Sarah's Voyage from South Africa to Hong Kong - Sarah Coles
Well, i think ive said everything in my bio. Im off 27th October. I have no expectations or wishes just to see parts of the world ive never seen before and experience a whole different way of...

South Africa- Days one and two
Cape Town, South Africa
Wow, what a city. Sam and I arrived after a five hour delay thanks to a leaking pipe and a plane swap but sadly I was still sat next to the same mental irish girl who wouldnt shut up for 11 hours, despite me sleeping!!! Sam had a similar experience but her mad lady was german and despite Sam saying she knew very very limited german, she kept talking and if not to Sam to her self. Backpackers lodge is lovely as are the people we share the dorm with. We can see table mountain from the bar here, but then probably you can see it from everywhere in Capetown. We havent been up it yet as today was too cloudy, so will go tomorrow, weather permitting. Dont worry though, weather yesterday was fantastic and the tan has started! We have done a fair bit here already, the coastline is spectacular but no whale sightings yet, just seals, which are gorgeous and yes I have hundreds of photos of them! Although most of the shots of them are diving back under the water having waved at me, done somersaults and other tricks knowing my camera isnt quick enough to catch it!!! Seen the football stadium they are building for the world cup in 2010, would love to come back for that! its a really fab city. so far no problems. one day left in Capetown then im off to St Lucia for the month to work with the community, so god help them!!!
written by  Sarah Coles on October 29, 2008 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Sarah's Voyage from South Africa to Hong Kong

St Lucia continued
Cape Town, South Africa
hey all thanks for your emails and comments. Finally went whale watching last sunday at 5am!! what is it with these early mornings - im not used to getting up before 8!!! and thats pushing it!!! sea was quite rough, which I loved but a couple of the other girls didnt and all they saw was the side of the boat and yes we did take pictures of them - how cruel! we saw a mum whale and baby - humpbacks, they are massive. mum kept having her tail up for 10 mins at a time as she was feeding the baby one underneath, it was amazing. we must have watched them for 3 hours or more. Hopefully off to Mozambique subject to weather, next weekend and we get to swim with dolphins in the sea there! well thats if we survive the border patrol which can be a bit dodgy apparently!
its been an odd week as the daycentre where we go to work with the kids, got knocked down. its a tin shed but its also a church and the local Pastor decided she wanted it rebuilt so we left one day with it standing, came back the next to find it gone! apparently she thought it could get rebuilt in a day - clearly she was having a hormonal moment! TIA - this is africa. well its been a bit wet so no sign of builders there yet. so we havent been to see the kids much, they dont turn up if it looks like rain as theres no cover for them. I went to the local High School to teach HIV education to 12 year olds - they look more like 18. That was interesting, really enjoyed it and after doing some home care visits where we drive into the middle of the bush/forests to give sick people medicine, food or just help, most of whom had AIDS or TB, it made me realise how important that education is. If not, the zulu race will just disappear! The kids particularly enjoyed the condom on a banana demo - wasnt me doing that one though- phew! i dont know who would have laughed more! more painting of the clinic this week - we made the walls that were white even greyer so thats good :) I also have a brick with my name on it. the brickmaking was hard work - mainly cos the sand and cement where in different parts of the field so we had to carry shovel loads around - blisters have nearly gone! its all good. had a fun night out last night watching the rugby drinking springbok shots and managed to avoid the hippos on the walk back to the house!
went to see a witchdoctor yesterday in a zulu village, she was nuts. she kept making funny noises and had previously told volunteers here that they needed to kill a chicken, eat its insides to avoid bad luck. she told another she had to drink a soft drink and eat sweets to stop her losing her husband - that one sounds a bit better to me! i was told id get married and have two children despite not liking kids much - hahaha, how funny. she also said I was in good health as I sat there wheezing and coughing!!! shes good!
off to Cape Vidal up the coast this afternoon and hopefully able to put the bikini on for the first time. game drive this week too!! yay!
next instalment next week. x
written by  Sarah Coles on November 16, 2008 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Sarah's Voyage from South Africa to Hong Kong

STill in St Lucia but the sun is shining today after much much rain!!
Cape Town, South Africa
im still here and still surviving!! We've all been a bit grumpy the last few days as it just hasnt stopped raining and thats not fun. especially when we are doing gardening outside and covered in mud although im sure that day was the cleanest ive been for a while :)
The whole house went including the staff who are zulu went to the local zulu night at the cultural village in Khula where we work each day. it was so funny and amazing. we dressed up and had zulu beer, which was well free and alcoholic so no complaints here!! the dancing was funny - we all did some and i think everyone was amazed with my leg kicking - it was high and i didnt knock myself out but my jeans were about to fall down - what a lovely thought - not!!!
the zulu dancers were "fit" in all ways. i have some pics and still waiting to get them loaded up. sorry for the delay with the pics
We had a game drive for us project workers Tuesday afternoon too which was fantastic. there are no lions at the area we went to but there are leopards, we didnt see any. but the funniest thing we did see was a wart hog running really fast alongside the truck, and the next thing we knew it got its tusks stuck in the ground and flipped over, when it got up it looked embarrassed and trotted off in the other direction with all the grass and earth still stuck to its tusks. definitely a highlight. then the rains came down and we drove home in the back of the truck all huddled together really wet and cold! cant think why my cold hasnt shifted!!
Today at the daycare centre the kids were a handful. I had no translator in my class this morning for an hour or so so I was on my own! im rapidly going off the sound of my own voice, they just did what they want, caused chaos, and i sat being climbed over by the rest of the kids. i have no authority with them at all!! I was trying to teach about healthy eating and as we were going through good food and bad food, one of the children we call her the special child as she is a bit, just ate ashoe she found on the floor then found a crayon and started eating that, then she started on the earthy sand!! i mean, what am i to do!!!
anyway thats it for today, lesson planning for next week is by the pool today YAY!!!
x
written by  Sarah Coles on November 20, 2008 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Sarah's Voyage from South Africa to Hong Kong

Mozambique and my last week at Project St Lucia
Durban, South Africa
I have had the most amazing 9 days. last weekend myself and three friends from St lucia decided to go to Mozambique for the weekend - just because we could!! how fab is that. we were driven there by a surfer dude Peter, who arranged a turtle conservation tour on the Saturday evening - which i will come back to in a minute - two dolphin conservation tours on the Sunday which were unbelieveably amazing and the opportunity to watch England get absolutely slaughtered by the South Africans at rugby on the TV in the beach bar surrounded by 20 or so South AFricans!!!!! Mozambique and Pont du Oure was 3 hours from St Lucia - so about as long as it takes to get out of NOrfolk on a Saturday! the beach was superb with a really good surf although we decided we would just watch the surfers from our sunbathing position rather than join them and potentially die in the current! having been working hard in St Lucia, painting, building bricks, digging, and teaching all week, this was a real holiday! Katy was adamant we would watch the rugby and decided to declare her support for England very loudly despite severe looks and shouts of abuse from the SA's there! Thought it was going to get ugly at one point but we managed to give as good as we got abuse wise and that soon shut them up (some werent that bright!). We then ran after the final whistle with a reminder from me that its not really a proper game anyway and wait until 2010 when we shall show them what sport really is!!! The turtle tour was amazing, we were walking along the beach in the dark for several hours looking for loggerhead turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. they only do this for10-17 days of the year and they hate being disturbed before they lay the eggs, so we were creeping around. we then came across Joyce (we named her), i was too busy talking and nearly tripped over all 1metre square of her but thankfully didnt! , we waited patiently for over an hour whilst she made her way up to the top of the beach away from the sea to lay eggs, then saw her digg a massive hole and lay over 80 eggs. it was awesome. Although we had nearly all fallen asleep by then waiting, as we'd been up since 4.30am and that was off the back of going to bed after a bit of a party night at 2am! We also had to tag her as its part of the monitoring they are doing to try and save the species that are being poached for their shells! that was a struggle, she was strong and large but finally tagged and named Joyce. We got back to the beach hut at about 1 only to be awoken by crabs trying to get in to the hut, lizards running around and other things that I just didnt want to think about. we were up for 5.30am for the first dolphin boat trip. we had to identify their fins and help with the monitoring. it was fantastic. and yes i cried. i love dolphins. we saw loads including a baby dolphin learning to swim - quite literally! then we saw one just dive out of the water 3 or 4 metres high and back in! wow! i cried again! im such a girl! there was a hope we could swim with them but they werent in the mood due to the baby and I think they were feeding too so it wasnt good. We went back out at 9am and mum introduced us to the baby dolphin! but when the baby got to close to the boat mum gave her a massive whack! i could watch them for hours. they didnt seem to what us to swim with them so we moved on and then had a swim , but the dolphins - 10-15 i suppose, joined us within minutes! the water vis wasnt great 2-3m so was a bit nerve wracking wondering what the fin was coming towards you, but so awesome, they were monitoring us we think!!! within half a metre from me, swimming around and underneath us! what a feeling, absolutely the best thing ever! i obviously cried! to stop our cries of "ahhhh!" we returned to the beach for an afternoon of hectic sunbathing! quite exhausting!
Then back to work - it is quite literally hard work. ive missed a few lunches to get to the internet in town - as just no time otherwise. sadly the lack of lunches hasnt made any difference to weight as Katrina's evening cooking is superb - damn that good cooking! I carried on painting in the afternoons this week, we managed to totally paint the info building in Khula whihc was massive only to be told afterwards it wasnt that building, but heck it looks good! did the right building the day after! Dr Sarah was back for Wednesdays clinic with more blood pressure taking including her own which wasnt good! ah the stress of travelling! then finally Friday was probably the most memorable day ive ever had. only 46 children turned up to the daycare in the morning, so rather than dull teaching, we piled them into the truck and combi and headed to the estuary to see the hippos and crocs and then to the beach for a morning of getting absolutely soaked in teh sea! they live 6 or so miles away from the beach and estuary but most had never been! i have never seen or heard them soooooooo excited! they couldnt stop chattering and laughing! definitely the best moment ever! im so sad to have left today although pleased to now be with Sam in Durban, but i would have loved to have stayed. Andrew who runs the project wanted me to stay on to help work for a few more weeks as he was a few employees short due to ilness etc, but i just didnt have the time with the other project starting the 7th December and I still wanted to see more of SA. im going to go back sometime though. It was such a fantastic privilege to work with those children, the people of Khula and hopefully make a small difference to some of their lives! the people I was with on the project were just the best. its too hard to describe, but I would highly highly recommend it. Trying to work out if I can return in 2010 about June or July when the world cups on!!!!
So now off down the GArden Route to see some more of SA, including the Shark Diving!!! i shall keep you all posted. cant believe its been 5 weeks since I left!x
written by  Sarah Coles on November 29, 2008 from Durban, South Africa

