Their trip is a back-packing & using local transport type of trip. A ‘take it as it comes’ kind of trip.

A general itinerary was worked out based on some of their friends’ experiences travelling in the region.
Countries they hope to visit are Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia & Malaysia with perhaps a hop over to China.

They flew out on the 19th November 2011 and have their return flight booked for the 8th February 2012.

The Plan

The proposed SE Asia itinerary.

Arrival in Bangkok - 20th Nov
Well the two lads arrived safe and sound in Bangkok.

They found it a bit overwhelming to start with - a bit of culture shock.
After they got acclimatised they got orgainised with some sightseeing and started to enjoy themselves.
They booked a bit ahead for their journey to the north of Thailand and organised to take on a 3-day treking adventure into the hills staying in local villages.

After a pretty rotten start to Thailand, Bangkok begun to show promise with their first full day out and about starting with a Thai Massage. The tuk tuk driver was apparently very excited about the idea of them getting ‘boom boom’ as he mentioned the option on every corner on the way to the massage place. At first they were confused as to what he meant as ‘boom boom’ also came with an accent. In the end he decided to use a gesture that apparently exists among all cultures. The penny dropped!

After the massage they set out for ‘good food’, but it seems the tuk tuk driver interpreted ‘good food’ as ‘food place that pays me to bring you to them’. They ended up paying far to much for a meal that was slightly above average and made them both feel a bit sick for the afternoon.
I guess they are learning quickly how it all works in Asia - different to little old New Zealand.

The Floating Market was an interesting experience for them. Most of the stalls contained identical stuff so they ended up just saying no to everyone. Unfortunately the people at the stalls had little hooks and could pull you in if you came close enough. Eventually their driver realised they were not interested in buying anything except some tiger balm and so cruised them back to the beginning of the ride.

Oly says they are getting much better at dealing with the bartering situation and seemingly begging ways of the culture.

Tiger and elephant encounters.

The next day (21st Nov) they had arranged for a driver to take them out of Bangkok to a couple of excusions that they had booked. Here’s Oly getting real close to a tiger at a Tiger Temple and then up high with an elephant.
Oly thinks the Tiger Temple is one of the coolest things he has ever done.

Their day ended with a 4 hour car ride back to Bangkok.

Photos of Bangkok, riding elephants and their day trip to the floating markets and Tiger Temple (Kanchanaburi).

Overland to Chiang Mai and trekking in Northern Thailand - 23rd Nov to 25th Nov

Chiang Mai location map.

After their first few days in Bangkok the lads took an overnight bus trip to the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai.

From Chiang Mai, they embarked on a 3-day treking adventure into the hills staying overnight in local villages.

Bit different to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

Oly’s Comments taken from his Blog:
Arrived in Chang Mai after our overnight VIP bus. The bus ride was really good being VIP as we had lots of space and were able to lay back. To help ease into the overnight travel we both took sleeping pills. We awoke about 3 hours later at our first stop..at 1am. This was not ideal and all that can be remembered from this stop is getting a plate of food, looking at it, and deciding this is fucked I need to get back to sleep.

BMP Residence is the accommodation we had organized for Chiang Mai, this was a really nice place with a pool and by far the best food we had experienced so far.

We had a free day which we used to recover and relax, just chilling out by the pool reading a book and drinking Chang beer for $1.

Oly on the trail during their treking adventure.

The next day we set out for our trekking experience, we meet our group which consisted of 2 French girls our age, 23 each and a Spanish couple around 27 years old. The two French girls were on a small 3 week trip doing the same places as us and were coming to the end of their university studies doing similar stuff to Conrad…accounting etc. The Spanish couple both worked in hotels and had traveled to a lot of places.

We were led by our tour guide named Jungle Joe, very short Thai guy we an excellent sense of humor, pretending to steal our passports and throwing giant spiders at the girls. The trek was a huge eye opener, not only in the diverse fauna that exists in these countries, but also because of the excellent insight we were given by sleeping in the villages that exist up in the mountains. It was almost like jumping in a time travel machine, the subsisted completely of the land with no power and an excellence sense of community.

Passing by rural hillside villages.

We stayed in the villages up in the mountains, very remote and rural community living in wooden made housing.
I love the way they do there farming/irrigation with the paddy fields going down the hill.

Each day of the trek we would stop at a different waterfall and have a swim, each waterfall differing in really unique ways. The first one hung over a cave which allowed us to stand behind/underneath the waterfall which is always a curious experience. The second had awesome power behind it so standing under the drop meant for a better massage then the thai’s, and finally the third waterfall was just pleasant to swim in.

Night stop on the trek.

At the end of our trek, which took us to the top of the mountains and then back down, we organized to go watch some Thai Boxing with the French girls later that evening. The majority of the fights were in the 40kg weight range, so was a little shocking to see children fighting each other very seriously, im twice the weight but still would bow down if they got angry. One of the fights was particularly cool which was between a Russian guy who had clearly trained in Muay Thai for years and a Thai fighter who looked like he had been plucked from the couch, well overweight and horrible . The Russian fighter dominated the fight……kinda fun to watch ringside.

The next day was our free day in Chiang Mai so we decided to head into the city centre. Much better then Bangkok, a very humble city with only a small amount of haggling. We checked out a couple of the temples which seemed to be excessively deserted, and moved on to having a really cheap and spicy lunch. We returned back to the place we were sleeping and downed a couple of beers by the pool and talked about evolution and shit like that.
Later that night we went back into the city to find a massive market running so ordered some more beers and had a feed again. After doing about an hours worth of people watching and getting a lil pissed we moved on walking down the endless line of tents/stalls of shit for sale. Was tempted to by some local style shirts but on the return journey had sobered up and realized how much of a tool I’d look if I got one.


Photos from the trek.

Left Northern Thailand for Laos. Stayed in the city of Luang Prabang - Late Nov to Early Dec

Luang Prabang location map.

