Chel & Sois' WorldWide Adventures

NEWSFLASH: Future blog updates

2007-12-07T17:19:00.000+01:00

Konichiwa loyal viewers! What happened to the blog? Where's our frequent dose of travel tales and woes? Well, we have been quite busy from the moment we got home. In fact, we are so busy that we did not get the opportunity yet to further develop the blog with the final destinations: Vietnam, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Any available free time was used to develop a 2-hour road movie and a

The Comic Adventures of Chel & Sois #2

2007-05-16T09:50:00.000+02:00

< Click image to enlarge > The Cambodian cuisine (incl. local delicacies) did not leave Sois' stomach fully untroubled. Unfortunately, he carried this genuine feeling of 24/7 discomfort all the way through Vietnam and into China. And that's what inspired the second installment in what might become a fixed item to our blog. That is, of course, if our readers like it. Feel free to post your

Good Morning Vietnam!

2007-05-16T08:21:00.000+02:00

After the visits to S-21 and the Choeung Ek killing and our individual exploration of Phnom Penh, the time had come for us to catch the bus to the next country in line: the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Bet that sounds still pretty "commie" to many of you, but make no mistake: these guys are embracing capitalism big time. In 2006, Vietnam had the fastest growing GDP in Southeast Asia and there

S-21 & The Choeung Ek Killing Field (Part II)

2007-05-15T12:12:00.001+02:00

The previous Cambodia-related post already hinted at the existence of countless "killing fields" within an only now gradually recovering country. Being tourists and all, we visited the most renowned of these sites, Choeung Ek, a former orchard / Chinese graveyard just outside of the capital. Most people will know this site from the movie "The Killing Fields" (worth checking out on video/DVD btw!

NEWSFLASH: Still Alive !!!

2007-05-13T10:45:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone! Long time no blog... or something like that. There are several reasons for this, the most important one being a "killer" schedule during the last legs of our trip. However, we have started a campaign to make up for seemingly lost adventures (and lack of more frequent communication). Yet before we continue our digital journey, let's bring all of you blogfans back up-to-date:We have

NEWSFLASH: Itinerary Vietnam - China

2007-04-08T15:09:00.001+02:00

Even though we haven't even fully reported Cambodia or Vietnam yet, we are steadily approaching the Vietnamese-Chinese border. The 7th of April was the last day of our 27 day trip through Cambodia and Vietnam. It was also the day that our new 21 day trip from Vietnam to China started. On the picture, you can see our planned route. For a day-to-day description of our whereabouts and activities,

S-21 & The Choeung Ek Killing Field (Part I)

2007-04-08T15:09:00.000+02:00

Today we visited the S-21 prison camp and the Choeung Ek killing field on the outskirts of Pnhom Penh. Before we tell you about our experiences there, it is first important to discuss the story behind them as well the Khmer Rouge occupation in Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge was a Communist party that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 via their "puppet" leader Pol Pot. Their policies reflected an

Phnom Penh, PP Province

2007-03-26T12:14:00.000+02:00

We were glad to get away from Sihanoukville and head towards our final destination in Cambodia: the country's capital Phnom Penh. Just as a fun fact, this city was once called the "City of Four Faces" because of the four rivers that crossed here. The full name back then was: "Krong Chaktomuk Mongkol Sakal Kampuchea Thipadei Sereythor Inthabot Borei Roth Reach Seima Maha Nokor. Wow! Phnom Penh

Sihanoukville, Kampong Som Province

2007-03-26T12:13:00.001+02:00

Today, our tour led us to the beachside town of Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is also know as Kampong Som and is a port city in the South of Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. The city is named after the much loathed King Norodom Sihanouk. Normally, we would be pleased to go to the beach for a day or so. Sihanoukville, however, can be skipped when traveling through Cambodia. If you want to support

Takeo Homestay, Takeo Province

2007-03-26T12:11:00.001+02:00

With the taste of spider still in Sois' mouth (and maybe one in our backpacks) we arrived at our homestay in Takeo. For those of you that don't know how this works, here's the lowdown: you stay at a Cambodian family that offer their own house as a place to stay and have dinner. This can be for a single or a couple of days and can include joint visits (with the family) to several places of

Pitstop at Spider Village

2007-03-26T12:09:00.000+02:00

On our way to the homestay in Takeo, we stopped at a place called Spider Village to meet, great, and eat some of the local delicacies. Yes, we're talking spiders here. As soon as we got of the bus, we were crowded by friendly "hawkers" (street-food-sellers) who served up a nice big plate of spiders (and other tasty fruit, animal, and insect produce). In adition, the local kids were quick to put

Kompong Cham, KC Province

2007-03-26T12:07:00.000+02:00

After an overwhelming introduction to Cambodia, we went straight on through to the decaying city of Kompong Cham in the mighty Mekong river delta. Kompong Cham used to be an important trading town during the French occupation but has now lost much of its former glory. We were only there for a day. Within this short time period we visited the local market and had some great food, but the

Special "Tuk-Tuk" Greetings !!!

