and the only light available was from our head torches. The first section involved crossing the sheer Panar Laban rock face. There were ropes fixed in place to help haul us up the thick slippery steep granite sheets. It was nice to give the leg muscles a rest!

The last section of the ascent involved climbing from the Sayat-Sayat hut to the summit. It was again becoming steeper yet and our determination and stamina were keeping us going. 750m from the summit (so close yet so far!) Nic was finding it increasingly difficult, feeling breathless, nauseous and a little frustrated. Hani and I helped by propping Nic up (over each shoulder) and I took her bag. Sunlight was fast approaching and my motivational speak with Nic appeared to have worked as she had a new lease of life. Reaching the final section we scrambled up the last few boulders... we had done it!! The views from the summit were amazing - in every direction. The weather was very cold at the summit so all of the warm clothing we had packed and lugged up the mountain paid off (the temperature changed drastically throughout the climb which explains why we have more clothing changes in our photos than a Bollywood movie). It was such a great experience to be up that high and see the sun come up over all of Borneo and also to see exactly what we had been climbing up over the last 3 hours.




After enjoying our time at the top we were ready to head back down and I am happy to say that it took a lot less energy than on the way up. It did start to ache on the knee joints however, as a result of the constant jolting. Nic made light work of the downhill trek and set the pace for me and Hani.


Below are some of the photos taken on our trek back down the mountain. The ropes that we used for support on the climb...

The steepness of some areas we crossed. The photo below (left) is actually the same section that you can see Nic holding on to the rope in the photo above...

You can see the excitement on Nic's face when we reached the 1.5km to go marker!

Climbing Mount Kinabalu was a great achievement for us both and it was my favourite activity of travelling to date. The views were beautiful throughout and it was amazing to see such a diverse range of terrain on one hike. I recommend it to everyone. It has made me want to hike Machu Picchu even more now... but that will have to wait for another trip! Back to the city for us, next up is Kuala Lumpur....


permalink written by  SupandNic on August 2, 2010 from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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K L City sights

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia


Kuala Lumpur, or rather 'Muddy Convergence' as the name translates, is actually a rather awesome little city. We flew into the airport and went straight outside after picking up our bags with no pesky customs to slow us down for once as we were still on Malaysian soil. We hopped on the sky monorail, one of the many different modes of transport available to get around the city, and immediately took the wrong turn to our hostel, ending up a long way away dragging our heavy bags with our poor legs still aching from Mount Kinabalu – not a good start! When we eventually arrived at our hostel we were greeted with the most chilled out cat on the planet, and the relaxed mood was luckily contagious...

The Chow Kit night market was right outside our hostel, so we ventured out to see what they had to offer. We were surprised at how safe the city felt. After spending some time laughing at the various 'genuine' Ray Bans and Nikes for sale, the Indian eateries were too much for Sup to resist and we stopped for a giant mountain of Roti Canais before heading off home.

A very early start the next day led us to another trip on the monorail and our destination was the famous Petronas Towers, a must-see landmark in Kuala Lumpur, the headquarters for the mighty Petronas empire, and subsequently a great source of National pride. The recommended early start became clear when we joined a queue of hundreds of people waiting for the distribution of free tickets, but the wait wasn't toooo long, and by the time our turn came, our eyes had become fully accustomed to the daylight.(!)

The Petronas Twin Towers tour began with a promotional video in a mini theatre explaining the influence of the Petronas petrol and gas company both in Malaysia and internationally (you may recognise these guys from somewhere?...!) and listed the various good causes they were involved with, as well as providing information about the design and creation of the impressive towers. During our time in Malaysia we learned that the country is moving forward with determination and real spirit, and the iconic Petronas Towers are seen to be a nationwide symbol for the Malaysian people's growing power and ambition to compete with global players, as well as a monument to their continuing success.

From the theatre we were guided in a small group to a lift that transported us from level 1 to 42 in a matter of seconds and we were allowed free reign to admire the panoramic views from the skybridge. The building is really something. 88 steel-clad storeys reaching a height of about 450 metres, designed by an Argentinian architect with Islamic influence in the tower's 5 tiers, representing the 5 pillars of Islam. (See, I do listen sometimes in class!)


After playing around for a while and getting some good shots of the city below us, we made our way back down into the puzzle room, where we ended up staying a little longer than intended.
Sup was completely flummoxed over one of the mind boggling puzzles ( I was having nothing to do with something that required so much brain power) and spent a good half hour pondering patterns, refusing to give up, until a guy working at the towers came over and put him out of his misery by revealing the secret combination. Once the guy had walked away, Sup decided he would now be able to do it himself, and lets just say a lot more time passed before I finally managed to drag him out back into the sunshine to admire the fountains and courtyard in front of the towers.

