The Coromandel, New Zealand

Within easy commuting distance from Auckland (either by road or a short boat hop through the Hauraki Gulf), and benefitting from some of the warmest temperatures in New Zealand and an incredibly diverse and striking landscape, the Coromandel is a rugged city-slickers playground on the weekends. Luckily for those of us who are allergic to crowds, if you visit during the week in autumn it’s delightfully deserted. The benefits of fun-employment! It’s probably also nice on weekends and the rest of the year too! Hooray!

Northland Top 10

As we have travelled I have asked people in each country: ‘if you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?’ South of the equator, the most common answers are Scotland or Ireland, where the rugged landscapes have staged many a blockbuster, and the cold appeals to those who have never seen snow. Then there are those who dream of swimming in the turquoise waters of South-East Asia, of sailing around the karst limestone rocks found in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. For many, a dream holiday encompasses adventure: mountain biking, climbing, surfing, or snowboarding; an exhilarating chance to live a little on the edge, away from the concrete jungle.

Sydney: where to eat

Aside from the meat-munching, rodeo-bull-riding men around Rockhampton, Aussies understand veganism like nowhere else, and the East Coast is abundant with delicious, plant based eateries. From super healthy raw lasagnes and pizzas, to real hearty pie, mash and gravy, Sydney is paradise and I felt completely spoilt for choice.

A month in Vietnam

Vietnam is the most unbelievably and unexpectedly beautiful country we have explored to date. With a vast variety of terrains and contrasting landscapes, everywhere we visited seemed totally different to the last; we felt you could explore Vietnam for years and still stumble upon new and magical places.

East Coast roadtrip: a guide to buying a campervan

The end of our time in Asia really crept up on us. We enjoyed every minute and the final leg through Vietnam took us to places we will never forget. Standard conversations with other travellers usually includes listing the countries we’ve visited and we quite frequently compare our favourite places with people we meet along the way. As we’ve been going along I’ve noticed that this tends to be somewhere we’ve been recently. The recent places just stick in our minds more, so, as I write, I will say (in a biased way) that Vietnam was the best. Then I’ll think for a bit and the decision really isn’t that straightforward. But how can you compare places like Kalanggaman Island with the Sekumpul falls? What scoring method can say which is better between the sky bars of Bangkok and the floating markets of the Mekong Delta? Everywhere is unique and so I think we’ll just settle for being thankful for all the incredible experiences we have had, sit on the fence and try not to come to any major conclusions. Other than that Cambodia was the worst.

Only joking, it wasn’t that bad!

Abandoned water park, Hue

Ho Thuy Tien is the stuff of mythology. A place of dreams. A destination so secret that nobody knows if it truly exists. Those who speak of it do so in hushed tones. Legend says that it cannot be found except by those who already know where it is. Directions are passed down from father to son through the generations (…since 2004). The only known map is said to be written on the reverse of a napkin by a backpacker who was then never seen in Hue again. Some say his visa expired, but nothing is certain in these mysterious times. 

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Vietnam is an incredibly beautiful country, but spending the first week in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), we learnt more about how to cross a road, than the country, its people and its culture. We therefore decided we would venture southwest to the Mekong Delta and spend time in the countryside, getting to know the local people in the Delta’s villages. Day-trips to the Delta are sold through every travel agency, but with the large distances involved, we were certain that any one-day trip would be full of tourists and wouldn’t provide us with the authentic insight into local life that we were after. Instead, we booked to stay at ‘Hungs Homestay’ and hopped onto a local Phuong Trang bus for the four-hour bus journey to the Can Tho District.

Christmas in Cambodia

24th-28th December 2015 

The mini-holiday we had given ourselves around the Andaman coast had come to an end and we looked to Cambodia and Siem Reap as our destination for Christmas. Being 95% Buddhist, we didn’t pick this location to have a run-of-the-mill festive period, but I don’t think we quite realised how little impact the holiday would have in the country. Christmas Day is a day for family, food and the familiar; long-established traditions such as stockings, trees and mulled wine, and here we were plotting a day exploring the worlds biggest and most renown Buddhist temple complex. I guess we didn’t want to think about what we were missing.

Chiang Mai: where to eat

Chiang Mai had a really similar feel to that of Ubud, full of hippy long-term travellers who appeared to be ‘studying’ one thing or another, or practising yoga, meditation, or Tai Chi. Although unlike Ubud, elephant trousers were everywhere as the city also attracted hoards of your stereotypical backpacker. After spending some time in both the heart of the city and the surrounding areas, we could totally understand its appeal. Despite the amount of sightseers, the city remains calm and laidback. The old city is steeped with history and provides a brilliant opportunity to learn more about the Buddhist religion, with temples and pagodas found on every street.

Mae Hong Son loop, Thailand

The Mae Hong Son loop is a circuitous road that leaves from Chiang Mai, blasts down the highway to Hot, across to Mae Sariang, up to Mae Hong Son and then around a wiggly half-moon through the north edge to Pai, before returning to Chiang Mai. No, we hadn’t heard of it either, but apparently it’s legendary for bikers. Having spent 6 weeks intermittently on various mopeds we were now fully fledged bikers. We had purchased leather jackets, I had put on 5 stone and Amy had grown an impressive beard (no such luck for me, mine was still embarrassingly patchy).