We both suffer from the travel bug, although to no where near the extent of some we've come across! We love discovering new places and soaking up new cultures. Variety is the spice of life! Our biggest adventures together so far have been in the USA and Australia.

USA, 2001 [Pictures]

We spent a few weeks driving around the Western US in May/June 2001, taking in California, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Nevada. We managed to spend time in quite a few of the bigger National Parks: Redwood (we even got to see Humpback and Orca whales very close to shore which was an added bonus), Yellowstone and neighbouring Grand Teton, Zion, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite to name a few. Favourite places were without a doubt Crater Lake in Oregon, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, and Bryce Canyon, Utah. Had an excellent time overall; pleased to confirm to anyone who's not yet been that everything really is bigger in the US. Still impressed at the vastness of the place!

Australia, 2002 [Pictures]

We'd both always wanted to have the down-under experience so made the most of an opportunity to take extended honeymoon leave in May/June 2002. Not the ideal season to go but, wonderful none-the-less.

Started off with a week in Dunk Island in the Barrier Reef to totally unwind after the stress and excitement of the wedding. Beautiful place and highly recommended in low season; we had the pool and the beaches more or less to ourselves. Some lovely reef areas to snorkle a couple of hours away by boat and some quite impressive rain forest on Dunk itself to hike around in.

Then flew to Cairns, quickly followed by a few days in the outback taking in Ayres Rock (Uluru), the Olgas and Kings Canyon. Amazing landscapes; it's rained a lot there the past couple of years so surprisingly green. Ended up in Alice Springs from where we took the 22 hour train trip to Adelaide on The Ghan. Again, not ideal. We left at 13:30 and it was dark by 17:00; didn't see a whole lot but just travelling for that long by train through total wilderness is quite an experience on it's own! Reached a very cold and wet Adelaide at 10:00 the next day to start the driving part of our tour which took us along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne from where we spent time in Canberra, a week in Sydney and then up the coast to Brisbane. Some wonderful coastal stretches in there. Did a lot of the tourist musts in Sydney; a day climb of Harbour Bridge, a concert at the Opera House, Bondi beach and hiking in the Blue mountains. Came home with the typical tourist 'did we really need this' Didgeridoo, bomerangs, cuddly koalas and Oz road sign fridge magnets. No, we didn't really need them but they're nice reminders of an absolutely fantastic time down under!

Other

Prior to all this, and among many other destinations, we've both spent time in Zimbabwe, although on separate occasions, Thorsten venturing into South Africa as well. Africa is quite probably our favourite continent and one which we're hankering to get back to. Next stop.....?