Lunch was in the food court of the nearby mall, Suria KLCC, a mammoth shopping mecca where we spent quite a bit of the day due to an impulsive almighty thunderstorm and torrential downpour. No problem for us – more window shopping for me, and more yummy food for Sup! We decided to top up our laksa and chicken biryani lunch a bit later by sharing a snack size pepperoni pizza in the food court as the western culinary temptation was just too much to resist! We then admired the view outside as we waited for the weather to start behaving itself.

As always, we had to be thinking and planning one step ahead which led us on a big mission to locate bus tickets for our onward travel to the Cameron Highlands for the following day. This involved much travel, a lot of questions to locals, blank expressions, wild gesturing, and a bit of a headache until we tracked down the required bus station – miles from the original that was apparently being renovated. Within the giant marquee there were about a hundred independent stalls and we managed to locate a trustworthy private company among the barrage of touts trying to bully us into submission (no chance!), buy our tickets and escape unscathed to enjoy the rest of our stay in Kuala Lumpur in peace.

The night market in Little India was a great place to end our KL experience. After Sup's puzzle saga at the towers, I took my revenge by dragging him to a total of 8 make up stalls on the hunt for blue and green metallic eye shadows. To my surprise and delight, he turned out to be quite the shopping partner and we found exactly what we were looking for, with lots of yummy Indian treats as a reward, including more of Sup's favourite Roti Canai, and some delicious authentic samosas. The walk back home later that night took us past the Petronas Towers once more, with the added bonus of the Kuala Lumpur tower, both glowing proudly as they pierced the night sky.

Our time in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur was fantastic – again, like Singapore, the fusion of Asian culture and Western influence made for a great combination. It was also fantastic to learn of the real drive for success evident in the Malay culture, and to experience so many cultures existing so peacefully together as we only wish could be the case worldwide. There are many places that could learn a lot from the modern '1 Malaysia' ethos and its 8 values of Acceptance, Perseverance, Education, Integrity, Meritocracy, Humility, Loyalty and Culture of Excellence.

Thirsty for more, we continued on in search of the famous and wonderful tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands, along with some cool and fresh highland air...

permalink written by  SupandNic on August 2, 2010 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Sarawak Surprises!

Kuching, Malaysia


Sarawak in Borneo was a subject of great excitement for Sup...and a secret fear for me. We both had images in our head of a the wild jungle – Malaysia at its most feral, untamed, tribal even – Sup couldn't wait and I...well, I was anxious, but open minded.

We couldn't have been more wrong!

All our previous ideas were blown out the window when we travelled to the small town of Kuching. It was a pretty little place on the waterfront with no jungle in sight and the price of a room took us a little by surprise. We then learned that the Rainforest World Festival of Music was being held that weekend, which was financially a curse, but musically a blessing, and Sup bought his ticket in a flash.

The festivities ran all day and gave Sup the opportunity to see some music tutorials on percussion and have a beer and some chicken (of course!) in the sunshine before celebrating in the evening along with 10,000 other people from all corners of the world with an array of music, from India, Indonesia, Iran and so many more.

During the day, while visiting Sarawak Cultural Village, he also saw some impressive longhouses and learned a lot about the history of the many Malaysian tribes such as the mighty Penan, unchallenged masters in the use of the jungle's silent weapon, the blowpipe, and the controversially macho Iban, who considered a head trophy to be a badge of honour.

Newly inspired, we soon went on the hunt for souvenirs and found the perfect travel sized tribal drum to accompany Sup on the rest of our journey, especially good as he was suffering withdrawal from his beloved decks! That evening we sat by the waterfront before dinner and the locals were treated to some brilliant tribal drumming for free.

The food in Kuching was pretty great – Winnie's Cafe was a clear winner and we went back so many times for their Malaysian curry that the owner took a photo of us
grinning with our food and made it their Facebook business profile picture! Milo was our drink of choice while sunning ourselves by the water and, on the last day, the Laksa at a nearby restaurant almost made us stay another day. Sup also strangely found a fantastic Chicken Biriyani – in a Chinese Restaurant!

The rest of our time in Kuching involved travelling to various destinations, one of which was a crocodile farm, literally swamped with over 1000 deathly still, prehistoric looking reptilian carnivores.
Let's just say that the safety of the place could definitely be called into question, and I most certainly wouldn't have brought any curious children there...! Sup and I naturally had no fear at all and befriended them immediately...! The highlight of the visit was of course feeding time, and the display by the amazing crocodiles can be captured far better by pictures than words.

