– David It’s been a few weeks since our last entry and we’ve been flat out exploring and settling in (our stuff finally arrived!). Times flies when you are having fun, so I’ve neglected to write the latest update. Here’s what you’ve missed: Time in Moresby or POM as the locals call it, is best …
Author Archives: ldfarawayfromhome
Getting to Know Port Moresby
Lauren – It’s been a whirlwind few weeks! In between moving into a new apartment, starting a new job, filling in a thousand forms and practising driving in this crazy town, we have met some fantastic people! We were very lucky that my friend Sarah was having a big birthday bash a few days after …
Up Up and Away (again)
Lauren – Well it’s been quite the year. Our last blog entry was as we were escaping Brazil amongst the pandemic panic. After weeks (and weeks) of isolation in both New Zealand and Perth, we made it to Canberra and settled back into our lives, but we knew the next adventure was just around the …
Buenos Aires and an Unexpected End
David – After returning the rental car at the airport in Salta we were given the all clear from the agent that the damage would be covered by the insurance. We grinned as we boarded our flight to Buenos Aires. Our bags were heavy with a few bottles of wine we were looking forward to …
Northern Argentina – Part II
Lauren – Argentina has completely blown us away. I know we’ve said that before, but this was different. We toyed for a long time in Ecuador about where we would go for a road trip in South America. We had been set on Northern Patagonia in Chile for a while, but other travelers had warned …
Northern Argentina – Part 1
David – Our road trip started in Salta, the capital of the region (also called Salta) and after Mendoza we expected it to be brown, small and quiet. We couldn’t have been more wrong – The city was huge, green and incredibly busy with local shoppers before the start of Lent. Of course we had …
On Cloud Wine
Lauren – Arriving in Mendoza felt like stepping into a holiday. The sun was shining, there was a dry heat in the air and an almost Mediterranean feel about the place. I felt immediately relaxed and I couldn’t wait to drop off our bags at our hostel and sit in the sun on one of …
Witness to a Movement
Lauren – Arriving in Santiago was rather surreal after a long month in Ecuador. We were expecting a European vibe, a cafe culture with a hint of social unrest. Along our travels we had met countless people who had visited Santiago, as it is the base point for further travel north to the Atacama desert …
Surfing Ecuador
David – Our trip to the coast started early, in fact it was still dark when our bus pulled out of the Banos station and snaked its way back towards Latacunga. For the first time on the trip the buses were actually running ahead of schedule – probably a first for Ecuador as a country …
Baños – The Adventure Capital
David – Our journey from Quilatoa to Banos went surprisingly smoothly – the only hiccup was that I left my jumper back at the hostel in Latacunga where we picked up our luggage noooooooo 😦 RIP fleecy jumper…or is it? Banos is Ecuador’s answer to Queenstown, New Zealand – an adventure hot-spot but for the …
The Ecuadorian Andes
Lauren – We spent the night in the rather dirty town of Latacunga before heading off on our 4 day hiking adventure. We needed somewhere to leave our big bags with a shop and ATM to fill up on essentials before the Ecuadorian wilderness. The best bit about our Latacunga stopover was the beautiful view …
A journey from Cali to Quito
Lauren – Our time in Colombia was coming to an end. It had so far blown our expectations out of the water, so much so that we had canceled our pre-booked flight from Colombia to Peru on the 14th January and opted for a more spontaneous style of travelling. We were so happy to have …
A Colombian Pick-Me-Up…
David – On paper the bus from Medellin to Salento was only 4 and a half hours. In reality it was actually 8. I wasn’t sure if my increasing nausea was the bus rapidly zig-zagging up and down the narrow road out of the city or if it was the stomach bug I had been …
Mum, I’m moving to Medellin…
David – Lets just say our time in Medellin did not get off to the smoothest of starts. “There is a big problem” the friendly airport check in lady told us. “Your flight, it’s for the 10th of October”. That indeed is a big problem as we planned to fly on the 10th of January. …
A Colombian Caribbean Coast
Lauren – Our journey to Colombia wasn’t the easiest. We had booked this part of our trip long before we left on our six month adventure whist Qantas point hacking one rainy afternoon in Canberra. It’s safe to say we made some mistakes. What should have been a simple two hour flight from Havana to …
Actually I’m in Havana
David – Having recovered from our journey to Trinidad, it was soon time to plan the return to Havana. We asked our host “please, can you arrange a collective back to the capital with a driver who wont kill us?!” What we were hoping would pick us up! Or we wouldn’t have complained with this! …
Vivo en Cuba!