Oly’s Comments taken from his Blog:
We had now finished our time in Chiang Mai and our first visit to Thailand and now had to set out for Laos. To do this we had organized to used the slow boat along the Mekong River. Little did we know that this journey was to consist of an 8 hour minivan ride to a border town between Thailand and Laos, then 2 days of slow boating.
An important lesson was learned on the minivan journey, this lesson is to try sit up the front. Not only did we have everyone’s bags falling onto us during the journey, but we also realized that the back of the minivan has a much bigger bounce when going over averagely surfaced roads than the front. Multiple occasions occurred in which I was a couple of snores away from sleeping only to wake up with my ass 30cms from the ground and my head slamming into the roof.


The minivan journey had its plus side however as we did stop of at what is so far the best temple we have seen. Crystal like structure with jaw dropping architecture is all I can really say.

The next day we jumped on a boat and organized to get across the border into Laos. Semi stressful process but in hindsight not so bad really. Once again a lesson to be learned for Oly, don’t through away your departure slip, costs your 100 baht, not expensive just a lil stressful.

Mekong river cruising.

It was time to begin our 16-18 hour boat ride down the Mekong River, we had a made friends with an Australian bloke the night before and continued to chat with him. After awhile it became apparent the a large percentage of the passengers where either getting really drunk or really high, we opted for the second option as dehydrating your body with beer didn’t sound as appealing as relaxing down the Mekong.
The day quickly came to and end and we soon arrived in the dumbest place on earth, Pak Beng. We had heard from friends and the tour guide that took us to the slow boat that this was a dodgy, unforgiving place. This is because as tourists we are forced to stay there and as hosts that often have two keys to the room your staying in and come in while your out. We quickly organized a room that had a restaurant opposite so we could eat and watch our room at the same time. This was our first taste of the Laos currency, kip…..5000 kip = $1nz……30,000 kip for a room and 20,000 kip for a full meal and 3 beers……AWESOME.
The second day of the slow boat was not as good, decided to stay of all substances and stay alert for our arrival in Luang Probang…probably should have thought that was about Pak Beng also…nonetheless this meant that the journey felt much longer and its end was well appreciated.

Luang Probang has been awesome, we organized some more accommodation for 30,000 kip each and found a wicked local restaurant, it has no menu and only one of the employees slightly speaks english, they serve us meals for 10,000 kip that are again so fantastic and always pretty random.

Cycling around Luang Probang.

On our first day in Luang Probang we hired a bike each and checked out the city, Laos is terrrific and noticeably different from Thailand. The people seem a lot more easy going and approachable, this may be just that they haven’t developed so much and have much less population but you certainly get a better vibe from the place…well I have anyway. The french influence is great also as we get to have baguettes for breakfast but the Communism flags floating around in our accomadation and all over the city are a little unsettling.
After the bike rides we decided to chill out in the sun and play some hacky….latter realizing that the bike ride plus the hacky had resulted in some pretty wicked sun burn, especially Conrads awesome new natural singlet.

Bon Appétit - Oly the chef.

The next day we did a cooking course that was highly recommended in a lot of travel guides we had been reading, it cost $40 nz each which is far beyond what had been spending so far but was 100% worth it. They took us to the LOCAL market and explained all the different types of traditional Laos vegetables and herbs used in most dishes. They then guided us in creating 5 meals, and then left us to eat away.

That night we bumped into our Australian friend from the slow boat and decided to get another meal and go out for drinks with him. We ended up in a shisha bar chilling out in front of the Mekong river…..awesome way to end the day.

Today we went to another waterfall and had a big swim and have booked our bus ride to Van Vieng…..tubing city….jump on youtube to see what we have in store for us.

Photos from Luang Probang, Laos.

End of Luang Probang, Laos on to Vang Viaeg, Laos - 5th Dec

Oly’s Comments taken from his Blog:
Since the last post I was meant to have been in vang viang for a couple of days…however we got our first stint of illness on the trip due to Conrads attempt to win a family bet.

Apparently his brother had been to south east Asia a few years earlier and had himself an oreo milkshake resulting in giaradia. In response Conrad decided to try one for himself and also ended up spending the night in the toilet…we had a bus booked for the next morning so I had to organise to move the date two days onwards.

We upgraded our accommodation to the rooms with tvs and watched movies for the next few days while Conrad recovered.

Bus tripping.

On the 5th we set out on a 7 hour bus ride and made friend with a fellow kiwi named olly and two aussie girls. This worked well for me as the road hugged very high cliff tops and we spun a good 4 hour yarn which passed time well.

We arrived in vang vieng around 5pm to find restaurants with two 50″ tvs each playing dvds of friends or family guy and guest houses[motels] galore.

We checked out a few guest houses…we are learning…compared prices and features and quickly set up camp. That night we decided to take it easy again for Conrad before we go tubing.

Tubing the next day was awesome…we meet up with our friends from the bus and pretty much chilled with them and a few new people. Its basically a river with bars along it that you stop at and do choice bombs at. Very cheap drinks and good times.

That evening we had dinner with the two aussie ladies and Oly and had a pretty chill journey back to being sober watching friends.

Today we have had another day off and just chilled and tomorrow we will have our second go at tubing.. We have bus tickets booked for the 9th to vientine and then a plane to hanoi[Vietnam] on the 10th…hopefully our visas come through.

Vang Vieng onto Vientiane then Hanoi, Vietnam - Dec 13th

Quote from Oly
All of this blog as I read over it is just a guide to my movements, but really some of the best parts of this trip and the parts I wish I had blogged, are the thoughts and contemplations had while sitting on a bus for 3 hours or from sitting on the roof of a tour boat drinking a beer looking at oodles of years worth of rock formation from the sea with ya mate chatting about who knows what.
Such an awesome experience so far, travel really seems to stretch both the physical and the mental to entirely new regions.

Oly’s Comments taken from his Blog:
Last time I wrote an entry we were having a day off in Vang Vieng and had booked all our travels for getting into Vietnam. The rest of that day was spent chilling in the restaurants watching Friends and Family Guy, was a pretty legit day in the end.

The next day we were ready to hit tubing again this time without a group, we decided to go without the tubes as the general gist of tubing is getting pissed on the river and we didn’t need the extra issue of returning the tubes by 5pm for the deposit. Unfortunately I was feeling pretty crook in the early stages, likely due to the excessive amounts of food we had been consuming. Nonetheless we stuck around and slowly began knocking back buckets of whiskey and taking the free shots left right and center. As the day progress I began to feel better in one sense but much worse in another. As per usual once the alcohol gets flowing I can only be found on the dance floor, and such is the case for the rest of that days memory. The next memory is of me lying in the hotel bed throwing up into a bucket. Conrad says he found me on the dance floor with a group of ten other people all very much enjoying my enthusiasm. As for Conrad I believe he spent his time playing soccer really drunk with the local kids and bringing me back to the hotel safely.

