Nick's Posts

At the last minute, we cancelled our shuttle ride to the air and took up Colleen (our neighbour) on her offer of a ride to the airport....

Ten hours, forty two minutes, two crap movies, 7 hours of highly interrupted sleep and two plastic meals, courtesy of Air Pacific we’re there. We all stick our noses to the windows for our first, non-photographic view of this south pacific paradise. Will it be all it’s alleged to be, or will turn or to be another society given over to greed, poverty, blatant tourism and abandonment of their cultural identity?

Our first full day at Yasawa. Breakfast is interrupted by Vili – the activities director, who tells abut all the fun activities talking place today in Paradise. This guy is more camp than Mr Inman ('Are you being served'?).

Wow, Valentines day. And what a way to spend it. We woke up in the Kiwi International Motel in Auckland. A nice enough place, if a little sparse. Still, the Air New Zealand pilots stay here, so it can’t be all bad.

So here we are, in the land of stinks and eruptions! We are staying on the shores of Lake Taupo, in the center of the North Island and the volcanic heartland of this country. We learnt that NZ actually straddles the gap between two tectonic plates and Lake Taupo (which is quite large) is actually an old caldera.

Lynn’s is overdosing on the Dramamine in preparation for our 3 hour ferry ride to Picton on the South Island, and I hedge my bets and down a couple too. We dump the car at the port and climb aboard the ship. We’re off, and I’m up to date again!

We wake to clouds and a major temperature drop. Had to happen sometime. Our planned picture shoot of the mountains (which come right down to the sea here) are curtailed and we head off for Christchurch, our last stop in NZ (sob, sniff).

Welcome to the next chapter of the great vacation diary. As I'm sure you've noticed, this journal has grown too large for one page and I've broken it down into separate chapters. It's amazing how much time you can spend doing this kind of thing.

Greetings, and welcome to chapter 5 of the journal, which brings us to beautiful Adelaide and the Barossa valley in the state of South Australia. This chapter is a little brief, mainly since all the boring repetitive bits have been left out (boring to you anyway).

Well, here we are again, slowly making our way across the bottom right hand corner of Australia. This chapter is brought to you from the picturesque state of Victoria (go straight north from the island of Tasmania and you can't miss it).

Another long day's driving brings eventually to the 'historic' town of Berrima, about 130 km west of Sydney. We stay in the 'Coach and Horses' cottage in the town center. The day ends on a emotional low point for us - I think the rigors of non-stop travel have finally caught up with us. 'Nuff said.

Finally! You've reached the final chapter of this journal. Just a couple more page-downs and you won't need to read my constant ramblings any longer (or at least until the next vacation).

A couple of months into my year long sabbatical from work, and the day has finally come for us to take leave of this dreary state. Lynn has been solidly web-surfing for weeks now and has *lots* of ideas and plans for this month long trip to Aus. The day has finally come to execute!

Getting through Sydney airport is fairly painless, with the exception that I make the mistake of answering in the affirmative when asked if we've been anywhere near a mad cows in the past 6 months. Other than a few people I could mention that fit that description, we had been to England last November, home to some of the maddest cows known to man.

1 Feb 2002 - Driving to the Hunter Valley Excitement is in the air! Today we wave a fond fair-well to Sydney and make a start on our...

It's been pissing down all last night, so we rise early (well, fairly early), eager to hit the road, move west and try and out run the rain. It's a fairly easy two hour drive from here to Melbourne.

Last night I spent ½ hour in voice-mail jail, trying for sign up for a Citylink pass, so that when we left Melbourne this morning we wouldn't 'cop another $100 for grievous use of a toll road. Unfortunately, my efforts were in vain since the road going south west from Melbourne (even though it had the same number as the one we came in on), wasn't actually a toll road. Blast!

We wave a fond farewell to the Wongary Cottages and hit the road for **Adelaide**. We have approximately 350 miles to get there, but at this point we can do this kind of mileage in our sleep.

This morning we wave a fond farewell to Adelaide (sob sob), and jump on plane Sydney, enroute for the Blue Mountains (hooray!). After spending a week here in Adelaide and the Barossa Valley we are again enamoured with the place. Our initial misgivings when we arrived can, on reflection, can be attributed to the crummy weather and dodgy accommodation we had waiting for us. It's amazing what a week of hot sunny days will do to change your disposition!

