Spain, Barcelona - May 2013
A week in sunny Barcelona, staying down near the beach was fantastic!
We kitted out the family in roller blades and hung out with the locals cruising around on wheels down on the esplanades. Sorry - no photos of this as we were too busy concentrating on staying upright to be able to take photos too! A few trips to some beautiful Gaudi examples, dinners in the local Ramblas and some strolls through the city's squares |
No trip to the UK would be complete without a visit to see Dan and Sara, and meet their children Roddie and Iona. Lots of laughs, plenty of tweed, wellies and of course the local polo match in the estate grounds next door. Oh and Dan's bionic hearing...
So great to see Anna and Stephen who also came to visit - but we were too busy catching up to take photos!! Great to see you all! |
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England, Lake District - May 2013
It was officially Spring so we thought we'd head up north to the Lake District. We learnt why the wettest town in UK is in the Lake District, and that actually 8 degrees and rain still makes it winter in our books.
But that said...it was the most beautiful stunning scenery we've seen (well since Zermatt anyway), and the weather didn't stop us from adventuring up mountains and across the lakes! |
England, Taplow - May 2013
Quick weekend in Taplow to visit Al, Anna, Jack and Issy Hill and for Shaun to play in the local cricket match. Last time he played was 10 years ago in England with some of the same gang for a charity match! Considering the time between, he didn't do too badly - and is still affectionately called 'Shane' by the team.
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England, Kent - April (and back in May) 2013
Down to the beautiful (if still a bit chilly) English countryside, to see our good friends James and Jenny and their children Grace, Beatrice and Tom in Kent. Staying at The Mount, overlooking the picturesque Penshurst Palace and surrounding gardens, straight out of an English classic...
We settled in to village life well, learnt to cook on the AGA, caught up over many dinners, celebrated Grace's birthday and loved chilling with the Perry's. Thank you for a brilliant time!! |
England, London - April 2013
A very civilised 2 hours on the Eurostar and we were in London. Staying right in the heart of Covent Garden at Shane's apartment we were able to stroll to most of the sights of London.
Great to catch up with Shane, so much fun we forgot to take photos so Shaun's slipped in an old one from work! After showing Sophia and Will some of our favourite spots, we took Sophia back to the house she lived in for the first 9 months of her life and the Chelsea hospital where she was born. M & M world was a hit, Madame Tussauds fun, (too busy in Hamley's for photos) and Will thought the Natural History Museum was his favourite museum ever - now that's saying something after about 50 museums in the last few months! 100 metres from our door in Covent Garden was the stage show Matilda - and it was one the best stage shows we've seen, including the grown up ones - just brilliant!!! |
France - Le Vésinet (just outside Paris)
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France, Paris - April 2012
We thought 2 weeks may have been enough but... there's never enough time in Paris!!
In our time there we did manage to see some of the quirky museums as well as the more traditional ones, visit the Eiffel Tower and other key landmarks, take a French cooking class, catch up with some friends, go to a fashion show, and eat all the amazing food Paris has to offer - including snails!! We also had a rule we can't possibly go to a museum or art gallery on an empty stomach! Thanks also to our artist friend, Bo, we were able to visit some of Paris' top art galleries when he took us on a tour of many little galleries not known to the general public, where we saw some amazing things! We also took time just to hang out and walk through the streets of Paris, especially around Le Marais area where our apartment was, oh and the playground in the park across the road!! |
Paris Marathon, Apr 2013
It was New Year's Day when Shaun realised we were going to be in Paris when the marathon was on and registered online... I'll leave him to describe the challenges of training in the heat of Asia and then the freezing temperatures and altitude when we were skiing!
After a week soaking up the atmosphere in Paris, Sophia, Will and I did the family run the day before the marathon, ending up at the same finishing line as the marathon near the Arc de Triomphe. Then it was Shaun's turn on Sunday to run past so many of the amazing sights of Paris to finish the 42.2km run. Again I'll let him cover the gory details in his section of the website, but let's just say he wasn't as fast as New York a couple of years ago... He was in very good form though at the 3 spots we'd lined up to see him on the run - 5km, 23km and 35km, and my support crew were extremely focused on getting around Paris to cheer Daddy on. Ok so we did take in some of the sights whilst we got from point to point, and stopped at a cafe on the way - but still a good effort by the runner and support team!! |
Switzerland, 2 - 30 Mar 2013
Saas Almagell
Saas Almagell is a tiny alpine village linked to Saas Grund and the larger international resort of Saas Fee, and was the perfect place to have an apartment for 4 weeks. The relaxed village atmosphere meant we could take some time out, catch up on some school work and still ski. Apparently we experienced the best snow season ever in the Saas Valleys, and although we thought we might get sick of skiing during the 6 weeks in the Alps - we didn't! During our time in Saas Almagell we skied the slopes, had drinks with the locals each Sunday afternoon, skidooed, had some photos with some of the local heroes (or their cardboard cut outs), and hit the playground. Shaun's aunt, Trish and cousin, Brigette visited us for our first few days and enjoyed some of the great snow and sunshine with us. Saas Fee We'd walk to neighbouring Saas Fee where we'd have lunch or walk through the shops or cow sheds, ski near the glaciers and enjoy the scenery... Saas Grund Saas Grund was also a favourite ski spot of ours with stunning scenery and was where Sophia and Will had a few extra lessons with Stefan. This time they learnt how to do tricks, 360's and were awarded with their 'advanced queen and king' medals from the Swiss Ski league. Other activities besides skiing Other activities outside skiing included my birthday, 'wellness' (what the Swiss call the spa, sauna etc), learning how to cook some of the local specialties like 'Rosti" and 'Raclette', and lots of card games with Will's Scoobydoo cards! |
Switzerland, Zermatt 19-21 Mar
Zermatt was literally round the corner from where we were staying in Saas Almagell, so we decided to visit for a few days to take a look at the Matterhorn and ski over into Italy for a day.