Durban to Hermanus - the longest journeys ever!
Durban, South Africa
Well firstly what I forgot to say in my last blog about ST Lucia was that I got bitten by a spider!! I have been totally freaked out for the past week. I went to deliver a school uniform to one of the children, Sfundo on the monday and sat on the grass outside his hut taking pictures etc when I felt a bite - didnt think anything of it - next day it was a bit of a mess so just thought id been scratching it during the night! put a plaster on it with cream end of my worries! oh no, thanks to the generosity of Andrew and others at the house, they decided to tell me as a wind up that it looked like it could have eggs in it!! then they said it looked like a spider bite with eggs in it!! AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH! barely slept that night with thoughts of these hideous things running out of my leg!!! anyway it seemed to get a bit better and then went to see someone (actually it was to have a pedicure so i could have pretty feet for just a few days - im shallow i know!) and she said what happened as it looked like a spider bite! OMG! completely freaked out. it is healing thankfully, no eggs or hatched spiders thankfully but yuuuuuk!!! i hate spiders more than anything. not good.
anyway enough about my phobias which also include ghekkos and chameleons - not good with the scurrying stuff! im now back with Sam - ahh bless I hear you all cry! we met up in Durban with me having had a bit of a fright at the airport. A lady asked how I was getting to my hostel, so I said probably taxi - Apparently no - i couldnt posssibly go in a taxi alone it wasnt safe - she said I should use the bus but as I didnt know where the bus went or how to get to the hostel then that wasnt safe either!! well what the F am I going to do! i took a risk, jumped in a cab and thought do i hide on the back seat or just be brave. I was brave and got to the hostel, wasnt mugged or shot - pheweee!
Sams good and thankfully not as tanned as me which was my main concern, obviuosly her welfare and safety whilst overlanding was too but hey! we had a curry in the evening as thats the thing to do in Durban, shed been shopping! im trying to restrain her but its to no avail! next morning we got the BAz Bus (mini bus)at 6.45am to Port Elizabeth - just a 13 hour drive so thats not too bad!!! luckily there were only a handful of us in the bus so we had some space to move. but I think if we had hired a car and driven it would have taken us half the time - it took the driver 2 hours to get out of Durban as he seemed to be running family errands!! Not as bad as the journey from PE to Hermanus which whilst only 10 hours or so, the driver put on a DVD called Eight below, all about a team of huskeys that had to survive a winter alone in the antartic, with them dying and being attacked, not my kind of film, i put my MP3 on but could still hear them howling - i cried! hate films about animals getting hurt! not a good choice, then he put on 40year old virgin which was hysterical but we had to get off for our drop off before the end - typical!
anyway back to PE, nice place, weird hostel we stayed in!! the lady had just taken it over and it was in a dodgy drug area bit like thetford really! We had dorms to ourselves and then we realised, well i realised - im 36 years old and sleeping in bunk beds!! ive regressed! anyway we had a mooch about, got one of the crazy taxi buses just outside the Norwich fabric shop! we went shopping for a bit in the black only area -or so it seems but we kept saying hello to everyone because we didnt want them to tthink we were the stupid white south africans! who really are vvvv stupid and incredibly ugly alot of them!! clearly you shouldnt be white and live out in the sun of Africa for a few hundred years - it doesnt do the skin anygood!
In the evening we thought we would head towards this AFrican bar that was on the map, the lady (by now we had worked out was a hick, with hicksville friends who sat about drinking castle lager all day) said no, it wasnt safe! but that we should go to the Stage Door pub just up the road so long as we were back before dark because it was such a dodgy area! with this in mind we legged it to the pub, or as the lonely planet describes it a rough and seedy place! they sell rooms by the hour and this is noted on their menu which also whilst only having 4 food dishes on it, says that if you want good food dont eat there, if you want good service go somewhere else! there was sawdust on the floor but there was championship league football on so....! we had omelette although we wondered whethe they may have drugged it and then we may be sold as women for their hourly rooms but thankfully, it wasnt! then we realised it was nearly dark - this felt like the moment out of I am Legend film, our watches beeped and we had to get back in time before god knows what happened!! we did actually freak ourselves out a bit by this thought, well mainly i did! anyway we managed to get in the door just as the sun set! no from Dusk til Dawn moments! phew.
we then left the next day with the intention of staying in Plettenburg Bay, but then when trying to arrange our baz bus from PB to Hermanus for 3rd ready for Death with great whites on 4th, we were told there was only space for 1. rethinking and alot of money wasted on the mobile and we decided to skip PB and head straight for Hermanus, which was a blessing despite the long journey and sad movie!!PB had a teen end of term rave on so maybe not quite our thing!!
Hermanus is fab. had a few beers in the bar of the hostel with some guys and then listened to some guy snore through the night in our mixed dorm - and for those wondering yes we were in bunks again!! i get the lower bunk, think Sam thinks it safer for me so i dont have so far to fall out!! anyway today was amazing, Hermanus is the place to watch whales from the coast, so we did, we went for a 5 hour coastal walk (yes with some sunblock although one foot is defintely darker than the other and sams backs a bit patchy but we have time to fix all this) and we saw several Southern Right Whales including mums and calfs, within 100m from the beach. fantastic. pictures are crap as its too hard to capture just what we saw. I kept high fiving myself much to sams annoyance i think - but OMG how lucky are we!!! This is definitely the life. It may be the end of my life by tomorrow as we go Great White Cage Diving at 7am, Sams now joining in the fun or not so much fun as horror tomorrow. Her main fear is getting in the wet suit which if thats all she is worried about, im sure she will be fine. Im slightly more concerned about getting bitten in half by the GW but well, what a way to go!! so fingers crossed and will let you know how it goes. SOrry but this is so definitely the best decision ive ever ever made!!! x
written by  Sarah Coles on December 3, 2008 from Durban, South Africa

Capetown to Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa
Having survived the great white Shark diving, Sam and I headed back to Capetown for two reasons, a trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held a prisoner for many years and to see Quantum of Solace at the cinema! Both were superb. The stories by the former prisoners who show you around the prison were moving as was the destruction of the Aston Martin in the film!
After two sleepless nights in a dorm due to snoring man, i went up to Johannesburg to do my second project on the lanseria lion park leaving Sam to shop and sunbathe (dont worry i put factor 100 in her factor 30 bottle, she will never know:) ). I had my doubts initially because I had been told I was the only volunteer and being in a campsite on my own overnight was a bit of a concern, but I thought I would see how I got on. I expected the experience of working with the game park animals, including lions, leopards and cheetahs to outweigh the loneliness in the evenings. Sadly, it didnt! I arrived and was dropped off at a Zoo, not a park! i met the two volunteers who were going to be leaving on the Tuesday and with whom I would be doing a game drive in Pilanesburg national park on that Tuesday so i wasnt alone on that and being a saddo and talking to myself about the animals I had seen! The first day, i sat around eating an icecream, chatting to the AFrikaans who worked there (aged between 13 and 30) and I had a drive around the enclosures. All the lions and big cats are either ex circus or used in commercials or hand reared. The enclosures were small and not sufficient, in my mind for the sizes of them. I hadnt expected this. They sold the project on its conservation aspect and working possibly with lion cubs who may be handreared if mum isnt coping. Actually they take all the cubs away from the mums and hand rear them with no intention of reintroducing them into the wild and everyone who goes to teh Zoo can play with the cubs at Cubworld!! i admit it was amazing to cuddle a baby lion and I had my hand stroked by a leopard but i had serious doubts I could survive this for 2 weeks. The next day I sat for 2 hours collecting tickets and that was my days work! that was it. they said there was nothing mroe to do. having been working 8 hours a day at the community project and feeling shattered but very happy with what I was doing this was mind numbing! I decided to leave. there was no point in my mind wasting time somewhere knowing I wouldnt enjoy it. i did the game drive the next day and left the Wednesday. I have no regrets. I want to leave South Africa feeling proud of what ive done and feeling as though I have actually given something to the people here. i thought about doing some touring but decided to go back to the Community Project in St Lucia and thats where I am now until 19th. Andrew who runs the project met me from the airport and hadnt told anyone else I was coming back. Several of the volunteers i was with were still there and of course the guys I worked with. We walked in and they, expecting a new volunteer called Helen, saw me! ive never heard so much screaming and laughing. that felt good. i was actually missed!
The school term here has ended for summer holidays now, so we do holiday club with 4-12 year olds in the morning and then adult HIV education and building in the afternoon. This is more like it! Im off to the beach tomorrow for tanning and then working hard all week unti friday when I fly back to meet Sam in JOhannesburg when we will do the Soweto tour.
Its strange, this place now feels like home. the guys were like - you are home! its not but it is for a short while and I have no doubt I shall return here again sometime in the future.
and to make my week even better, We beat the scum 2-0 so happy dayz.
signed a very happy Sarah. x
written by  Sarah Coles on December 13, 2008 from Johannesburg, South Africa