We drive back down from the mountains and head back into Sydney, admiring the view for the last time along the way. Once we get there our first stop is a bit of lunch in the district of Balmain, just west of the city centre and overlooking Darling Harbour.

For a little bit of exotic excitement, Lynn and I start off this vacation approximately 2,000 miles apart. No really - Lynn decided to use our flight from Portland to Los Angeles as an excuse to go a day early and detour via San Diego to visit her parents. I stay home and pack instead.

With a little help from a friendly guy at the checkout desk, we uncover a well hidden, but extremely expeditious expressway out to the airport and are there with lots of time to kill. This turns out to be a good thing as the lines are out of the door. We're flying for the first time on Virgin Blue, which is a bit of a bargain basement airline, so we're somewhat resigned to a long wait.

Another pleasant and uneventful Virgin Blue flight and here we are in Brisbane, in the far south east corner, and capital of, Queensland, Australia's sunshine state. This state is the home of the Great Barrier Reef, tropical rain forests, surfer dudes, gold mines and the Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter). And a future home for Nick & Lynn, perhaps?

Something has happened in Adelaide in the past 4 years. When we were first here, back in '98, we were shocked to see how cheap the housing was. For approximately $AU250,000 ($US130,000) you could get a large 4 bedroom house, with a few acres of land within easy commuting distance of the city.

About a month has gone by since the last instalment and much has changed in our plans. Those of you that have been following along will know that we are in the process of applying for an Australian immigration visa - no easy task believe me.

We’d given some thought to other places in the states that we might like to live in, but due to our craving need for a hot climate and an acceptably cosmopolitan atmosphere, Florida was the only place we could up with as a potentially acceptable backup destination, should the plans for Australia fall foul of the immigration bureaucrats.

After six weeks of moving madness, we’ve finally reached our final night in Oregon and tomorrow we depart for Washington, DC. At some points along the way it seems like everything was conspiring to thwart us - it would’ve been simpler and easier to stay put and rent in Oregon.

A week later and the dust has finally settled. It feels like the last week has been consumed with unpacking boxes, shuttling cars and frantic shopping for the bare essentials that ended up in storage.

OK, enough of the background - back to the adventure. We start off with a longish drive south to our first night’s stay; a place near Beechworth, Victoria which is about an hour south of the NSW border.

After a probably unjustified amount of random pottering and futzing about, we finally get on the road midmorning. We’re hearing west-ish towards the tiny town of Tooberac, just 10 km south of the slightly less tiny town of Heathcote.

After a good fry up to start the morning with a creeping coronary, we head off to Bendigo – a fairly sizable town in these parts (greater Bendigo population 100,000). Heck, let’s stick our neck out and call it a city.

Early start this morning – we’re on the road before sunrise (groan) and driving like a bat out of hell for Hahndorf, just east of Adelaide. Google maps has this trip as just shy of 700km (not the heart-stopping 16,100km it originally returned when it thought I was trying to make it to Hahndorf, Germany).

We’ve been spending the last three days hanging out at Black Rabbit Cottage in the McLaren Vale wine country, about 30 mins south of Adelaide. This is utter heaven for Lynn and I – a wonderful cottage to stay, stuck in beautiful countryside and surrounded some fantastic wineries.

After another late and lazy start to the morning, we swing by one of our favourite wineries (Hugo) to stock up and then head back to towards Adelaide. First stop – Stirling, just down the road from Hahndorf and home to a recently discovered bakery / foodie store that is simply marvellous.

For the last three days we taken a break from the country cottages for a slice of suburbia. Its proven hard to find anything in town, so we’re staying in this granny-flat kinda of place in the Adelaide suburb of St Georges. The place is a lot better than I make it sound.

This one is a painful, oh-my-God early start. We have a 7:15 am flight to catch, so we pack, prep and book a taxi the night before so that we can make a clean start this morning. After 30 minutes of waiting, the taxi is still a no show – grrrrr!.

30 Mar 2009 Today was a day of pampering. A friend of a friend (the actual connection is far too complex to relate here) has invited us...

On our way into Fremantle two days ago we stopped off at Cottesloe beach and were quite taken with it. It’s a very attractive little beachfront town with a great beach and some interesting places to eat. Unlike a lot of the coastal towns we’ve encountered so far, this guy seems to have found the secret recipe for success; so we decide to find somewhere to stay in the area, and end up at the 'Luxury Bungalow'.

