The End
That's it, it's over.
Easter Island
I've mentioned Bucket Lists before but this place would have to be near the top of mine, if not all of the travellers out there. It have a magical pull about it, whether it's because it is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth, the fact that it even got settled in a time of amazing voyage...
Valparaiso
From Santiago, head due West and you will reach the sea in about 120 km's and the town of Valparaiso. For a long long time Valparaiso was one of the most important ports along the Americas West coast. Ships sailing around the Cape Horn would have to stop here, often for repairs, but mainly to rest...
San Pedro de Atacama
Into the home run now. Our next adventure takes place in the northern Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama, famed as being the driest desert in the world where some claim that certain areas have not experienced rainfall in living memory. At San Pedro de Atacama there average a whopping 50.7 mm a ye...
Tulum, Playa de Carmen and Fun
After the sun and sand that was San Pedro, we headed back north and into Mexico. Our stop was the almost mythical Mayan ruins that we call Tulum. As a child I liked to read atlases, geography and travel books. I do not know the exact moment that I saw a photo of Tulum, with its ruins perched on a...
The 2nd longest reef in the World ... with a side trip.
From Merida it was an overnight bus trip to the former capital of Belize, Belize City then a change to a smaller chicken style bus for the next 3 1/2 hours to San Ignacio, our stop for this night. We didn't get to look around San Ignacio as we were a little tuckered out from the past 16 hours but s...
The Yucatan Peninsula/The Mayans
After what was a busy 10 days in New York, Audrey and I decided to spend the next 5 on a beach in Cancun, not doing anything except getting a tan. The location was a private home about 7 clicks north of the township of Cancun and smack bang next to nothing, except other houses. The first day went...
The Big Apple
No not a gigantic iPad but New York, the place that never sleeps. We were joined by a friend of Audrey's whom she meet in new Caledonia, Sophie, who like us was making her first trip to NY. Because NY has such a grand history and is arguably the Capital of the World and is in that many movies and...
Washington D.C.
The Capital of the mighty U S of A was the first Capital in the world to be design from scratch to be a Capital. It is largely there purely to run all of America and its interests and thus is a tad boring if you read some blogs. I didn't find that at all although I'll admit that we went there to s...
Philadelphia
After the Wilderness (sort of) of the Mid-West, we headed off to the bright lights of the East Coast of the U S of A and the multitudes of people that live there. Our first stop was into Philadelphia, the birth place of America. It was only a whistle stop, just the one night but still we got to se...
The Grand Canyon
There aren't many places in the World that can leave people speechless. I think that we just found one. Countless people have been to visit this Natural Wonder of the World, voted into the top 7, and it really is easy to see why. As with everything that is associated with this part of the world,...
Page and Antelope Valley
Lake Powell is the 2nd largest Dam built in America so far so with such a vast amount of water now usable it made sense for a town to pop up and utilize this resource, thus Page was born. It is also somewhat of a cross roads between all the great National Parks of lower Utah and upper Arizona; Zion...
Monument Valley
Driving from the East you get your first look at the incredible landscape that is Monument Valley. In fact that road that you drive in on is the same one where Forrest Gump, after running across America 3 times and garnishing some devout followers, all of a sudden stops and tells his followers that...
On The Way
From Chaco to Monument Valley we went for a leisurely cruise through the landscapes that continue to amaze us by how much they change in such a short space of time. From Chaco up through Farmington, over to Shiprock we ended up in Bluff for the night, a small town of 250 people with a very interesti...
Ancient Pueblo Indians
The next couple of days were dedicated to visiting more ancient Pueblo site, including the biggest that they built, Chaco. From Durango we drove south to the small town of Aztec where we went to the half excavated ruins of, surprisingly, Aztec. The name comes from the Spanish explorers who just ca...
South-West Colorado
Mesa Verde was the next stop on the list. A mesa is described as 'a large, flat raised area surrounded by a lower plain'. Not sure if that is the correct definition but it seems appropriate for mesa's all over the world. Once again not sure about that last statement but lets move on. Way back in...
