So were here in New Zealand.....! Last stop before home :-( time has passed so quickly!
After many emotional goodbyes in the land down under we flew to New Zealand. The flight was very quick and before we knew it we had been thrown from 30 degrees heat to about 3......! It honestly felt and smelled like home because it was so cold! aaaaaaah!
We got to our hostel pretty late and the nights of drinking ourselves silly with our lovely friends from Aus had taken their toll! We were ill! Nat was worse.....! We spent our first few days in Auckland chilling out after a hardcore 2 months in Aus this was most needed! It was great because Tom and Emily were on our flight so we got to spend some more time with them before the infamous campervan adeventure! On Friday Chris and Jo turned up, followed closely by Sarah whom we hadnt met yet but we trusted Chris and Jo's judgement and then the games began! We went downstairs to the bar for a catch up and get to know Sarah, lots of fun and then bed before our exciting Saturday of picking up our van!
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Photos
To see more pics click on the link below, I have updated the album
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=366666011/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=366666011/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Cairns
We set off for Magnetic island early the next morning, it took almost the whole day to get there, a few hours on the beach when we finally arrived was all we got.... :-( but what we liked what we saw, was very scenic even if it was short lived.
Up early again the next day to make our long journey to Cairns......last stop in Australia :-(
Cairns was a fun filled week, honestly we mainly drank lots of goon and partied the nights away....followed by lots of sleep and chilling out by the lagoon.
Cairns was the last stop so everyone tends to end up here on the Oz Experience. So it was one big party saying bye to people. There was always someone leaving the next day so it was a leaving party every night ha!
We did manage a road trip to Cape Tribulation and Port Douglas though. Me, Nat, Leila and Laura hired a car for the day setting off at 8am and heading to Cape Tribulation first. It was quite a drive most of which Leila did. We called our car Elvis...none of us can remember why now but it was a great idea at the time. Our little yellow car did so well on the rough terrain! We did a few walks through the forest to see where the rainforest meets the reef, again a beautiful sight. It was warm but it rained a little. The climates in Australia are so odd! We left cape Tribulation and made our way to Port Douglas which was a really cute little town by the sea. We sat and had some lunch here and a walk around the shops before heading back to Cairns for yet another big night because our friends Katie, Bills and Angus were arriving.
Our last night was really emotional.... :-( some of the guys that we had met on the coast were out and Andy is great on the guitar. It was open mic night in Gilligans ( this was the hostel we were staying in) and as he is so good we made him get up and perform. Bless him, he dedicated his first song to Me and Nats because we were leaving so we jumped up and danced....we were terrible we put him to shame! he on the other hand was amazing and had the crowd singing and dancing all night yeeeeeeey! We had so much fun and then lots of tears saying goodbye :-( and that folks was Australia. I am so so so sad to be leaving as I have made so many lifelong friends here and the memories will last a lifetime.
Up early again the next day to make our long journey to Cairns......last stop in Australia :-(
Cairns was a fun filled week, honestly we mainly drank lots of goon and partied the nights away....followed by lots of sleep and chilling out by the lagoon.
Cairns was the last stop so everyone tends to end up here on the Oz Experience. So it was one big party saying bye to people. There was always someone leaving the next day so it was a leaving party every night ha!
We did manage a road trip to Cape Tribulation and Port Douglas though. Me, Nat, Leila and Laura hired a car for the day setting off at 8am and heading to Cape Tribulation first. It was quite a drive most of which Leila did. We called our car Elvis...none of us can remember why now but it was a great idea at the time. Our little yellow car did so well on the rough terrain! We did a few walks through the forest to see where the rainforest meets the reef, again a beautiful sight. It was warm but it rained a little. The climates in Australia are so odd! We left cape Tribulation and made our way to Port Douglas which was a really cute little town by the sea. We sat and had some lunch here and a walk around the shops before heading back to Cairns for yet another big night because our friends Katie, Bills and Angus were arriving.
Our last night was really emotional.... :-( some of the guys that we had met on the coast were out and Andy is great on the guitar. It was open mic night in Gilligans ( this was the hostel we were staying in) and as he is so good we made him get up and perform. Bless him, he dedicated his first song to Me and Nats because we were leaving so we jumped up and danced....we were terrible we put him to shame! he on the other hand was amazing and had the crowd singing and dancing all night yeeeeeeey! We had so much fun and then lots of tears saying goodbye :-( and that folks was Australia. I am so so so sad to be leaving as I have made so many lifelong friends here and the memories will last a lifetime.
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Airlie Beach and Whitsundays
We arrived in Airlie Beach in the afternoon in time to check in and have a kip before we got ready and all went out for FREE beer and nibbles which to backpackers is...well...not to be missed! Fab night out with all our friends from fraser and oz bus :-)
The next day we checked in for our boat and sailed at lunchtime. The first day we just got to know the people of the boat, had dinner, drinks and sailed into tongue bay where we anchored up for the night. The food was amazing considering they hardly had any means to cook it all. There were about 25 of us including crew which was a really good number because it meant we could all get to know each other and sit around in a big group. It got really chilly at night, being my usually cold blooded self i was moaning so the captain gave me his jumper aaaaaaaah! We sat up most of the night drinking goon and chatting to our new friends on the boat. Really nice evening. The sleeping accommodation wasn't the best but hey, its a sailing boat, so considering it was small the beds were ok. Me and nat shared a double which were in lines down the side of the boat and then there was like a big hammock above one side of the double for someone else to sleep in. me and Nat DID NOT hit the jackpot with the Canadian guy sleeping above us......snoring is an understatement at one point in the night i thought a steam train was coming through the gully! haaaaa! never mind! We were up early doors on the boat, breakfast at 7 sharp. We then all set of on the smaller boat onto Whitehaven beach. First we walked up the look out point which was pretty amazing, the views and colours were great, then back down to the beach......pictures speak for themselves....yet to be uploaded! In the afternoon me and Natalie went diving unaided for the first time ever.....of yeh! had lots of fun, lots of different marine life. We did this whilst the others went snorkelling.
After we got back to the boat we had a yummy lunch and then sailed to the next bay for the night. Unfortunatley because of lack of wind we didnt sail at all on our first day :-( motoring all the way. Once again we had a fab night of drinking games and dinner was lush also!
Up again early on the last day so we could make the most of the wind! We sailed back into Airlie for lucnhtime and because the wind got up we sailed all the way back! So much fun and we helped sail the boat with the other crew members. Such a great couple of days. It was a wicked experience and the whitsundays are a must, so beautiful.
The next day we checked in for our boat and sailed at lunchtime. The first day we just got to know the people of the boat, had dinner, drinks and sailed into tongue bay where we anchored up for the night. The food was amazing considering they hardly had any means to cook it all. There were about 25 of us including crew which was a really good number because it meant we could all get to know each other and sit around in a big group. It got really chilly at night, being my usually cold blooded self i was moaning so the captain gave me his jumper aaaaaaaah! We sat up most of the night drinking goon and chatting to our new friends on the boat. Really nice evening. The sleeping accommodation wasn't the best but hey, its a sailing boat, so considering it was small the beds were ok. Me and nat shared a double which were in lines down the side of the boat and then there was like a big hammock above one side of the double for someone else to sleep in. me and Nat DID NOT hit the jackpot with the Canadian guy sleeping above us......snoring is an understatement at one point in the night i thought a steam train was coming through the gully! haaaaa! never mind! We were up early doors on the boat, breakfast at 7 sharp. We then all set of on the smaller boat onto Whitehaven beach. First we walked up the look out point which was pretty amazing, the views and colours were great, then back down to the beach......pictures speak for themselves....yet to be uploaded! In the afternoon me and Natalie went diving unaided for the first time ever.....of yeh! had lots of fun, lots of different marine life. We did this whilst the others went snorkelling.
After we got back to the boat we had a yummy lunch and then sailed to the next bay for the night. Unfortunatley because of lack of wind we didnt sail at all on our first day :-( motoring all the way. Once again we had a fab night of drinking games and dinner was lush also!
Up again early on the last day so we could make the most of the wind! We sailed back into Airlie for lucnhtime and because the wind got up we sailed all the way back! So much fun and we helped sail the boat with the other crew members. Such a great couple of days. It was a wicked experience and the whitsundays are a must, so beautiful.
1770 and Kroombit
We only spent one day and night in 1770 as this was a compulsory stop but on reflection if we had more time I think this is somewhere i wouldnt have minded spending longer at. We were all so tired and our bodies ruined from Fraser that this was a nice place to chill out. So we did. Also it rained whioch we were not impressed about but hey ho, we have had about 7 days of rain in our whole trip so cant be bad! We left 1770 the next morning to head to Kroombit which none of us were that sure about but once we got there changed out minds. It was all a bit crazy. We got there had a lovely steak and salad lunch then in the afternoon there were lots of different activities. I wanteds to have a go at Clay Pigeon shooting so i took the plunge and did it, was fun! I managed to get one out of five, i was quite impressed with myself seeing as I hadnt done anything like this before. Then we got into groups and wrestled goats onto a ring and branded them - very odd! I of course did the branding as was too scared to do any wrestling ha!
After the activites we had dinner and then were shown to a strange little shed where we were told to dress up in fancy dress from the box. It was all like vistorian dresses and weird jackets! I think my jacket made me look like a ring master at the circus ha! So we then had to tackle the mechanical bull. Most people got on and thrown off within seconds on both goes but i got on and after a complete wipeout the first time was able to stay on the second and bought home the crown for the girls but one of the boys beat me by miles goddammit! He is a dutch farmer so I think he def had an unfair advantage for sure! It was a fun night, lots of booze followed the bull riding and a few hangover the next morning before we headed for Airlie Beach whooooop!
After the activites we had dinner and then were shown to a strange little shed where we were told to dress up in fancy dress from the box. It was all like vistorian dresses and weird jackets! I think my jacket made me look like a ring master at the circus ha! So we then had to tackle the mechanical bull. Most people got on and thrown off within seconds on both goes but i got on and after a complete wipeout the first time was able to stay on the second and bought home the crown for the girls but one of the boys beat me by miles goddammit! He is a dutch farmer so I think he def had an unfair advantage for sure! It was a fun night, lots of booze followed the bull riding and a few hangover the next morning before we headed for Airlie Beach whooooop!
Sunday, 17 May 2009
The Island that is FRASER!
Well what can I say I have just returned from Fraser Island and I can say without a doubt I had the time of my life.
Me and Nat were put in our groups the night before we set off and to begin with we didnt think the group would work but we were wrong. We had such a good group of people, everyone pitched in, we were all in it for a great time and well thats exactly what we had!
We left at 8am on the first morning and made our way to the ferry, it was party time from the word go and although our cr*ppy van didnt have a radio we didnt let that stop us, we sang all the way! Hence why i now have NO voice! We busted out some real classics all the way to Lake Mckenzie. We got to lake mckenzie and I dont know what everyone else expected but damn it was beautiful. This huge fresh water lake inbetween such thick green woodland but also sand dunes......crazy. The water tasted like evian. We spent a lot of the day here which was fortunate as we had to get a mechanic out to fix our humungous 4x4. The roof rack loaded with all of our stuff had broken.....yeh not good. This drunken guy turns up to fix it but hey it seemed to work! We then made our way to cromwells break with a convoy of about 6 vans who we had made friends with during the day. Once all parked up and tents erected we got stuck into making dinner. Burgers it was! So good. Then the goon drinking began as darkness fell on camp and the rest of the night is a blur - great fun had by all though ;-)
The second day we were a feeling a little bit worse for wwear to say the least but as always we pulled it together and packed up to drive to Lake Wabby. WOWZER! This was like a desert.......the half an hour walk from the car to the lake was well worth it. The photos tell it all. The contrast of the different surroundings was so odd. Again we spent most of the day here chilling out before heading up north to see Indian Head which again was a sight and then onto camp....though we didnt time things well and didnt make it to a campsite so the beach it was. Once we were set up though we had a wicked night. Both nights were so different, the first being busy with people and lots of crazy games, the second was all about group bonding. I honestly can say I had such an amazing time, the people were great, scenery out of this world! Also we managed to see the shipwreck on our last day before heading back which was teamed with seeing our friends who we didnt think we would see until Cairns so it was big cuddles and whooooping for about an hour! FAB FAB FAB time. Bring on the Whitsundays :-)
Me and Nat were put in our groups the night before we set off and to begin with we didnt think the group would work but we were wrong. We had such a good group of people, everyone pitched in, we were all in it for a great time and well thats exactly what we had!
We left at 8am on the first morning and made our way to the ferry, it was party time from the word go and although our cr*ppy van didnt have a radio we didnt let that stop us, we sang all the way! Hence why i now have NO voice! We busted out some real classics all the way to Lake Mckenzie. We got to lake mckenzie and I dont know what everyone else expected but damn it was beautiful. This huge fresh water lake inbetween such thick green woodland but also sand dunes......crazy. The water tasted like evian. We spent a lot of the day here which was fortunate as we had to get a mechanic out to fix our humungous 4x4. The roof rack loaded with all of our stuff had broken.....yeh not good. This drunken guy turns up to fix it but hey it seemed to work! We then made our way to cromwells break with a convoy of about 6 vans who we had made friends with during the day. Once all parked up and tents erected we got stuck into making dinner. Burgers it was! So good. Then the goon drinking began as darkness fell on camp and the rest of the night is a blur - great fun had by all though ;-)
The second day we were a feeling a little bit worse for wwear to say the least but as always we pulled it together and packed up to drive to Lake Wabby. WOWZER! This was like a desert.......the half an hour walk from the car to the lake was well worth it. The photos tell it all. The contrast of the different surroundings was so odd. Again we spent most of the day here chilling out before heading up north to see Indian Head which again was a sight and then onto camp....though we didnt time things well and didnt make it to a campsite so the beach it was. Once we were set up though we had a wicked night. Both nights were so different, the first being busy with people and lots of crazy games, the second was all about group bonding. I honestly can say I had such an amazing time, the people were great, scenery out of this world! Also we managed to see the shipwreck on our last day before heading back which was teamed with seeing our friends who we didnt think we would see until Cairns so it was big cuddles and whooooping for about an hour! FAB FAB FAB time. Bring on the Whitsundays :-)
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Noosa, Australia Zoo and Bushcamp
We left Brisbane with all of our luggage in tow and headed for the train station hoping to go to Australia Zoo on route but once again because we were unorganised this wasnt possible because of time! oooops! So we decided to head for Noosa anyway and go to the zoo from there. After 2 hours on the train and another hour on a public bus we were in Noosa. Staying at Koalas hostel.
