Gallery update - Sydney and the aquarium

I've added more pictures of Sydney and the aquarium. The ones of the marina area are generally the bay I've been staying in (the ones with the boats and houses behind).

Goodbye Australia

Within 8 hours I'll be wakening up and on the ferry across the bay on the way to Sydney airport. Yes, it's my last few hours in Australia. I'm pleased to say that despite being reluctant to come to such a westernised place after Asia, it's been a ball. I've visited most states, done most of the things I hoped to do, discovered loads more I'd like to do in more remote areas, met at least a dozen mates, and some more from tours here, and spent the best part of, or slightly more than £3k in just over five weeks! Flights, buses, tours, beers, food and more. Yes, staying with mates doesn't mean you save money at all, it just means you go out to better places, and eat better food. Due to staying at mates and constantly being on the move I've never cooked and done the supermarket shopping thing. It's not a cheap place to cram things into.

I would like to say a huge thanks to all my mates, or their housesitters for making me so welcome. It's been great to see you all again, it just doesn't happen enough, and a special thanks to Paul in Sydney who put me up for six nights despite only meeting me on a Whitsundays trip I also have to say a huge thanks to one of his neighbours with the open wireless internet connection - thanks for all the downloads, I just hope I didn't put you over your monthly bandwidth allowance ;-> Raleigh crowd : great to catch up again. In the last five weeks I've almost felt like I have more mates scattered around Australia than I do at home.

It will be interesting how I cope with the weather when I move on as I've pretty much had an 8 month summer. I was sitting in Sydney the other night with my fleece on : 'Is that the same top you wore up Mount Kinabalu?' 'erm, yes, but I'm cold'. Apparently it was 25c but it didn't feel like it.


Next stop New Zealand. Country number 37 I think....

Sydney.....or Melbourne?

If you are an Aussie, or anyone else for that matter then you either have an allegiance to Sydney, or to Melbourne - both very different cities. So you may wand
er about my opinion, or more likely, you don't care.
It's a tough call. For me, Melbourne is way better. Cooler, funkier shops, easier to get out of that big city feeling as it's much smaller, great coffee, great bar scene and reminds me a bit of Edinburgh in terms of ease of escape from the city feeling.
However, Sydney is in a fantastic location with loads of beaches, inlets, city centre marinas and far better weather. However in Sydney there is a greater feeling of being in a major city - you pretty much need reminded that despite the low population and great size of Australia, Sydney is up there with New York, Paris, London and the rest o n the world cities. I may be biased as I feel I know Melbourne a bit more than Sydney, largely due to being there twice.

My solution? Well it's a bit late now, but if Sydney were to be bombed, and Melbourne dropped down on top of it, you have the perfect capital city!

Coogee to Bondi walk

The weather finally broke this morning, the clouds disappeared, the sun came out!  It was off to Coogee just down the coast for the coastal walk to Bondi beach.  My mate Karen and her pal joined me for the 90 minute walk along the coast.  This is a great thing to do here if you want a break from the city - wave battered cliff lined coastlined dotted with small to large surf beaches inbetween, and a few swimming areas or pools sectioned off from the open seas.

We woke up after the walk with a refreshing fight with the waves at Bondi for half an hour - our bodies constantly battered as we tried to bodysurf.

We ended up with some food at the Bondi Icebergs.  From here is was back on a bus, train and ferry (far quicker and easier than it sounds) to get changed, and I'm off to meet Lynne I used to work with years ago for a quiet drink at the Opera bar.

Something fishy in Sydney

I got out the house today!  Well, around lunchtime....

I finally made it into the city centre then it rained just as I was about to explore the Botanic Gardens! Yes, it seems I brought the bad weather here too.  With that I headed into town and decided to overload myself even more and purchase my Japan guidebook and a couple of DVDs to back up my pictures (exciting blog this eh?).

I had promised myself I would see the aquarium while I was here to see if I liked them more now that I've done quite a bit of diving. It was amazing. If you are even slightly interested in the underwater world, definitely visit the aquarium at Darling Harbour during your trip.  There is everything from Yabbies to Crocs to Banana Peel Eels (!?) to coral fish to sharks and rays in many varieties.  I've been lucky enough to see quite a bit of the coral sealife during my trip but this place lets you get mesmerised by the motions of jellyfish while not having to worry about passing round them, yet you are still only half a foot away from them.  You can watch sharks, shrimps, turtles, rays and everything else swimming right past your face.  I could have stayed there for ages as I found it absolutely amazing being able to watch all these things without worrying about scaring them away, keeping your bouyancy and fighting currents and all that other stuff you may have to do when diving.

