Where should I go for my holiday?

[JasonL]

But the pick of the places I liked was the old city of Chiang mai, which in it's own right is a very large, yet low key city, non of the razzle dazzle that Bankok has...much more laid back.. but I didn't want to stay in another city so we opted ( after fighting with the missus for a week) to stay 45 minutes drive out of town up in the rural mountains. The hotel had free shuttle back and forth from the city which was great. The place was even better than it looks, and was great for herping, I found over 10 species of frogs, 2 species of snakes and 7 species of lizard within the hotel grounds, as well as many amazing inverts inc a taranchula.. though as you can see it is rather smokey, as in the dry season they burn off the hillside and they actually burnt the hills behind us the night before..

 

[Miffy]

With the high Aussie dollar USA or Hawaii can be done fairly cheaply.

Hong Kong is always fun for a week.

 

[JasonL]

In the hotel, you stay in your own seperate villa, the place also has two pools, breakfast is included and they usually bring one of their elephants around to entertain and paint ect whilst you eat..... Eating lunch / dinner at the hotel will set you back a small fortune, but why would you do this when they are willing to drive you into town for free and you can eat here... a heap of food vendors cooking heaps of different meals, the stir fry in the pic cost all of 2 bucks, coupled with a $2 longneck and you have it made.....

 

[Karly]

Is that elephant painting?
Its funny you should be telling me about Thailand, Mum has jsut sent through pics of a really nice motel in Phuket that she can get a week free at with the travel club she's with. Did you go to Phuket? How long would it take to get to these places if we stayed there?

 

[JasonL]

Chiang mai has plenty of markets and street stalls ect, and within a hours drive you have some great National Parks to visit, and you can go on day trips further out untill you reach the Burma border, travel by boat along the Mae kok river, numerous elephant tours, visit the Hill tribes (various groups "rescued" from camps out of Burma to promote tourism in Thailand, head up to the "Golden Triange" and see how poppy's are grown ..... heaps of stuff to do in northern Thailand for those who seek some adventure.

 

[JasonL]

pics

 

[JasonL]

Is that elephant painting?
Its funny you should be telling me about Thailand, Mum has jsut sent through pics of a really nice motel in Phuket that she can get a week free at with the travel club she's with. Did you go to Phuket? How long would it take to get to these places if we stayed there?

Yes I did, it was OK, OK if you like to follow the tourist trail... I have no need to go again, though my wife is heading back next year for a girls week away with some friends, the food isn't as good, it's not as cheap, everything is for the tourists that are buldging out of the place.... though, the beaches are pretty nice and the offshore islands and snorkling is great..
I think it's about a 2 / 3 hour flight from Bangers to Chiang mai, much less to Phuket..

 

[JasonL]

here is the finished product... dirty little thing!, the whole elephant / Thailand thing is pretty sad really, in touristy areas such as Phuket you will see baby elephants chained out the front of restaurants to all hours to coax people in.. the ones used at this large hotel were very well looked after though, not all are as lucky.

 

[redbellybite]

I travelled around AUSTRALIA ..with my family of 4 kids 2 dogs and a pet rat and hubby..we did nearly 3 years ...and still only touched the tip of the' iceburg' so to speak ...this country of ours is totally amazing and if you have not gotten to know it yet ,do yourself a big fat favour and put that on the to do list ...I agree there are plenty of overseas places that are interesting and absolutely stunning as well ...but as the old saying goes 'THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME'........

 

[Rainbow-Serpent]

I hear Noumea is a pretty good place, a couple of kids I know are there at the moment.

Just a couple of photos about it.

 

[percey39]

i agree with jason thailand is definetely a worth while experience and so damn cheap.me and a few mates were gonna go again a while ago as it was gonna cost 1400 for flights, 10 nights accomodation at a 5 star hotel withmeals included, phi phi island is a great experience and so is Chiang mai. all easily to get by train and very cheap.

 

[mysnakesau]

How much of Aussie have you seen ? ..just curious to know why people dont really get to know whats in our own backyard ..I do realise it is cheaper to go over seas..but feel its sad that you guys really dont know what your missing by not venturing around our beautiful country ..anyway like I said just curious to know why ...

