16 Interesting Places I've Crashed for the Night Travelling ZZZZZZZ

Huh 'Yawn, Yawn' yes hostels, back of camper vans, hotels, couchsurfing, Air BnB, camping grounds - I'm sure everybody who has travelled ovenight has stayed in official and comfortable accommodation to lay your head.

When you're travelling you've got to crash somewhere for the night, and it isn't always going to be in said places - but that's the whole experience right? Now I'm not one to regularly shy away from a unique adventure to test my tolerance; but thinking about the situations and journeys I've taken over the years - here's a list of interesting places I've found myself crashing to catch some zzzzzzs (and not always warm and comfortable either!)

New Zealand Adventures : 18. Sal - The Dairy Farmer and The Love of Eros...

Kia Ora!

And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain.....but not yet...

Greetings from my rather bumper animal themed blog post from the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' - Aotearoa, my time is nearly up for my travels across the far away land of New Zealand. But I have some last experiences to share with you.....first, in this blog post....from a Calf Nursery on a NZ Dairy Farm.

Being a curious person, I wanted to experience working on a Dairy Farm and see how the industry is run.

**At the time recording this video, I was naively unaware of the fate of these calves. At first, we are led to believe they are abandoned by their mothers but in fact are taken from them a couple of days after birth to be sent to be slaughtered and grieving mothers are impregnated again to lactate milk which isn't intended for human consumption. I struggle to find the moral well being of this and after seeing the true nature of dairy industries, I have personally chosen to not contribute to the industry by consuming beef/veal or cows milk for both ethical and environmental reasons...

New Zealand Adventures : 17. Animal Friends of Kaikoura, Whale Rider, Aquarium Volunteering, and Flying a Plane!

Kia Ora!

Greetings from mid- winter here in Aotearoa!

But here's a introductory video diary from my visit on route to the pretty peninsula whale town of Kaikoura

New Zealand Adventures : 16. Farewell North Island, The Cook Strait Crossing, Happy Daisy's of Nelson, Tall Ship Journey on the Alvei and the Abel Tasman National Park

Kia Ora!

You know that saying 'Its the choices we make, and chances we take, determine our destiny'? Well its none other true when you experience the serendipity surprises of life on the road....

Greetings from Te Waka a Maui (The canoe of Maui) or in English - New Zealand's South Island! which Maori believe was the waka canoe that demi god Maui was sailing in when he pulled up the North Island or the Fish of Maui. Well, after 8 adventurous months (really its been 8 months!) of my explorations of the North Island and with NZ winter rolling in, I had come to the end of the road or....end of the fish head....and jumped on board the Interislander ferry Kaitaki at Port Nicholson (Wellington) to cross the Cook Strait and the passageway to the new world of the South Island....thank god I picked a beautiful morning....

New Zealand Adventures : 15. Journey with Maoris down the Whanganui River, The River Mail Run to Pipiriki, The Convent of Holy Jerusalem and A Brush with Parliament in Capital City Wellington!

Kia Ora!

Greetings from Wellington! New Zealands windy cool capital city. Now nearly 8 months living in New Zealand, I have finished my travels of Aotearoa's North Island and am now on the gateway of the Cook Strait, the most southern point of the Island.

But lets tell you of what I've seen and done in my last few weeks on the North Island - first here's a video from Ranana on the Whanganui River....

New Zealand Adventures : 10. Strayin' The North - Surfin' Raglan, Swingin' Waitamo Caves and Night in the Mourea Marae....

New Zealand Adventures : 9. Waka Canoeing with the Ngapuhi Tribe, The Treaty of Waitangi and Help Xchangin' for Maori Family

New Zealand Adventures : 6. Happy New Year, Farewell Auckland!, Adios Athos!, Volcano Lava Cave Exploring, a Maori Christmas and Overnight Waka Voyage with the Flu!

Kia-Ora!

Happy New Year 2016!

Well...this is what I would have seen if I could have got out of bed but unfortunately I was suffering from a bad flu I caught whilst sailing out at sea on an overnight Waka trip earlier that week...more on that later....

New Zealand Adventures : 5. Merry Christmas from Ko Te Mokai Marae, Snorkel Guidin' in Torbay, On Board a Fishing Trawler and Christmas Holidays come to Auckland...

Ko Te Mokai Marae 'The Slave House'

New Zealand Adventures : 4. Ahoy Athos! Moonlight Waka Adventure and Resurrecting Aoteroa One

Kia-Ora!

Ahoy from Auckland, I seemed to have fallen into life as a water baby and was lucky enough to get a new day job working as an Engineers Assistant on board my now even BIGGER office in Auckland's boat yards - behold the big and beautiful ATHOS....minus the sails..

New Zealand Adventures : 2. Dolphin Research, Workin' Girl as a 'Boatie' in Auckland's Boatyards and a Piece of Volcano Heaven on top Mt Eden...

Kia-Ora!  

Greetings from New Zealand! now a month on the North Island!

Ahoy! I have recently been working on a 135ft Boat under the name 'Destination' in Auckland City's North Wharf Boat Yards, as what I call a 'Boatie'.... pretty much as a day worker doing all the odd jobs the maintenance crew need help with in one of the boat yards, but first, before life on board, let me tell you about my Dolphin research trip out in the Hauraki Gulf....

New Zealand Adventures : 1. Kia-Ora Auckland, Introducing Maori, Saving Whales with Project Jonah and Sea Cleaning Waiheke Island...

Kia - Ora! 

