Home Sweet Home...

We've been home for three weeks now, and while we've been busy catching up with family and friends and have started job hunting in earnest, the last six months, actually three years, of adventures have barely begun to sink in. My Nana suggested that I write a final blog post to finish it all off, and I've finally mustered the motivation to do it! Perhaps because it seems easier than facing the task of sorting through the nearly 100GB of photos that I took over the last six months!

After leaving Indonesia at the end of September we headed to Perth to visit some of our friends with whom we were long overdue a catch up. It was great to spend time with familiar faces and explore a bit of the city. I was hoping that stopping in Perth would have the added benefit of helping us acclimatise to a more mild climate before getting to New Zealand, but it was not to be! Perth was having the coldest spring in 25 years, and coming straight from the 30 degree weather we had in Indonesia to a brisk 17C was a slight shock to the system!

Perth city and Fremantle. A huge shout out to Latham and Talz for being such great tour guides!

Exploring the Perth Hills and Maundering Dam (opened in 1903 and pipes water 560km to Kalgoorlie). Yes, that is a bush fire.

Enjoying a night out with friends. And tequila.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to our friends who kindly hosted us and took the time to show us around Perth. We're looking forward to seeing you all, and eating Harley's bbq ribs, again soon!

While our journey was nearing an end, I began musing on a few things that we'd learned over the course of our trip. Some of them we learned the hard way, some by luck, and some by planning and talking to others. I'm sure a few are obvious, but hopefully a few will prove useful, or perhaps just give you a chuckle at our naivety and leave you wondering how on earth we made it home unscathed and still married.

Some things we've learned travelling

General tips:

• Double check the details of travel bookings BEFORE you enter your credit card details. And then do it again afterwards. Finding out you've mis-booked your flights days before a trip isn't ideal.
• Look up free walking tours. They're available in many places around the world and all you need to pay is as much of a tip as you think is deserved, or that you can afford. In Vietnam you can do a variety of free tours with local university students.
• Walking into restaurants off the street can be a bit hit and miss. If you want a bit more of a guarantee of quality or if you're after something particular, it is worth taking the time to use TripAdvisor. However, I wouldn't always vouch for their price indications.
• Don't bring anything you would be sad to lose. I pride myself on never losing things and yet somehow this trip I've lost two t-shirts, a pair of summer pants, a dress, a sun hat, and a 16GB memory card. Shaun lost his expensive sunglasses and his phone. He then stood on my sunglasses. On the same day.
• Double check your laundry when it comes back, because it won't necessarily all come back (see previous bullet point).
• Factor in rest days. You will run out of steam.
• DON'T become complacent. Make sure you know the whereabouts of all of your belongings. Find a place for everything and keep them there. Going away from your base for an overnight trip and realising your passports are still in your big luggage in another city is stupid and stressful.

South East Asia:

• You're going to sweat. A lot. Keep chafing in mind when you pick what clothes and underwear to bring. 
• Sunscreen, sweat, and DEET, are the death of white shirts.
• You might laugh at travel sandals, but Shaun quickly discovered the difficulties of finding size 13 jandals in Vietnam when his inevitably blew out. I still couldn't convince him to buy travel sandals.
• Packing light is easier said than done... At least, if you're me. No one cares what you're wearing when you're back packing through South East Asia, but you will care how heavy your backpack is, and your husband will start caring when you sneak your spare shoes into his backpack.
• Buying a SIM card has been immensely helpful, especially for navigation on the go.
• Facial moisturisers in S E Asia all seem to be 'whitening', so unless you're trying to undo your tan, bring all the moisturiser you need with you!
• If you're not great at haggling, a useful rule of thumb is to pay what you think is a fair price for the item. Try asking a local person, or your hotel staff what price you can reasonably expect to pay for something, and then stick to your guns. However this is often easier said than done and if you're like me and have trouble saying no, telling yourself you're helping to feed a family often helps to justify the expenditure!
• Don't buy stuff off street children. The money just goes back to the adults that force them out there, and encourages them not to send their kids to school.
• Look up a few places to do some ethical/charitable dining and shopping. If you don't have the time, money, or inclination for volunteer work, then this is an easy way to give back to the communities you're visiting.
• If you want an animal or wildlife experience, try to pick responsibly. I think it goes without saying that tigers belong in the wild, not in selfies.
• Ask for the taxi meter to be turned on. Especially in Bangkok. If they refuse, find another taxi. Realising you've been charged three times the usual price is rather frustrating. Especially when it leaves nothing in the daily budget for beer!
• In places where you can't drink tap water (i.e. nearly all of South East Asia), bring a SteriPen or some kind of water treatment tablets and a reusable bottle. The amount of plastic waste we created for water alone is absolutely shameful and it is damn near impossible to find alternatives while in a country. I did boil the hotel kettle and fill our bottles that way where I could, and there are also the occasional water refilling stations in bigger cities if you know where to look.

Finally, as Dorothy once said, "there is no place like home." Although I bet she left a piece of heart in Oz.