And finally...

I forgot I had a photo of a black tip reef shark from one of my last dives on Koh Tao, so couldn't finish the blog without including it. It's not the clearest photo ever, but hopefully you can make it out! There is also a good (i.e. in focus) photo of a puffer fish.

Also here is picture of the full moon - famous in these parts for the monthly Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan. I didn't go across to that island, but this is the moon that those ravers and revellers would have been under while drinking buckets of hallucigenic cocktails! And a photo of the Big Blue bar and restaurant area, this is where I stayed for 8 days. It was very cool and laid back.

Shark, Koh Tao

That's all from me

This my first Monday morning that has sucked since leaving work. This morning I get the boat which takes me to the mainland then get the plane to Bangkok then the plane to London Heathrow, boooooooo!!!!

See you guys soon. This is where the adventure ends.

Another day in paradise

The photos below say it all really, the past 24 hours have been sweet. I spent yesterday afternoon and early evening chilling laid out on the mats in a bar at the beaches edge and witnessed a stunning sunset.

Then today I went on 3 dives off Koh Tao. So many fish and such variety. Underwater photos never do justice to the colours I saw, but I have included a few of the better shots. We saw a massive jelly fish drifting by just under the boat as we ascended, kept well clear of that big fella. Especially as I was still feeling the slight pain of a stinger that somehow found its way down the back of my wet suit as soon as I entered the water for the first time today!!

Diving Koh Tao, 28-08-07

Island paradise

Wanted to show you a few photos of the hut I am staying in and the beach I am just 50 metres from. Sairee Beach for those that have been to Koh Tao.

The hut is very basic with no air con, no flushing toilet and no hot water, but it makes up for these shortcomings in character! It is in a shady spot surrounded by trees and bushes, is in spitting distance to the beach and dive centre, and is right on the doorstep of the village centre for bars and cafes and shops. Perfect, apart from the thumping bass a local bar was pumping out til 4am this morning!

Sairee Beach, Koh Tao

Jungle Fever (and other ailments)

I know I know, I've been quiet on the blog from Thailand so far - sweet reflief I hear you shouting! There are good reasons for this lack of blogging - I've been on a beach with Sam. Although it turned out not to be quite the trip to paradise we hoped for...

Sam arrived in Bangkok feeling dreadful. She'd been feeling sick just before she left and on the flight things took a turn for the worse with wicked headaches and fever. Not the vision of loveliness I had anticipated, she looked knackered and sick!

To cut a long & painful (for Sam) story short, she had a fever brought on by an upper respiratory infection, temperatures up to 100F and had to spend 36 hours in hospital (it felt more like 36 days to her) under observation as the doc was wondering if she might have a brain infection. Her brain was fine, so we headed to Krabi just a few days late.

The beach and the resort were lovely. Railay Beach is quite a short strip of land on a peninsula south of Krabi, surrounded by vertical cliff faces and mountains, lush green palms & bushes, and golden sand. This sounds like paradise, but our tale of woe was just beginning. I don't want to go on about it all too much cos you might think it ruined our time together, but we still managed to have fun despite...

- quite a bit of rain that kept us in our room for hours on end. (Not exactly a punishment for a couple getting reacquainted!)
- both being idiots and getting severe sun burn on the 3rd day (1st day the sun came out). We got burnt so badly that I couldn't touch my back and Sam her front for days. I've never been burnt so badly. It's now over 4 days later and I'm still sore and the top 5 layers of skin on my back are starting to leave me. We were fooled by overcast conditions - a lesson to be sure!
- obviously the regulation travellers diarrhea, which for me has really out-stayed its welcome now.
- and to top it off it looked this morning like Sam might have picked up an eye infection overnight.

We are not usually sickly people!

All in all we both felt physically quite miserable for much of our week together!! But we managed to make the most of it and had a fun time. We ate well (local snapper was delicious), walked to some local caves with impressive limestone formations, laughed at other tourists we didn't like the look of, and ate plenty of ice cream. Once again it was dreadful to say goodbye.

I'm now spending a night in Surat Thani before getting the morning ferry to Koh Tao for some of Thailand's best diving. Yeee-haa!!

Railay Beach, Krabi

Thailand: 6 hours ahead of BST

I'm here, arrived safely and only a little late yesterday evening, finally got to bed at 2am local time, 25 hours after I woke up in Auckland. Didn't get any sleep on plane so feel a bit jaded still.

I'm back on my UK mobile +447971832797 in case you need it.

Next stop Bangkok

After 3,621 kilometres travelled by me and my trusty van, it's time to say so long to NZ and get ready for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, then the easy pace of life on the island beaches.

Even better than that I see Sam when I get to Bangkok, so it's all good. Or as the Kiwis might say, it will be choice.

Black Water Rafting

I rocked up at Waitomo at 2pm wondering where to stay and what to do. I had heard from a few people that the glow worm caves are worth seeing. I stumbled across a company called Black Water Rafting, which involves getting into a thick wetsuit and taking a big inner tube into the caves to ride down underground waterfalls and rivers. As I'm pretty extreme these days I thought, "I'll have some of that".

I assumed it would all be tourist-friendly and easy going on lit tracks and steps. But none of it, we squeezed down a hole in the ground which looked like a dead end to me, and straight away it was pitch dark. Luckily we had lights on our helmets. This was much more like proper caving than I expected and I loved it. We jumped down little waterfalls in our rubber rings, trekked through caves and shallow streams, floated along underground streams looking up at the hundreds of shining glow works in the ceiling above us, like a starry night sky.

The water was f-ing freezing. My toes and feet went numb quite early on and warmth is still trying to come back to my toes 90 minutes later! But it was great fun, even as much fun as sky diving I think, and it exceeded all expectations.

Black Water Rafting

Skydiving is easy

I had a great instructor (Alex who called me "bro" a lot but I don't think we're related), perfect weather, and it was brilliant!

I jumped from 15,000 feet (which is as high as you can go) and had 60 seconds of free fall at up to 120mph before the 'chute was deployed.

Luckily I'm as hard as Tarzan's feet so I didn't even get very nervous. I'm so extreme. Unlike the bungy there was no fear about jumping and after the initial shock of falling through the air - very strong and loud wind, freezing wind - I was able to look about at Lake Taupo below me and the surrounding snow covered volcanic peaks. Beautiful.

A wicked experience, but for fear factor and adrenalin-rushing highs I would recommend a bungy jump.

I've put some photos here taken from the ground, but the DVD I got is 5 mins long so would take about 3 hours to upload onto the blog. I'll have to show you it when I see you.

Skydive

Damn wind

It was too windy in the Cook Strait to go diving yesterday. Maybe a blessing in disguise as I have a bit of a cold (hazard of sleeping in a big metal box through near freezing temperatures!) and plunging into 10 degree waters may not have aided recovery.

So instead I'm going to jump out of an airplane tomorrow...

Kaikoura - Nelson

Kaikoura - Nelson

Another beautiful day for a drive. Finally got on the road (after having to turn back cos I left my milk in the holiday park's fridge!) for a wicked brunch at a road side cafe called The Store, recommended by Lonely Planet & they were very right.

Made it to Picton by lunch. Picton is where the ferry to Wellington departs. I found a dive shop by the quay and enquired about a wreck dive. I'm signed up to go on Monday, fingers crossed the weather behaves. See details of the wreck I cut & paste below:

The Mikhail Lermontov is one of the BIGGEST diveable cruise shipwreck in the world. Only the Empress of Ireland (resting at 150Ft) & the Titanic are bigger. This 175 metre Russian cruise ship sank in 1986, trying to navigate the passage between a lighthouse and Cape Jackson. The wounded ship managed to make it into Port Gore, before losing power and sinking in the middle of the bay unable to make the beach. All passengers escaped by lifeboat.

Once I knew the dive was Monday I decided to head to Nelson for the weekend. The Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton & Nelson is absolutely stunning. Twistier that a twisty twisted thing! Really fun driving even in my boat of a van (if that makes sense!). It winds along the coast of the Marlborough Sounds for about 25 kms and the views are panoramic to say the least.