Noosa is a small place but very friendly and nice little shops and beaches. We went to Australia zoo the following day which was FAB! At the same time as being so good it was also very sad as there are a lot of memories of Steve Irwin around. Lots of tributes to him etc, very sad to see when you see his young family without him but they clearly share their love for animals as are activlely involved in the success of the zoo. We fed kangaroos, stroked the koalas, saw a tiger being sick ( that was gross!), fed the elephants, saw a tasmanian devil ( ugly!) and watched a live crocodile feeding. Clearly we saw lots more too but its just too much to remember. Lots of pictures to come! We have spent a lot of time chilling out here after lots of partying. So we left Noosa on Friday for Bushcamp where we were to camp and then do lots of canoeing. We hadnt been briefed about this trip at all and I had called a few times to ask what we needed to bring and they were so vague so we were a little worried! Anyhow we left for bushcamp late afternoon and after shopping for food we turned up to be greated with our hammocks to sleep in underneath some tarpooling( spelling?!?!) I can safely say we were all freeeeeeeeeeeeezing! I slept with so many clothes on and only my nose out of my sleeping bag to breath! Me = not happy bunny! Though i got on with it as this is all part of the experience right?! ha! So earlyish rise the next day, carried our canoes down to the water, had a very very brief lesson on the bank how to canoe and off we went. It was funny at first as our biggest fear was falling in after the guy running the tour had told us there were lots of brown spotted stingwrays in the water - Steve Irwin ran into one of these.......! We made it down river to where we got off to trek to the beach - one of the boys fell in the water on the way and it took ages to get him back in! We later found out that they were being stupid and thats how he fell in! Boys will be boys! Me and Natalie needed the little girls room when we got to the beach so walked back to the pub which we saw on the way. It was such a long way we decided to lie in the pub grounds instead of doubling back on ourselves to the beach. It was really nice and peaceful. Lots of wildlife around us, we even saw some wild kangaroos, one wiht a joey in its pouch! So cute! So making it back to camp eventually after yet another hard slog in the canoe we all ached a lot! By now Natalie was experiencing big problems with her lips. She had drunk some fruit juice and had an allergic reaction but it was gradually getting worse :-( So after another freezing night at camp we left and took her to hospital. She got treated and medication for the swelling. So headed back to the hostel where we are now for a few days. I have been filing my days with lots of reading and beaching while nat recovers. Katie, Angus and Billy came back from camp on Tuesday and we had a fab night out with them and the other guys they met on thier bushcamp experience. Lots of silly drinking games in our dorm before some geek off dancing in the hostel bar. Leave for Rainbow beach and the infamous Fraser Island trip on thursday. Me = very excited!
Noosa is a small place but very friendly and nice little shops and beaches. We went to Australia zoo the following day which was FAB! At the same time as being so good it was also very sad as there are a lot of memories of Steve Irwin around. Lots of tributes to him etc, very sad to see when you see his young family without him but they clearly share their love for animals as are activlely involved in the success of the zoo. We fed kangaroos, stroked the koalas, saw a tiger being sick ( that was gross!), fed the elephants, saw a tasmanian devil ( ugly!) and watched a live crocodile feeding. Clearly we saw lots more too but its just too much to remember. Lots of pictures to come! We have spent a lot of time chilling out here after lots of partying. So we left Noosa on Friday for Bushcamp where we were to camp and then do lots of canoeing. We hadnt been briefed about this trip at all and I had called a few times to ask what we needed to bring and they were so vague so we were a little worried! Anyhow we left for bushcamp late afternoon and after shopping for food we turned up to be greated with our hammocks to sleep in underneath some tarpooling( spelling?!?!) I can safely say we were all freeeeeeeeeeeeezing! I slept with so many clothes on and only my nose out of my sleeping bag to breath! Me = not happy bunny! Though i got on with it as this is all part of the experience right?! ha! So earlyish rise the next day, carried our canoes down to the water, had a very very brief lesson on the bank how to canoe and off we went. It was funny at first as our biggest fear was falling in after the guy running the tour had told us there were lots of brown spotted stingwrays in the water - Steve Irwin ran into one of these.......! We made it down river to where we got off to trek to the beach - one of the boys fell in the water on the way and it took ages to get him back in! We later found out that they were being stupid and thats how he fell in! Boys will be boys! Me and Natalie needed the little girls room when we got to the beach so walked back to the pub which we saw on the way. It was such a long way we decided to lie in the pub grounds instead of doubling back on ourselves to the beach. It was really nice and peaceful. Lots of wildlife around us, we even saw some wild kangaroos, one wiht a joey in its pouch! So cute! So making it back to camp eventually after yet another hard slog in the canoe we all ached a lot! By now Natalie was experiencing big problems with her lips. She had drunk some fruit juice and had an allergic reaction but it was gradually getting worse :-( So after another freezing night at camp we left and took her to hospital. She got treated and medication for the swelling. So headed back to the hostel where we are now for a few days. I have been filing my days with lots of reading and beaching while nat recovers. Katie, Angus and Billy came back from camp on Tuesday and we had a fab night out with them and the other guys they met on thier bushcamp experience. Lots of silly drinking games in our dorm before some geek off dancing in the hostel bar. Leave for Rainbow beach and the infamous Fraser Island trip on thursday. Me = very excited!
Brisbane
We left surfers paradise on the bus to Brisbane and arrived pretty late due to traffic :-( the next day we decided to go for a wonder around Brisbane. Walking through th city, over the bridge to the south bank. Its really pretty. We walked along the bank through the lovely gardens, took some silly pictures jumping in the flowers and then grabbed an icecream and sat on the grass bank near the lagoon. There isnt a beach in Brisi so there is a man made lagoon which seemed to be proving popular with locals and travellers, though it was bank holiday monday so maybe thats why is was busy. We had a great day for it! Headed back to the hostel and got ready for our night out on the town. We'd been told Brisbane was a fab night out, though we only made it to the backpackers bar underneath our hostel.......no surprises there! ha! It was a true girls night out. We got the drinks in ( the drinks we get 3 free of just for staying at the hostel) and started playing some drinking games.......The manager came over and handedus lots of free drink vouchers, then insisted he would buy us all a drink too! We were all in for a good night here! All entering into the pool competition to try and win the $50 note and Jet managed to get through to the final! Wooooo! She was against a guy who was pretty good so us girls went on our mission - distraction at all costs! IT WORKED! She won! Men - pah! so easily distracted! So to the bar it was for a round of jagabombs with the winnings - of course! By now we still hadnt spent a penny and lots of vouchers still in tow! We had such a giggle with just us girlies. Clearly i had waaaaaay too much to drink when i agreed to join in the dance competition though it was a good idea because I WON! Yes, another $50 under the belt and plenty more drinks for us girls! Unfortunately there are many pictures and videos of this dance competition that im not sure I will live down for a very long time! ha! We rounded the night off with a mcdonalds, this is where I discovered I had my phone stolen when a strange man called my friend Katie and said he had my phone. He then prioceeded to call other family members and friends and scared them too! He was trying to get me to meet him in all different places - weirdo! Luckily enough we figured out his game and just reported the phone being stolen to the police and had to buy a new one :-( I was not impressed! At all! Oh well!
We only had a couple of days in Brisbane, short but sweet and lots of fun! Onto Noosa!
We only had a couple of days in Brisbane, short but sweet and lots of fun! Onto Noosa!
Sunday, 3 May 2009
More Aus Pics
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=366666011/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
More Pics have been added to the Aus album, click on the link above to see
More Pics have been added to the Aus album, click on the link above to see
Surf Camp Photos
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=429495011/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
Click on this link to see the pictures of Surf Camp
Click on this link to see the pictures of Surf Camp
Surfers Paradise
I wasnt very well, infact I had flu the whole time we were in Surfers paradise so I didnt see any nightlife :-( but the others tell me I wasnt really missing out as its just like clubbing at home....!
During the day we went to the beach a lot which was good but the sun goes behind the high rise apartment blocka about 3pm......brrrrrr cold!
Im glad if I was going to be ill anywhere that is was Surfers because even though it is called Surfers paradise the surf isnt very good and the place was a bit strange, almost like the USA in some ways. So onward to Brisbane it is!
During the day we went to the beach a lot which was good but the sun goes behind the high rise apartment blocka about 3pm......brrrrrr cold!
Im glad if I was going to be ill anywhere that is was Surfers because even though it is called Surfers paradise the surf isnt very good and the place was a bit strange, almost like the USA in some ways. So onward to Brisbane it is!
Byron Bay
We arrived in Byron Bay around 3pm had a nice walk around town. Its so cute! Everyone is either a surfer, a hippi or a backpacker. The atmosphere is really laid back here and there are lots of really cure shops and cafes. The beach is gorgeous and the surf is good so it was a great place to practise those skills we learnt at Spot x ( surf camp)
Saturday was anzac day and for the Aussies a momentus day! We spent the day chilling on the beach in the sun....now this is what Australia is about. Sun, sea surf and shots! On that note we went to cheeky monkeys tonight which is conventiently located just across the road from our hostel! Dangerous! So after a few cheapy drinks in our room followed by a few more and then a few drinking games we headed out. It was a wicked night. I got myself involved in a few challenges on stage in true Danielle fashion....but it did prove a good move when i won myself $30 worth of free drinkies! yey!
Sunday was one of my worst hangovers EVER! no kidding! oh well! I dragged myself to the beach with the others. Me and Claire decided to go in the sea for a dip....wrong! The current was huge, Claire managed to lose her sunglasses ( after already losing her camera and back card the night before :-( ) Not good! But we literally had the giggles for about an hour in the sea! sooooo funny - wave bashing etc. We spent Sunday night with a bbq a film!
We left Byron Bay on tuesday to go to Surfers Paradise :-( I loved Byron Bay and wanted to stay, will definatley be coming back here!
Saturday was anzac day and for the Aussies a momentus day! We spent the day chilling on the beach in the sun....now this is what Australia is about. Sun, sea surf and shots! On that note we went to cheeky monkeys tonight which is conventiently located just across the road from our hostel! Dangerous! So after a few cheapy drinks in our room followed by a few more and then a few drinking games we headed out. It was a wicked night. I got myself involved in a few challenges on stage in true Danielle fashion....but it did prove a good move when i won myself $30 worth of free drinkies! yey!
Sunday was one of my worst hangovers EVER! no kidding! oh well! I dragged myself to the beach with the others. Me and Claire decided to go in the sea for a dip....wrong! The current was huge, Claire managed to lose her sunglasses ( after already losing her camera and back card the night before :-( ) Not good! But we literally had the giggles for about an hour in the sea! sooooo funny - wave bashing etc. We spent Sunday night with a bbq a film!
We left Byron Bay on tuesday to go to Surfers Paradise :-( I loved Byron Bay and wanted to stay, will definatley be coming back here!
Surf Camp
So after a very early morning after a pretty late night we travelled to Surf camp....! The bus managed to break down even before we had left which meant we could have had 2 extra hours sleep grrrrr! Oh well! Finally it got sorted with a replacement bus but it wasnt big enough for everyone so scooter ( thats our bus drivers name?! yes weird) asked 6 of us to volunteer to go on a smaller bus most of the way so we volunteered being the nice people we are. We got on this little mini bus, waited for our other driver when this really starnge looking man got on with huuuuuge big buck teeth ( really big) and started talking about his obsession with pigs. We were all pulling faces behind his back as were a little bit freaked out and then he pulls his ugly hat off and the minging teeth out and starts cracking up laughing! It was really funny but at the same time we were mortified as he then made us feel really bad for judging him.......oooopsy! I giggled most of the journey about it! ha! Today was a long day of travelling especially with a hangover and a half. We finally got to surf camp in time for dinner and we crashed pretty early as we knew we had yet another 6am rise.
So we got up at 6am as requested had brekky and then headed to the briefing area. The surf instructors were just a little bit ( a lot) attractive which didnt help pretty much all of the girls concentration ha! Anyhow we then headed down to the beach for our surf lesson. Most of us a little scared but after about 5 minutes we were all determined to get up and ride those waves and it didnt take us long before we did! It was amazing! yeeeeeeeow! ( this is what u have to shout if u get up!) Surfing is soooooo tiring but addictive we had so much fun. Pictures to follow.
We left surf camp to head for Byron Bay at lunchtime.
So we got up at 6am as requested had brekky and then headed to the briefing area. The surf instructors were just a little bit ( a lot) attractive which didnt help pretty much all of the girls concentration ha! Anyhow we then headed down to the beach for our surf lesson. Most of us a little scared but after about 5 minutes we were all determined to get up and ride those waves and it didnt take us long before we did! It was amazing! yeeeeeeeow! ( this is what u have to shout if u get up!) Surfing is soooooo tiring but addictive we had so much fun. Pictures to follow.
We left surf camp to head for Byron Bay at lunchtime.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
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Sydney
After being a pretty minging hostel the first night we checked into Wake Up, a wicked hostel right in the middle of town. On easter sunday I went and met Marcus,Jon and Simon ( guys from school) over on Manly for a nice sunny afternoon and a few bevvies. Wicked day catching up and talking about back in the day ha! Will and Pete from the tour came and met us all too. We have spent the rest of our time here in Sydney seeing the sights and fun times with the girls and guys from the tour :-)
Emily and Tom who are also staying at wake up met us on the monday and Will and we all went to see Sydney Opera house and climbed the pylon up Sydney Harbour Bridge, walked through the rocks. Fab day but really tiring. We visited bondi beach, coogee beach both of which were amazing. Lots of hot surfers and beach made bodies around. Bondi is a really cool part of Sydney too. There was a quiz tuesday night in Side bar which is actually down below our hostel so we went along to that knowing we wouldnt win but hey was fun. Will did the physical challenge which was to eat a whole weetabix, finish it and then blow up a balloon until it pops, he won which meant free drinks for our team....only later we found out he sneakily put half in his pocket! very funny, i had videoed it and it was caught on camera, hilarious! Thursday was another big night of fun and games which left friday for us to all die in unison alllllllll day in the hostel watching films! The weekend was fun and games too.......all a bit blurry!
