New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory

We bounced along all day before getting to our campsite. When we arrived there, we had to plug in the electricity, turn the electricity on, turn the gas on and turn the water on. We cooked steak and chicken on a big hot plate at the campsite under a canopy. I really like cooking outdoors!

Swimming in the bay.

Next day...

Today we left Brunswick Heads to go to Byron Bay. We arrived there and had a rest before cooking pasta!

Next day...

       

We stayed in our motorhome nearly all day doing homework before going out to the beach. It may sound fun, but when there's a beach out in front of you, it's hard to concentrate. Later in the afternoon, we went swimming and were nipped by something in the sea. We guessed it was sea lice! 

I cooked burgers for dinner on a hot plate at the campsite for the whole family. It was great fun!

Next day...

We left Byron Bay today and headed south to Coffs Harbour. On the way, we saw some wild kangaroos!!! I saw a mum with a young joey! We parked up right by the beach and had sweet and sour with noodles.

Next day...

We departed from Coff's Harbour to Bulundala where we stayed in the woods with no electricity, no toilets, but it was free! There was an older couple staying there too, but that was all! They came into our motorhome for a drink and a chat with Mum and Dad. The lady's foot was bleeding where she had been bitten by a leech! She wasn't too worried but there was no way I was going outside!

In the morning Mum and Dad told us they had heard a loud noise in the night... it was a tree falling down!

Today we went to Ku Ringai Chase National Park. We went for a walk around a small trail and saw a seven foot kangaroo who gave us the evils! We watched a kookaburra having a wash and Mum tried to teach us a song about a kookaburra.

We drove to a place north of Sydney called Narabeen with the hope of meeting up with one of our friends from home who is living there!

Next day...

Our friend Kelly ran from her workplace (she works in a fitness centre!) to where we were staying. She was VERY excited! She said we could have dinner at her place with her and her boyfriend called Tim.

Later, she came to pick us up in Tim's van. We had barbecued lamb with sausages. Yum! It. Was nice to have an evening out of the motorhome and watch a film. We watched Mamma Mia and shared some M and Ms! Luxury!

Next day...

We went to Palm Beach with Kelly and Tim. We walked up a big hill to a light house. It was a great view! I could see for miles! It was good fun but baking hot. 

Afterwards we had lunch at a fish and chip shop. No... It didn't cost £30 but instead it cost £90! Way over priced!

We went to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and met Lynda who we had met in Cambodia! She was with her two daughters called Sam and Heidi. We went on a boat across the river to have lunch. It was $2.50 for a one day pass for buses, trains and boats! We went to the Sydney Opera House in the evening, it was amazing. Did you know the architect that designed the opera house designed it from cut up oranges?

Next day...

We left Sydney to go to the Blue Mountains. It was a long drive but we eventually made it there. When we arrived we were greeted by a thunder and hail storm. The hail stones were nearly the size of golf balls!

We stayed in a non-powered campsite in the woods where you can camp for free. It was cool! They had long-drop toilets. Hence the name, the toilets are over a pit where you do your 'business' but there's a long drop to the pit! There's no way I would go to the toilets in there! When Mum told me there were cobwebs in there, that made my decision! Thank goodness for the toilet in our motorhome!

Next day...

ACT

We went to Canberra on the way to Ebden. Did you know Canberra is the capital of Australia, not Sydney? I didn't believe my Dad when he said that! For a capital city, it's tiny! We drove through the centre of the city and the roads were quieter than our towns at home!

Very colourful!!

We went to the Botanical Gardens to see eucalyptus trees, a Jurassic period pine tree, and much more. We did see a water dragon!! I didn't find it that interesting though and Dad made us write up notes on what we learnt! Boring!

Australia - Queensland

Our plane arrived at 07:30AM in Brisbane Australia. When we were at security, they didn't use the machines, instead they used Beagles to sniff you and your bags!  

We caught a taxi to the place where we rented our motorhome. The booking agent said we had booked the motorhome for only one month, but Dad's email clearly said three! We were there all day waiting for it to be sorted out. I was bored and tired and fell asleep! Eventually we set off in our motorhome to go shopping for supplies before finding a campsite. 