Queenstown - Lake Tekapo

I wouldn't normally include a blog posting for every leg of my journey, but there are so many panoramic scenes driving through the mountains that I think they are worth showing.

It was the sunniest nicest day I've had in NZ so far, long may it continue as I head North to the warmer climate.

Queenstown to Lake Tekapo (pronounced 'take-a-poo') was about 250 kms through Cromwell, Omarama (where I had my lunch in a car park), into Twizel to use the ATM, past Lake Pukaki (another of those fabulous reflecting ones with Mt Cook in the background) and finally Lake Tekapo. The one sight-seeing thing I did was to check out the Church of the Good Shepherd on the lake. Quite a stunning setting. Also there was a statue to the loyal border collie, in honour of the dogs' tireless work in shepherding. Here here.

I found a camp site on the lake and could look out to the lake and the mountains from my camper van bed! The sunrise was special.

[Note: my pronunciation above of Tekapo was not the truth!]

Queenstown - Lake Tekapo

Check This: Bungy movie is here!

I love it. Watching this brings it all back. Enjoy!

Milford Sound

Billed as one of the world's greatest scenic areas.

Well it was good, but loads of low clouds meant I didn't get to see it in its full glory. The Mitre Peak is the most photographed icon in the sound - it towers nearly 1,700 metres high - but half of it was hidden by clouds today. Boo.

It's a long way to go - about 4 hours coach journey each way - for a cold boat ride on a dreary fjord. (Capt Cook misnamed it a sound (created by a river) when in fact it's a fjord (created by glaciers)).

Having said that, I'm glad I went and tried to appreciate it. It was on my list of definite things to do in NZ after all. At least our weather was better than yesterday - it was torrential rain. Plus the road to Milford has been closed due to avalanche and only just re-opened so I was lucky in that respect.

I attach some of the better photos, I took loads but most didn't come out very well as the contrast between the bright white clouds and the dark wet mountains was too much for my camera to take!

Milford Sound

Extreme: NZ's highest bungy at 134m

Nevis Highwire

Oh yeah, I took it on and conquered my fears... just! It was sooo scary. I felt fine for the most part even when I was in the chair having my leg harness attached I was not too nervous. But inching out towards the edge of the platform and looking down 134m to the Nevis River made me suddenly very scared. It makes no sense to jump of into mid-air.

I mustered up the courage to jump at the end of the countdown and the jump was even scarier. It's really high so there's plenty of time to pick up speed and it felt like a very, very fast fall - the fall takes 8.5 seconds and you get to just 20m above the river!

The fall was such a rush. I screamed all the way down out of pure excitement & fear, screaming until my lungs were empty!

Sorry there are no photos of my actual jump, the guy I asked to be my photographer took a really good movie clip of the jump instead, but at 75Mb it's too big to email you guys. If anyone (Dan Haley?) knows how to upload a movie onto Picasa using an internet cafe that won't allow me to download software, then I'm all ears.

I'm feeling very extreme today.

Wanaka - Queenstown

Wanaka - Queenstown

It was a shame to leave the beautiful town and lake of Wanaka, but the open road was calling me and my van!

I decided to take the shorter but much more scenic route to Queenstown along the mountain road via Cardrona. It was truly stunning and the views along the valley after I had passed the ski fields were awesome (see photos). Luckily the weather was fine as a sign at the start of the road said "snow chains must be carried", so the road can get pretty hairy.

Before I got to Queenstown I stopped for coffee at an old gold mining town called Arrowtown, which was very quaint and pretty, surrounded by looming mountains on all sides. For those of you that have been to Clarens in the South African Drakensburg mountains (probably only me & Sam of those reading this!) it reminded me of there, but Clarens was nicer.

I also drove the 45 kms from Queenstown to Glenorchy - another beautiful scenic route. A kiwi friend at Shell (Bella) told me to go here and it was excellent advice. This is Lord of the Rings country apparently. The road winds along the edge of Lake Wakatipu, which itself is surrounded by snowy peaks. Lovely.

Fox Glacier to Wanaka

I left Fox bright & early ready for a big day on the road not knowing exactly where I was going to end up. Once again the driving was so picturesque, if I don't drive off the side of road looking at scenery before I leave NZ I will be surprised!

About 60 kms south of Fox I stopped at a salmon farm & cafe. It is in the middle of nowhere but was perfect. The place was empty, had a huge roaring fire and served the best eggs benedict with smoked salmon (instead of ham), made from its own fresh fish. The views over the fish farm were impressive too (see photos), and the cafe was on stilts built above the farm. Very cool.

I stopped at a great look out over Knights Point. Then I drove through Mt Aspiring Scenic Region with more breath-taking views. (I need new words for 'views' and 'scenery' cos I'm getting fed of repeating them!) Along the way I stopped to look at Thunder Creek Falls, Fantail Falls and Blue Pools - all with lovely short walks and nature at its best (see photos).

It was between Fantail Falls and Blue Pools that I had a hairy moment on the road. A car went past me on the other side and threw up a rock at my windscreen. It hit high on the driver's side and felt to me like a bullet and sounded like a bomb! The boulder almost went clean through the windscreen - it would have given me a nice side parting!! - glass shards covered my fleece and jeans. Needless to say I kept calm and in control, slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road, got out to survey the damage, then peed my pants.

Now I'm in Wanaka (the town beside the lake of the same name). I'm hanging here for the afternoon to do internet things and laundry. It's a nice town, very pretty and much livelier than Fox village was. This is a small ski resort, so lots of holiday makers. Tomorrow I head to Queenstown to get extreme!

Fox - Wanaka

NZ road trip so far

3 days in and the going is gggrr-eat! Me and the camper van are getting on famously. It's fairly basic in the back but I have a lamp and a heater, so when I plug it in at camp sites I can make the place feel homely! The whole back section of the van turns into a queen-size bed at night and I have duvets, covers & pillows for 3 people, so it's very comfy. Quite the passion wagon! But enough about the van, sorry I'm quite excited by it.

New Zealand is beautiful! The 1st leg of my journey was due West from Christchurch over the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass. I was surprised how quickly you get to the mountains once you leave Christchurch. They are covered in snow and looked beautiful in the sunshine. I took loads of photos (some I even stopped driving to take!). That night I stayed in Greymouth, the highlight of which was the Highway 6 south out of there the next morning!

Christchurch - Greymouth

Next day I went to the glaciers - Franz Joseph & Fox. Via a cool reflecting lake - Ianthe Lake - and the wooded and lush Wantaroa scenic area. It is really fun driving through windy mountain roads and roads cut through lush rainforest. I stopped at Franz Joseph hoping to heli-hike on the glacier, but rain stopped play, so I drove another 20 kms to Fox.

On the way into Fox Glacier village I turned off to see Lake Matheson, which is a hidden gem. I thought Ianthe was beautifully reflective, but this lake was a picture postcard view in ever direction! It's one of the most photographed lakes in NZ because the reflected backdrop is Mt Cook (Australasia's highest peak) and Mt Tasman. I took enough photos to fill an album! Plus the 60 minute walk around the lake was through rain forest and was cool in its own right. It's weird having rain forest in NZ when it's so cold and the mountains are right next door. It's definitely wet enough for it - Fox Glacier gets 200 rain days a year (probably not impressive for those in England reading this under the threat of flood!).

Greymouth - Fox Glacier village

Today I spent the day hiking the Fox Glacier. My group of 10 consisted of 6 Germans, so it was a riot as you'd imagine! However it was amazing scenery as you'd expect. Photos don't do justice to the blue & green colours in the ice. Fox Glacier is 13 kms long and is one of the few glaciers in the world actually growing - slowly. It was a tough day in the crampons, we were on the ice for over 4 hours, and the walk from the car park to the ice took about 90 minutes on the way up a rain forest track including 500 steps and 60 mins on the way down. Tired legs, but a great day - I'm happy here in NZ. Australia has it's beauty spots, but I love the grand scenery of NZ more. I think I'm more a mountainous peaks man than a bush guy...