Lauren – Although Cuba is slowly opening up to the world, it is still very much an ‘off the beaten track’ destination. So far on this trip David and I have done a fair bit of ‘winging it’, turning up to a new destination and figuring it out as we go. Although we applied a …
Road trip: The Yucatan
Lauren – The drive from Bacalar to our next stop Valladolid was easy and beautiful. We had both been a little apprehensive about driving in Mexico, but needn’t have worried at all. The roads are well maintained and safe (except for the huge almost invisible speed bumps on the highways)! Life whizzing by Valladolid would …
Road trip: The Mayan Riviera
David – Our trusty steed was a tiny 4 door Chevrolet which we picked up outside of the airport. For the next two weeks we’re travelling around the Yucatan peninsula! We were heading down from Cancun to Tulum, Bacalar, inland to Validolid, east to Merida and finally north off the coast to Isla Holbox. We …
New memories and nostalgia
Lauren – Ah Mexico! I’ve been dreaming about coming back to visit this country since I was a little kid. I have amazing memories of long summers playing in the hot Mexican sun visiting my Godfather Wolf and his beautiful wife Susi. So returning was a long time coming! David and I couldn’t wait to …
A hop skip and a jump
Lauren – And that was that! Part I of our trip has come to a close. We spent two amazing months in Southeast Asia and couldn’t have topped it off better than recouping in Sydney with our friends. But before long it was time to say bye again and hop on the plane to the …
Friends – Bali & Sydney
David – Our final stop in South East Asia was Bali and our journey there from Gili T was surprisingly easy given our low expectations of the boat transfer. The wind was down and swell was small so the trip from atop the of our fast boat was mostly smooth. We were dropped off in …
Dreaming of Gili
Lauren – After nearly two months on the road David and I decided that we deserved a holiday from our holiday, and the Gilis seemed like the perfect place to relax. Neither of us had visited this cluster of islands which had become increasingly popular, but we were excited to partake in some relaxing beach …
Mt. Rinjani – Hell on Earth
David – On short notice we decided to commit to climbing Mt Rinjani. A few Whatsapp messages later and a driver was waiting to drive us from the South East of Lombok to Seranu on the North. Our awesome guide Suryia We chose to complete a 2 day and 1 night group climb up the …
Guten Tag Lombok!
David – It seems we’ve settled into early starts for our travel days – our alarms went off at 5.30am and of course we also needed to finish packing before we headed to the airport. We survived the Air Aisa X flight (against Lauren’s expectations) and arrived on the dry brown desert island of Lombok. …
Selamat Pagi Kuala Lumpur!
Lauren – After waving goodbye to Ho Chi Minh and our near month in Vietnam we touched down in Kuala Lumpur. The change in infrastructure and wealth was stark from the moment we left the airport. We were already missing the cheap Vietnamese cuisine and coffees. We were excited to meet up with Jake and …
From Saigon to the Mekong
Tuk Tuk and away! David – Once again we had an early start to get to our next destination on time – Saigon. The bus we had booked through the hotel in Mui Ne was an experience in itself. We’d heard of sleeper buses, and even seen a few wiz by on the street – …
Привет Mũi Né!
Привет Mũi Né (hello Mũi Né in Russian) Lauren – We were a little sad to be leaving Hoi An, it had been really nice to be based somewhere for over a week and not constantly on the move. But we (especially David) were excited to visit a well known kitesurfing destination in Vietnam – …
Mot Hai Ba Yo! – Hoi An
David – After sailing back to Halong and surviving the crazy 45min taxi to the Cat Bai airport we arrived before check in had opened. Having already adapted to 5 course meals we were hungry again and required the sustenance of an Airport meal – perhaps we were too excited to be flying to the …
Ha Long Bay – two nights on the water
Lauren – Pete, David and I woke up feeling pretty excited about the three days ahead of us. We were headed off on a two night/three day boat cruise around the famous Ha Long Bay. We were hoping our boat wouldn’t look as…rustic as these ones we passed I had done quite a bit of …
Ha Long City – a strange place
Lauren – We woke up early (like 5:30am early) to have a last Ninh Binh breakfast overlooking the rice paddies before taking a taxi to the bus station for our 6:30am bus. We had no idea what to expect, no idea if our bus ticket was the right one and no idea if it would …
Red River Delta – Ninh Binh
David – Our last morning in Hanoi started with a now routine coconut iced coffee – we set off by train, south through the dense city. Families eating breakfast, shop fronts and crowded peak hour traffic rushing past us for the first half the 3 hour journey towards Ninh Binh – a city on the …
Xin chào Hanoi!
One of my favourite pictures from Hanoi on Train street Lauren – We left Chiang Mai early and caught a rather dodgy looking tuk tuk to the airport. We checked in and spent an hour or so trying all the free samples at the Thai foods boutique shops to make up for the fact we …
Sawasdee Ka Chiang Mai!
The beautiful Doi Inthanon National Park Lauren – We left steamy Bangkok after five busy days and headed north to Chiang Mai. We decided to take the overnight train (in a 2nd class sleeper) and didn’t really know what to expect. But it was great! We boarded around 6pm and by 8pm the train stewards …
5 days in sticky Bangkok
David – Its actually happened! A mad week of packing away all of our things culminated in three days of moving, cleaning and farewells. A bus to Sydney, a flight to Singapore, 5 hours of layover (made better by 3 am free massage chairs at Changi) and a quick hop we arrived in mostly Sunny …
How to prepare for six months away
Lauren – To prepare for a six months trip can seem like a daunting experience. I go between feeling extremely relaxed because we’ll have so much time on our hands, to quite stressed that there is too much to do. The biggest thing we had to think about was budget, and what was feasible. We …
So this is really happening…
David – This is an idea that’s been floating in my head for a long time. When I met Lauren it was something I asked her at the very beginning. “Will you travel the world with me?” “Yes!” Fast forward nearly 5 years and it’s happening! Earlier today I got off the phone with my …
Far Away From Home 