the end of my time in South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
well its happened, we leave today! NO!!!!!!!! i am sad. I have fallen in love with AFrica. i have had the most amazing time here.
I realise from a brief review of my sintaliting stories of SA, that I forgot to mention the great white shark diving experience, well i suppose the pictures on facebook probably show it all!! it was awesome. Sam and I were actually rather calm on the boat ride to death, probably because we were laughing at guys who were a bit more nervous and throwing up over the side of the boat!!! we are all heart! having fitted into the wet suits which actually pulled all my bits of wobble in the right places, so may have to buy one, we waited whilst they put the cage in the water. as I still have a cold, I couldnt actually smell the dead bloody fish that I stood right next too, again unlike others who kept retching and throwing up! I had two trips into the cage - both lasted about 20mins each I suppose. THe first time, as visibility was poor I just saw this dark shadow (about 4m) pass by, but the pics from on the boat show alot more, also had a lovey dovey couple next to me in the cage who kept holding hands and at one point he tried to hold my hand accidentally - how sweet (I almost classed that as a date!), then they nearly drowned me as we went under the water to see the shark go past and they had their hands over my head holding the bars so I couldnt get up! Sam went in the water and hadnt realised again because of the vis, how big and close the shark was to the cage, probably a relief, they were big! the second time I got in, I had the best encounter I could imagine. We'd seen 3 or 4 sharks by then, and one just eyeballed us right by the cage within centimetres and showed its teeth - i have to admit when it came round again straight to the cage a few of us did just lean back into the back of the cage a bit more. not sure why, as the back of the cage was just bars too!!! i got the DVD so will be boring you all with that upon my return.
Well back to my last 10 days in SA. I went back to St lucia and rejoined the community project in Khula. I was working with different children in the morning as it was summer hols, but this was fun and included alot of hula hooping and mucking about which I can do! afternoons varied to gardening and adult HIV education, which really got me. It was hard to do, trying to make it fun to learn but on such a serious subject. Especially when you dont know these peoples stories but guess from questions they ask and their distraught faces when we answer those questions, it cant be good. i wish I could have done more. However the jokes i made about condoms (as yes I had to do another condom demo), made them laugh, including the different sizes (white sizes and black sizes!!!)
I managed to dance at a local community meeting, in front of everyone which then appeared to turn into a dance off with some of the local women, it was quite surreal and I have no doubt I lost! it was well appreciated though with lots of clapping and laughing!!!
I also had a bit of a drunken night on Amarula, losing badly at ibble dibble but being very supportive of my friend Katy's lyrical genius and guitar playing at 4am - I have video of that too!!! oh dear, it may haunt me!! unfortunately the saturday was wasted, we all sat staring at the tv (thankfully with footie on after some cricket) all just groaning very badly and regretting drinking so much. Obviuosly I shall never drink again.
I am now back with Sam in JO'burg and we went to Soweto yesterday. Astounding place. So much bigger than I thought, over 3m people and some really nice areas. eveyrone seemed friendly, no one tried to shoot us and I just kept waving merrily at them all like some nutter! (must remember to stop that now). the museum for apartheid was moving and it was hard not to just sit and cry.
t was an amazing way to end the day though and my time in SA.
I will miss the place and people alot. Lets hope Oz is as good.
speak soon X
written by  Sarah Coles on December 21, 2008 from Johannesburg, South Africa

Australia, Part 1
Sydney, Australia
Happy New Year my beloved blog readers!!! Hope you are all well (I say all, theres probably just my dad still reading by now, and thats if im lucky!)
After a slightly disturbing delay with the flight from joburg to Sydney (massive thunder storms, then technical problem, then more storms!), we finally landed in sunny Sydney - well, I say sunny, apparently the drought that the aussies are constantly harping on about, is in their heads!!! I've taken many many pictures but only on the sunny days, its to fool you all into thinking bathe in sunshine everyday- the fact of it is we arent! It was quite cold - 20 something!! how rude! i didnt leave the UK to be in cold temperatures!!! anyway, my beloved friend Penny with her mum Jan picked us up from the airport and you would never have known we were tourists, carrying the welcome to OZ balloons she had bought us! Jan then kindly took us on a walk round Sydney the following day, although due to the pace ive been walking at in SA, it felt more like a power walk but I was grateful nonetheless, we saw the opera house, well that was it really - i mean what else is there to see in Sydney! then we headed back through the last minute xmas shoppers, remembering what fun it is to be in a city at christmas. Both sam and I were upset that we had no xmas shopping to do as we wanted to join the throngs of stressed customers! oh well never mind. The following day was again, cloudy! it even rained, again! so we didnt venture too far and spent a very productive day sorting out our trip up the east coast, well mainly sorting out what yacht we wanted to go on round the Whitsunday islands. Whilst the 23 person party boat sounded tempting, having discussed the pros and cons and considering our ages now, we opted for a 15 person sail yacht which seemed far more refined! I like refined, this may surprise some!
Christmas eve was a laugh. we thought it would be chaos in the local balmoral bar, as it is in norwich - no! we were joined initially by Major Mark, a well past 50 year old Australian who seemed to think he had a chance with penny - hardly, maybe her Mum - just! he then invited us to an area of the bar with other Pommies! they had brought there own stereo to play the latest in music - ummh Eurythmics, Duran Duran, you name it they had it!!! Jan and a very tall drunk man got into a dance off. It was funny, just didnt feel like christmas though. Dont get me wrong, based on previous christmas for me recently, that wasnt a bad thing, but it seemed strange having christmas decorations etc when it was hot!
Christmas Day was fun. We were invited over one of Pennys friends, Jill, so long as we took with us all the turkey, ham, plates, cutlery, dessert and alcohol. She would provide the vegtables and table. Fair deal, we thought. So bless Pennys mum, she stuffed the turkey that barely fitted in in the cooker, she got up early and cooked the ham. We took everything but the kitchen sink (we had to take a hoover over too!!! dont ask!) and were kindly offered one of our drinks! It was in all fairness despite the sarcasm, a really lovely meal and day. I mean, roast potatoes makes every day good! and the sun came out!!
Boxing day was rather more to my liking from a weather perspective, it was hot and sunny! we headed to Balmoral beach with picnic and pennys friends to watch the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. It was fantastic. Well actually we saw the yachts go in the distance, so i cant say it was fantastic really, but the sights on the beach were awesome. Very Very nice! you may have seen some of sams pictures on facebook!!! I have to admit we were all (including Pennys Mum) quite simply, perverts! but so what.........
we then headed to Paddington for a few more drinks in a bar, but so far we had yet to meet any real Australians, who it seems are few and far between in Sydney. I think London is Sydney and Sydney is London!!
Manly beach and a visit to the Quarantine Station for ghostly sightings were next on the list. I then met a couple I met travelling, Holly and Adrian who live in Manly. It was fantastic to see them despite the weather being cloudy yet again - i mean seriously!!!! Manly was okay, it had a shopping precinct similar to Lowestofts, I may be harsh but I dont think so! The following day we did the required visit to Bondi Beach. Nice weather so no complaints there! Bondi was packed. There was this patch in the middle of the beach were it seems everyone had to sit! I dont understand it myself but may have something to do with sharks, surfers, or current, anyway, we opted for the Bondi to Bronte Bay walk which was lovely. Sam and Penny did the civilised scenery walk, Jan and I seemed to do another power walk. I opted for the wrong one clearly! lovely scenery, and I do mean coastline this time (well both actually!). THe day was then rather nicely rounded off by a few drinks with a fellow Norwich man, Fos and his better half Sam at the Opera Bar by the Opera House. gorgeous evening and a really nice time.
The following day, we did the blue mountain tour. Our luck with tour drivers continued, three near crashes, one lost phone, several hours of delays but it was good. We stopped at a zoo and stroked a koala. it was a rehabilitation place so I felt better about that! we also did another cable car ride much to Sams horror but the views were amazing. We ran out of time for a tour of the olympic stadium due to the near crashes, etc but it looked nice from the outside as we drove past! The weather changed again though and by the time of our ferry ride back to the centre of Sydney, we were cold, wet and a bit miserable. I was also late for a date I had at the Opera House (ten minute turnaround to get ready, now that was impressive) to see australian comedians, who despite my inability to understand half of what they said, were in all quite funny. I made a bit of an error at one point - laughing at something that wasnt actually meant to be funny but I shall have to explain that anotehr time and not in public!
Sadly, Sam did her back in - totally unrelated to any misbehaviour that im aware of - and was completely bent over double in agony all the following day. I was totally sympathetic and having asked if there was anything she required did what any good friend would do - I headed for the beach! i felt it only right, i mean, Icould get pictures and show her how nice it was outside!!! thankfully she had spent her day rather more productively and despite the pain and agony had organised some more bits of our trip! i showed her a picture of a cute man. So we were all square!
That evening, Sam still incapacitated missed out on a night at the Oaks Pub in Military Road and my meeting with an old school friend Al Page. He hasnt changed at all except he is now 18 years old than the last time I saw him!! it was fun.
The next day Sam was still bent over double so headed for an osteopath to make sure she was okay for the rest of the day, being New Years Eve. It obviously helped and she was damned she would miss the fireworks! So by midday we headed to Mrs Macquaries Chair - a park by the botanical gardens, and joined a queue of 20,000 to get in for the best view of the fireworks - sorry, the best free view of the fireworks. With picnic in hand, we nearly fell over in disbelief at the queue, we couldnt find the end. We have photos to show! Having waited for five hours, we got in, then found a spot big enough for our two tiny bums and sat and waited with a clear view of the opera house and bridge until middnight. It was good. No actually it was amazing. I havent seen fireworks like it. I know i was in Norwich for the millenium and obviously that was fantastic (no it wasnt, im being sarcastic again!) but Sydney was stunning. I filmed it and fingers crossed it worked.
Last day in Sydney, day at the beach with Al and his children. Despite makign one cry, I think it went well. They seemed entertained by burying my feet, and playing with rocks so it was all good. Then Penny, Jan , sam and I rounded off the 10 days with a meal at Ripples in Milsons Point right under the Bridge. It was fantastic. it showed me what a fab city Sydney is but despite my fab time there , its not for me. Penny threatened to lock us in a cupboard but didnt. Phew!
We are now in Byron Bay and I shall tell you all about that another time. Ive bored myself so god knows how whoever is reading this feels!!!!
so thats all for now.
PS its cloudy and looking like rain, drought, yeah right!!!
x
written by  Sarah Coles on January 2, 2009 from Sydney, Australia

Byron Bay to Brisbane
Brisbane, Australia
so ive not left the gap between entries so long this time, possibly as theres not too much to say and even less to do in Brisbane!!!
Starting with Byron Bay, after 15 hour bus journey we arrived. late at night and possibly tired and not in the best state of minds to walk onto a street that resembled Norwich's prince of wales road at 2am on a Friday night!!! i felt old and sober!!! there were teens everywhere, drunk, crying, hitting each other and one boy laying on the floor with his trousers round his ankles finding it all hilarious!! trust me, any girl that saw that would find it anything but hilarious, disappointing springs to my mind!!!!
Sam and I headed for our prebooked backpackers, called Byron Bay Backpackers resort. Resort - ummmh possibly if in Ibiza San Antonia!!!! noise, drunkedness and youths everywhere - im 36 and i know it!!! we had a 6 bed dorm, we walked into a tip! it was shared with 4 guys who looked liked they had moved in, thrown everything out of their bags and just walked away. Thankfully, after a tip from my friend Al regarding an incident a friend of his had when he was in a lower bunk (top bunk occupant drunk, didnt bother going to the toilet and p"d all over him), we were left with the top bunks! after clearing their shit (not literally) off the beds, Sam hobbled onto hers (bad back!!) and i clambered onto mine and we looked at each other, both thinking, what the F....!!! it wasnt a pretty room, it was aroom that looked like the occupants would be drunk, noisy and probably snorers!!! unfortunately we were right. I was awoken to guitar playing (not good either), laughter, lights on and off and then finally snoring!!! and it wasnt me snoring!!
The next day, Sam and I agreed we should run for our over 30 lives and get a nicer place. So we did. Walking under the grey rain filled clouds, we headed to the Midreef BP lodge. We paid over the odds for a twin room, with tv and no drunks!! it was like a palace. At that point we realised, there comes a time to admit that you arent a teenager any more. With facepacks on, dvd on tv, we sat and chilled!!! heaven. We had prior to that spent several hours in the local movie theatre (they still call them that here!) and watched a gorgeous Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button. (that sounds wrong but I cant remember the whole title of the film). Good film, worth watching. however f'in expensive, cost more to go there than to Norwich cinema!!! who said Oz was cheap!! i also bought a mars bar that cost me $3, not english chocolate but at that price, I ate it all!!!
I tried to fight against my age the following day by hiring a bodyboard and heading for the waves!!! sounds good!! well having admired the surfers and the ease they made it look, i thought, why not!! It was fun, I cant deny it but I spent most of the time trying to rescue my bikini top and bottoms from the waves! once on the board I then skimmed along with the other bodyboarders all aged 14 and under!!! so what! it was good. I shall keep practicing. Just have to now wait for the water to get out of my ears!!
after another relaxing night, this time watching Casino Royale!
After another 3 hours on a bus we left the joys of Byron Bay and headed for Brisbane. Bunk Beds again!!! oh well, you get what you pay for!!! We then headed for our walking tour of Brisbane, 1 hour later, Brisbane was done!!! not much to see here. as we have another day tomorrow, not sure what we shall do. possibly head for the overpriced Steve Irwin zoo where for more money we can get our photos with the dead man himself, weird but possibly may have to be done!!!! next stop, Hervy Bay and Fraser Island.
written by  Sarah Coles on January 4, 2009 from Brisbane, Australia

