Somehow we made it!

After what seems like forever on the road we have now arrived at our final destination - Auckland, New Zealand! It's been the most amazing honeymoon we could have wished for, and thanks again to those who have treated us to wedding presents along the way.

To give our 'holiday' some perspective, from moving to NZ from the UK, we have...

Honeymooned for 86 days
Visited 9 countries
Slept in 42 different beds
Travelled 5,450 miles by car, train and bus
Taken 4,017 photos (before deleting and editing!)

Wow. Time for a good sleep.

But...

Super excited to be in NZ, and to get settled again finally! We have a room in a huge flat in the CBD (central business district - its what they all say here) sorted for the first month...

Unpacking - finally!

We've armed ourselves with PJs and slippers (its a bit cold without central heating)

This is fashionable here... we promise

So much to explore!

And most importantly have enjoyed our last wedding present courtesy of Pete Cope.
Fush 'n Chups. Delicious.

So tasty!

Here's to the next 12 months of adventures, and hopefully jobs soon. We will be keeping the blog going with our trips and adventures as we explore the country on weekends and time off... But for now, thank you to you all for reading. We've enjoyed taking and selecting the photos, as well as bringing them to life with some of the silly stories that we've enjoyed/endured. Hope you've enjoyed it too - but this is by no means the end of the blog!

ps. We miss you all!

G'Day from Sydney

Yes - they really do say that here! Even on a massive poster at Arrivals at the Airport. What a welcome, and how much did we love it here!

Australian Icons here we come!

We made sure we tucked into the food:

Meat Pie (with mash, peas and gravy)
= HEAVEN for Matt Cope

Steak, chips and Victoria Bitter = more HEAVEN for the hubby

We spent a day taking the ferry from the spectacular Sydney Harbour to Manly Beach and exploring the trendy area full of surfer dudes and beach volleyball dudettes. Isn't it winter you may ask?? Well, yes, but 19 degreesC and sunny didn't feel too wintry to us!

What a view from the ferry!

A typical winter's day in Sydney Harbour

Stretch VW Campervan - v cool!

Surfing the winter waves

Such a popular weekend pastime!

Manly Beach

The sun begins to set on Sydney as we head back on the ferry

Perfectly timed sun poking through the Harbour Bridge pylon

Beautiful

That night we stayed up late for a spot of tennis on the telly (oh Andy- what happened?!)

Me plotting our English language TV schedule -
Downtown Abbey, followed by Masterchef,
followed by Wimbledon!

After a bit of a lie in following the late night viewing we visited the Hyde Park Barracks Museum and learnt a little about Sydney's immigrant history. After searching the convict database at the Museum for any Copes and Broads that might have passed through in the 19th Century, we were both amazed to find not one, but two Copes! And no less than six Broads. Oh dear.

The latest Broad/Cope to be incarcerated at the Barracks

We then ventured back to the Harbour for our penultimate wedding present of the trip. Liz and Imogen - we absolutely loved climbing to the top of the Harbour Bridge Pylon. It was a gloriously sunny day again and we had a spectacular view of the Harbour. Thank you!

Very happy honeymooner

The bridge casting a shadow on the Opera House

Can it soon all be over?? What a trip

A beautiful city by night and day, we loved Sydney:

Westfield have taken over the world
(spot the logo on top of the tower)

That bridge by night

A brilliant few days, rounded off by a trip to Bondi Beach - Sydney gets the thumbs up from us!

Bonza, mate!

Bangkok Has Them Now

Last time we were in Bangkok, things got a little bit out of hand. We thought it about time to make the return visit for a rematch.

How exactly would those dragon lined suits bought in an red-bull induced hangover turn out?
Is a Mulberry bag really available for £10?
Can Sarah drink more than her own height in beer?

So, with our flight to Sydney looming on the horizon, and the backpacks of two professional workers full to the brim with only flip flops, shorts and t-shirts - we got shopping. It turns out Bangkok is the shopping capital of the world, the weekend market being a labyrinth of oddities, and the malls (especially MBK) an absolute treasure trove of LCD TVs, iPhones, trainers and everything else. After buying an extra backpack to hopefully pass as "Carry On" by Qantas, we stocked up.