We’re taking a break from Perth for a couple of day to head south down the coast to the Margaret River area. We enjoyed the area last time we were here – pretty, relaxed, loads of great wineries and not too built up. We hear that progress has come to the area in the intervening dozen years, but we’re going to go found out for ourselves.

Passing the time while Lynn takes a turn at the wheel, I browse our trusty Australia road atlas (don’t you just love a good map?). It’s shocking to see how little territory we’ve covered in our travels so far. Even though we’ve clocked about 3,000 km so far, we’ve barely scratched the surface.

4 Apr 2009 We check out from the Jemelup Chalets for the run back up to Perth. While the accommodation has been quite acceptable, the...

We’re heading back to base for about a week before the next outing, this one a little further afield (Vietnam and Cambodia). We’ve wasted a couple of agreeable days hanging in a very cosy federation cottage in the Barossa, near Angaston.

Today I depart for Kuala Lumpur and after a couple of nights there, on to Hanoi. Lynn is staying on in Sydney for a few more days of Mosman R&R and to sort out our move to Adelaide.

On the way out I came across a piece in the in-flight magazine called “KL city tour”.  Having utterly failed to do any background research on the city, I decide to let this be my guide.

Over the next weeks these journal entries will attempt to give a slice of Vietnam and our experience of it. If you’re looking for a comprehensive and unbiased guidebook to Vietnam, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Off the a bright and early start (well, reasonably early), I launch out into the streets for the full-sized version. It’s almost impossible to describe, but the streets are complete eye-candy and the walk is a visual and auditory assault on the senses.

I’m spending the next night and two days aboard the Emeraude on Halong Bay. Halong Bay is about 150 km, or 3 hours east of Hanoi and should be included on even the most perfunctory of Vietnamese itineraries.

In the morning we way slowly made our way back to shore after a hearty, tasty and undoubtedly cholesterol laden breakfast. Along the way we visited one of the floating villages.

With my last full day in Hanoi before Lynn arrives, I toyed with the idea of a day tour out into the country to take in some pagodas and other attractions.

This morning Lynn flies in from Kuala Lumpur, so after a lazy start I ride out with the car and driver to meet her at the airport and fill her in on all the news and hard won Vietnamese local knowledge.

New day, new city. Lynn has us booked on flights to Danang this morning, which is the closest airport to Hoi An, our next port of call. The little I know if Danang has been gleaned from various war movies and Robin Williams’ one liners from 'Good Morning Vietnam'. Needless to say I was going in with an open mind.

Early this morning we say a fond farewell to Hoi An and drive back up to Danang to catch a flight down to Nha Trang. Since we’ve been diligent focusing on the sights and culture for these past few days (well kinda), we figure that we’re long over due for some R&R on the beach (those pagodas can be exhausting you know). Nha Trang is apparently one of the best beach destinations, so the plan is to spend a couple of nights here being lazy and recharging the batteries.

Next stop on the grand tour is Dalat, about 100km inland and up in the hills. It was originally settled by the French in the 1890’s as a resort from the maddening heat and humidity of the coast.

In the morning we jump on our moped and headed out to the Trac Lam Zen Monastery. Being up in the hills, Dalat is not only cooler but wetter than the coast, so we’re dodging the thunderclouds on the way out, hoping to stay dry.

30 Apr 2009 Today is Victory Day where they celebrate the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the end of the American (aka Vietnam) war, and...

And so we arrive at our last city in Vietnam – Saigon. Our expectations of this city are low – much of what we’ve read suggest a massive, crowded, noisy concrete metropolis that should be treated as a gateway and best and got out of as quickly as possible.

In the morning we take a stroll down the street to check out the river (not overly picturesque, but sporting a surprising large amount of debris floating down river) and the hotel Majestic (for no other reason than the name, which it lived up to with some aplomb).

I’m excited to check out Cambodia and compare it to Vietnam. Being a closeted Brit, my experience of this country is only marginally exceed by my knowledge of it (i.e. approaching zero). For me, like many others, visions of Cambodia are limited to the horrors of war, land mines, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

Dawn, as it turns out, is hideously early, so the thought of getting to a temple by sunrise is quickly put to one side. Far better to take things a little more leisurely and tackle the sights after a morning dip, a hearty breakfast and more than a couple of cups of coffee.

I’ve only spent a couple of days here in Cambodia, but I come away enchanted. The people are even more hospitable and welcoming than the Vietnamese (if such a thing were possible) and what little I’ve seen of the country is wonderful. I’m sure we’ll be back.

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