22nd November - 7th December. Cambodia

Phnom Penh is smaller than expected, but the traffic is great to watch. We saw trucks and people carriers so full of passengers and piled so high with goods on top that only 2 of the wheels touched the floor. We stayed for a couple of nights before heading south to the coastal town of Sihanoukville.

We spent a whole week enjoying the long beach, good food and calm sea. We ate from tables on the sand with the sea lapping at our feet. We were joined by 2 friends from South America and it was nice to catch up and see some familiar faces. It was such a lovely spot, we really didn’t want to leave.

 The locals spend their day wandering up and down the beach offering massages, manicures, fruit and books. We purchased a book that told us of Cambodia’s recent history, horrific. It also gave us an insight into the country’s poverty.  The kids all wander around trying to sell you a bracelet. They were all very friendly and we felt as if we wanted to help them. It is evident by just looking at the streets and people that they are not supported by a structured society, so we tried to do our bit.

We moved on to Siem Reap and the home of the temples of Angkor Wat. Now, these are not your classic brightly painted temples, but are all around 800 years old. They are sandstone structures and all have intricate carvings in various states of decay. The area has over 1000 temples and used to be the centre of the ancient Khmer (Cambodian)empire. The main temple is called Angkor Wat, it is gigantic. In its heyday it used to house 30,000 people.  We had 2 days of sightseeing. Day 1 started off at 5 in the morning to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat. We were driven there by our tuk tuk driver, it was a cold start to the day. We spent 2 hours exploring the sight which seemed deserted despite the number of people there. This is where we ate our breakfast, arguably the best view we have had at breakfast time.

We managed to last out until 11 o’clock, exploring 4 other temples but soon after we started to feel tired. We headed back to Siem Reap for an afternoon’s nap. The next day we saw some more, these were each of a different design and we enjoyed finding our favourite bits about them. One of the temples had been reclaimed by the jungle, trees grew out of the walls, causing some of it to collapse. We finished at one temple that was brilliant. It had 50 towers all of which bearing a stone face on each of its 4 sides. It was great fun to explore and get lost in.

Getting across the border to Bangkok was a beast. The 200 km road to the Thai border is not a road, more like a construction site. It is bumpy, dusty, has large rocks scattered on and huge divets. Not a piece of tarmac in sight. Instead of taking the 6 hour coach we paid more for a 3 hour taxi (good decision). But the taxi driver did have us a little concerned, he went a little too fast at times and did some blind overtaking. Having a right hand drive didn’t help much when driving on the right hand side of the road, but we made it in one piece.

Back in Bangkok it happened to be the King’s birthday. The King of Thailand is highly respected and loved. All of the Thai people wore a yellow shirt with the royal coat of arms and enjoyed the holiday by lining the streets waiting to wave as the royal car drove past. There were fireworks in the evening and we watched from the roof of our hotel. They were some of the biggest and loudest we’ve ever seen.

So 297 days later we are about to board a flight home. More adventures to come… 

Nha Trang to Saigon 11th - 21st November

Arrived in Nha Trang at 6 am and were welcomed by an old couple who ran a street stall selling coffee and baguettes with cheese. We sat on primary school chairs on the pavement and enjoyed the morning sun. Nha Trang is Vietnam’s premier beach destination. More like Vietnam’s equivalent to Blackpool. Crum. We spent half a day on the beach and the following day in luxury at a health spa. We sat in a tub for two covered in warm mud before washing it off and then bathing in a thermal hot spring-very nice indeed. We also discovered that we had been very lucky in escaping the typhoon and subsequent flooding that had just hit further up the coast where we had left. Some of our friends had to be rescued from the second floor of their hotel.  A close shave. We shot straight out of Nha Trang, further south to Mui Ne for-more beaches. We stayed here for 4 days-our highlight was visiting the local fishing village. There were at least 1000 boats, that were identical. The men go out in the boats and the women sort through the catch sitting on the pavement. The sunsets were enjoyed by our pool with a can of Tiger beer.