Fox Glacier hiking

New country-New Zealand-New mobile: +642102563353

I arrived Tuesday lunch time into Christchurch, it's chilly here! Luckily I've been hauling thermal vests, hats, scarf & gloves around SA and Oz for this very moment.

I'm picking up the camper van tomorrow - a day early as I couldn't wait to get on the road. Am so excited about driving where I want when I want. Will get some photos of the mean machine on my blog ASAP. They are all painted with wacky & artistic designs, can't wait to see mine.

I'll miss all my friends in Sydney and the fun times we had in the many pubs & clubs of Sydney, but I'm looking forward to discovering a beautiful new place. The snow peaked Southern Alps looks amazing from the airplane this afternoon.

Next blog entry from out on the road...

Reader feedback

Jon has come back from talking to some of my regular blog readers at Palm's wedding and reported that I need to "sex it up"! Apparently my factual and informative style, although fascinating and insightful, needs to be more exciting.

Well I'll do my very best for my loyal readers out there.

Sydney Diary

Sunrise at Sydney Airport

GOOD BYE SYDNEY. I've had an excellent 2 weeks here and I know everyone says it's great here, but I really do think it's a beautiful city. Especially seeing it from on top of the Sydney Tower and also the views from the ferry to Manly are well worth it. I've been shocked at how many people I've known that I've bumped into and been drinking with, it's been by far the most social place I've visited. Sydney was one of the highlights I looked forward to when I planned this trip and it didn't disappoint. No one should come all the way to Australia without seeing Sydney.

Day 14: bit of an admin day as I need to do laundry and get packed up ready for my early flight to Christchurch tomorrow. I'm treating Jon & Alison to dinner out tonight to say thanks for having me to stay in their flat for 2 weeks. I've been spoilt rotten here and will definitely miss living with them when I'm back out on the road alone in New Zealand.

Day 13: Somehow I managed to get out of the flat before midday to meet Tracey & Maddy at the Aroma festival at The Rocks in town. It was a festival of coffee and chocolate with lots of stalls and live music. It was pretty cool, but the busy crowds and the loud music were not doing my hangover any favours! We ate lunch, had a coffee and went to the Lindt cafe for more chocolate. No wonder I felt so sick later that day. Maddy & I were feeling rougher than Tracey and she got pretty tired of us moaning and grumbling the whole time! Having said that I'm glad I was there and it was sad to say goodbye to my cousin. It's been brilliant seeing her in Sydney, if a little strange as I've hardly ever in my life seen Tracey more then 10 miles away from Scunthorpe!!

Day 12: what a day - a rugby extraveganza followed by pubs, casino and night clubs. Jon took me to Penrith to watch him play rugby for the Northern Suburbs 4th grade club. It wasn't too impressive - the Penrith area or their rugby team - as Jon's team won about 75-5 ("about" cos I lost count and the score board didn't work). On the plus side the Penrith team are called the Emus, so I tried one of their legendary "emu burgers". It was tasty, but not sure what type of meat it was!
When we got back to Jon's flat it was about time to head down to his club's bar - a fancy joint called "Cabana" - to watch the Bledisloe Cup & Tri-Nations decider on their 10 foot by 10 foot screen projected onto the side of the building. After watching Australia lose we headed into town to the pubs. Jon & I met up with good friends of his called Celia and Jonathan. In a bizarre coincidence I used to work with Celia at Smith & Williamson in London! Now she works with Alison in Sydney and they have become good friends. Small world.
I met up with my cousin Tracey and her friend Maddy, and we headed over to the casino where we met Tony. We arrived just in time to watch the Socceroos lose to Japan on penalties in the Asian Cup - seeing the aussies lose twice in a night was terrible (ha ha!). I was up at one stage on the black jack tables, but ended up giving them $200 before we decided it was time to go and catch up with Tony's girlfreind's sister's birthday party in Kings Cross.
A big day and a bigger night. It's been loads of fun meeting so many people I know here, & new freinds too, and having such big nights out. I'll miss the social side of Sydney for sure.

Rugby

Day 11: Didn't do much with my day but went out for a curry with Jon & Alison and Tony & jen in Crow's Nest in the evening. ordered a prawn madras which was about 6 times hotter then I wanted it to be! Lovely evening, lovely people.

Day 10: Another big tourist day today. I met up with my friend Kim (who I met on the Great Ocean Road) to get the ferry to Manly. (see how I introduced a female character to add some sexual intrigue to my story!). It was a cracking day weather-wise, another fresh but bright, bright day. We went for a long walk along Manly Beach in the sun, had a sandwich for lunch then walked to Cabbage Bay and Shelly Beach where the biggest waves were attracting a lot of surfers. It was a really nice area and mercifully it's winter so the place wasn't over-run with English backpackers! The ferry trip along the Harbour was beautiful and I got some great shots (see below).
In the evening I went to Coogee Beach for dinner with Shelley (old Shell friend), her boyfriend Josh and her friend Holly. They took me to the local RSL which is like a cross between northern working mens clubs and the Royal Legion - full of old fellas drinking cheap beer! But the restaurant is what we were there for and it was delicious seafood. After that we all went back to Shelley's for sex, sex & more sex. (I hope this is more of the kind of thing you guys were after!!)

Manly trip

Day 9: Jon & Alison arrived home this morning and woke me at 8am, quite unsociable! Great to see them and to get the lowdown on the Palmers' wedding and his brother Tim's wedding. Today was also another good tourism day as I went to the Sydney Tower to do the Skywalk, which is 270 metres up - the highest place to see Sydney from unless you're flying. After the magic and satisfaction of scaling the Bridge yesterday I wasn't expecting too much from the Tower. But the views were soooo much better. Being the highest thing in the city, we had 360 degree uninterrupted views for 85 kms in every direction! The bridge was good and I still recommend it, but you must do this too! It's much cheaper and the views are much better, if you get an awesome day like I had. See some of the views below, and see me in my sexy jumpsuit. I was up there with a middle aged gay couple and during the group photo one of them standing next to me got a bit too friendly when our guide asked us the sqeeze together for a photo!

Skywalk, Sydney Tower

Day 8: back on the tourist trail with a bang today. I did the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb right to the summit which is 135 metres up. Equivalent climb to about 4 step classes in a row! It was beautiful, easily the best tourist thing I've done in Sydney and you should all do it next time you're here. Do what I did and go on the last daytime climb, this meant that our group had awesome clear blue skies and max visability on the way up plus we saw the sun set on the way down the climb. A special, romantic moment to be surrounded by strangers! Sadly they don't allow us to take cameras up, so I missed out on some great shots. I did buy a print, but nothing to download for my blog.

Day 7: a very lazy day after the big weekend. Nothing to report.

Day 6: I don't even want to talk about it. The combined effect of the past 2 nights is taking its toll. I managed to make it over to Double Bay for a pub Sunday lunch again with Alex and her mates - she really stretched out the birthday celebrations to the max! Mikey Taylor and his better half Rachel also popped in for a quick drink, great to catch up with him. We arranged to meet up again properly later in my stay. After 2 small beers I was wiped out so went home.

Day 5: oh what a hang over! I managed to get to Paddy's Market (near chinatown) before lunch but walked around in a daze feeling very distant. It was a very touristy market with lots of cheap souvenir stalls. I bumped into Shrek & Donkey and then Sponge Bob Squarepants, that just added to the surreal feel of the day! I had to go back to bed in the afternoon, then by 8pm I met up with Alex and the girls again for her joint birthday party in Surrey Hills, followed by a late club in Kings Cross. Another big night. I'm having lots of fun though, it's great to be out with people I know for a change rather than other backpackers I've just met.