From devilish beady eyed reptiles, to gentle ginger giants – we went to visit the wonderful Sarawak Orangutan sanctuary. While we were prepped for potential disappointment and warned that the creatures are not always forthcoming, we were very lucky and the beautiful apes made our day. A massive group of us stood in the forest watching as a mother swung delicately through the trees, a tiny baby wrapped around her waist holding on tight,
while another orangutan swung in the other direction looking for food. We then couldn't believe our luck when an almighty crash announced that 'Richie' was joining us for dinner. 'Richie' was a gigantic male, a real 'man of the forest' (the meaning of the Malaysian name Orangutan).We stayed observing these fascinating creatures until a huge gust of wind shook through the forest, and the locals announced that rain was on the way. We made our way quickly back to the bus but the showers caught up with us faster and we were soon soaked through. It was totally worth it though! We caught on fast with the weather prediction throughout the rest of our stay in Malaysia with much more success.

Our last adventure from our base in Kuching was a trip to Bako National Park. The park was reached via a gorgeous boat ride and the views were breathtaking. Due to high and low tides, we couldn't stay too long on the island, but we managed to fit in a brisk 3-4 hour stomp around, covering a multitude of different landscapes in a relatively small space and testing our muscles for future ventures.

We were learning fast that Borneo was going to be a mission with regards to some of the activities we still wanted to do, so we next travelled to Miri hoping to be able to find a way to secure a visit to Gunung Mulu for the caves and for walking. This was not to be, mainly due to cost, but we quickly found a fantastic alternative and took a day trip to the Niah caves. The car journey was precarious to say the least, and after a pretty hairy ride, we were later informed by the driver that the reason he was not working as a guide for a period of time was due to a car accident whereby he had rolled the car and broken his leg....brilliant!
The caves were thankfully a much safer experience and we loved it. We trekked through the jungle and by the time we found the awesome caves we felt like we were Indiana Jones and Lara Croft! The caves were once fully submerged under the sea and remnants of the green algae remained on the walls. Millions of bats were shrieking from high above and at one point, the trail led to a pitch black long corridor where we made full use of our trusty torches (although we also kept switching them off again to freak each other out!) Out the other side, we were met with another cave, the Painted Cave, that was home to a series of caveman drawings, thousands of years old. We also learned that the oldest South East Asian human remains were found in that very cave, placed in the region of 40,000 years ago.

Sarawak was a fantastic place, even with the constant staring and laughing at me and my lily white face...! Although the start to our jungle adventure turned out to be very different from our expectations, we had a wonderful time in Sarawak and were eager to experience the wonders of Sabah, including the biggest damn challenge of our journey so far...!



permalink written by  SupandNic on July 30, 2010 from Kuching, Malaysia
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Singa-definitely not Poor!

Singapore, Singapore


One final emotional farewell to our beloved campervan and we zoomed across the ocean to the final continent of our travels – Asia. The flight involved a few stressful moments, the first being that our round the world trip ticket didn't provide us with adequate proof that we would be leaving our first stop in the time allocated by immigration. It was decided after much deliberation that we could book a 'dummy' flight out and then cancel, which we agreed to do, although we were both sceptical about the legality of this. We left New Zealand with no further problems, but arrived in Australia to change flights to be faced with one of THE most unhelpful people we have ever had the misfortune to meet! She kept repeating that the people in New Zealand should have printed us a copy of the new itinerary and we needed to go back and tell them that it was wrong (!) and it wasn't up to her to fix the problem, but didn't seem to comprehend that all she needed to do was simply print out a copy for us. After a long and frustrating struggle where we were both desperately trying not to blow a fuse, she met our demands and we leapt onto the connecting flight with seconds to spare.

The spectacular city of Singapore was to be our first destination. We flew in late, so had time to catch a taxi out of the airport and see the city lights sparkle in the dark, before finding our hostel and settling in for the night...well, settling in after we found that our door didn't lock and the owner had to improvise with a screwdriver!

Our hostel was in the region of Little India which was a fantastic experience. At 5am we awoke to the eerily beautiful sounds of chanting music and later that morning we discovered the origin of these songs as we were greeted with the sight of a spectacular and elaborate mosque.