We arrived to fresh powder and skies clearing, giving us the chance to ski our socks off whilst looking at the breathtaking views of the Matterhorn. It really is an amazing resort, and was even better than Shaun and I remember it from 10 years ago. We even have the same photos of the St Bernard in front of the Matterhorn - although we think it may be a new dog... This was an 'official' holiday, which in gap year terms means no school work, eating out, and only fun things on the agenda! |
France - Chatel Feb/Mar 2013
The snow had been dumping and we arrived in the gorgeous village of Chatel for some perfect skiing conditions.
The photos say it all - although we've left out the ones of school time, they don't quite cut it against the scenic backdrops or quaint mountain restaurants! If we had to sum it up in words we'd say... The village atmosphere charming, the food amazing, the cool clean air refreshing, and the scenery epic. In fact Sophia and I started having bets as to how many times Shaun would use the word epic each day! |
Dubai - Feb 2013
After 4 months of searing heat and the bracing cold of China, Dubai greeted us with beautiful sunny days of about 24 degrees...perfect.
Staying with our friends, Dave, Jacki, Oliver and Annabelle (who just happened to be on mid term school holidays) showed us just what Dubai had to offer - and as you can see from the photos - it was a lot!!! Thanks so much, Garner family...it was great to spend time with you, we had a ball!! |
China - Xian Jan 2013
After Beijing, we headed to the airport along with a few other million Chinese, on their way home for the Chinese New Year holiday, and headed down to Xian for a couple of days.
Our main agenda was seeing the Terracotta Warriors, surrounding Emperor Qin's tomb but we also loved everything else we saw in Xian too. What we saw in Xian:
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China - Beijing Jan 2013
After 4 months in the heat of Asia, venturing into the cold weather of Beijing hit us like a brick wall!! Our tour guide Apple, kept us on a fairly tight schedule (we're usually pretty chilled tourists) but it was well worth it, as there are so many amazing things to see in and just outside Beijing.
Our itinerary included:
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Singapore Jan 2013
Back to Singapore where the Bignells looked after us again magnificently for 2 whole weeks. Watching the Australian Open, playing tennis, celebrating John's birthday, an Australia Day pavlova with the Wards and a visit to Universal Studios. A fantastic time, thanks again John, Nikki, Georgie and Archie!!!
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Thailand - Chang Mai Jan 2013
It was hard coming down from our experience with the elephants, but whilst we were in Chang Mai, we decided to see a few of the other tourist destinations. You name it, they've got it in terms of tourist experiences...but in the end we settled on the orchid farm, the insect zoo, which was one of the most informative (thanks to our personal guide) and best displays of insects and live bugs we've seen, the King Cobra show and The Tiger Kingdom.
The morning began quite subdued with the serenity of the orchid farm, then butterflies etc at the insect zoo. Both Sophia and Will held a scorpion, but it was the Asian variety so wasn't poisonous. All very calm until we pulled up at the Rambo King Cobra show where someone started urging us to quickly rush in from the carpark as a show was about to start...the music was crazy - from Hangover 2 - the woman on the microphone was screeching, the men with the snakes kissing the huge King Cobras, then they started bringing them round, milking the venom...and it was at that point about 5 mins into the show that Sophia left for more safer ground, followed by me, quickly followed by Will. We left Shaun to fend for himself and we watched from at least 20 metres away!! After we'd laughed about how crazy the experience had been - jumped back into the safety of our taxi for the day, we arrived at a far more safer place - the Tiger Kingdom, where you enter tiger cages - ah yes, much more safe!! But this place was professional, well run, the animals well looked after...and fed. Despite this professionalism, we were so brave and chose the 'smallest' tigers to visit. Very cute and playful, and some just fell alseep! |
Thailand - Chang Mai Jan 2013
One of the most memorable experiences to date would have to be our day at Patara Elephant Farm in Chang Mai. We'd heard this farm offered one of the most authentic experiences whilst treating the elephants well, i.e. no shows, performances or tricks. We had the whole day with the elephants and we learnt how to be a 'mahout' for a day, which is the official term for an elephant keeper.