2007-03-24T11:52:00.001+01:00

Tuk-tuk? Many greetings from Cambodia to all our loyal blog visitors! In this clip, we are zooming through the Cambodian countryside towards SE Asia's largest freshwater lake, the Tonle Sap. To be a little more specific, Tonle Sap is actually a combination of a lake and a river system. This is system is very important to Cambodia because the lake massively floods each year (it swells from a

The Landmine Museum, Siem Reap

2007-03-24T11:49:00.000+01:00

Besides those funny temple things that everyone keeps jabbering about, we also took the opportunity to visit the Land Mine Museum on the edge of town. Mr. Aki Ra, a former child soldier for both the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese armies is the owner of the museum. Besides being a curator, Mr. Ra is also Cambodia's most well-known "mine-clearer." There are still millions of mines in Cambodia which

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap (Part II)

2007-03-24T11:48:00.000+01:00

Yes, the Raiders of the Lost Khmer Empire are back in Angkor and its magical surroundings. The above picture features Chel in front of the east gate of Angkor Wat. Less crowded equals better pictures. Did you know that it is in fact the largest religious building in the world? Sois is walking along the boardwalk from the outer causeway to Angkor Wat's inner confines. A more symbolic

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap (Part I)

2007-03-24T11:47:00.000+01:00

After settling down in our guesthouse at Siem Reap, we prepared ourselves for the visit to Angkor the next day. Here's some more info about Angkor for those of you that have never heard of it or just want to refresh their general memory (please note, several parts are taken from Wikipedia.org). Between 900 and 1200 AD, the Khmer empire built some of the world's greatest architectural

TinTin & Milou au Cambodge

2007-03-24T11:34:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! We safely made it into the Kingdom of Cambodia after a long bus ride from Bangkok, Thailand. Speaking of Bangkok, we spent our day-and-a-half there just exploring the city, going to the movies (and saw Rocky Balboa), and having our first group dinner to get to know the "others" in our tour-group. It turned out that Sois and Phil were the only "blokes" and thus faced the daunting

NEWSFLASH: Itinerary Cambodia - Vietnam

2007-03-24T11:15:00.001+01:00

Important update from our current headquarters! If you would like to follow our itinerary on a day-to-day basis, please copy and paste the link below into your browser's address bar for a detailed outline:http://www.intrepidtravel.com/tripnotes/KRN/2007-01-01Please be informed that the official starting date of the trip was Monday 12/03/07 (Day 1). We are currently at Day 9 (20/03/07) and are

Fairtex Muay Thai Camp, Pattaya (Thailand)

2007-03-24T11:13:00.000+01:00

Back from Malaysia and straight into one of Thailand's most depraved coastal towns, Pattaya. Before we started our worldtrip, we decided that we would like to visit a Muay Thai (Thaiboxing) camp, just for the experience. Since Muay Thai is Thailand's signature sport, there were many camps to choose from, especially in the greater Bangkok area. We, however, settled for a bit more relaxing setting

NEWSFLASH: Blog Updates & Other Info

2007-03-07T04:27:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! We just wanted to announce that the blog has been updated again with lots of new content. Just click in the menu on the right hand side for all the posts under "Malaysia" and for the die-hard fans, click on "Bonus stuff" as well. We are now in a special place preparing for our trip into Cambodia and Vietnam on March the 12th. More info about that trip will be posted soon. And what

Pulau Redang: Island Getaway

2007-03-07T04:26:00.001+01:00

After the hassle of arranging all of the earlier described trips, we decided to take it a little bit slower. A few hours of browsing, arguing, and analyzing finally made us choose Redang Island as our island getaway. We arranged a package for 2 days/3 nights including transportation and all meals. But first we had to fly to Kuala Terengganu. Kuala Terenganu wasn't really a nice place to visit (

Sepilok Orang Utan Rehab Center

2007-03-07T04:25:00.001+01:00

We bet we know what you are all thinking, but no, this is not a sanctuary for junkie or alcohol-abusing monkeys. Instead, Sepilok is one of only four Orang Utan reserves in the world. Orang Utans are kept here that are either sick and/or injured and then nursed back to good health. They are then released back in the wild. Furthermore, wild orang utans get fed twice a day in the giant reserve.

Rafflesia Hunting !!!

2007-03-07T04:24:00.001+01:00

Before we can talk about the beach, however, we did do a little side-trip while we were in Kinabalu National Park. A registration office driver tipped us off that there were Rafflesia's growing near an area called the Poring Hot Springs. Now you might wonder what a rafflesia is and this is where Wikipedia comes in handy: "Rafflesia is a genus of parasitic flowering plants. It was discovered in

Climbing Mt. Kinabalu (Part II)

2007-03-07T04:22:00.002+01:00

You guys honestly didn't think it was a goodnight's sleep, did you? Nope. Because of the altitude, there was less oxygen to breathe as we were used to. Combine this with Sois having a healthy cold and clogged nose which produced some major snoring and you know just how much sleep Chel got. In addition, the alarm buzzer rang at 2:00 am in the morning as we had to leave to the top at 2:45 am.