My only question was....if they advocate protecting coral environments etc....where did they get all the coral from?

After that it was off to meet Cath (and her mates) whom I met in Borneo volunteering.  It's the second person from there I've met in Aus and always great to hook up.  We had quite a laugh until the conversation inevitably turned towards what to do 'after'!  After my second pizza it was time get the ferry back - easy, 20 mins I'd be home.

Although......it turned out I must have been listening to my MP3 player too loudly (note, MP3 player (iAudio), not iPOD, they're shit!  Everyone's keeps breaking!)....  when the ferry went under the bridge it made me curious....hmm...must be an extra late night stop.  It kept going in that direction.  When it went back to the other side of the river I decided it was time to get off.  The ferry left on time, it must just be that MY one was the one behind or something.

No worries, there was Darling Harbour, a quick jog round that and I'll be back at Circular Quay.  I think I must have got off at Balmain East.  Little did I realise how big the proper area of Darling Harbour was.  I only realised this after running down some side streets, turning one corner and probably scaring the shit out of a local girl walking home, creating a longcut back to the main road I was already on. Inlet after inlet got in the way of me getting to the bars and clubs lit up 'just along the way'. I eventually got up to a main junction and found a taxi :

"If you're quick, to Circular Quay please, if you're slow to Mosman South"

In under ten minutes and twenty bucks he made it through the area we were in, across Anzac Bridge and along Darling Harbour to Circular Quay and I dashed through the gates with seconds to spare before the ferry left.  Still, seemed like a nice area I saw!  My twenty minute relaxing journey took an hour - not bad considering!

Lazy day in Sydney

It's not always sunny in Sydney! Botanical Gardens during a downpour

 I had an extremely lazy day in Sydney today.  I got up, got online, and never left the apartment until I went out to buy dinner for us around 7.30pm! I had great intentions to do a walk but it was really cloudy and windy so decided to hang loose and catch up on emails, music I've (ahem) acquired recently, downloading a few things, and looking at cars for sale and the Great Walks in New Zealand.

After spending the day watching the ferries go by  then getting some food I cooked dinner. The first meal I've cooked since June!! (except the odd trip one on project site in Borneo).  We then settled down to challenge each other at online poker over some wine and munchies...which amazingly appeared to fix my laptop speakers that stopped working some time ago.

A great day!  It made me realise how long it had been since I managed to sit down and not do much so it was well overdue!

Hello Sydney!

I'm now in Sydney arriving only a few hours after getting up in Melbourne this morning. Thanks to my new host Paul (who I met on my Whitsundays trip a couple of weeks ago) I made it through the city very quickly from the airport to the quay, then a couple of stops on the ferry to his place. For the third time in Australia (this trip and last) I walked into a friend's apartment with a hidden key, not having seen them yet.

And look at the view from the dining area :


Anyway, just a quick update as my other mate is coming to pick me up any minute now to go to a travel writing seminar this afternoon then a bbq tonight.

Bad planning for the Australian city visits

Considering I wasn't that bothered about Australia when I came over here it's pretty hard to leave (apart from the cost of it!) places as I have left so many things untouched and not been able to spend nearly as much time with people as I'd like to.

In every city I've met friends, often people I've not seen for years, and within a few nights I've moved on. I had a blast in Adelaide and wasn't ready to go. In Melbourne I've met five people in 3 days - friends and people I've met while travelling and it's awkward leaving everywhere so quickly. While travelling around you meet some really cool people that are a pleasure to spend time with, and you have great conversations about anything and everything - the only bad thing about it is you often find out more places to go to, and you miss the chats and catch ups when you have to move on quickly. Most of whom I would consider as like best mates in Australia have been people I met years ago in Canada while snowboarding for a couple of months.

There are also loads more things I'd like to do in Australia outside of the cities, especially if I had my own transport for a while - Kakadu, The Kimberleys, Ningaloo and umpteen 4x4 adventures.