Moab
Arguably the center of Utah extreme sports activities is the south western township of Moab. Thanks to the Colorado Plateau up lift and then years of wind and water sculpting the sandstone layers, it has left an area of Canyons, Arches, Cliffs and general mayhem. 2 of Utah's best National Parks ca...
A Detour East
East of Yellowstone, you run into the town of Cody, named after the famous wild west man, William Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill. He started life out as a frontiersman, hunting, exploring and generally having a great time. The reason that most of us have heard of him are due to the tall tales...
Wyoming's Best
It was a long drive north through Utah but with the freeway that have been built it seems like a breeze. We sat on 110km's all the way through Salt Lake City which I would consider impossible to do in any capital city in Australia. Even though I was flying, the sun was disappearing quicker and we...
Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef
Our excitement levels on red, we found our way over to the Camper van rental company to find that the Van we hired was not the one that was that I thought we booked. I thought that I'd booked the slightly smaller one but was glad that we were given the larger model, painted purple to boot. It has...
Vegas Baby
Las Vegas is a large city in the middle of a barren landscape surrounded by mountains. It would be uninteresting to say the least except for one thing: The Strip. The Strip is unique in this world, nothing I can think of could compare to this one Road of lights and glitter and shows and debauchery...
Another Relaxing 5 Weeks
After the Non-Stop whirlwind that was driving around Europe for the last 2 and 1/2 months, both Audrey and I were happy to have some down time: not trying to find some place to sleep or activity to do. Because this could be Audrey's last time home for awhile she spent a lot of her time visiting fri...
Audrey's Place ... again
We are definately on the way home now but after looking on the Rome2Rio website it says that it's about a 9 hour drive, even on the Motorway. Bordeaux is not that far out of the way so we decided to split the trip up into 2 legs and spend the night in France's biggest South-Western City. Is Bordea...
Puy du Fou
If you are Australian then you would have never heard about Puy du Fou, yet. But I am positive that in the coming years this place will be as popular as EuroDisney and Mont Saint Michel for international visitors. Even then it is the 4th most visited park in France because of the reputation that i...
Mont Saint Michel
After paris we still had a week left. What to do, what to do. There is a place just of the Normandy/Brittany coast which is mindblowing. Out in the bay there is a rocky outcrop and on top of this is a Cathedral and small town built. To see this in a book or on TV it just doesn't look real, it loo...
Toward Paris
After the magnificence that was the Neuschwanstein Castle, it was time to start to think about heading back to Montpellier for a little rest before we continue our trip to the U S of A and onwards. We had about 14 days to do this so it was time to decide where and what to do. When we were living i...
The Disney Castle
Neuschwanstein Castle is THE Castle that everyone wants to see. Even the great man Walt Disney had to use it as a model for his famous Disneyland complexes and its really because of this reason that we have all unconsciously seen it before, never really believing that it came from an actually Castl...
The Romantic Route
One of the most popular drives that you can find in Germany is the one known as "The Romantic Route", not named for the beauty of the landscapes but for the type of architecture that you find along it. A lot of the main town buildings throughout the drive are built in the Romantic Style, whatever t...
Heading South
Heading down south we are on our way back to Montpellier. Berlin was the extreme end of our Europen Tour and at some point we need to head home. But there is still lots to see on the way so we will not be rushing. First stop, Potsdam. Now basically a suburb of Berlin, Potsdam has had a very inter...
Berlin
Berlin. Another City that conjures up imagines, and not good ones, for those born from the 30's onwards until 1989. This City has seen its fair share of scandal over time but it seems to have come through the other side without much baggage. Today Berlin it one of the most active cities in the wo...
Where my name came from ... - and Dresden
We headed towards Berlin, a city that Audrey fell in love with when she was just a little girl, but first we had to go via Ostritz. Why the blazers Ostritz? Well I'll tell you. Way back in the day, around the mid 1850's this area was occuppied by second and third generations of people originally...