Climbing Mt. Kinabalu (Part I)

2007-03-07T04:22:00.001+01:00

After we got back from the river and jungle in Kota Kinabalu, we had to prepare for our trek towards the summit of the mighty Mt. Kinabalu in Kinabalu National Park. This park is the first World Heritage Site in Malaysia ad features the highest mountain between the Himalayas and he Snowy Mountains of Papua Barat (New Guinea Island). It's a massive granite mountain measuring 4095.2 meters. Guess

The Comic Adventures of Chel & Sois #1

2007-03-07T04:20:00.000+01:00

< Click image to enlarge >Hi everyone! Not everything that happens to us can always be perfectly described in words. Therefore, we have developed a comic series that shows you some of the things that have happened to us during our travels and the (often painful, harsh, embarrassing, etc.) lessons we have learned from them. The idea for the comic was developed during one of our 22(!) flights (per

Kinabatangan River & Sukau Jungle (Part IV)

2007-03-07T04:19:00.000+01:00

Here's another shot of the proboscis monkeys we were talking about on the other post. Just look at the nose and his other accessoiries. Hey dude, what are you looking at? Whoops, forgot to talk about the actual jungle trek in the previous post. When we arrived at the oxbow lake, we cruised around a little and got ashore to do a small jungle trek during the day. Now this was exciting. We both

Kinabatangan River & Sukau Jungle (Part III)

2007-03-07T04:18:00.000+01:00

The next day, we did two more cruises down the river and two small jungle treks. Now, spoiled as we are with wildlife, we didn't really expect to see that much. Wrong again. The day started off with 8-9 Asian elephants having a breakfeast on the river banks. They were chomping down the young riverside plants and the more they ate, the better we could see them. We were able to bring the boat up

Kinabatangan River & Sukau Jungle (Part II)

2007-03-07T04:17:00.000+01:00

The Kinabatangan area is known for its remarkable wildlife and habitats like riverine forests, freshwater swamp forests, oxbow lakes and salty mangrove swamps near the coast. And that was exactly where we were heading. After the bus took us further, we got a 5-10 minute transfer to our cabins near the river. After we had checked in and got some lunch, we went for our first "rivercruise". Now I

Kinabatangan River & Sukau Jungle (Part I)

2007-03-07T04:16:00.000+01:00

After relaxing just a little (and a little more planning), we decided to go to a place called Kota Kinabalu in East Malaysia (Malaysian Borneo). East Malaysia consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo to the east, across the South China Sea from Peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The initial idea was to climb

Selamat Datang ke Kuala Lumpur !!!

2007-02-19T06:14:00.000+01:00

In Singapore, we had to do some running around to get a ticket to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Because of the imminent Chinese New Year, the trains and most flights were fully booked. After a few visits to the Malaysian Airlines' office and Internet cafes, we got a plane ticket with a bus transfer to Johor Bahru (already in Malaysia) from which we would fly to KL. And now, Soisteau & Chelumbus are

Singapore Trivia

2007-02-19T05:50:00.000+01:00

For all of our loyal blog visitors, we decided to make an additional category of fun, but utterly useless items. You can check them in the website menu on the right of your screen, under "Other stuff". Our first installment is a little trivia quiz a la "Who wants to be a Millionaire" (=Lotto Weekend Miljonairs): 3 questions, 4 multiple-choice answers per question. You can use all of the normal

Singapore Galore

2007-02-19T04:31:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Singapore after a nice flight with Qantas (darn good airline food and inflight entertainment) to one of the cleanest airports we have ever seen. And mind you, this was only the beginning. We took a clean taxi through clean streets packed with clean but small apartment buildings (now that's were the 4.24 million people are jammed into on this 697.2 square kilometre(!) republic).

NEWSFLASH: Massive Blog Update !!!

2007-02-11T13:29:00.000+01:00

The long WAIT is over! Your dynamic duo is proud to announce that we can now guarantee you all of the most RECENT information EVER! We are fully up-to-date now (the last old post was titled: "The Gold Coast, NSW"). So go ahead, check all the posts filed under the label "Australia" in the right-hand column of the website. You won't be disappointed!As for the rest of our journey, Wednesday the 14/

Great Ocean Road, VIC

2007-02-11T13:28:00.001+01:00

Coming back from Tasmania we still had some days left in Australia before heading out to Singapore. So we wanted to check out something that seemed very popular on the tourist/backpacker circuit: the Great Ocean Road. So of to Avis to rent a car (got a Ferrari-red Corolla this time) and straight into the sun, sea, and sand. Oh, and yes... Sois is wearing women's glasses. Guess surfin' ain't

Come to Tasmania (Part II - Cradle Mtn)

2007-02-11T13:20:00.000+01:00

Cradle Mountain National Park was our next destination and supposed to be one of Tasmania's highlights. We arrived there in the afternoon and decided to relax a little bit because we were planning to climb Cradle Mountain the next day! In the evening we did a spotlight tour to 'spot' some animals. We hoped to see a few kangaroos, but the abundance and variety of animals we saw was just amazing.