By  the time we had finished shopping and found a campsite in this big city, the early night I was hoping for was long gone. By the time we had our first campsite dinner of burgers and salad we ended up going to bed at 11:30PM.

Next day...

I had a huge lie-in this morning before having peanut butter on toast for breakfast!

We went in to the centre of Brisbane and caught a boat up the river under 'Story Bridge'.It was a cool way to see the city from the river. In the evening we hopped on a bus back to the area where we were staying. It was late and Dad couldn't be bothered to cook so we went to a restaurant called 'Hog's Breath'. I had a lovely steak!!!

Next day...

Today we left Brisbane to go to Brunswick Heads in the state of New south Wales. 

Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok at midnight! It felt like rush hour when we came outside as all the cars were still coming back and forth.

We arrived at our hotel and I face-timed my friend Amy and showed her all the buildings around our hotel which were lit up. Our room was on the nineteenth floor! We have a great view at night because of all the lights from the buildings.

Next day…….

We did home work nearly all day before going out to Lumpini park. Everyone goes there to do their evening exercises. Even tourists! There's exercise stations and parks. Its something you just wouldn't see at home. Why?

We caught a TukTuk to a restaurant that Dad's friend recommended, but it was closed so the TukTuk driver took us somewhere else. When we were in the restaurant I saw the owner go over and pay our driver! The food definitely WASN'T the best I've ever had! It was a tourist trap!

Next day…….

Today we met up with one of the Irish men that we met in Lao. He's called Darren. First we went on the sky train to catch a boat to the grand palace and passed a robot shaped building. When we arrived there, the guard said that we couldn't go in because Dad and Darren were wearing shorts. At the time, we thought he was being really nice but actually he was part of a scam. 

A TukTuk driver took us to a temple, two tailors and two jewellery shops. The last four places we went to were a scam because our driver received gas  coupons if we went into them!

While we were in one of the tailors, Dad and Darren were messing about trying on jackets while an Indian man was desperately trying to sell them something. Eventually he got angry and threw us out! They laughed the more angry he became.

Afterwards we headed to chinatown where there were streets FULL of shops selling merchandise. We walked up to a bar where we ordered spring rolls as a snack. When they came out we were amazed that the owner could even call them spring rolls! The waiter was really rude to us saying "you have to pay for them" when we didn't exactly get what we wanted. Eventually Dad met the owner and it was all sorted out.

Today we left Bangkok at 5:30AM to go to Koh Tao island We drove for nearly seven hours and just made the boat in the nick of time. When we arrived at the dock, it was really busy! The one and a half hour boat journey was really rocky and LOADS of people around us were sea-sick, including Aoife, who has never been sea-sick in her life!!

When we arrived at Koh Tao we all relaxed in our rooms before going out to dinner and a little walk along the beach. Its very pretty but not as quite as its marketed as its full of back packers on bikes.

Today we hired motorbikes to go around the island. When we stopped to see a beach, we started talking to a couple from London called Jackie and Paul. We followed them to a beach bar where we spent most of the day looking at the ocean and eating. We then rode to the resort where Jackie and Paul were staying. It was really fun! I wish we could have stayed there longer!

Next day…….

Today we left Koh Tao to go to Koh Phangan island via boat.

When we arrived at the port there were loads of hawkers asking to give us a taxi but we walked all the way to the end of the pier and our driver was there. We went to our resort in the back of an open top Toyota pickup which was great fun to watch the whole world whizz by. We arrived at our resort and went straight into the pool. 

Once again it is really hot - probably 29 degrees. A man that works at our resort recommended we went to a restaurant called Fish at Thips so we walked there across the beach in the dark chasing little crabs. While I was having my chicken stir-fry, my tooth came out! It was the nicest food I've had in Thailand! 

Next day...

Today we left Koh Phangan to go to the island of Koh Samui. The boat was packed full of people! 

We got to the villa where we were staying and we had our own little swimming pool! 

We went out for dinner at a lakeside restaurant where I had REALLY tasty spring rolls and a spicy chicken curry.

We headed back for an earlier night because we had to get up at 6:30AM the next morning.

Next day...