The beginning of the next day was a bad start as the laundry service had lost my fav jean shorts and continued with sitting in a mini van with 5 other Irish guys stealing the hung over lime light. The trip wasn’t to bad from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Once arrived we were well equip from our readings and new found travel experience to quickly snap up some reasonable accommodation and get settled for the night. Vientiane was pretty dum, a quietened down version of Bangkok but with worse food and much less to do. We quickly sorted out our passport photos, tried some of the Japanese sushi and got back to our rooms to watch some HBO movies while we had good reception.

Photos from Laos.

Vientiane to Hanoi location map.

Flying between Vientiane and Hanoi instead of using the bus is highly recommended. We have only heard bad, make that horrible things about the bus ride and can only report good things about the flight. It was on time, it was a modern plane…we were not sure it would be being that it was from Laos Airlines, it had a free meal on board which was delicious and had mini tvs behind every seat with a range of options to choose from. Before we new it the hour had passed and we were in Hanoi.

Once realizing that Hanoi city was 45 mins drive from the airport we began to figure out our options. I had seen a group of girls on the bus and they appeared to have been speaking English so decided to go up and ask them what there plans were. Turned out it was a group of four Kiwi blondes doing a similar 2 months trip planning on taking a bus into the city. As the discussions went on it became clear that we all had no idea were the buses were and that maybe a combined 6 person taxi could be the better option for getting into the city.

Busy, busy.

The roads of Vietnam are crazy, ridiculous amounts of people on bikes riding skins layer lengths away from giant minivans without a second thought about it. We got dropped of and long story short we got ripped of, we got dropped at what was obviously a sponsor hotel and got charged more then we bargained for the minivan. Bad start to Hanoi but again a few more lessons learned out of it to avoid for next time. One being to find a reputable source about your location before you pay the driver.

The walk into the city wasn’t to long, about 25-40 mins….with back backs on, however it was sent down the night market street which is absolutely mental. You don’t have room to think let alone traverse massive packs with 5 other people. In the end we found the massive lake which was to be a measure for were the accommodation sites are. We found a backpackers that cost $5us a night and would give us a room for all 6 of us to ourselves. We snapped this up and took a breath for an hour or so.

Oly, Conrad and the four kiwi girls they hooked up with.

Both the girls and ourselves had been planning to visit Ha Long bay and the backpackers offered to do all the booking for us for 2 days 1 night. After a few discussions we decided to snap it up as apparently all the positions were being filled (this is never actually the case we have found) and went off to have ourselves some dinner.

Caving with the girls.

I’m getting pretty hungry so I’m going to leave Ha Long bay for next time, some notes to myself and a bit of teaser for ya’ll:

Oly’s Comments taken from his Blog:
Hanoi to Da Lat
Last time I did an entry in this blog we had finished our Ha Long Bay experience, with both its ups and downs we were most definitely ready to move on from the north of Vietnam, far colder compared to the previous places we had visited.

River cruising.

We booked an On / Off ticket from Hanoi to Hoh Chi Min city that lets you stop in certain popular destinations and get back on with the one ticket. The bus was set to leave that day at around 6pm so we had a day to ourselves in the city that had certainly not treated us well so far. The group of 6 dispersed into 3 groups of two for shopping and site seeing. Conrad and I were not sure how we were going to kill around 9 hours in a city built for shopping but we didn’t have a choice so we made the most of it.
In the end the day was a success. I scored myself a new wallet for about $15 nz and a new Rolex, real Rolex, for around $22 nz. Conrad also got himself a new wallet for a similar price. We checked out the lake statues and took some photos next to scrubs that were shaped like trees (check FB photos for details) and ate some more Pho on plastic seats designed for 4 year old children in kinder garden.

Sunset.

Just going to take a bit of a side step for a moment, this meal, Pho, is A MAZE ZING. Its just noodle soup with lots of chicken stock, but there are hundreds of little shops of them, with tinsy little tables and chairs, they cost about $1-$1.20 each and rock ya socks of. To the point that I got myself a iPho t-shirt you may see in photos to come. Probably my fav thing about Vietnam so far!

Any who….so we were now back at the hostel with the girls and ready to head to Da Nang to hang out with some orphanage kids. The bus ride to Da Nang was very stressful and i’m going to leave that one for Conrad to report on later, the next blog post will be done by him.

Junks.

So I’m kicking of after the 20+ hour bus ride and landing in Da Nang, the bus driver decided to drop us of around 40-50 mins walk from anything useful and failed to give us any indication as to which way we should travel. So two kiwi blokes and 4 blonde kiwi girls started a trek with massive back packs in toe down unfamiliar looking streets trying to find our current location and then and desired location. As time went on it became clear that Da Nang is not a tourist destination, it appears to be a bit of a business hub for Vietnamese people. This added to the difficulty of getting anywhere both because we didn’t see a taxi for 30 mins walking down busy streets but also because no one spoke very much english. Eventually a taxi pulled up next to us and called a mate and organised to bring us into to a hotel we pointed to from our lonely planet book.
From here things got much better. Da Nang is what I anticipated Bangkok to be like, a well developed city with high rise buildings, clean streets and expensive looking shops. Our hotel was a dream come true with very comfortable beds and a shower head that you didn’t have to hold onto.
We just wanted to lay low for the night as we had the orphanage the next day and after the bus ride story you’ll understand why we were a bit tuckered out. We turned the telly on to find the most recent Shrek movie and decided to quickly run down to KFC (First fast food since we arrived.) and get back for a movie night with the girls.

Visit to an orphanage.

The orphanage was good, upsetting but good. The primary occupants were not just parent less children but also mostly disabled parent less children. It was good to spend time with the very young children but the older ones appeared a little less excited about our presence, likely due to us not being the first people wanting to come “watch” them.
After the orphanage we organised a minivan to Hoi An which got us there safely and promptly which was a nice change.

