Ruth & James

We started our trip in Australia in Sydney and immediately fell in love with the city.  We spent our first night by Bondi Beach, unfortunately it was cold (!) so we didn’t go for a dip.  The next day we spent exploring the city and then climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was wonderful.  We set off up the bridge in glorious sunshine and watched the day turn to evening with the most fantastic views, it was great, thank you Andrew and Simone.  While in Sydney we did a few day trips, one to Blue Mountains and one to a few boutique Hunter Valley vineyards. 

The weather for the Blue Mountains tour was disappointing at first, when we arrived at the first ‘look out’ we couldn’t see anything but cloud!  Thankfully the weather cleared and we were blessed with some great views.  The afternoon was spent in the Bush where we saw wild kangaroos and a deadly Funnel Web Spider – the webus funnel plasticus species!  See pictures below. 

Hunter Valley was beautiful and the wine was great, we treated ourselves to a few bottles, but unfortunately they don’t ship to the UK, so were unable to send any home.  Iron Gates was our favourite – check it out Henry & Dan!  By the end of the day we were very merry and happy Thanks for a very suitable gift Helen.

We treated ourselves to a meal at the Sydney Tower, which was brilliant for the views, but not as good as the Toronto Tower restaurant.  All in all we had a super time and Ruth was trying to plan our emgration during our last night in Sydney!

We then flew to Alice Springs were we spent the night before starting a three day tour to Uluru and King’s Canyon.  Emma, our guide, was fantastic and we were lucky to be on a small tour with great people.  The ‘Rock’ was breath taking, especially when a storm came during our sunset BBQ and we saw it rain on the rock along with a rare rainbow ending directly on it!   We also got to see sunrise over Uluru with a cuppa tea and biscuit on our last (very early) morning.  On the second day we walked along King’s Canyon for three hours, which provided us with great views.  All in all it was a super trip!  On the way back to Alice Springs, Emma treated us to a visit to meet Dinky, the famous singing dingo.  Ruth ‘volunteered’ to accompany Dinky on the piano, while he sang along.  It was hilarious for everyone watching, Ruth was (very) scared!

We left Alice Springs on The Ghan train to Darwin.  It was an 24 hour train journey with a 4 hour stop in Katherine, where we went canoeing on the river.  The Ghan was an experience and we were happy to check into our hotel in Darwin and sleep in a comfortable bed!

We’ve spent a few days pottering around Darwin which has been good.  We went to the Deckchair Cinema last night and saw The Cove.  It was lovely to drink wine while watching a film under the stars.  Tonight we catch a plane back to Sydney and then fly on to Auckland.  We pick up our camper van on Tuesday and start the two week tour of New Zealand.

Our time in Australia has been brilliant, and it’s definitely been the Australians we’ve met that have helped make it such a fun couple of weeks.   

On the way to climb the Bridge

Charlotte ferry at the harbour (after bridge climb!)

Blue Mountains in the background.

webus funnel plasticus spider in natural environment

After we fell for the trick!

Three Sisters at Blue Mountains

On the steepest train in Australia at the Blue Mountains theme park

On a model of a horse at the Blue Mountains theme park - random.

Hunter Valley

Getting merry at the vineyards

A friend we met at Hunter Valley, we were drunk & fighting

James in fetching fly protection looking at aboriginal art on Uluru

Ruth also looking good while at Uluru

Rainbow at sunset

BBQ at sunset with our fab tour group

Wild camels on the road on the way to King's Canyon

At the start of the walk along King's Canyon

Waiting for the sun to rise.

After sunrise with a cuppa

Ruth afraid, very afraid, with Dinky!

James in the Todd River (rarely flows)

Getting on The Ghan

On the Katherine River

Frog hiding behind the taps, we thought it was plastic again, but this was real.

James at the Homestead in Katherine.

We wanted to let you know that we managed to recover the pictures from the memory card.  We took it to a place in Darwin and they have got everything back – hurrah!  It was brilliant to meet you both and hope you enjoyed your time in Darwin.  Pictures from the trip  are under the G,day Australia post.  All the best.  R & J x

As per Rob's speech at the reception, all local toilet customs were followed to the letter. Including the one about not standing on the seat!