Today we departed from Koh Tao to Phuket. We hauled our luggage up to reception where we got an enormous TukTuk to the airport.

Our hotel is right by the airport and it has a pool! 

We boarded a private mini-bus to catch a boat to an island where a James bond film was filmed. 

On the way we went to a little floating building where you can get sea-kayaks to go into a cave. We didn't do it because it cost £7! 

We then went to go to the James bond beach, but it cost £4 to get onto the island!

We went back to our hotel for a swim and a rest.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city)

We arrived at Saigon and it was crazy! You'd be scared to cross the street with all the traffic! It was manic.

We went to a restaurant called Pho 2000 where Bill Clinton (a previous American president) went to have a meal. I had spring rolls with vermicelli! mmm..

Next day...

We did a little bit of homework before going out to a market. It was like the Russian market, but instead the Vietnamese were much harder bargainers. While we were walking, I saw a rat crawl under one of the stalls! 

After all the hard bargaining, we had to have a rest at a cafe bar!

We were going to go to a sky deck for a view but it costs $30 just to look out the window so instead we went to a restaurant on the streets. 

Afterwards, we walked past a chocolatier. I pulled Dad's arm and pointed to the shop.

He gave in and let us buy three hand made chocolates each. It took me 10 minutes to decide!

We finally arrived back to our hotel and devoured them!

They were some of the tastiest chocolates ever!

In the morning in Saigon people come out to exercise just like in Bangkok. Young people, older people and also schools doing their P.E. In the main square at 6:45 am there plenty of people playing badminton doing exercises and dancing.

Next day...

A soldier holding parts of a body they had just blown up

We went to a war remnants museum before leaving Saigon to fly to Bangkok. We saw real tanks, mini-airplanes and HUGE helicopters. We saw some cells in which the Viet cong had kept Vietnamese people. 

While we were in one of the cells, I started seeing stars and losing my hearing. I sat down and after a couple of minutes I could hear properly. Mum said I was quite close to fainting. It was so hot - c39 degrees with no breeze.

We walked upstairs and went into a room which had lots of pictures of children who had been affected by agent orange. Agent orange is a chemical used to kill plant leaves.

The Americans dropped it to see where people were hiding. People breathed it in and when their children were born, they had birth defects like downs syndrome, dwarfism, several faces and much more. It was a very one sided account unlike how Phnom Penh explained the Khmer Rouge.

We left our hotel with our guide to go to the airport. He wasn't very happy because he didn't want us to go! 

Overall I thought Vietnamese people were quite like the people in Laos but, I'd say the Vietnamese people were less smiley, more busy but still much more friendly than we are used to in the west.

Cai Be

Today I was awoken at 4:30AM by the cockerels! We were given a simple breakfast of fried egg and baguette with pineapple and banana.

We left the home stay and started our journey to another one. We boarded a boat to a floating market where there were boats FULL of fruits and vegetables. In one boat, there were more than one thousand pineapples!

We stopped at a vermicelli factory. Vermicelli is basically noodles. To make vermicelli, first, they take rice and mash it and make the rice paper. Next, they let them dry in the sun. It dries into a flexible pancake and they push this through a machine and make vermicelli! 

The boat driver pulled over for us to see a pottery factory. In the entrance, there were two puppies the size of your hand. They were so cute! Our guide brought us some clay and it felt really weird. It wasn't hard, it was squishy. 

The kilns were humungous! The pots were kept in the kiln for over a month at over 1000 degrees!

We arrived at our second 'home stay' that was more like a hostel. It was right by the river so whenever a boat went past, it would make a really loud noise.


The reason for that: the engines on the boats were re-cycled from either cars, bigger boats or maybe even factories.

We were called to start making dinner. I went into the kitchen and saw everyone who was staying there helping each other.

For once, Dad was cooking and everyone else in our family were having drinks! So this is what it feels like to be him! He was good and cooked mixed noodles, fried spring rolls and also made the mixture for the spring rolls

I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by boats coming past!  It was impossible to sleep. While I was awake I saw a rat run across a beam in our roof! From then on when I was awake, I was alert to pests and creepy crawlies. It wasn't very pleasant!