Hoi An….this is a big one. As I write this post I only just arrived in the next city from Hoi An so the stuff I just wrote was a bit hazy from my memory.
Hoi An is known as the Tailoring Town of Vietnam, and i’m guessing really most of South East Asia. Its fricken ridiculous.

We were still with the girls at this point and they were going mental, any females reading this blog, I suggest you put this place on your bucket list. Some of the girls showed a picture from a magazine of some fancy pancy dress they liked, got measured up…the next day they had that dress for about $30 nz.

Little Oly with a group of school kids.

We got accommodation in a place with a pool and at a reasonable price of $5 a night. Conrad and I got our own room this time and the ladies shared one together.
We went out for dinner that night and after all the dramas and extensive amount of time spent with each other the laughs started to come out very quickly, especially after happy hour drinks started. Both the girls and ourselves started trading stories of first time experiences ( some a little younger then others ) with full volume voices only to later learn that the other occupants of the restaurant were English speaking kiwis was certainly one of the funniest moments i’ve experienced on the trip so far.
15 or so Gin and Tonics later there where only three of us left and playing pool was getting tricky, lining up shots is tricky when 1 ball looks like 6.

The next day everyone split up again into 3 groups of 2 and did our own respective shopping. The girls went out and spent over $700 nz on clothes ….remembering that clothes that should cost $300 nz cost around $30 over here so they got there fair share. Conrad and I spent our time scoping out what we wanted and getting overwhelmed but the share volume of shopping we had ahead of us. So reduce this stress we found a dvd store that sold EVERYTHING. I say again…EVERYTHING. Now if anyone reading this is knows Conrad, they will understand that he bought 60 dvds for anyone who doesn’t know him so well…..he loves watching movies. I myself got around 6-9 documentary dvds on the state of the planet etc, the usual shit I like to watch.

Stocking up on a new suit.

The next day was the beginning of what was to be a lengthy process for someone who doesn’t like to sit still for long. I’m gonna cut it short as its not that interesting.
I got myself a suit, an extra pair of pants, 4 shirts and a winter jacket…all up spending around $300 on what should have cost around, well Conrad says $800-$900 but who knows. He got a couple of expensive suits but it certainly shows as he does looking very suave in them.
The girls helped a lot in this shopping experience, not necessarily picking clothing out, but reassuring us that we had made a good decision.

That night the girls were leaving to continue there journey without us, was a tad emotional as its always nice to have a few extra party members for a couple of days and in this case we were together for a relatively short period of time but spend almost all of that time together so formed some really good bonds. Lots of laughs anyhow.

A fun swimming location.

The next day we did all our fittings for our suits and passed time till our bus ride out to Da Lat. Currently I’m in a bit of an over pricey hotel just chilling for the night as for the next 3 days Conrad and I have booked 2 motor bikes for ourselves and a tour guide to travel down to Hoh Chi Minh city. I may be a bit premature but i’m thinking this part of the trip could end up being one of the best. We are being taken away from the tourist trail of the state highway and up into the western mountainous jungles on motorbikes like the locals would.
CANNOT WAIT.

Photos of some fun time at a waterfall, sunset at Ha long bay, and a visit to an orphanage - Laos & Vietnam.

Photos from Chiang mai to Hoi an - Laos & Vietnam.

Some additional photos from a friend (Anna Marshall) that Oly & Conrad hooked up with in Vietnam.

Bus journey from Hoi An to Ho Chi Mihn & motor scooter adventures - Vietnam - 27th Dec

Hoi An to Ho Chi Mihn location map.

Conrad’s Comments taken from their Blog:

Hi Team!

I (Conrad) have been writing my own journal by hand which I plan to condense and type for those who are interested, but thought I might chip in on this increasingly popular blog. Apologies for how long it is. While Oly has been trying to punch out a quick bit of a guide to what we have been up to, I spent 3 hours on a bus and a bit more time in an internet cafe writing this.

Elephant mounument.

BUS RIDE
Oly and I find that there is just so much that we could talk about that we often skim over so many events. So for starters I thought I would delve a bit deeper into just one of the relatively insignificant non-events we have gone through. As Oly has alluded to we had a pretty stressful sleeping bus ride between Ha Noi and Da Nang…

First of all, for those of you who haven’t been to Vietnam or SE Asia, you should know that the driving and the roads of SE Asia are not the same kettle of fish as ol’ NZ. In the words of Jeremy Clarkson the roading system in the cities are a “seething cauldron of barely organized chaos”. Outside the cities the unlined, lumpy, broken roads provide little more comfort. Further, the drivers will see an 18 wheeler in front of them and 20m of road before a blind corner and will opt to overtake without hesitation.

Chilling out was made somewhat easier by oly’s timely comment of “well there’s definitely a bitta poo in my pants now.”

The sleeping bus has three bunk style seats across, with an isle down either side of the middle seat. I was sitting in the top bunk of the middle seat with oly to my right and an anonymous Vietnamese woman to my left. We settled in for an 11 hour bus ride and took two sleeping pills to pull us through the night. Nek minnut.. I woke up at about 2AM to the screaming chaos of the bus skidding and sliding sideways and everyone screaming and losing their minds. Panicked I looked to the girl to my left who was screaming her tits off. She took one look out the window, jumped off her top bunk and seemed to be running away from that side of the bus. Not being able to see out the window I figured we were heading directly for a sheer cliff, a big truck or a Charazard or something. So as my body flooded with adrenaline, I grabbed my handrail and readied myself to follow the lead of the hysterical woman. Oly (who had apparently been awake a bit longer and could see what was happening out the windscreen) saw my plan of hysteria, running and screaming and grabbed my arm and gave me a look which powerfully said ‘I know what’s going on and we are sweet.’ The bus shuddered to a holt and everyone started to calm the fuck down.

Street scene.

We then spent two hours waiting and watching others randomly be selected to get off the bus. Eventually it was our turn so we made our way onto another bus that was already full so tried to double up in the back of the bus in a position aptly coined ‘the birthing position’. Basically two people squeezing into one seat with one person lying between the legs of the other). However, we soon found this too uncomfortable and, quite frankly, a bit homosexual for our liking, so moved to an area on the floor.

