Gallipoli

Anzac Day at Gallipoli was an amazing experience to be part of!  

Our tour started when we arrived at Anzac Cove at 6pm the night before ANZAC day. We all piled into Anzac Cove with 4400 others and slept the night on the cove the Anzac soldiers arrived on. Over night they played lots of documentaries and speeches about the ANZACs, and those that could got a little sleep. 

At 5.30 Anzac morning we were woken for the dawn Ceremony. 

We then walked 6.3 km to Chunuk Bair - which is where the NZ memorial is. On the way we past many trenches and grave sites that have been preserved to remember the soldiers that died in the war. 

Around lunch time we were let into Chunuk Bair where we watched the NZ ceremony. 

We were very thankful to be in Gallipoli for ANZAC day - it was very special to be part of the ceremonies and made us very proud to be New Zealanders!! 

Sun setting at Anzac Cove the night before Anzac Day. 

Wearing our new Anzac hoodies. That say 1915 - lest we forget. 

Proud to be from New Zealand. 

Looking along Anzac cove. 

Kiwi and Shaun watching documentaries about Anzac Day. 

Dawn service at Gallipoli. 

New Zealand memorial site at Chunuk Bair.

The Turkish and New Zealand flags at Chunuk Bair. 

Shaun watching the service. 

Govener General laying a wreath on behalf of all New Zealanders. 

Shaun and Kiwi were famous!! Lots of people wanted to take photos of them!! 

Kiwi, Matt and Shaun down one of the trenches. 

Ko Samoi

Sorry Shaun hasn't updated his blog in a while. 

We had a fantastic time in Ko Samoi. We stayed at a resort on the beach. We had 2 pools at our resort and our room was the closest one to the beach! 

This is the resturant at the beach that we ate at. It was about 10m from our room! 

This pool was just outside our room. 

Shaun had a nice time in Ko Samoi relaxing at the beach/pool and shopping. He also met lots of new people and had lots of late nights staying up playing card games.  (But it was okay because he could sleep beside the pool the next day!) 

On the 14th April Shaun went to a party on an island called koh pha Ngan. Each month they have a big party at this island to celebrate the full moon. It was lots of fun with people dancing to different DJs on the beach. There was also lots of performers who did acts with fire. It was amazing to watch!! 

While we were in Ko Samoi it was also 'Songkron.' This is when Buddhist people celebrate their new year. They celebrate their new year with a massive water fight. Wow! It was crazy - the streets were just filled with people holding water guns and buckets. You couldn't walk down the street without being completely drenched in water. We bought our own water guns and got amongst the action! 

Streets filled with people holding water guns! 

Chelsea has her water gun ready in the pool incase anyone tries to shoot her! 

This photo was taken of Miss Grant just after a child drenched her with a bucket of water. 

After 5 days at Ko samoi Shaun, Kirsty, Chelsea and Holly flew back to Bangkok. We had one night in Bangkok altogether before Chelsea and Kirsty flew back to Australia and New Zealand. Shaun had the most amazing time travelling with these girls and was so sad to say goodbye. He hopes to travel with them again one day!! 

The same day that Chelsea and Kirsty left, Shaun's new friend Matt arrived. We have 2 more nights in Bangkok with Matt before leaving on our next journey! 

Dubai ... Turkey ... London ... Here we come!! 

Dubai

On Sunday we flew overnight from Bangkok to Dubai. Dubai is a city in the middle of the desert! It was amazing to see with heaps and heaps of big buildings everywhere! 

Dubai at night! 

While in Dubai we went on a hop on/hop off bus. On this bus ride we got to see all around the city. Including the palm tree islands, the Burj Al Arub and the Dubai Mall. 

This is the Burj Al Arab - One of the highest hotels in the world. Tiger Woods has hit a golf ball off the top and Roger Federar and Rufael Nadal have had a game of tennis on the helicopter pad. 

We also visited the Dubai Mall. This mall is MASSIVE!! It has an aquarium, a theme park, a waterfall and 1200 shops inside!! It was very easy to get lost.

 

Water fountain inside mall. 

Aquarium inside the mall. 

Shaun also went to his first sushi train at the Dubai Mall. Shaun thought it was hilerous to stand on the conveyor belt with all the food - Miss Grant was just glad no one choose to eat him! 