Meet Taz and His Buddies

2007-02-11T12:46:00.000+01:00

No Drs. Chel today as these little devils were ready to eat... and the good old Drs. did not want to become part of today's menu. Here you see some devils tearing up a dead mouse (you should have heard the "thump" when their caretaker chucked it in). A wonderous feast not for the faint of heart!BTW, did you know that Tasmanian Devils only live on Tasmania? And that they can eat up to half their

Come to Tasmania (Part I)

2007-02-11T12:33:00.001+01:00

Welcome to Tasmania! The Lonely Planet already mentioned that Tasmania was mostly, but mistakenly, skipped by most travellers (domestic or international) in their travel itinerary. Well, that made us of course a little bit more curious :-) We decided to book a last minute flight to Tasmania. It was roughly a one hour flight to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. Most of the area of Tasmania

The Australian Open 2007 (Men's Final), VIC

2007-02-11T12:18:00.001+01:00

The last couple of weeks we spent our late evenings watching the Australian Open Championship of Tennis (Melbourne). In the desert, we had no television and even stayed up late to watch the tennis in the lobby of the hotel. Rafael Nadal lost his game against Gonzalez. Wow, a men's final of Federer vs. Gonzalez... Well, Chel called already to the ticket office and checked the Internet a dozen of

Melbourne, Victoria (VIC) (Part I & II)

2007-02-11T12:17:00.001+01:00

We landed in Melbourne and took a few days to walk around and explore the city and its sights. This has probably been the nicest city we've visited so far in Australia. Better than Sydney: just more relaxed. We were here to get organized again and to try to get tickets to the Australian Open. In addition, we made arrangements to spend a few days in an often overlooked part (or state) of Oz:

Dinner in the Desert

2007-02-11T12:16:00.000+01:00

Sometimes we get the chance to do even more wonderful or exceptional things on top of all the great things we are fortunate enough to experience. This is certainly one of the proverbial "cherries" on top of the many cakes. We made arrangements to go and have dinner in the red, dusty desert with Uluru / Ayer's Rock and the Olgas in the background. It's tough to imagine, but we hope these pictures

Kata Tjutas / The Olgas, NT

2007-02-11T12:14:00.000+01:00

Besides hiking around the big red rock, we also wanted to visit another different part of rock formations called Kata Tjuta / The Olgas. We heard that there was a nice hike between the massive rocks. Better preparation, including an earlier departure, ensured that this was one fabulous hike. Some facts again: Kata Tjuta, also known as Mount Olga (or colloquially as The Olgas), are large rock

Uluru / Ayer's Rock, Northern Territory

2007-02-11T12:13:00.001+01:00

From Cairns, we took a short flight to Uluru / Ayer's Rock which is both of natural and cultural significance, especially to the Aboriginese. We had found some cheap but good accomodation online, and decided to rent a car over there to see as much as possible in our give two and a half days. Water pools in the desert. Unusual for that time of year The pictures found in this post are taken when

Cairns & Cape Tribulation

2007-02-11T12:01:00.000+01:00

After our explorations of the GBR, we took one day to visit Cape Tribulation and its surrounding areas. It is located within the Daintree National Park and the Wet Tropics World Heritage area and lies approximately 110 km from Cairns. We wanted see and drive and hike through some serious rainforest: we weren't disappointed either. But again, NO swimming... EVER! This picture is taken at a very

"Wet" Greetings from Down Under!

2007-02-11T08:07:00.001+01:00

Just a quick hello from the Agincourt Reef at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Best wishes and luck to everyone!!!

Agincourt Reef (GBR) continued

2007-02-11T07:55:00.000+01:00

We've always got more for our loyal fans. We were really surprised that our pictures turned out this well. Check out the following pics (and their captions): The reef's edge Chel fully protected and enjoying underwaterworld Nemo or clown fish Ehmmm... yellow/black striped fish? Tuutututtutttuuuu!!! Yes, I am a trumpet fish! Giant parrotfish

Port Douglas & Agincourt Reef (GBR), Qld

2007-02-11T07:19:00.001+01:00

After a 10+ hour drive from Airlie Beach to Port Douglas (which is located above Cairns, the place where we had to return our trusty rental car), we got settled in the cheapest but very good motel in town. We were psyched as we would be able to explore the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) once again. After careful deliberation which company to choose, we went with Poseidon Cruises out onto three

Airlie Beach & The Whitsundays, Qld

2007-02-11T07:01:00.000+01:00

Coming back from Eungella National Park, we decided that there would be nothing worthwhile enough to stop along our way to Airlie Beach - the gateway to the highly acclaimed Whitsunday Islands (guess they didn't see Heron Island yet). Now about the above pic, we haven't swum much in Australia (except for the Great Barrier Reef) because we are afraid of the jellyfish (not afraid to admit that ;-)

Eungella National Park, Qld

2007-02-11T06:36:00.000+01:00

Being the nature freaks we've become during our travels, the things we heard about Eungella National Park certainly hit the spot. We came here to spot the platypus (= vogelbekdier) in the wild. Now everybody probably thinks that these animals are lamost extinct, but this is not true. Not that the population is booming in Australia, but they are shy animals so they just don't get spot that often.

