Just a quick post to say thank you to all the people who have shown us their kind hospitality over our last 5 months in europe:
- Lucia Misikowa in London
- Koula Liolios in Greece
- Dominika Aniolkiewicz in Pisa
- Ulrike and Stefan in Il Mulino, Italy
- Jane and Alan Stewart in Sassetta, Italy
- Gosia Czerska in Warsaw, Poland
- Justyna Sorn in Krakow, Poland
- Jo's parents Bozena and Marek at home!
- Eva Czegledi in Budapest, Hungary
- Andreas and Annette Schuler in Leipzig, Germany
- Margot, Maarten, Ned, Lotte, Louis and Saskia Buij in Den Haag, Holland
- Tania Angelopoulos in Newcastle, UK
- Also a big thanks to the global economy for (almost) waiting until we finished the expensive part of our holiday before collapsing...
We have made some great friends over our time in Europe and hope it wont be too long until we can afford to visit again!
We just landed in Bangkok and while we were on the plane I jotted down some statistics about the europe leg of our adventure if people are interested:
Gigabytes of photos taken:
- 30-35 (around 6000-7000 pics, still to delete a lot)
Kilometres driven:
- 19,652
Countries visited (including monarchies etc.)
- UK + Scotland
- Greece
- Italy
- France
- Spain
- Andorra
- Switzerland
- Czech Republic
- Poland
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Austria
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Germany
- Holland
- Belgium
- Republica Di San Marino
- Monaco
Islands visited:
- Corfu (Greece)
- Elba (Italy)
- Capri (Italy)
Hours spent in van:
- appr 1,500-1,800 over 100 days
Camping grounds stayed in:
- 4/100 nights... too bloody expensive ($40-$100 per night before the Au$ collapsed)
If anyone is interested in volunteering on a farm, the organisation we went through is called WWOOF. They exist in most countries and we can definitely recommend them for a great way to experience a culture for next to no money. There are heaps of different types of farms available to volunteer on and same are not even proper farms so there is something to please anyone with an open mind.
Sawaddee from thailand!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Fotokina Trade Show in Cologne
Not everyone will be interested in these photos but we were lucky enough to be in Cologne at the same time as the worlds biggest photography trade show, so here are some pics from the day.
In 24 hours we fly from Heathrow to Bangkok so we will upload all our european pics before we get on the plane. More in a few hours - there is free wifi along the highways in England so we just stop for an 'upload break' every hour or so.
In 24 hours we fly from Heathrow to Bangkok so we will upload all our european pics before we get on the plane. More in a few hours - there is free wifi along the highways in England so we just stop for an 'upload break' every hour or so.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Croatia - Plitvice Lakes National Park
Sorry for the length of this one guys but it was too hard to choose which photos to show!! Plitvice Lakes National Park was definitely a highlight of our trip, we spent a whole day there just walking around in awe of its beauty. It is a unesco listed world heritage site which you really shouldnt miss if you're in Croatia.
'The waters flowing over the limestone and chalk have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams which in turn have created a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls. These geological processes continue today. The forests in the park are home to bears, wolves and many rare bird species.'
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/98
'The waters flowing over the limestone and chalk have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams which in turn have created a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls. These geological processes continue today. The forests in the park are home to bears, wolves and many rare bird species.'
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/98
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Viewing tips
Dad took the time to write out these instructions for viewing our photos properly at full res - people have been saying the slide show is cutting the photos off, and this fixes the problem... Thanks dad!
"To visit our travel blog use Internet Explorer (or similar) to go to http://jozap.blogspot.com/
Don't try to view the photos on this page as they are not presenting properly . . .
Go straight to the gallery via this link http://picasaweb.google.com/alexjkelly (after reading our travel notes to you all :-))
This opens another program (Picasa Web Albums) that will display all of our sets of photos - note that they are dated.
Be sure to make the window fill your screen!
Single-click on a set to view and small thumbprints of all of it's photos will appear, then:
* Click "Slideshow" (it's just above the thumbprints) - the photos will then present in full size!
* or simply click a photo to see the photos in full size one at a time (then use the arrows).
To choose another set press the [escape] key to stop the current slideshow, then single click on the words "Alex's Public Gallery"
Then single-click on the next set that you would like to see . . ."