Prague
When people I know travel, I always ask them what there most favourite place was, and anyone who has been to Eastern Europe on that trip inevitably says Prague. It is true to say that Prague has a good reputation as a party city and that helps alot when thats what you want but for an old fart like...
Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Where do you start on this subject? Firstly, what happened here should never be forgotten so that in the future if any one Dictator or Country ever tries to do this kind of thing again, then the other Nations of the World can step in early and finish it quickly (unfortunately we did forget, Pol Pot...
Krakow
Heading towards Krakow meant that we has to again enter Slovakia so we chose to use this opportunity to spend a little bit more time in Slovakia and see some UNESCO listed places in the centre. The first place was Lecova which was suppose to be on the list because of it's almost complete medieval w...
Bratislava and Budapest
Bratislava is only 50 km's from Vienna which makes them closest Capital cities in Europe and as such their history's are very much intertwinded. Often both cities have had the same Ruler, whether that be the Romans, Turks or Hapsburgs and you can easily see the similarities in the Architecture and...
I'm from Austria
Austria. The land that gave us the Waltz, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the wonderful Weiner Schnitzel, is one hell of a Country. Beautiful verdant valleys followed by another and then another until you come across a picturesque village nestled between two hills, vineyards growing on the slopes and ma...
I Feel Slovenia
I Feel Slovenia. I FEEL sLOVEnia. Just read the Capitals, that is the slogan that the Slovenian have come up with for their Country and I can tell you what, its pretty adept. Leaving Italy for the second time in our lives, we entered Slovenia, heading first to Lake Bled and then onto Ljubjlana. O...
Florence and leaving Italy
After a very tiring drive to Florence on the Motorway, cruizing at 130 km/hr, with only 1.7 km's to go we hit a traffic jam. Having spent the last 8 or so years working in the Mining industry and therefore not having to contend with traffic, I found this last 40 minutes rediculous to say the least....
Milan and Cinque Terrre
After the expense that was Switzerland, Audrey and I were looking forward to some savings somewhere. However 38 degree heat and tents don't mix so we really had no choice but to get a Hotel to stay in and sleep cool after the days walks. Our other money saver was supposed to be the Milan Card, but...
Switzerland ... Very Expensive
Not quite Switzerland yet, first we need to stop in at Chamonix to visit one of Audrey's best friends, Cassandre. No problem for me as Chamonix is one of those iconic places that is associated with the rich and famous so it would be nice to see what all the fuss is about. Arriving late on Friday n...
The Napolean Route and the Verdun Gorge
Starting early on the Tuesday morning, we only got 15 minutes into the trip before I'd realised that I couldn't find the credit card, so back we went. Take 2. Starting just a little later than early, we took off, car loaded with camping gear and clothes, heading towards Cannes, the start of The Napo...
An Extra 2 Weeks
We were lucky to have a friend from Japan, Maki, join us for 3 days so it was good to have her here and get out of the house. And everytime I've been to Japan, Maki has always been our tour guide so it was good to replace the favour. With Maki, we visited a few areas that I've already been to prev...
A Relaxing 3 Weeks
As promised, I have done nothing but sit back and relax and let the batteries recharge over the past 3 weeks. And I have loved ever minute of it. We have however gone and seen a few things over this period because Audrey's Mum and Dad, Maryse and Christian, have organised some activities to do wit...
The Beer Book - The RTW Beer drinking diary for 2015
The Beer Book RTW 2015 THE RULES: I will always try a new Beer if I see it before I move onto something that I liked before. Each Beer needs to be judged fairly based on initial smell, taste and after-taste Bonus points can be awarded if the Beer has something special about it. This can include the...
Audrey's place
After Stockholm, we went to Madrid. We only spent 2 nights here as at the end of the European adventure we need to come back here to fly onwards. Therefore we only saw a small part of Madrid and from just that little snippet, I am looking forward to coming back. But both of us are starting to get...