Even though the home stays we're a good experience, I wouldn't have wanted to stay any longer because it was uncomfortable and like camping in a jungle next to a boat motorway! However, it was nice to know how the Vietnamese live.

We had breakfast and walked a mile through villages and jungle to catch a boat. On the way, we went to a small fruit farm and sat with the owner who offered us different fruits including Rambutan, Water apple, Mango, Longan and Guava. 

The only fruit I liked was the water apple. Even though this might sound strange, the water apple tastes best dipped in chilli and salt! the owner was great fun and gave Dad and Mum lots of alcohol he made from fruit. 

Afterwards, we went to a place where people made coconut candy, snake wine, black seed banana wine, pineapple wine, yam wine, rice paper and popping rice. 

Popping rice is what rice crispies are made from. We were there when they were popping the rice and I tried some when it came out of the wok! It tasted like popcorn!



We boarded the boat for our resort and when the boat driver pulled in at our resort on the mekong we were given cold face towels and lemon juice. We did more homework and went for a swim to cool off.

Today we left to go to Saigon ( Ho chi Minh city). On the way we stopped at 'the ancient house' where a film called 'The Lover' was set. Margaret Duras wrote the book, then people discovered it and made a film about it. Margaret wrote it based on her own heart-breaking story as she was never able to marry the love of her life. This was because she was poor and he was rich, she wasn't Vietnamese and they had lived together as a married couple which was frowned upon in those days.

Next, we went to a local school and were basically mobbed by kids! They ran up and were asking for autographs….so we signed! It was funny. 

We went into an English class and were being asked questions like how old are you and what's your name. Someone asked me what do I do for work! We were asked by the teachers to sing a song. It was embarrassing!

Can Tho

We left Chau Doc to go to a home stay in Can Tho. Home stays are basically family run guesthouses giving people insights to Vietnamese houses and lifestyles. While we were on the journey, we stopped at a floating village. On the boat, we pulled in next to a house on water to see their fish farm under their house and also how they make the fish food.

Afterwards we went to a Cham village. Chams are Muslims. We bought lots of home-made silk scarves. The house had lots of marks drawn on the outside where water had reached during floods. In 1996 the water level would have reached the middle of their 1st floor which is a rise of about 12m.

We then went to a temple where people give offerings such as whole pigs, cakes, gold and costumes to a God called Lady Jusa. However…seeing as no God comes to take it, the guards staff and local people either take it themselves or give it to the poor.

Afterwards, we drove up to the top of a mountain to see the view and walked right down to the bottom. It was boiling hot! 

We went to a restaurant where we had frog! Even though it tasted a bit like chicken, I couldn't get over the fact that I was eating frog. It wasn't legs it was the whole frog. Dad said frogs legs were nice and lean and tasted like chicken but this was different!

When we came out of the restaurant there was a little two year old girl. She was quite shy but interested in Aoife and we had a few photos with her. They are all so happy.

We drove for miles and miles before finally stopping at the side of a road to board a small boat to our home stay and we were welcomed by the owner and his two dogs. Our room had an open window, bamboo walls, and thin mattresses with mosquito nets around them. Later, we made and cooked our own spring rolls and Vietnamese pancakes.

It felt very natural listening to the noise of the countryside with all the birds and the crickets making their noises. But, when you want to go to bed, they need to shut up!

Chau Doc and Tra Su forest

Today we left Phu Quoc island to go to Chau Doc. On the way, we went to see some Crocodiles that will be kept to eat. 

We saw crocodiles from 30 centimetres to 3 metres. 

There was a station where you could have a bamboo rod with pork lung on the end, and you'd try and get them to eat the meat. 





They jumped out of the water with an amazing snap. We then went for lunch and ate crocodile! It was really tasty! 

Afterwards we drove a long way to a bird sanctuary where we went on a boat through mangroves, and saw lots of different exotic birds in their natural environment. 

While we were driving, our guide pulled over and told us to come and look at something. It was two water buffalos in mosquito nets! The mosquitos in this area were so bad that a buffalo with a cm thick skin needed a mosquito net. 

I suppose repellant would be too expensive! We stayed overnight in a hotel in Chau Doc ready for the next day.