Dubai also has the Burj khalifa. This is the highest building in the world, measuring 828m high! Unfortunately we needed to book ages in advance to go up the Burj but Shaun enjoyed getting his photos taken from the ground. 

From the ground we also got to watch the dancing fountains. These fountains were beautiful at night and they were all choreographed to move/dance at different times to music. Our favourite water dance was to Michael Jackson's thriller. We went back every night to watch the fountain. 

Shaun watching the dancing fountains! 

In Dubai Shaun dragged Matt along to another water park! It had the most amazing view from the high rides looking down over the beach and at the Burj Al Arab. The Matai team will be pleased to hear Miss Grant went on the trap door ride this time!! She was very scared - but was glad she did it. She couldn't see the whole way down because there was water going all over her face - but she thought the people in Clutha Valley might have been able to hear her scream? 

Matt on one of the rides. 

The steep slides you can see at the top start inside a trap door! 

Our favourite activity in Dubai though was the sand dune buggies!! On Tuesday we got picked up by a guide and taken out into the desert. Here we were taught how  to ride a dune buggy and took turns driving it around the sand dunes. We had a great time driving up and down the sand dunes and twisting around the corners. They then took us to the top of a tall sand dune and we were able to sit or stand on a snow board as we zoomed down!! 

Definitely a morning we will never forgot!! 

Miss Grant sandboarding down one of the dunes. 

We even saw camels in the desert! 

I hope you are all enjoying your school holidays!! We leave Dubai tomorrow for Istanbul where we are going to Gallipoli for ANZAC day. Shaun will make sure he takes lots of photos for you. Shaun wonders where the Clutha Valley kids are all spending their ANZAC day? 

Shaun, 🐑

Phuket / phi phi

On Monday we flew from Chaing Mai to Phuket. In Phuket Shaun meet his new travelling companion Chelsea! Chelsea is a teacher in Australia and has come over for the school holidays. 

Shaun and Chelsea on Phi Phi Island!

We spent one night in Phuket before catching a ferry over to Phi Phi island. In phi phi we have been doing lots of swimming and relaxing at the beach or at our hotel pool. On Friday we even went out on a boat trip. On the boat we went to monkey island, maya bay (where the movie 'The Beach' is filmed) snorkeled, and jumped off cliffs!! It was an incredible day!! 

Shaun doing some sun bathing! 

The pool at our hotel. 

Chelsea at monkey island. 

At Maya Bay where the beach was filmed. 

We had an amazing time in phi phi and were sad when it was time to leave! Yesterday we travelled for 8 hours by bus and ferry and arrived in Ko Samoi. We are here for the next 5 nights. 

On the ferry to Ko Samoi. 

Shaun, 🐏

Chaing Mai - Tigers.

Today we went to the Tiger kingdom.  At the Tiger Kingdom you got to choose what tigers you wanted to go in the cage with!!!! We choose to go in the cage with the smallest tigers. 

Tigers are noctornal animals so they were very sleepy during the day while we were there. 

Chaing Mai - Elephant Camp

Today was one of our favourite days yet!!

We were picked up this morning and taken 1 hour out of Chaing Mai to Woodys Elephant Camp. Here we got to meet, feed, ride, wash and swim with elephants!!

First we were taught all about elephants - what they need, how much they eat and what it takes to look after them. We were then taught some Thai commands to instruct the elephants we were with. 

We learnt: (these aren't spelt correctly! I wrote down what I could hear, so I could pronounce them correctly) 

Yowkaa - leg up

Soown - higher 

Uute - stop

Qar - turn right

Sye - turn left

Bye - forward

Tooy - backwards

Bow - slow down 

Bon soon - open mouth 

It was then time to feed the elephants so they could get to know us. Elephants have a very good sense of smell!!

Then we practiced getting on and off an elephant by saying yowkaa and standing on it's leg - we would then say soown until we were high enough to jump over. 

Getting to know the elephants! 

Kirsty on the elephant 

Holly on the elephant

Some of the elephants ... 

After lunch we took the elephants for a walk. 

Then we went down to the river where we scrubbed and washed the elephants. 

Then we got to go swimming with them!! 

It was an amazing experience!! The elephants are right under the water and we were on their back!!

At the time we were very scared riding the elephants - but the trainers stayed with us all the time making sure we were safe. Looking back now it was an incredible experience! And we were very lucky to spend the day with these amazing animals!