We took a bus to Saigon, that firstly stopped for 30 minutes break after it picked us up 2 minutes earlier. It then broke down just outside of Saigon and we were shepherded in, in taxis. Our guest house here was another great find-free breakfast and dinner. We have grown to love spring rolls and noodle soup. Like Hanoi, Saigon is full of crazy Vietnamese on motorbikes. Here we spotted a family of 6 all on one bike. We declined the offers of motorbike rides and opted to take our chances on the roads instead. (You can’t walk on the pavement as this is where they park.)

Whilst in Saigon Lou did some serious shopping and Jonty learnt stuff. We visited the war museum which had some horrifc pictures from the war and was extremely moving. We also visited Cu Chi Tunnels, a base used to fight the Americans. The best thing about this trip was our guide who was a Vietnamese veteran who fought alongside the Americans against the Viet Cong. He gave us some excellent insights and we gained more of an understanding.

To get to Cambodia we decided to do a 2 day trip along the Mekong Delta-a seriously big river. We had never seen so much water inland before. The boat trip took us to local villages set up on the river banks, children ran alongside us and waved frantically. We went to workshops and tried coconut candy and saw sugar puffs being made. We also saw a local boy washing his buffalo and several men weeing.  Part of our trip included a tour of a floating village by row boat, with one of the locals. Our lady had her 3 year old daughter with her who sat with Lou slurping away at her noodle soup breakfast, desperately trying to grasp how her chop sticks worked. In Vietnam they row the wrong way round. The lady stood at the back of the boat, facing forwards and propelled us forwards, she was incredibly strong.  This was the favourite part of our trip.

We crossed into Cambodia without any problems and arrived in the capital Phnom Penh.

Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue and Hoi An. 31st October -10th November

Vietnam. We flew into Hanoi airport where we were met by a man who drove us to our first hotel; The Ritz! We use the word drive liberally as he used his horn every 4 seconds. Everytime he came close to a car, overtook, came to a junction or heard someone else do it. We soon came to realise that this was the norm of Vietnam. The accommodation in Vietnam is outstanding, you can get a large room with 2 double beds, ensuite (with hot water!), air conditioning, satellite television and fridge for 3 pounds. Bargain!

Hanoi is a crazy place. There are over 1.5 million motorbikes and only 3.5 million people, we had a great time here just sitting watching the traffic, especially at cross roads. Crossing the road was a mission in itself. In England we help old ladies cross the road, here the old ladies help us to cross the road! The trick is to keep going in the same direction without hesitation and the hundreds of mopeds will swerve past you. We celebrated every time we made it. The other great thing about Hanoi is that in the local bars they sell beer that is 6 pence a glass. Not only does it taste good, but it is fresh beer (preservative free) so you don’t get a hangover.

Our first excursion in Vietnam was to Halong Bay. This is an area with four thousand limestone islands/rocks, perfect for cruising on board a luxury junk boat. We had a 3 day, 2 night trip, around the bay where we ventured into caves, had a rescue mission on a kayak (a sinking one) and listened to Boney M (they love them over here) and Jonty ate his way through as much seafood as was put in front of him. We really enjoyed the relaxing trip, the views were lovely.

After Halong Bay we went to Hue on the night bus (dreadful). Hue is the ancient capital of Vietnam and has a citadel as its centre. We spent one day there and did a tour on the back of motorbikes, this was a buzz. The area had recently been hit by a typhoon which made for a wet ride. We were able to go inside a pagoda and see some monks praying and singing, they later went on to play a game of football!

We then travelled onto Hoi An. A delightful town with small streets and cafes. It had a very local feel despite the millions of tailors and cobblers. We checked into a hotel with a pool and enjoyed some sun-our first in Vietnam. We then went wandering and took advantage of the opportunity to have some clothes made. Hoi An is famous for its tailors and so Jonty ended up with a snazzy new 3 piece suit and shoes and Lou opted to have some boots made and a stylish duffel coat (yes they can be stylish!). All for a ridiculous price. The whole experience was good fun, the process ended with us enquiring about how to post our goodies back to the UK at our hotel. We thought the post office may be closed on a Saturday, but the hotel owner offered to phone and 5 minutes later a post office arrived at our hotel. (A lady on the back of a moped, with box, tape, scales and the necessary forms.) This was the easiest postage we’ve had. Let’s hope it gets back okay, she did drive off with it balancing precariously on the back of the bike.