Our first stop was of course to sample the long awaited food of the East, and Sup had a craving for something spicy. The anticipation was tangible, especially after a full month of eating nothing but eggs, beans and pasta, and the Tekka Centre in Singapore's Little India was about to become Sup's spiritual home. The food was absolutely amazing. We searched every stall within the indoor marquee-style market and indulged in a giant Chicken Biryani served on a banana leaf, with sweet Lassi for Sup and a refreshing Iced Milo for me. It goes without saying that the next day we came back for more and the next stall we chose managed to exceed all expectations – it was an awesome start to our Asian adventures, and we stocked up on Indian sweets too just to seal the deal.

Bellies full, we embarked on our major task for the day, which was to obtain Malaria tablets for the rest of our travels, in particular the high risk regions of Borneo, North Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and areas of Vietnam. What we hadn't noticed was the full to bursting dark clouds overhead, and we were delayed as we waited in a nearby mall as the sky erupted into a full on storm and rain showered down by the gallon with no end in sight.
A rather soggy run to 3 different bus stops finally led us to the right one and we travelled to Orchard Road, the shopping Mecca of Singapore, with more malls in one road than I had seen in my lifetime. It was to become MY spiritual home! We soon forgot all about our dripping wet clothes as we gazed on at the sheer size and magnificence of the malls, and the wealth on display that seemed to rival our Western cities, with powerful
giants like Armani, Gucci and Prada coexisting peacefully with the humble stalls of the Asian street vendors. There was even a full band and singer playing on the ground floor to entertain shoppers! We again sampled more Asian delights and I tried my first Laksa, a coconut curry-based soup with noodles, chicken and prawns that was pure heaven in a bowl.

Buying Malaria tablets turned out to be quite a mission, and involved an impromptu visit to the local Doctor's clinic in order to obtain a written prescription, We then had to find a company who were able to spare an obscene amount of pills as they must be taken every day, and for one whole week after leaving a high risk area. To celebrate successfully completing our task, we decided to go and have some fun so we took a trip on the monorail to Sentosa Island. The island was a cute little tourist resort, and as we arrived early evening the place was illuminated with coloured lights, rather like DisneyWorld. We felt like two kids as we rushed to the Luge to race down a steep track on small toboggan style cars.
To reach the top we rode on a Skylift, similar to a ski lift, and the views across the horizon were immense, while the views below were scarily far below us. Even though we had braved Skydiving just weeks before, I felt my heart and stomach flutter wildly at the sheer height, so the ride turned out to be quite a thrill even before the race! At the top we threw on some helmets and then set off with a group of others – I started to tell Sup not to worry about waiting for me, but he was already gone...careering off down the hill at breakneck speed, overtaking every person in sight with a 'woooohooooo!!' He won the race and by the time I made an appearance at the bottom he had a huge proud grin on his face! I found my success however on the Segway – Sup was a little reluctant, but I was in my element, zooming around the track leaning forwards and backwards as my Segway propelled me along. It was a lot of fun!

On our final day in Singapore we decided to go to the zoo, as we had heard a lot of good things about the conditions of the animals habitats. We were certainly impressed and we both felt it was the best zoo we had ever visited. It felt like we were walking through the rainforest and it was clear that a lot of attention had been made to the overall look of the zoo grounds. All the usual suspects were there,
including Sup's favourite cheeky chimps and my favourite stunning white tigers. The chimps were hilarious and we sat on a bench opposite the pen watching them playfully tease each other and scamper around. We also made feeding time at the giraffe pen and watched these unfeasibly tall graceful creatures reach out for carrots with tongues as long as our arms.

Singapore was an incredible city, a real fusion of Chinese, Indian and Malay culture, with the swagger of Western wealth. Hungry for more Asian delights, we decided to leave the city and all its wonders behind to plunge in at the deep end and fly straight out to Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo for some jungle adventures!

permalink written by  SupandNic on July 28, 2010 from Singapore, Singapore
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Sup's Reflective South Island

Christchurch, New Zealand


Arriving in to Picton in the late evening we were keen to find a close place to camp for the night. It wasn't until daylight the following day that we could appreciate the scenery we had unknowingly slept besides. We both knew that South Island was going to be special. The reflective waters of the South Island were a big winner with me, hence the number of reflective photos in this entry!

First up on our itinerary was Abel Tasman National Park. We set off on our journey, stopping along the way of course for photo opportunities and a picnic. I did get trigger happy with the camera and as a result we didn't make great time (but who can blame me when we were surrounded by such beautiful scenery?!).When we finally did make it to Abel Tasman the heavens decided to open (and not stop) so I donned my waterproofs and set off on a stomp feeling confident in my new waterproofs ability to live up to the challenge of keeping me dry. How wrong I could have been. I was drenched by the end of it but I enjoyed my coastal trek nonetheless.

