Adventure

We’re off on a family adventure to Vietnam. We fly into Hanoi, work our way down the country and fly out of Ho Chi Minh City 14 days later. Along the way we sleep on a junk in Halong Bay, take a sleeper train, visit Hoi An, stay overnight with a family in the Mekong Delta and experience Vietnamese sights and culture. The whole family is super excited! Our Itinerary Day 1/2 - Hanoi Day 3 - Halong Bay Day 4/5/6 - Hue Day 7/8/9 - Hoi An Day 10 - Ho Chi Minh City Day 11 - Mekong Delta Day 12/13 - Ho Chi Minh City We’ll be posting here along the way, so follow along! ...

Early start as usual. Breakfast and out walking towards the lake front by 8:30am. We arrived at the pier by 8:45am and queued up to check in for Kjet. After check in we were given waterproof ponchos and life jackets in preparation for our ride. We boarded, kids in the middle and without further ado moved out into the lake and had a quick safety briefing before our first 360° manoeuvre. The driver clearly enjoyed his job and sped around the lake jumping us over waves and making sharp turns. There were two boats as part of the trip and we played tag, taking turns to take the lead and watch each other doing 360’s. ...

Our usual early start, breakfast, empty the camper tanks and away for 8am ready for today’s horse trekking. We arrived at the trekking place early, it was only a 5 min drive, and used the opportunity to get prepped with sun cream, insect repellent, long sleeves and rain coats. The weather was cloudy and blustery and we were ready for rain. At 9am one of our guides for the day came to the gate and welcomed us to the farm. She took us through the usual health and safety briefing and made sure we were kitted out correctly. I had to wear a jacket over the top of my rain coat to stop it flapping in the wind but everyone else was fine. Later when on top of the hill I was quite happy about the extra layer! ...

Early start and a quick breakfast before setting off for Manapouri and the beginning of our tour of Doubtful Sound. Last night when I’d checked how long it would take us to get to Manapouri it turns out I had Google Maps in cycling mode as the 1hr 15min journey only took 20 minutes. Our early arrival did give us chance to find a parking space and walk back into town to get a coffee and buy some more inspect repellent. ...

Due to last nights festivities and the long day before we had a lie in and a late start. I made sausages and fried eggs on the BBQ for breakfast and we sat outside in the sun. We decided not to drive to Milford Sound today as originally planned as we wanted a break from driving and we’d seen a sign for a mountain bike trail from lake to lake on the way here which we decided to try out instead. As luck would have it, the trail started on the opposite side of the street to the camp site. ...

Today is our Kayak adventure on Lake Wanaka. The activity Diana has been most looking forward to and what started the whole idea of a trip to New Zealand. It’s also New Year’s Eve. Up early, breakfast and ready for collection at 8:45am by reception. We’ve parked the camper in the camp site staff car park as we’re supposed to check out this morning. It’s a beautiful day for it, the sun is shining and it’s mid 20’s. ...

The adventure begins. We had a lie in and a leisurely breakfast, finished the packing and took a Taxi to Heathrow at 11am. We had a delicious lunch at Heston’s The Perfectionist Cafe, a glass of champagne to celebrate and off to board the plane. We flew Air New Zealand Economy to Auckland via LA. The first leg of the flight was 14 hours to LA and seemed to pass by quickly. A movie and food but mostly trying to sleep. I bought some Bose noise cancelling headphones at Heathrow duty free which made an amazing difference to comfort levels on a long haul flight. ...

Our bags are packed, we’ve planned the route, watched the YouTube videos of how the camper works and we’re ready for 28 hours in the air. The adventure starts tomorrow!

During our family beach holiday to Mexico we took the opportunity to visit Chichén Itzá, something I’ve always wanted to see - we weren’t disappointed. As part of the trip we also had the opportunity to swim in Cenote Hubiku which was great fun. Chichén Itzá Cenote Hubiku

After arriving back in Sydney it was time for a nights sleep and to get back out there. Morning flight up to Cairns to do the Great Barrier Reef and the Rain Forest. Caught a shuttle bus into Cairns from the airport and got out on the Plannage. Walked straight into a nice looking seafood restaurant and enjoyed a delicious red claw lobster salad while I figured out where I wanted to go. ...