Yep, a second trip to Koh Lipe was in the cards! While we were sitting in Huonville one day Paul commented that he didn’t feel he had enough time on Lipe when we were there in February. He had gotten sick and we ended up having to cut the trip short which wasn’t great. We had just about a month between Tasmania and Canada (surprise, we are going back for the summer) and we hadn’t decided where to go yet. Despite discussing some different options we kept coming back to Lipe.

Yes, we are heading back to Australia… again 🤷. Tasmania specifically which shouldn’t be surprising since we’ve both said we could live here. While in Chiang Mai, we had seen a series from a fairly popular youtube channel who had spent some time in Tasmania. As we were watching it, we realized two things: 1) we wanted to go back 2) it was becoming more and more popular. So knowing what happens when youtube discovers a place, looking at you Khao Soi Mae Sai, it didn’t take us long to make a return to Tasmania a priority. We’d also be going at a different time of year which would be a new adventure.

Koh Lipe: February 8 to 27, 2025

With our lease ending and not wanting to miss it two years in a row, we headed to Lipe. We had gotten in contact with Mikkel and arranged a room at The Reef. Nok arranged our taxi and ferry, so everything went smoothly. Tik was kind enough to let us store our big duffle bag (with all our Tasmania gear) at her cousin’s shop at the Pak Bara pier. We didn’t want to haul it all the way to Lipe since we wouldn’t need anything from it. It was an easy trip to Pak Bara. We checked in at the SeeSea Hotel, dropped the duffle at the shop and headed over to Barista Cafe for dinner. We walked over to the pier after dinner, where Paul made a new feline friend, before heading back to the hotel. The next morning, it was the early boat to Lipe which was one of the smoother rides we’ve had.

Our flight was on time and we were quickly seated, jammies handed out and food choices selected. It was an easy flight to Taipei and we both got some sleep. Luckily our layover wasn’t very long and we relaxed in the lounge, no ice cream dramas, before getting our flight to Chiang Mai. We were able to fly TPE-CNX so we didn’t have to deal with another layover in BKK. The plane was smaller and had old style seats but was still comfortable. Another great flying experience with EVA Air in the books.

An easy transfer to the airport and we were on our way BKK-TPE-YVR-YYC… well not really because our flight was delayed. We had lounge access and they had Magnum Ice Cream bars so we were set. When we went to board the plane, Paul’s boarding pass wouldn’t scan and he was taken aside which was concerning. Apparently they saw something in our luggage and wanted it checked so they could sign off.

Our flight to BKK from KL left quite early, so we had to be up at 4 am which is never pleasant. We had checked in online but the KL airport was a bit of a nuthouse. The Air Asia self check-in machines weren’t very user friendly, people weren’t getting their luggage tags and there were larger groups all trying to check-in… staff did their best and in the end we got through. We even had time for coffee! We went and hung out at the gate where the weirdest thing happened.

When making our travel plans in 2023 we had about 6 weeks between dropping off Skippy in Perth and heading back to Canada. We had found the best value for flights was with Air Asia PER-KUL so had booked the flights to depart near the end of March. During our travels in Australia and New Zealand we discussed if we wanted to spend time traveling around Malaysia or would we prefer to settle somewhere for a bit. Not surprisingly, settling somewhere won since we had been on the go for 6 months.

The flight from Christchurch was packed but we arrived as scheduled and moved in the chaos that was Melbourne Airport. The lines to get through customs were really long so it was hard to determine which one to be in. There was a sign saying they were filming an episode of Border Patrol which added to the confusion… for some reason, people were avoiding that line!

Being just after New Year’s it was really, really busy and so we ended up having to book the lunch time ferry. When we got on board we went up top quickly but it was quite windy so we headed down, just as quickly, to find some seats. Smart decision as they closed the top deck due to the wind as soon as we left the port and everyone was scrambling for spots. We managed to get some comfortable seats and even had a bit of a view.