Laos, Cambodia, Australia and New Zealand

 (Katherine) We have been constantly on the move ever since we left Thailand!   We flew from peaceful Luang Prabang to the hectic city of Hanoi in Vietnam, and we traveled to Halong Bay for an overnight boat cruise of a mystical bay.  We also met up with Robert's Uncle, John, who joined us for a month of travel throughout South East Asia.  The three of us took a train south towards Hoi An, a lovely coastal community known for chilled-out surroundings and expert tailoring.  Robert ordered a custom made suit (intended for future interviews). We flew to cosmopolitan Saigon where Robert met up with an old friend and John took us to places he had frequented during his tour in the 1960's. 

We then took a series of buses and boats to Phnom Penh, Cambodia - a lovely and friendly city that is still recovering from a brutal genocide in the 1970's.  We took a memorable 3-hour boat ride through the widest portion of the flooded Mekong River (can’t see land for miles!) to Siem Reap, where our focus became the Angkor temples, including the famous sunrises over Angkor Wat.  We each had a chance to view the temples from above in a 2-seater micro-light aircraft, essentially a kite with an engine!  We flew back to Koh Phangan and rented a lovely beach house for five days before heading to Bangkok for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with John’s old friend from the Vietnam War.  Upon John's departure, we spent another fun-filled week in Bangkok with ex-pat friends originally from SF and met up with Robert's best man from the wedding.

We flew to Melbourne, Australia during the first weekend of December only to fall in love with the city. We also made wonderful new friends who helped make Melbourne feel like home to us.  We spent four days leisurely camping along the Great Ocean Road, which has striking similarities to our Highway 1 in California.  We then flew north to Cairns, where we rented a camper van, and continued north into the Daintree Rainforest.  After a successful "croc viewing" tour, we went south to Port Douglas where we spent a day diving and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.  Our intention was to drive the length of the coast to Sydney but we got trapped in the floods of Queensland and could not even make it to Townsville.  Instead,   we spent the next few days camping and exploring the Tablelands area, and then booked a flight from Cairns to Sydney in time for NYE.  We rented an amazing apartment downtown, and watched a truly spectacular fireworks spectacle.  We also visited Bondi and Manly Beach before we flew out to New Zealand.

We spent 3 days touring around the Auckland area waiting to pick up our campervan , and then spent a week exploring the North Island.  Highlights included a tour of the Bay of Islands, spending the day in a geothermal park, and hiking through Tongariro National Park (home of "Mount Doom" from Lord of the Rings).  We then took a ferry to the South Island where we toured the Marlborough Sounds, and then enjoyed two days wine tasting in the region.  We spent another two days thoroughly enjoying Abel Tasman National Park before we headed south to check out the incredible Franz Josef Glacier.  Our next destination was Queensland for my birthday, where Robert surprised me with a night at the Crown Plaza right by the lake.  This was a welcome change from our campervan! 

We decided to leave New Zealand (and our honeymoon) with a bang, and signed up for AJ Hacket's Nevis Arch - a 300 meter swing across a canyon which includes a 70 meter free fall.  It's the closest I ever want to come to a bungee jump, and was definitely a huge adrenaline rush!  We celebrated with some wine tasting in the region and finally headed to Christchurch to drop off our rental van and return home. 

I will be adding much more detailed postings over the next few weeks with lots of travel details so that we might be able to help out any of our fellow travelers who are following our same routes.  But please feel free to contact us in the meantime if you have any questions or we can be of any assistance.  Thank you to everyone who sent us love an well wishes during our journey!