We then had to catch another nightbus, hopefully our last…ever, to Nha Trang.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai 22nd-30th October

We found a good little guest house in Bangkok, where we recovered from our dreadful day’s journey (3 hours of seasickness and a 10 hour coach are not a good combination), and ate some great food off the street stalls before heading straight up to Chiang Mai.

We planned to do 2 things in Chiang Mai, a 3 day jungle trek and a Thai cookery course. First was our jungle trek.

We stopped on route at the local markets to pick up supplies and watch the locals eat fried locusts. Nice. Then something that Lou had been looking forward to ever since we arrived in Thailand. We went elephant trekking for an hour. We were one of 2 couples on the trip and we followed behind them on the baby elephant looking at a big grey wrinkly bottom! It was a wobbly ride on top, but we soon took the plunge and sat on the elephant’s neck/head. We had bought bananas to feed the giants, but ours seemed to tuck it away in the crook of his trunk and then throw them on the ground when we weren’t looking! The mother on the other hand couldn’t get enough. It was an ambition fulfilled.

After a lunch of fried rice and fruit, we ventured off in the back of a truck up a very steep and muddy track on the side of a mountain to start our hike. Immediately we were in the jungle and were surrounded by thick vegetation that closed in around you hiding the person in front from view. We could have done with a machetti. We battled on for a good couple of hours before stopping at a waterfall for a swim/wash. Jonty enjoyed throwing himself in off the rocks and Lou dangled her feet. Then back to the jungle, this time walking through paddy fields and picking some rice. That night we stayed in a hill tribe village where all of the huts were made from bamboo. We had a great dinner by candlelight and learnt a little about the tribe’s culture. Each hut had its own ‘pet shop’ consisting of dogs, cats, chickens and a pig, not to mention spiders in the toilet. Underneath where we slept was the pig’s sty and he grunted away for most of the night.

We awoke to a panoramic view of jungle and paddy fields, and a breakfast that was even too large for Jonty to finish. Then we were straight back amongst it. Today we crossed numerous streams using log bridges and the first one we came to a snake fell out of the tree. So Lou was on the constant lookout for the rest of the day. We stopped for lunch at a hut at the top of the mountain, the guides started digging and presented us with a meaty cricket which they roasted over the fire and Jonty bravely or stupidly ate. He soon regretted it.

We had a mini adventure swinging on tarzan ropes before arriving at our camp for the night. The site was unbelievable. Surrounded on all sides by mountainous jungle and set next to a waterfall. The good thing about this waterfall was that you could walk right up to the base of it and have a power shower. Lou tried to be like the timotei girl from the advert but the water was too strong. We lit a campfire drank a cold beer and ate some more good food. It was very cold that night, so we ended up wearing most of the clothes we had brought with us. We awoke the following morning to find the hut owner frantically following the snake tracks that had appeared under where we had been sleeping.

Our hiking on the final day was a long uphill, followed by a steep downhill, but a refreshing swim awaited us at the base. Our mini-adventure finished with a float down the river on bamboo. The guide at the front steered us expertly through the little rapids, whilst the rest of us sat and enjoyed the ride. We got the truck back to Chiang Mai and rewarded ourselves with a foot/head massage.

The next day we ventured off to the cooking school and split up. We were apart for a whole hour-an unusual situation for us. Lou went to the local market with the instructor to buy ingredients for the dishes and learnt about the local produce. Jonty stayed at the cooking school and bashed up a green curry paste. We got straight into it, chopping up our ingredients and cooking them in our own woks. We got to eat everything we produced and struggled to finish anything after the first dish. The dishes we cooked were vegetable spring rolls, Thai green chicken curry, chicken with basil leaves, pad thai, green papaya salad and sticky coconut toffee banana. We learnt a lot about preparation and flavours and are really looking forward to using our recipe books when we return home.

We left Chiang Mai on the overnight bus back to Bangkok. Lou had her bag broken into, the thieves had enough time to figure out and undo her combination locks, steal some items and then relock the bags. We were dropped off at 5am in Bangkok and went back to the hostel before realising that anything was wrong. Very frustrating.

