Crystal Pond Travels

The initial plan was to quit our jobs in April 2017, move to Canberra in May 2017 to house sit for his mom while she was in Europe for the summer escaping Australian winter haha.. and then go travelling around Europe in a camper-van from September 2017 once she was back from her travels. We could not go before August anyway as I was had to apply for my citizenship before leaving the country. Everything started when in April 2017 when we quit our jobs yaayy happy days! This was at the start of April, just before my birthday and also just before our Random Trip to Qingdao, in China.  And 2 weeks after we quit (we were in China during the announcement), the Australian government proposed changing the bloody requirements to apply for citizenship.  Basically, the current requirement was to be for at least 4 years in Australia and 1 year as a Permanent Resident, then you could apply. And they wanted to change it to 4 years in Australia plus 4 years as a Perman...

Another lovely flight and we finally arrived there, in Chiang Mai. It was night time which is a great thing actually, since they stop the water fight at sunset, it meant we would have dry backpacks yay!!  Monks And we didn’t have anything booked (again) but we had a couple of options to visit. The first one surprisingly was booked out and online it wasn’t for some reason, so we ended up going to the other one which was a little bit extra cash, but awesome place anyway! Visiting one of the temples Splash!! It is called Estia and we paid about $35 per night at that time. The location is quite good and it was such a clean and chilled out place. They even have a swimming pool at the back. Mum loved it a lot.   Sites we visited during our 4 days in Chiang Mai were the following : Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, located at Doi Suthep Mountain, was the most beautiful temple(monastery) we visited I think!  You have 2 ...

After our little adventure on the East Coast of Australia my Mum and I were flying from the Gold Coast to Krabi, Thailand. Unfortunately Viv didn't come with us because he had to go back to work as the Easter holidays had already finished. We had decided that we wanted to spend more time in Phi Phi island than in Krabi itself and we didn't have much time anyway, so we ended up catching a bus to the ferry from the airport and an hour or so later we arrived in Phi Phi island. The weather was amazing when we arrived and wow, what a stunning place. Peacefully floating  We didn't have accommodation booked yet because we didn't know where would be the best location to stay, so we decided to get there first and have a look at a few options because since my mum is not that young anymore, she would like to have a good night sleep at least.  Around our hotel So we looked at a few places in the centre which he was pretty good but it was a bit overpriced b...

So there we went, mum and I traveling together just like the old days! Not sure if I already mentioned but Viv didn’t come with us since he couldn’t get any time off, unfortunately.  We flew to Sydney first, stayed at Travelodge as it was the cheapest we could find at that time.  I thought she should see Sydney as, you know, it is a landmark itself with the popular Opera House and Harbour Bridge and the Circular Quay etc    Sydney Opera House and Harbor bridge on the background So we spent 4 days around Sydney area, we didn’t go too far from the city but we managed to see quite a bit anyway. Since we didn’t have heaps of time I decided to take her to the main ones, which are obviously the more touristic ones.  Bondi Beach Our first day was spent visiting the Circular Quay, Opera House, Botanic Gardens, Harbour Bridge and at the end we went to The Rocks for dinner. Second day we went by ferry to Manly and spent the d...

Have you ever taken your mum on a backpacking trip?? Well, I had the opportunity to do it and it was such a nice experience. I guess she enjoyed it as well haha  I can’t really say it was full on backpacking, as we had bits of flashpacking too since she is over 60 years old and I didn’t want to push it too much. Still she lost 4kg by the end of the trip haha It’s a good thing tho! But she jokes I was letting her starve, but it’s not true. I don’t think so at least :P We walked a lot, which is something she doesn’t do very often tho. I bet you have seen this before haha Everything started when she decided to come over to Australia for 6 weeks to visit me for the first time since I moved to the land down under!  I was SUPER excited, I couldn’t stop thinking on everything I wanted to show her and places I wanted to take her, all the food, the drinks, native animals and so on. Ah! And it was also her birthday :) And since she was coming all t...

Here are some of the things we found around Qingdao: Zhanshan Temple, which is a lovely Buddhist temple surrounded by mountains and the sea making it a quite stunning scenery for this sanctuary. The monastery is active and it was built in 1945. Zhanshan Temple At the Old Town you will find some German architecture and influence as the German police headquarters, German Navy battalion, the Christian Church, Prinz Heinrich Hotel, German school for boys, etc.. Beer Street is a good street to go out and have some good food and drinks, there is also where you’re going to find the famous Tsingtao Brewery! Viv and the Beer Street Sign  Tsingtao Brewery Museum was such a cool experience, we went for the tour, which was quite interesting and at the end we got beers and snacks! They have a delicious variety of Tsingtao beers there, not just the ordinary one! So damn good. We got a bit too drunk after all the drinking that night haha. Watch our 2nd video ...