The next morning oly and I reminisced about my moment of unjustified terror and he said something along the lines of… every time you seem to manage to outdo your previous response to a stressful situation and every time it becomes the funniest thing I’ve seen you do… Oly’s a bit of a dick like that.

The bus um… not-crashing experience really freaked the fkn pants off me. To give you an indication of the severity of my fear, a few days later we were on another overnight bus. We had booked a 3 day motor biking adventure and had organised to meet a tour guide in Nga Trang. At around 3am everyone was sound asleep and enjoying a quiet and peaceful ride. This was quickly changed to yet another scene of panic. I woke up at least half the bus by jolting up, screaming then curling into a head covering protective position yelling “No! No! Not again!” I soon realized that the bus had been breaking slightly and that my misconceived ideas of the bus heading for a drop toward my untimely death were merely a part of a horrendous dream I was having. I sheepishly apologized to the woman next to me who was looking at me absolutely terrified… and like Oly, she too now definitely had a bitta poo in her pants. I assured people everything was sweet, took a few deep breaths and let the sleeping pills work their magic again.

Temples.

Despite my unwarranted night of fear, we made it safely to Nga trang and tried to call the person who we had organized to pick us up and begin our motor biking tour. Unfortunately he didn’t pick up his phone… Fortunately we had a card for a tour guide (Son) who had been personally recommended to us and apparently worked for the same company. We called Son and he told us to catch a bus to Da Nang. We obliged and within half an hour were picked up and back on yet another bus.

It turned out that the original person we had talked to actually worked for another company which also had the same name, logo and uniform as the tour guide we actually wanted so after some confusion and a bit of a hoo ha about how the other company had sent a bike to pick us up from nga trang we organized a tour with the aforementioned (and preferred) tour guide.

We met with Son and organised to start the motor biking the following day. So we stayed a night in Nga Trang and tucked into a delicious and familiar pho.

MOTOR BIKING

The motor biking experiences can essentially be broken into four key categories: The Biking Itself, The Scenery, The Stops and One Last Highlight.

Oly & Conrad on their Harleys.

The Biking Itself
Our tour guide arrived and set us up with a couple of semi-automatic motorbikes (gears but no clutch).
Another great thing about Vietnam is that the standard and mind numbing rigmarole of going through the safety produces is considered to be unnecessary. You get handed a key and (if requested) a quick run down on what the different controls do, then you’re off.
We spent the first hour or so trying to figure out exactly how to ride a motor cycle. We quickly had to step up our game as the ‘road’ intermittently changed from asphalt, to gravel, to just chunks of rock about the size of your fist. Given that our wheels were definitely not as wide as a fist, we would randomly slip to the side as a rock would fling out from underneath. Proudly, we both made it through this without falling off our bikes.
Then we came to some awesome roads which made good use of all three dimensions. They twisted around mountains and allowed us to put our scooters (ahem.. Motorbikes) through their paces with our new found, professional motor biking skills.

By the second day we were alright with wearing no helmet (sorry mums) to get a good photo (your welcome mums). And by the third we even decided to ride for a bit without our tops on (sorry every Vietnamese guy who had to see that and give us a disapproving look). Again we got a good photo (ladies… You’re welcome).

It was around this time that we stopped to go have a look at a bridge. The tour guide told us about how useful bamboo is in Vietnam. He showed us a bridge which was about 3m across without a side rail which at one point sat on about a 30 degree angle. Suffice to say it was a pretty shitty bridge and the edge meant falling 5m into a river. As we wandered across our guide said “now we do on motorbike” and turned back around to go get one. Oly and I kept walking thinking he was joking and discussed the fact that this wasn’t really a risk we would be willing to take. We figured a worst case scenario of falling into a river with a bike tumbling after you wouldn’t exactly be ideal… Turned out Son wasn’t joking… It also turned out we both have bigger balls than we thought as we sacked up and motor biked across one of the most precarious bridges I’ve been on… It was freaking sweet.

Busy, busy, busy.

I’m not saying we are ready to confront the crazy city streets. However, by the end of 3 days we were seemingly developing a sense of inclusion and comfort with the local road rules and transportation techniques. Our distaste of the insistent honking and aggressive driving started to reform into an understanding of the method in the madness. Where a honk in NZ will usually mean ‘oi… Get the f**k out of my way you prick!’ Here it is more of a ‘Yo heads up I’m coming past you.’ Kind of like yelling ‘Four’ if your golf ball is heading for a fellow golfer. In fact some of the horns have been customized to even sound less intimidating; they trill between two notes and quickly fade. I became almost reliant on the horns of other motorists because my pathetic excuse for a wing mirror fell off about 4 hours into day one. That being said, an unanticipated and deafening air horn of a bus as it goes roaring past you remains in the cons column of Asia’s roading system.

Oly enjoying the view.

The Scenery
Scenery is one of those things that photos can never quite do justice to. I could go on the internet and find you photos of scenery that is just out of this world. But, for whatever reason, it’s not until you’re there viewing with your own eyes that your jaw drops and your pants bulge slightly due to a view. Maybe just take a look at the photos but they just can’t do justice to a view of a tranquil lake, surrounded by dense and deep green forest that contrasts perfectly off itself. There’s also no comparison for the visual pleasure of panoramic views which tantalize right to the edge of your peripherals. Further, the views often gave insight into the farming economy that maintains Vietnam. Acres and acres of cocoa, green tea and mostly of coffee.

On the third day of biking, it was views like this… Everywhere. It was fkn awesome.

The Stops
The photos will give you a pretty good idea of what we did on the stops so in a nutshell they consisted of:

Silk factory.

A Silk Factory
Blew my mind to find out that silk comes from an animal. I thought it was similar to cotton… turns out it’s the cocoon of a silk worm that if left alone will become a moth…thing.

Coffee plantation.

Small Tribe Who Grow Coffee Beans
This was a small tribe who’s existence had been self sufficient. Now they grow a whole shit load of coffee. It was especially interesting to note that the government had made the tribe grow coffee beans. My knowledge of communism and how it all works couldn’t really be much more limited, but it seemed pretty fkd that they can just decide, ‘right… Now you guys will grow coffee.’