Next up was a beast of a road trip travelling down to the west coast glaciers – Franz Joseph and Fox. We stopped off at the icy cold clear water Blue Pools along the way. The water is so clear the fish appear to be suspended in mid air.
New Zealand is famous for its clear water that reflects light, making a crystal clear mirror image, ie providing me with hours of photo fun. The weather was kinder to us on our visit to Fox glacier so we managed to capture better photos on that day. The glaciers were both as equally impressive although with Fox we climbed further up so we were able to see more of the ice formations. There were also some pools that allowed for some more reflective opportunities.

Moving on with no time to waste we made our way to Wanaka to get our biggest adrenaline fix yet... jumping out of a plane at 15,000ft attached to a complete stranger! The scenery in Wanaka was breath taking, gorgeous lakes surrounded by snow covered mountains. We were very lucky with the weather on our jump day, a little fog on our landing but otherwise perfect clear skies (We put our trust in the weather forecast and went down to Queenstown whilst we waited for the weather to clear).

The jump itself was crazy, the freefall was the most intense experience ever, very surreal indeed. If you haven't done a skydive and you are wandering what it feels like, it feels like what it looks like... like you are falling out the sky very fast! There is a complete contrast of calmness once the parachute opens and you begin to float through the air. I was of course very proud of Nic as she had always said it was something she would never do. We were recommended Wanaka by a number of people to do our skydive and I have to agree I don't think there was a better place to jump.


We also took a visit to Puzzling World which left our brains baffled. There were a number of illusion rooms, puzzle rooms and a monster maze. The tilted house room was a particular favourite of mine. The actual room was tilted at 15 degrees and when you step inside your brain is convinced the room cannot be sloped. As a result it straightens up the room making the displays appear as though they are hanging at impossible angles. The Ames Forced Perspective room was also pretty cool. The principle was used in Lord of the Rings to create the illusion of tall and short people in one setting.

Later that evening we found a place to park up and spend the night. We may have accidentally missed the 'no campervans allowed' sign on entry to the car park, however paid the price at about 4am when we were woken up by a security man banging on our van shouting 'I know you're in there'! Nic was apparently panicking, although she had to inform me later of her panic as I naturally slept through the whole escapade. The intruder announced that the police would be on their way and as he drove off, Nic finally managed to shake me into consciousness. Before I had a chance to fully wake up, she had dived into the front of our van, shoeless and wrapped in half our bedding, and the next thing I knew we were on our way to the nearest official campsite we could find. Eventful to say the least.

Queenstown was a cool little town surrounded by more magical scenery. Queenstown is close to some big ski resorts and although we are both keen to try out the slopes one day, we felt it would be better to save it for another trip when we have more time. Instead we thought we would give the tubing a try (basically sliding down the snow in a big rubber ring).
We set off on our 13km drive up the mountain to the ski resort which was pretty scary at some points (eg our van sliding on the ice towards the mountain edge with no barriers). Having made it up in one piece we found out that the tubing area was not opening for another month (after more snowfall). We were a little gutted but instead enjoyed some childlike fun in the knee deep snow. Making our way back down was just as eventful as going up, only this time we slid into the side of the mountain getting wedged in the snow. We had to get pulled out by the rescue truck. I think the moral of the story is don't go up ski resort mountains in the middle of winter in your campervan. They don't like it.

We stopped off for a walk around Lake Matheson, a lake famous for its crystal clear reflective waters. On clear days you can see the reflections of Mount Cook, although we could only see the bottom part of the mountain as it was a little cloudy higher up. Again it provided us with some great photo opportunities.

Continuing our journey we made our way down to Milford Sound, a beautiful area created by glacial geology many years ago. The area is actually a fiord as opposed to a Sound (Sounds are created by rivers and fiords by glacial geology). Rather than renaming the Sounds in the area they titled the whole area Fiordland.
The drive to Milford Sound was one of our greatest drives. The snow really gave a magical vibe to the whole area and again I was jumping out the van to take photos so it took us a while to get to our destination. It was worth it though! We booked ourselves onto a cruise of the Sound (with a 2 for 1 voucher we received with our campervan rental... back of the net!). We were lucky enough to see some fur seals and also a group of dolphins that came up and swam along side the boat, a dream come true for Nic!


Next up on our itinerary was a visit to Mount Cook – the highest mountain in all of Australasia. The park had so much snow covering the mountain landscape surrounding us. We embarked on a trek to the Mount Cook lookout point having numerous snow fights along the way (all of which I won!) The whole area was beautiful and we were very happy to have detoured off our original route to pay a visit. We had seen the mountain region on our skydive but to see it from below was a completely different experience.