Monday Jet arrived from Asia, it was her birthday and we had got cake, candles, a lil present and plans for the evening! So we headed out with our homemade picnic stuff and went to Botanica gardens, which are these beautiful gardens right next to the Opera house and on the water. Great afternoon chilling and chatting just us girls. Then back to the hostel to get ready for our big night. Our friend Claire has been staying with her Uncle over here and he had gone away on business on Sunday so we all walked round to Claires for dinner. Me and Em got there early and decorated with banners and party hats. Great evening, lots of wine and girly fun followed by a VVVVVVV messy night where mine and Claires memory is yet to come back, after the tequilas it was game over and apparently we didnt know our own names.....eeeek! We did however make it back to the flat! well done us!
Sunday was spent chilling out, much needed. Jet wanted to go out so Em and Nat went downstairs with her whereas me and Claire were lame and watched films in her uncles penthouse ( oh yeh forgot to say he has a penthouse apartment - lush!), we thought we'd lap up the luxury while we could plus my head felt like an elephant was sitting on it! So thats was Sydney, wicked time and now onto Surf camp followed by Byron Bay :-)
Emily and Tom who are also staying at wake up met us on the monday and Will and we all went to see Sydney Opera house and climbed the pylon up Sydney Harbour Bridge, walked through the rocks. Fab day but really tiring. We visited bondi beach, coogee beach both of which were amazing. Lots of hot surfers and beach made bodies around. Bondi is a really cool part of Sydney too. There was a quiz tuesday night in Side bar which is actually down below our hostel so we went along to that knowing we wouldnt win but hey was fun. Will did the physical challenge which was to eat a whole weetabix, finish it and then blow up a balloon until it pops, he won which meant free drinks for our team....only later we found out he sneakily put half in his pocket! very funny, i had videoed it and it was caught on camera, hilarious! Thursday was another big night of fun and games which left friday for us to all die in unison alllllllll day in the hostel watching films! The weekend was fun and games too.......all a bit blurry!
Monday Jet arrived from Asia, it was her birthday and we had got cake, candles, a lil present and plans for the evening! So we headed out with our homemade picnic stuff and went to Botanica gardens, which are these beautiful gardens right next to the Opera house and on the water. Great afternoon chilling and chatting just us girls. Then back to the hostel to get ready for our big night. Our friend Claire has been staying with her Uncle over here and he had gone away on business on Sunday so we all walked round to Claires for dinner. Me and Em got there early and decorated with banners and party hats. Great evening, lots of wine and girly fun followed by a VVVVVVV messy night where mine and Claires memory is yet to come back, after the tequilas it was game over and apparently we didnt know our own names.....eeeek! We did however make it back to the flat! well done us!
Sunday was spent chilling out, much needed. Jet wanted to go out so Em and Nat went downstairs with her whereas me and Claire were lame and watched films in her uncles penthouse ( oh yeh forgot to say he has a penthouse apartment - lush!), we thought we'd lap up the luxury while we could plus my head felt like an elephant was sitting on it! So thats was Sydney, wicked time and now onto Surf camp followed by Byron Bay :-)
Melbourne to Sydney
So on Thursday morning we set off at 6am after yet another heavy night previously.......boo to that! Goon is officially the worst drink for hangovers! So there we were, boarding the bus at 6.30 looking hmmmmmmmm not so great to say the least. Sunny's definatley on! We picked up the rest of the group in St Kildar ( the place we never got to see because we got lost!). So after a few hours of sleep on the bus we stopped in a little toen called Foster for some breakfast. Still feeling awful we got talking to Claire and Emily. We drove onto sqeeky beach, which funnily enough was quite squeeky! What Hoops ( the tour guide) didnt tell us was that it was an hours walk up a huge hill. When ur hungover and its mega hot this was not fun! The view however was very much worth it once we made it to the top! After lunch we drove to Lakes Entrance which is home to the largest beach in the world - 90 mile beach. Had fab fish and chips here for dinner and then an early night at the hostel was in order as it turns out we were not the only ones who were hit their last night in Melbourne a bit hard! Ha!
We were up mega early the next day, late for brekky and Will had eaten all the cocopops! typical 18 year old boy ha! its just like being at home with Liam!
We drove the Barry Way to cross the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Two counties down, 2 to go! The Barry Way was a really bumpy long road. We passed "crazy daves house" which was actuqally crazy! Hoops pulled over and we all got out, she showed us that in the hills ( which is where the Barry way is) that if ever you're in trouble and need to find someone that u shout cooooooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeeee and it echos, its pretty dam cool. On route to Thredbo we saw a wombat and a kangaroooooo, wow! Learnt lots about Aboriginal history too. Finally got to Mount Kosiosko about 2.30 and had two hours to trek 13km up the mountain ( which is by the way the largest mountain in Aus)
We were behind from the start which didnt help our cause and after 2 months of no real hardcore exercise it proved a lot harder than we thought! It was cold miserable and hard but Nat, Claire, Emily and me all soldiered on and kept laughing or i think we might have cried ha! We eventually made it to the top but hadnt been keeping an eye on the time so once we reached the top we had 45 mins to get back to the chair lift which was pretty much impossible unless we ran all the way. So we marched on but half way down i broke my flip flop...... yes we climbed the mountain in flip flops but we werent told that we were going to be climbing a mountain when we booked Oz experience so had sent our trekking sandals home in Singapore....whoops. So now i was in toruble, half way down a mountain and no shoes.....luckily claire had a spare pai in her bag. After much pain in the flimsy flip flops we made it to the chairlift 15 mins late but the others had been nice and asked them to wait for us - they werent best pleased. we felt like naughty school children - really quite funny.
Our hotel ( yes hotel! how luxury - included in the tour) had a hot tub which we took full advantage of when we got back before getting dolled up for dinner and a a few drinks.....they have a thing called shotski's in thredbo as this is the place where most aussies come to ski in the winter months. It consists of a ski with 4 holes in it, 4 shots r placed in the holes and 4 people shoot the drinks at the same time, the drivers at either end have to control it! a few dribbles later and we played some drinking games....! wooo! Some of the guys decided to play god save the queen - coining peoples drinks and if they get a coin thrown in their drink they have to down it. Will got 2 coins in his drink and downed the lot ...... including the coins! Only one has surfaced......! Not good! ha!
The next day we left for Canberra ( the countries capital city). Personally i dont rate Canberra, the parliment buildings are quite cool and modern but there wasnt much here - hence the reason we were only passin through and spent only an hour here. One of the young guys was sick on the bus, he didnt even make it to the front, he just got up and was sick all in the gangway of the bus uuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrgh! It was awful! YUK!
We had been a little unorganised and not booked a hostel for Sydney so hoops managed to get me and nat into westend backpackers. This is where Sydney began!
We were up mega early the next day, late for brekky and Will had eaten all the cocopops! typical 18 year old boy ha! its just like being at home with Liam!
We drove the Barry Way to cross the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Two counties down, 2 to go! The Barry Way was a really bumpy long road. We passed "crazy daves house" which was actuqally crazy! Hoops pulled over and we all got out, she showed us that in the hills ( which is where the Barry way is) that if ever you're in trouble and need to find someone that u shout cooooooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeeee and it echos, its pretty dam cool. On route to Thredbo we saw a wombat and a kangaroooooo, wow! Learnt lots about Aboriginal history too. Finally got to Mount Kosiosko about 2.30 and had two hours to trek 13km up the mountain ( which is by the way the largest mountain in Aus)
We were behind from the start which didnt help our cause and after 2 months of no real hardcore exercise it proved a lot harder than we thought! It was cold miserable and hard but Nat, Claire, Emily and me all soldiered on and kept laughing or i think we might have cried ha! We eventually made it to the top but hadnt been keeping an eye on the time so once we reached the top we had 45 mins to get back to the chair lift which was pretty much impossible unless we ran all the way. So we marched on but half way down i broke my flip flop...... yes we climbed the mountain in flip flops but we werent told that we were going to be climbing a mountain when we booked Oz experience so had sent our trekking sandals home in Singapore....whoops. So now i was in toruble, half way down a mountain and no shoes.....luckily claire had a spare pai in her bag. After much pain in the flimsy flip flops we made it to the chairlift 15 mins late but the others had been nice and asked them to wait for us - they werent best pleased. we felt like naughty school children - really quite funny.
Our hotel ( yes hotel! how luxury - included in the tour) had a hot tub which we took full advantage of when we got back before getting dolled up for dinner and a a few drinks.....they have a thing called shotski's in thredbo as this is the place where most aussies come to ski in the winter months. It consists of a ski with 4 holes in it, 4 shots r placed in the holes and 4 people shoot the drinks at the same time, the drivers at either end have to control it! a few dribbles later and we played some drinking games....! wooo! Some of the guys decided to play god save the queen - coining peoples drinks and if they get a coin thrown in their drink they have to down it. Will got 2 coins in his drink and downed the lot ...... including the coins! Only one has surfaced......! Not good! ha!
The next day we left for Canberra ( the countries capital city). Personally i dont rate Canberra, the parliment buildings are quite cool and modern but there wasnt much here - hence the reason we were only passin through and spent only an hour here. One of the young guys was sick on the bus, he didnt even make it to the front, he just got up and was sick all in the gangway of the bus uuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrgh! It was awful! YUK!
We had been a little unorganised and not booked a hostel for Sydney so hoops managed to get me and nat into westend backpackers. This is where Sydney began!
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Photos Link
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Tuesday, 7 April 2009
The Great Ocean Road
Day 1
We woke up today feeling reeeeally hungover. Friday night had gone from a quick glass of wine to a few more, snakebites and sambuca?? Brilliant night but not well thought through at all as we had to be up the next day to collect our camper van before they shut for the weekend. We dragged ourselves out of bed and headed to get some toast before climbing on the tram to get to the hire shop. We were so excited when we saw they had vegemite on toast...untill it came completley soaked in the stuff - yuk! Not good for a hangover booooo!
We made it back to Bev and Micks and checked out just in time to park the van and rush to the Neighbours tour we had booked. Seriousley was a close call the bus nearly went without us! eeeek!
The neighbours tour was great we got to see all the sets and even Ramsey street, people actually live on that street, they get paid to let people film, good ey.
We began to feel a little better as the day went on, but not much! ha!
We got back to the city, found the car and started our trip down the great ocean road. First stop was Geelong, on the way we saw a sign for "Lara" the town, wow we were amazed so took pictures of the signs for Lara. Then we decided we had a bit of spare time before we had to check in at the campsite so we took a detour to see the town of "Lara". We saw Lara town hall, Lara secondary school, Lara quality meats, Lara fruit and veg ( yes we have picture documentation of all of the above and more!) - very funny! We finally made it to Geelong ( being an hour late and having the poor receptionist have to stay an hour after her normal work hours to check us in ooopsy), did some shopping at the supermarket for camping food, back to the campsite for tea and crumpets :-) we giggled most of the night at how small our van is, very cosy - we like it!
Day 2
Day 2 was supposed to start out bright and early, we thought seeing as we were in a tiny van in a campsite we would wake to the noises around us and be uncomfortabel - wrong again! We slept so well and i woke up @ 11.45am, making Nat jump as we both realised what the time was - dammit! Luckily the clocks had gone back an hour as Aus are going into winter so we gained an hour back phew. We made our way from Geelong all the way to Port Campbell on Day 2. First stop was Bells beach. Here is the place where surferes love to cathc waves, the scenery was amazing. The waves were huge! We got some good pictures and spent quite a while just soaking up the atmosphere. Between Bells beach and Apollop Bay there are many viewing points which we stopped at too. We stopped at Cape Otway which is a famous lighthouse on the Great Ocean Road where many ships have been shipwrecked off the coast as a consequence of the crazy weather and aves they get here. Then stopping in Apollo bay, Nat filled us up with petrol and dowsed herself in it at the same time. The van only took $35 to fill up, compared to home that was so cheap she didnt believe the tank was full so kept pulling the trigger and it went all over her! We made our way to some waterfalls but when we got there it was an hours walk ans we realised the dark would catch us as the clocks had gone back so we thought better of it with the luck we have been having....ha! We then made our way through Otway national park for what seemed like hours, it was dark we were scared. Along the way we saw someone had broken down, we were in the middle of no where and there seemed to be about 3 other cars stopped too so we drove on. We finally made it to Port Campbell ( so relieved!), made a culinary delight of scrambled eggs, beans with some vegemite mixed in! To top iit off we had some cheap red wine in our plastic cups - classy chicks! It was so windy that night that it rocked the van and us to sleep!
Day 3
Once again we tried to get up early and hit the road but we managed to switch off the alarm...
Its lucky we had made good work the previous day! We stopped at the 12 Apostles, London Bridge, the grotto, tower hill and many more viewing lookouts, all pictures to follow. Today was really windy and we had our jumpers on for the first time since leaving England. We = not impressed! haha!
We had great fun, I pods on, singing along - we even gave ourselves sore throats ha! Then Nats dads song, My Way by Frank Sinatra came on so we started singing but relating it to our road trip on the Great Ocean Road, it was so good we decided to film it! Also lots of Westlife, Take That and Girls Aloud were sung today!
When we finally reached Port Fairy the coastline was a strange shape which also caused the waves to be more crazy - well so it seemed. We sat and watched them for ages, really relaxing.
Nat bought a DVD player in Vietnam so we set ourselves up on our campsite got all warm and watched a DVD with our cheap red and some chocolate, once again classy chicks!
Day 4
Today was to be our last full day and last night on a campsite before heading back to Bev and Micks.....wrong again!
We managed to get ourselves up, all organised, bright and early and set off back along the motorway to Melbourne. Our plan was to get back and stay in St Kilda, still in melbourne but on the coast.
We got back into the city around 3pm and decided it would be nice to go to the cinema for a change as the norm lately had been nothing of the sort. So we did, one thing we didnt think through was that the film wasnt to finish until 7pm.....a little too late to book into a camsite. I had however looked in our lonely planet to see there was only one site in St Kilda, so we headed to St Kilda knowing that it would be fine, we would drive onto the site and pay the next morning - WRONG! 2. 5 hours later and many stop offs to ask people where it was we still hadnt found it, we had managed to drive so far out of Melbourne it took us an hour to get back aqlong the motorway. So we finally made the decison to head back to Bev and Micks for the night. You can't just pull up on the side of the road with a van that has "Travellers Auto Barn" scrawled all over it as the police can arrest you for this and supposedly regulary drive the streets to catch people out.
When we walked back into Bev and Micks all the residents did laugh - they knew we wasnt supposed to be back until Wednesday and laughed at us haha! Oh well!