Hervey Bay to Cairns
Cairns, Australia
Cant believe I havent written anything since arriving in Hervey Bay, although i churned out enough rubbish so probably good to have a rest! well the reason I havent written is basically not too much to say really. As some of you may have guessed from tones of messages and previous blogs not really loving Australia as much as South Africa. Dont know why, lack of culture maybe and no, not even now seeing the Aborigines is helping probably because the ones i have met are sadly all drunks and looking the worse for wear due to the europeans introduction of alcohol last century!! nice! Hervey Bay was a nice little town, with lots of homes that looked the same, again a bit Stepford wifey but the main reason was to leave there and head across from the marina to the infamous Fraser Island. This is the largest Sand Rainforest Island in the world. It was cool, until we got the YHA and were told that if we wanted to see it we had to hire a 4x4. No problems, well yes, they didnt have any. So what about tours - as offered by the YHA? no - they didnt do tours! okay, so we were in a remote island, very large island, with no transport, so nothing to see!!! not good. Sam and I looked at each other and went to the bar! Thankfully we met a barman who kindly gave us free drinks - that helped. He gave us free internet - that helped and we found Scrabble!!! it is a life saver, although I have to play the world champion - aka Sam! damn!!! the poor barman - Heath (and no he didnt look like Mr Ledger in any of his films!), felt so sorry for us, he came and told us he had sorted out a 4x4 for us to hire (at discount!). WE love Heath! so the next day, we jumped in just like Thelma and Louise and went burning rubber up and down the sandunes and beaches. It was awesome, despite - yes youve guessed it - the lovely aussie weather (RAIN!). it was really cool and we saw a couple of dingos! cant be bad. thank god for Heath.
So we started to love Fraser Island until we met our room mate!! this time it wasnt a smelly boy or snoring person, it was a F##**n huge spider. My worst nightmare. Sams worst nightmare. It became even worse when seeing the other girls screaming on their beds clearly not going to do anything about it - other than throw things to make it run towards me and our beds - and then realisng Sam was stuck in the bathroom (apparently naked standing on the toilet when she saw the legs of the F####er going under the door). So we either stayed in the rooms for ever or I had to get it out. When did i become Mum!!!! crap. My book didnt work. It missed - i know, youd think with something that big (size of my hand) id hit it - well i clearly throw like a girl or you could say, pee like a boy - i missed! nothing else to throw at it. So the girls, made me walk past it (yes spiders can jump and chase me so i was petrified) and collect the very thing I needed - the bible!!! Threw it, i missed. Bastard! but this time it decided to run at me and into my room under a blanket on the floor by sams bag. not good. so the bible was thrown repeatedly at the blanket. I grabbed the blanket and ran out side dragging it and stunned spider onto the ground. job done. my worst moment, well a bit of an exaggeration but very nearly!!!! yuk!!!!! first and last time i hope. that was horrible. Fraser island - done!!
next stop - overnight bus to Airlie Beach - the gateway to Paradise apparently. Paradise being the Whitsunday Islands. My dream, we had a sail boat organised for 2 days and 2 nights. Id never been on a sail boat. Blue Seas, blue skys, hot crew, sailing round the islands..... you can see where my heads at!!! You think - - no bastard Australian weather struck again. Cyclone. didnt pass over for 4 days. Flooding up the coast from us. We had the boat cancelled, had to find accommodation in town along with everyone else who couldnt leave the place! ended up in a cabin outside of town in the rain. no cinema, one bar opposite (well more like a betting shop with a bar) and SCRABBLE!! yay. A girl we met, Fiona, gave us her scrabble as she didnt want it. We love Fiona. I hate Sam, she still keeps winning!!! Apparently my words dont exist in the english dictionary, although we realised both of us lacked intelligence when we tried to put words down that were norfolk in spelling and so clearly wrong. Sounded right to us!!!! anyway i headed for the bar one day after a walk in the rain, found they were showing Man U v Wigan and watched Mr Emile Heskey for 90 minutes with a few beers. That put the smile back on my face. The day we were to leave was a bit better, slightly less rain and we went on a Helicopter flight over the Whitsunday islands just so we could say we had seen them. It was cool. Cant deny, i really enjoyed it.
Feeling a bit happier in that we had seen something other than rain and a scrabble board, We finally got a bus Friday, another overnighter. Overnight buses - well, they re okay. IF you dont mind not moving for 13 hours, sitting in the same position, being bashed in the back by the person behind, being bashed in the front by the person in front and watching a film thats either ODD (Golden Door - not advised) or where the driver turns the sound down so you cant hear it (Jesse James with Brad). Actually, i clearly must be chilled as it was okay. You get used to it! We arrived bruised and tired in Cairns and it was sunny. YES - please note that on 17th January 2009, the sun shone in Australia. ACtually it was shining most of the previous week elsewhere, just not where we were!
Anyway i felt much better after a day of sitting by the pool, walking round Cairns and a night at the cinema to watch Role Model (highly recommend if dry sense of humour!).
Today was possibly my best day. Dream come true - I went diving in the Great Barrier Reef. three dives, loads of fish and coral. Photos i took to follow on Facebook at some point. But, it wasnt the diving that made my day, it was in one way, but today I met Robson Green. YES! it was actually him. He is filming a fishing programme (yeah thats not soooo cool) all around the world. I had to walk past him to get to the boat and he chatted very briefly as I walked past. Then I decided i had to do it - so with camera in hand I apologised as it was obviously imposing but could i have his picture. He came over to me, gave me a kiss on each cheek (Face (: ) and a hug and said of course but wouldnt i prefer it if i were in it. Well actually no as I take hideous photos, but not to be rude i said of course. So photo of me and Robson Green. We had another chat about his work, how he was finding it and he asked my name (not number :( ) and i walked away from him. Hes so nice. So when you see a programme with Robson Green going fishing around the world, when it shows Cairns, think of me!!!!
next stop Ayers Rock. Harley Davidson awaiting me!
Sarah x
written by  Sarah Coles on January 17, 2009 from Cairns, Australia

Uluru to Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia
I have had a fantastic last few weeks in Australia, which is good on the basis the middle part was pretty pants, mainly due to the weather. Just one of those things. As you will have guessed however, the rain followed us to Ayers Rock (Uluru) - just the one shower - but to be honest it wasnt minded. It rarely rains there so it was pretty amazing actually. As for Uluru, it was beautiful. I witnessed two sunsets and one sunrise and they were stunning skys. The first sunset was surrounded by 30 other buses and a few hundred people i suppose but once you look at the sun setting and the colours taking hold of Uluru, you forget all that and its amazing. The following sunset was probably my favourite, the colours lit the rock and i rode there on a Harley which is possibly the closest I shall ever get to a little dream I had of touring round Australia on the back of a motorbike so it was pretty sweet, plus I had champagne which helps!! I also watched it surrounded by half a dozen cars and a handful of people which made it a bit more special. the sunrise was good but nothing like sunrise and if anyone had a choice, id suggest sunset - plus it means you dont have to get up at a ridiculous hour ie 4am!!! How did I manage that - im not actually sure, especially as in our wisdom we had booked to do a tour of Kata Tjuta or the Olgas as they were called which included a 4 hour walk through them, over them, up them, down them etc. It was stunning. It was hot. We were bothered constantly by flies and my arm was like a constant windscreen wiper going to get rid of them. However, it was stunning. It was peaceful, beautiful and possibily better than Uluru, in my opinion. Needless to say i slept all afternoon!!
After Uluru, i headed to Melbourne, changing planes at Alice Springs so got a glimpse of the Flying Doctors service. Melbourne is wicked. I really like it. It has a good buzz to it without being pretenscious or busy. We went to the open tennis for the day and that was the first time id seen live tennis at that level and I have to say I loved it. Cant believe I stopped watching it a few years back so was unfamiliar with a few of the lesser knowns but the atmosphere was cool. We went prepared for sitting in the sun all day, but probably going back to Sarahs poor luck with tickets we were in the shade. I say poor luck, probably not looking at the way some of the people had roasted! Plus we did sneak round to different seats - it looked a bit like musical chairs for a while.
Today was rounded off with a mooch about the city, which was fantastic, alot of very nice spots here and then, yes, it had to be done, a Ramsey Street tour. Apparently its only the brits who do this - cant believe it!!! i had considered the Ramsey night quiz and karaoke with Karl Kennedy and his Band but sadly its only on Mondays - boo!!! got to meet michelle sully and went round the studios and of course Ramsey Street! cheese but i loved it! Tomorrow Sydney then New Zealand Monday - I cannot wait. Loving my time away and would recommend it to anyone!
x
written by  Sarah Coles on January 23, 2009 from Melbourne, Australia

