It is official…the prize for 'Scourge of the Earth 2012', beating all rivals, including the Asian mosquito, goes to the south island sandfly! The fact that such a teeny tiny bug can bring about such an intense and unimaginably itchy bite in a matter of seconds really should, we suppose, be applauded. If we were bug geeks perhaps we would, but we are not so we won't. Everywhere we have been in the last week has brought us into contact with the little critter...

When someone innocently asks us on the phone 'how's your trip going?' or 'how's your trip been so far?', unbeknown to them, they throw us into quite a quandary, because where do you even begin answering a question like that?? We, of course, usually opt for the standard and expected 'really great, thanks' but this, naturally, does not even scratch the surface of how we feel about the, at times, unimaginably beautiful scenery we have encountered or the inspiration...

Goodness me, how time flies when you are having fun! When we last blogged we were in Cambodia and since then, we have been through Thailand and Australia and are now in New Zealand! When we left you, we were heading to Siem Reap in Cambodia, home of the famous Angkor Wat temple. Before we could visit any temples though, there was Nat's 30th birthday to be enjoyed, and enjoy it we did. Two nights at Raffles Hotel, enjoying the amazing pool, having wonderful massag...