Hi all! Hopefully this will be the start of a beautiful friendship, so long as Fintan and I keep up the posts we hope you can keep up with us as we travel to Australia in our lovely car!

We left work in December and had a good, relaxing time over Christmas with our families in Cork and Cornwall. The plan at the time had been to drive off into the sunset (well, heading east so really the sunrise) in March... o, little did we know what was in store!

In January we started proceedings with reading up on our planned trip and emailing tour groups in China and Central Asia. This seems to be the central focus of the planning, as all the timing is dictated by visa periods of validity and allowed entry and exit dates. Do to the MASSIVE cost of driving through China (getting a tour company, paperwork, temporary drivers permits and license plates, accomodation etc) when the tour operator offered to half the cost by going a month later we jumped at it. So we'll be travelling through China with two older guys on motorbikes, Eric and Victor. I think by then, it'll be good to have someone else to talk to!

But other visa restrictions means we can't apply for the China visa until mid-July! On top of that we had been considering flying back to Cork for a family wedding at the start of May... with all this going on the scheduling was becoming maddening. We decided just to leave as soon as possible after the wedding in May.

Of course, I have to say that the people we've been in touch with (David at Stantours, Ms Liu at Chengdu Panorama Tours, and all the embassy email contact staff) have been very quick and helpful with their responses.

I'll put up a planned itinerary soon...