So, for around nine years
you’ve been wondering, “where the bloody hell are Terry
& Tracy and what have they been doing?” or maybe you’ve
just been glad to see the back of us!! Since April 1998 we’ve
travelled a few countries and those of you that know us well,
know that initially we never seemed to be together in the same
country at the same time!
In summary:
First Tracy went on her trip to Australia
and lasted 6 whole weeks! When she returned, Terry was in Israel!
Then Terry went off to Turkey to work on yachts, and Tracy went
to Greece to see some old pals but ended up delivering a yacht
to Kos, which, by chance was where Terry was about to get transferred
to. Finally, we got together in the same country for 6 months
when Tracy ran out of funds and had to come back to England, and
Terry… flew to South Africa for a diving holiday leaving
poor old Tracy all alone in Portsmouth dreaming of the day Terry
would return and they would find a cosy little place together…not
so! On Terry’s return (which by the way was a few weeks earlier
than scheduled..?) he insisted he lived back with his pals in
Dover Road, and Tracy stay where she was in Empshott Road…would
they ever get it together…?
After 4 months of seeing each other every
Wednesday and Saturday (Terry’s idea), and hours of gentle
persuasion on Tracy’s part, they finally booked tickets on
the same flight to Bangkok in April of 1999. Tracy’s dream
had come true and Terry wasn’t really sure what had happened.
And so began our travels together starting
in Thailand, through Malaysia, Indonesia, back through Malaysia
to Thailand to end our 1999 adventure.
Our 2000 trip began in
Cyprus in April, on to Israel and then to Egypt. A short
stop in Rhodes and Kos before finishing in South Africa where we spent a very
sunny Christmas.
2001 began in Mexico followed by eight weeks in
Belize. A two week road trip through the United States then on to Fiji.
Only stayed in Fiji for 2 weeks as it rained continuously and the diving was
quite disappointing. New Zealand was our next stop for 2 months followed by 8
weeks in Australia before heading back to South East Asia to Brunei. We spent
one month in Brunei with our friends Matt and Kirsty. The local dive club kindly
invited us out with them and we did some absolutely beautiful wreck dives.
We returned to the UK around Feb
2002, but after 10
weeks, Terry was ready to kill! So, he went back to Brunei and Tracy stayed
in the UK to try and get some money together. After a weeks holiday with her mum
in Cephalonia, Greece, she joined Terry in Brunei at the beginning of August
2002. In October 2002 Terry finally did his Instructor course in Kota Kinabalu
in Borneo, and then in November 2002, we headed back to Koh Tao to have
somewhere cheap and nice to spend Christmas and New Year and catch up with old
friends.
Our 2003 travels took us to the Philippines. A country we had wanted to go to
for years but had thus far eluded us. Our initial reason for going was as
volunteer staff for a coral reef conservation organisation. This was short
lived. A week later, we found ourselves on the island of Malapascua off the
north point of Cebu where we worked for the Exotic Island Dive Resort from
October 2003 until a teary farewell in February 2004. After a 7 month stint living
back in Brunei, we went back to Exotic, the plan being for Terry to run Exo-Tech,
and for Tracy to become a Course Director and run IDC's. Alas it was not to be.
In October
2005 we headed off to Puerto Galera, on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines
for Terry to do more IANTD courses, and for Tracy to take the time to update
this website. In March 2006 we
returned to Malaysia, to Pulau Tioman but as is often the case, all did not go
as planned. June 2006 was spent in Singapore with friends Neil & Theresa - this
country was a pleasant surprise.
After a 9
month return to the UK to top up the coffers our 2007 adventures began on 14th April when we flew back to Brunei
and catch up with Matt & Kirsty before flying over to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah.
At the time of this update, we have been diving in Sipadan, hashing in Tawau,
Sandakan and KK, visiting WWII war memorials, playing croquet at Agnes Keith's
house, and spotting Proboscis Monkeys. Terry has taught a Normoxic Trimix Course
in Miri, Sarawak, with some Shell guys and has been investigating and diving on
some Japanese ship wrecks off the coast of KK... read all about it in these
pages.
We invite you
and all the people we have met and become friends with to browse our website and
hope you enjoy looking at it as much as we have living it…most of the
time!!!
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