We spent a day sightseeing in Bangkok with some friends that we met in South America, it was amusing to have seen them in 2 continents, especially when we have never met them at home and they only live 20 minutes away! We briefly looked at the Royal Palace (which is nothing like the one in Indiana Jones) before we jumped onto a long boat and spent an hour cruising the canals of Bangkok. It was fun.

Next stop Vietnam.

The Thailand Island Hop 8th-21st October

Our long boat was jam-packed with locals heading to the mainland. We were half-way back and there was some problem with the steering. We had to jump ship into another rescue boat and take that one to the mainland. Good start. We arrived at our destination of Koh Lanta and were swarmed by accommodation touts. Lou held her own in taking on 5 at once whilst Jonty made them line up and “sshh!” We chose a resort set up on a cliff facing a cracking beach that had pretty big waves. It didn’t take long for Jonty to be in amongst it body surfing the waves. Lou attempted to join him, but struggled to hold onto her bikini against the current.  We spent the majority of our time on the beach, but had one exciting excursion to some caves.  We hired out a moped (the only way to get around the island) and Jonty, the driver, expertly took us through mud slides. Lou had her eyes closed for most of the trip.

 The cave guides are a local family based at the entrance. We were given a 1920s style flashlight and climbed up the side of a waterfall to the cave entrance. There were 4 different rooms within the cave, all interlinked. The guide was excellent and showed us exactly where to place our feet. The only time we felt slightly nervous was when we had to cross a make-shift bamboo stick bridge that hovered over a 30ft drop. At the base of the furthest cave was an underground lake which was refreshingly cool. We hadn’t quite appreciated how stiflingly hot it would be underground. To exit the cave we had to contort ourselves through a series of awkwardly shaped rocks and were then greeted by a thousand bats hanging from the ceiling. A thoroughly muddy, but enjoyable day. We decided to complete our day of activity with a traditional Thai massage and were pummelled for an hour. Not at all relaxing and completely painful! It was character building.

The next island was Koh Phi Phi. A busy, touristy island that manages to retain some charm. The setting is superb. Mountains either end of two interlinked beaches/sand bar. The sea was green and clear and you could walk out waist-deep for a long way. Great for aerobee. We hiked up to the viewpoint at the top of one mountain which gave us a memorable vista. We also discovered a tasty restaurant where everything came ‘on rice’ for a pound. The sad thing about Phi Phi is that there is litter everywhere. It was severely affected by the sunami and has building works going on in all available spaces. They could really make it something special but it seems to be every man for himself at the moment.

We moved onto Railay beach near Krabi. Lou was in shock when the boat pulled into a muddy, rubbly beach with vegetation everywhere and couldn’t quite understand how Jonty had remembered it as being one of his favourite places. But as we crossed to the other side she was amazed at the huge limestone rocks that cascaded out of the sea and protect the bay. It was indeed picturesque and our favourite beach by far. Pure white, soft sand, sunny days and a cool sea to swim in. A good find.  We wished we’d stayed longer.

We decided it was time to hit the east coast islands and headed off for Koh Phangan. Up until now, we have had brilliant weather. However, after 2 nice days and a resort with a swimming pool to lounge by, the weather turned. Dreadfully. Solid rain for 3 days, we have never seen so much rain. It was interesting to witness for a day, but then came the need to leave and dry off. Tomorrow we head to Bangkok.

17th September - 7th October Perhentien Islands to Thailand

The boat to the islands was exhilirating, pure speed. We arrived at Long Beach where we had to hunt down some accomodation. We settled for what can only be described as a garden shed with a bed in, but it was right on the beach and had a fantastic view! There were holes everywhere, hopefully the mosquito net would prevent too many bites. A bargain at only 2 pounds, a great choice.

While on the island we ventured out on a snorkelling trip, 5 hours of cruising round in a boat captained by a 14 year old. First stop was ‘turtle point’ where we swam following a turtle for about 10 minutes. It was large and glided through the sea at quite some pace, with the ability to turn in an instant. It was quite something. Our next stop was ’shark point.’  Fearless Jonty jumped straight in, but it took Lou a good 5 minutes of convincing herself that it wasn’t dangerous before she jumped in. So for some reason we swam around looking for sharks. Jonty spotted a black tip shark and tried to follow but lost him. Lou had no sightings a little miffed after building up the courage to get in. We had a couple more stops swimming with schools of colourful fish, the water was crystal clear, before we stopped for lunch at a local fishing village. Our last site was ‘coral garden’ there were types of coral that we hadn’t seen before including a vibrant violet and turquoise. Then, unexpectedly a shark swam right underneath us. We followed and it lead us into shallow water where the coral was inches underneath our stomachs. We quickly retreated. The trip was full of surprises.