Unfortunately I've also planned the trip really badly in terms of missing some of the best events in Australia - to hit these all would have required a load of planning up front but if I spent less time in WA (which I didn't really want to), I could have flown from Alice Springs and see all of these potentially :

Sydney - Mardi Gras

Melbourne - Grand Prix, and picked up a mates car and driven to Adelaide seeing Mt Gambier and the Grampians.

Adelaide - Fringe Festival, Adelaide Cup, Touring Cars

Unfortunately it's impossible to do and see everything but it's such a blow being so close to so many events.

I also hoped to do a dive from a helicopter around Sydney after seeing and article in Asian Diver, but when I called up they didn't have anything planned until the day after I arrived in New Zealand - typical!

Melbourne Rocks

Melbourne's a great city. I reckon Edinburgh would be like this if it had a bigger population to sustain some more quirky and unusual shops. There are just so many shops, bars and cafes here with such a good vibe. The city is also a great mix of old and new as you don't have to walk far from the CBD to find older shophouses, parks and gardens to explore.

Sydney - can you win me over next week?

Typical cafe alleyway in central Melbourne.

Older building in Melbourne.

Newer Melbourne!

Mad in Melbourne

I only arrived in Melbourne yesterday morning and it seems like I've been here for a while. I've dropped my bags in my mate's apartment but have yet to see his housesitter! I didn't do much during the day yesterday apart from wander around a few streets I didn't see the last time. The pad is really central so you can easily walk into town or take a tram. I'm was really going to attempt to take my time here to chill out.....at least that's what I thought.
The afternoon came around and I contacted Jane (met in Borneo) and arranged to hook up for a beer, and at the same time I got a text from a couple of Irish girls I met in Laos who I knew were working in Melbourne, so arranged to gatecrash leaving drinks for their mates and met everyone in a pub in St Kilda. As it ended up getting to that point where I had to decide to take a train or taxi back to town I ended up couchsurfing and stayed out a bit later.
As I was on the tram back I got a call from Sara who was on my road trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide, so then went to meet her and an Irish bloke for lunch in town. Tonight I was meant to meet me housemate-for-three-days but not sure if that'll happen or not. Tomorrow I'm meeting another mate I met in Whistler many moons ago.

I love travelling!!!

Adelaide to Melbourne

I flew from Adelaide to Melbourne today. It was hard leaving Adelaide as I had a great time there, largely helped by Scott having days off, and the festival preview happening while I was there.
I managed to have a few beers, go for dinner, drive around for a day (thanks for the car Scott) and go mountain biking, and generally have a few days in out makeshift batchelor pad - no plans, food, drink, late nights.
I'll write a better description of one of our nights out when I hook up my laptop.
Not planning on doing too much in Melbourne as I was hear less than two years ago and could do with a chill out, except from hooking up with mates probably every evening....
I've got 'settled in' to my mate's pad in central Melbourne, despite him working somewhere in middle Asia just now, so I've yet to meet his housesitter who happily left me a key and some cake in the fridge. Now I've just got much more music to try and ahem, 'acquire'.
Anyway, better dash, got loads of music to trial....(cheers Alan!)

Fresh Pussy + Ropes + Harness + Cocktails = An average Adelaide night out

So it was a quiet day in and around Adelaide when I drove around in Scott's car. A trip to Glenelg, the shark museum, the internet, NZ guidebook purchase, and that was about it.


On my way back to town I met Scott and his fellow Adelaide restauranteurs, a bit caned after a day tasting a tad too many wines in the Barossa Valley. There was no option but to head to the area of the Fringe preview again (think similar to the area around the Spiegeltent in Edinburgh last year if you are reading this from 'home'...just that Adelaide wasn't good enough for the tent this year ;-> ).




The night before it was kicking off after the touring car racing and one of Scott's mates had initiated a dance off competition to spice things up a bit, complete with 'caterpiller' moves. Tonight it was dead, so we had to create other things to do....so it was off to the restaurant.

After listening to lots of random conversations , interspersed with the odd wine appreciation conversation to make us sound intelligent ("yes, tones of berries in here, it'll go really well with the cheese" - it was white wine to me, but these guys did actually know what they were talking about - one had been asked to work at a vinyard earlier in the day)...there was only one thing to do....start writing puzzles on the paper tablecloths.