Pitstop in Mackay, Qld

2007-02-11T06:18:00.000+01:00

Sometimes during our travels, things go a little bit wrong. And usually, there lies good entertainment value in this for the folks at home. This time, we came from Heron Island and had to drive 443 km to get to Mackay, our next destination. We had already arranged some accommodation in a caravan park halfway because we don't like to drive at night with all the animals crossing the road - too

Heron Island (Part IV - Final Impressions)

2007-02-11T04:52:00.001+01:00

Heron Island was a wonderful experience and one of the highlights of our trip so far. Instead of talking on and on about it, we've posted some final pictures to let you (and ourselves) drift away to that beautiful place one more time. Enjoy! Shipwrecked... Muttonbirds nesting... Ariel goes back to the sea Return to the Blue Lagoon ;-)

Heron Island (Part III - Turtle Spotting)

2007-02-11T04:51:00.001+01:00

Now you know that we already went turtle spotting in Mon Repos. However, Heron Island is also known for its turtling nesting grounds and so we spent our two nights (and parts of the days) in search of turtles (without disturbing them of course). Now we have some video footage about the night but that's on DVD so it's for later. Anyways, we have seen more than 7 turtles in total, either going up

Heron Island (Part II - Snorkeling)

2007-02-11T04:50:00.000+01:00

On Heron Island, we have snorkeled from the beach right into the coral of the Great Barrier Reef, which is only a few meters away and you can just keep swimming in between coral and fishes everywhere. It's like swimming in a giant acquarium. However, not even an acquarium is necessarily safe. We realized this when we were snorkeling in a place appropriately called "Shark Bay". And guess who met

Heron Island (Part I - Arrival)

2007-02-11T03:00:00.000+01:00

After having a good night's sleep after the turtle experience at Mon Repos in a really good B&B, we decided that we head for two supposedly booming towns called Agnes Water and the Town of 1770 to go for a cruise Lady Musgrave Island and the lower end of the Great Barrier Reef. Luckily, the company's boat was broken which is how we ended up at the location I-site information center where we

Spot the Sea Turtle! (Bargara/Mon Repos)

2007-02-11T02:34:00.000+01:00

I bet you guys and gals thought the Australia Zoo had some impressive animals, but wait until you look at this small post. After careful examinition of Mike's trusted Lonely Planet Australia, we found out that we were not that far from a town called Bargara, which had its own turtle rookery in nearby Mon Repos. A visit here would mean a possible chance to see breeding sea turtles in the wild and

Hervey Bay & Fraser Island, Qld

2007-02-11T01:57:00.001+01:00

From Noosa, we headed for one of the most famous Ozzie natural attractions: Fraser Island. Now we had a bit of bad luck as we had to wait a day in Hervey Bay before we could take a tour of the Island. We didn't want to rent our own 4x4 and go to the island by ferry because of the sometimes dangerous conditions, permits, environmental concerns (more cars = more damage) and the high rental fees.

Noosa, Qld

2007-02-11T01:50:00.000+01:00

Driving further up the East Coast, we decided to make a stop in one of the more upmarket beach towns called Noosa. Our main reason for stopping here was to visit Noosa National Park which is one of the most popular national parks in the Queensland area. Now the town was very nice, but it was our combined walk throug the forest and along the Noosa shores that was really impressive. Tempted by so

Biology Lessons with Chel - Part VI

2007-02-11T01:46:00.000+01:00

Because she liked being in between the kangaroos and wallabies so much (and she got consent from the Godfather Kangaroo of the pack), Drs. Chel educates us today with some nice facts about the kangaroo. Like Koalas, the Kangaroos can only be found in Australia and they alone warrant a visit to OZ. Enjoy and enlighten! Yours truly, -x- Drs. Chel (and her assistant Sois)

The (late) Croc Hunter's Australia Zoo, Qld

2007-02-11T01:30:00.000+01:00

Crikey!!! After leaving Brisvegas behind we stopped at the late Croc Hunter's (R.I.P.) famous Australia Zoo to get an idea of what the man did besides chasing down crocs and other animals on Animal Planet. The upper pic shows Chel helping the man out a little. But seriously, there was a whole section of the park dedicated to Steve Irwin with message, gifts and condoleances from all over the

Brisbane / "Brisvegas," Queensland

2007-02-11T01:28:00.000+01:00

Ok, so this isn't one of our own pictures, but to be honest, we didn't bother taking our own. We used Brisbane (or Brisvegas as the locals like to call it) as a base to plan and prepare for the next part of the East Coast (plus the pictures of the giant fruit bats just didn't turn out right). Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the greater cause ;-) See ya later!