A Whisky Farm and Pigs
We stopped at a small coffee farm which also made whisky from rice. They add yeast to the rice, let it ferment then steam off the alcohol into a separate drum. They then use the left over rice to feed a whole bunch of pigs. If you’re wondering.. Yes, the left over rice is still alcoholic… and yes this gets the pigs drunk. Further, yes the pigs get happy, horny and aggressive from the alcoholic rice. Perhaps we aren’t so different after all. We managed to be there for feeding time and tried our best to live up to the claims that we eat like pigs.

Brick making.

Brick Making ‘Factory’
Not sure what set it off, but Spewy McPooey-Pants had made a triumphant return. I had suffered yet another night of cuddling up to the toilet and evacuating everything from my body… from every possible exit point. Needless to say, the consistency of what was coming out was very far from solid.
I found it somewhat ironic that our first stop of the day was at a brick making ‘factory’. I add inverted commas because of the perception I have of a ‘factory’; a fully mechanized system pounding out masses of the same product with only technicians to keep the machines running. This process involved two guys grabbing lumps of clay which (granted) did go through a small machine, then two ladies at the other end picking up two blocks at a time, placing them onto a cart, wheeling the art away, lifted the pairs of bricks back off the cart and putting them into piles.

Rice Paper
We got a good look at how rice paper is made… its kinda simular to a crepe or pancake. It was a simple enough process. Put a bit of mixture on a hot plate, put a lid on (which had coconut on top), take the lid off, roll up the rice paper and unroll it onto a mat for cooling. I was still quite jaded from the night before but was given the chance to give it a go. I managed to make a mess of the whole process. I made probably the worst rice paper in the world and spilled all the coconut from the lid onto the ground… Oly wasn’t allowed a turn.

Sapa-like Tribe
The most interesting thing about these people was that they were a mix of Chinese and Vietnamese. This made Oly and I realise we could (usually) identify one from the other. The other interesting thing about this place was that there was a lady walking around there who looked really old. We asked how old she was and were told she was 90! Imagine making it to 90 without modern medicine.

Nice cool waterfall.

On the first day we were taken to see a waterfall. We trudged along behind some Chinese tourists who made their way to a rock platform to take a look. To be fair it was a pretty big, pretty powerful and pretty good looking waterfall. Water surged down onto rocks then split off around other rocks which apparently formed rocks that resembled elephants. We took a quick look and gave it a slightly impressed “..oh yeah”. Then Oly noticed a small cave. We decided to go check that out. We could see light coming from the other end so we clambered through the rocks and deep roots of trees. We found ourselves on the left wing of the underside of the waterfall. Now this was cool.
The water racing past and crashing into the rocks at the bottom created a powerful funneled windy spray of water. The misty spray slapped you in the face and drenched our clothes in matter of seconds (hence, no photos). We made our way back to the proper track where the Chinese tourists took photos and gave us puzzled looks as to how exactly we had managed to come back so happy and so incredibly wet.

Oly chatting with locals.

Often on this trip Oly and I find ourselves drifting from what we are actually supposed to be focused on and get engrossed and interested in something else. This is also usually when we have the most fun and a lot of laughs. This trip was no exception.
The same day Son had stopped to show us how the locals were using left over shells or something to make snacks. Again we gave it a look but quickly found ourselves more entertained by the fact that the drainage system on the side of the road reassembled slightly dumbstruck faces. We spent 10-15 minutes creating personalities and dialogue between them.

One last highlight…
The motor biking adventure took us off the beaten track of Vietnam and gave us a closer sense of how Vietnam functions away from tourists and provided some awesome experiences, interesting sights and a lot of laughs along the way.
Most of the best parts of the trip happened during the riding parts of the trip. To give you a bit of an insight into these kinds of events… At one point we were driving down a dirt road (far from any other kind of tourist), listening to music through one ear on an iPod, driving past school kids who found novelty in Westerners and yelled “HELLOO” then held out their had for a sweet high five.

Photos from Hoi An to Ho Chi Mihn - Vietnam.

From Cambodia to Bangkok in Thailand and down to the southern islands to celebrate the New Year - Late Dec to Early Jan

Xmas Day photo.

Oly’s Comments taken from his Blog:
As I write this post we are in Bangkok and have finished the Over Seas Experience part of our trip and are about to begin the Holiday part of the trip.

Bus ride from Saigon [ Hoh Chi Minh City ] was another crappy experience. Was meant to have no stops and a toilet, had no toilet and stopped like 3 times, including one stop for an hour in Phnom Penh. Again the this sucked doubly as we had taken our fair share of sleeping pills and were not in the mood to deal with these sorts of hiccups.

Getting across the Vietnam / Cambodia border was blissful, definitly the least stressful border so far. As time went on in this journey I began to feel very run down and restless. The total time was meant to be 12 hours, the journey ended up taking around 14 hours. Mentally preparing for 12 hours on a bus is one thing, but watching your clock for two hours past those 12 whilst feeling very run down sucked big time.

Hot, hot, hot.

Anywho, things got better, Sihanoukville was kick ass. Long stretches of beach with clear blue water, white sand and bars sprawled all along with comfy beach chairs set up for you. This was to be the place we will have had spent the longest out of our entire holiday so far, 6 days 5 nights. Things were looking up. By this point we had reached over or past halfway into our holiday…depending on which girl friend we were using as a guide for or time frame so far.

Now as a bit of a side step to the actions and activities of the holiday I just want to go over something, more for myself later in life when I read this, but also for anyone else interested in how this aspect of traveling with one friend panned out.
By this point we had spent about 40 days together, 24 hours a day and tensions were beginning to grow. In my opinion we have done very well so far, we have been fortunate enough to gather enough temporary travel buddies along the way to give us a bit of spare time from each other but other than that it has been very close quaters for a long time. For the audience reading me that knows me well, they will understand I can be difficult to be around for extended periods of time. To those that don’t know me well to the point of having lived with me, stubborness, fidgetty and tempormental might be words used to describe me. These are the words I would hope only be used in the bad times, but I can atleast admit that they would be used from time to time.

A Pooh bear hug for Mum.