With little time left in New Zealand we still had some distance to cover in order to fit everything in. A mega drive up to Hanmer Springs was in order, complete with a ton of chocolate to keep the driver happy(!) We had enjoyed the hot pools so much in Costa Rica we thought it was time for round two to see what New Zealand had to offer. Arriving late at night we followed directions to the local DOC campsite, much to our surprise we somehow ended up on an icy mountain again, only this time we didn't have our snow chains on, it was pitch black, there were no barriers at all and the road was only a little wider than our van. Brilliant. I directed Nic with her 7 point mountain turn and we made our way back down to find somewhere else to spend the night. It was both eventful and emotional. The next days relaxation at the springs was very much enjoyed and appreciated.

Our final stop before Christchurch was Kaikoura, a lovely little town on the coast. We were there to see the seal colony and we found a walking trail that would pass through a number of scenic points
along the way. It was a beautiful trail passing the coast, the seals, cliffs and farmland. As we were approaching the seal colony peninsular we saw a sign that suggested it was best not to try and move the seals and as we walked around the corner all became clear.

New Zealand was absolutely stunning. Both Nic and I agree that it is one of the best countries we have visited so far. I knew it was going to be awesome and it by far surpassed all of Nic's expectations. Winter was a perfect time to visit, not only was the scenery one magical wonderland, but there were also fewer tourists and cheaper rates throughout. New Zealand pat yourself on the back brother land, I take off my hat and raise a glass to you. Now it's time to raise the temperature, on to the last leg of our journey and the place I have most been looking forward to... Asia!!



permalink written by  SupandNic on July 25, 2010 from Christchurch, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Nic's Natural & Inspiring North Island!

Auckland, New Zealand


Plunging head first into winter after the scorching sunshine of Fiji was a real test of character...luckily, we passed! In Auckland I made it my life's mission to find a cosy coat and hat and succeeded without destroying our budget – in the month that followed I was surgically attached to both items, along with 3 layers of clothes as standard!

New Zealand held mixed emotions for me. I was excited about experiencing the country, especially as so many people we know have recommended it with high praise, but I was also somewhat apprehensive about the living conditions that I felt Sup would be 'subjecting' me to – the dreaded campervan. The idea was to tour both North and South island and to stay mainly in holiday parks, with the potential to stay in the occasional cheap Department of Conservation (DOC) sites if they were decent enough. I was sceptical but trusted in Sup and he did not let me down.

It turns out that touring New Zealand in our campervan was one of the best experiences we have ever had. And Sup had known it would be all along, the cheeky devil!

Sup secured a fantastic deal on our campervan with some serious negotiation which included a discount on our daily rate, snow chains, picnic chairs and our very own travel angel, Barbara the Sat Nav. As a reward, we celebrated at Nandos, the first one we had come across during our world tour, and the reunion was emotional.

We named the campervan Manaia, after the Maori name for Guardian – I felt that we needed some protection and after driving in some incredibly tricky situations and scary conditions, we were extremely pleased that our 'Manny' lived up to his name. Barbara once took us up a mountain with a sheer drop in the pitch black on an icy night, but we won't hold that against her..!

After a few days sorting everything out in Auckland, including stocking up on snacks and 7 huge bags of pasta for a
starch filled month of gas cooking in our van, we headed off to our first destination – the delightfully fragrant Rotorua. For those not familiar with the place, it is famous for its thermal pools and distinctive sulphur, or 'rotten egg' smell...!! We visited an area of natural thermal pools in the town with bubbling mud puddles and steaming sulphur lakes and it was incredibly atmospheric.

Having missed out on the opportunity in California, we decided that a walk through a Redwood tree forest would be a great experience and we enjoyed a long, and at times steep, walk through the tallest trees I have ever seen - truly magnificent. At the very top we were also treated to views of steaming geysers which was quite a show.

Of course we were in a place famous for thrills and adrenaline so it would have been rude not to have indulged a little...
The Swoop was a sky high bungy sort of thing – we were strapped together and hoisted up 40 meters into the air, and Sup was responsible for pulling the cord that plummeted us down to the ground. Had I been responsible, we would still be up there now. After taking my hand and making sure I wasn't hyperventilating from the sheer drop (OK, I was a little) Sup bravely counted down to our doom and suddenly our hearts were above our heads and we were rushing towards the ground and then swinging majestically like a pendulum. Was it worth it? Ahh, hell yeah!

