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