That's 'Hello!' in Maoritanga (Maori Culture), the indigenous race and language of Aotearoa 'The Land of the Long White Cloud' or as the white man 'Pakeha' calls it 'New Zealand'....

I will try and keep a blog of my explorations as much as I can, however long I'm here for...so here goes with some early days of my first two weeks of travel in this land far, far away....

Auckland City!

Cambodia Adventures : 8. Lee-Hai Siem Reap, Mondulkiri Elephant Valley Project, Into The Wild and Following the Ancient Mekong River...

Soo-a-s'day!

Greetings from Cambodia!

I have not been able to have access to the internet for some weeks now since leaving Siem Reap so here is a mammoth blog highlighting the best bits of my past few weeks in the Kingdom of Wonder. I travelled from Siem Reap to Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri which means 'Meeting of the Hills' about 12 hours East of Siem Reap right into the jungles of Eastern Cambodia. I spent my last few days in Siem Reap teaching at the orphanage and in very holy places, joining the Monks and Nuns for Buddhist Prayer in the Pagoda...which was quite an experience!

The biggest storm ever then hit the orphanage on my last evening

'About The Time' ...The Quirks of Amsterdam and The Cat Boat!

'Yarr, I was riding past to verk along de Singel and stopped outside de Oude Lutherse Kerk and looked at zis canal boot and thought....hey zat boot is full of kats!'

A canal 'boot' full of cats!....meaning 'boat' in Dutch that is, said my strong accented dutch guide.... 
I'd been staying at the friendly Shelter Hostel right in the heart of the 'City of Diamonds' and took the opportunity to join their free guided walking tour of Amsterdam on a gloriously light but chilly Friday morning in the core of wintertime in The Netherlands.  Funny enough as cold it was for this chick from Blighty, Amsterdam was experiencing its mildest winter for many years.....only - 6 C. Brrrr. 

Let 'Em Skate - An Extreme Street Sports Charity Thats Off The Wall

Ok so for this scribble, even though I'm all grown up (as the conforming society will say) I'm a fan of cartoons, especially this little guy who probably is one of the most famous cartoon characters created on our third rock from the sun. Can you guess who it is ......even though there is a picture right there...yep Bart Simpson. I loved him as a kid, he was a real rebellious dude - the famous little yellow rascal who's mischievous nature is rarely seen without hurtling along on a trusty skateboard up to no good.....but actually not all skateboarders are up to no good, undeserving of the whole 'tut tut tut' waving the pointed finger in disgust at them as if they were juvenile delinquents. Lets lift those judgemental stigmas.....they actually should be encouraged.

Meeting The Amazon Man - Alan Holman - The Record Breaking Kayak Down The Amazon

Ahh life....row row row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.....not for this guy it wasn't....and it certainly wasn't a stream.....

Last week, I met an incredible Guinness World Record Holder.....my first one too!

Now at 68, British man Alan Holman who in 1982 at the age of 38, is the first and only man on record that has ever kayaked the entire length of the 4,000 mile long Amazon River, you know what he said to me...

'Young lady, nothing ...is 100% impossible, but  
                  nothing is 100% sure'

                            awww.

The Royal Baby - Awaiting The Heir to the Throne

It's the morning of Monday 22nd July 2013 in London, England and a historic event is about to ignite a spark in the slumbering world and the future of the British monarchy and Commonwealth. The morning news and tabloids are fired up with the unexpected headline that Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labour....a baby is on its way.
  

But this is no ordinary birth that the world are ruffling their feathers over in colossal anticipation - its the birth of a baby that is destined to rule a nation and commonwealth. The future heir of England.

The Day Murray Won Wimbledon - My Video Blog

Our hearts were in our mouths, our knees quivering as we held our breaths in the rally of the final point....but after 77 years, 15 Prime Ministers and 3 Monarchs, a British Man FINALLY wins the Wimbledon Men's Singles Title...and I was there...here's my video blogs following me on the unforgettable day that Andy Murray made sporting history....

A Royal Encounter...The Queens 60th Coronation Day

4th June 2013. London, England.

Blue skies, warm weather - It can't be? really British Summer? Today, a somewhat unusually summery British day in the capital is championed by a special royal occasion -the celebration of Britain's long reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth's II 60th Anniversary of her Coronation in 1953. I wasn't even thought about then, but Queen Lizzie's the only British Monarch that has been a constant presence in my life; stamps, coins, T.V, Movies, Cartoons - c'mon she must be a real person.

You can pretty much tell there's a national occasion taking place in Merry Ole' London, which to give us credit, we do very well at staging, as we did with  the controversial National Funeral of Margaret Thatcher on that gloomy morning in April and of course the London 2012 Games.

The National Funeral of The Iron Lady - As I Saw It

The Iron Lady. The Iron Lady. Margaret Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher - now I'm not one that can sit and talk about politics all day but I don't have to be a political junkie to know who Margaret Thatcher was or 'The Iron Lady' as she was affectionately christened based on her nerves of steel and her strong and hearty manner. Love Her or Hate Her she was one tough lady, couldn't have been an easy job. I was only a toddler throughout her time governing the country at 10 Downing Street, so I guess I have no memories of her and know very little about her political lifetime. The news of her death earlier this month in the UK seemed to bring rejoice to certain societies and affectionate praise and blessings from others. So I thought it would be an interesting experience to hop on down to the streets of London to observe the atmosphere of this highly anticipated and controversial national funeral of the former Prime Minister. A historic occasion not to be missed.