The Gold Coast Hinterland, NSW

2007-02-11T01:01:00.000+01:00

We hopped back into the car to exchange the sun, sea, and sand for sun, humidity, and rainforest. Our gameplan was to visit the most interesting sites of the Gold Coast Hinterland in a single day, which meant a lot of driving, hiking, and picture-taking. The first picture is the amazing Purlingbrook Falls which can easily rival with the beautiful waterfalls we saw in the Milford Sound, NZ. Now

The Gold Coast, NSW

2007-02-09T04:55:00.000+01:00

From sizzling Byron Bay, we traversed upwards to what the Ozzies proudly call: the Gold Coast. A theme-park laden, (Asian) tourist-oriented, stretch of long (nice) beaches with its undisputable capital, Surfer's Paradise. And this is where yours truly ended up staying (however, not without a frantic search for accommodation... man, was this place booked!). The place was very touristy, loud, busy

Chelke's Birthday !!!

2007-01-31T06:51:00.000+01:00

In between all the travel and exploration, we also celebrated Chel's 25th birthday on the 30th of January. The indirect celebrations started already a week ago with a candlelit dinner in the red and dusty desert of Ayer's Rock/Uluru (underneath a starlit sky), unexpected superduper tickets to the men's finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne, and a riverside dinner to top it all off. Thanks

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT: Blog updates !!!

2007-01-23T07:29:00.000+01:00

We would like to start of with our apologies to everyone for the long wait: until Asia we ensure you that you will always get updates (no matter how long it takes). As for Asia, since we will be traveling with a group and guide, we don't know how that will turn out. But those matters are for later. Now, regarding these last couple of weeks, we just couldn't get our hands on decent internet: lack

Byron Bay, NSW

2007-01-23T07:10:00.003+01:00

From the bland, almost English-like beachtowns, our journey took us to sizzling Byron Bay, one of the coolest places along Australia's East Coast. This is the place where it's hip and happening people. Surf's up and beautiful beaches including the Australian continent's most easterly point. Definitely a place worth visiting, but book accomodation on time so you don't end up in Mullumbimby like

Biology Lessons with Chel - Part V

2007-01-23T07:10:00.001+01:00

Yes yes yes... she's back! And this time with one of Australia's most famous critters: the Koala. Besides the marvellous koala, Drs. Chel also talks about the Koala Hospital's efforts to keep this magnificent animal from extinction. Put your speakers, hearing aids, and glasses on and enjoy.

Newcastle - Coff's Harbour - Port Macquarie

2007-01-23T07:09:00.001+01:00

Deadbeat from NYE, we arrived in the rather bland beach town of Newcastle (which, btw, is the home town of "Silverchair"). Here we mainly rested and got organized again to drive further up Australia's East Coast all the way to Cairns, Port Douglas, and Cape Tribulation (Daintree Nat'l Park). Now there was really nothing mentionable about all the places in this post's title, except.... the Koala

NYE '07 in "Emerald City" (Part II - Night)

2007-01-23T07:08:00.001+01:00

On and on from the break of dawn. Or better, dusk. While we both had painful bums from the pavement, nighttime was finally setting in. The spot had already reached max. capacity so we thought it couldn't get any worse. Now nothing really special happened until 9 PM when there would be some sort of "cahildren's" fireworks. It was then when the first wave of mayhem began. People started going

NYE '07 in "Emerald City" (Part I - Day)

2007-01-23T07:07:00.001+01:00

We were of course also in Sydney for the city's world famous fireworks every New Year's Eve (you know, the one they always show on the NOS Journal before our NYE starts). Anyways, this year the rumor on the street was that it was going to be bigger, better, and louder than ever. Now we've talked to some locals about the event so that we could develop a strategic "battleplan" for NYE (i.e. where

Blue Mountains Nat'l Park, NSW

2007-01-23T07:06:00.001+01:00

Just a few quick pics of the stunning blue mountains where we did a daytrip by the train from Sydney. More temperate rainforest Just like an episode of "Lost"

Sydney, AUS (NSW)

2007-01-23T07:05:00.001+01:00

After a nice, short, and even relaxing flight (even for Chel), we touched the ground at Sydney International Airport at December the 26th. Because we still had some days to go before New Year's Eve, our main concern was to develop a "battleplan" to tackle our days in Sydney. After taking a shuttle to a very nice hostel in the city center we started the more intense planning for Sydney and, more

Wrapping up NZ

2007-01-19T09:32:00.000+01:00

Alright. So we told you in the first Christchurch post that it basically sucked. Well, that was not true for our second visit so our humble apologies to the city and our viewers: it's ok to go there. Secondly, we moved back into the YMCA to get everything ready for our departure to Auckland and, ultimately Sydney, Australia. Oh, and in between, there was off course something called "Christmas".

Punakaiki, NZ

2007-01-19T09:26:00.001+01:00

Internationally known as THE place to see the famous pancake rocks and blowholes (don't get any dirty ideas), Punakaiki was our first stop after Franz Josef Glacier and along the way back to Christchurch.