"To visit our travel blog use Internet Explorer (or similar) to go to http://jozap.blogspot.com/
Don't try to view the photos on this page as they are not presenting properly . . .
Go straight to the gallery via this link http://picasaweb.google.com/alexjkelly (after reading our travel notes to you all :-))
This opens another program (Picasa Web Albums) that will display all of our sets of photos - note that they are dated.
Be sure to make the window fill your screen!
Single-click on a set to view and small thumbprints of all of it's photos will appear, then:
* Click "Slideshow" (it's just above the thumbprints) - the photos will then present in full size!
* or simply click a photo to see the photos in full size one at a time (then use the arrows).
To choose another set press the [escape] key to stop the current slideshow, then single click on the words "Alex's Public Gallery"
Then single-click on the next set that you would like to see . . ."
Sunday, August 10, 2008
France - Provence Region
Quick update with some of our pictures from South East France.
We stuck to the coast and saw some very cute and touristy villages. All very busy at this time of the year and very hard to find parking. Very glad we´re not in a 15 metre long motorhome like a lot of the baby-boomers that clog the roads in France.
Horse riding was fun, we went in a cool little area called St Maries-de-la-Mer which is famous for wild horses and pink flamingo´s.
Till next post,
Alex and Jo
We stuck to the coast and saw some very cute and touristy villages. All very busy at this time of the year and very hard to find parking. Very glad we´re not in a 15 metre long motorhome like a lot of the baby-boomers that clog the roads in France.
Horse riding was fun, we went in a cool little area called St Maries-de-la-Mer which is famous for wild horses and pink flamingo´s.
Till next post,
Alex and Jo
Friday, July 25, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
France
Pics from our first pass through france in the Van. For everyone wondering what our van looks like, there are quite a few pics of her posing in here.
We caught the ferry from dover to Calais then drove down the west coast of france into spain. The pics at the start are from the ferry trip and the white cliffs of dover. Most of the northern part of france was quite boring even though we took the small farm roads (also to avoid paid highways). South of france was nicer, but still not the impressive. The best part is where we are now (the South east part of france, near Costa Brava and the French Riviera.
Next post in a few days will be spain including San Fermin and the Pyrenees.
P.S. hope everyones heaters are working well in Melbourne - we are suffering through mainly 28 degree days here ;)
We caught the ferry from dover to Calais then drove down the west coast of france into spain. The pics at the start are from the ferry trip and the white cliffs of dover. Most of the northern part of france was quite boring even though we took the small farm roads (also to avoid paid highways). South of france was nicer, but still not the impressive. The best part is where we are now (the South east part of france, near Costa Brava and the French Riviera.
Next post in a few days will be spain including San Fermin and the Pyrenees.
P.S. hope everyones heaters are working well in Melbourne - we are suffering through mainly 28 degree days here ;)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Tour De France
We saw the opening of Tour De France in Brest which was awesome. Pics below. This will be a short post since the notebook is annoying me and the pub we are in seems to have just turned into a gay bar.
*update after gay bar* we wrote this 2 weeks ago:
As soon as we realised that tour de france was starting the same time we would be in France Alex made an executive decision and completely changed the travelling plans. Today we arrived in Brest where the celebrations are very much under way for the first stage of the Tour De France 2008!
Brest is a fairly large town and our van is parked in the middle of a small square of local shops – first time we have parked in such a busy area which should be intereting for sleeping.
We arrived here just in time to watch the end of the opening ceremony which was far bigger than either of us imagined. Luckily team Silence were one of the last teams to be welcomed on stage so we got to see Cadel and Robbie three times, twice they even smiled at us when we yelled GO AUSSIES!! Look out for us on SBS as we plan to make a big sign to hang on our van and park along the course somewhere if possible.
*update after gay bar* we wrote this 2 weeks ago:
As soon as we realised that tour de france was starting the same time we would be in France Alex made an executive decision and completely changed the travelling plans. Today we arrived in Brest where the celebrations are very much under way for the first stage of the Tour De France 2008!
Brest is a fairly large town and our van is parked in the middle of a small square of local shops – first time we have parked in such a busy area which should be intereting for sleeping.
We arrived here just in time to watch the end of the opening ceremony which was far bigger than either of us imagined. Luckily team Silence were one of the last teams to be welcomed on stage so we got to see Cadel and Robbie three times, twice they even smiled at us when we yelled GO AUSSIES!! Look out for us on SBS as we plan to make a big sign to hang on our van and park along the course somewhere if possible.
