tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75074082009-10-16T22:44:56.975ZShe quit her job, farewelled her folks and took the first plane to Tokyo. From there, she went on to see the world...Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-58057338596099446812009-01-28T03:59:00.003Z2009-01-28T04:13:01.639Z

Instead of kicking and screaming, little Oliver John tumbled out looking like a stunned smurf, all blue and wide-eyed.He spent the next 3 hours taking it all in, hardly crying and gradully turned a healthy shade of pink. Weisie's 30 hour labour was an incredible feat and I am so proud of her!A week on and Oliver is filling out and giving his Mum and Dad so much joy!

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-57814209488212544992009-01-28T03:46:00.003Z2009-01-28T03:59:18.099Z

2007Got married (Canberra, unforgettable, thanks to all who helped and participated) - Honeymooned in Borneo & Brunei (wow).2008Returned to Melbourne to live and work - Travelled through China with Karen (Beijing to Xian to Guilin to Hong Kong) - Travelled to Nepal with Karen (Kathmandu to Lukla to Gokyo to Everest Base Camp (nearly)) - Returning from Nepal hooked up with Eny (Weisie's mum) in

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1163375870365849582006-11-12T23:51:00.000Z2006-11-14T17:07:02.213Z

There have been no updates to this site for many-a-month, five months or so in fact. In that time, we have travelled North and South America. We returned to Australia at the end of September 2006 for Sarah and Kris' wedding and to prepare for our own, which will happen this Saturday! After the honeymoon, when I have a moment, I will add the last chapters to our Big Trip and conclude this blog.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1151438459343576842006-06-27T18:02:00.000Z2006-07-14T14:13:34.343Z

It was more like two weeks. I mean, who has enough going on in their lives to blog about what happened in just one. Come on!Week oneAnyway, on the Monday we went to see Billy Elliot, the musical, with Jacqui, Steve, Des & Shirley. Great fun but little Billy, bless, was lucky not to get up-ended by his cross-dressing mate in the final act! To top the night off, Weisie bumped into Goldie Hawn

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1148747017701220432006-05-27T16:23:00.000Z2006-06-24T20:57:54.373Z

Weisie’s folks stayed on a few days in Tourbes whilst we returned to London for a week. Then they drove to Paris, where we met up for one last weekend together before they headed home.We arrived by Eurostar late on a Friday night just after Luke who flew instead. Our hotel was a stone’s throw from where Weisie and I stayed two months earlier. We were feeling a little peckish so had deliciously

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1146724258834274322006-05-04T06:27:00.000Z2006-08-13T12:28:21.636Z

Weisie arranged an apartment for us whilst we were on the road to Barcelona. Our accommodation was perfect – its terraced roof had a panoramic vista that included many of the city’s most famous landmarks and overlooked a square (an old monastic quadrangle), now called Plaça Reial (pictured in the following image). We spent a fair bit of time in the apartment, enjoying glasses of chilled cava, the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1146333905799123672006-04-29T17:54:00.000Z2006-05-04T06:27:09.806Z

We were delirious when we landed in our seventh country in as many days. It was remarkable, though, how we had become accustomed to lack of sleep and the total loss of a sense of time. It was in this state that we arrived in Montpellier, almost unaware of where we were, to be greeted by three happy and healthy looking people: Tony, Eny and Luke.Good friends of Weisie’s parents had kindly allowed

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1146333239932327932006-04-29T17:52:00.000Z2006-05-03T16:06:46.800Z

This is a brief entry to thank my folks, and especially Jamie for running around with us when we were in Sydney. It was also wonderful to see Marnie, John and the fast growing Samson who we look forward to seeing more of when we eventually return to Melbourne. Here is another one of Samson with his dad late one night.Although it was a sad occasion, and we will both miss Joan very much, it was a

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1146333141041738362006-04-29T17:32:00.000Z2006-05-03T16:07:22.783Z

It was more than a year ago that we drove around Scotland with Weisie’s folks. It did not seem that long though. The comfy closeness of our hire car was very familiar (in fact, it was the same make and model). There was, however, a little more room this time as Paul was not with us but somehow Weisie ended up in the boot again.During the previous week, Tony and Eny stayed with us in London. Our

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1146250579348615272006-04-28T18:55:00.000Z2006-04-29T18:16:58.456Z

March 2006. Paris was all aflame, burning with passion - and Molotov cocktails. We were in the City of Love for three days to visit our recently wed friends, Rupert & Jacky and Trev & Ros. This happened to coincide with general strikes and protests ending in riots and significant property damage.Prior to our friends' arrival, Weisie and I undertook reconnaissance of the bar and restaurant scene

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1141905460559909362006-03-09T11:55:00.001Z2006-05-27T16:37:53.233Z

[Note: you can click on any of the photos on this site for a better image.]We arrived in Kenya early in the morning when mist still covered the ground. Leaving the airport we immediately saw savannah and flat-topped acacias, school children and eclectically attired workers making their way across fields and highways into the city on foot. Weisie possible saw a zebra (could have been a plastic bag

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1141905327165005712006-03-09T11:55:00.000Z2006-03-29T02:50:45.966Z

Each country had perceptibly different scenery and people: in the case of Uganda, it was greener than Kenya and Tanzania, and the children waved with two hands instead of one. After a long drive to cross the border, we eventually pulled into the red dirt, riverside town of Jinja.Our first night in Jinja was hot, showerless and plagued by insects. We arrived in the dark and departed early next day

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1141905224928578192006-03-09T11:53:00.000Z2006-03-09T11:53:44.933Z