 The rest our time on the island was spent on the beach, we had lots on sunshine during the day and spectacular thunderstorms at night. Luckily our shed was waterproof!

Travelling in South East Asia is as adventurous, if not more so, than in South America. We left the island at 7:00am in the hope of reaching the west coast of Malaysia by nightfall. We arrived at a bus station to find that we had just missed the bus and the next one wasn’t for 12 hours. The puzzle of how to fill our time was solved by going to a hostel and relaxing there all day. It was like a pet shop. There were boxes of turtles, rabbits hopping around and cats constantly miaowing.

Eventually 10:00pm came and we boarded the bus to Penang. We managed to get some sleep amidst the freezing cold air-conditioning but were woken up by a policeman shining a torch in our eyes. He kept saying “passaporte” and pointing. Jonty made Lou show the man at the back of the bus our passports, but he turned out to be a pedestrian and stared at her blankly. We had to disembark for a man to write our names and passport numbers down on a scrap bit of paper. All a bit odd really.

We arrived in Penang at 4 am, waited 2 hours for the buses to start and hopped on one to our hostel in Georgetown. After some breakfast and a sleep we joined in with the cafe culture of Georgetown. It was nice meandering from place to place, reading the paper and having a drink, plus the food was delicious. A night here was all we needed to recuperate, then it was off to Thailand. A simple border crossing and now we need to get our heads around the Thai Baht currency. Here we are going to do some island hopping, our first stop was the quiet island of Ko Muk.

 We got a long boat to the island, where we were met by a man on a moped with an attached shopping trolley/side car. We both jumped in with our bags and it was a bumpy ride across the island to Farang beach. We knew it was still low season but were surprised at how few of the resorts were open, namely two. There were four other tourists on the island so we had the fantastic beach all to ourselves. The off season also has the bonus of dicounted rates and we were able to afford a 4 star bungalow. Not a wooden shed in sight!

We took a boat to the Emerald Cave. This is a cave that can only be reached by swimming through a pitch black tunnel. As we entered, the sea turned a magnificent green and we could hear a noise much like the roaring of a dragon. The tunnel eventually opened out and we could see light ahead. There was a beach inside the cave, that had 100m high cliff surrounding it on all sides. We were alone, apart from our guide, and it was a strange feeling of awe and a desire to explore, but we only had a short time there. It was an impressive sight.

We enjoyed our private restaurant and ate dinner by candlelight (obviously too early in the season to put the electricity on!) But the next day we decided to rejoin the backpacker society and moved to a tent further down the road! We spent the whole day on the beach, perfecting our throw of the waboba ball (be sure to look it up if you don’t know what it is Ben/Tom) Ko Muk was picture perfect Thailand. We caught a scooter back to the pier to jump aboard another long boat to take us to the next island.

17th-26th September Singapore to Tanah Rata

Our last day in Sydney was eventful. Jonty became ill with man flu and Lou got trapped in a lift for 40 minutes. Other than that, we had a successful flight to Singapore and caught the high speed train to our hostel without any hitches. Thank goodness for air conditioning. On arrival at 10pm it was still 27.C with a stupid amount of humidity. We hope to acclimatise soon.

We stayed in Singapore for 4 days, enough for Jonty to recover and us to explore the highlights. The food was ‘interesting.’ We steered clear of the chicken feet curry and fish ball soup. We did however have a Singapore Sling in Raffles Hotel and a traditional style Indian meal in Little India. The people of China Town were celebrating the festival of light and so it was extremely colourful at night time.

We caught the coach to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and had 2 nights there. The border crossing was as relaxed as in South America, with the customs and excise not bothering to check any items that were declared!

Kuala Lumpur has a fantastic China town with market stalls galore. We had great fun wandering around responding to the sellers trying to flog us a bargain as it were. Good heckling all round.