Day 5
So today we had to get up early to ensure we didnt get a parking ticket on the van - this wouldnt have been cool for school with our already bad luck. So we rolled out of bed, cleaned up and drove it back to the hire place. We were literally in our PJ's when they told us we had to wash the van - apparently its in the small print! agggggggggh! so we did and it was fine. All of the mistakes aside we really did have a brilliant time, the mistakes made it quite funny! We just had to laugh at ourselves and get on with it! So today is Wednesday 8th April and we leave Mebourne tommorrow to pick up our 3 day tour to Sydney arriving on Saturday 11th. Until then...........
We woke up today feeling reeeeally hungover. Friday night had gone from a quick glass of wine to a few more, snakebites and sambuca?? Brilliant night but not well thought through at all as we had to be up the next day to collect our camper van before they shut for the weekend. We dragged ourselves out of bed and headed to get some toast before climbing on the tram to get to the hire shop. We were so excited when we saw they had vegemite on toast...untill it came completley soaked in the stuff - yuk! Not good for a hangover booooo!
We made it back to Bev and Micks and checked out just in time to park the van and rush to the Neighbours tour we had booked. Seriousley was a close call the bus nearly went without us! eeeek!
The neighbours tour was great we got to see all the sets and even Ramsey street, people actually live on that street, they get paid to let people film, good ey.
We began to feel a little better as the day went on, but not much! ha!
We got back to the city, found the car and started our trip down the great ocean road. First stop was Geelong, on the way we saw a sign for "Lara" the town, wow we were amazed so took pictures of the signs for Lara. Then we decided we had a bit of spare time before we had to check in at the campsite so we took a detour to see the town of "Lara". We saw Lara town hall, Lara secondary school, Lara quality meats, Lara fruit and veg ( yes we have picture documentation of all of the above and more!) - very funny! We finally made it to Geelong ( being an hour late and having the poor receptionist have to stay an hour after her normal work hours to check us in ooopsy), did some shopping at the supermarket for camping food, back to the campsite for tea and crumpets :-) we giggled most of the night at how small our van is, very cosy - we like it!
Day 2
Day 2 was supposed to start out bright and early, we thought seeing as we were in a tiny van in a campsite we would wake to the noises around us and be uncomfortabel - wrong again! We slept so well and i woke up @ 11.45am, making Nat jump as we both realised what the time was - dammit! Luckily the clocks had gone back an hour as Aus are going into winter so we gained an hour back phew. We made our way from Geelong all the way to Port Campbell on Day 2. First stop was Bells beach. Here is the place where surferes love to cathc waves, the scenery was amazing. The waves were huge! We got some good pictures and spent quite a while just soaking up the atmosphere. Between Bells beach and Apollop Bay there are many viewing points which we stopped at too. We stopped at Cape Otway which is a famous lighthouse on the Great Ocean Road where many ships have been shipwrecked off the coast as a consequence of the crazy weather and aves they get here. Then stopping in Apollo bay, Nat filled us up with petrol and dowsed herself in it at the same time. The van only took $35 to fill up, compared to home that was so cheap she didnt believe the tank was full so kept pulling the trigger and it went all over her! We made our way to some waterfalls but when we got there it was an hours walk ans we realised the dark would catch us as the clocks had gone back so we thought better of it with the luck we have been having....ha! We then made our way through Otway national park for what seemed like hours, it was dark we were scared. Along the way we saw someone had broken down, we were in the middle of no where and there seemed to be about 3 other cars stopped too so we drove on. We finally made it to Port Campbell ( so relieved!), made a culinary delight of scrambled eggs, beans with some vegemite mixed in! To top iit off we had some cheap red wine in our plastic cups - classy chicks! It was so windy that night that it rocked the van and us to sleep!
Day 3
Once again we tried to get up early and hit the road but we managed to switch off the alarm...
Its lucky we had made good work the previous day! We stopped at the 12 Apostles, London Bridge, the grotto, tower hill and many more viewing lookouts, all pictures to follow. Today was really windy and we had our jumpers on for the first time since leaving England. We = not impressed! haha!
We had great fun, I pods on, singing along - we even gave ourselves sore throats ha! Then Nats dads song, My Way by Frank Sinatra came on so we started singing but relating it to our road trip on the Great Ocean Road, it was so good we decided to film it! Also lots of Westlife, Take That and Girls Aloud were sung today!
When we finally reached Port Fairy the coastline was a strange shape which also caused the waves to be more crazy - well so it seemed. We sat and watched them for ages, really relaxing.
Nat bought a DVD player in Vietnam so we set ourselves up on our campsite got all warm and watched a DVD with our cheap red and some chocolate, once again classy chicks!
Day 4
Today was to be our last full day and last night on a campsite before heading back to Bev and Micks.....wrong again!
We managed to get ourselves up, all organised, bright and early and set off back along the motorway to Melbourne. Our plan was to get back and stay in St Kilda, still in melbourne but on the coast.
We got back into the city around 3pm and decided it would be nice to go to the cinema for a change as the norm lately had been nothing of the sort. So we did, one thing we didnt think through was that the film wasnt to finish until 7pm.....a little too late to book into a camsite. I had however looked in our lonely planet to see there was only one site in St Kilda, so we headed to St Kilda knowing that it would be fine, we would drive onto the site and pay the next morning - WRONG! 2. 5 hours later and many stop offs to ask people where it was we still hadnt found it, we had managed to drive so far out of Melbourne it took us an hour to get back aqlong the motorway. So we finally made the decison to head back to Bev and Micks for the night. You can't just pull up on the side of the road with a van that has "Travellers Auto Barn" scrawled all over it as the police can arrest you for this and supposedly regulary drive the streets to catch people out.
When we walked back into Bev and Micks all the residents did laugh - they knew we wasnt supposed to be back until Wednesday and laughed at us haha! Oh well!
Day 5
So today we had to get up early to ensure we didnt get a parking ticket on the van - this wouldnt have been cool for school with our already bad luck. So we rolled out of bed, cleaned up and drove it back to the hire place. We were literally in our PJ's when they told us we had to wash the van - apparently its in the small print! agggggggggh! so we did and it was fine. All of the mistakes aside we really did have a brilliant time, the mistakes made it quite funny! We just had to laugh at ourselves and get on with it! So today is Wednesday 8th April and we leave Mebourne tommorrow to pick up our 3 day tour to Sydney arriving on Saturday 11th. Until then...........
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Down Under :-)
Melbourne
We arrived in Melbourne at 6am local time on April 1st. We chose the cheapest hostel in the lonely planet (needs must and all that!) at AUD 20 we thought this was very expensive but found it really is the cheapest you can get in Aus. Coming from Asia this was a shock, i suppose thats another drawback of doing Asia first as the prices smack you in the face almost immediatley!
Our hostel here is called Bev and Micks and when we rocked up outside it was a beaten up old pub with rooms/dorms upstairs but we knew this was the cheapest. Luckily one of the live in residents here ( there a lot of them as they came to stay here and 6 months later they havnt left and are working in Melbourne) saw us as he was leaving for work early and let us sit in the common room ( which is actually in the bar - just some skanky old sofas with flees in them and a big t.v). We checked in when Bev came to work about 10am and slept untill 4pm as we were so tired from the flight and the manicness of Singapore caught up on us! We decided to head into town on the tram to see what Melbourne was all about. We were too late to find out about the city from the info centre though so we took a short walk around before heading back to the hostel. When we got back i had a nice hot shower and was just about to chill out when one of the guys from downstairs come and dragge us downstairs to join in the pub quiz - errrr do they know how rubbish we are at facts???! Oh well we got on with is and didnt do too badly, we recruited the help of another team - joining forces :-) Then Natz got called up to do the practical round. It was a tub full of water ( murky water so u couldnt see) with about 8 pool balls in the bottom ( they dont float), using only her mouth she had to get the balls out for points. I have to give it to her, she did great, didnt win but gave it her best, infact i have pictures of her almost climbing into the tub - very funny. I think she still has coffee in her ears now.......! hahaha! The drink ( wine) of choice here for a travellers is Goon, i thought for the price of it that it would taste like vinegar but its actually nice and for AUD 2 a glass we filled our boots. After we finsihed the quiz and failed miserably we all sat around and sang along to the guys playing their guitars. Yessssssss i can hear you all saying - dear lord why did they let Danielle sing ahahaha! But it was fun and we were all a little worse for wear so knowone heard me sounding really bad hehe!
What a quality night it was but another 3am turn in caused a goonover (my new word for hangover) and a late rise the next day which in turn meant we once again didnt have long in town. We went for a nice long walk along the river, watched the sun go down and took some good pictures of the scenery. Melbourne is a very pretty city, like a little London but less built up, warm and clean.
Today ( Friday 3rd April) we woke up early ( well done us!), booked our camper van to do the Great Ocean Road. We leave tomorrow afternoon, after our Neighbours tour ( a must apparently). We have this camper for 5 days, im not sure you can call it a camper its a van with a bed in the back and a make shift cooker and a sink - we will report back about this once we have finished. I think its going to be interesting, but hey ho it was the cheapest option. The organised tours cost $395 each and the van onlly cost $200 each so we are off to the supermarket to buy some rice and beans! ha!
We arrived in Melbourne at 6am local time on April 1st. We chose the cheapest hostel in the lonely planet (needs must and all that!) at AUD 20 we thought this was very expensive but found it really is the cheapest you can get in Aus. Coming from Asia this was a shock, i suppose thats another drawback of doing Asia first as the prices smack you in the face almost immediatley!
Our hostel here is called Bev and Micks and when we rocked up outside it was a beaten up old pub with rooms/dorms upstairs but we knew this was the cheapest. Luckily one of the live in residents here ( there a lot of them as they came to stay here and 6 months later they havnt left and are working in Melbourne) saw us as he was leaving for work early and let us sit in the common room ( which is actually in the bar - just some skanky old sofas with flees in them and a big t.v). We checked in when Bev came to work about 10am and slept untill 4pm as we were so tired from the flight and the manicness of Singapore caught up on us! We decided to head into town on the tram to see what Melbourne was all about. We were too late to find out about the city from the info centre though so we took a short walk around before heading back to the hostel. When we got back i had a nice hot shower and was just about to chill out when one of the guys from downstairs come and dragge us downstairs to join in the pub quiz - errrr do they know how rubbish we are at facts???! Oh well we got on with is and didnt do too badly, we recruited the help of another team - joining forces :-) Then Natz got called up to do the practical round. It was a tub full of water ( murky water so u couldnt see) with about 8 pool balls in the bottom ( they dont float), using only her mouth she had to get the balls out for points. I have to give it to her, she did great, didnt win but gave it her best, infact i have pictures of her almost climbing into the tub - very funny. I think she still has coffee in her ears now.......! hahaha! The drink ( wine) of choice here for a travellers is Goon, i thought for the price of it that it would taste like vinegar but its actually nice and for AUD 2 a glass we filled our boots. After we finsihed the quiz and failed miserably we all sat around and sang along to the guys playing their guitars. Yessssssss i can hear you all saying - dear lord why did they let Danielle sing ahahaha! But it was fun and we were all a little worse for wear so knowone heard me sounding really bad hehe!
What a quality night it was but another 3am turn in caused a goonover (my new word for hangover) and a late rise the next day which in turn meant we once again didnt have long in town. We went for a nice long walk along the river, watched the sun go down and took some good pictures of the scenery. Melbourne is a very pretty city, like a little London but less built up, warm and clean.
Today ( Friday 3rd April) we woke up early ( well done us!), booked our camper van to do the Great Ocean Road. We leave tomorrow afternoon, after our Neighbours tour ( a must apparently). We have this camper for 5 days, im not sure you can call it a camper its a van with a bed in the back and a make shift cooker and a sink - we will report back about this once we have finished. I think its going to be interesting, but hey ho it was the cheapest option. The organised tours cost $395 each and the van onlly cost $200 each so we are off to the supermarket to buy some rice and beans! ha!
Singapore
We arrived in Singapore on Saturday 28th March, were dropped off in the middle of knowhere ( well thats what it felt like). We got out our lonley planet and tried to find our way to the centre of Singapore where we had already found a hostel to stay in ( hoping they had a dorm for us!), 45 mins with 21 kg on my back in 35 degrees heat later, we arrived.......! That was my workout for the week, my legs were about to give way! blurrrrrrgh!
Luckily they had 4 beds left in a dorm ( we pciked up a stragler on the bus!) so we settled in for a bit then Nat called her friend Adam. Adama nd his girlfriend invoted us to stay......dam it we had already paid for our hostel ( SGD 14 it cost each which is around 7 GBP......a lot we thought as had been paying 3 pounds in the rest of Asia). Never mind, at leadt we wouldnt be putting Adam and Carlene out. They invited us to their condo ( thats what they call flats/apartments over here) for drinks and then took us to a beach party at KM8, excellent night out and all paid for which was gr8 for us pikey travellers :-)
On Sunday we all woke up with slight hangover to say the least.......ooops, thats what free booze does to you :-( but all was not lost as Adam and Carlene had invited us over yet again so relax by the pool, best cure for a hangover there is. It was really strange being in the middle of a city with huge sky rises for condos and swimming complexes. Around 4pm we showered at Adams and Carlene gave us huge white fluffy warm towels from the dryer.......pure heaven for us travellers who use their micro towels to dry normally - not the most comfortable towel in the world! ahhhhhh how these little things please us! ha! We then set of for thier friends BBQ in yet another swanky condo in town. This condo the lift is fingerprint activated and the lift door opens into your particular apartment - very impressive. It was really nice to eat home cooked food, normal food at that and not have to order from a menu - the novelty of this runs out after about 3 weeks we are craving a bit of normality now. Rob ( adams friend) is australian so likes his wine and we all shared a few bottles of red, which again was bliss as wine is not really drunk in Asia and if it is then its very expensive and not in our budgets.
On Monday we got up early(ish) and set of to do some sightseeing. We visited the harbour front, stopped by Raffles for the infamous singapore sling, sat outside Bugis and watched the water features and then made our way to the night zoo. This was really impressive, though no flash photography was allowed so no great pictures from me on this one. We has been told to visit little india and knew we had to do this that evening to be able to fit it in so we did, the nicest curry I have had in 2 months - yum. Somehow we also managed to get back to the hostel at 3.30am, having spoken to family and friends on the net for so long. We discovered skype and web cams, was so nice to catch up ( mum, dad - you have to get a webcam you will love it)
On Tuesday we were up and packe early doors to checkout but luckily Jet was staying another night before she catches her bus and plane to Laos so we dumped our bags in her dorm. We then headed to Clarkes Quay for the afternoon on the MRT, which was really nice.