Rwanda literally is the land of a thousand hills, with numerous lakes and rivers surrounded by volcanoes covered in lush, green forest. Although it was the most beautiful of the countries we visited, Rwanda truly looked in parts like the most populace place on earth. Outside the national parks, nearly every portion of land, even steep hillsides, was heavily cultivated. The roads were challenging

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1141905190512600132006-03-09T11:52:00.000Z2006-03-09T11:53:10.520Z

Tanzania was a like a good curry in reverse: we had sore bottoms from the long ride getting there but finished with the wonderful taste of the Spice Islands in our mouths!It was a quiet day for some following our night out in Nairobi. We made our way to Arusha with some new travellers on board. We camped at a snake park whose residents included a man-eating python, a two-metre long black mamba

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1141895571427001772006-03-09T09:12:00.000Z2006-03-23T22:05:30.346Z

We were lucky to have so many interesting and easy-going travellers on Wiley. Having been back in the UK now for nearly a month, it is hard to imagine some of them are still on the road!It is always hard to mention names and we do not want to offend anyone we fail to write about (you were all wonderful). However, there are a few people who we want to acknowledge.Sarah and Tom, who sat beside us

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1136964447045220602006-01-11T07:27:00.000Z2006-01-11T10:12:26.430Z

Just in case anyone who attended Kel's NYE party in Parsons Green had forgotten:Oh-oh-oh-oh [x4]Everybody was kung-fu fightingThose cats were fast as lightningIn fact it was a little bit frighteningBut they fought with expert timing...[Repeat in head incessantly]Great food, great crowd, great night - and thanks for my little Miyagi drum (I can now spend hours at home pretending to be Daniel San).

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1136567844720526402006-01-06T17:01:00.000Z2006-01-11T10:51:11.906Z

Slovenia (1)Kate, Rob, Sal, Tim, Mel, Kel, Kaz and Josh met Weisie and me at Stansted, where we were doing some last minute shopping. The ten of us then hoicked it over to Slovenia, picked up hire cars and drove to Lake Bled. Josh, fearsome in control of any vehicle (car, bicycle, shopping trolley, etc), revealed his secretly cautious side by conveying the car we were in (Car 1) safely to our

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1134738301011849352005-12-16T12:51:00.000Z2005-12-20T21:38:41.016Z

As the end of our overseas experience draws nigh, we naturally started to think about the places and things we are yet to see and do. Our ambition was - and still is - to visit as many countries as we can (without sacrificing the “experience” part of the exercise). So it was that we booked two train tickets for a quiet weekend in Wales - or so we thought. It was neither quiet, nor Wales for that

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1130609603101235022005-10-29T18:13:00.000Z2005-11-29T10:26:41.903Z

Having sacrificed a significant part of our former social lives in order to avail ourselves of overtime opportunities at work, a spate of cultural encounters in the past week demands a post to this otherwise dedicated travel-blog.Mid week, our discreetly enlightened friend, Kate Goodwin, kindly invited us to attend a private viewing at an exhibition held by the Royal Academy of Arts of works

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1127052682670156552005-09-18T14:11:00.000Z2005-10-22T11:48:54.126Z

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1127245765985920412005-09-17T18:32:00.000Z2005-09-20T20:35:34.166Z

The last thing you want to hear at 6 am from a hostel receptionist after arriving in a new country on a sleepless coach trip is: “Sorry, 4 o’clock check-in”. On the up side, we were finally, after considerable outlay and red tape, in St Petersburg.We tried to wait it out in the communal kitchen but, realising sleep was beyond us, we opted to wander around town bleary-eyed. That day, we

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1126855556780491742005-09-16T07:25:00.000Z2005-09-19T13:46:35.196Z

We were up before 3 am to take a taxi then a bus to Stansted Airport - when you add up the actual cost of so-called "cheap flights" (out-of-hours travel) and the opportunity cost (lost sleep), you begin to wonder whether paying a few extra squids next time is not such a bad idea. Still, we can not complain, particularly when we get to see so many wonderful places. The capital of Estonia, Tallinn,

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1126854324880187722005-09-16T07:05:00.002Z2005-09-20T20:32:50.466Z

We were well rested after KL and keen to move on. Weisie had been to Vienna before but this was my first time, and we both felt that we needed a lot more time (and money) to experience all that the capital of Austria had to offer. I suppose that means we will be going back...Vienna is a beautiful, historic city with many opulent buildings. It is famed for its late, local musical talent (Mozart

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1124180886923929142005-08-16T08:28:00.003Z2005-09-16T10:05:17.046Z

After a breakfast of fresh birthday scones we said farewell to Marnie & Samson. Jacky Mac took Jamie, Weisie and me to the airport. We made our goodbyes and took the next plane to Malaysia.Kuala Lumpur was moist, noisy, smelly and tasty: much like every other city we have visited in South-East Asia, really, but a bit more modern. The locals sell fake DVDs, software and perfume by the cart-load

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7507408.post-1124180823721433432005-08-16T08:27:00.005Z2005-08-18T09:09:21.503Z

We deplaned in Sydney and the first thing we saw was (you guessed it): Krispy Kremes! We bought up big because we knew Jamie, our host, would REALLY appreciate them, and in the end he did get one. Jamie — my big bro — put us up for a few nights, both times we were in Sydney. We had some nostalgic moments including: watching The Goonies and Gremlins back-to-back, eating home-made Sheppard’s Pie,

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739698802260024205noreply@blogger.com0