On our first morning we jumped on a local bus to Batu Caves, a set of cave networks housing Hindu temples. You access the main temple by climbing 272 steps into the gigantic cave, we had monkeys clambering all around us. A good experience. That afternoon we ascended the Petronus Towers for a rainy view of KL. We were drenched on the journey there and the staff there thought it was hilarious to ask if it was raining!  The whole city came to a stand-still during the downpour, with everyone sheltering wherever they could.
For Louise’s birthday, we headed 2 hours north to Kuala Selangor. Our journey took us on a rickety bus that broke down after 10 minutes. The next bus had air conditioning, (windows!) By the time we had arrived we were windswept and slightly seasick from the driver thinking he was on a racetrack and taking the bends at a hair raising pace. The purpose of our journey was to experience fireflies. We took a boat, a romantic private one as luck would have it, up and down a river. One bank of the river was lit up by thousands of fireflies flashing sequentially. It was like a thousand Christmas trees twinkling. The magical experience lasted 30 minutes. We stayed the night, then got the rickety bus back to KL.

We transferred straight away to another bus going to the Cameron Highlands. We thought we had a bargain price, but actually had ants on our bus! So next time we will pay the extra 50 pence! 5 hours later and we arrive in England. Rolling green hills a cooler climate and later, rain! We came to see the tea plantations and do some hiking. After a cool night’s sleep, we started our greatest adventure of south-east Asia yet!

We had a treacherous hike descending through the jungle. This was great fun. We then started a walk uphill to the Boh tea plantation. We had been walking for over an hour and a half when luckily a truck stopped and indicated that we should jump on to it’s open back. We obliged, naturally! The driver and passengers were workers from the tea plantation and drove us up the remaining 2 kilometre hill. It was a good ride.

At the plantation we enjoyed a minature tour around the factory and had a tea-tasting session.  The cake was extra. On the way back we saw some tea pickers working in the fields. They all stopped and waved as we walked by. We had only walked a little way down, before being picked up by another truck. This time we squeezed into the cabin as it had started to rain. A great adventure. The Malaysians have been very friendly, helpful and smiley people.

Next stop, Perhentian Islands on the west coast of Malaysia.

Adelaide to Sydney 28th August-17th September

Adelaide is ‘real’ Australia. The local pubs welcomed us with open arms, a beer and a long chat that you struggled to get out of. It also has a museum dedicated to Sir Don Bradman who played with a bat made in Chelmsford, Essex. Fact. We had 3 enjoyable days in Adelaide not doing much. But we did pick up a 6 gear 1.8 Toyota Corrolla that had lots of gadgets and cup holders! In our super car, we headed off to the Barrossa Valley to pursue more of Lou’s favourite activity-wine tasting!

The Barrossa valley is home to famous wine makers such as Penfolds, Jacob’s Creek and Wolf Blass. We booked into a hostel here that turned out to be a little cottage surrounded by vinyards and as no-one else had checked in, we had it all to ourselves!! The wine tasting was especially good at Jacob’s Creek and yes, the creek next to it is called Jacob! We also had a tour of the wine making facilities that surprised us both and was interesting. A good stop.

We drove to the Grampian Moutains in Victoria. We had to move our clock forward 30 minutes as we crossed the border from South Australia into Victoria-it’s odd how they have split the time zone in half. We had heard that there were many kangaroos in this area of Australia and we were not disappointed. We had slowed to look at the scenery and up on the road ahead we saw a make-shift roo crossing. The kangaroos were bending underneath the wire fencing and one would have the role of lookout as the other hopped across the road to the field opposite. It was quite a sight! We watched this for a while and then found a cabin for hire on some property. We decided to take it. On the owner’s field were emus and kangaroos. It was quality to eat dinner and breakfast with kangaroos hopping past. At one point Lou heard what she thought was Jonty jumping around trying to trick her, but then a 5 foot kangaroo came hopping round the corner! Kangaroos are massive when they stand up to each other. We saw a few having a box and using their tail to lift their feet off the ground to kick with. In the Grampians we had a nice walk up a mountain before moving on to the Great Ocean Road. On our way, we saw a group of 4 stags in the bush. They started to gallop alongside us, before overtaking us and crossing the road ahead. What a sight.