Afterwards it was back to the preview and we decided that since we were so full, and had a combination of rich food, wine and beer in our stomachs, it would be a good idea to take a go on the trampoline bungee to mix it all together (we were actually pretty sober at this point), so off we climbed into the harnesses, holding onto the bungee ropes doing back and front flips....not the wisest decision going by the 'I'm gonna throw' looks on some faces.











So that was that....we had to find a bar, and off we went to Distill on Rundle Street. The bowl of limes were intriguing us, so we decided to put a wager on - $5 each - to guess how many were in the bowl - winner takes all! There were 6 of us so we invited the whole bar to join in.....and I 'scooped' $48.50 - yes some swinebag gave $1.50 short! After a quick negotiation to make it look like it wasn't a fix we got the barmen to give everyone in the bar some Fresh Pussy for $25. Now, now, it's a shooter (Cranberry Juice and Peach Schnapps if interested).


After this is was back to Scott's for some home made cocktails, almost running over a wild koala outside his house in Adelaide Hills. Being that two of the 'restauranteurs' were blonde 19 yr olds I wandered if cocktails meant the same over here as back home to my mates, or if it was just some other Aussie slang. Anyway, I was amazed at the concoctions made out of nothing (although there did happen to be fresh mint growing in the garden and frozen berries in the freezer). When the berries ran out we tried some cranberry jam. Sound disgusting but it rocked.

When squaffing the cocktails, the intellectual food critics (the 4 others who worked in some of the top restaurants in or around Adelaide) started talking menus, wine and food in general. Now, my food of choice (except Thai) is my local delicacy of an Aberdeen rowie, so like the wine chat, some of it was lost on me, but I can remember that one of the best fish and chip shop's secrets around Adelaide is to ensure that the batter is 'crispy and thin, not thick 'n' shit'.

Anyway, that was about the night...well morning - we finished at 5am. It was a great laugh in the morning with three of us giving out loads of banter and laughing at the state of the place in the morning.

Amazingly, Scott and I managed to go mountain biking in the afternoon. We finally made out about 4.30pm after me buying a 3 litre Camelbak that was in fact a 2 litre one, rendered useless for the trip as it had no straps - I should have know as it is identical to the one at home that I never got sent over in my package to NZ!







Needless to say our following evening was a pretty chilled on - me repacking, acquiring more music, while watching lovely home made pizzas being made. The night was rounded off with a quality snowboard move (After Lame) which just made me want to hit the snow. We were so knackered we couldn't even be bothered to change from a pathetically bad 'quiz' show to a DVD (it didn't help that the didn't put us through when we called up to tell them the name of a famous John to win $1150!).










There are more pictures of my time in Adelaide in my gallery.

Who watches this shit? (the quiz show we didn't end up switching off)

Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Came back from my three day trip to Uluru, Kings Canyon and the Olgas today. Just dashing out to grab food and beers with some of the crowd, then picked up again at 0630!...to spend 5hr going down the same road I ame up today - not the best planning. Coober Peedy better be worth it as the guide today said the road was pretty damn boring!
So glad I made it to Uluru though. Walking around it was amazing. As a 'mountaineer' I would have loved to get to the top for the views, but was never intending to do it anyway as it's sacred to the locals and they prefer you don't want to climb. It was closed the day we went due to heavy rain in the morning.
Anyway, better dash. Looking forward to Adelaide and catching up with my mate Scott for post touring cars racing (or something like that that's on this weekend) celebrations! Only met him one night last year - so this will be the second time after snowboarding with him on and off for two months in 1999! Yaaah

Alice Springs

Well I hate to say it as it's such a cliche, and I don't want to spread it around....but I'm in Alice Springs, and smirking at the 'real' Australia...not quite so many immigrants here (Brits!) and full of Aboriginies yelling at each other and coming in to bars trying to crash cigarettes etc. And as expected, it's bloody hot up here!
My welcome to Alice Springs was flies buzzing around me like I was a fresh stinking turd - they (the flies!) seem to be all over the place here. Instantly I longed for one of the classic Aussie hats with bits of cork hanging on strings around my face! And I've already eyed up some didgeridoos (oh, oh...wallet warning - they're priced for rich tourists!).
After finding a place for food that was reasonably affordable, I bodyswerved the backpacker home cooking and went for a meal and beers. But it's time to crash in prep for an early start tomorrow.