Biology Lessons with Chel - Part IV (FJGL)

2007-01-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

Drs. Chel is back, straight from the icey world of the Franz Josef Glacier. So sit down, put off your shoes, kick up your legs, and pick out your ears and look and listen... you might actually learn something for a change ;-)

Franz Josef Glacier, NZ

2007-01-09T09:26:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Franz Josef Glacier. After we visited the Fox Glacier we drove further down Glacier Country to the Town of Franz Josef where we got a nice room at Chateau Franz, a clean and cosy backpackers hostel. Upon arrival we immediately booked an all-day hike on the franz Josef Glacier for the following day. After an early wake-up call the next day, we went to the hike briefing where we got

Fox Glacier, NZ

2006-12-18T23:31:00.000+01:00

Because we've already mentioned Queenstown, we can fast forward to two other natural highlights of NZ. After an overnight stop in Haast (where we took some pictures of the beach in this otherwise ghostly town with NO food) to break the rather long and windy drive to Fox Glacier/Franz Jozef, we filled up the Mitsu and dragged it further towards our "icy" exploration. First up, Fox Glacier. This

Te Anau & Milford Sound, NZ

2006-12-18T23:30:00.000+01:00

Milford Sound is actually the wrong name: the place isn't a "sound" but a "fiord". There you have it. Now you too can impress locals and tourists alike during your next visit to the Milford Fiord. But seriously, when it comes to beautiful surroundings, then this place certainly hits the spot. We started of the day with a cruise through Milford because everyone told us it was the next best thing

Queenstown (Part I & II)

2006-12-18T23:29:00.001+01:00

Before we talk about our adventures, let me first tell you that this is a combined post of our 2 (!) visits to Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of NZ. This is because the first time, we didn't have the time to have adventures as we were using this nice little town as a "hub" towards te Anau and the Milford Sounds (or better yet, Fiord). Nor did we take pictures (shot some video footage though)

Aoraki / Mt. Cook

2006-12-18T23:28:00.001+01:00

Welcome to Aoraki or better known as Mt. Cook in NZ's Mackenzie District. Aoraki/Mt. Cook is the highest mountain in NZ measuring 3754 meters and is part of NZ's impressive Southern Alps. The Maori legend behind Mount Cook is about the story of Aoraki and his three brothers. They were the sons of Rakinui (the Sky Father) and were on a voyage around Papatuanuku (the Earth Mother) when disaster

Lake Tekapo Pitstop

2006-12-18T23:27:00.000+01:00

On our way from Christchurch to Aoraki/Mt. Cook, we came across beautiful Lake Tekapo, approximately 100 kms before our final destination. It's a highland lake at 710 meters (2300 feet) and surrounded by golden tussock grass (see pics). The name Tekapo comes from the Maori words "Taka" (sleeping mat) and "Po" (night). Finely ground rock in the glacial melted waters give the lake its beautiful

Christchurch, NZ

2006-12-18T23:26:00.000+01:00

Remember the Santa Cruz post? Yep, that's right, Christchurch sucked kinda as well. We started off having problems finding a place to sleep. So after spending 1 and a half hours chasing a nice clean bed with a decent shower, we finally ended up in the local YMCA. And you know what... it IS fun to stay at the YMCA (or at least this one). The construction worker, indian, and moustached leather guy

Kaikoura, NZ

2006-12-18T23:25:00.000+01:00

After the Tongariro Crossing was over, we headed further down the northern island towards Wellington. Here we had to hand in the ol' faithful RAV4 and take a ferry to the first place on the southern island called Picton. Now, there's nothing really spectacular to tell about both Wellington and Picton as we mainly used Wellington to do some laundry, grocery shopping, planning, and some Internet

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT from Queenstown, NZ

2006-12-16T09:54:00.002+01:00

Hi loyal pack of fans, We're back with a vengeance, straight from Queenstown (self-acclaimed adreline capital of the world) where tomorrow we're going to do some serious rafting (Class IV-V)! But... that's not what this post is about: it's about NEW site content. We can hear the sighs from here... finally. Let's get down to business:United States: The USA posts are now officially finished. If

The Tongariro Crossing

2006-12-16T09:54:00.001+01:00

Hi to all! Its major hiking time with Frodo and Schmiegel as we geared up and did the Tongariro Crossing, NZ's best 1-day hike bla bla bla. No words can describe how nice this walk was but here's a general description for starters: The Tongariro Track is 17km long (one-way) and passes through several vegatation zones ranging from alpine shrubbery to places at higher altitude where there is no

Biology Lessons with Chel - Part III

2006-12-16T09:17:00.001+01:00

It's simply amazing the range of topics our good old Drs. Chel is knowledgeable about. Today she has a special treat for us straight from Wai-O-Tapu thermal reserve just under Rotorua, NZ. Drs. Chel, the stage is all yours...