New Zealand - North Island
Auckland, New Zealand
I dont even know where to start, how fantastic is New Zealand!!!! I dont want to put people off Australia, but this place is far better and thats not just because the Maori men can be rather cute!! The scenery is amazing, the people are friendly and everyone is chilled out.
I arrived in Auckland, usual bunk bed sigh and being woken constantly by backpackers who think its sensible to put every item they have into a separate carrier bag so when they need something they can rustle for hours!!! As for Auckland I thought what a cool city. Theres only 1.6m people resident in NZ, so you can imagine how quiet really Auckland is even though most people live there, but it has loads of city stuff and the obvious irish bars!!! Its pretty, the museum was fantastic and im not really one for museums all the time but this was worth the visit. Firstly it meant I had to get the bus and passed through the quaint part of Auckland, called Parnell - very old english in style with lawn tennis clubs!! The museum was only $5 to get in so that was a welcome relief after Australia, now named by me - the most expensive place where men have mullets still, in the world!!! They have loads of maori carvings and items of history, with great info on the history of NZ through to modern day. They have a house which you can sit in, and witness an earthquake and volcanic eruption, which they say is always possible as many of the volcanos are still active here - great!!! scary, it was like being in one of those disaster films!! The skytower gave great views and of course with it being New Zealand, you can jump off it if you want to - attached to a bungy type thing obviously!! its not just for suicides!! I didnt, mainly because I wanted to save my pennies for the sky dive that i did today in Taupo which i shall come back to!!
I went up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, north of Auckland on the magic bus. We ummed and ahhed about transport and actually this was a good call. We think the alternate bus choice - the kiwi experience (or 18-25's party bus as it could be called) call us on the magic bus, the tragic bus, but who cares. We dont have to smell vomit every morning on it so thats cool!!! good mix of people but the nearer the front you sit (which i like to do so I can see more, be less travel sick and have a sort of control thing going with the driving - which remains awful!!), the freakier the people are!! that says alot for me!! mainly older ones, or very high maintenance old women from germany who dont shut up and expect the driver to organise their entire holiday. its entertaining. I ended up with old man from india who sadly had been booked into the wrong YHA in a place we werent even going to and he was very confused so I became his PA or as some including the driver said, his girlfriend - urmmmm NO!!! he was sweet enough except for the constant hacking and gobbing he did which really wasnt nice, especially before breakfast!! Had another french lady who thought i was the guide and kept asking me questions! i just made up the answers, kept her happy and me entertained.
The bus takes you from a to b, sadly despite being called magic there is no platform 9 1/2 or chimney dust that makes the journeys quicker but it doesnt matter, for you see NZ and it takes you to other places of interest in between mainly so you can have a go at trying to kill yourself in some extreme way that day from rafting to bungy! they had the helicopter bungy banned as apparently that was just too extreme - you think!!! nice bunch of people who you tend to see most of the time, by overlapping with what they are doing or just staying same sort of places for same length of time. this resulted in us actually spending quite a funny night in an irish bar, obviously with some irish people called Patrick and Patrick and other friends of ours from the bus, heather, Steve, James and Jesse and just having a laugh. I was momentarily distracted from our conversations about farts - well they were boys, so it was turned to that level, anyway i was momentarily distracted by a conversation with an american named Tyler with very lovely eyes and quite a fit bod, who had a house in Taupo, house in LA and ran his own company!! Sadly my backpacking attire, lack of hairdryer and make up didnt help my flirting! i returned to the farting conversation instead, far more my level obviously!! Anyway i digressed as usual!! First stop was Paihia which was beautiful, its part of the Bay of Islands and the sky was blue and there was no rain!! we were only there overnight and whilst meant to be there by 12, we didnt get there until 2.30 because our bus driver at that time was obsessed with stopping every half an hour for coffee!! i managed to do a 16km walk to the local waterfalls, past the Treaty area and so saw a fair bit. shattered but worth it. I had an older couple walking behind me, mid 50's and so i kept speeding up so they could walk alone and so could i, then they sped up, it ended up with me doing a run for a few km's on and off but they still caught up!! apparently they wanted to walk with me as they were worried about me doing the walk back on my own!! whereas i thought they were going to murder me! haha. that will teach me for thinking of blair witch whilst walking through the forest and mangrove swamps!
After Paihia, down to Rotorua via Auckland again. Fab place, cant actually remember what i did there. oh yeah i have remembered (this is the second attempt at this blog though which meant I had to go and look at what i did!! im old, so what!) Rotorua was nice. Had a mooch as usual, which included a bit of shopping for a pair of long trousers as only have jeans and i resisted the temptation for pretty tops, not necessary really!! i also found loreal suntan lotion which we had been looking for since SA!! anyway, of important, its a massive geothermal area, ie volcanic and you may die, so went to a geothermal spa, called Hells Gate spa. I know, why wouldnt you want to go there, its so inviting!! i expected both before and on arrival, which sorry to digress again, involved a pick up driver who toured us around the industrial area of Rotorua showing us and telling us about the pine tree industry and planting, the five girls on there were a bit dumbfounded as we were really more interested in the spa and massage but needless to say it helped the following day with information as my second role as tour guide on the magic bus with mad french lady!! back to the spa, expected there to be bikers outside and there should have been. The spa, not so relaxingly started off with an hours walk around the geothermal pools which had signs like if you throw something in it we will make you pick it up, and you will have no skin left!! it smelt and was bubbly hot stuff but actually pretty cool especially as you dont many of those around Norwich, well except in Prince of Wales rd on a Fri night or yarmouth!! after the hours walk around and millions of attempts to get actually bubbling up of bubbling hotpools, i came across Benny the maori carving man who suggested i have a go. So i had a go, my attempt to carve a symbol (of mother and child - cheap present for mum!), looked more like that of a five year old and i may be doing an injustice to five year olds but anyway, it was fun. then the spa. first of all 20 mins in a mud pool. Wasnt really sure what to do, do i put more mud on me or do I just sort of sit there, so i just did and then thought others have been in here, nearly freaking i realised it doesnt matter you are sat in a pile of mud anyway, how dirty can you be!!!! after that a lovely massage, nice end to the morning. In the evening was the Tamamaki Village night. This was superb despite our being picked up with the rest of those staying at the Base Hostel who were the Kiwi Experience people. We had to elect a chief and the guy was more julian clary than jonah lomu so we thought our chances of being scary were slightly slim!!! He sort of did the Haka in a whigfield styley!!! oh well!!! The maori evening was fantastic and that was not just because i spent most of the night perving at muscles and trying to work out what , if anything, they had under there regalia!
After that, we had a fire alarm go off at 2.46am because one of the drunken kiwi experience teens opeend the fire door!! so it was a bit like being back at uni, standing outside, next to a bar, in pjs except this time an old german man was moaning at me, about the english including me, and muttering profanities to me in german!!!
Next day, bit tired, we headed for Taupo, without the kiwi experience vomiters, and I did go through the glowworm caves at Waitoma with the old indian boy who gave me a hug and obviously thought as it was dark, it was like a date!! we were in a boat in teh caves i hasten to add otherwise i would have moved away!! We stopped at the Huka Falls, which were amazing and no way would i try to raft down that. seems no one did as death was a certainty based on the past!!! Then we arrived Taupo and the sky dive. Fantastic. no bunks this time in the hostel but beds that if they had painted wheels and a steering wheel would haev been the right size for a child!!! anyway, after an evening in the pub with the tennis and irish people plus others, we got up ready for me to do the 15000 feet sky dive. It was the best thing ever despite having the guy strapped to me - this was all legal and not bondage as Sam refered to - who thought it funny to keep laughing and saying my straps werent on right and just giving me this oh dear look, then tapping to the other guys, looking at me and my gear and just looking sorry for me - men!!!! anyway, best jump ive had - so to speak!!! i think i swore - in a good way all the way down!! not sure what to do next to top that
anyway, maybe a bungy............
written by  Sarah Coles on February 1, 2009 from Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand from Taupo, South island back to Auckland
Kaikoura, New Zealand
Apologies for the delay in posting my latest blog but i just havent had time. i have been having an absolute blast in New Zealand. I really dont know where the five weeks have gone. I havent stopped and yes I am even more shattered than before so Fiji will be very welcome.
New Zealand is amazing. I have travelled round alot of the north island and even more of the south island and i love it all. I have lost track of what i have seen, where i have been but i know i havent hated one single minute. Wellington is a lovely city. I arrived there on the day before the Rugby 7's so was welcomed with a parade (just for me!) of all the rugby teams and even though i didnt know any of the players, they all looked very fit and hot!!! It was Waitangi Day which is the treaty bank holiday so Wellington was buzzing. It was hot and i sat by the harbour and took the world in. My first thought was i could live there! but then I have had that thought about pretty much every place I have seen in New Zealand! The boat trip across the cook strait to the South Island was beautiful. Thankfully it was a very calm sea that day and I got to enjoy the views from the top. I cant even describe it, it was just beautiful. Nelson was a lovely town. I stayed in the Paradiso (kept calling it the guesthouse paradiso but it wasnt). I treated myself to a single room so I could get a few nights uninterupted sleep. However I was still surprised to see that they could make a double bed into a double bunk bed! never mind it was all mine and I only bumped my head once, well maybe twice!! The main purpose of staying in Nelson isnt so much Nelson itself, which is a nice town with a nice beach area and nice shops and some fun bars, but to go and visit the area known as Abel Tasman. Its a stunning mix of forests, cliff edge walks and beautiful white sand beaches. I opted for a day trip there, which meant a boat trip - lovely - followed by a 4 hour walk along the coastline. it was just stunning. made more so by the 2 hour sit on the beach and swim in the sea half way round. Anyone who misses out Nelson and Abel Tasman misses out one of the best places ive ever seen.
I then headed to Greymouth which really is a nothing place except that the hostel we stayed in was called Noahs Ark and there are themed rooms. Everyone wanted the monkey room, a friend got the Zebra room, another the Pig Room, I ended up in the Kiwi room - one girl said that its no even an animal! I explained that it was the national bird of New Zealand so was quite a cool room to be in!!! The room was green with pictures of Kiwi jumping out of planes and driving etc on the walls. Its tacky but fun!!!
After Greymouth came Franz Josef. Despite the bad weather i was lucky enough to get on the Helihike up the top of the glacier so saw the blue ice, climbed through cracks in the ice, down into tunnels that had developed and basically got very wet and cold. it was amazing. As there was little else to do though I went quad biking for the first time in 20 odd years, it was hysterical especially with one of my friends Joe, showing off doing spins and twists, only to get stuck in mud!!!
Then onto Lake Wanaka where the six of us, Myself, Heather, Henrike, James, Steve and Erik, booked into a hotel where we got two triple rooms for the price of a dorm bed, but with the luxury of towels, fridge, tv, bath - yes a bath!!!!!! heaven. Wanaka is small, sweet, nice Lake, good walks but i shall remember it for an evening in an irish bar (obviously) playing Jenga. Absolutely cracking night ending up in the Mint bar having bumped into guys who had stolen a fence post from a local church for a photo op - they put it back! They were Kiwi Experience bus people, obviusly!!
then came Queenstown, probably the best place in New Zealand. I was a bit unsure at first as its called the party capital of NZ and at my age my partying days are done (dont laugh its true......!) \As we crossed mountains and past by lakes, we turned a corner and just could see over Queenstown. It took my breath away. it was in such a beautiful area. Its an alpine type place but by a lake. A few of us spent the afternoon with a cold beer by the waterfront basked in sunshine. It was lovely. Sadly the drinking carried on into the evening - well about 5am! It was a random night with lots of laughs and again one for the memory box! The saturday morning wasnt so great, slight headache and tiredness, so Heather and I headed to the top of the gondola and watched the people going down the luge track, jumping off the bungy ledge (which at that point i was calling them nutters) and paragliding.
There must have been something about the freshair there, or the Fergburgers (which have to be the best burgers in the world ever - official!), but Sunday morning I woke up, and decided today ws the day. I walked into the booking office and asked to do the bungy. I wanted to do the Nevis (134m drop) but it was full. I asked about the bridge - also full. Only one was the Ledge. Crazy. I dont think so, its off the mountain and has rocks and trees all around it. So i went hangliding. For 20 minutes I actually thought I was a bird. It was sensational. But it wasnt enough for my adrenalin mood. Back to the office, book me on the bungy then!!! 10 minutes later, I walked up to the Ledge Bungy overlooking Queenstown, handed them my ticket, got weighed, got strapped off and ran off the edge. There is a DVD, i swear alot in it. I apologise for those who ever see it! I didnt think about it all. I didnt look down, that would have been stupid. I have to say running off the edge of a ledge into nothing is the weirdest sensation ever, scary as hell but extremely exhilarting and peaceful all in one! i think my brain shut down from sensory overload as I dont recall too much other than getting my face whipped by the rope leaving a black eye! I would do another one any day of the week. It was amazing. Adrenalin rush over!!! So off I went to Glenorchy for a nice horsetrek seeing random vague sights from the Lord of the Rings film.
the following day was a trip to Milford Sound. Its a fjord. The bus took 5 hours and for the whole five hours the bus driver had his mike on and said absolutely every single thought that came into his head. I thought I was bad at wittering on but this guy was the master!!! At one point the few of us that had realised he was clearly crazy, were laughing so much tears rolled down our faces, particularly when one guy Neal was guessing the end of the drivers sentences and got one of them right!!! THe driver not only pointed out the mountains, the rivers etc, he told us of the two men in the Yute on the RHS who had either been fishing or were going fishing! That there were lots of weather conditions that hit this area including - sun, rain, ice, snow, warm, hot, sleet, frost, - you get the picture. We also had a man mowing his lawn pointed out!! It was factually fascinating as you can imagine. Having nearly peed my pants with laughter, i thought I couldnt possibly do this on the way back for another 5 hours so opted to fly back over the mountains and fjords which took 40 mins and a massive dent in the credit card! it was worth it. The boat trip through the Sound was beautiful. The flight back was beautiful. See pictures, words cannot describe! even better go yourself!
I was sad to leave Queenstown as it was also the time i left some good friends I had made. i have no doubt I shall see them again though. I was even sadder as its the only place I have been asked for ID and seriously had to show it!!! Must be something in the water there that makes me feel young!
After queenstown came Dunedin, a small town just like one in Scotland. It had a town clock which struck and this was the first time ive thought of home properly. There was a cadburys choc factory but i couldnt go, its not proper english cadburys so whats the point!! i shall save myself for the one in the UK!! AFter Dunedin was Lake Tekapo which is pretty. The weather was lovely again so despite freezing water i managed a swim in the glacial lake followed by a couple of hours drying off on the beach. the evening was beautiful and spent skimming stones with Neal who nearly killed a duck!! harsh!!!
Then onto Christchurch. Even more like home. I thought of Cambridge but its supposed to replicate Oxford. Very pretty, not alot to do though. I took the Tram, with stops of no more than 2 minutes apart, I felt so lazy!! the weather sadly was also english so an afternoon at the cinema was required where I watched the film, "hes just not that into you", a film every woman ought to watch.
Now im in Kaikoura ready to cross to Wellington back to Auckland. Yesterday I went whale watching and saw sperm whales. OMG they are massive. Today was a dream day, i got to swim with dolphins again. Only this time there were over 100, one touched my arm as it swam past me, looking at me. others went ruond in circles, underneath, overhead. It was unbelievable. I couldnt breathe. The guys on the boat who do this everyday have to have the best job in the world. I wanted to stay in the water all day with the dolphins. It was unbelievable. Once again Ive been so lucky. I dont even know how to appreciate everything ive done, seen, or the people ive met. All i know is i dont want it to end!
written by  Sarah Coles on February 23, 2009 from Kaikoura, New Zealand