Now to add to this, I have used this experience away from any real requirments to fully focus to give myself the longest break from Ritalin since beginning taking it, around 8 or 9 years old I believe. This means that Conrad has been the first person ( other than my fantastic parents which I can hardly even begin to imagine what raising 6 year old Oly must have been like and am very grateful for ) to really experience the bound up energy ball that I can be and I have to say, the man has done well in the patience department.

So far, Conrad and I have had maybe 3 or 4 proper clashes, which have generally based around the topic of how we spend our time, Conrad being very extroverted and keen to be doing stuff, myself leaning more towards introversion and prefering the slow pace activities, strange, I know, considering the paragraph earlier.
The general gist of how our clashes goes is this,
Conrad: Bro stop being a dick about this, this, and this
Oly: (internally: f**k he is so right I should stop that) Externally: na f**k off, your not always right conrad, maybe we could try doing things my way for a change????

Job for Sam.

This will go on for a bit, both will begin to raise points that have annoyed us from earlier and these are usually the real issues we have wanted to raise. We will then both go away thinking, I was most definitly right in that situation.
A day or two later we will be two beers down, and both start spitting out the lessons each of us wanted the other to have learnt from our winge.

As girly as all this sounds, I think its pretty cool, it goes little like this….Roar….No you Roar….hmmmm yeah ok I guess we both sorta should stop doing those things.

No fists, no grudges, just a bit of a bicker, then of to sleep for the night….wake up, someone does a wicked loud fart and we are away laughing again.

Now, back to Sihanoukville. We were lucky to score fantastic accommodation for a reasonable price considering we had decided to spend new years there. For the first 3 nights we both felt sick and spent most of the night in the toilet. However for some strange reason during the day, we became fine again and were able to swim and muck around at the beach. This continued as I said for over 4 days, so actually worked in our favor as it saved us a lot of money on alcohol but still gave us the relaxation of the beach we had so desperately been seeking all holiday.

Oly converted?

Eating our meals along the beach became a very stressful activity. They have hundreds of war victims and just generally poor people come crawling up to you with half a leg or disfigured facial features and beg you for money. After being to the War Memorial Museum in Vietnam and knowing how innocently these people were yet there lives having been so viciously damaged our conscious really took a hit. Really hit home is pretty much all that needs to be said. Its different to the $1 a day adds…its right in front of you asking for money, and after having bought myself a delicious curry and knocking back two beers…saying no……you get the point..its hard on the soul.
Just for the record, all the guide books told us to say no, there are a list of reasons but i’m sure you can all do the reasoning for yourselves and come up with why it isn’t a good idea to fuel a begging environment.

New Years came round, we got absolutely s**t faced, enjoyed the night, and hated the morning. Pretty much the same as everyone else in our position.

Stray dogs.

This blog post I know will be disjointed, its because this time round, as I have thought of something I want to talk about, I have added it to a list on my phone…the next thing on the list is something that has been prevalent throughout South East Asia. There are sooooooooo many stray dogs….like sooooooo many. They are a blast to watch, sometimes having tussles, other times just following with their eyes with such intense focus as a person walks by with food in there hand.

Haha another thing on the list I wanted to discuss is the toilets. Every visit to the toilet is a journey. Each one with a story of its own. Some times you trek through about 5 mins worth of shrub until you find it, other times its in the bar but the stairs are right above it and you have to sort of do the limbo if your a guy and you want to pee. Cracks me up everytime…..also….never any toilet paper….they spray there bums here with water….f**k that shit man, carry toilet paper with you if you ever come to this part of the world.

You can eat that?.

Hehe…also another thing on the list I like…… socializing….when your traveling…its actually fun. Don’t get me wrong, I know I know I like to socialize at home also, with people I know, the friends I already have…..in this case however, i’m talking about small talk. Its actually fun over here…..why??…..because everyone has got so much to ask each other about.

· Whats your name?
· Where are you from?
· How long you travelling for?
· Where have you been so far?
· What did you like/dislike about that?
· Where are you going next?
So much to feed of, so many different answers. Love It!

I got a note here that says ‘Conrad lost three pairs of jandles’….I guess I just wanted you all to know, that Conrad managed to loose three PAIRS of jandles in one night.

Fish tickler tank.

oooooooooooooo…next thing on the list, we did the fish tank thing…were you put your feet in a tank of water with fish that love to eat your feed……OOOOOOHHHHH MYYYY GOOODDDDDDDDD it was tickly….so much fun though, what a great laugh.

Ok that’s the side step of notes from my phone done….last we left off was new years….yup it was cool….next stop…..Siem Reep….got our bus, again…not meant to stop… definitely stopped a lot of times. What can you do right, its not the western world….and it cost me $5 to travel further then Wellington to Auckland.

My favorite was the Tomb Raider one (its a movie) its the one in the photos with all the trees growing over the stones etc.

Ok next thing on the list, and the last thing we will have done in our ‘Over Seas Experience’ part of the trip…was Angkor Wat.
This ones pretty hard, the words like…amazing.. jaw dropping etc….never going to help. Its the biggest religious building in the world. We went at 4am to see the sunrise, it was amazing (yup..i said amazing..deal with it). We then walked around three or four different temples….for the record Angkor Wat is the main one, but there are a lot in the same area.

This is what happens if you dance too much!

Don’t wanna go on about Angkor Wat, its not a blog thing…its a go and see thing.

So now, at the end of this post….done it in two sittings, we are in Koh Phangan.
Our Holiday has finally begun.
Its really hot and we have a pool were we are staying. Awesome.

Went to full moon party the has the biggest party that this area of the world has.
Unfortunately the party sucked from my end and was amazing from Conrads.

I got a sprained ankle…to much hard out dancing…

It was pretty hectic and everything could have ended either a lot worse or a lot better.
The guy I was in the hospital with, was getting 41 stitches in his face because someone bottled him and ran off…..thats a scar for life.

Alrighty then, I might go get myself a beer and watch the little waves hit the shore line.

Photos from Cambodia & Thailand.

Southern Thailand islands & beaches

Oly “Just casually watching a storm develop in the distance
after a day of tests both on land and 18m below surface
level to complete our diving course. Been a good day.”

The lads had an interesting boat journey between Koh Phangan and Koh Tao…the weather was similar to the storms we get in the Cook Strait.

After arriving they started a 5 day diving course from Koh Toa. The first day was learning the ropes etc which which gave Oly’s ankle time to heal.

