We picked our friend Phil up from the airport who is joining the campervan adventure with us from Cairns to Brisbane for 3 weeks. After 24 hours travelling Phil was talking a load of waffle...then we remembered that's what he's always like anyway!! Our campervan has been nicknamed the 'Wizard of Oz'...it is very cool with 2 double beds, kitchen area, fridge and toilet (which the lads won't use as they don't want to empty it out again- wimps!) We're looking forwa...

Three flights over three days and a night sleeping in an airport (or trying to sleep given that they were drilling and hammering all night) was what it took to get from Hong Kong to Australia. Thank god for Aussie hospitality, huge slices of toast and a proper cuppa which revived us! Cairns is a lovely little seaside town with proper pubs, Dominos pizza (much to Marks delight!) and drive thru off-licenses. We were slightly disturbed to find you couldn't order ...

Officials at the China / Hong Kong border seemed obsessed with disease. Posters everywhere warned of the dangers of sneezing and spitting and men in masks lurked round every corner ready to pounce on you with a thermometer if you showed the slightest sign of a temperature. We were slightly concerned having just got off an overnight train with no air conditioning and then having walked half a mile through the train terminal...we wiped our brows and tried to look c...

Another overnight train and we arrived in Yangshuo, the most beautiful place we have been to in China. The town is small and atmospheric and surrounded by limestone karsts. On the first day Mark chilled out and Kim did Tai Chi and painting classes and found out that painting a simple picture of bamboo is really, really hard! Day two dawned and we donned conical bamboo hats and took to our bikes for a cycling tour of the countryside. The scenery was stunning alt...

Yichang, our home for one night after finishing our stunning Yangzi cruise, didn't seem to have much going for it at all...apart from we were staying in the Pinghu Hotel (sadly no statues of Pingu in the lobby!). We spent the afternoon in McDonalds ( I know - sad!) and catching up with emails and then headed off for dinner. Robin ate a roosters head complete with crest while those with more normal tastes dined on catfish and prawns. We all moaned about the extort...