The wonders of Fiji
Suva, Fiji
So after a very hectic five weeks of travelling around New Zealand (and when I say hectic, obviously its not like being at work - thank god!), i headed for some much needed r&r in Fiji. However, as with all the rest of the places ive been, budget was useless - dont ever suggest I go into accountancy or anything where figures matter!!!
I arrived in Nadi airport to the Bula welcome, five lovely fijian men in their sulus (sarongs - ala david beckham) playing their guitars. Overnight in the Nadi Bay resort hostel (they call these places resorts - they really arent anything more than a few rooms and maybe a restaurant - please dont go thinking i was in a proper holiday "resort"!)
didnt sleep as was in the hottest dorm ever with a fan that really did no more than make a noise rather than produce any air plus I was so worried about getting bitten by mosquitos having had more than my fair share in NZ! Sadly whilst it was a nice break, it didnt stop the early mornings. I had to be up at 6 am to get the Yasawa Flyer boat. As with all things in 3rd world countries and yes Fiji is one of them, even more so after the cyclone destruction earlier in the year, i didnt expect too much in the way of organisation and I was right. Ive learnt not to expect anything over my time travelling then im never disappointed and always surprised! My tickets for the boat etc hadnt arrived with the team at the boat but nevertheless I got on heading towards my first stop Bounty Island. It was lovely. Small - you can walk round it in 10 minutes at a slow pace! white sand and turquoise blue sea. I treated myself to a Bure (bungalow) as after so many nights in dorms i really couldnt face another especially as I was still hacking badly from the cold I picked up in NZ. I was so pleased when I walked in not to see a bunk bed facing me!!! what a relief! it was right on the beach with a hammock (which I attempted once and you can probably guess how that went!!). I then found out that Bounty Island was the place that they filmed Celebrity Love Island - the one when Jane Middlemass went to pieces over Lee Sharp and Michael Greco was in that too. Well, I was over the moon!! I was walking the very same sand that they had!! quality.
Now you may think that I headed straight onto the sand and laid down for the next three days - you would be wrong. THe first thing I did was watch a lovely man climb a coconut tree and bring me a fresh coconut to drink and eat! heaven!
He did ask if I wanted a go but even if the plan of losing much weight whilst travelling had happened, it still wasnt going to happen - me climbe a tree with just a knife - urm!
After that I did lay down, by the pool overlooking the sea. Apart from a couple of fabulous dives including a shipwreck dive, i stayed lying down for the next 2 days moving for meals - with breakfast still at some ridiculously early time of 8.30am!
AFter Bounty came Octopus Resort on Waya Island. This was further up the Yasawa group of islands and meant a lovely couple of hours on the boat and loads of picture taking of all the islands i passed. Having decided that my budget was rubbish anyway, I decided to blow it even more with another lovely bure! what the hell you only live once! This one had a fantastic outside shower so I could shower and look at the stars at the same time!
This place was top quality! THe food sadly was amazing, the beach just as good and I met some fab people there which thankfully meant that when I wanted to go snorkelling, being the scaredy cat of this that I am, I didnt have to go alone! This was good as we found a leopard shark and some other rather big fish. Now I know you will say, but you dive sarah, how can you be scared of snorkelling - its not the same! im shark food on top of the water and as these islands are so quiet, often I could be the only person in the sea at that time!! you see - its all very reasonable!
Anyway, went for a couple of more dives at some awesome sites. Saw Sharks, turtles, moray eels and the best coral ive ever seen.
The evenings included hermit crab racing - in which I came 3rd! wow! lucky I picked that one! although I sadly couldnt hold the crab to put it in the bucket before the race, eek it may have bitten me! anyway, i was obviously having a girlie moment.
I also visited the village and went to the church service on the sunday. It was lovely. Well, the singing was lovely and meeting the people was lovely. I have no idea what was said and the preaching included quite a bit of shouting, but the singing was lovely. The kids if they didnt behave got a wack of a stick from an old man, which seemed to sort them out - dont worry no one got hurt! We walked to the village passing loads of cute pigs and piglets only to remember we had ribs the night before!!!
I was sad to leave this place, made some good friends and it was beautiful but I moved on to Oarsman Bay on Nacula. This was supposed to be one of the nicest places/beaches per the Lonely Planet. I arrived with a couple of others to no Bula welcome, unlike the other places and a staff meeting in which some of the staff got the sack as Fiji has been so quiet tourist wise since the floods. The chief (who spent all day everyday drinking Kava) owns the resort and clearly people werent happy. The food was edible, just although got better after a few days and maybe I had been too aware of how good the food was at Octopus! Clearly things werent right and I thought someone had died at one point as the atmosphere was so ghostly! I sat with two girls chatting and having a drink on the 3rd night when all the lights were turned off and the staff took our drinks. I wouldnt have minded if it was 11 or 12 at night, but it was 9pm!! thank god I brought some books to read!!Anyway, it was hot, it wasnt england and it was lovely so I cant complain.
I did three more dives which included more sharks. The final dive I did there was a shark dive. It meant feeding the sharks to get them to come to the coral. I had a moral dilemma about going as this is wrong. Its against nature and one day the sharks will realise whats going on! BUT i have done 24 dives and seen a handful of sharks so I went. I shall punish myself later! It was amazing. 2-4 metre sharks swimming about. Wasnt quite so amazing when I looked to my left hand side (being on the end of the spectator row next to the massive coral reef) to see a Big Moray Eel opening its mouth looking at me just 5 cm from my head!!! And yes you can scream underwater. And yes I didnt know i could swim quite so quickly!!!!
Whilst on Nacula i went to visit another village which included my badly bartering with the women for souvenirs - I had to buy off each woman as I felt bad for them, they have so little! We headed to the school where class 10 sang several songs including the best rendition of Kum By Yar ive ever seen. I couldnt stop laughing with their actions. It was fantastic.
So after 10 days on the islands, I headed back sadly to Nadi only to be greeted with a thunderstorm and torrential rains soaking our bags and all our clothes! i have to admit I couldnt help but feel smug I was leaving rather than going! Id had lovely weather and a fab time. I have to go back there some day and see more islands and do more diving!
So now im in Singapore before I head to Vietnam!
Im sort of liking this travelling.......
written by  Sarah Coles on March 16, 2009 from Suva, Fiji