Sydney day 5

Day 4: had another lazy morning and then headed into the city again, this time having a closer look at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, an area near the harbour called The Rocks, and a wander around chinatown and the George St retail district. In the evening I went to Alex Wallace's 30th birthday drinks at the Opera House bar. It was a mini-Shell reunion! For those that know them, I was drinking with Alex Wallace (obviously), Shelley (and her sister Ang & their friend Holly), Tammy, Fern & Lisa Byrch, plus Cindy Tink is turning up in town tomorrow for the next drinks. It wasn't such an unlucky Friday 13th for me - I was drinking with 7 lovely ladies!!

Sydney day 4

Day 3: eventually found the right bus to the city. Glorious sunny day wandering around the Opera House (it's very beautiful, but should it be a new wonder of the world??), took in Circular Quay. In the evening cousin Tracey & her mate Maddie came over for dinner, great to catch up with Trac. (Be prepared for a lot of views of the Opera House in these pictures, I quite liked it).

Opera House

Day 2: lazy day nothing much to report. Woke late, went to supermarket, did laundry, introduced myself to the cats - Max & Purdy.

Day 1: arrived finally after a 12 hour bus journey from Melbourne. The guy sitting next to me sniffed the whole way, luckily my iPod drowned him out most the way. Except for the last 90 minutes when the battery ran out. I was about ready to elbow him in the wind pipe ninja sty-lee. Top man Tony (Big Jon's buddy) picked me up from the bus station and took me to Jon & Alison's flat where I am now staying in comfort.

Melbourne, Victoria

I've just spent a week in Melbourne - 4 days in the city and 3 days in St. Kilda, 15 minutes south by tram. I really enjoyed my time in there. Melbourne is the Australian centre for sports and arguably for the arts too, although Sydney is trying to the art crown off them. Melbourne is home to: the Aussie grand prix, the Aussie Open tennis, the Melbourne Cup horse race, Aussie Rules football, the MCG for cricket & Aussie Rules, the Telstra Dome for Aussie Rules, the spiritual home of the Socceroos fan base due to the huge Greek population in Melbourne (2nd largest population in the world to Greece), and probably more I don't know about.

I did quite a lot of cultural things, which was a good way to spend a few hours indoors when it was raining! I visited the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and its visiting collection of Guggenheim works from 1940s to now. They had some interesting art from people like Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein and Jeff Koons. The NGV was also showing an exhibition on Sneakers and how they have evolved and reflected changing society over the past few decades, really interesting and loads of classic trainers that take you back, like the Reebok Pump!

More culture came my way at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), which contained a "Pixar: 20 years of Animation" exhibit. Maybe not as high brow as the gallery, but more fun. Apart from all the kids who were there on school holidays to scream at me! I also went to the Melbourne Museum which was good value, it contained exhibits on Aboriginal people, mammals, bugs, dinosaurs, the human body, the rainforest, a famous Aussie race horse called Pharlap, and much more.

Apart from culture, Melbourne has a european-feeling coffee culture with coffee shops all over the place and lanes dotted all about with outdoor tables to chill out at. It also has a load of top bars, I spent one night in Fitzroy on Brunswick St which is chock-a-blok with pubs & restaurants. If I was staying for longer (and had people to drink with) I would have spent more time there. St. Kilda was also cool, there are some dodgy pubs full of backpackers and tramps, but also plenty of nice places with good atmospheres. I found a really good hostel too in the Lonely Planet, called Olembia if you are ever in St. Kilda. It was much cheaper than the city hostel and quite small, so quiet, and clean and friendly.

One thing that slightly put me off the city bars was the old man who decided to have a pee in the corner of the pub next to the table I was sitting at with a couple of people from the Great Ocean Road tour. We left soon after that.

I would like to thanks Amanda for showing me around and inviting me out for drinks with her brother & sister one night. Meeting Amanda was a strange story - the chef and his wife at the place where I stayed on Fraser Island were really friendly and our group got talking to them about travel stories. On hearing I was going to Melbourne soon, the chef's wife, Aileen gave me her daughter's number in Melbourne and said I should give her a call when I got there. By chance her daughter, Amanda, worked at the Telstra Dome where I was headed to watch Aussie Rules, so I gave her a call and we met up to say hi at half-time. The next day Amanda and the others took me to Brighton Beach to see the famous huts, we had a coffee, then met up later to watch Australia beat South Africa in the Tri-Nations. We also played some pool - myself and her brother Chris tried to beat a couple of Croatians to win the table for the 4 of us to play. After being soundly whipped twice in a row, the Croatians felt sorry for us and let us have the table anyway!!

All in all I enjoyed Melbourne and am looking forward to seeing how it compares to Sydney - there is a big rivalry between locals from the 2 cities.

Melbourne, Victoria

Essendon Bombers vs Geelong Cats

My first live game of AFL (Aussie Rules football) at the Telstra Dome, was a cracking night out. A local derby, with Geelong topping the ladder and Essendon on a good run themselves. 52,000 people packed a sold out stadium. I had a great seat just 8 rows back from the turf.

The omens for Essendon weren't good though as Geelong have won 4 of the last 5 matches between the two, and Geelong have been winning games by over 50 points recently. But Essendon were boosted by the return of a star player after cancer treatment, and another legend was celebrating his 250th game, so it was party time for the home fans (of which I had become one as I bought a Bombers scarf!).

The first 2 quarters were a tight affair, but during the 2nd quarter Essendon lost their star in his 250th game to a pulled hamstring, then the defence man lost his head and gave away a stupid goal. That was a turning point and Geelong gradually got the upper hand and then ran away with it in the last quarter to win by 50 points. A thrashing. I was not Essendon's new lucky mascot!

It was good fun, a brilliant atmosphere with friendly rivalry amongst the Bomber & Cats fans I was sitting with.

AFL

No way Bells is bigger than Waimea, bro

I visited the beautiful Great Ocean Road (GOR) yesterday, made famous by things like the 12 Apostles, Bells Beach, London Bridge etc.

After heading out to Geelong and turning South, the GOR starts around about a place called Torquay. This town is often celebrated for being the home of Australia's 3 big surf brands: Rip Curl, Billabong & Quicksilver. But in fact the very humble beginnings of these companies was a little surf shack in the village of Anglesea up the coast from Torquay (see photos).

Of course this area attracted surfers due to the massive swell at Bells Beach. Ever since watching the movie Point Break at uni I have wanted to visit Bells Beach and see the massive surf for myself - up to 8 metres high I am told. It was up to about 0.75 metres the day I was there, and to add to that disappointment I learn that the beach used in Point Break was not actually the real Bells, plus the 50-year storm that Bodhi (Patrick Swazye) keeps banging on about is mythical as well. All lies!

The rest of the GOR made up for things though. Despite hitting some violent rain storms, the scenery was beautiful and dramatic. Erosion features like the 12 Apostles and London Bridge were definitely worth seeing.

In 1990 London Bridge fell down, quite literally. You can imagine from the photos below how it used to be attached to the mainland, and tour guides drove buses to the end of it. Luckily no one was crossing at the time of the collapse, although a couple were stranded out on the newly water-surrounded pinnacle. In no time the TV news helicopters were in the air beaming footage of these 2 unfortunates around the country and the world. It really wasn't their lucky day. Turns out they were both married to other people and were having an affair. Plus the guy had pulled a sickie from work that day. I know that he lost his job, but what happened to the 2 families involved I don't know. But I don't really care anymore, it's all water under the bridge.
Boom boom!! I'm here all week.

Great Ocean Road

Here comes the bride!!

Dear Palm and Maz,

Have a wonderful wedding day. I hope the sun shines on you this weekend, and for the rest of your lives together. Aaahhhh!

Wish I was there, I really do. I'll be in Melbourne that day thinking of you guys, and all my friends at your wedding.

Have a great day

Brisvegas

I don't know why the locals call Brisbane "Brisvegas", but apparently they do. It could be something to do with the speed the city is growing and rate at which skyscrapers are shooting into the sky. Did you know that Brisbane is the 2nd fastest growing city in the world, after Dubai?! And a local friend told me (she remains nameless in case it's all lies) that Brisbane has the Southern hemisphere's tallest building.