Stockholm
Stockholm is one of the trully great cities in the World, easily in the Top 1000, and when you visit, it is easy to see why. Built on a myriad on Islands, using the 7 storey rule for buildings that is in all the old cities of the world and with the foresight to have open areas for the public, Stock...
Tallinn and Riga
With the research that Audrey and I conducted, we decided that we should go and see the UNESCO listed Old Town of Riga while we were so close. To do that it seemed that the best way to get there was to go on a ferry from Helsinki to Talllinn and then by bus down to Riga. I'm glad we went there. T...
St Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad/St Petersburg
Wow what a City!! I feel that I should stop writting now because anything that I write will not do this place justice. St Petersburg is a planned City in the north-west region of Russia that at stages throughout Russian history as been the Capital of the Country and as such has many excellent exam...
Helsinki, not part of Scandanavia
Audrey and I arrived in Helsinki keen to see some of the Architecture that the city is known for. It is a very clean city with nice wide streets and plenty of trams and buses, free wifi everywhere in the city centre, and lots of ecletic musuems to visit. When we arrived the cold hit like a sledge...
Athens
If you try and think of the 5 most influential cities that have ever graced our Planet, Athens would have to be one of them. It is confirmed that it has had a permanent settlement of one kind or another since 5000BC which places it in the top 5 places in the world for 'continous settlement', theref...
Sparta and all the other Greek City States
Instanbul was fun but like all places that we visit there is always a time to move on. Audrey and I were off to Athens via Thessaloniki and Kalamanka, 2 of a lot of places that you can visit in Greece that contain tonnes of history. Thessaloniki was a logical choice as it was the perfect time and...
Istanbul
One of the World's most thought invoking names for any City is Istanbul, a City that has stood the test of time, gone through a lot of different Leaders and Civilizations and almost as many Religions. Often referred to as the 'Gateway to the East', almost every Ancient Civ has at some point desired...
Ephesus
Another significant ruin that is on the 'must see' lists is Ephesus near Selcuk. From what everyone told me, Ephesus was once the 2nd largest City in the world, after Rome, and also contained one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, The Temple of Artemis, as well as being the final resting place...
Pamukkale
Pamukkale is the picturesque location in the middle of Turkey that you see on all the posters. Over the years, calcium rich boiling water has bubbled up and produced these amazing looking natural 'infinity' pools that are almost too sureal to believe that they are true. However over the years with...
The Lycian Way
After talking to the owner of the Hotel that we stayed at in Cappadocia, Oruc, who used to be a travel guide throughout Turkey, he convinced us that the best way to see all the good sites in the Anatolia area was to hire a car. Although all the sites can be gotten to by bus, he said that we would b...
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is great. I have always wanted to visit this place ever since seeing a photograph of it for the first time. The landscapes alone, the Fairy Chimney's and carved Valley's would be enough but throw into it underground cities and caves and churches and it makes it a feast for your eyes. Y...
London
First things first, London is ridiculously expensive. So much so that I will probably repeat it ad nauseum and start to make people think that it's not affordable. It probably is OK if you take it easy on the attractions and food but why go to London if you can't see them all. Some places, like W...
The Race to the Finish
Well not really a race because races are generally quickly than the last 7 days have felt. This whole 14 days extension was about the Gorilla's do once that was over it really was about waiting to finish. Don't get me wrong, if this was the first part of the tour then it would have been great: Gam...
Capitale du Rwanda
Le lendemain des gorilles on a une journée de libre. Comme on se situe seulement à 120 km de Kigali, la capitale du Rwanda, notre guide nous dit qu'il peut nous organiser la journée avec transport et visites. Je n'ai pas hésité une seule minute. Oui oui et oui. Chacun à ses raisons mais pour moi il...
Kigali - Rwanda's capital
We had a spare day after the trekking and because Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, was only 120km's away we all decided to go and visit. We all had different reasons to do so but mine was to visit the Genocide Museum and learn more about the atrocities that occurred all thoughout Rwanda in 1994. HIST...