Here's the suits! Note the fantastic blue dragons, penned in with some vibrant white trim against the backdrop of that fabulous pink check shirt. Did I really choose those colours? Oh, that's my signature is it? Right.

Smart at last!

Sarah's suit and dress turned out really well too. Just need to get jobs to wear these things to now!

She should probably tuck her shirt in!

To celebrate what was the most intense shopping trip of our lives, we thought some more drinks would soothe our frazzled minds. Being a spritely 27 years old, we decided to go to the one bar in town that didn't demand ID...

Thank goodness for that

And our last cheap beer of the trip, before we enter the inflated world of the Aussie mining boom! Cheers!

We've loved the beer here!

Thanks Asia - you've been a fickle little place that's tested us a bit, but you've showed us amazing treats along a journey of food, sights, drinks and jaw-dropping scenery. We've loved it!

One last bucket

Next stop for our Antipodean adventure...

The Temples of Angkor

Arriving in Siem Reap, a few hours by bus from Phnom Penh we were pretty excited. Why? Because Siem Reap is the home of the Angkor Temple complex - a vast collection of temples and other structures built in the Angkor period, when the Khmer Empire stretched beyond Cambodia into parts of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Angkor was a huge city home to 1.5million people in its heyday. 'Discovered' in the 19th Century, the ruins stretch for miles into the jungle, starting 10 km from the modern town of Siem Reap. And with a three day pass and bikes at our disposal we got to explore heaps of them! Thank you to Janine and Dave for such an awesome present!

We decided to build up to the big temples (anyone heard of Angkor Wat?!)... So we started off on our first day by covering lots of miles on the bikes and finding the less busy temples on the outskirts of the archaeological park. 

Venturing into the jungle by mountain bike,
in search of our first temple!

The archaeological park was also home
to villages, kids and water buffalo

To be honest, these temples alone blew us away - ranging from huge temple mountains, to never-ending corridors, to man-made lakes. And the wonder of nature eating up the ancient structures!

Our first temple mountain - wow!

All the cycling and climbing got us a bit moist...

Nature claiming back the soil

Tucked away - but what a find

Beautiful carvings contrasted with rubble - a common theme

The next day we started by exploring Ta Prohm, known by many as the Tomb Raider temple. Nature really has run riot here - everywhere you look roots are eating bricks, trunks rising out of structures. Amazing!

Lara Croft eat your heart out!

Later on, we entered the gates of Angkor Thom, a city within the city. 

One of four gates to Angkor Thom - each had
four faces guarding the city from all directions

Never-ending steps

More beautiful carvings - every face was different!

Happy explorers

Having explored within the city walls we ended the day with what turned out to be our favourite temple, Bayon. 

Bayon

Going to battle

The temple itself is home to hundreds of faces on every side of every tower. Calmly looking down on us. Awe inspiring and amazing to imagine just how impressive it must have been when first built, when every chiselled mark was perfectly defined.

Inside the temple - so quiet!

Serene

And all knowing

So impressive from all angles

Saving Angkor Wat itself until last we caught our first glimpse on our third and final day. And wow - what a sight! 

The big boy

The inside was no less impressive with seemingly endless corridors of bas-relief carvings. 

Every relief told a story

It's supposed to be one of the busiest tourist sites in the world but 'rainy' season seemed to have kept the hoardes away. We were treated to peace and tranquility as we explored.

Inside the temple

In such perfect condition - due to its
continued used as a temple over the centuries

The photographer at work -  he will do anything for his art.
But isn't that just a pile of rocks?!

Matt shows the locals how to scissor jump over a rope.
They were suitably impressed with his high jumping prowess

Finishing up the day we thought we'd hang around for some sunset photos... what an end to our three days stepping back in time.

The sun sets on Angkor

This has to be one of the best adventures of the trip. And we'd highly recommend it to anyone coming out to Southeast Asia - especially by bike. Just pack some padded shorts.