Needing a little peace to recover from the excitement of the day, we took a walk after the sun went down by Lake Rototua and took in the almost ethereal view.

The holiday parks were nice little places to stay, and although the nights were cold, we were toasty warm snuggled up in our little mobile home.

The next stop on our journey was the town of Taupo situated like Rotorua on a beautiful lake. We visited a site called 'Craters of the Moon' and walked around a large field of steaming fumeroles and giant craters burping with gloopy mud. With no other person around, it looked as though we were the only survivors of Earth's destruction, or a nuclear holocaust – spooky, atmospheric and pretty cool. Sup continued on with his vast collection of leaflets, which seemed to take over the whole of our van – New Zealand certainly knows how to promote, that's for sure.

The next day we had a spectacular walk along the Huka River, with its crystal clear water and beautiful surroundings, up to the Huka Falls. The falls were impressive, but it was the rush of violent water leading to the falls that really caught our eye – thousands of gallons gushing down the river, foaming and frothing, resembling nothing of the calm clear river it came from. It was raw nature and a testament to its beauty and its danger.

As I was becoming a natural at driving our monster campervan, we decided to take the scenic route on to the next town, known as The Forgotten Highway. It was winter so we barely saw a soul and we loved the isolated surroundings, feeling as though New Zealand belonged to the two of us. The drive took hours and hours, but chocolate chip cookies kept us going, and the views were wonderful. Rolling pyramid-shaped hills and steep valleys dominated the scenery, and as the weather was still wet the deep green and yellow colours really stood out, at times being very similar to that of the English countryside. Driving from one place to another by this time had become as much an experience as each new destination and we loved the freedom of cruising around, stopping for photos whenever we wanted (often in the middle of the road!) and watching the background change around us.

The Forgotten Highway brought us finally to Tongariro National Park. Sup had his heart set on a day long guided alpine crossing through the park, but unfortunately no trips were running due to the weather.
That didn't stop us though! We drove to the start of the crossing and then walked the beginning ourselves, taking in awesome views and feeling like the only people on earth in the deserted vast expanse of mountains and valleys. After a steep and rocky climb, we decided that we should turn back as the crossing had promised in the leaflets to be tricky. Right on cue the clouds erupted on us, showering us with cold rain as we sheepishly walked 45 minutes back to the van, soaked through to our bones and glad that we had been smart enough not to continue.

By this time we had figured out a way to save money – free camping. We decided that every third night we would stay in a holiday park for decent showers and to power up the camera, and the other two nights we would find a suitable place to park ourselves up without being disturbed. It worked very well and we were proud to be hardcore! We were also rewarded with waking up to some of the most amazing natural views.

After our antics in Tongariro National Park, we continued on to Wanganui where we were met by the gorgeous Lake Virginia. We spent some time walking around the lake, feeding a few of the thousands of ducks and visiting the bird sanctuary, as well as the indoor botanical gardens, before an over zealous goose chased us back into our van! We spent the night by the lake and then took a scenic drive the next day on the Wanganui River Road.

The Wanganui River Road was a scenic loop following, you guessed it, the river. Much like The Forgotten Highway, it gave us impressive scenery and we enjoyed cruising around at our leisure, pleased to have visited NZ in winter. We were told by locals that in summer the road becomes one giant traffic jam.

Our final stay in the North Island brought us to Wellington, ready to catch the ferry with our van onto South Island. We spent the day strolling through a museum and admiring the town and the picturesque harbour. We had to take a bit of time out to get a garage to fix our windscreen wipers as they were near useless in the driving rain, and then we were free again to enjoy the rest of our day, stopping in a park for some childlike fun in the playground and on the Flying Fox!

The following day we went for a walk at Charles Plimmer Park and had a lot of fun on the swings that someone had constructed high up in the trees overlooking a view of the whole town. We then climbed further to enjoy a gorgeous panoramic view before coming back down to earth to make our way to the ferry.

North Island was filled with wonderful surprises and was a real chance to let go, to experience nature and the simple life, and to learn more about ourselves and each other. It allowed me to conquer my fear of camping (!) and opened our eyes to a beautiful world. But for everything North Island had been to us, South Island was about to blow us away...




permalink written by  SupandNic on July 16, 2010 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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Fun Filled Friendly Fiji

Nadi, Solomon Islands


We packed in so much during our short time in Fiji!

We spent 1 night in Nadi on the mainland organising our trip to one of the islands. We secured an awesome deal... Not only did we get '2 for 1' but we also got upgraded to our own beach front bure which is a traditional Fijian hut. It was nestled away far from the main building providing us with our own private beach. Good times!