I don't particularly have any enthusiasm for travelling overseas. Too much I haven't seen of our own country. I've seen Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Cairns, a 2 day visit to Melbourne but only saw the showground. The only REAL holiday I have had was taking a week off work to travel to Birdsville. Lots n lots of driving but I kept my camera busy, stocked up with lots of goodies to munch on, nothing to see but dirt, but I loved it. Had a great time. From Guyra onwards was awesome. Every time the headlights of car lit up eyes we'd be curious to what it was. Dodging kangaroos and goats, and the rock storm under the car, travelling the last 400ks to Birdsville at nigh was scarey but adventurous. Then leaving Birdsville to head home we missed the turn-off to Windorah and got to Mangerannie Pub before we even realised we were heading through centre of SA. Hubby was fretting I was cheering, who cares, another day off work - woohoo - keep on going. We stopped overnight at Peterborough in the crappiest hotel I've ever stayed at. Bedroom was ok but musta been on water restrictions or something. Showers - only 3 strands of water come out. We found the highway back to Broken Hill, chased some beardies picked up shinglebacks off the roads, even saw a camel, lots of emu's. Stopped by Dubbo, went to the zoo - something we wouldn't have done if we'd gone the right way - lovely overnight stay in Dubbo before heading home. Didn't care about what time it was, getting late, gaining weight, getting drunk. It was great. Can't wait for the next adventure.

One thing that fascinated me was seeing a flock of wild budgies. I thought it was great - lots of green, flittering, noisy budgies.

 

[redbellybite]

Kath First time we went to Mission Beach ..went to the ENVIRO place thing (cant think of the actual name) anyway was talking about the cassowary and how rare it is to find in its habitat blah blah ..So I asked the ranger 'What are our chances of coming across one ,whilst here ?" He said buckleys and amost none ..better off checking them out in the animal parks etc...anyway after we left ..we went for a drive ,just spinning out on the whole place ,as we were originally from Young NSW so had never seen anything like this in real life ...and showing the kids the banana plantations etc ...and what should we see .. A daddy cassowary and 8 chicks ...it was totally bizare and the people that had also been at the ranger talk ...was spinning out too(they decided to go driving too and just happened to be behind us ) ...We saw that ranger a few days later at another spot ..and told him ,he said we were just so bloody lucky and relish the fact we got to see that with out even trying ...I am in love with FAR North QLD ..but Hubby said it was to hard to get constant work ,due to the weather ..and him being a carpenter..otherwise I would have been happy to settle there ...loved a lot of states and loved the NT ...bush camping in our country is the best ...and overall probably one of the safest places to do it in too ..

 

[Kurto]

If your up for lying around, drinking cocktails for a few days (which I always am!), I just booked a super super cheap trip to Tahiti!!

 

[Karly]

Wow RBB 3 years travelling around Aus, I'm insanely jealous! It would have been an amazing experience, esp for kids.
Noumea does look nice, we went there on a cruise about 15 years ago but only went to the city for a day trip.
What about Fiji, has anyone been there? Its incredibly cheap atm.

 

[Karly]

Kath First time we went to Mission Beach ..went to the ENVIRO place thing (cant think of the actual name) anyway was talking about the cassowary and how rare it is to find in its habitat blah blah ..So I asked the ranger 'What are our chances of coming across one ,whilst here ?" He said buckleys and amost none ..better off checking them out in the animal parks etc...anyway after we left ..we went for a drive ,just spinning out on the whole place ,as we were originally from Young NSW so had never seen anything like this in real life ...and showing the kids the banana plantations etc ...and what should we see .. A daddy cassowary and 8 chicks ...it was totally bizare and the people that had also been at the ranger talk ...was spinning out too(they decided to go driving too and just happened to be behind us ) ...We saw that ranger a few days later at another spot ..and told him ,he said we were just so bloody lucky and relish the fact we got to see that with out even trying ...I am in love with FAR North QLD ..but Hubby said it was to hard to get constant work ,due to the weather ..and him being a carpenter..otherwise I would have been happy to settle there ...loved a lot of states and loved the NT ...bush camping in our country is the best ...and overall probably one of the safest places to do it in too ..

Yeah that's lucky I lived in Mission Beach for a year and never saw a cassowary!

 

[JasonL]

Yeah that's lucky I lived in Mission Beach for a year and never saw a cassowary!

I've been to North Qld twice and saw them both times, first time I saw 2 adults (seperately), 2nd time an adult and a chick... the place is over run with them I tell you

 

[JasonL]

If your up for lying around, drinking cocktails for a few days (which I always am!), I just booked a super super cheap trip to Tahiti!!

Yeah, alot of people like doing that sort of thing, but not me, I would go nuts stuck on an island for too long, I bounce around a country like a ping pong ball, come home more nackered than when I left.

 

[Karly]

Well I booked my holiday last week, I'm going to Fiji!! 5 nights inc flights and daily breakfast for under $1000 each, in a 5 star resort on a private Island..... heaven
JasonL, Tahiland looks amazing, I was really really tempted but Fiji was $500 cheaper so it won out in the end. That's $500 towards my house deposit.... and the sooner I get my house the sooner I can fill the entire yard with herps!!!

I'll have to make Thailand my next goal, maybe with a "slight detour" to the Galapagos Islands (a bit ambitious?).