All in all Singapore was a great experience, its the most westernised city in Asia ( that i have visited) , although it is obvious there is a real divide between the ex pats and the singaporians this isnt as big as the hostility between the singaporians, chinese and malaysians - its racism at its peak. Very strange and quite obvious too. Despite this Singapore is a very liveable place, I will definatly be coming back here for another visit someday.
Luckily they had 4 beds left in a dorm ( we pciked up a stragler on the bus!) so we settled in for a bit then Nat called her friend Adam. Adama nd his girlfriend invoted us to stay......dam it we had already paid for our hostel ( SGD 14 it cost each which is around 7 GBP......a lot we thought as had been paying 3 pounds in the rest of Asia). Never mind, at leadt we wouldnt be putting Adam and Carlene out. They invited us to their condo ( thats what they call flats/apartments over here) for drinks and then took us to a beach party at KM8, excellent night out and all paid for which was gr8 for us pikey travellers :-)
On Sunday we all woke up with slight hangover to say the least.......ooops, thats what free booze does to you :-( but all was not lost as Adam and Carlene had invited us over yet again so relax by the pool, best cure for a hangover there is. It was really strange being in the middle of a city with huge sky rises for condos and swimming complexes. Around 4pm we showered at Adams and Carlene gave us huge white fluffy warm towels from the dryer.......pure heaven for us travellers who use their micro towels to dry normally - not the most comfortable towel in the world! ahhhhhh how these little things please us! ha! We then set of for thier friends BBQ in yet another swanky condo in town. This condo the lift is fingerprint activated and the lift door opens into your particular apartment - very impressive. It was really nice to eat home cooked food, normal food at that and not have to order from a menu - the novelty of this runs out after about 3 weeks we are craving a bit of normality now. Rob ( adams friend) is australian so likes his wine and we all shared a few bottles of red, which again was bliss as wine is not really drunk in Asia and if it is then its very expensive and not in our budgets.
On Monday we got up early(ish) and set of to do some sightseeing. We visited the harbour front, stopped by Raffles for the infamous singapore sling, sat outside Bugis and watched the water features and then made our way to the night zoo. This was really impressive, though no flash photography was allowed so no great pictures from me on this one. We has been told to visit little india and knew we had to do this that evening to be able to fit it in so we did, the nicest curry I have had in 2 months - yum. Somehow we also managed to get back to the hostel at 3.30am, having spoken to family and friends on the net for so long. We discovered skype and web cams, was so nice to catch up ( mum, dad - you have to get a webcam you will love it)
On Tuesday we were up and packe early doors to checkout but luckily Jet was staying another night before she catches her bus and plane to Laos so we dumped our bags in her dorm. We then headed to Clarkes Quay for the afternoon on the MRT, which was really nice.
All in all Singapore was a great experience, its the most westernised city in Asia ( that i have visited) , although it is obvious there is a real divide between the ex pats and the singaporians this isnt as big as the hostility between the singaporians, chinese and malaysians - its racism at its peak. Very strange and quite obvious too. Despite this Singapore is a very liveable place, I will definatly be coming back here for another visit someday.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Melacca
Myself and jet insisted we leave KL and go to Melacca as it looked so pretty and sounded like a great place with lots of history, Nat wasnt so keen but we dragged her.
We got here and had to walk for what seemed like miles to our faulty towers hostel but I think its because it was mega hot! Anyway the hostel was cheap yet again and this time much cleaner and bareable so we were in. Then we set off for the afternoon sightseeing. We walked through the dutch influenced part of town with Jet loved, we quickly shot her down by pointing out we kicked the dutch out and took over for almost 100 years, though it is quite obvious that the dutch laid down roots here. We all went on a river cruise which was disappointing to the point that Nat and I fell asleep on the way back - ooops. I marvelled at some of the beautiful boat they have on show near the port and a walk around was quite nice too. It wasnt quite as pretty as we thought but still interesting. I liked all the history about pirates and boats, was half expecting a man with a big black eye patch and a hook for a hand to jump out at me but no such luck! damn!
On the way back we took some photos of jet next to a windmill, she loved it. Then we went through the night market only to be greeted with malaysian people doing karaoke on the stage in the mif\ddle of town and about 50 people sitting watching with the longest faces in the world. This town was getting more strange by the minute! We had fun here though for our 1 day stopover before Singapore........ 4 countries down, 3 to go ;-)
We got here and had to walk for what seemed like miles to our faulty towers hostel but I think its because it was mega hot! Anyway the hostel was cheap yet again and this time much cleaner and bareable so we were in. Then we set off for the afternoon sightseeing. We walked through the dutch influenced part of town with Jet loved, we quickly shot her down by pointing out we kicked the dutch out and took over for almost 100 years, though it is quite obvious that the dutch laid down roots here. We all went on a river cruise which was disappointing to the point that Nat and I fell asleep on the way back - ooops. I marvelled at some of the beautiful boat they have on show near the port and a walk around was quite nice too. It wasnt quite as pretty as we thought but still interesting. I liked all the history about pirates and boats, was half expecting a man with a big black eye patch and a hook for a hand to jump out at me but no such luck! damn!
On the way back we took some photos of jet next to a windmill, she loved it. Then we went through the night market only to be greeted with malaysian people doing karaoke on the stage in the mif\ddle of town and about 50 people sitting watching with the longest faces in the world. This town was getting more strange by the minute! We had fun here though for our 1 day stopover before Singapore........ 4 countries down, 3 to go ;-)
Kuala Lumpur
We arrived in KL after a long journey from Langkawi and were dropped off by our bus in the middle of a huge main road near China Town. We had no idea where we were but eventually with our big rucksacks ( which by the way we are sick to death of and plan to send things home in a box soon as we cannot take the weight any longer!) we found Oasis Hostel which also looked nice on the flyer we had.... WRONG AGAIN! I have never sweated so much in my sleep before, the fan was like someone was blowing on me very lightly aggggggggh! yuk! We left our room pretty quickly and went to find some food. We found a local indian canteen and had dinner here for 1 pounds fifty for chicken korma, rice, chapati, veggies and an orange drink - bargain!
After a horendous night in Oasis hostel we decided to up sticks and find a nicer one, after all we were only paying 2 pounds a night. The next one was 3 pounds each a night and was WORSE aaaaaaaagh! We all know im not a snob but it was filthy yuk! We stuck it out though as decided we only had to sleep here. We found a local canteen again and ate lunch as by now after all our drama with hostels it was lunchtime. Whilst we were eating the heavens opened and the rain came......and didnt leave for nearly 2 hours. We braved the weather and went to the petronas tower ( which is actually taller than the empire state building) and the view was amazing. We were so pleased when we were told it was FREE now this really doesnt happen very often! woo!
Inside the towers is a shopping mall and because the weather was so bad we did have a look around. I did however resist and only bought a pair of shorts which were half price - i need them for Oz! The weather was still really bad and we couldnt see the bird santuary in the rain so we went to the cinema! It only cost 2 pounds - we like KL its cheap! Shame the hostels stink boooooo!
After a horendous night in Oasis hostel we decided to up sticks and find a nicer one, after all we were only paying 2 pounds a night. The next one was 3 pounds each a night and was WORSE aaaaaaaagh! We all know im not a snob but it was filthy yuk! We stuck it out though as decided we only had to sleep here. We found a local canteen again and ate lunch as by now after all our drama with hostels it was lunchtime. Whilst we were eating the heavens opened and the rain came......and didnt leave for nearly 2 hours. We braved the weather and went to the petronas tower ( which is actually taller than the empire state building) and the view was amazing. We were so pleased when we were told it was FREE now this really doesnt happen very often! woo!
Inside the towers is a shopping mall and because the weather was so bad we did have a look around. I did however resist and only bought a pair of shorts which were half price - i need them for Oz! The weather was still really bad and we couldnt see the bird santuary in the rain so we went to the cinema! It only cost 2 pounds - we like KL its cheap! Shame the hostels stink boooooo!
Langkawi
Once we arrived in Langkawi we all travelled together to Pantai Chenang which is where the backpackers stay.....the likes of us just cannot afford The Datai ( thats for u Suz!) but we did visit the datai on our day trip( info to follow!)
We found rooms for all of us at the Rainbow lodge, which was cheap, cheerful and well located - bargain! After going to get something to eat we met Jet ( whom we met in Koh Tao and wanted to travel through Malaysia with us - consequently we have convinced her to bin off half of her trip and meet us in Oz for her birthday and then continue to Cairns and the whole of NZ! What can i say she loves us! hehe!
The following day we woke up rather late! oooops! so spent the rest of the day on the beach chilling out, the beaches here are beautiful ;-)
We got up early( ish) the next day and hired cars for the day. We had to hire two being that there was 6 of us so i drove one! I decided it would be ok as they drive on the left too and have right hand drive. So we made our way to The Seven Wells waterfalls and the cable cars but a HUGE storm broke out on route......we decided to brave the walk to the top of the waterfalls though and it was a great view ( picutres to be uploaded soon!), the cable car we gave a miss as it was so cloudy that it would have been a waste. Then we reached the far north and saw the datai and monkeys along the road. We thought they were rather cute but then some locals told us to be careful as they steal.....we ran haha!
After a detour to starbucks ( at the port - we were in heaven!) we headed to the night market and tried some local food which was yuuuuumy! We gave our cars back pretty late as we didnt wanna give them up!
We had such a lovely time in Langkawi, its definatly somewhere i will visit again :-)
We found rooms for all of us at the Rainbow lodge, which was cheap, cheerful and well located - bargain! After going to get something to eat we met Jet ( whom we met in Koh Tao and wanted to travel through Malaysia with us - consequently we have convinced her to bin off half of her trip and meet us in Oz for her birthday and then continue to Cairns and the whole of NZ! What can i say she loves us! hehe!
The following day we woke up rather late! oooops! so spent the rest of the day on the beach chilling out, the beaches here are beautiful ;-)
We got up early( ish) the next day and hired cars for the day. We had to hire two being that there was 6 of us so i drove one! I decided it would be ok as they drive on the left too and have right hand drive. So we made our way to The Seven Wells waterfalls and the cable cars but a HUGE storm broke out on route......we decided to brave the walk to the top of the waterfalls though and it was a great view ( picutres to be uploaded soon!), the cable car we gave a miss as it was so cloudy that it would have been a waste. Then we reached the far north and saw the datai and monkeys along the road. We thought they were rather cute but then some locals told us to be careful as they steal.....we ran haha!
After a detour to starbucks ( at the port - we were in heaven!) we headed to the night market and tried some local food which was yuuuuumy! We gave our cars back pretty late as we didnt wanna give them up!
We had such a lovely time in Langkawi, its definatly somewhere i will visit again :-)
Malaysia Fun Begins!
After staying the night in Krabi town ( which may i add was rather disappoitning) we got up at 6.30 to board our minibus which would take us through the rest of southern thailand, cross the border and enter Malaysia! We got on the bus and both chose a window seat for ease but then we picked up some more people where another three english people got on and one of the girls sat between me and Natalie. At that time of the morning nobody wants to talk so we all slept for a few hours. I very embarrasingly kept falling onto the girl next to me's shoulder! I have yet to master the attractive sleeping skill ( u would think i could do this after 4 years of commuting to london but no! ha!)
Anyhow when we stopped for a toilet break i asked one of the girls if the guy that was with them was a hairdresser, she was Canadian and her name was Jo, she said no he wasnt but asked why. i explained that i recognised him and thought he worked in Strangeways in Leigh on sea. When he got back on the bus I struck up a convo with him and after much deliberation we concluded he went to the same school as me and we have quite a few mutual friends! wow! small world....once again! Chris, the guy i recognised is travelling with Jo (from London) and they met Jo( Canadian) on a tour around Indochina. We both got on really werll with them! At the border Nat started chatting to Chris and they realised that Chris went to college with Nats sister and they are good friends, could this get any weirder! ha!
We got to Malaysia and boarded our boat to Langkawi!
Anyhow when we stopped for a toilet break i asked one of the girls if the guy that was with them was a hairdresser, she was Canadian and her name was Jo, she said no he wasnt but asked why. i explained that i recognised him and thought he worked in Strangeways in Leigh on sea. When he got back on the bus I struck up a convo with him and after much deliberation we concluded he went to the same school as me and we have quite a few mutual friends! wow! small world....once again! Chris, the guy i recognised is travelling with Jo (from London) and they met Jo( Canadian) on a tour around Indochina. We both got on really werll with them! At the border Nat started chatting to Chris and they realised that Chris went to college with Nats sister and they are good friends, could this get any weirder! ha!
We got to Malaysia and boarded our boat to Langkawi!
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Koh Phi Phi
On Tuesday March 17th we headed to Phi Phi to meet the norwegians for some fun :-)
We happened to be sitting next to Henriettas boyfriend on the boat unbeknown to us until we almost docked and spoke to the girls and we then realised - very strange!
Oh whilst we are on strange things happening..... We were standing in the reggee bar talking to some swedish guys about the fact that i couldnt believe Nat was making me watch the yids play when another guy came up behind me and said "I take it your a gooner then" so we got taling and Nat was talking to his girlfriend. Later on he said so where are you from London then, so I explained that we were from Essex and he said they were from East London so I was like oh cool. Thern we said " So where are you from in Essex then" so i replied with " Its near Southend do you know it" and he said " yeh, so where exactly..... Leigh on Sea, Rayleigh, THUNDERSLEY?????"
I coudltn believe he came out with THUNDERSLEY, sopme people i know who live in Southend dont even know of Thunderlsey Village! haha! Turns out his friend lives near Thundersley common. Small world or what!
Anyway back to Phi Phi. After we had docked we went with Jarl ( Henriettas boyfriend) to book our accommodation as he has been here twice before. We booked into bungalows up the hill as you can get away from the noise if you want....this was the biggest trek I had done on the whole trip so far. Actually it brings home how awful it must have been when the Tsunami hit as to climb the hill to get away from the devastation must of been one hell of an experience. Infact you can still feel the atmosphere that the tsunami caused here. Just pulling into dock was sad as it was these very waters that caused such a tragedy, its quite hard to get your head around and you can still see it in the locals eyes. Once the girls arrived from Phuket on thier boat we headed straight to the beach to find Ciao Bella. Ciao Bella is a restaurant that was set up by an Italian guy.....very long storyu but we read this mans story in a book George gave to us in Bangkok. it touched us all as it was his account of the Tsunami and also some of his friends and it made it all so real rather than just small stories we saw on the TV four years ago. We wanted to see if he had re opened another restaurant - and he had! We were all star struck, very funny.