A few days in Singapore
Singapore, Singapore
Sad as I was to leave Fiji, i think I maybe left just in time. My last day there was wet beyond belief but as I was just getting back to the mainland it didnt really matter. So I headed off to Singapore. I went with ideas of english women drinking tea and men smoking pipes - too much Tenko for me! Actually though whilst some of the colonial buildings thankfully still exist, its very much an asian country with many people all of whom have no idea about space! I was far too british, queuing, waiting, taking time - NO - there is no time, you have to push and rush even if at times its not necessary. I gained a few bruises , one very memorable one from an old lady who I kept literally running into on Sentosa Island. I stood paying for a ticket to do some weird and wonderful viewing on the island (its a very odd place) and as soon as I had my ticket just in my hand she elbowed me out of the way! brilliant! I may have sworn, i know I should respect my elders but what a .....! anyway it was actually funny. I hadnt realised how slow my pace of life had been since Africa and it was actually refreshing to see a bit of hustle and bustle - and to be honest, Singapore is probably one of the least hustly bustly places in Asia! (I know this as I recall from previous travels AND my first minutes in Vietnam! but thats another blog!)
I stayed in Singapore for 5 days which was more than enough but was necessary as I had to get my visa for Vietnam. This entailed visting this dodgy little room in a media building that had no indication at all that it was anything but some sort of export company but it was the right place. i dutifully or stupidly left my passport with the very old man behind the desk, who looked anything between 50 and 200 years old, got a receipt that basically could have been for anything, paid my dollars and was told to come back 1.30pm four days time! oh well. you have to trust people sometimes. Thankfully four days later, it was with a visa that looks like it could have been cut out of a comic.
during the four days of waiting I think I walked every road in Singapore and its outskirts. This was much to the horror of local people who, if i asked for the odd direction, would always say - to walk, no no no its very very far - and ignoring their advice, I would find it was five minutes down the road! I used the MRT (subway) a few times, just for fun, but found walking down the steps was further than the actual walk to the next stop!
I think the nicest moments I had there, and all were interesting, but the nicest was one morning I headed out to a Monastery/temple about 40 minutes outside of Singapore centre. I was the only western visitor and it was quite stunning. Built 100 years ago, there were forests around it, now just high rise housing complexes. I was invited to join the retreat that was happening but thought probably best not, i had a minor fear I may be required to shave my head and wear orange which isnt my best colour :)
it was a very peaceful place though and it was nice to sit and chat with the monks about their work, the burial ceremonies that were taking place and a bit of life generally.
I then headed back to the masses, having a drink and bite to eat on the MRT as I went, only to realise there was a massive fine for eating or drinking on it and no wonder people were looking at me! I thought it was my natural beauty (or possibly red sweaty face and lanky hair) that was making them look!
The other moment was sitting in RAffles. It was like going back in time. Ive been to colonial hotels before, particularly in Sri Lanka so am used to the way the staff act etc but what a stunning place. I sat with my singapore sling listening to a woman singing a bit of Ella Fitzgerald and it was lovely. my only moment of sadness, i was there alone with no one to dance with but to be honest, once I had that romantic notion it soon went, who am I kidding , I cant dance anyway!
other than that not much to say about Singapore. Sentosa Island is a man made and still being made holiday island where you can get a cable car across to, go on stupid rides that arent fun, go to a man made beach that is looking over 100's of ships in the dirty harbour ocean. ALthough I did go and see the dolphin show. COmpletely against all i believe in with regards to animals in captivity, and I kept willing the dolphins to just jump over the boundary and swim out to see, but then thinking about it they were probably safer there. The show itself was nothing spectacular, and couldnt even compare in one second to my experiences in Mozambique and Kaikoura when the dolphins swam with us by choice, jumped out of the water and spun about by choice, but they are dolphins and they are still beautiful. So when the opportunity came to stroke one of them, I couldnt refuse. It may never happen again. I cried. sad I know but I cried, stunning mammals. I wont go to one of those shows again though. Swimming with them in the wild is for me!
So thats singapore, I didnt shop, despite the hundreds of malls they have - i ate on the backstreets with the locals, I walked rather than use any form of transport so didnt really do it the tourist way and it was better for it. my next stop Vietnam! Im writing this blog from there now, what a place!
written by  Sarah Coles on March 27, 2009 from Singapore, Singapore