I was quite happy to be back in a city after so many weeks in the outback, on boats and in little backpacker towns. Brisbane is a very pretty city, it is a real mix of the old and new but it works well. The photos below try to show a bit of that contrast.

The North Bank reminds me of London's South Bank, and not just cos it is next to a river! This is where there are theatres and universities and some parkland with bars and restaurants scattered about. It was pretty cool and peaceful over there, apart from the Celtic celebration I bumped into with marching bagpipe bands! The city's Botanical Gardens and river walk were also very chilled places to hang out.

I only spent 2 nights in Brisbane so did a lot of walking around to try and make the most of it. The city has quite a cool street cafe vibe going on and a trendy riverside quay area, along the same lines as Sydney's Darling Harbour or Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, but not as big. Plus the weather was fantastic, which always helps.

I caught up with an old Shell friend who has just moved back to Brisbane and it was fun to go out for some drinks with a friendly face. Plus Juantia knew the best places to go and took me to a couple of cool bars near the Suncorp Stadium (we eventually found them after 2 hours walking through the red light district!!).

Brisvegas

Move em on, head em up...

After Airlie Beach the Oz Experience bus took us to a cattle station an hour or so into the bush, over the Great Dividing Range (the world's 2nd longest mountain range). It was called Kroombit and we had dinner, bed & breakfast there as a stop over on the way to Rainbow Beach.

It was a compulsory stop over so I wasn't expecting too much from it, but in the end it turned out to be loads of fun and I felt like a proper cowboy (no Brokeback Mountain jokes from you guys!).

After dinner we all gathered around the fire and the farm owner, Alan, spoke to us about the farm & the local area. Then he gave us a lesson in cracking a whip. As you probably know the crack is caused by the tip of the whip reaching about 330 metres per second, i.e. breaking the sound barrier. This is as difficult to achieve as it sounds! I did managing to crack one out after about 20 minutes of trying, but it wasn't easy.

After that we had turns on the mechanical bull. This wasn't easy either, and it really hurts your groin area!! I managed about 8 seconds which wasn't too bad compared to the others.

After that we all gathered again around the camp fire to drink and play silly games. Like 'suck-blow' which involves passing a playing card around the circle using only your mouth. And another game where in pairs (boy & girl) you had to burst a balloon between your bodies and the twist was that you had to do it in a sexual position. Lots of bonding and getting to know each other...

In the morning a few of us went for a walk up to a lookout over the cattle station. After that we all gathered around the paddock to learn how to lasso cattle and also I tried clay pigeon shooting.

Again I excelled and showed by credentials as a skilled outdoors man! Shotgun shooting was loads of fun and I got joint top score of 4/5 hits. After being taught the lasso technique I managed to rope a stationary target at the 3rd attempt. After that we were put into the paddock with real animals - just goats and not big old bulls, to avoid us getting mauled - and I managed to rope a goat in 7 seconds!!

We were lucky because our bus driver for this leg of the trip, Trigger, has grown up with horses and spent the last 4 years in North America working as a bull-fighter & rodeo clown and also teaches horse behaviour, bit of a horse whisperer! This meant he was very skilled with a rope and had all the lasso tricks and he was amazing at cracking the whip - he had 2 whips spinning above his head cracking one after the other, he sounded like fireworks night!

It was a lot of fun. I think I'm ready now for the wicky-wicked wild wild west (as Will Smith once called it)!!!

Cattle Station

Fraser Island shines

Firstly, the sun is back and shining like a good'un! We had beautiful warm days and cloud-less blue skies on Fraser, which showed off the island at its finest.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. It is approx. 120km long and a little under 25km wide at its widest point.

It's a beautiful place, like the typical desert island fantasy image... but with lots of 4-wheel drive buses roaming about! It's a 4x4 only zone, which means the tour buses have to be adapted & raised onto off-road chassis and wheels to cope. Most buses are mini or half buses, but I saw one big 52 seater on the island - it was a monstrosity! Shouldn't be allowed. As well as that, how can anyone enjoy a nice secluded part of the island if they are getting off a bus with 50 other people?!?

Luckily I was on a bus with just 4 other people, all of who were normal and happy to enjoy the island views without needing to drink 6 cans of XXXX before lunchtime! (this is a typical activity of young, male backpackers).

You'll see from the photos that it was a lovely place. Highlights included:

- Indian Head. So named by Captain Cook (still as Lieutenant back then) who had just discovered Australia in 1770. As his ships sailed past on their way back to England the local Aborigines climbed to the island's highest vantage point to get a better look. Cook saw all those coloured faces looking down on him so called the point Indian Head. (Before the days of political correctness of course). Beautiful views up there, I saw humpback whales breaching in the distance, rays & turtles swimming in the shallow waters below me, and a wild dingo.

- S.S. Maheno wreck. The S.S. Maheno was a luxury liner that used to sail between NZ and Oz. (Q: Do you know what S.S. stands for? A: steam ship). It sailed a good and full life, even serving time in WWI as a floating hospital. In 1935 it was decommissioned and sold to a Japanese company for scrap. To save money they decided to tow the vessel to Japan. It got struck by an out of season cyclone, broke away from the tow line, and in 1935 became stuck on a sand bank on the east coast of Fraser Island where she still lies today. Quite an eerie sight in its own way.

- Lake Mackenzie. A large fresh water lake completely filled up over time by rain water. I walked around it, which took 90 minutes and it was a lovely walk in the sand. It was a bit fresh for swimming in though. I also saw my first kookaburra in the picnic area by the lake - the cheeky chappy stole a sausage from the plate of a Japanese girl in our group! They are lovely looking bird. I didn't hear it 'laugh' though - its beak was too full of sausage to laugh!

- A full moon. I know, full moons can be seen every month, so why is this one of my highlights?? Well on Friday night it was the 2nd full moon of the month! This is very rare they tell me, hence the reason a 2nd full moon is referred to as a blue moon. They occur on average once every 2.72 years. Now you understand the origin of that old phrase, "Blue Moon, You saw me standing alone, Without a dream in my heart, Without a love of my own"..... oh not that one, it was "Once in a blue moon" I meant.

I had a great trip to the island and the tour was great. Our guide, Sarah, knew her stuff as she'd done an Environmental Studies course at uni. It was really interesting. I recommend a visit if you're down this way.

Fraser Island

When Aminals Attack II

I forgot to mention, I was stung on my chin by a jelly fish when snorkeling at Hook Island in the Whitsundays.

It stung like a bugger! At first it felt like someone was sticking a needle into my chin over & over again, then it felt like they were pulling out my chin whiskers one by one!

Luckily the severe pain died down after a few minutes but it was bothering me for a few hours. I told the captain and he treated it by having a pee on my chin.

Not really, they dabbed vinegar on it. A few days later when I shaved and got a good look at it, the sting had just left a small red line like a scratch.

I think I'll live.

The Whitsundays

Whitsundays

Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands was quite an experience. It was hard work, but a real adventure at the same time. (After the reaction to my previous comments about bad weather I had decided not to talk about it again, but to leave it out of my tales about the Whitsundays sailing trip would be like not mentioning I was on a boat - the weather is such an important part of being at sea.)

Hard work due to the terrible freezing weather and the cramped conditions below deck - I kept banging into the ceiling above my top bunk & got little sleep. There was only 1 toilet and no shower on board. It poured down the first day and was so cold, but the weather dried up and wind dropped as the 3 days passed and we actually caught a glimpse of the sunshine as we sailed back into the Airlie Beach marina! (It's raining heavily again now though.)

But the islands were beautiful even if they looked much more dramatic than normal due to being covered in gloomy clouds and misty rain. Whitehaven Beach still looked fantastic and was the prettiest place we visited. The sand on Whitehaven beach is 99.9% silica which makes it the whitest & finest sand you're ever likely to see. The lens on the Hubble telescope was made from this sand due to its quality. The silica washes up from an old volcanic crack in the sea bed not far off the beach, it's quite unique. Whitehaven is one of the most photographed beaches in the world and if you've seen a postcard from Oz with a beach scene on it, chances are it is Whitehaven.