We stayed at a resort so Fiji felt very much like a holiday. It was the first time we had stayed at a place like this during our travels. It gave us a chance to slow down our pace which we enjoyed.
The resort where we stayed was paradise - it had a gorgeous palmed fringed beach with warm clear water. It was picture perfect straight out of a brochure.

What better way to start the day than with some tropical fish feeding! We were introduced to a number of different fish including, neon, mullet, zebra and the sergeant majors (named for their stripes) which were my favourite. We enjoyed feeding the fish each morning and they clearly enjoyed it too. A couple we met told us how one evening they had seen a deadly lion fish, unfortunately we were not lucky enough to spot one. Lion fish mean business.

The resort gave us free use of their kayaks so each day we would go out for a paddle. The waters were crystal clear. There were areas of coral around the resort which we would go and explore. It was at this time I regretted not buying the water proof casing for our camera... d'oh! You could see all the way down to the sea bed. We spotted blue star fish, ray, sea cucumbers and a number of tropical fish. I have never seen sea water that clear before, it was awesome. Nic jumped out of her canoe and enjoyed having a snorkel.

On one of our days we travelled to visit a local village on the island. We visited the local school and met the headmaster who showed us around. He was one militant man. We learnt how he was bought in from the mainland to improve the school (it wasn't doing so well at the time) and he has completely turned it around. We were very impressed by him and we were surprised to see that the main principles were not too dissimilar to those in England. His philosophy involved teaching the kids to think globally while at the same time teaching them about their culture and not letting them forget about their roots. He was a good man,

After we went and had a walk around the village stopping off at the little market area where Nic bought a bracelet. It was clear to see the local people lived such simple lives. It was such a different way of life. The boatsman invited us into his home to try some Kava which is a drink made from a root, powdered down and then soaked in water. Kava is a very important part of Fijian's culture and was drunk on a daily basis. The locals claim that Kava gives them a calm and relaxed feeling. Nic felt quite chilled after drinking a few cups but I didn't really feel any different. The boatsman definitely felt relaxed – after dropping us back to the resort he passed out on the pier. He had a good chuckle about it when he saw us the next day.

The staff were all very friendly and welcoming and we got to know them all throughout our stay. Nic and I were interested in going on a little trek to see some of the views from up high. One of the staff Luby had told us how to get to one of the look outs. We set of on our way and I soon discovered I was a little unprepared (I was wearing my flip flops despite Nic's advice... oops) but I climbed on anyway. We were treated to some beautiful views at the top but in the distance we could see a much higher point and I wanted more! We asked Luby how to get there when we returned down. He agreed to take us up the next day as there was not a clear pathway. It was the highest point on the island and as a result it was hard work at times but we made it. The views from the top were breath taking and we could see many of the paradise Fijian islands in the distance. On the top was also the remains of the gun tower that was used by the American army in the second world war. The high point allowed the army to see all boats entering and leaving the island. Luby told us on the way back that not all of the staff had made it to the top so we did feel a good sense of achievement.

The food was absolutely amazing! It varied from a full on Fijian BBQ, Fijian curry (which was of course my favourite) and Nic's favourite – stir fry. The stir fry was pretty special.
We picked all the fresh ingredients from a huge selection and passed it on to the chef who cooked it front of us. I took full advantage of the 'all you can eat' each meal and caught up on my meat and fish, which made a great change from pasta which by now we have eaten far too much of (mainly because it is cheap, quick and easy). We also tried some new fish 'Mahi Mahi' which was very tasty.

Each night the resort ran a number different activities which were good fun. Crab racing was a particular highlight. Unfortunately our crab 'George' gave up half way through the race. The final night was kava drinking which will stay a very memorable night. Nic was setting the pace for the girls drinking a
high tide cup each time (full to the top) and the locals were impressed with her stamina, and you can see from the photo on the left that she was going strong. Things however took a turn for the worst on the walk back to our bure. The kava had not made Nic feel chilled and relaxed this time round, instead she felt a little ill and required some tlc!

The following day we caught our boat back to Nadi. We spent our final day in Nadi town visiting the local temple, visiting some of the shops and experiencing some of the local food. Our time in Fiji had come to an end. It was an amazing place with such warm friendly people and they will be missed.

Our plane flight was very early the following morning so we were lucky enough to capture a beautiful sunrise. I made the most of my shorts one last time because we were moving on to New Zealand in their winter... bring it on Mr Cold!



permalink written by  SupandNic on June 1, 2010 from Nadi, Solomon Islands
from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!
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