Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay is a unique region located on the northeast coast of Vietnam.  The bay has 3,000 small limestone islands.

We did a three day cruise through the bay.  The weather was poor during our entire visit - it was cloudy and misty all the time and raining most of the time.  The weather wasn't great for touring but it did give the bay a spooky feel.

The islands and the mist of Ha Long Bay

Our cruise was on the bigger of these two ships

The captain's view - he got us safely through the mist

The water in the bay is a beautiful rich green colour

Don't know how this rock stays upright

Many of the islands are hollow and they have interesting rock formations inside.

This is only a small part of the cave we visited

The caves are high as well as wide

It was great to see the natural beauty of the bay but we really enjoyed seeing how the locals live.  There are four floating villages in the bay.  The villagers are fishermen who also cultivate clams for their pearls and their meat.  The villagers rarely stand on solid ground.

The floating village is sheltered by a number of islands

A closer look at one of the houses

Everything moves around by boat

They keep fishing even in the pouring rain

Most of the islands in the bay are too small for people to live on but there are two islands that are large enough.  One of these is Cat Ba Island and we visited Viet Hai, a farming village on the island.  Getting there was part of the fun - we rode to the village on bicycles in the rain.

On our way to the village

The island is very lush (that's Blake and our guide)

The village

Main street (also the village's only street)

Feeding the chickens in the rain

We didn't see many of the villagers - they stayed inside out of the rain and watched soap operas (really!).  We did get to see the outside of their homes and there was lots of variety.  There were a few families who lived in small thatch-roofed houses but most had upgraded to larger concrete buildings.  The Vietnamese government recently provided support to help folks upgrade their homes.

New style home on the left and old style one on the right

This is one of the fancier homes in the village

Whether big or small, every house has a dog to guard it

The weather definitely put a damper on our visit to Ha Long Bay but it was quiet and the people were very friendly so it was a very comfortable way to begin our Asia adventure.  After Ha Long Bay, things got a whole bunch more hectic at our next stop which was the big city of Hanoi.

Vanessa and Blake

Fiji and Australia

Mother Nature has been good to us on our trip.  We haven't had any flight delays or tour cancellations due to weather and we've only had a few days of poor weather.   And then we reached Fiji ...

Fiji got a pile of rain just as we arrived - 26 centimetres (10 inches) of rain fell during a 48 hour period.  After this downpour, the rain let up a little but the road to our hotel was flooded and impassable.

One of the flooded roads; we heard the road to our hotel was worse

You needed a 4x4 to get anywhere

Many homes were flooded

Kids had fun swimming in the currents alongside the road

The floods made the beach and the ocean very un-Fiji colours of grey and brown

We got checked in to a nice hotel on a part of the island that wasn't flooded and the weather improved after a couple of days.  Things were OK but the forecast was for more rain so we decided to not stay for a full week as originally planned.  It was a hard choice as we were booked into some very nice places in Fiji including one night in an over-the-water bungalow with a see-through floor.  With mixed feelings, we left Fiji after four days in search of sun.

The Sunshine Coast on the east side of Australia seemed like the perfect destination for us.  Sunshine was what we were looking for and we were able to get flights that fit with the rest of our trip.  So we booked our flights and we were on our way to Brisbane.

Unfortunately for us, the bad weather that was plaguing Fiji was also hitting Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. We arrived to find more rain and wind.

This was one of the few breaks in the rain; it started raining again an hour later

We found a very nice apartment in Mooloolaba - a quiet beach town on the Sunshine Coast.  We didn't get the sun we were looking for but we did get a little bit of rest before we began our six week journey through Asia.

Next up - Vietnam!

Vanessa and Blake

New Zealand - Part 3

The second week of our New Zealand stay was a relaxing trek through the beach towns of the far north of the north island.

Our first stop was the town of Coopers Beach.

View of the beach from our apartment

Down on the beach

Testing the water - it was "fresh"

Blake on a boogie board

From Coopers Beach, we did a day trip through the peninsula that's the northernmost part of New Zealand. The west side of the peninsula is 90 Mile Beach.  The beach isn't 90 miles long (it's only 55) but it's still very impressive.

The beach at low tide - it goes forever

There are large sand dunes along beach

We rode boogie boards down the dunes

Vanessa made it safely to the bottom

Blake went for a tumble

We headed north up the beach and at the end, we reached Cape Reinga which is pretty much the most northern point of New Zealand.  Here are a few photos from the Cape and our return trip down the east side of the peninsula.

Us at Cape Reinga where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet

The lighthouse at Cape Reinga

More nice beaches on the east side of the peninsula

The region has huge conifer trees called Kauri.  The trees can grow to 50 metres (150 feet) tall and 5 metres (15 feet) wide.  Kauri can live to be over 1,000 years old.

Blake's sitting on a carving with the trunk of a Kauri in the background 

Kauri carvings done mainly by chainsaw

Next up was an area called the Bay of Islands.  The two main towns on the bay are Russell and Paihia.

Russell's harbour

Russell's waterfront is lined with beautiful buildings and huge trees

Paihia isn't as quaint as Russell but it's still a great place to relax

The bay is home to dolphins.  We never pass up a chance to see dolphins so we did a dolphin-watching tour. The dolphins put on a show for us and Vanessa the sharpshooter was able to capture some of their acrobatics with her camera.

From the Bay of Islands, we made our way down the east coast and back to Auckland.  Here are a few photos from the journey.

There's lots of beautiful countryside

Toilets are never far away

There are no straight roads anywhere in New Zealand

Whangarei Falls

These flowers grow wild all over New Zealand

One last beach photo

Our two week stay in New Zealand seemed like it finished just after it started.  We had a great time and we wished we had time to explore more of the country.  New Zealand is high on the list of places that we'll be back to.

Vanessa and Blake