After a couple of hours on the beach we went to Ciao Bella for a drink when Natalie went as white as a sheet. I knew she didnt look well, so asked if she was ok and hardly got a response. She had been drinking lots of water but to no avail. I will spare details but Nats has had a poorly tummy since Cambodia so I knew something had to be done. Mummy Burr had to put her foot down and I told her me and the girls would have to take her to hospital, miss stubborn Vaughan didnt want to but I knew it was best. So we started to walk to the other side of the island (oh there are no cars or motorbikes allowed on phi phi, travel is by foot only!) We hadnt got very far when her legs went from under her and luckily we were holding her up, she had to be taken into the massage shop across the road. After a while the "ambulance" turned up.......! This ambulance consisted of a scooter with a rickety old trailer attached to the side! Kathryn was holding onto Nat while i got nats camera from her bag and decided to capture the moment. Im glad she finds it funny now. Cutting a very long story short here. We got to the hospital, they decided Natalie was very dehydrated and has a common Parasite in her tummy - not good. So drips were in her straight away. Myself and Kathryn left to go back to the room to get some PJ's, books, cards and other suppplies. On route back we stopped to get some pizza at Ciao Bella, then onot 7 eleven for some water..... it was then that the heavens opened. We waited for a while but no luck so Kthryn bought umbrellas and we braved the weather. We were soaked top to toe in seconds. The rain in Asia is crazy. Ok wait for it. As we turned a corner i stepped up onto some wooden slats to hide from the rain, slipped and flew into the air, landed elbows first onto a big stone step! Well done clumsy Burr! The whole bar came to my rescue, I wanted to die i was mortified! Anyway after they lifted me up and had ice put on it I decided to get on with it and carry onto the hospital. We honestly waded through knee deep water for about half a mile. I was not happy bunny!
By the time we got back to the hospital Nat looked abit better which helped my mood as I was worried. The weather was so bad all four of us girls spent the night in Phi Phi hospital! Wow! This was just our first day on Phi Phi!
They let nat go the following day with the suggestion of lots of rest. So thats what she did and its almost better now. Me and the girls spent the days at the beach. Phi Phi was full of people our age so was a little 18 -30's but who were we kidding we loved it! It was like a little piece of Ibiza in Asia! On our last day Nat felt better so we both went on a boat trip around Phi Phi, snorkelled, saw Monkey island, Turtle island, the national park and of course Maya bay a.k.a the beach ( from the leo dicaprio film). Brilliant day followed by dinner with the girls to say bye. Phi Phi was over in a flash :-( but we had lots of fun despite poor Nats and her hospital incident!
We are now in Krabi where we are satying for one night and leave for Langkawi tomorrow morning. Off to the night market tonight. Thats it, Thailand is over! Malaysia here we come!
We are meeting our dutch friend Jet there, she has booked us into a 2pounds a night place ( good job jet!) we are really looking forward to seeing her. Signing out for now
We happened to be sitting next to Henriettas boyfriend on the boat unbeknown to us until we almost docked and spoke to the girls and we then realised - very strange!
Oh whilst we are on strange things happening..... We were standing in the reggee bar talking to some swedish guys about the fact that i couldnt believe Nat was making me watch the yids play when another guy came up behind me and said "I take it your a gooner then" so we got taling and Nat was talking to his girlfriend. Later on he said so where are you from London then, so I explained that we were from Essex and he said they were from East London so I was like oh cool. Thern we said " So where are you from in Essex then" so i replied with " Its near Southend do you know it" and he said " yeh, so where exactly..... Leigh on Sea, Rayleigh, THUNDERSLEY?????"
I coudltn believe he came out with THUNDERSLEY, sopme people i know who live in Southend dont even know of Thunderlsey Village! haha! Turns out his friend lives near Thundersley common. Small world or what!
Anyway back to Phi Phi. After we had docked we went with Jarl ( Henriettas boyfriend) to book our accommodation as he has been here twice before. We booked into bungalows up the hill as you can get away from the noise if you want....this was the biggest trek I had done on the whole trip so far. Actually it brings home how awful it must have been when the Tsunami hit as to climb the hill to get away from the devastation must of been one hell of an experience. Infact you can still feel the atmosphere that the tsunami caused here. Just pulling into dock was sad as it was these very waters that caused such a tragedy, its quite hard to get your head around and you can still see it in the locals eyes. Once the girls arrived from Phuket on thier boat we headed straight to the beach to find Ciao Bella. Ciao Bella is a restaurant that was set up by an Italian guy.....very long storyu but we read this mans story in a book George gave to us in Bangkok. it touched us all as it was his account of the Tsunami and also some of his friends and it made it all so real rather than just small stories we saw on the TV four years ago. We wanted to see if he had re opened another restaurant - and he had! We were all star struck, very funny.
After a couple of hours on the beach we went to Ciao Bella for a drink when Natalie went as white as a sheet. I knew she didnt look well, so asked if she was ok and hardly got a response. She had been drinking lots of water but to no avail. I will spare details but Nats has had a poorly tummy since Cambodia so I knew something had to be done. Mummy Burr had to put her foot down and I told her me and the girls would have to take her to hospital, miss stubborn Vaughan didnt want to but I knew it was best. So we started to walk to the other side of the island (oh there are no cars or motorbikes allowed on phi phi, travel is by foot only!) We hadnt got very far when her legs went from under her and luckily we were holding her up, she had to be taken into the massage shop across the road. After a while the "ambulance" turned up.......! This ambulance consisted of a scooter with a rickety old trailer attached to the side! Kathryn was holding onto Nat while i got nats camera from her bag and decided to capture the moment. Im glad she finds it funny now. Cutting a very long story short here. We got to the hospital, they decided Natalie was very dehydrated and has a common Parasite in her tummy - not good. So drips were in her straight away. Myself and Kathryn left to go back to the room to get some PJ's, books, cards and other suppplies. On route back we stopped to get some pizza at Ciao Bella, then onot 7 eleven for some water..... it was then that the heavens opened. We waited for a while but no luck so Kthryn bought umbrellas and we braved the weather. We were soaked top to toe in seconds. The rain in Asia is crazy. Ok wait for it. As we turned a corner i stepped up onto some wooden slats to hide from the rain, slipped and flew into the air, landed elbows first onto a big stone step! Well done clumsy Burr! The whole bar came to my rescue, I wanted to die i was mortified! Anyway after they lifted me up and had ice put on it I decided to get on with it and carry onto the hospital. We honestly waded through knee deep water for about half a mile. I was not happy bunny!
By the time we got back to the hospital Nat looked abit better which helped my mood as I was worried. The weather was so bad all four of us girls spent the night in Phi Phi hospital! Wow! This was just our first day on Phi Phi!
They let nat go the following day with the suggestion of lots of rest. So thats what she did and its almost better now. Me and the girls spent the days at the beach. Phi Phi was full of people our age so was a little 18 -30's but who were we kidding we loved it! It was like a little piece of Ibiza in Asia! On our last day Nat felt better so we both went on a boat trip around Phi Phi, snorkelled, saw Monkey island, Turtle island, the national park and of course Maya bay a.k.a the beach ( from the leo dicaprio film). Brilliant day followed by dinner with the girls to say bye. Phi Phi was over in a flash :-( but we had lots of fun despite poor Nats and her hospital incident!
We are now in Krabi where we are satying for one night and leave for Langkawi tomorrow morning. Off to the night market tonight. Thats it, Thailand is over! Malaysia here we come!
We are meeting our dutch friend Jet there, she has booked us into a 2pounds a night place ( good job jet!) we are really looking forward to seeing her. Signing out for now
Friday, 20 March 2009
Koh Lanta
So we decided to go to Koh Lanta after Koh Phangan as were told Koh Samui was full of couples and really just not very good.... so Koh Lanta it was for some chilling on the beach. We left Koh Phangan early and arrived in Koh Lanta quite late after a long drawn out journey. We booked our accommodation on route just for 2 nights for ease when we got there. After our rabbit hutch in Koh Phangan we assumed it couldnt get any worse and booked into a bamboo hut for about 3 pounds a night each. When we arrived our room for two nights looked to be a badly built garden shed on stilits with a rubbish tip underneath ( yes worse than our rabbit hutch!) There were holes on the floor, ceiling and walls. Then i discovered there wasnt anything underneath the mattress just a hole leading to the rubbish underneath the hut. We are all for cheap places to stay and have put up with a fair bit of grimness but this was another level, we might as well have slept on the beach. We asked to be moved and we were but this one only differed with a piece of wood under the mattress and no holes in the floor.....oh well! So we setlled down for a bit after our long day, Nat reading her book, me just chilling out and all of a sudden i had her book in my face. A HUGE spider had fallen out of the ceiling and onto her head. She screamed the shed down! That was that we HAD to move into the brick built bungalows, double the price ( yes only 6 pounds each i hear you say but thats a lot when you're a poor traveller haha!)
Anyhow we were much happier here and had a nice couple of days chilling out on the beach. We did howver move after our two nights here onto a place down the beach for another two nights as it was only 3 pounds each again. We loved it here because although it wasd a bamboo hut it was really well built, our bathroom was down a few logs ( steps) and only had a roof so it was basically outside. It was like staying in the Flintstones house, everything was made of wood, shells or coconuts. We had great fun taking pictures! Koh Lanta didnt have much going on but after two weeks of diving, walkign and of course a few party nights thrown in there we didnt mind and were glad to take it easy for a few days. We met some really nice people in a reggeebar on the beach too so all in all we had a nice time here :-)
Anyhow we were much happier here and had a nice couple of days chilling out on the beach. We did howver move after our two nights here onto a place down the beach for another two nights as it was only 3 pounds each again. We loved it here because although it wasd a bamboo hut it was really well built, our bathroom was down a few logs ( steps) and only had a roof so it was basically outside. It was like staying in the Flintstones house, everything was made of wood, shells or coconuts. We had great fun taking pictures! Koh Lanta didnt have much going on but after two weeks of diving, walkign and of course a few party nights thrown in there we didnt mind and were glad to take it easy for a few days. We met some really nice people in a reggeebar on the beach too so all in all we had a nice time here :-)
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Koh Phangan
We arrived having already booke dour accommodation on this island in Koh Tao - big mistake and huge lesson learnt here! As we were located in the north of the island and the full moon party was right on the south point in Haad Rin! Luckily enough the other girls were down in the south so we stayed with them for 2 night for the warm up party and the FULL MOON! Very annoying as it meant we would have had to get taxis both ways both times so we were brave and hired a motorbike ( well scooter thing)..... Mum, Dad dont freak out..... I dodnt drive as i think we all know my driving isnt the best ( yes dad im admitting it now!) and we were very careful but really was our only option! Plus we got to see most of the island this way, we had a great time signing along as we went haha! The others hired bikes too for the day and we went exploring into the mountians and to see the waterfalls. We spent 5 days on Koh Phangan in total, chilling by day and partying by night :-) has been brilliant! Im sure there is much more to say but having such a good time it all blurs into one at the moment. Ko Lanta next....... 2 islands down 2 to go before we hit Malaysia! Bring it on!
Ko Tao contd....
Well the two days that followed our open water dives were BRILLIANT. The first day we did some classroom work ( when i say classroom its so laid back but its just to prove we know the science behind it all!) and then two dives. These were learning to navigate.....hmmmm yes i have trouble with this at home let alone under water but here goes! haha!
I surprised myself and was pretty good at it, obviously we work in buddy teams so me and Nat were together. Hilarious when one of you thinks its one way and the other doesnt....u cant only sign underwater....! So there we were arguing under water about which way to go to get to the cave/back to the boat/to the bay but although we took it seriously we were laughing at each other A LOT which made our masks fill up with water hahahahaha! Anyways me and nat had a bet with the other buddy team ( our good friends Carys and Jet) that whoever got nearest to the boat on a navigation dive won and the losing team bought the other two a bucket at the full moon party! WE WON! haha! woooooooo! We came up right next to the boat! Check us out! Even ou instuctors were shocked..... who by the way think I am the funniest pommie girl they have ever met??? dont know what gave them that idea? It might have been the fact that i fell off the boat or that i refused to do the mask skill to begin with or the fact that i constantly giggled under the water...... hehehehehehe! Oh and goodness sake... they found out my surname was Burr and thought it would be funny to take the p#ss!!! When/if you ever run out of air on a dive u have to say something like aaaaahhhhhh as u exhale to the surface but they changed it to Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - funny guys ey! so everyone copied!
The following day we did two more dives during the day, one being a naturalist dive and the other a photographic. The naturalist was finding strange fish and corals and identifying them from our slates, the second we hired an underwater digi camera and took photos..... ( to be added at a later stage) it was brilliant! Then in the evening we did a Night Dive, this was just out of this world. Be it a ltitle scary to start with it turned out to be the best yet. So thats it we are now ADVANCED open water divers! We had a brilliant night out that night and then left early to cath the boat over to Koh Phangan early on the 8th of March.....! First island done....onto the next!
I surprised myself and was pretty good at it, obviously we work in buddy teams so me and Nat were together. Hilarious when one of you thinks its one way and the other doesnt....u cant only sign underwater....! So there we were arguing under water about which way to go to get to the cave/back to the boat/to the bay but although we took it seriously we were laughing at each other A LOT which made our masks fill up with water hahahahaha! Anyways me and nat had a bet with the other buddy team ( our good friends Carys and Jet) that whoever got nearest to the boat on a navigation dive won and the losing team bought the other two a bucket at the full moon party! WE WON! haha! woooooooo! We came up right next to the boat! Check us out! Even ou instuctors were shocked..... who by the way think I am the funniest pommie girl they have ever met??? dont know what gave them that idea? It might have been the fact that i fell off the boat or that i refused to do the mask skill to begin with or the fact that i constantly giggled under the water...... hehehehehehe! Oh and goodness sake... they found out my surname was Burr and thought it would be funny to take the p#ss!!! When/if you ever run out of air on a dive u have to say something like aaaaahhhhhh as u exhale to the surface but they changed it to Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - funny guys ey! so everyone copied!