I'm told that on a dry day the sand squeaks between your toes, but the rain had compacted it down a bit when I was there. It was still incredibly soft in the shallow waters on the sea's edge. Plus we saw lots of rays swimming about the inlet there as it is a big breeding ground for them. That was cool.

The sailing was a highlight too. Hammer is an ex-racing yacht and was placed a few times in the Sydney - Hobart race. There was plenty of strong wind to catch (one positive about the weather) and we got up to 12 knots. At just under 25 kph this doesn't sound fast but it is very quick to be pushed along the water by wind power alone. Some of the faster racing yachts go about double that speed in ideal conditions with a professional crew, so our speed wasn't bad for a bunch of amateurs.
It's very exciting when the boat is tipping sideways at around 45 degrees and we are all clinging on to the high side of the boat to balance it out and keep from tipping!

I'm back on dry land now waiting for the next leg of my bus trip south, which is tomorrow morning at 0700.

Singing in the rain

I'm in Airlie Beach now and depart this afternoon for the Whitsundays on my maxi sailing yacht, called "Hammer". It's still raining but it's not too cold today so it shouldn't stop me snorkeling or taking lots of pictures of the islands.

After a few comments from my concerned friends about me getting depressed about the rain, just wanted to clarify that I would much rather be here than back in London at work, and it's not that bad really I just think it would be even better if the sun was shining! At least I am not at risk of sunburn... the local newspaper reports this morning that yesterday was the coldest June day in the area for over 50 years and maybe since records began. See how lucky I am - witnessing records being smashed!!

Airlie Beach is much more lively than Townsville & Magnetic Island, so it should be a fun place to stay for 3 days after my sailing trip returns on Sunday.

Bon voyage

Oz Experience (v.1)

Between Cairns and Brisbane I am travelling on the Oz Experience buses, so thought I'd set up a photo album for what I see and do along that stretch of the East coast. I will add to it as I get further along - next stop is Airlie Beach (Whitsundays), then a compulsory night stop at a cattle station, then Rainbow Beach (Fraser Island), then Brisbane on 2nd July.

As I add more photos to the album below I will change the title of this posting to v.2, v.3 etc so you can check again if you want. I'll add captions to the pictures to add some flavour...

Oz Experience

Need words with Mother Nature

It's still overcast, windy, grey & miserable on Magnetic Island. So my dive to Yongala has been cancelled a second time and I have no more time to re-schedule, so I will have to miss out this time on one of the best dive sites around. My timetable travelling South is tight with trips to Whitsundays & Fraser Island already booked, so I can't stay here longer. At this rate the weather is going to ruin, or at least effect, those trips too.

I'm pretty depressed today, this is probably my lowest moment since leaving South Africa. Where is the damn sun?!? Boo-hoo!!

Not what I signed up for!

It's hammering down with rain in Townsville today. Hope that brightens up your Monday mornings at work! I was under the impression it was sunny in Australia?!?

And as I did the only tourist attraction in town yesterday - the aquarium - then I'm stuck today. Was supposed to be diving Yongala wreck today but I woke at 0600 to find out it was cancelled due to high winds (not my own).

The aquarium was good though. Their 2.5 million litre tank contains about the only living coral reef - basically a hunk of the Great Barrier Reef - in captivity. Plus I was there for shark feeding time.

Anyway, today I'm about to go to the pub and commence my first ever solo all-dayer.

Wish me luck.

When Animals Attack!!

To get to Josephine Falls, near Innisfail, you have to walk along a 700m path through the rainforest. It was pretty wet as it's a rainforest, but also it had been raining that morning. I was wearing flip flops (I still haven't started calling them thongs like Aussies do!), and I enjoyed seeing the falls.

Back on the bus I noticed a little worm or slug like think inbetween two toes. I tried to flick it off but it didn't budge, so I flicked harder. When it didn't move that time I got a little worried about what it was so pulled it off my toe.

It was only a bloody leech and I started to bleed a surprising amount! It's okay, I survived the ordeal and mopped up the blood with a tissue.

Another example of how you can't turn your back for a minute on the savage Australian wildlife!!

Great Barrier Reef

My first experience of the Great Barrier Reef was good and bad.
Good because the colourful corals and abundance of fish were fantastic, also the boat I lived on for 4 days - Reef Encounter - had great crew, good food & a comfortable living area.
But bad because the sun never came out, it was windy & rainy which meant the boat was restricted to more sheltered parts of the reef and I spent most time on the same part. Luckily I wasn't effected by sea sickness - my sea legs must have come from my granddad's DNA as he was in the Navy during WWII!
I'm glad I went though, I did 13 dives in my time on board and completed my Advanced diver course which means I am now able to dive to greater depths. Doing that many dives in succession really increases your confidence and ability & I've noticed my buoyancy and navigation skills improving.
Having said that about my diving skills, I did manage to get stung by the slightest touch of my big toe on some fire coral - it stings man!! A blister forms and pops and it's still healing days later.
I met some cool people including a 50 year old guy from North Carolina. He was an instructor and technical diver with quite some experience - he did over 200 dives in 2006 alone!! It was good to pick up a bit of knowledge from him.

Here are a few photos, but I didn't always take my camera out when doing the Advanced course dives or when the light was poor. The camera also can't capture the extent and colours of some of the coral gardens I saw, they were spectacular and cos they were not in deep water the sunlight made then shine.

Great Barrier Reef

Next stop the Reef

I've arrived in Cairns today and the temperature here is much more like it - around 28c. I'm heading to the outer Great Barrier Reef tomorrow for 3 nights and I don't expect they have internet on board so it's au revoir for a few days.

Mail me if you're bored at work!

My Uluru Experience

Background: Ayres Rock was first discovered by a European in 1873 - William Gosse was searching for a route through Central Australia and saw the monolith and named it after a politician from South Australia who was funding his expedition. In 1986 the rock and surrounding land (including the Olgas) were returned to the traditional owners, i.e. the local Aborigines, who in turn leased the land back to Australian National Parks on a 99 year lease. At this point Ayres Rock was renamed Uluru and The Olgas were renamed Kata Tjuta. The new owners now get a lot of the ticket sales revenue and other income derived from the national park. As there are only about 150 of the locals living in the area, they each get about AUS$50,000 to AUS$80,000 each year paid direct into their bank accounts for doing sweet FA. Not a bad life!
Uluru is 348 metres high and covers about 9 square kilometres.

Camels: There are estimated to be about 1 million camels roaming central Australia. Originally brought over from Afghanistan in the 19th century to help explorers as they were better equipped than horses for the terrain. They came over with their handlers (called camelteers), so there is a small local population descending from Afghans. There are so many camels and they are of such a high quality breed, due to the lack of disease and predators, that Australia now export camels to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Genius! Enterprising aussie exporters are next planning to sell coal to Newcastle and ice to the Eskimos...

Sunset at Uluru was easily the best bit for me. You'll see from the photos here that the change in colour is spectacular. As the sun went down the rock got darker and duller but then suddenly it lit up and glowed bright red as the red light part of the spectrum in the setting sun refracted onto the rock (excuse any inaccuracies in my science here!). The sunset itself was amazing too - the best I've seen for a long while.
In the morning we got up for sunrise but that wasn't as good as sunset. I did the 9k base walk, which was interesting cos you get right up to it and can see a lot more of the formations caused by erosion and the aboriginal cave paintings.

I also visited Kata Tjuta (known as The Olgas before 1986) and we hiked the 7k rim walk around Kings Canyon. Both were great to see as well. Equally impressive but unheard of and basically ignored in terms of tourism is Mt. Conner. At 344m high it is only 4m lower than Uluru but covers 30 square metres so much bigger. Plus it has a flat top (like Table Mountain), and I found it just as cool. But it's on private land so you can't easily get up close.