Gorilles
Gorilles!!!!!!! Nous y voilà enfin. Surtout pour Payton qui a attendu 16 ans pour finir ce voyage. Du coup il a peur d'avoir mis la barre super haut et d'être déçu. Avant ça, encore et encore de la route. Avant le départ notre guide nous dit qu'on va prendre un raccourci pour éviter les bouchons de...
G Day
I have waited 16 years to do this part of my African trip and I am afraid that I am building things up too much, enough to maybe make it disappointing. I hope not. But before that we had to get from Queen Elizabeth National Park to Lake Bunyonyi which was to be the pick-up point for the Trek. Earl...
Chimpanzés nos amis
Maintenant on attaque la troisième et dernière partie de ce voyage en Afrique qui a pour but d'aller jusqu'en Ouganda voir les gorilles. On a laissé la plus grande partie du groupe à Nairobi et on n'est plus que 8. Ce qui pour moi est un soulagement. On commence par se diriger au Parc National Queen...
Chimpanzee's
But first we have a stop in Queen Elizabeth National Park, directly west of Kampala and only 30 clicks from the Congo border. This Park is based on two large lakes, Lake Edward and Lake George, and the surrounding flat plains. I am relaibly told that the 'Big 5' inhabit this area but what we have co...
Stage 2 ends and Stage 3 starts
Leaving Arusha we were headed for Nairobi, or Nairobbery as our tour guide, Elton, calls it. Nairobi is the one place on this tour that I didn't want to visit because I think that the violence that happens here is very random and not really targeted at anything or anyone. Lucky we stayed at a camp s...
Serengeti et Ngorongoro
Les 5 derniers jours on a visité ce qui est considéré comme étant le summum de la Tanzanie. La principale raison pour laquelle les gens viennent visiter ce pays: Mount Kilimandjaro, Serengeti et le cratère Ngorongoro. Notre premier arrêt s'est fait à un camping/hôtel au pied du Kilimandjaro. En rais...
Kili, Ngoro and The Seren. The 'Cream of Tanzania'
Over the next 5 days we were heading off to the 'Cream of Tanzania', the reason most people visit this Country; Mount Kilimanjaro, The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, all gems on the World's stage. Our first stop was at a Hotel at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Marangu Hotel. Because it is...
Zanzibar
On arrive à Dar es Salaam. Honnêtement c'est pourri. Sale, bruyant, moche. Après deux jours de route tu as envie d'arriver. Et bien il nous a fallu 3h pour traverser la ville. Escargot, trafic de fou, n'importe comment. Le lendemain on se lève tôt. On prend un premier ferry, surpeuplé et bruyant, af...
The Spice Islands
Dar es Salaam is shit. Even on Sundays the traffic is chaotic and after the efforts the day before none of us needed to be stuck driving through Dar for an extra 3 hours. However Africa is Africa and we need to do the bad stuff to get to the good. The following day we started out towards Zanzibar...
Lac Malawi
On se lève pour traverser la frontière du Malawi et arriver à notre camping à environ 500km de là. Et bien non. Notre bus a commencé à surchauffer. Il a fallu s'arrêter plusieurs fois pour le laisser refroidir. Changer l'eau du radiateur qui était carrément marron. On arrive enfin à la frontière du...
Towards and into Malawi
And it was. Our Truck decided to overheat and we needed to stop a couple of times to drain the water from the radiator and refill it (I think, I'm no mechanic). At these stops we all tried to find ways of keeping our minds off not being able to go anywhere. I played a hybrid game of baseball/cric...
Parc national Luangwa
Comme l'Afrique est immense, il y a beaucoup de route à parcourir pour aller d'un point intéressant à un autre. Et cela peut être bien évidemment particulièrement ennuyeux. Ce qui est le cas des deux derniers jours. Alors on a discuté, joué aux cartes ou autre et...dormi. L'Afrique a de nombreux pa...