Vietnam, the land of mopeds!
Hanoi, Vietnam
Vietnam, what made me come here? Well probably as a result of watching too many war films with dad when I was younger, the desire to hear the sound of a helicopter going across paddy fields (cos that would happen obviously!) and just because somewhere in my stomach, it was a place that I was drawn too and it didnt disappoint!
I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (saigon) having spent a lovely flight, with leg room, next to a business man James (not the James that follows later) who wanted to make sure I would arrive safely at my chosen guesthouse. I stupidly (as it later comes to light) declined his kind offer - well I was brought up never to go anywhere with strange men - hah! Anyway, having found a cashpoint, realised I was a Viet millionaire now, i finally jumped in a cab and asked for it to be on the meter as per James advice. yes no problem, well until we start driving, no meter no work!! bloody brilliant. I said stop I shall get another. no no fine, we agree price. He gets his english speaking buddy on the phone, i agree 50,000 dong, pretty good. Haha, welcome to Vietnam, as the meter strangely starts working!! I just sat in the back and laughed. By this time, we are winding slowly round millions of mopeds. I dont think Ive seen so many mopeds in my life, in one place. All tooting, all going in different directions, no traffic lights but strangely, despite the chaos, it works!! This keeps surprising me all through Vietnam, the chaos works. rules of the road are not required. the only rule is beep your horn and you can go in any direction you like, threw any gap you like, regardless of anything else!! we finally made it into the city centre. I have my map poised which was a good thing as he decided to do a sight seeing tour - no no, just hotel, i say!! haha, no, after going round the same three streets 3 times, I say, no no you have been here many times, stop now! this makes him realise Im not totally stupid (just partially) and we finally end up in road opposite the alleyway to my hotel. 15 dollars it cost in the end!! thats many times more than the price agreed but as I later find out not that bad based on other travellers stories of their first taxi ride including my mate James (from NZ who i meet up with) who paid double that!!
The guesthouse (Vy Khanh) is a small quaint little place down a smaller quaint little alley and I think, hello Vietnam, im here!! nice place, nice people. I then decide to have a wander about. It takes me a while to get the courage to cross the roads, you have to simply look at the point you want to get to, make sure theres nothing bigger than a moped coming and then go!! The rules are a bit like paper rock scissors - pedestrian is bottom of the pile, then cycle, then moped, then car, then bus, then lorry. The problems start when lorry meets lorry or when car thinks its bigger than it is, who gives way - hahaha, no one - the road just gets wider, paths are used, whatever is used. I shall explain more when I talk about going to the mountains!
Anyway, afater a few attempts at the roads, I become immune to the noise and threats of imminent death and just keep thinking, they have to avoid me! simple!
Exhausted, I sit and decide to watch the world go by with a tiger beer. Sound tip for travelling here, sit and watch with a beer!! Within minutes, I have offers of moped trips, books for sale, tissues for sale, more books, more tissues, cigarettes, fans, you name it, people come up and want you to buy it. Its easy I think, ive handled this before in Africa and other asian countries, just be polite and say no. They know this though so produce a top trump - a young child asking you to buy it! they stand right by you, with big brown eyes pleading in their dirty clothes. Its not fair!!! okay so I ended up with two books, two tissue packs and some gum. Not bad, i could have come off far worse but at least ive bartered with them - they may be kids but im still not getting totally ripped off. Unlike James - within hours of me landing the poor guy is clearly in need of assistance. James and I met as friends in NZ and he heard I was coming over to vietnam. He had arrived the day before and had never been anywhere like it before. We met and i havent laughed so much in ages. He has basically been ripped off more in 24 hours than I wish to be in Vietnam in the whole time here - and indeed he carried on being ripped off. We went to the markets and I was like a jedi knight in his ear offering advice on prices etc as I was going to pee myself laughing so much if I just left him to their callous ways! It sort of worked. when I was with him and he paid for things it was okay, not a bad price. Left on his own, disaster. He'd buy a drink off the side street stalls, Id go and get one and i'd end up paying half of what he did!! brilliant!
ANyway, after a few days in HoChi Minh and me laughing way too much for my own good. We headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels for a day of vietcong. It was brilliant. The video we were given to watch before heading to the tunnel area in the jungly bit was just hysterical. I know it shouldnt have been and indeed not everyone was laughing. But how are you suposed to react when they have commentary over the war clips such as "but for the american evil devils, this young sweet innocent farm girl would not have had to shoot so many american devils" . All true probably but so funny. anyway, having tried not to laugh, we headed to the tunnels. Deep breaths, god they ware small. Made bigger for tourists. They demonstrate the original size with a vietcong man getting in and out of the hole in the ground. I could have had a go but it was evident just from looking my feet wouldnt get in let alone my hips and arse!! Id have been winnie the pooh stuck in the honey pot! The other tunnels were bigger but still small and after the first attempt where I did a girlie eek and ran out, I went back and made it 30 metres out of the 100 of that i am proud. It was so claustrophobic it was unbelievable. Thankfully my tensions were relieved by shooting an AK47, some people were dubious. Not me! Couldnt wait. It was fantastic. The target was demolished. I did get some crap in my eye and burnt my finger off the gun, but what can you expect with 30 year old pieces of equipment! Having seen my shoot, a Finnish girl Anna took the opportunity to do the same. We spent the evening chatting and it then came about she had dated Sammy Hyppia - maybe maybe not but it was a good night.
After Ho Chi Minh/Cu Chi tunnels James and I decided we may as well travel together for a bit as we were going in teh same direction and it would save costs. We opted initially for the bus to Mui Ne. This is a small beach area with lots of kite surfing. Nice but I'd just been to Fiji and was off to bali so sunbathing strangely for me wasnt at the top of my agenda. I got on a moped and headed up to the local village for a walk about the market and a look at the fishing village. The kitesurfing was amazing to watch and I would have had a go but the winds were too strong - oh well, maybe another time!
After Mui Ne we headed to Dalat in the mountains. The bus journey was hairy to say the least. The roads were non existant in places, and traffic doesnt stay in the correct side of the road. Overtaking was the best. I have never heard so many swear words from James in my life! Going round the hairpin bends up the mountains and overtaking on the bend without seeing whats coming - you dont need to - just beep and its fine - NOT! Lorrys coming towards us, lorries with cars overtaking them coming towards us. at some points, and this applied to all bus journeys, there were 6 lanes of traffic on a one lane road! how does that work. It does, well except the bus that crashed down the side of the mountain killing all 10 russian tourists!
Dalat was a strange place. Described in the books as an Alpine village. It is a bit, well its up a mountain and has french influences - always odd I think to see a vietnamese man wearing a beret! anyway, many people go there from Vietnam to honeymoon. Its nice but not that nice. I suppose again showing how different a communist country is from home.
As i was only going to spend a couple of nights here, I decided to do a day tour around as the thought of a moped didnt thrill me - more chaos but with hairpin roads!! James and I did a day tour. The tour was with vietnamese people so our views of the places visited differed from theres. They were so overexcited especially with the Valley of Love!! Its a place to go to where you can see great scenery and have photos of the valleys. Well yes so long as you dont mind neon signs with love flashing, or big hearts, or cartoon characters in the pics its okay! However this was the place I first experienced fame! we sat on a bench, thinking what the .... and loads of vietnamese school kids came up for photos with us!!! I couldnt understand it at first, then realised its no different to me taking pics of them! Its quite simply we are a novelty and are different and they love it, just as we do! This became even more apparent in Mai Chau in the mountains of the north where I watched some traditional dancing with locals and all they wanted to do was take my picture!! brilliant!
After Dalat, we headed (James decided to come with me as he was still being ripped off) to Nha Trang another beach place but with some old temples worth seeing. Another hairy bus journey but we arrived safe and sound if not a bit battered and bruised. I must add throughout all this, when stopping anywhere, everyone had been so friendly. I was asked to sit and drink with locals, we chatted to them, they were lovely.
Nha Trang was okay. big beach resort with high rise hotels. Not my thing. I had a wonder and persuaded James to go and see the main temple. It was hot but a fantastic morning. More pics with people and me.
Then from there to Hoi An which had to be my favourite place after Saigon. It was small town with little roads, few mopeds (well still alot but less than anywhere else) and despite having arrived at 7am after 12 hour overnight bus journey which included a pit stop in a cockroach infested cafe and even worse (but necssary) squat toilets, it was a great place. We tried a few places to stay but they were full and in the end opted for the hop on a moped with the bags option and get taken to some randomn place. To be fair, this random hotel was actually fab. $20 for a plush hotel with massive pool! not bad! Hoi An is the place for getting clothes made and having had most of mine trashed by now, or become too big (not from weight loss though more likely stretching) i had a couple of dresses made, one skirt and a pair of trousers for about $30. not bad. They arent brilliant but they will do for now. Leaving James to get more sleep I headed out on the bicycle around the town, out into the paddy fields and off on a mini adventure. During that time I had my fortune read, met a man with an Ox who let me stroke it and I could have sat on the Ox if I had wanted but it looked overworked as it was and I thought the last thing it needs is me sitting on it! I watched kids fishing, people working the fields and cattle. It was just lovely. One of the best days there.
Sad to leave Hoi An we headed to Hue where it rained and hasnt stopped until today. James wasnt well and I headed off into Hue for a little look around in the rain. I opted for the cyclo option and sat back whilst someone else took me about. The man cycling was telling me what had been bombed in the citadel area by the americans and that he was 3 at the time and clearly didnt like the americans. Cant blame him! It was a nice part of the city but that was all. The rain continued, and with nothing left to see we decided to get the overnight train up to Hanoi.
The train was brilliant. Well, the bunks were dirty, it was smelly and noisy but we couldnt see any traffic coming towards us, as we did in the buses, the beeping wasnt there and we could walk around. I managed to walk the length of the train and run into men carrying 100's of live blackbirds in crates, some with lids, some without, the noise and state of them was awful and i made up my mind I wouldnt be eating that night!! No other problems, train was great. loved it. kept looking out at the stops and seeing the hawkers selling things to the passengers. definitely best journey.
Hanoi was okay. Is okay I should say. We arrived 5am and headed in a taxi to the hotel I had thought sounded okay from the bible (lonely planet). We arrived and the night guard was asleep but took our bags and told us to come back at 8am! brilliant, it was pouring with rain, we were in a side street which hadnt yet woken up with rats in running around. No where was open. This is the time we wish the communists would let in 24 hour McDonalds! As I sat there on the side of the street with my rain poncho on and James smoking his way furiously threw 20 ciggies, I realised I should be upset or stressed or angry but was not at all. I just sat blank waiting. I hadnt realised before until this point how much I had changed over the years and how much I had sort of given up on things. To me sitting here in teh rain with no where to go wasnt that bad, it wasnt that important and was nothing compared to how I had felt over the last few years with things. Stupid I know, whether its a good thing or bad thing I dont know. But its how I am now. It explains alot!
It wasnt quite so great when the houses opened up, the stalls set up and fish were being battered to death, chickens cut and frogs being carried around (later to have their heads cut off) - I did have to cover my ears for a while and couldnt eat for a bit longer.
When we finally got the room about 10am in the end, wet and tired but alive, we headed for a wander and a drink. Hanoi is nice, its smaller than Saigon but just as noisy. I find it a bit more claustrophobic as the roads are smaller but its okay.
As with all places in Vietnam I realised theres not much to actually see, in terms of great temples etc, its about the people and how life is here. Its a place to sit and watch the world go by and this is what we did in the evening with our 3000 dong beers, (50p(. Its a crazy place.
For the last two days I have been to Mai Chau in the hills staying in a homestay. This is a stilt hut with a blanket on the floor and a mosquito net. Its great. I met a girl Lottie on the trip, she is 20 and was the only other person who spoke english on the tour (4 of us in total in an old army jeep). She is a fantastic person. So young but well travelled, well educated, fun and interesting. AFter cycling and walking on the first day, we found out it was the first Kings birthday celebration weekend and we were invited to a random party in the paddy fields with dancing and fires and karaoke!! They had a tv and mikes in the middle of this field and we had to sing a britany song - Lucky!!! i think it was the most surreal moment of my life. Im surrounded by vietnamese people, with communist flags, celebrating a dead kings birthday, in a field singing britany spears. Need I say more!!!
I dont think I can say more. More has happened in Vietnam and I could talk for hours bt i realise this is more than enough!!!
Im done with the mopeds and noise now and I am quite happy to lie on a beach for 17 days in Bali!
written by  Sarah Coles on April 6, 2009 from Hanoi, Vietnam

Sunny Lazy Days in Bali
Kuta, Indonesia
Well not much to say about Bali really, it was my time to be really lazy and yes I know everyone thinks ive had 6 months of doing nothing but trust me travelling is exhausting, early starts, short stopovers and not really unpacking and just constantly moving on every few days. so Bali was my time to stop!
I met up with Sam again and we had a few days in Sanur as the beach was lovely, sea wasnt so great but nice enough to dip in and out of to cool off. We then headed over to Nusa Lembongan where we stayed in a lovely Villa overlooking the sea, that became seaweed fields when the tide went out. I had a little exploration of the island that ended up with a punt down the mangroves and a ride back to my villa on the back of a random ladies moped as I hadnt realised how far I had walked and was far too lazy to walk all the way back!! Had a fantastic two dives off Nusa, the first was at Manta Point where I was lucky enough to see for over 50 mins, 6 massive mantas - well over 4 metres each. Absolutely beautiful and I have never seen anything as stunning underwater before. I could have watched them all day although I would have run out of air and died so it wasnt possible!! The second dive was a drift dive which was quite scary at times as the current was so unbelievably strong, not as scary though as the instructor deciding we would turn into the current to get back to the boat (NOT the idea of a drift dive). It was literally impossible to swim and we all struggled. I think I used over 80bar of air in 5 mins! it wasnt easy. Sadly, with Nusa and some of the beaches on the mainland Bali, the beaches were not nice. They were dirty and not clean at all. On Nusa there wasnt much of a beach so it was even more disappointing that what was there wasnt nice. Maybe ive been spoilt with the beaches ive been to in my life but i dont care, i need somewhere nice to lie down and get the sun!!
We headed back to the mainland after 3 days and returned to Sanur where we decided to stay for 7 days, the longest Ive stayed in one place since Sydney at Christmas! We negotiated an excellent rate at a really nice hotel, situated for pure laziness - right by the beach but with a pool so we had the best of both worlds without walking more than 2 minutes! We did break up the 7 days by going to visit Ubud for a day. Pretty place, nice for hiking and trekking and shopping, id done enough of all of that as had Sam so we mooched and then came back to the beach!
For our final 4 days we headed to Kuta. Nicer than i expected. It was hot and there was a beach! What more can I say! We did nothing again. I did try my hand at surfing but due to lack of funds and energy, i gave it an hour and that was it! More than enough to know I may get better but the constant water in my face and bikini coming down due to waves was enough for me!
Now off to HOng Kong.
written by  Sarah Coles on April 25, 2009 from Kuta, Indonesia

They think its all over, it is now!
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
This is it, my last day! Despite the rain and cloud, i actually quite like Hong Kong. Okay it has loads of shops and ive no money to buy but its nicer than Singapore as its actually alive and not sterile!
I stayed in the Chungking Mansions which possibly wasnt the best idea but was an experience, if you want to know what its like to sleep in the smallest bed without any windows and no room then its fab! oh and on top of that there is the undertone of crime and possible horror that surrounds here, with lots of staring! But despite all that I stayed in the Maple Leaf Guesthouse in the mansions which was possibly the cleanest place I have been in for ages and the little chap running it, John, was lovely. so it wasnt all bad. However it didnt make me want to stay longer so I headed to a luxurious far too expensive (but thats what credit cards are for) hotel down the road!! Much better!!!
Today I did the bus tour which to be honest isnt worth it. it barely stops and I prefer mooching but it saved my tired legs for a bit.
Just trying to find a karaoke bar tonight to round off my little 6 month trip!!!
On that note, I have to say I think I am the luckiest person alive at this moment. I have done what I have wanted to do, I had the guts to quit my job and home and go and even if I say so myself im proud of me for doing it. Its not been easy, there have been good and bad times but I have done so much in the last six months I cant actually believe or remember all I have done. I have had a ball.
Just one last thing, so where next time........!
written by  Sarah Coles on April 27, 2009 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong