Along the way we visited friends and relatives in Auckland, stayed in beautiful campsites, went beer tasting, and generally met an amazing bunch of people, both locals and other tourists. The scenery was incredible and New Zealanders are the warmest, most welcoming people you’re ever likely to meet.

For the record, two weeks is not enough. There is so much of the country that we didn’t get to see. Next time! :)

Read the original blog post here Road Trip New Zealand Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

Some pics up at http://picasaweb.google.com/nic.coyne/Scotland2008. Hopefully I’ll do a bit of a writeup soon.

Read the original blog post here Scotland hike Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

We set off on the first full day of our ride on Monday, 18 December. We headed out of Chiang Mai on some wide roads and over some rolling hills. Some of the hills got quite long and probably qualified as climbs. We regrouped a few times, once at the top of a pass where all the cars were hooting as they went over. Our guide explained that passing motorists hoot to acknowledge the spirits and ask for permission to pass over their mountain.

A long downhill took us to an elephant park and hospital, where we got to see elephants painting and doing a few tricks. Amazing how smart these big beasts are. We had lunch at the elephant park too.

We carried on through to our overnight stop at Lampang. Dinner was at a riverside restaurant (first of many), but we got there by the traditional horse-drawn carts for which Lampang is famous.

To be continued…

Read the original blog post here Thailand Diary: Part 2 Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

The Scenic Route through Thailand

I’ll type up a bit of a diary in the next few days to explain more about the trip. In the mean time enjoy the pics! (click the image to view)

Read the original blog post here Photos uploaded Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

We took over 400 photos on the trip, so I’m busy cleaning them up and should hopefully post pics within a day or two.

Read the original blog post here Close! Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

Can’t wait!!

Read the original blog post here Holiday's coming! Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

We overnighted next to a big old barn and ate packet pasta, washed down with some good red wine, port and biscotti. The wind came up in the middle of the night and by the early morning it was raining with a lot of thunder and big lightning. Not ideal conditions in which to begin a hike. We packed up and got ready hoping it would clear a little, but eventually set off at 9am in a steady drizzle. Fortunately it stopped raining at about 10am and started to clear, eventually turning into a beautiful clear day with 32deg of heat. The route back was a lot easier than Saturday since we stuck to the marked path, and we got back to our cars by 3:30pm.

There’s some pics at http://www.nickcoyne.com/cpg132/thumbnails.php?album=43

Read the original blog post here Groot Winterhoek Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

Temperatures were obscene for most of the trip. 45 degrees Celcius on most days, and only going down to about 30 deg overnight. No humidity though, so after the initial shock, you actually get used to the heat.

Getting back to Cape Town’s 10 degrees and rain, combined with severe jetlag, is not pleasant!

Check out some pics!

Read the original blog post here Hot, damn hot! Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.

We drove up via Beaufort West, Kingwilliamstown and then through Transkei. The going was good until the weather turned nasty in the Transkei, with rain, mist, and eventually sunset. Add poor roads and brain-dead drivers and progress could only be slow. In the space of an hour-and-a-half we saw 8 separate accidents, 4 of them involving Eastern Cape government vehicles. The idiots just don’t think to slow down when the roads are wet and visibility is crap.

Castleburn was quite therapeutic. We did a lot of walking, and I took the MTB, although it only got used on the tar road. There was also table tennis, tennis and a pool table.

Have a look at some pics in the photo gallery.

Read the original blog post here Recharged Content copyright Nick Coyne Photography, Cape Town wedding photographer.