Monday, July 7, 2008
*update/pics* Farm two - Tuscan toys
Our second farm was also in the Tuscany region, but in Livorno province - very close to the sea. The host family is Scottish and they make amazing wooden toys for a living. After we got to Castagneto Carduci Station about 7pm, Alan took us with him to the night market to sell toys. We didn't get home until about 1am.
It was only to our surprise, when we realized that we'll be attending night markets 6 times a week. But the Euro Cup was on at that time so we spent most of the time in the pub watching the games:)
Days were filled with workshop small or bigger jobs like toy sanding, making and balancing flying birds, gluing wooden fish, painting, drilling and lots more.
Jo loved every second of it, Alex complained a bit about lack of free time for himself (none).
Don't get the impression that we only worked – we managed to spend a weekend in Elba where we rented a scooter and had a great time. Alex also went spear fishing with Steven – their son for a couple of days. Great swimming and snorkeling conditions, sleeping under the stars...
At the end of our stay Jo got given the Heron – her favorite toy, it will be fun to bring it back to Australia.
It was only to our surprise, when we realized that we'll be attending night markets 6 times a week. But the Euro Cup was on at that time so we spent most of the time in the pub watching the games:)
Days were filled with workshop small or bigger jobs like toy sanding, making and balancing flying birds, gluing wooden fish, painting, drilling and lots more.
Jo loved every second of it, Alex complained a bit about lack of free time for himself (none).
Don't get the impression that we only worked – we managed to spend a weekend in Elba where we rented a scooter and had a great time. Alex also went spear fishing with Steven – their son for a couple of days. Great swimming and snorkeling conditions, sleeping under the stars...
At the end of our stay Jo got given the Heron – her favorite toy, it will be fun to bring it back to Australia.
Farm 1 update finally
After being picked up in a tiny little Fiat Punto by Stefan, his wife and two daughters (meaning we had to sit four across the back seat holding our packs with no seat belts) we were slightly worried. But after a 45 minute drive up into the mountains high above Arezzo (in Tuscany) our luck definitely changed – they had a complete tuscan bed and breakfast house set up for us! Basically we had an awesome little four room tuscan mud house to relax in after about four hours of work each day.
After meeting the whole family (7 in total) we started work. Work involved lots of different things including making vegetable gardens, building fences for vines, picking cherries, killing roosters (and taking the feathers out, another story!).. It was only in the second week that we really got into the bee keeping, and then it was jumping right into the deep end! Alex would go out to all the different bee hives with Stefan and steal the precious honey from the angry bees, while Jo would do everything else needed to get the honey sold at the market (draining, filtering, spinning, jarring, labelling, selling!)
In all we had an awesome time at this farm and it left us with a good impression of wwoofing. (If you are interested in having a go, just google wwoof and the name of any country in the world!)
Oh, and we only got bitten twice (both to Alex within 3 seconds of each other, one on each hand!)
After meeting the whole family (7 in total) we started work. Work involved lots of different things including making vegetable gardens, building fences for vines, picking cherries, killing roosters (and taking the feathers out, another story!).. It was only in the second week that we really got into the bee keeping, and then it was jumping right into the deep end! Alex would go out to all the different bee hives with Stefan and steal the precious honey from the angry bees, while Jo would do everything else needed to get the honey sold at the market (draining, filtering, spinning, jarring, labelling, selling!)
In all we had an awesome time at this farm and it left us with a good impression of wwoofing. (If you are interested in having a go, just google wwoof and the name of any country in the world!)
Oh, and we only got bitten twice (both to Alex within 3 seconds of each other, one on each hand!)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Quick post: Firenze/Pisa
Everything seems to be quick on the blog lately but these internet cafes are too expensive for anything more! pics tell more stories than I have time to write. These are of Firenze and Pisa. enjoy...
Friday, June 6, 2008
End of our first week on 1st farm
Ciao tutti,
Just a quick post to say we have not been kidnapped or sold as slaves, although it feels like we work like slaves ;)
We only have a dial up connection here in Tuscany so have to keep this quick. Having heaps of fun and staying with a really cool family (five kids!). Days consist of four hours work from 8-12 each morning then afternoons doing whatever we like - swimming in the river, mushroom picking, playing with baby chickens, eating as much honey as we like and learning how to be beekeepers!
