Gem and Hannie's Round the world adventure

Wednesday, 06 July 2005

Location: my home, UK

hey guys and girlies! well we are home!!!!

very strange to be back after such a long time away, but so far everything seems as we left it! which is weird, but sweet at the same time.

just wanted to say thank you for sharing this journey with hanni and me. the places we've been and the people we've met; we have so many happy memories of!

for those of you from home, your emails have been so much appreciated! so nice to hear what everyone is up to when your away! can't wait to catch up with you all soon! the pub awaits! a few drinks are owed one way or the other, i think. lol!

to those who we've travelled with. you have been wkd!

tamsin and fiona: you are two lovely girlies. the trip wouldn't of been the same with out you! can't wait to catch up with all your shinanegans around oz!

victoria and becs. so nice to keep bumping into you girls in nz and oz. hope brisbane is working out for you!

the rest of our thailand to singapore group: :D happy days

dyl: you mad welshy! You rock! I'd appoint you as the new pope any day. Sorry about missing the crab racing, but hey maybe we can introduce you to the maddness and thrilling pace of cam punting! probably not but hey its the nearest we have to it.

matt and mike: we love you guys so much. its so rare to meet people who are really themselves around everyone. so cool reading your shinanegans.. brings a huge smile to our faces. your so funny! missing the fake holland accent. hope to see you soon when you get bk

henry! no one dances like you! such a dude. see you in leeds!

dan and big mike! travelling up the east coast was brilliant with you guys! hope your travels in thailand were as wkd as ours were

the rest of our surfing buddies! sweet sweet memories!

well i will try and put some photos up for you. once i can work out how on the website!

well its time to unpack and decontaminate my rucksack of all the rubbish it has collected! nice.

take care and see you really soon
lots of love n hugs gem and of course the fabulous hanni!
xxxx

Saturday, 02 July 2005

Location: still jo'burg, South Africa

hey one and all well this is probably going to be one of the last few entry's to this diary! which means one thing! i am coming home! whey. really looking forward to seeing everyone!

well we have had another quiet week. of visiting the mall etc.

met chris's girly on friday. very quiet! we saw madegascar again! such a cool movie! even better second time round you miss so much first time round! like shrek! anyways i am in love with the penguins! especially their quest to antartica! hehe!

today which is saturday, we went to the lion park! this is kinda like a drive through zoo! soo cool. got to see loads of lions encluding some white lions. ( the reason why they are white is similar to why humans have red hair - another useless piece of information!)
was a really amazing experience being able to watch these huge creatures basking in the hot winters sun. you don't appreciate how big they are until you see them up close. even the cubs have these huge massive paws! so cute.
really funny at one point one of the cubs decided he was going to sleep in the middle of the dirt track and go to sleep! so massive que of cars waiting for this thing to move. bless. but yeah was really cool. saw loads of other animals too like springbok, cheeta, hyena, warthog, zeebra and my favourite animal giraffes!

probably the best moment of the day, well for me was being able to fed the giraffes! they have amazingly long tongues! but they are sooo cute! really beautiful animals! really funny watching all the kids beinf freaked out by this big tongue heading their way! was so funny!
ooh we also got to stroke some lion cubs which was cool!

we then went to the sterkfontein caves! which was a real mission in itself. felt like you were in tombraider in some bits! so many holes you had to squeeze through. but really cool at the ame time. if you are fit enough. um the caves are situated in an area called the cradle of human kind. basically they believe that human kind started here, as they found a skeleton known as mrs ples. yeah she's very old. talking millions here! yeah we didn't see her though as she's moved up to pretoria museum. slighlty warmer than the caves apparently! possibly a bit better social life too! lol
but yeah it was cool to see where we originated from! the caves are pretty amazing too! apart form looking like you've been rolling around in a sand pit when you get out! its all an adventure hey!
well must be going! will see most of you soon!
lots of love n hugs gem xxx

Wednesday, 29 June 2005

Location: Jo'burg, South Africa

Hey guys and girlies

Gem and i have not been up to much over the past week. There is the slight problem of transport and not being able to rent a car. Driving is not as bad as i thought it would be. some interesting junctions but not to bad. You have to be 21 like most places to rent a car, so were pretty much stuck to going out at the weekends.

Jo'burg has been somewhat of a culture shock for me, in that there are bars on the windows, and gates within gates. Somewhat like a high security prison. So am feeling somewhat cooped up at times. Have been sleeping tons though.

Chris's family are really wonderful. Daleene and chris have been taking care of us, which is really lovely. its so nice to be back in a family environment again.

