The CoromandelHi all Tim here. So after a pit stop in Auckland to do a little work on the van, nothing to major just needed a little love, we headed down south of Auckland to the Coromandel. This area is a large spit of land that it a national park and has its own mountain range in the middle and we planned to travel all the way up the West coast and back down the East. For our fist few nights we stayed near to the town of Thames in the Coromandel Forest Park, th...

Perth to Auckland Hi all sorry for it taking a time to update the blog but things have been really busy and had very little time to sit down to tell you all about it, but here I am and here I go. So we left Thailand and landed in the early hours of the morning in Perth and it was very cold, we had booked a hostel on the internet the day before and from the airport we took a backpackers bus to the hostel. The hostel was in the city centre on Perth and it was s*...

The road trip begins!! Tim and I finally set off on our long-awaited road trip on Wednesday 24th September. We had been dreaming about it for so long, it was very exciting to finally be on the road! So far, we have spent most of our time exploring Northland, situated at the very top of the North Island. As we left Auckland and drove out into the countryside, we were both struck by how similar some of the scenery is to Devon and Cornwall, with rolling green hil...

Vang Vieng Tim and I took a bus from Nong Khiaw to Vang Vieng. We were loaded into a mini van full of local villagers, and sacks of rice, fruit and vegetables. We then drove a few minutes out of the town before stopping at an old American Opium Control Office (cue films such as Buffalo Soldiers and American Gangster!!) where a passenger left the van, went in and did not return for around half an hour. Unlike in England, the mini bus waited, and we almost suffoca...

Nong Khiaw Tim and I took a mini van from Luang Prabang up into the hills to Nong Khiaw to enjoy a flavour of more rural Laos, and to attempt to gain more of an insight into traditional Laos life rather than what is laid on for tourists. We ventured high up into the mountains on a scorching day. The journey was absolutely stunning, as we wove our way up. The scenery was some of the best I had seen since Malaysia, as the mountains were so lush and dramatic. The...