The following day we did two more dives during the day, one being a naturalist dive and the other a photographic. The naturalist was finding strange fish and corals and identifying them from our slates, the second we hired an underwater digi camera and took photos..... ( to be added at a later stage) it was brilliant! Then in the evening we did a Night Dive, this was just out of this world. Be it a ltitle scary to start with it turned out to be the best yet. So thats it we are now ADVANCED open water divers! We had a brilliant night out that night and then left early to cath the boat over to Koh Phangan early on the 8th of March.....! First island done....onto the next!
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Thailand Time!
Bangkok
We flew back into Bangkok on March the 1st, slightly hungover from the night before! Myself and Nat decided to not bother staying another night here as we had seen all we had wanted so we got to the Koh San Road and just booked ourself onto a 10 hour long night bus to the crossing at Chumpon.
Ko Tao
After a 10 hour bus journey we were turfed out at the port for a 3 hour wait for the boat to go across to Ko Tao - this was pure torture! blurrrrrrrgh!
We finally got on the boat at 7am and decided to sleep, so i lied down my head on the table and before i knew it my stomach was telling me bas things.....so now im apparently sea sick???? since when!?? I spent the next 2 hours in pain on the back of the boat!
We knew when we got to Ko Tao we wanted to do our Open Water PADI course so thats the first thing we did, enrolled at Bans diving school - where you get free accomodation as part of the deal - travellers paradise FREE! ha!
So its day 4 now and I am now officially a PADI open water diver - the last four days have been wicked. Its like another world under there. I wont bore you with which fish i have seen but its been great. 4 dives, lots of skills and i can go diving with a buddy alone now woo! We loved it so much we have opted to continue with the Advanced open water! which is another 5 dives over 2 days. One being a naturist dive, one being a night dive ( cannot wait for this!), one photography dive and 2 navigation dives. So its hot, Ko Tao is beautiful and the diving is fab....!
Thats all for now
x
We flew back into Bangkok on March the 1st, slightly hungover from the night before! Myself and Nat decided to not bother staying another night here as we had seen all we had wanted so we got to the Koh San Road and just booked ourself onto a 10 hour long night bus to the crossing at Chumpon.
Ko Tao
After a 10 hour bus journey we were turfed out at the port for a 3 hour wait for the boat to go across to Ko Tao - this was pure torture! blurrrrrrrgh!
We finally got on the boat at 7am and decided to sleep, so i lied down my head on the table and before i knew it my stomach was telling me bas things.....so now im apparently sea sick???? since when!?? I spent the next 2 hours in pain on the back of the boat!
We knew when we got to Ko Tao we wanted to do our Open Water PADI course so thats the first thing we did, enrolled at Bans diving school - where you get free accomodation as part of the deal - travellers paradise FREE! ha!
So its day 4 now and I am now officially a PADI open water diver - the last four days have been wicked. Its like another world under there. I wont bore you with which fish i have seen but its been great. 4 dives, lots of skills and i can go diving with a buddy alone now woo! We loved it so much we have opted to continue with the Advanced open water! which is another 5 dives over 2 days. One being a naturist dive, one being a night dive ( cannot wait for this!), one photography dive and 2 navigation dives. So its hot, Ko Tao is beautiful and the diving is fab....!
Thats all for now
x
More pictures!
To check out updated pictures click on this link
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=280906212/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
enjoy!
x
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=280906212/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
enjoy!
x
Hue, Hanoi and Halong Bay!
Hue
We left Hoi An on a bus to Hue which took us around 4 hours. Im not sure if i explained in my last entry but our tour guide ( which we had for a week so far at this point was reaaaaally bad!) so we fired him! haha! girl power!
Therefore the atmosphere on the bus to Hue was a little strained with him! ooopsy!
Anyhow we stopped at Hai Van Pass ( which is considered as one of the most scenic routes in the world and i must say i agree) it was amazing! Once again - you cant explain in words how you feel when your on the top! I wanted to shou Im on top of the wooooorld ha!
We also stopped at the marble mountains which were stunning.
Hue itself i wasnt majorly impressed with but hey, we found a really remote beach which was nice for the day and then spent the following day chilling.
Hanoi
We arrived in Hanoi after yet another train journey 13.5 hours! Yes! 13.5 hours! But i was so tired i managed to sleep most of the way.
After arriving in Hanoi we spent some time walking the old quarter which was nice.
Hanoi as a city i thought was very similar in Phnom Penh, not that impressive and actually quite westernized which i didnt like.
Halong Bay
The day that we spent on the boat travelling to through Halong bay was out of this world, the pictures dont even capture how beautiful it is, but you can see from how many scenery pictures i took that i liked it! We stopped off at an island on route which had caves only found in 1993, again a great place to see. We enjoyed a lovely seafood lunch on the boat also :-)
When we reached Cat Ba island ( the largest island in Halong Bay) we realised it was rather quiet but we made our own fun! Met some nice canadians that night and played connect 4 - random!
Back to Hanoi
On the Saturday we travelled back to Hanoi for our last night with our tour buddies! Boooooooo! it was a good night but very sad as we have all become very close but its all good as we are meeting up with most of them somewhere along the way wooooo!
Sooooo thats my first month over! Am having the time of my life!
We left Hoi An on a bus to Hue which took us around 4 hours. Im not sure if i explained in my last entry but our tour guide ( which we had for a week so far at this point was reaaaaally bad!) so we fired him! haha! girl power!
Therefore the atmosphere on the bus to Hue was a little strained with him! ooopsy!
Anyhow we stopped at Hai Van Pass ( which is considered as one of the most scenic routes in the world and i must say i agree) it was amazing! Once again - you cant explain in words how you feel when your on the top! I wanted to shou Im on top of the wooooorld ha!
We also stopped at the marble mountains which were stunning.
Hue itself i wasnt majorly impressed with but hey, we found a really remote beach which was nice for the day and then spent the following day chilling.
Hanoi
We arrived in Hanoi after yet another train journey 13.5 hours! Yes! 13.5 hours! But i was so tired i managed to sleep most of the way.
After arriving in Hanoi we spent some time walking the old quarter which was nice.
Hanoi as a city i thought was very similar in Phnom Penh, not that impressive and actually quite westernized which i didnt like.
Halong Bay
The day that we spent on the boat travelling to through Halong bay was out of this world, the pictures dont even capture how beautiful it is, but you can see from how many scenery pictures i took that i liked it! We stopped off at an island on route which had caves only found in 1993, again a great place to see. We enjoyed a lovely seafood lunch on the boat also :-)
When we reached Cat Ba island ( the largest island in Halong Bay) we realised it was rather quiet but we made our own fun! Met some nice canadians that night and played connect 4 - random!
Back to Hanoi
On the Saturday we travelled back to Hanoi for our last night with our tour buddies! Boooooooo! it was a good night but very sad as we have all become very close but its all good as we are meeting up with most of them somewhere along the way wooooo!
Sooooo thats my first month over! Am having the time of my life!
Monday, 23 February 2009
PICTURES!
to see my pictures click on this link :-)
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=280906212/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
to see my pictures click on this link :-)
http://www3.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=280906212/a=158635564_158635564/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Vietnam! So Far.......
Saigon
We reached Saigon on Saturday Feb 14th after a very long day travelling! Though it was worth it. Saigon is very clean, green and busy with lots of backpackers and locals, a really good mix.
Knowing this was our last night with the Cambodia group we knew it was going to be a big night and we wasnt diappointed! Woo!
Terryn and Harley left us to go onto thier other hotel on Sunday morning but they missed us all so much they met up with us on Sunday night for dinner, saying bye was really hard :-( but the fact that me and Nat are going to stay with them in Wellington on route through NZ is nice so its all good!
On Monday we went on a boat trip along the Mekong river so many different factories to show how many raw materials are used to make such vital things such as salt, malt and Bricks........very weird day but interesting too ha! We were then walked through the jungle for at least an hour before we rached our lunch destination. A little worried about the price this lunch was to be we wrre a little jubious but when the five couse meal came out we were not disappointed. One of the most tasty meals i have eaten! This was nice as we had the homestay that night and after our experience in Cambodia we were glad we ate before arriving but were pleasantly surprised when we finally reache dour homestay in the middle of the jungle and right on the edge of the mekong, it was very nice. After a late afternoon bike ride around the local town we enjoyed a delicious dinner :-)
All in all a great day, much better than we anticipated!
The following day we left early and made our way to the Cu Chi tunnels, sparing details this was amazing. Some of us dared to get in the tunnels and make our way through 500metres to the other side, including me ( yes im proud of myself) we were all a bit sweaty and shaky when we finally made it out! I cannot believe the vietnemese lived down there for 10 years and more. There are over 280km of tunnels WOW!
Felling very smelly and tired we got back to Saigon for a shower and then just in time to leave for our overnight train to Nha Trang.
All slightly dubious about the train we boarded and found our sleeper cabin. We were amazed at how clean this was! Nice air conditioning, a TV ( thats didnt work but still!), clean sheets and flowers on the table! How nice!
We all settled to sleep quite easily and awoke to Amy shouting quick quick its about the pull ion, infact she had set her alaram too early haha!
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is half way uo the coast of Vietnam and is very much a tourist place, just beaches and bars, which was fine by us! We spent our days here chilling out and partying ( surprise surprise!!)
After a rather big night we had booked to go to the mud baths, my usual stubborn self was not going to miss out just because I had a hangover so i dragged myself onto the bus and made it there.
The mud smelt bad but actually did wonders for our skin, we felt like new women! ha! After the mud bats and a shower we packed and headed off for our second overnight train to Hoi An, this time excited as we knew how nice it was........WRONG! This train pulled in, we boarded to find our cabins had been slept in, were filthy dirty and had ahir everywhere. I think i can safely say none of us slept very well.......YUK! We kept reminding ourselves in was all about experience! ha!
Hoi An
Hoi An so far has been shop shop shop! This is a very small town with many tailors and lots of gorgeous clothes and shoes at such small prices you cannot help yourself. I however have only bought 3 beach dresses, very good of me i thought. Whereas all the other have had suits and dresses, boots, shoes, sandals, coats.......you name it we have it! I have just been offering my opinions! Shock horror!
Must go, am back off to lie in the sun :-)
To be continued.............. xx
We reached Saigon on Saturday Feb 14th after a very long day travelling! Though it was worth it. Saigon is very clean, green and busy with lots of backpackers and locals, a really good mix.
Knowing this was our last night with the Cambodia group we knew it was going to be a big night and we wasnt diappointed! Woo!
Terryn and Harley left us to go onto thier other hotel on Sunday morning but they missed us all so much they met up with us on Sunday night for dinner, saying bye was really hard :-( but the fact that me and Nat are going to stay with them in Wellington on route through NZ is nice so its all good!
On Monday we went on a boat trip along the Mekong river so many different factories to show how many raw materials are used to make such vital things such as salt, malt and Bricks........very weird day but interesting too ha! We were then walked through the jungle for at least an hour before we rached our lunch destination. A little worried about the price this lunch was to be we wrre a little jubious but when the five couse meal came out we were not disappointed. One of the most tasty meals i have eaten! This was nice as we had the homestay that night and after our experience in Cambodia we were glad we ate before arriving but were pleasantly surprised when we finally reache dour homestay in the middle of the jungle and right on the edge of the mekong, it was very nice. After a late afternoon bike ride around the local town we enjoyed a delicious dinner :-)
All in all a great day, much better than we anticipated!
The following day we left early and made our way to the Cu Chi tunnels, sparing details this was amazing. Some of us dared to get in the tunnels and make our way through 500metres to the other side, including me ( yes im proud of myself) we were all a bit sweaty and shaky when we finally made it out! I cannot believe the vietnemese lived down there for 10 years and more. There are over 280km of tunnels WOW!
Felling very smelly and tired we got back to Saigon for a shower and then just in time to leave for our overnight train to Nha Trang.
All slightly dubious about the train we boarded and found our sleeper cabin. We were amazed at how clean this was! Nice air conditioning, a TV ( thats didnt work but still!), clean sheets and flowers on the table! How nice!
We all settled to sleep quite easily and awoke to Amy shouting quick quick its about the pull ion, infact she had set her alaram too early haha!
Nha Trang
Nha Trang is half way uo the coast of Vietnam and is very much a tourist place, just beaches and bars, which was fine by us! We spent our days here chilling out and partying ( surprise surprise!!)
After a rather big night we had booked to go to the mud baths, my usual stubborn self was not going to miss out just because I had a hangover so i dragged myself onto the bus and made it there.
The mud smelt bad but actually did wonders for our skin, we felt like new women! ha! After the mud bats and a shower we packed and headed off for our second overnight train to Hoi An, this time excited as we knew how nice it was........WRONG! This train pulled in, we boarded to find our cabins had been slept in, were filthy dirty and had ahir everywhere. I think i can safely say none of us slept very well.......YUK! We kept reminding ourselves in was all about experience! ha!
Hoi An
Hoi An so far has been shop shop shop! This is a very small town with many tailors and lots of gorgeous clothes and shoes at such small prices you cannot help yourself. I however have only bought 3 beach dresses, very good of me i thought. Whereas all the other have had suits and dresses, boots, shoes, sandals, coats.......you name it we have it! I have just been offering my opinions! Shock horror!
Must go, am back off to lie in the sun :-)
To be continued.............. xx
Friday, 13 February 2009
Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh
Sihanoukville
After our first day on the beach in Sihanoukville we were all wiped out so after a few beers and some dinner, once again we crashed quite early...! I think the heat had taken it all out of us!
The next day all that was on the agenda was relaxing on our picture postcard beach and thats exactly what we did before heading back to get our gladrags on and head to the Seahorse bar for happy hour.......whcih actually lasts three hours and a beer is $0.50 which quite clearly spelt out trouble! So then we made our way to Utopia bar where we drank more Angkor Beer, im gunna miss this beer, wish we could get it at home! We saw the guys we had met in Siem Riep so had a catch up with them and headed to the beach party. So having set off for dinner at 7pm when we got in at 5am we wondered where the time had gone. What a quality night! Though we had sand everywhere yuk!
The next morning was supposed to be an 8am start.......me and Nat didnt make it on the boat trip ooooooopsy! Apparently the other bashed our door down with no luck. We spent the day with upset stomachs feeling quite sorry for ourselves!
Phnom Penh
After an early start from Sihanoukville we travelled 5 hours to Phnom Penh. At first glance the city is very dirty and full of poverty. We headed out for some lunch only to find prices quite high in amoungst a smelly dirty market.....all a bit strange. Nat and Amy went in search of chocolate and came back 3 hours later with news they had found a huge western type mall and that it had pizza, pasta, burgers, icecream.......you name it they had it!