Drive through bottle shops - a wonderful invention

How good is this? Need to get more booze?  No need to leave your car to shop! Pablo in the drive through bottle shop.

Unofficial couchsurfing.com and Australia plans

Yesterday was a pretty chilled out day with even more plans falling into place.  I was a bit slow after trying to drag Pablo into having a few beers at his BBQ the night before (he drastically needed the hair of the dog after his works night out on Friday).  They treated me to my second BBQ this week, and I managed to toss a few things in there, so have passed my aussie test.

  Pablo took me into Fremantle for a look, then I met Gill at Cottesloe beach after a swim.  I got a call from my mate Karen in Sydney so she could re-acquaint herself with my Scottish twang....needless to say I had to s-l-o-w down until she got up to speed.  So it's all sorted, if I get to Sydney by Sat 10th I will go to a travel writing seminar with her for the afternoon.

(Pic : Pablo and I at Cottlesloe beach)

Scottie in Adelaide also got in touch and has amazingly taken a day off next Sunday, so I'll arrive there after doing the red centre of Australia, and hit the bars (although hopefully not quite as madly as we hit them during my one night in Adelaide last year!).

Alan in Melbourne also got in touch so despite his absence from the city (working abroad again) I'm going to crash his place with his housesitter/buddy/whoever is living there just now,and have use of his Jeep!  And when I hit Sydney I have a place to stay with a Brit who was on my Whitsundays boat. 

I'm also writing this in Perth at a mate's house, overlooking their pool in the garden while the forecast rainstorms are quietly sneaking in around me.  I'm just going to chill out today and tomorrow catching up with personal 'admin' (emails, downloads, the joy of broadband wifi).

I also met up with my old department boss from Edinburgh for a couple of beers last night.  He moved over here 18 months ago so was good to catch up with someone else in town.

Yaaaa, dont'cha just love friends!

Margaret River wine tour

As I could do wine tours from Dunsborough I saved myself some grief and decided to stay at the YHA for my three nights in the area.  It's a pretty good hostel, 2km out of town, but free bikes, snorkelling stuff, and boogie boards (not that there's much surf until you go round the coast).  It's a neat beach here as well - no waves like others, and you're pretty much on your own on the beach except the odd dog walker and fisherman.

It was another leisurely start today, not getting picked up until 11am by Bushtucker tours.  It was a bunch of oldies on the bus, but I still got into the 5 sets of tastings over 5 wineries around Margaret River, most of which were small outlets with minimal if any export wines.  There must have been 40+ wines to taste, with me buying a bottle of port at the first one (I never seem to resist port at these tastings, although this bottle was for a gift).  The lunch was great with loads of breads and pestos, with some local delights such as kangaroo (quite nice).

I had pretty much sobered up with my twenty minute sleep on the bus home, however I had no excuses not to go and listen to some tunes on the beach before sunset, with another swim.

I've never got into this backpacker thing in Australia of carrying cooler bags of food around from place to place - largely helped by managing to crash with friends and go on tours, so I did the only decent thing a flashpacker could.....jumped on a bike into town, ordered a coconut soup takeaway and have a beer in the 'trendy' bar in town while I waited.

Tomorrow it's the first 7am bus up to Mandurah to meet Pablo, ready for him to laugh his ass off at me trying to kitesurf for the first time.

Dunsborough and the Swan Wreck

Yesterday was a Good Day.  I woke up not too early, grabbed a bike from the hostel, and cycled the 2km to the dive shop, Cave Dive.  I kitted up, and jumped in the pick up for a lift to the dive boat.  5mm full wetsuits!  Jeez, the first time ever, and I ended up with a massive 10.5kg of weights!

The swan wreck was an old 113m frigate, scuttled in 1997 as an artificial reef.  There wasn't much sealife to be found, but I saw a couple of shoals of pufferfish, which I hadn't seen grouped up before.  After the first orientation dive, we entered again after a light lunch (this is no Thailand dive experience - no curry or stir fry, just an instant soup with roll).  The second dive we managed a couple of swimthroughs, and got into the bridge where the captain sat in previous days.  The dives were relatively short as they were 28m, but shortened by two safety stops on the way up....