So far we've been bowling, visited the appartied museum, seen monte casino and its bird park and watched chris's cousins band play and be interviewed. Totally cool!!!! The guys are really good so hopefully there album will be released in the uk pretty soon too. amazing once in a life time experience!!! this weekend were meeting chris's girlfriend and going to visit the lion park and the caves. Should be very cool!

Well my lovelies i'm looking forward to seeing you all very soon and giving you all hug big hugs. It will be good to get home and breathe for a while.

(((((((((((((((((((Love you all)))))))))))))))))))))))

Hannah xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Friday, 24 June 2005

Location: joburg, South Africa

hey guys and girlies sorry haven't updated the website for a couple of days. well so far what we've seen of s.a has been cool.

had trouble hiring a car as we aren't old enough so haven't been able to do much to be honest with you. but it is no biggie!

we have been to the local mall twice which is massive! has some really cool shops. we have spotted some old cadbury's astros! i dunno if you remember them but they are like really tini biscuits with chocolate around them! so cool. its like the pez sweets, nerds and other candy we saw in oz! brings me bk. so cool!

apart from that we have been spending time with chris and his family. which has been nice. hannah is really enjoying her time here. they both get on very well. which is really cool! i have fallen in love with the dogs! they have 3 and a cat. though sparky is my fav! so cute!

oh have been sleeping lots too. haven't slept so much in ages its great! i obviously need it!

watched bridget jones's diary today. so funny! oh really getting into an africaans soap called 7delaan. which is in africaans thankfully there is subtitles but very cool! never thought i'd be saying that about a soap.

see most of you in less than 2 weeks!

love ya all loads
big snuggles and kisses
gem xxxxx

Monday, 20 June 2005

Location: jo'borg, South Africa

Hey everybody! Well we have arrived here in Jo'borg. We had a really long flight! Think we managed to watch 3 movies in that time. Plus the loop of the music programmes a couple of times! Whey. So yeah that was the whole day. We saw the sun set as we arrived here, which was really beautiful, very cool thing to see as you are landing. We Met Chris and his mum at the airport. So nice not to be confused as to where everything is when you arrive in a strange country. Really nice to finally meet them. Had the best night sleep! Whey.

Today we have just really tried to work out what we are going to do with the 2 weeks we are here. Will have to rent a car I think to see some of the stuff we want to do during the week, which will be cool. There is so much to do here, so hopefully will be able to see at least some of it.

Anyways hope your all well. Just think 2 weeks before we get back. Just cherish the quiet that you have for this time. He he. Han and I are really looking forward to seeing everybody again! So excited!!! Think I'm going to need some serious re adjustment!

Love you all loads Gem and Hanni xxxxxxx

Saturday, 18 June 2005

Location: Perth, Australia

hey guys well we are in perth now for the brief moment. had a horrible flight from cairns to here. loads of turbulance. not fun! but yeah apart from those few minutes of worry the rest of the flight was cool. very tired as arrived in our hostel about 3 am perth time whichis 5 am cairns time. but thankfully didn't wake anyone up. really nice room.

have had a very exciting day sight seeing around perth. went down to the esplanade. had a walk along there. visited ther town centre. spent a couple of minutes trying to work out how you got into the art museum.

loads of interesting pieces of art. some random cut a paste circles (not sure how this is art but then what am i to know.. actually would probably win the turner prize. i think i should plagerise his work and earn loads from it. felt so inspired! i think a 3 year old would probably have more artisic creativeness than this guy. but he has designed the weetabix packets out here so is minted! wrong job i say)

they had some really cool aboriginal art. and loads of cool glass work. oh and some really cool films by a jo'burg artisit which was awesome.

then we went across to the museum. learnt loads about the treatment of the aboriginals. felt very sad by what i read. especially the taking of children from their families. really really sad. had some other cool exhibits too.

yeah and that has been about it.

anyways we fly out to jo'burg tomorrow lunch time which will be cool. not looking forward to the 11 hour flight! but it has to be done.

anyways will love you and leave you. have a fantastic weekend. hope the weather is a bit warmer than here in perth. very chilly compared to cairns

big snuggles gem and hanni! ( avid flip flop wearer)

Friday, 17 June 2005

Location: cairns, Australia

heya! well we have had an exciting last two days in cairns!

we met a girly who we travelled round the south island of new zealand. so cool to see her. we were having lunch at the time. very cool!

apart from that just had an easy day. walked around the esplanade which is a long street near the waters. its all muddy around the bay where cairns is so no sand. but they have crocs! seen the warning signs and everything! so yeah i'm not going any where near the sea!

went out to johno's blues bar in the evening which was awesome. they had a reggae band on (not quite blues) and then another singer who did a couple of well known tunes. even a bit of bob dillion. very cool. ended up meeting this guy chris from st neots which was cool. such a small world! then met to aussie navy dudes. ended up playing pool for most of the evening! head is a bit fragile shall we say this afternoon.