The camping part of the trip was fun, although 2 nights in 1 degree overnight temperatures was enough! We only had 4 people in our tour so quite peaceful (the tours can accommodate up to 24 people) and meant we got more of a tailored service from our tour guide, Ned.

It was definitely a worthwhile trip I reckon despite me not expecting too much from it before I came to central Australia. (P.s. Alice Springs is pretty quiet and boring, glad I'm not here more than 1 day).

Uluru experience

Alice Spings is 8.5 hours ahead of London

(7.5 hours ahead of Cape Town)

Next stop Uluru

I'm back in Perth tonight, thankfully after a much more straight forward trip back from Exmouth on the bus. Just the 'usual' 19.5 hours rather that a day and a half like the journey north!
Before I left on Monday I had 2 final dives on Ningaloo Reef - saw an olive sea snake, an octopus, a scorpion fish, a few more wobbegong sharks, trigger fish. It was really challenging diving conditions with strong swells and surges and poor vis at 2-3 metres only. A test of diving though and I was happy with how I coped. Ningaloo was amazing, it was sad to leave (esp. after I heard the whale shark tour on Monday saw 7 sharks all over 7 metres long. Bast*rds!!)

Tomorrow I fly to Alice Springs and then the day after that go camping in the Red Centre so am fairly certain I'll be offline for a couple of days. No worries, I'll be back on the blog with amazing photos of Uluru hopefully.
Enjoy the UK weather - up to 25c at the weekend hey - hotter than Alice Springs, which is only maxing at about 14c! I thought the outback was a hot desert, maybe I got mixed up...

I've added more photos to the South Africa blog

If you're interested, some photos from the 1st half of our road trip have now been uploaded from my other memory card. I've put the photos at the start of the album to avoid you having to go over the same ones again!

So long Western Australia

I only have a few more days in Western Australia so here are some of my highlights, excluding the mantas (see blog posting below).

Western Australia

Tomorrow I'm hiring a car and going to Coral Bay, Turquiose Bay and the Oyster Stacks, which I've heard are all great beaches with top snorkelling.
Then tomorrow I dive at Lighthouse Bay in the day then get the Greyhound back to Perth in the evening.
I fly to Alice Springs on Wednesday and start a 3-night camping safari tour around the Red Centre, e.g. Uluru (Ayres Rock) and Kings Canyon.
On the 11th June I fly to Cairns and next day I hop onto a live aboard diving boat for 4 days & 3 nights. The boat is called "Reef Encounters" if you want to google it. I'm going to do an advanced diving course while on board, plus the boat sails around the outer Great Barrier Reef where the diving is much better. I will also do one or 2 night dives which will be a first for me.
The day after the live aboard finishes I get onto the Oz Experience bus for the start of my journey to Brisbane. First leg will be Cairns - Townsville (about 10 hours). From Townsville I have booked a dive trip to the Yongala wreck, which is one of Australia's top dive spots (which implies one of the world's top) and my first wreck dive so I'm really excited about that! I'll also visit Magnetic Island from Townsville.
After Townsville I head to Airlie Beach, which is where I will sail to the Whitsunday Islands from. That trip isn't booked yet and no more of my bus journey is certain, but I hope to take in Bundaburg / Hervey Bay for trips to Fraser Island and Lady Musgrave Island, which is a small idyllic desert island Sam told me about with fantastic snorkelling.
So plenty to look forward to. I'll keep you posted.

Whale sharks suck

I've just got back from my repeat whale shark tour and the three spotter planes couldn't find any whale sharks for me again! I don't get another free repeat and can't shell out another AUS$350 to try again, so I have to say good bye to this opportunity to see whale sharks. There will be another time one day somewhere...

I did do a dive on the reef though and we snorkelled, I saw a huge rough-back sting ray on the sandy sea bed, quite a few turtles, and another few manta rays - one at a cleaning station surrounded by little fish eating its parasites - but nothing anywhere near the mantas of 2 days ago. We also saw a pair of minky whales swimming & breaching ahead of the boat for about 15 minutes. They were pretty cool.

I have 4 more dives booked before I leave Ningaloo Reef so hope to see a lot more stuff.

Manta rays rock

Wow!! I went out on a boat to swim with whale sharks yesterday. No whale sharks were found by their spotter plane (so I get a free re-run tomorrow) but we did come across a group of manta rays feeding at the surface.
I know I'm new to diving, but this was the most spectacular experience I've had yet and we only had to snorkel to make the most of it.
There were about 10-12 huge mantas - I'm talking as wide as I am tall and bigger - swimming all around us and right under us so that I thought a huge wing would flick me. They swam directly at us in lines of 2 or 3 then swam away underneath us, they were doing back flips, barrel rolls, circling us, all sorts. They seemed to be enjoying it as much as us.
We were with them for about an hour and I took over 100 photos, I have selected some of the best below. Sorry there are quite a few, I've put the better ones at the start in case you get bored.
The most magnificant, huge, graceful, beautiful underwater creatures I've ever seen. It definitely made up for the whale shark no-show.

Manta Ray, Ningaloo Reef

Skip back to South Africa (updated)

I wanted to upload a few more photos of South Africa, mainly places we stayed and some of the best views we encountered.
I only have my 2nd memory card with me right now, so these start from Mkuze and the game reserve. We stayed in some beautiful places. Highlights for me were Clarens, Hogsback and Franschhoek (much prettier than nearby larger Stellenbosch).

South African highlights

South Africa 58 - 10 England: am glad I left already!

Exmouth at last

After a good night's sleep at the Overland - good cos it is so isolated and empty I worried about being robbed in the night! - and a hearty breakfast from the staff (my newest friends) I tried to hitch a lift to Exmouth. It was either that or wait all day in a petrol station forecourt until 8.30pm for the bus.
My search started badly as it was all really old retires turning up in their RVs and caravans, no thanks. Other guys turned up with fishing gear, singlets & moustaches - no way I was sharing a ride with them, I'd probably end up as bait!!
To make things worse I had my north & south mixed up so cars pulling into the garage on their way to Exmouth I actually thought were heading south to Perth so didn't even consider asking. The car of 3 young girls was the best opportunity that I let slip by...
At about 2pm my luck turned. The roadhouse owners daughter arrived and was going to Exmouth so the staff introduced us and she was normal and more importantly happy to take me with her. She had just got back from Nepal with her Mum and dropped off her Mum at the roadhouse then heading back to her boyfriend in Exmouth. She was very friendly and I got all the gossip on Exmouth town life and some good tips on what to do and see.
What a result! So I arrived last night at 7pm rather than at 5am this morning on the Greyhound.

I tried to get on a whale shark boat this morning but they were fully booked, so I'm signed up for tomorrow then a 2 dive trip to the reef on Wednesday. I'll post photos as soon as I can.
Today I'm hiring a bike and riding 14k to Bundegi beach which is supposed to be much nicer than the town beach. Plus good snorkelling from the beach.

Unscheduled stop: Overlander roadhouse

Sam said I'd get in trouble without her there to think for me and I'm in my first spot of bother already, only the 2nd day after reaching Australia! To be fair though it's not my fault and it's not serious bother.
I made it to my bus at East Perth station no worries this morning and have been fine for the first 11 hours of the bus journey. We got to the Overlander Roadhouse for a pitstop and a change of drivers and the new driver spots something up with my ticket. It turns out that my connecting bus from Minilya to Exmouth does not run on Saturday nights and the roadhouse there is closed too. Luckily he spoke up otherwise I would have been stuck up there at about midnight for 24 hours with nowhere to sleep. The travel agent in Perth should not have sold me the ticket, but also the Greyhound website he made the booking on should not have allowed him to book it. I'll have strong words with both tomorrow or Monday morning.
As a result I am at the lovely Overlander. To say this place is in the middle of nowhere is an understatement - it's in the middle of effing nowhere!! The nearest town is about 200k away. All we have here is the petrol station and minimart which shuts in a few hours. That's it. No houses, no pub, no corner shop, no tourist attractions, no nothing. Plus I have to check out at 10am and hang around watching the road-trains rumble past for 10 hours until the next Greyhound bus picks me up. Joy.
Mercifully they have (occasional) internet access, so at least I can fill an hour or two...as long as it keeps working.
In summary, I'm annoyed that I'll get to the coast and the reef a day later than planned. But this is one of the twists and turns that travelling is all about.
I'm getting friendly with the staff who work and live here - one guy spent 6 months straight here without returning to the real world. Wonder what or who he's hiding from??! He gave me a cold Corona though so I like him.
Possibly there might be a bus to Shark Bay I can jump on tomorrow morning. That's about 140k away and has a great beach, so maybe there is a lining to this cloud. I'll let you know.
Quick final word about the accommodation here - BASIC. I'm in one of 4 rooms built into a tin portacabin. It will not be hosting any cat swinging contests if you know what I mean. It's tiny but clean enough and the showers are just metres away in the next door portacabin. Think I'll treat myself in Exmouth and get ensuite.