After reading the Rough Guide on the plane, Ruth was preparing to spend her time in Phnom Penh locked in the guest house!  In the taxi from the airport we were asked if we wanted to go and shoot some machine guns or throw a few hand grenades (apparently British tourists love it), which we kindly declined and Ruth panicked some more!  However, we didn’t encounter any problems at all and had three good days in Phnom Penh.  The food was fantastic (Friends, a charity restaurant, was some of the best food we’d had since the Cruise).  We did the National Museum and Palace one day and then had a very somber day visiting the Killing Fields and S21 Prison.  Put everything into perspective.

Then we travelled for 5 hours by bus to Siem Reap and had four amazing days cycling to and around Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat.  AMAZING!  There were wild monkeys on the road into Angkor Thom which you could feed bananas to, Ruth was in monkey heaven!  The ruins were breath taking and we had a great time cycling around discovering everything ourselves rather than in a tut tut like everyone else (although it was VERY hot).  Our last night in Cambodia was spent having a Happy Special pizza, which we can confirm lived up to its name!!

Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

Angkor Wat

Wild monkeys on the road to Angkor Thom

James at Angkor Wat (at a library we think)

After a long cycle we find Victory Gate, Angkor Thom!

Cambodian BBQ - we had snake, crocodile, kangaroo, and your normal stuff.

Tomb Raider was filmed here!

Tree and ruins become one

Happy Special Pizza (Ruth's giving a clue to the 'special happy')

James getting 'special happy'

10c cheaper than Chang and therefore our brew of choice, we'll miss that good 'ol Klang kick. 'Can't get enough of that wonderful Klang'

Just a quick note about our last night in Bangkok, we went to Cabbages and Condoms thanks to our wedding gift from Dan and Holly and it was amazing.  Food was wonderful, although James thought it was a bit rubbery! Boom boom. 

Ruth outside Cabbages and Condoms

Ruth with her rubber friends

We arrived in Bangkok after a very long dry flight from Egypt, so we were very happy to see all the bars in Bangkok!  We stayed in Bangkok for a few nights, visiting a few Wat’s,  markets and the Royal Palace.  Lots of Chang and good food (fab Dim Sum in Chinatown, thanks Toulla and Mario!) before heading by bus to Ayuthaya where we saw more Wat’s and lots of ruins!  We also got to ride an elephant!!  At night the place came alive, with street markets and banging techno, it was random but good fun!  We were only there for a few nights, so didn’t know if this was normal or a special occasion!

We then travelled by train to Sukhothai and stayed for a few nights.  We cycled around the old city which was great fun but very hot!  Our accomodation was a wooden shack, but it had air con, so we were happy.

Next was a six hour bus ride to Chiang Mai.  We had a brilliant time in Chiang Mai, it is a toned down version of Bangkok and we loved it.  Did lots of sight seeing, we hired bikes and went to the zoo and various different areas.  On the last day we went ATV driving and whitewater rafting, which was amazing!!  Ruth was supposed to drive her own ATV, but after a five minute practice down a hill aiming for the river and her crashing quite a lot, it was decided that it was best for James to drive and Ruth be a passenger!  It was over an hours adventure over varying degrees of terrain and very muddy.  The rafting was brilliant fun, we were in a boat with a couple of girls from Milton Keynes and we picked up an Aussie on the way who had fallen out of his boat!  We hope to go again in another country, but glad we got to do it in Thailand, lots of crazy fun!  After a day of activity, Ruth managed to persuade James to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner so she could have WINE!!  Oh it tasted good after all that Chang (Ruth wrote this bit!).

We left Chiang Mai last night and traveled by night train (first class private air con booth thanks to our senduspacking gift from Chris and Sarah, thanks guys!!!) and arrived in Bangkok this morning.  We’re here for one night, off to Cabbages and Condoms tonight (thanks Dan and Holly ) and then watching F1 in a sports bar.   We fly to Cambodia tomorrow afternoon.

We’ve loved Thailand and have some wonderful memories, but looking forward to the next part of our adventure in Cambodia.  We’ll probably not get online again now until we arrive in Oz (27 October we land) so will let you know how we are then.

Various pictures from Thailand below…

At a bar in Bangkok

At Royal Palace - very hot after a massive rain storm!

Lots of golden sparkling things at the Royal Palace!

Large monkey guard at the Royal Palace

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

On an elephant ride around the ruins!

Elephant asking for a tip! Wouldn't take no for an answer

Buddha head embedded in tree, Wat Phra Mahathat.

Wat Phra Mahathat, Ayuthaya

Wat Ratburana - James and a big Buddha

Wat Ratburana - We went down into the crypt of this one!