We all had to wear the traditional hand made vest worn by the tribe of mahouts who look after the elephants so the elephants knew we would be looking after them. Then we learnt we had 5 minutes to become friends with our elephant, if you succeeded, the elephant would remain friends with you for life, hence their memory, otherwise you had to be given a new elephant. Luckily the easiest way to make friends with an elephant is to give it loads of ffod and they very quickly become friendly, so the farm gave us huge baskets of bananas and sugar cane to give to our elephants. We then learnt to feed, clean, water and check the health of the elephant before we headed off on a trek through the forest before we went swimming with them at a waterfall. Shaun and Will's elephant was called Mamun and Sophia and mine was called Preuw. After the elephants then gave us a bath, we had a traditional lunch of Thai food then headed up the road to see some baby elephants who were 2 and 3 months old. The little ones are so funny and have such characters. The one who is lying down next to us, decides to charge up to you then try to sit on you - lucky she was only 2 months old, wouldn't like to feel how heavy she gets in a few months time! And the other little one was so cute how she was playing with Sophia. |
Laos - Luang Prabang Jan 2013
We thought we were impressed with Vientiane until we hit Luang Prabang! We'd heard it was beautiful, but we honestly felt like we were on a movie set, as the streets were quiet and lined with the most beautiful wooden villas.
Set alongside the Mekong River where the Khan river joins it, this little town was so peaceful but still had so many things to do. Cooking class number 3 learning how to cook local Laos food, a visit to a waterfall where the water was such a bright aqua blue colour, passing some rescued Sun Bears on the way to the waterfall, the night market, and one of the biggest attractions, seeing the Buddhist monks walk the streets each morning from 6am to collect food from the locals as they don't cook. This is done in all Buddhist countries, however with the background of this town, it's quite spectacular. We only made one morning! |
Laos - Vientiane Jan 2013
We flew into Vientiane for one night on our way to Luang Prabang and weren't really expecting much from Laos' capital city, as by this stage we'd seen quite a few temples, statues of Buddha and town squares...but this little city blew us away. The streets were clean, lined with trees and had some stunning architecture.
So in one day we managed to see quite a bit. From a Buddha park, which took Buddha statues to a whole new level (and was actually Sophia and Will's favourite site in Vientiane!), some temples and their very own Victory Arch (yes the French were here too), we loved it. |
Thailand - Dec 2012
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Koh Mak Island - Dec 2012
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Vietnam - Hoi An Nov 2012
It was a bit of a shock getting off the boat and on to our sleeper train for the night to take us to Hoi An, but it felt pretty cosy in our little 4 berth sleeper cabin, and a great way to see some of the scenery of Vietnam's coastline when we woke in the morning.Plus it made us feel like proper world travellers with the rest of the backpacking crew travelling through Vietnam - one night was enough for us though!
Hoi An was another highlight of our Vietnam trip, where we actally extended our stay we were having so much fun. This was mainly due to a friend from London (Anna) putting us in touch with her brother (Sean, yes another one) who owns a bar in Hoi An with his wife Phuong Anh. They share their time between Hoi An and Saigon but we were lucky enough to meet up with them and learn all the tips for Hoi An from them. One of these tips was the resort we stayed in as it had just opened and had some great offers. It was definitely the best place we've stayed in on the trip to date. Sean and Phuong Anh were great company for us and the kids, and took us to a range of their favourite places around town - nothing like a bit of local knowledge! Hoi An is a gorgeous little town with streets all lined with traditional Vietnamese architecture and as they block many of the streets for cars, makes it perfect for strolling around. |
Vietnam - Halong Bay Nov 2012
One of the highlights of our trip to Vietnam was a three day cruise around the stunning Halong Bay - one of the seven wonders of the world.
The boat and scenery were amazing and everything about the trip exceeded our expectations - not always the case when you're travelling! Even better was the small boat just the 4 of us went on for the day as the big boat went back to shore to pick up more guests. We couldn't quite believe our luck to be the only people to staying for the 3 day cruise which meant we had the small boat to ourselves and private tours of another cave and a pearl farm. This was followed by a guided kayaking tour of some tunnels amongst the limestone cliffs, and then swimming off the boat in the bright green/blue water. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we were called in for our 6 course BBQ seafood lunch! We're sorry we don't have any pictures of the diving off the boat and lunch, or of us dozing on the sunlounges as we headed back to the main boat, but we'd taken so many photos of the stunning scenery the camera ran out of battery!! |
Vietnam - Hanoi Nov 2012
Visiting Hanoi was a welcome break from the heat of Phnom Penh and Saigon. It almost felt cold walking around the streets of Hanoi, and with the hazy mist felt like an entirely different country to Saigon. We stayed for 4 nights just near the Hoan Kiem Lake (lake of the restored sword) near the old quarter of the town - pictures show us walking around the entire lake.