South Luangwa National Park
As I've said previously, driving can be boring and the last 2 days definately fit into that category. But we had new people to talk with so we spent the days getting to know them a bit better... or sleeping. Africa has numerous National Parks that claim to be the best for Game viewing and South Luw...
Victoria Falls
Ever since "The Bucket List", starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, came out, we have all secretly or not so secretly created our own 'Bucket List'. This used to be called 'things I want to do in my life' (but 'Bucket List' is more catchy). Some have extensive ones involving travel, others m...
Les chutes de Victoria
Tout le monde ou presque à une liste: chose à faire dans ma vie. Et bien les chutes de Victoria fall sont sur la liste de Payton. Étant inculte il faut l'avouer cela n'aurait pas pu être sur la mienne car avant que je rencontre payton et qu'on organise notre voyage, je n'en avais pas vraiment entend...
Invasion d'éléphants et croisière
On quitte le delta et on se dirige vers l'est pour environ 200km avant de tourner vers le nord pour rejoindre notre camping: éléphant sand. Comme le nom le suggère on a vu des éléphants. Le long de la route, au camp et au départ. Nous tenions compagnie au toilette donc on n'a pas tout vu mais appare...
Elephants, Elephants and more Elephants
Leaving the Delta we headed East for 200 odd Km's before turning to the North towards our Campsite, Elephants Sands. As the name suggests, we saw Elephants. On the road on the way there, at the Camp and when we left. I was obviously keeping the toilet company, no one in particular, pretty much al...
Delta du botswana
Botswana a le plus large delta intra terrestre, qui est un paradis pour toute sorte d'animaux. C'est là que se trouve le parc national Chobe, où payton déclare avoir passé l'un des meilleurs jours de sa vie. On s'est réveillé tôt. On est monté dans un espèce de fourgon Jeep sans porte ni fenêtre. Ju...
The Okavango Delta
Botswana has a couple of real draw cards that get the people in. 1 of them is the Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta and a haven for animals of every size and shape. Along with the other Botswana gem, Chobe National Park, it contains the most Elephants aware on Earth and this turned...
Boredom
My hopes have been dashed. Windhoek is bad. The saving grace is the Restaurant that we went to for dinner; Joe's Beer and Pub Place. It had tonnes of carricture and a massive menu. Does anyone remember 'Indiana and the Last Crusade' in one of the final scenes when the Knights Templar ghosty dude...
Tafelling
What is Tafelling I hear you ask. Tafelling is the new word for what was once called "a shower beer". All those who once were good, young footballers at The Mount, early 90's, would understand what a shower beer is. A Tafel was just an opportunitic word that popped up in conversion when I took on...
South-Western Namibia
Hi all. Day 18 (not that I'm counting) or Day 7 of the Tour and we find ourselves in Swakopmund, a place that I'd never wanted to visit. Swakopmund calls itself the 'Adventure Capital of Namibia' and it offers a range of Sand Dune related activities, as that is all that is here. Oh, and the freezi...
Aventure Namibie
Voilà déjà plus d'une semaine que le safari a commencé. C'est incroyable comme le temps passe vite. Le bus est plein. La moitié australien et l'autre moitié de partout: Danemark, Suède, Italie, Allemagne, Angleterre, USA et moi. C'est incroyable la distance parcouru en peu de temps. Certains jours...
Cape Town - Garden Route - Première semaine de découverte
Ça y est les amis les 10 premiers jours de découvertes arrivent à leur fin et on n'a pas chômé. D'abord 2 jours sur Cape Town. On s'est dit on va faire l'option facile. On prend le câble pour monter en haut de Table Moutain et on descend à pied. Tu parles: plus de 2 heures à descendre des marchés ra...
The Beginning
The Beginning.... the best place to start. Well it has happened finally, the RTW trip of my life time has got underway. The start was not too bad either with an upgrade to Business on the 14 hour flight to Johannesburg so we could get some good rest and be fresh for when we arrived at our final dest...