Heading home

Nearing the end

Imagine.   Close your eyes and make a wish.

We are half way home. All sitting in Bangkok airport – Gate C9 on the vinyl green seats and have an hour until we leave. We are all grinning so much even after leaving over 24hours ago and surviving a 2 am sleep with the locals on the cold concrete floor in Delhi airport green with envy at the plush seats through the glass doors. They have become so strict here and you are only able to enter the airport 4 hours before departure. All Max can say is I just can’t wait to get into my own bed.

What an amazing, fantastic and rewarding 4 months the Dobbe’s have had. A special time together that we will treasure forever. It’s like finishing a good book with great memories.

Here is a saying that a have had for a few years and love especially when teenagers stretch the boundaries!!! I have had it sitting in my diary and I think sums up the Dobbeoe.

The best trips are those, in which we discover something new.

Not only about the world, but something new about ourselves.

Journeys force us beyond the familiar.

Faced with the unfamiliar we have no choice but to find new ways to respond.

Our responses may surprise us – We may not even like them.

But we come home more fully human.

It is the price and the prize of a journey.

Merry Christmas!!!

A God's house all lit up for christmas.

Waiting for the train to arrive

Opening christmas presents from each other.

Bec's huge sack from Max that ended up Being a necklace

Max finding it hard to lift the present

Santa Claus presents after a early wake up from Max

Georgia thought the fish was pretty amazing meal for christmas
eve at varkala

A canoe ride through the back waters of Kerala

All of the locals houses on the edge of the water

Walking along the beach at Kollam

Getting the elephant to lie down

Tom with one of the baby elephants

Bec's getting close and personal

The elephant giving herself a good wash

Ben scrubbing behind the Elephants ears



Tom on top a huge boulder hill in Hampi



Standing on top of amazing boulders

One of the many spectacular rocks

In one of the many old buildings with
some kiwi friends we met.

Our sweet ride which we all manage to
cram into bags and all.

Street sweet corns the way to go!!

Exhausted in the middle of the night. In the middle of
nowhere waiting for another bus because
our one had broken down.

Giving the kiwi cricket team a prep talk to get them
ready the day before the match. 

Georgia and Marty
Keen NZ cricket fans.

Standing with India's national cricket mascot

GO!! KIWI'S GO!!
The only kiwi supporters to turn up.
We had all lost our voices by the end
trying to hard to drown out the Indian crowd.

Max's messing around with all the dye's
which happened to end up all over Marty's face.

Our amazing experience. Getting to scrub the
Elephants clean.

Georgia's friend the gentle giant getting a nice
hug around the trunk.

Eating local tahli's on banana leaves.
Yum Yum!!!

Bec's excited to have leaches all over her legs.
Holding a stick with salt and oil on the end
to try and get the leaches off.

Hanging off the edge of a old steam
train at the train Museum.

Sugar burst to keep everyone going through
the night.

Georgia being swang around at
the Mysore palace

Rise and shine sleepy head. After a freezing
night at a hill station

Hanging out of the old steam train on our way to
look at a Tea factory.

Nearly leaving Bec's behind.

Crouched down in amongst the Tea tree's. 

Max looking very cute in amongst the Tea.

Selecting the best leaves to be
made into Tea.

Eating potato chips off the street.
What a treat!

Our steam train ride!

Almost looks like the old days again

Our amazing senic ride through the
country in a steam train.

Early morning bus ride. Tom stretching his legs for the five
hour bus ride while everyone else
try's to shove their way on.

Tom and Ben sitting at the wharf in fort Cochin watching
the home made bamboo boats go by.

Chinese fishing nets. trying to catch some small fish.

Heave Ho!! pulling in the net to see what they have caught.

Georgia with her prize catch.

Scooping the fish out of the huge net. the two
big poles lower down to put the huge net in the water.