The family live on completely organic food - pretty cool. For tea in the morning, instead of grabbing a tea bag they go to the garden and pick fresh leaves to boil!
Will try to add pics in the next few days and update all the Greece pics.
Baci (Jo is making me write in Italian!)
Alex and Jo
Just a quick post to say we have not been kidnapped or sold as slaves, although it feels like we work like slaves ;)
We only have a dial up connection here in Tuscany so have to keep this quick. Having heaps of fun and staying with a really cool family (five kids!). Days consist of four hours work from 8-12 each morning then afternoons doing whatever we like - swimming in the river, mushroom picking, playing with baby chickens, eating as much honey as we like and learning how to be beekeepers!
The family live on completely organic food - pretty cool. For tea in the morning, instead of grabbing a tea bag they go to the garden and pick fresh leaves to boil!
Will try to add pics in the next few days and update all the Greece pics.
Baci (Jo is making me write in Italian!)
Alex and Jo
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Greece
We are staying in Greece at the moment (ten days total here). A friend of Jo´s has very kindly let us stay with her in her beautiful house. She has rented a car for us and is giving us a tour of the Igoumenitsa region of Greece. Great to be in a comfortable bed and shown around a country by a local.
Just a few pics for now, running out of internet time. These pics are mainly of the house we are staying in and the beautiful views of the surrounding ocean and mountains. Will update soon with pics from our day trips.
Just a few pics for now, running out of internet time. These pics are mainly of the house we are staying in and the beautiful views of the surrounding ocean and mountains. Will update soon with pics from our day trips.
London
Some thoughts about London to accompany these pics:
- Our first two days were awesome weather (24 deg) the rest was typical London weather in the mid teens.
- Hiking boots aren´t the greatest things for exploring a massive city like London! I´m glad I took some runners aswell, but Jo only had thongs and hiking boots.
- We got an awesome exchange rate of around 2.1 but it was still amazingly expensive. One coffee shop we went to (admittedly under the Tower Bridge) wanted 4 euro per crappy coffee.
- All of London smells like curry
- There are a huge amount of Polish people in London. Jo felt very strange. Not many Aussies at all.
- Lots of homeless people and gangs. We walked passed a forensic team in central london that had taped off half a block. We saw on the news that night there had been a gang murder over spilt coke.
- Tube is very expensive, crap and busy. Cost us around $25 aussie dollars a day to get around central london.
- Our first two days were awesome weather (24 deg) the rest was typical London weather in the mid teens.
- Hiking boots aren´t the greatest things for exploring a massive city like London! I´m glad I took some runners aswell, but Jo only had thongs and hiking boots.
- We got an awesome exchange rate of around 2.1 but it was still amazingly expensive. One coffee shop we went to (admittedly under the Tower Bridge) wanted 4 euro per crappy coffee.
- All of London smells like curry
- There are a huge amount of Polish people in London. Jo felt very strange. Not many Aussies at all.
- Lots of homeless people and gangs. We walked passed a forensic team in central london that had taped off half a block. We saw on the news that night there had been a gang murder over spilt coke.
- Tube is very expensive, crap and busy. Cost us around $25 aussie dollars a day to get around central london.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Plane Pics
Some amazing views over China, Russia and Europe. As we were flying over the Sichuan province there was an earthquake that killed 80% of the population. Of course we only found out when the plane landed and we saw the newspapers, but it is a very strange feeling that I was photographing a disaster zone without knowing.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Our going away party...
Thanks to everyone who made it along! We had a great night and enjoyed everyones company for one last night in Melbourne.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tasmania Trip, December 2007 - Jo, Alex, Jim and Trudy
Some photos taken from our trip to Tasmania in December 2007. Location descriptions can be found in the white bar at the top of each photo (click to expand). Basically we went anti-clockwise around Tasmania for two weeks - we could have quite easily spent months there if work didnt have us on a leash!
We found the West coast to be much more enjoyable than the East coast. There were far fewer tourists (like us), better ocean views (bigger waves) and the locals were all friendly and eager to give directions.
We found the West coast to be much more enjoyable than the East coast. There were far fewer tourists (like us), better ocean views (bigger waves) and the locals were all friendly and eager to give directions.
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