today (which is the 17th) we have seen more fruit than you could ever imagin at the market next to our hostel. felt healthier just being in there! really cool. all looked so good.

also went to see madegascar i think this is how you spell it. anyway such a brilliant movie. so funny. and no we weren't the only adults there without kids! whey. yeah so have just got back from that. anyways the weather has picked up. i can see blue sky! so i am going to go for a walk i think!

hope your all having a fab day! and if you see my dad say happy birthday to him. he was 21 again yesterday! so embarrassing i know!

anyway love you all loads
take care big snuggles gem xxxx

Wednesday, 15 June 2005

Location: cairns, Australia

wow five days to write up! so appologise if it is short!

11th of june:

we had a rediculously early start. of 7.30. well actually it wasn't 7.30 it was 8.30! our sheet of times had got it wrong! could of had an extra hour in bed! gutted. didn't help that the lovely bunch of guys in our room came in and talked have the night whilst being drunk. some people have no manners! so yeah spent the hour drinking coffee! good kick of the caffine! whey. we headed to magnetic island, via townsville. sorry can't remember much of the journey as slept though most of it, but im guessing we stopped off at some point. arrived in magnetic island quite early which was nice. we went for a walk to try and see some koloas in their natural habitat. loads of people had put signs on the ground telling us where they had been a few hours ago but unfortunetly didn't see any! so sad cause they are really cute. anyways we got to see some of the old fort there which was cool. thankfully didn't see any spiders or snakes!

stayed at base backpackers for the night really nice hostel. managed yet again to get the dorm furthest away! just a talent i've picked up since getting here! so many people are so envious of it! lol. but yeah really nice room. watched the all black moari's beat the lions! bit of a boring match. dunno if you guys saw it. really getting into rugby. our hostel was literally right on the beach which is so cool! sat and watched the sunset and the stars on the beach. would have been very romantic if the right person had been there! unfortunately no one. saw a couple of shooting stars! really awesome.

12th of june!

went sea kayaking in the morning, on a gloriefied sea kayak, more of a raft with bum holes that a kayak but very cool all the same. spent about half an hour paddling round then went back in cause it was too cloudy to see anything on the reef. got to see some coral and stuff but no fish unfortunately. we left maggie island around 11 and headed back to townsville and up to mission beach. had some really nice ice cream on route soooo good! saw a bit of tully and its gigantic gum boot! another aussie icon!

stayed in a really nice place called scotties! had a nice pool n stuff. v. cool. shame we were only spending the night here as the beach looked amazing! but it wasn't to be!

13th of june! national holiday - queens b.day

we headed up to cairns today. stopped off at a really nice waterfall and a really cool lake. lake eacham. hanni went swimming cause it was boiling hot! really nice to see the kids swimming about having fun. can't imagin how hot it gets in the summer. its hot enough now! we then stopped off at the bungy site. took 2 and a half hours for the guys to jump. so got a bit bored. walked up to where they jump! soooooo soooo wanted to do it myself. looks amazing. people were jumping off backwards. two of the people on the bus did a running jump off the roof! totally mad! but really cool. amazing to beable to see the sea from the rainforest! awesome.

arrived in cairns and were turned away at the first hostel, but found a bed thankfully at the next one. really cool place. staying at gilliagans. went out for a final meal with the oz experience people at the woolshed. not really getting why it is rated as good as it is. not feeling the vibe there unfortunately but the food was good. especially for $6.50. can't complain.

14th of june
carins. boring day of trying to sort out flight changes which weren't possible! and just walking around carins! its a cool city!

15th of june:
walked down to the esplanade this morning tried to have a swim in the lagoon but it was closed for some reason. sooo hot! woken up at 8am with a fire alarm! fabulous alarm clock should try this one at home. gets you out of bed straight away. amazing!
met 3 people from our thailand trip today. so cool. becks and victoria we, travelled a bit with in nz, but met another guy ross. so weird. the world is such a small place! but really nice at the same time. such nice people! so yeah totally awesome day! have spent a couple of hours sun bathing. whey! the sun is so hot though. trying to get a bit of a tan before home. my arms are the only body part remotely tanned! still have the next couple of days. whey. went to go and see mr and mrs smith. such a good film! really liked it. have just got back from the night market. haven't bought anything have resisted. very impressive. and thats what we've been up to. hannah has wrote something as well. trying to be clever. very funny! love ya! anyways must go. loads of washing to do so will spend the next few hours of my life waiting for that! hope your all ok and doing fine. not getting up to too much mischief i hope!

anyways. love you all loads. every one of you is an incredible person! i can't express how much you mean to me but you all mean a lot! probably even more than you may think!

big snuggles gem xxxx