Enjoying a Chang by the river in Ayuthaya - (thanks for the senduspacking gift Ian, we chose beer over suncream in the end!!).

Wat Mahathat in Sukhothai Historical Park

Cycling around Sukhothai Historical Park

Chiang Mai Zoo - We cycled there hoping to cycle around the zoo, but you can only go around in something that pollutes - car, motorbike, tram...

Monkey!

Whitewater rafting - thank you for the senduspacking gift Matt and Oonagh, as you'll see from the pictures, we had a blast!

We didn't fall out once on the rapids!

Back on solid ground - note James now has the dorky sock!

Our last few days in Egypt were spent in Cairo looking at the Egyptian museum and the pyramids (thank you Joe and Kristel for our senduspacking gift!). We also went inside two pyramids, although one was only a mound of sand on the surface  not sure if the guide was having us on about that one as we pi**ed her off by saying that we wouldn’t go to the carpet school factory, paper making factory and other misc tourist tat shops! Apart from her attitude we had a great time ) Below are a few pics.

PS – Andrew, we met a guy as well outside the museum who was insistent that we were going the wrong way but we ignored him and walked right to the entry rather than the shop he was pointing at… Think I remember you saying you had this as well? well, I guess there’s prob 100 of those guys doing 24/7 shifts outside there!

Us by the Great pyramid - off shot are our 20 friends trying to sell us authentic egyptian headresses "for free.. only 5$"

Grandfather pyramid on left, father in middle and son on right. Chopped from picture toothless guy in authentic Egyptian clothing who offerred to be included in picture for just $5

Ruthie under the Sphinx ( with dorky sock on for her twisted ankle ! )

Sphinx and great pyramid, off shot is trader selling authentic Egyptian plastic singing camel

Big statue of Rameses II in Memphis museum - look at how impressed Ruth is!

Honestly, we're not kidding it was huge!

Step pyramid - first ever pyramid in Egypt!! They hadn't quite got the hang of the edges yet though. Off shot scary short toothless man "I am Rameses the second picture only $1"

Our last bit of luxury.. the Marriot in Cairo ( our next hostel was about the same size as this foyer! ) Our psycho taxi driver for the airport is off to the right!!

We have just arrived in Cairo after two amazing weeks at Moonbeach near Ras Sudr. Ruth is now able to stand on a board and do both tacks and gybes! James is strapped onto the board and sail, planing along at some speed. It was a truely wonderful two weeks and we are hoping to return again next year ( hint – if anyone fancies a couple of idylic weeks on the beach in May let us know ). Below are a few pictures from our time there. We couldn’t upload any from the bar – something must have been wrong with the camera ‘cus they were all out of focus!

Ruth during a lesson with Greg (the instructor) looking on.

Ruth and Greg on a tandem!! This was a gybing lesson.

Thanks to Greg for getting Ruth Gybing with style!!

James windsurfing

Bedouin night in the desert.

Wadi Walk up a mountain to watch the sunset over Moonbeach with a beer.

We’ll hopefully post some more pictures and news after we visit the pyramids before we leave for Bangkok.

After three very chilled days and nights in Luxor, were now on our Nile Cruise. It’s simply amazing! The food is phenomenal – no more dieting for us, last night was a seven course meal!

Today was our first early start with a trip to the Valley of the Kings. We went in five tombs in total, including Tutankhamun. Our guide is brilliant, very informative and funny.

Last night before dinner we went to Luxor Museum and Karnak Temples. Everything is just so amazing! Tonight we’re off to the Temple of Denderra before our next seven course meal!!

Will try and upload some photo’s later. Hope everyone is well.

A very happy Mr & Mrs Byrne xx

Here are a few pictures from the Nile Cruise….

Luxor Temple

James at Luxor Temple

Sphinx Avenue

Ruth and a Nile croc!

Edfu Temple at night

There were lots of bats living in this temple….Ruth loved it as you can imagine!!

Ruth & James with one of the Falcon Statues at Temple of Horus

Philae Temple in Aswan

Rena our guide at Kom Ombo

Our amazing boat!

Abu Simbel

James smoking the sheesh on our last evening on the cruise

Last night on cruise.

Thank you to our super star techie cousin Andy who has made this site for us!  It’s amazing and we’re so grateful.  It means we can upload pictures and news here so everyone knows where we’re at and what we’re going.  Await the next upload, from Eygpt

Thanks again Andy!

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