They then moved onto Krabi for a week of beaches and pools.
Conrad spent some time learning Muay Thai kick boxing.

Southern Thailand islands.

Photos from Krabi - Thailand - Late Jan

Nice.

Enjoying the beaches
Koh Phi Phi which has one of the nicest beaches in the world apparently…again just relaxing.
Then off to Phuket for 4 days and finally Kuala Lumpur for 4 days….

The end is in sight now which is both releaving and upsetting. Being on the agency tickets for this last stretch has worked out to be in their favour as it removed any organizing responsibilities which they had become very tired of after organising their way through Laos to Cambodia.

The lads swear this is an adult lady
standing beside Oly.

Last days in the islands of southern Thailand.
Onto the final destination of Kuala Lumpur and a look at the Petronas Twin Towers with their 88 floors soaring 1,483 feet up into the clouds.

Left for Christchurch on the 8th February.

Just gotta pay the credit card off when they get home!

Here’s Oly’s final lot of photos.

Final photos from Thailand & Kuala Lumpur- Late Jan - Early Feb

Sunday afternoon at Matarawa
On the afternoon of the 13th November, we had a Bon Voyage gathering at Matarawa to wish Oly well on his upcoming adventure to South East Asia.
Oly is off with his mate Conrad next weekend to start their three month OE from Bangkok.

Oly and his girl friend, Catherine, flew down to Wellington from Auckland to stay with us at Matarawa for the weekend.

Kelsey, Ben, Thomas & Adele came over the hill to a lovely hot Wairarapa day.

We had a great afternoon outside in the sun and a yummy BBQ lunch.

Catherine & Oly.

A few drinks before the BBQ.

Oly, Debra & Archie catching some sunshine.

Debra & Archie.

Gathering in the flower garden for a family photo.

In the garden at Matarawa.
(L - R) Thomas, Adele, Debra, Catherine, Kelsey, Oliver & Ben.

Peter & Oly.

Peter & Oly.

Debra & Oly.

Oly & Kelsey.

Oly & Ruby having a run around in the orchard.

Catherine & Oly in the orchard.

The gardens burst into life in the spring with a paddock full of daffodils to enjoy.
Soon the the wisteria drapes itself around the porch.
The azaleas & rhododendrons dazzle us with their intense colours and perfume.
Foxgloves reach for the sky and the bees are happy.
Lilies and roses follow and then the summer display of dahlias and perennials.
Autumn brings a beautiful display of Japanese maples as their leaves change colour for our enjoyment.

View photos of many of the roses from our Matarawa Garden.

Not sure why but I’m really loving this series.
Never really been into Zombie shows in the past, but this one is keeping me on the edge of my seat.

The first season ran for six episodes airing at the end of 2010 ….. this season has 13 episodes and AMC have just announced that they will make a third season.

The Walking Dead tells the story of the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse; it follows a small group of survivors, traveling across the desolate United States in search of a new home away from the shuffling hordes of the undead (or “walkers”). The group is led by Rick Grimes, who was a sheriff’s deputy in a small Georgia town before the zombie outbreak. As their situation grows more hazardous, the group’s desperation to survive pushes them to the brink of insanity. At every turn they are faced with the unbearable horrors that come from having the dead walk again, the changing dynamic of their group, as well as facing hostility from the scattered remains of a struggling human populace who are focused on their own survival, now that the structures of global society have collapsed.

The Walking Dead - Season Two

- Between September 2010 and February 2011, Christchurch was struck by three major earthquakes leaving the city’s heart ripped apart and lying in rubble. Through this unimaginable force of nature, we were suddenly forced to realise that we have lost the loved, familiar and treasured buildings and streetscapes forever. This website allows us all those with a connection to Christchurch to reluctantly bid farewell to the Christchurch that once was, and provides an opportunity to grieve for and treasure the lost Victorian and Edwardian elegance, charm and irreplaceable ambiance of the city and suburbs.

- Feeling nostalgic? Here’s a blogging website that looks back on the glory days of the ’60s and ’70s. Retro adverts, mini skirts, vintage mags, electronics, disco, catologs. It’s all here. Great fun looking back.

What a Magical Day

After a very wet & windy October, the 24th October turned on a beautiful warm, sunny and calm day for Thomas & Adele’s nuptials.

The couples friends and relations joined them at the Tawa Baptist Church where their friend and Youth Pastor, Daryl Judd performed the wedding service.

The couple read their vows to each other making it very hard for all concerned to keep their tears in check - most didn’t.

After congratulations from all outside the church, an afternoon tea was laid on in the church hall.

As the late afternoon warmed up, guests made their way to Gear Homestead overlooking Porirua Harbour for the wedding breakfast.
Gear Homestead Photos

Traditional rounds of speeches and toasts were followed by a delicious dinner with dancing to end the evening.

Thomas & Adele made their escape just after 10.00pm!

We wish them all the best for a long and happy marriage (with many grandchildren on order for us).

Thanks also to Adele’s parents, Roger & Pam for the super effort and energy they put into the big day - time, planning, counselling, tears, laughter and of course many $$$.

When you view the wedding photos here, you will see lots of smiles …. it really was a very happy day for everyone.

Getting ready at the Hydes …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Getting ready at the Blakemores …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

No turning back Thomas …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The ushers …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The long wait …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The bride arrives …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The wedding ceremony …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The parents, “We will” …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The reading …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

You may kiss the bride …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Congratulations Thomas & Adele Hyde …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Afternoon tea …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Time out before the reception …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Gear Homestead …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The stunning backdrop of Porirua Harbour …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Oh dear - a long day for Debra …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Don’t tell anyone - it was just grape juice …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Bridal party official photos…

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The beautiful bride …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The wedding breakfast …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

The bridemaids speech…

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Cutting of the cake …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Throwing of the posy …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

Nearly over Adele …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

All over guys, well done …

Thomas & Adele’s Wedding

- This is a very cool website with some really awkward family photos.

Thomas, Samuel, Oly & Kelsey

Kelsey organised her three brothers and they all came over the Rimutakas to our place at Matarawa in the Wairarapa.
Here they are posing on the road outside our place.
Can you spot our spaniel Ruby?