We spent New Years with Corrine's family at her cousins House. It was a good night with three of her five aunts and uncles there. One that she had not even met before.

A lot of booze was consumed, a lot of bad photos of people were taken, a lot of hugs given and received. A few tears were also shed with the promise of trying to get the whole family together for another new years in the future.

It was a great night and it was sad that it had to end.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on January 1, 2010 from Newmarket, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: World Tour
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Yesterday we rugged up and headed for the university town of Cambridge in the UK. The historical town is close to where Corrine's family live so it was a short bus ride in. Most of the ice on the paths had melted so it was easy to walk on the cobblestone paths.

We checked out the sights of the old colleges and even went for a ride on a punt, (Cambridge's answer to the gondala) along the River Cam. Even though Cambridge University is celebrating it's 800th birthday most of the building are older than that. One even being built by Henry the 8th.

The colleges have been home to some famous people over time, including Sir Isaac Newton, A A Milne (the creator of Winnie the Pooh) and even Prince Charles. One of the libraries houses original illustrations from Winnie the Pooh and first editions of Shakespere. I don't think they are available for loan though. It is said that Shakespere even got a lot of his insperation from Cambridge, it is easy to see why.

Cambridge is a very pretty town and we are going to make a big call and say it is probably one of the most romantic spots in the world. If you are in the area go and visit.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 29, 2009 from Cambridge, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: World Tour
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Christmas this year was spent in the most unusual fashion.... cold.

Christmas Eve was spent in Cardiff watching iceskaters at the small fair that is set up called the Winter Wonderland. We even tried our luck at a game of ring toss and it seems luck was Craig's side (when the operator wasn't looking) and won a small bear. We threw some grinches and had a hot chocolate. After it got dark at about 4-30pm it was time to head back to Bridgend.

We woke up on Christmas day with our fingers crossed that it was going to be a white one. We had no such luck. There has been no new snowfall to make snow men out of. Instead we called all our loved ones back home in Australia which we guess comes a close second.

After lunch it was time for presents! We got unexpectedly spoilt but the highlight would have to have been watching Corrine's cousins toddler playing with all his new toys.

The next day we got to see some of the Welsh coastline, and lots of sheep, we hadn't seen any up until then. Neither of us had worn so many clothes to go to the beach but it was a good excuse to wear our new gloves, scarves and beanies that we had been given for Christmas.

Now it is time to go to Merry ol' England

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 26, 2009 from Bridgend, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: World Tour
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We finally arrived in the U.K, we even saw snow as we were leaving Heathrow. Neither of us have experienced cold weather like this so it was a shock to the system.

We eventually got to Bridgend in Wales. Where we are staying with Corrine's family for Christmas.

We had a good sleep last night and are now catching up on washing and enjoing being at home.

We are going to go and explore the town this afternoon and then hopefully will have more to tell you.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 23, 2009 from Bridgend, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: World Tour
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The stalls selling spices smelled fantastic and they had such a huge array.

You can even haggle down the price of a few bottles of water. How Bazaar.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 20, 2009 from Aswan, Egypt
from the travel blog: World Tour
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We boarded a sleeper train from Giza to Luxor. The Orient Express it was not. It was ok as long as you didn't need go to the toilet. We were glad for the tip of take your own toilet paper. Surprisingly we slept better than we thought we would.

Once in Luxor we were taken to the boat that we called home for four nights, we got settled and caught up on sleep. After lunch it was time to go on our first tour.

We met our tour guide in the lobby of our hotel, she was a treat. She kept on telling everyone that she had been in the business for 19 years, we thought that she would have learned some people skills in that 19 years we were wrong. It was like being thrown back in time and having that teacher at school that nobody likes. We were like students though and even gave her the nick name Drill Sergeant Cyclops, as she wore the most stupid sunglasses ever. She instructed everyone not to take photos of her, we did to obey her in fear that she would have eaten us alive.

In our tour group there were two other couples that we got along with very well and we spent most of our time with them. One of the couples even smuggled their own alcohol on board and of course we wanted to be friends with them!!

It was sad to leave the boat and our new friends, but hopefully one day we can all catch up and reminisce about our tour of all the wonderful sights we saw including The Valley Of the Kings and of course Drill Sergeant Cyclops.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 19, 2009 from Luxor, Egypt
from the travel blog: World Tour
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The ancient Pyramids are truly amazing but what is even more amazing is how the drivers in Cairo manage to stay alive on the roads... They are crazy!! The lines as we have been told and we believe them 100% are for decoration purposes only. People beep their horn every few seconds, to let people know that they are coming up behind them, or merging in front of them. We held on for dear life all the way from the airport to the hotel.