A great day with a bit of a different dive experience.  I cycled back to the Beach House YHA, then walked a few metres to chill out on the beach with a wee sunbathe and swim (no stinger suits required here - yeehaaa!).  I even managed a very brief run along the beach.

I decided to spend the evening necking a local bottle of wine, talking through the joys of leaving IT behind with a belgian guy, who firmed up my thoughts on using couchsurfing.com while in Japan!

Dunsborough, WA

Only got 10 mins freebie time online, so just a quickie.
Arrived at my Perth hostel at 2am this morning, then got up to meet Gill I know from back home for a coffee when I woke up. Left some luggage at theirs then got the bus to Dunsborough this afternoon. Tomorrow I dive at the HMS Swan wreck, on Friday I go on a wine tour around Margaret River, then on Saturday morning I head north to Mandurah, 1 hour south of Perth to catch up with an indoor climbing mate from Edinburgh. He's going to try and take me out on the water and watch and laugh at me trying to ride his kitesurfing kit for the first time.
I'll spend Saturday night catching up with him, and then head back up to Perth on Sunday morning - maybe for a photo trip around Perth.
Phew - it's non stop in Australia! Too much I'm having to miss out on, but as I thought yesterday....jumping around Aus to Perth is the equivalent of me heading to Moscow for a few days from home! Bizarre - you'd probably not do it in SE Asia so readily, but the mentality changes as you are still in the same country!

Back from the Whitsundays

That's me just back from my trip around the Whitsundays on the Anoconnda III yacht.
Unfortunately the weather got the better of us so we didn't make it out to the outer barrier reef due to storm warnings. We had an option of mooring at Hamilton Island and using the resort there, but the whole boat wasn't in agreement. Unlike the 6 expected dives, we only made three. The visibility was only 3-5 metres so pretty unexceptional diving.
But...the trip was still good - a great crowd and crew, but they only put two of the sails up on the return leg back to Airlie Beach. It turned out quite an expensive trip for the few dives I got. It's no Thailand here - paying for soft drinks, water etc.
To be honest, the Whistundays weren't quite as amazing as I expected them to be. Partly due to the weather, but partly due to the amount of travelling. It's a shame but it's hard to think that *everywhere* is amazing. I think the best way to see them would be from the air. We stopped off at a beach that was meant to be one of the top three in the world according to National Geographic, but it wasn't (although the sand was the purest in the world apparently - used for the hubble telescope). I'm sure the Scottish Hebrides are just as impressive as the whitsundays - just not the same level of wildlife maybe. And it's a shame out water is bloody freezing.

Anyway, it's out for a few drinks with the boat crowd tonight, then pretty much all day travelling to the west coast (Perth) tomorrow. This trip just make me want to dive at Ningaloo Reef more, but money and time doesn't allow it.

4x4'ing in Fraser Island

Just back from the three day 4x4 in Fraser Island. A fantastic few days, and got caught in the pissing rain and lightning a couple of times - luckily we were back at camp both times....but it can't be that bad with esky's of booze and a large banged up Toyota Landcruiser to sit in the back of!

 
Off we went, 4 Toyota Landcruisers loading onto the ferry, roofs full of gear, and trucks full of bodies. A quick intro to 4x4 driving at Dingos Resort, pre-selected food and booze, and off we went, flying round to Lake MacKenzie - an interesting intro to 4x4'ing up a sandy road! I got stuck coming downhill on a bit, but only because I didn't 'gun it' when the truck starting slowing down behind the sand. I also then took it a bit too fast along the beach, and hit a 3 foot ish drop off at a water run out - amazing how easily a fully loaded landcruiser took it - very top heavy as well!
I also managed to stick the truck in soft sand coming downhill, so thanks for the manpower folks!

 
Fraser Island is a great place - and far larger than I expected (e.g. over 115km from one point to another. Driving on the beach and sandy roads is fantastic fun. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as great as I hoped, which affected some of the views. The beach is just a (far!) larger, warmer version of Balmedie Beach just north of Aberdeen, and 'one of the most amazing lakes you'll see' which is Lake McKenzie isn't any more stunning than most Scottish lochs...albeit with far warmer water. BUT, I'm not slagging the place off, a great trip and highly recommended!