Top highlights of the city for us (pictured) were the Temple of Literature with such typical chinese style architecture and huge floral displays, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the Opera building (modelled on the Paris original), and the Women's museum. This one had loads of activities to do in it to get the feel of being a Vietnamese woman - see pics of us in traditional costumes, grinding rice and carrying a load of wood. We also saw a fantastic water puppet show at the Thang Long Puppet Theatre. You can see some of the puppets in the pics. |
Good Morning Vietnam! - Nov 2012
Took a bus to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City but no one calls it this...) from Phnom Penh on the 11th Nov and stayed one night before flying to Hanoi. Here are a few snaps of Saigon.
Saigon does not get much of a wrap from travel literature but we really enjoyed the pace and energy of the city. We had time for a quick Cyclo Tour, such a cliche but a fun thing to do. It even includes 'the get ripped off scam from your friendly driver' where the price goes from $7 per person to $70. We managed to explain we didn't want to buy the bikes and negoitated a way out - just! The most important museum in Saigon is the War Remnants Museum. It is a disturbing experience. It graphically recounts the Vietnam War from the persepctive of the "victors". Many of the exhibits and pictures are graphic but they tell an important story from a non USA perspective. _ |
Back to Phnom Penh end of October
After a gruelling 6 hour car ride on a bumpy road back from Siem Reap we were looking forward to checking into our hotel with massive resort pool complete with water slides, as part of Sophia's upcoming birthday celebrations (see home page for birthday pics). But just as we were heading into downtown Phnom Penh we started seeing some road closures and hundreds of Cambodians walking around wearing white shirts with black ribbons and realised they were wearing this as a sign of mourning for the death of their former king, King Norodom Sihanouk. The king had died the week before in Beijing and was being flown in that afternoon and driven to the Royal Palace in a procession, hence the road closures... 9 hours after leaving Siem Reap we checked into the hotel.
Mourning the king is a big thing here, and you can see pictures of the Royal Palace lit up at night where many people still come to pay their respects and see pictures of the king in his coffin. This will continue until his funeral in February. Other pictures show us visiting the National Museum, and our now compulsory picture next to a fish pond, Will's favourite part of any museum or temple! Last pic is of our friends (Lucas and Taite) who moved to PP end of term 2 this year. Will and Lucas went to preschool and then Mosman Prep together and Taite is Lucas' older sister. We've had some great play dates already and look forward to more before we head off late Jan. The little ball of white fur is Ferris, a dog Lucas and Taite were babysitting for some other friends we also know here. |
Angkor Wat - Oct 2012
Just outside Siem Reap is the Angkor Wat Archeological park, where a number of ancient temples still stand. Most of them were built between the 12th and 13th centuries with the most famous being Angkor Wat. Surrounded by a moat it's 1700m by 1300m in size and still in amazing condition. The first 5 photos are of us at Angkor Wat, and you can see just how well preserved some of the carvings and inscriptions are.
We had a guide take us around for the day so he could give us running commentary on the history of the temples and explain the meaning of the mythological inscriptions - lots battles and stories but the most common theme was nasty stepmothers killing off princes so their son could be king. The next five photos are on the way and at Bayon Temple - famous for its 194 face carvings, and all 194 have a slightly different expression! The final 2 photos are of Ta Prohm, used for the filming of Tomb Raider, the surrounding jungle has grown over and through many parts of the temple. Amazing! |
Battambang 23 Sept - 13 Sept
We spent 3 weeks in Battambang. This is where SeeBeyondBorders, the charity we're helping is based. Apart from visiting the schools, we saw many of the local sights, as you can see from Sophia and Will's pages. Out to local restaurants where the food was great given how far we were from a major city, visiting local fruit stands by the side of the road - Battambang is known for their oranges and rice.
The group photo is with the volunteer teachers who came from Sydney to help train the teachers as part of the SeebeyondBorders teacher mentoring program. The photo of all 4 of us is in front of some wooden statues in our hotel foyer. |
Toul Sleng Sept 2012Difficult to call this part a 'trip highlight' but a visit to Cambodia will inevitably include a visit to the Killing Fields or Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I visited without the kids and Lydia to get a greater understanding of what took place under the rouge regime. Toul Sleng is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) from 1975 to the fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means 'Hill of the Poisonous Trees' or 'Strychnine Hill'.
Initially I was not going to take photos however after speaking with some local Khmers I thought that it was important to share the history, remember and respect those who died under the unimaginable regime. _ |