Taupo & Napiers, NZ

2006-12-16T09:15:00.000+01:00

View Photo Slideshow After Rotorua, we drove (imagine long stretches of green mountains, green plain, green trees, and white sheep) 27 kms further down to the coolest thermal wonderland called Wai-O-Tapu. Here they had the lady Knox Geyser (which spewed up to 15-20 meters high after the park ranger

Visiting the Mitai Maori Village (show)

2006-12-16T09:14:00.001+01:00

As impressive as thermal activity is, we also came to Rotorua to get up and close with Maori culture (the first inhabitants of NZ which came from Hawaii and Polynesia in big double-hulled canoes). You know, the guys with the great facial tattoos and the funny faces. You can laugh what you want, but this all serves a purpose. We had the chief of the village explain to us all that you only get

Rotorua, NZ

2006-12-16T09:13:00.001+01:00

View Photo Slideshow After Hahei and HWB, we drove straight down along the cheesily named "Thermal Explorer Highway" of the North Island towards Rotorua. This place is famous for its thermal activity and strong Maori heritage. There are several parks were you can see thermal activity up close and

Hahei & Hot Water Beach, NZ

2006-12-16T09:11:00.000+01:00

View Photo Slideshow So we've started driving through NZ and the first more distant location was situated on the Coromandel Peninsula. The places are called Hahei and Hot Water Beach. The first one is famous for its beautiful white sandy beaches, limestone formations, very large marine and island

Kia Ora to New Zealand !!!

2006-12-16T09:10:00.001+01:00

After a relaxed 3-4 hour flight from Nadi, we landed in Auckland, New Zealand. Those guys have a nice airport, we rented a red RAV4 after some bickering with the rental companies. and we got a cheap place to stay in the city center. Needless to say, we were now hooked up for our 23-day adventure in probably our furthest destination (as compared from the Netherlands). There was only one little

Back in One Piece

2006-12-16T09:09:00.001+01:00

After a tremendously good time at the TuiTai cruise we of course had to get back to Nadi to fly out to Auckland, NZ. This meant that we again had to get into one of those nice little planes. Great. In addition, we got a plane that was even smaller than the first one because there was too much luggage to fit into the original plane (glad those guys do get a chance to go to school there). But

The Dolphin Chase - Part II

2006-12-16T09:07:00.000+01:00

But wait... there are even more dolphins to feast your eyes upon! Chel eventually couldn't take it anymore and along with a German girl (just listen to them awking and panting) jumped in the water, saw a few of them and scared them away. Now you know why they are going so fast. But seriously, this encounter in the wild was a gazillion times better than the forced encounters in the Marine Parks

The Dolphin Chase - Part I

2006-12-16T09:06:00.000+01:00

Chel and Sois were on the lookout for dolphins and guess what... they found some. Check out the first part of this amazing encounter (they're SOOOO cute aren't they? ;-)

Ship Ahoy - Part II

2006-12-16T09:05:00.000+01:00

View Photo Slideshow The other two remaining days were also great. We will only put some highlights, otherwise the posts will become too long, and we won't bother you with too much reading!! Every morning (at 7am), if you wanted to, you could do a stretch sessions with a little massage. Of course we

Waking up on a Small Fijian Cruise Ship

2006-12-16T09:04:00.001+01:00

Before we kick of with the next post detailing our third day in paradise, here's a picture of Chel waking up in paradise and getting mentally ready for our 7:00 AM stretch session. Enjoy!

Biology Lessons with Chel - Part II

2006-12-16T09:03:00.001+01:00

Drs. Chel talks about the most important tree in Fiji, the coconut tree. Enjoy!

Ship Ahoy - Part I

2006-12-16T08:56:00.001+01:00

View Photo Slideshow Our adventure cruise was finally going to begin! The second day we were picked up and brought to the Tui Tai, a lovely sailing boat. This boat was the only boat allowed to sail around the islands of Taveuni. So we really were the only ones to visit these remote islands. We were

Bula and Welcome to Fiji !!!

2006-12-16T08:51:00.001+01:00

View Photo Slideshow The 26th of November we left to Fiji (Nadi) from LA. We travelled two days in time and arrived the 28th of November. Luckily the flight was only about 10 hours :-) The Fijians are said to be one of the friendliest people in the world, and indeed they are!! We flew to the biggest island of Fiji, namely Viti Levu. Upon our

Back in LA (and Flying Away)

2006-12-16T08:47:00.001+01:00

View Photo Slideshow So now we're back in LA again... or more precisely: Hollywood(Land). Our first day of return we spend on doing/seeing things we "forgot" on our first visit. We cruised through Malibu Beach and took a long walk along the Santa Monica beach boardwalk all the way up to Venice Beach.

Other California Coastal Explorations

2006-12-16T08:46:00.001+01:00

View Photo Slideshow Well, because we already completed our loop through Cali (except the north), we decided to go the land of the Orange County Chopper builders (see Discovery Channel) and the guys and gal's of Laguna Beach (MTV) and of course, the OC. We drove through stunning coastal scenery all