Without a second thought we all headed here for our dinner, after stuffing our faces with Pizza we were disappointed in ourselves that we had come to Cambodia and ate Pizza and icecream! Ah well we enjoyed it! ha!
On our second day we left at 8am to see the detention centre and the killing fields, the work of Pol Pot. In 1975 Pol Pot started his work of pure torture and killing of those Cambodians who had power and the rest of their families. It didnt matter how old the other members of the family were be it 1 year old or 70 years old the whole family were taken to a former secondary school that had been turned into a sickening prison for those who were arrested but Pol Pots men and tortured for a minimum of 2 months before being walked to thier death, having to dig their own graves before being beheaded and buried alive. This went on for 4 years........it amazed us all that this could happen not so long ago. Some of the killers are still alive and are awaiting trial still, Pol Pot has died already. We were very lucky to meet one of the survivors of this awful time, the man is 78 and he along with only two others survived this terrible regieme. He explained leaving out no details what happend to him and the things we saw, none of us could believe he could even return to this site and asked him why. His answer was that he hopes to attend the trial and visits to remind himself as he is old and doesnt want to forget any details. The local guide expressed his anger to us that he thinks the man will not live to see the trial as this is likely to take a long time and will take a total of 3 years to conclude. A very sad day.
Tomorrow we head to Hoh Chi minh city to begin our tour of Vietnam. Bye for now x
After our first day on the beach in Sihanoukville we were all wiped out so after a few beers and some dinner, once again we crashed quite early...! I think the heat had taken it all out of us!
The next day all that was on the agenda was relaxing on our picture postcard beach and thats exactly what we did before heading back to get our gladrags on and head to the Seahorse bar for happy hour.......whcih actually lasts three hours and a beer is $0.50 which quite clearly spelt out trouble! So then we made our way to Utopia bar where we drank more Angkor Beer, im gunna miss this beer, wish we could get it at home! We saw the guys we had met in Siem Riep so had a catch up with them and headed to the beach party. So having set off for dinner at 7pm when we got in at 5am we wondered where the time had gone. What a quality night! Though we had sand everywhere yuk!
The next morning was supposed to be an 8am start.......me and Nat didnt make it on the boat trip ooooooopsy! Apparently the other bashed our door down with no luck. We spent the day with upset stomachs feeling quite sorry for ourselves!
Phnom Penh
After an early start from Sihanoukville we travelled 5 hours to Phnom Penh. At first glance the city is very dirty and full of poverty. We headed out for some lunch only to find prices quite high in amoungst a smelly dirty market.....all a bit strange. Nat and Amy went in search of chocolate and came back 3 hours later with news they had found a huge western type mall and that it had pizza, pasta, burgers, icecream.......you name it they had it!
Without a second thought we all headed here for our dinner, after stuffing our faces with Pizza we were disappointed in ourselves that we had come to Cambodia and ate Pizza and icecream! Ah well we enjoyed it! ha!
On our second day we left at 8am to see the detention centre and the killing fields, the work of Pol Pot. In 1975 Pol Pot started his work of pure torture and killing of those Cambodians who had power and the rest of their families. It didnt matter how old the other members of the family were be it 1 year old or 70 years old the whole family were taken to a former secondary school that had been turned into a sickening prison for those who were arrested but Pol Pots men and tortured for a minimum of 2 months before being walked to thier death, having to dig their own graves before being beheaded and buried alive. This went on for 4 years........it amazed us all that this could happen not so long ago. Some of the killers are still alive and are awaiting trial still, Pol Pot has died already. We were very lucky to meet one of the survivors of this awful time, the man is 78 and he along with only two others survived this terrible regieme. He explained leaving out no details what happend to him and the things we saw, none of us could believe he could even return to this site and asked him why. His answer was that he hopes to attend the trial and visits to remind himself as he is old and doesnt want to forget any details. The local guide expressed his anger to us that he thinks the man will not live to see the trial as this is likely to take a long time and will take a total of 3 years to conclude. A very sad day.
Tomorrow we head to Hoh Chi minh city to begin our tour of Vietnam. Bye for now x
Monday, 9 February 2009
Siem Riep, Tompang Cham, Chombok and Sihanoukville...
sooooooo after a very long journey setting off at 7am to go over the border between Thailand and Cambodia we finally reached Siem Riep at about 6pm! ha!
After such a long journey we didnt really fancy looking around so just had some dinner and crashed out! On our first full day we went to a silk farm which was good and then to the floating village....we took a boat out and saw first hand how the cambodians have wooden shacks bulit on water, this is so in the wet season their homes dont get washed away they just rise with the river level. We were informed that around 1million people live on the mekong river WOW! its another world, what i cannot get over is how happy they are, always smiling its great. Watching the sunset on the river was lovely.
I am not too keen on the cambodian food but I am getting there.....Thai food is much better :-)
On our second full day we went to Angkor Wat temples, this was just out of this world, the amount of skill and time that went into these buildings was just crazy. We had to leave the hostel at 5am to be able to see the thw sunrise over the main temple, so were were not impressed but I must say it was def worth it! In the afternoon we visited the temple where Tomb raider was filmed, so being the geeks we are Me, Nat and our friend Paige ( an aussie who is on our tour) decided to jump out of the ruin windows and have our picturs taken pretending to be Ms Jolie! Wait for it.......clumsy me jumped too high and whacked my head sop hard it bled( only a bit) eeeeeeeek! what a wolly!
Fab night out that night for Paiges birthday, will spare the details but we went to a bar called Angkor What? a play on words, was like the brush so was like home from home!
Meeting loads of new people, its fab :-)
On Saturday in a very hungover state we made our way on a public bus to Tompang Cham, I felt like i was going to die but after some food we took a bike ride across the mekong river to Kombiand island and met some locals, an experience you cant explain. We went past a cambodian wedding party being held in a garden and was invited in to dance haha! An early night before setting off for our homestay in Chombok on Sunday, stopping off in Phnom Penh on route for food. Again the homestay bought a lot home for me. We stayed in a wooden shack built on stilts with no doors, it was do able for one night but by this morning i was gagging for a shower and the dust on me took aaaaaaages to wash off! InSihanoukville now for 3 days on the beach, a well deserved break :-) and then onto Phnom Penh, and so let the adventure continue....
I have just squeezed a whole week into a few paragraphs but I cant stress how much you cant explain in words some of the things we have seen. Signing out now for a cold beer as its so hot. Much Love xxx
After such a long journey we didnt really fancy looking around so just had some dinner and crashed out! On our first full day we went to a silk farm which was good and then to the floating village....we took a boat out and saw first hand how the cambodians have wooden shacks bulit on water, this is so in the wet season their homes dont get washed away they just rise with the river level. We were informed that around 1million people live on the mekong river WOW! its another world, what i cannot get over is how happy they are, always smiling its great. Watching the sunset on the river was lovely.
I am not too keen on the cambodian food but I am getting there.....Thai food is much better :-)
On our second full day we went to Angkor Wat temples, this was just out of this world, the amount of skill and time that went into these buildings was just crazy. We had to leave the hostel at 5am to be able to see the thw sunrise over the main temple, so were were not impressed but I must say it was def worth it! In the afternoon we visited the temple where Tomb raider was filmed, so being the geeks we are Me, Nat and our friend Paige ( an aussie who is on our tour) decided to jump out of the ruin windows and have our picturs taken pretending to be Ms Jolie! Wait for it.......clumsy me jumped too high and whacked my head sop hard it bled( only a bit) eeeeeeeek! what a wolly!
Fab night out that night for Paiges birthday, will spare the details but we went to a bar called Angkor What? a play on words, was like the brush so was like home from home!
Meeting loads of new people, its fab :-)
On Saturday in a very hungover state we made our way on a public bus to Tompang Cham, I felt like i was going to die but after some food we took a bike ride across the mekong river to Kombiand island and met some locals, an experience you cant explain. We went past a cambodian wedding party being held in a garden and was invited in to dance haha! An early night before setting off for our homestay in Chombok on Sunday, stopping off in Phnom Penh on route for food. Again the homestay bought a lot home for me. We stayed in a wooden shack built on stilts with no doors, it was do able for one night but by this morning i was gagging for a shower and the dust on me took aaaaaaages to wash off! InSihanoukville now for 3 days on the beach, a well deserved break :-) and then onto Phnom Penh, and so let the adventure continue....
I have just squeezed a whole week into a few paragraphs but I cant stress how much you cant explain in words some of the things we have seen. Signing out now for a cold beer as its so hot. Much Love xxx
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Bangkok Baby!
Ok!
So after a very emotional goodbye Natalie and I set off on our adventure :-)
After drying our tears we sat down for something to eat and a well deserved beer! We then managed to forget to draw our currency so when we were supposed to board the plane it was an almighty rush to exchange some money. Finally boarding the plane we settled down for our 11 hour journey to Bangkok woo!
On arrival at Bangkok we sought the cheapest mode of transport possible to get us to the Koh San rd, this consisted of a man and his wife in a clapped out old people carrier.......suffice to say we did fear for our lives a little bit haha but all was well and we were dropped at the top of the Koh San Rd safe and sound......here came the hard part....finding our hotel! Loaded with our extremely heavy backpacks we started to walk down the Koh San road and couldnt get a hold of George so we struggled and struggled and then gave in and boarded a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel, at which point George tapped Nats on the shoulder and i turned around to see him, Natalie still bemused that it was him! Too late the tuk tuk had driven off around the one way system, very funny!
Once we had located the hotel and a confused looking George we sat down to chat with George whilst freshening up to meet Natalie and Nick for our first thai meal and a few cheeky beers. After these cheeky beers we all thought it would be a good idea to go and see a ping pong show, this was not the sport kind.......lets just say it was interesting! haha! Definatley an experience!
After yet another emotional goodbye as Nat and Nick were flying off to Phuket, me,Nat and George went off for a few more drinks, fab night.
The following day was very chilled for us girls whilst George shopped for a new camera, then yet another sad goodbye to George!
aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh now we really were on our own! After a look around the shops i decided to have a thai massage, $4 for an hour bargain. We then got an early(ish) night to set us up for the tour ahead.
We left the next day to find our new hotel which happened to be in the old town so a short trek but at leats it was getting us used to trekking with our rucks.
After checking in we left to do some sight seeing so we bartered for a tuk tuk which cost us 25p for 4 hours. We went to a temple and saw how the locals prey to the Buddha, then we were taken to the lucky Buddha, when we got there,there wasnt any other tourists and then a local told us that this was because this place was a secret and very lucky so we felt very priveleged :-) and then onto the 45ft golden buddha, this was amazing. By now i had started to feel unwell, I have now realised this is because of the Malaria tablets as the rest of the group also had the same symptoms.
At 6pm we then met our tour guide and the 14 other people who we would spend the next 27 days with. There are 12 girls and 2 guys, one of which of the guys was a very very moody and ruuuuuuude German! grrrrrrrr, we havnt seen much of him! ha! The other guy is Harley he is with his girlfriend Tieren. All of the other girls are aged between 18- 27, great group of people and we all get along so well! Good times!
So we reconvened for dinner that evening and I had to eat bread and sausage as i still felt sick, could not stomach the thai food right at that moment! How embarrasssing eating bread and sausage is Asia :-( but it did the jobn and i was back feeling tip top the next day.
So that was Bangkok! Crazy, mad and a wicked place! Onto the next jeg of our adevnture, bring it on!
So after a very emotional goodbye Natalie and I set off on our adventure :-)
After drying our tears we sat down for something to eat and a well deserved beer! We then managed to forget to draw our currency so when we were supposed to board the plane it was an almighty rush to exchange some money. Finally boarding the plane we settled down for our 11 hour journey to Bangkok woo!
On arrival at Bangkok we sought the cheapest mode of transport possible to get us to the Koh San rd, this consisted of a man and his wife in a clapped out old people carrier.......suffice to say we did fear for our lives a little bit haha but all was well and we were dropped at the top of the Koh San Rd safe and sound......here came the hard part....finding our hotel! Loaded with our extremely heavy backpacks we started to walk down the Koh San road and couldnt get a hold of George so we struggled and struggled and then gave in and boarded a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel, at which point George tapped Nats on the shoulder and i turned around to see him, Natalie still bemused that it was him! Too late the tuk tuk had driven off around the one way system, very funny!
Once we had located the hotel and a confused looking George we sat down to chat with George whilst freshening up to meet Natalie and Nick for our first thai meal and a few cheeky beers. After these cheeky beers we all thought it would be a good idea to go and see a ping pong show, this was not the sport kind.......lets just say it was interesting! haha! Definatley an experience!
After yet another emotional goodbye as Nat and Nick were flying off to Phuket, me,Nat and George went off for a few more drinks, fab night.
The following day was very chilled for us girls whilst George shopped for a new camera, then yet another sad goodbye to George!
aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh now we really were on our own! After a look around the shops i decided to have a thai massage, $4 for an hour bargain. We then got an early(ish) night to set us up for the tour ahead.
We left the next day to find our new hotel which happened to be in the old town so a short trek but at leats it was getting us used to trekking with our rucks.
After checking in we left to do some sight seeing so we bartered for a tuk tuk which cost us 25p for 4 hours. We went to a temple and saw how the locals prey to the Buddha, then we were taken to the lucky Buddha, when we got there,there wasnt any other tourists and then a local told us that this was because this place was a secret and very lucky so we felt very priveleged :-) and then onto the 45ft golden buddha, this was amazing. By now i had started to feel unwell, I have now realised this is because of the Malaria tablets as the rest of the group also had the same symptoms.
At 6pm we then met our tour guide and the 14 other people who we would spend the next 27 days with. There are 12 girls and 2 guys, one of which of the guys was a very very moody and ruuuuuuude German! grrrrrrrr, we havnt seen much of him! ha! The other guy is Harley he is with his girlfriend Tieren. All of the other girls are aged between 18- 27, great group of people and we all get along so well! Good times!
So we reconvened for dinner that evening and I had to eat bread and sausage as i still felt sick, could not stomach the thai food right at that moment! How embarrasssing eating bread and sausage is Asia :-( but it did the jobn and i was back feeling tip top the next day.
So that was Bangkok! Crazy, mad and a wicked place! Onto the next jeg of our adevnture, bring it on!
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