We can see the pyramids from our hotel, we went for a walk to them on the first day, it was supposed to be a nice relaxing walk but was anything but that. From the time we stepped out of our hotel we were asked if we wanted to get into a taxi every few steps. It only got worse as we got closer to the ancient monuments we came to see. Instead of seeing if we wanted to get into taxis we were asked if we wanted camel or donkey rides. We had a quick look at the Great Pyramid of Giza and dodged all the people asking us if we wanted a ride in their taxi until we were back behind the doors of the hotel. We had a shadow most of the way in the form of a Tourist Police Officer, he made sure we were not in any danger and helped us cross the road.

The following day we checked out the pyramids properly, even getting to go deep into the burial chamber of the second pyramid in Giza. We had to crouch the whole way into the belly of the pyramid and while doing the crab walk back out we passed a little old lady going in, everytime she took a step she forgot that if she lifted her head she would bump it on the ceiling of the narrow tunnel. We are wondering if she made it back out alive or if that burial chamber will also be the final resting place of the old lady too...

We also got a tour of the Sphinx (which is not as big as we imagined it to be) and the first ever pyramid built in Ancient Egypt – The Step Pyramid.

We also learned the ancient art of carpet and rug making and papyrus making. Even picking up a few different souvenirs along the way.

Buying souvenirs in Egypt is not a hard thing to do, where ever you go people are trying to sell you cheap nic-nacs, they even want money for photographing their camel or donkey.

Some one offered 1500 cows in exchange for Corrine, not sure who would be getting the better deal.

We are now waiting to leave for the train station where we are catching a sleeper train down to Luxor and Aswan to see the valley of the kings.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 15, 2009 from Cairo, Egypt
from the travel blog: World Tour
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Our trip into the Kruger National Park was spectacular. To get there we had to drive through some very colourful towns. People who live in the traditional villages don't generally own cars so they rely on their community taxis. It was a sight to see, while waiting for the taxis the people either walk in the direction that they want to go or just stand on the highway. We hope that they are not in a hurry because we dare say that they are always going to be late.

Once through the gates of the park we were on the continual lookout for animals, all we saw were some Guinea fowl and dung beetles. Once at the lodge we were very impressed at the grounds. We sat down and were warned about leaving our room unlocked whether or not we are in it as the local baboons know how to use door handles but are yet to know how to pick locks.

The game drives we magnificent and some of the highlights include watching the lions hunting, the leopard cub, the baby elephant, the baby rhino, our animal tracker being able to spot a chameleon in the dark using only a spotlight while traveling at the same time, being surrounded by hungry lions in the dark in an open top land rover and Craig's favourite – the elephant that farted. His only regret is that he did not capture it on video.

On one drive we got to see the entire big five, Buffalo (do not underestimate the size of these animals they are not much smaller that a rhino), Elephant, Leopard, Rhino and of course the lion.

We have so many stories to tell from this particular leg of our trip but not enough time to write it all down, plus we know that people do not want to read long winded blog entries on here.

Now we are onto Egypt to see the last remaining ancient wonder of the world.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 11, 2009 from Hazyview, South Africa
from the travel blog: World Tour
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We finally arrived after a few little hicups along the way. Our flight was slightly delayed, hit some rough weather, the turbulence was rather bad . Also had trouble getting off the plane - the skywalk would not attach.

We finally made it out of the air port and was greeted with a spectacular electrical storm. The lightening lit up the sky and looked like some one had turned on an ultra violet light.

We are off to pick up the hire car and make our way towards Kruger.

Blog you later.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 5, 2009 from Johannesburg, South Africa
from the travel blog: World Tour
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We have had our Bon Voyage Party, check out some of the photos below.

We are all packed - well almost. We jet off tomorrow morning just after 11am to what looks like is going to be drizzly South African weather. We are both so excited and cannot wait for the adventures that lie ahead of us.

We would just like to take a moment to thank a few people who have made this possible, the first being -

Ivana Kovacevich from Breakaway Travel in Midland. Ivana you have been a fantastic help and we couldn't have done this with out you.

Tanya Kotze from Africa Direct, you have gone above and beyond what we could have expected from the other side of the world. We have already told people that if they ever want to go to Africa just get in touch with you. If you ever come to Perth we will be happy to play tour guide for you.

Steven Moylan from Flight Centre Innaloo,Thankyou for organising our EuRail passes for us.

You have all been a great help. Thank you.

When we get back we are going to put together a sound track for our journey, it would be great if everyone helps us think of songs that we can use. Everyone get your thinking hats on for a song that you think would be suited for an African Safari.

I hope everyone enjoys reading our blog as much as we are going to enjoy experiencing the world and letting you know what we are up too.

Blog you all later.

Craig and Corrine.

written by  craigandcorrine on December 4, 2009 from Perth, Australia
from the travel blog: World Tour
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