My aussie mobile number is +61 (0)448 696 718

Welcome to Perth, Western Austraila

Country number 2 on my great big trip. I flew in over night via Jo'burg and landed at lunch time today. I've already booked my bus out of town too! It's not that bad here though, I just want to get up to Coral Bay and dive off Ningaloo reef with the whale sharks ASAP. I'll check Perth out a bit more cos I need to get back here to fly to Alice Springs in 2 weeks.

The flight was fine, although South African Airways seats are small and they don't have individual TVs in the seats! Plus I was sat next to an old granddad who spent the 9-hour flight coughing and popping pills & medicine...I worried he might die on me during the night!!

For tonight I have booked into a backpackers - I'm in a 4 bed dorm (2 bunk beds) with 3 other English guys who have been in Perth about 6 weeks. They are out for a birthday tonight and I need to be at the bus station by 08:30 tomorrow, so when they wake me up tonight I'll get them back by waking them up in the morning! I have plenty of time sleep on 19 hour bus journey though. I'm totally roughing it like normal people!! A big change to the 5-star guest houses and top notch restaurants I enjoyed in South Africa.

Flowers & trees of South Africa

South Africa has inspired me to take photos of flowers even, this travelling lark is changing me!!! Here are some of my favourites:

Flowers of South Africa

SHARK!

I took my underwater camera out for a dive at Sodwana Bay - one of South Africa's and even the world's greatest dive spots. We dropped in for my first dive and I couldn't believe that 2 short-nosed blacktail reef shark were waiting down there for us! Between 1.5m and 2m in length I'd say.

Sodwana Bay, South Africa

As well as the photos here, on my second dive I saw one very large turtle, a giant moray eel and a couple of potato bass (grouper family), as well as a juvenile Emporer angelfish which was stunning. Check out google images of one:
http://images.google.co.za/images?hl=en&resnum=0&q=juvenile%20emperor%20angelfish&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

I loved my diving and recommend it at Sodwana Bay. Other groups at Sodwana who went to deeper reefs than I did saw whale shark! We stayed at a place called Coral Divers which has individual chalets, it's a training centre for PADI open water, dive masters, instructors etc so is set up very well.

Animals I've seen in South Africa

There have been loads, I have photos of a few on them here, but for the full list of land animlas I've seen in Leopard Mountain game reserve and Hluhluwe National Park, see list below:

Animals in South Africa

Impala, nyala, buffalo (BIG 5), warthog, wildebeast, crown eagle, franklins (bird), robin (bird), frogs, gecko, bats, fork-tailed drongo (bird), yellow-billed hornbill, duikers (red & common), vervet monkey, terrapins, spiders (various, including funnel web & huge golden orb spider), kudu, cat (domestic tabby!), waterbuck, scrub hare, nightjar (bird), baboon, scorpion, zebra, fire finch (bird), steenbok, giraffe, elephants (BIG 5), white rhino (BIG 5), and a crane.

My favourites were the elephants & zebra because we got so close and they were so beautiful. And the crown eagle was a rare sight, so huge and impressive. We saw a mother and baby wildebeast who had been separated re-join each other and the young suckling mother. That was a special thing to witness. And cool baboons trekking down a hill in single file towards us and end up in the tree right above us eating their favourite berries.
We spent about 30 mins sitting watching a herd of 30-40 elephants at a watering hole slowoly come towards our land rover until they were in the road right in front of us. They are so big and so peaceful when undisturbed. Got some great photos of a young female in the road very close to us.

Road Trip: it's all over

After 23 days & nights driving the length of South Africa, we are back in Cape Town.
To complete the list of places we visited, it goes as follows:

Hluhluwe - Sodwana Bay - Kosi Bay (right on the Mozambique border) - Vryheid - Golden Gate National Park - Clarens - Hogsback - Jeffreys Bay (J-Bay to the locals) - Tsitsikama National Park - George - Swellendam (again) - Worcester - Cape Town.

We drove almost 6,000k. What a trip, totally varied people & places - mountains, desert, green rolling hills, seasides, 3rd world, 1st world. South Africa has it all.

Road Trip: Day 8 - the route so far

For those who know the country or have a spare 10 mins at work to kill by looking ast a map, this is the route we have taken in the past 8 days:
Cape Town - Swellendam - Mossell Bay - Wilderness - Knysna - George - Uniondale - Willowmore - Graaff-Reinet - Middelburg - Aliwal North - Barkly East - Rhodes - Elliot - Mthatha - Port St. John - Flagstaff - Kokstad - Underberg - Howick - Nottingham Road - Pietermaritzburg - Durban - Stanger - Hluhluwe.
We are in Hluhluwe (said, "Shush-lewy") right now about to head to Leopard Mountain for our 2 night stay on safari. We arrived yesterday but were a day early - what amateur travellers!! I blame my tour guide Sam. So we spent a lovely night near by at Ghost Mountain Inn, Mkhuse.

Road Trip: Day one - 3 motor offences!!

What a start. We'd only been driving a few hours when Sam got trapped by the cops with a speeding camera. We knew she'd been caught cos all 3 cops waved and smiled as we flew by them! At a place called Swellendam I took over driving and hadn't even been driving 5 minutes when I went through a Stop sign getting back onto the main road. Apparently Stop signs are a big thing over here and the police car that saw me do it sped after with lights flashing - she was very nice though as she wrote out my R500 ticket. To top it all I think I got flashed by a fixed camera just outside Mossell Bay that evening.
So an expensive first day on the road, but lessons have been learnt!!

Sorry I've been lame at blog updates

... South Africa isn't as switched on as I thought to internet yet! But I'm online now, but it's a slow connection and no USB port on this old desktop so I can't upload photos yet. On the plus side, it's cheap - R1 per minute, so 14 minutes is 1 quid.

Cape Town tourist stuff

I've been in Cape Town a few days now and have seen some of the tourist spots. Top of the list was the V&A (Victoria & Alfred not Albert) Waterfront where Sam & I ate lunch seal spotting and walked around the shops.
Yesterday we went to a neighbourhood food market in Woodstock, which is one of the dodgier parts of town. We parked on a corner next to a shady bar advertising five 500ml beers for 32 rand (about 2 quid). I think it would have cost me a lot more than that if I would have strolled up to the bar and asked in my plumiest British accent for a shandy and gin & tonic for the lady!
Great food at the market though, which was actually full of well off trendies who flood the area for one morning of the week only.
After that we went for a drive towards the cape past Chapman's Peak and then up to Cape Point itself, which is a short stroll from the Cape of Good Hope. Not to be confused, as I did, with the southern most point of Africa, this is actually Cape Agulhas.
The drive took us through Simon's Town where penguins live but we didn't stop this time, then onto Kalk Bay for a beer at Dixies (cos we couldn't find the better local bar called the Brass Bell!).
Today I have been out to the Durbanville wine area and had lunch with Sam's family at one of the wine farms, it was a buffet and wonderful food & drink.
On Tuesday our road trip starts, so I'll let you know more about that in a few days. Next time I'll leave some photos and stuff too.
Bye for now