Hey everyone! The last couple of weeks have flown in. I arrived in Auckland with no plans, so when a guy from my dorm said he was off to climb a volcano on the outskirts of town I happily joined him. The views were magnificent from the top - the North Island is so narrow there that you can see the sea on both sides of you. The next day I took a tour of the Hobbiton set where they filmed the Lord of the Rings and had a cider at the Green Dragon pub - it was SO CO...

Hi everyone! So I arrived in Melbourne at the very end of July and stayed in St. Kilda by the beach. It was FREEZING (compared to Asia, at least) - the first day I was walking about in socks and sandals and about every jumper I owned. It didn't occur to me that winter in Australia would actually be cold. Melbourne is a cool city - the International Film Festival was on so I went to see a couple of films in a big gilded theatre and a tiny arthouse cinema. Ther...

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long - Indonesia is crazy but amazing. We spent the first three weeks in Sumatra, which just has everything - mountains, jungles, oceans, lakes, rivers, volcanoes... even the most cramped and terrible bus ride is made amazing by the scenery. We arrived in Medan at the start of the month totally worn out, and the city itself is hot, busy and frantic - not really what we were after. We spent a 'day off' there hiding out in one of th...

Just a quick post to let you know I'm ok, we've not had a stable internet connection for a while because we've been in the jungle/on a tiny island. Will post a big update soon!

Tonight is my last night in Myanmar; I'm currently in a hostel in Yangon getting ready for my flight to Indonesia tomorrow. In the dorm next door is a Buddhist monk and a nun - this pretty much sums up what Myanmar is like. Unusual, to say the least. Myanmar has been everything I hoped for this trip. After the hyper-touristy Thailand it was amazing to arrive in Mandalay and not see another Westerner for days. Our first hotel was down a little dirt-road next to a...