Anyway, I need a shower. Tomorrow I'm off to feed dolphins and killing myself getting up early again. I then take an overnight bus to Airlie Beach for my Whitsundays trip, and I fly to Perth on the 20th. Dive plans at Exmouth have probably been put on hold due to increasing flight prices, so it's all a bit in the air in terms of Western Australia!

G'day mate. Byron Bay, Australia

I landed in Sydney this morning, waited a few hours and flew straight up to Byron Bay, arriving here in time to enjoy the afternoon. When I got here I was in stereotypical Australia :

Surrounded by pristine beach, pristine walkways, everyone uber helpful, people cycling with surfboards, 'mate' being said all the time, everyone and everything in english....and lots of babes in bikinis, and blokes trying to impress them. It's all a bit of a culture shock for me - a bit too civilised compared to what I'm used to in Asia! It may take me a while to get used to it.

Sewage smells, people gobbing in the street, kids pissing on street corners, cheap eats on the streets, hassling street sellers...oh I miss Asia already!

Australia is also much more in-your-face-backpackers than in Asia. It'll be interesting what I think if I get stuck with a bunch of eight 20 year old pisscan party animals on my 4x4 self drive trip on Fraser Island!?!

Anyway, Byron's a lovely place, although I've seen nothing of the town. I went for a walk around the headland today, along wooden boardwalks and a bit of coastal rainforest. The last night I wasn't at 35,000 feet I was watching anteaters, porcupines, tigers, and a load of other bizarre mammals. Today....it was bush turkeys along the walk. Yesterday I was in Singapore, today I was on the most easterly point of Australia.

It's probably a good thing I'm not staying around here for long. I really want to try kitesurfing and it's perfect here for that. But then there's the diving, the handgliding, the kayaking with whales, the skydiving and many more things teasing be to blow my remaining budget overnight!
Anyway, it's about time I went to get something normal to eat. And a beer.

Leaving Asia :-( - in Singapore

Well I post this quickly before getting my cab to Changi airport in Singapore. Once again, Singapore has eluded me and I've hardly seen anything of the city. Luckily I started speaking to two English girls when I arrived, over a beer and they asked if I wanted to go to the night safari with them and their mates to make up a full complement of Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. We missed their mates, but it got my lazy ass out to see it. It was quite good, saw a few animals I've never seen before, but I'm not sure if it lived up to the hype.

I was going to go for a wander around today but ended up sharing a cab to one of the electronics malls and buying another(!) external hard drive, then attempting to help out their indeciciveness buying a MacBook and a camera, so that's about all I've seen. Had a great, relatively cheap, meal in a local Moroccan restaurant for lunch though.

This evening I fly to Sydney, then hang around the airport for a few hours to catch a Virgin Blue flight up to the Gold Coast. One night in Byron Bay then up to Brisbane to meet Tony.

Half the people in this excellent hostel (Sleepy Sams - nice vibe, great people, nice area in the traditional Malay area, and to top it off.... free wifi) seem to be heading to Australia today.

I'll miss Asia, the people, the prices, the room-to-yourself, the food, any knockoff music and software you want, and all the places, sights and smells. Starting to look forward to some of the trips I've booked in Australia, and catching up with friends, but Asia - I'll be back!! Thank you for great times!

(I've already got the option of crashing in Manila in the summer for free while my sister is travelling in her summer break.....oh ooooh!)

Australia - it's all starting! My plans....

Well I'm sitting in Manila, but finally starting to sort out Aus plans. I've just booked a Fraser Island self drive 4x4 trip for three nights from Monday 12th Feb, then a dive/sailing liveaboard trip to the Whitsundays leaving on Friday 16th for three nights.

With a stroke of good timing, one of my mates is not in Spain as I expected him to be, but has came back home and ended up in Brisbane (or Brisvegas as he called it!).  Because of this, and the trips I've booked I've cancelled my accommdation in Sydney.  When I arrive on Wednesday at 0650, I'm not even going to leave the airport .  A few hours after I touch down I'm on a Virgin Blue flight up to the Gold Coast for one night in Byron Bay, then heading up to Brisbane for the weekend sometime on Thursday.

Tony - get the beers in!

Eeek!

Kerching!

(some more links to the Annaconda III sailing info and pictures from a previous trip on Annaconda III yacht)