 Now, this was a drive that we had been looking forward to. The road hugs the coast. We stopped at various points to walk and admire the rough sea. We ate lunch whilst looking at the twelve apostles-of which there are only 7 left. These are impressive stacks that have been bashed about by the sea. A great day’s driving was finished off with some wine from the Barrossa Valley in a hostel that had a vinyl LP player-we spent the evening listening to some classic hits. The next day we followed the hostel owners instructions and found some koalas. We spotted about 22 in the space of a kilometre. 2 were the most active we’ve seen, they were climbing up and down munching away on the eucalyptus leaves. On our way back down the track we stumbled across a tour group feeding the colourful parrots that are in many of the trees out here. They gave us some of their feed and we were then ambushed by them. Jonty was bitten by a less friendly fellow and so we left!

Onto Melbourne. We decided to rid ourselves of the car we will never afford in real life, but before we did that we went to visit Ramsey Street. It is actually called Pin Oak Street and is in a suburb of Melbourne. It is tiny in real life. We wandered around and Lou gave Jonty the run down of who lived where and when, before taking lots of photos and bowling down the street (Jared Rebeki/Toady style). We timed our visit to coincide with the Aussie rules finals, so we paid a visit to the MCG on Saturday night and watched a match with 65,000 others. The noise of the crowd at the MCG is a roar. Great entertainment.

Melbourne is a nice city to meander. We enjoyed visiting the markets, parks, beaches and riverside. But really and truly we(Lou) had only stopped for one thing…NEIGHBOURS night! We had the choice of 2. The official and the alternative one (run by Toady, since he was banned from the official one!). After extensive research, we found out that Ian Smith aka Harold Bishop aka Jelly Belly would be at the alternative night, but that we could also make our way over to the official one to see Karl Kennedy’s band play. We could kill one bird with 2 stones as Jonty said!

The whole day leading up to the momentus occasion was filled with apprehension. But on arrival, and after recieving our free beer and wedges, Harold arrived. He stole the show. He is a comic. And a genuinely nice guy. He wrote in our journal, had an arm wrestle with Jonty and gave Lou a hug worthy of the mighty Lou Bear himself! We also got to meet Ringo and Elle Robinson from the show and they were equally friendly and down-to-earth. We had a great time. But it was soon time to race over to the official gig. And what a race it was too. We arrived at the tram station (oh yeah, forgot to mention that Melbourne has trams everywhere-a nightmare for drivers-glad we lost the car), but our tram had just left seconds before and the next one wasn’t for another 20 minutes. Karl was due on then. There was only one thing for it. The flip flops came off and we ran after it. We saw it stop at the next station, but it pulled off as we approached. Someone claimed to know a short cut so we all followed (oh yeah, there were 8 of us chasing down the middle of the road!). We caught it at the next stop and managed to reach Doctor Karl with seconds to spare. It was well worth the chase. Pure entertainment, great songs and some classic ‘Dad’ shapes were thrown on the floor by Karl. Jonty even remarked that it was one of the best nights he’s ever had- praise indeed. We left Melbourne happy a couple of days later.

We have now returned to the start as it were. We’re back in Sydney, having completed our circuit of Oz. This time around it is warmer weather. We will get to see a little of the World Cup here before we head off to Singapore on the 17th.

The Outback 22nd-27th August

We had a brilliant flight into Alice Springs. The view rapidly changed from a cloudy Cairns to a sunny red desert. It made us realise just how massive and empty Australia is. We picked up a campervan on arrival and set off into the desert, which has a lot more vegetation that we had expected. Still, the outback is relentless. We drove on a deserted highway constantly on the lookout for road trains. These beasts are up to 50 metres long and roam all over the highway, if one approaches you have to pull well off the road to avoid being hit.  We drove towards  Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). As we aproached we saw a huge red rock and Lou was fooled into thinking it was Uluru (Ayers Rock). Unfortunately it was a fake and we still had 4 hours of driving!! Kata Tjuta are a number of huge dome-like boulders that are higher than Uluru. Some would argue that they are more spectacular than Uluru. We had a nice walk through ‘the valley of the winds’ which enabled you to actually walk on the rock and around the huge perimeter. We then drove at a sensible speed to Uluru for sunset.

Sunset was magical, it’s not often that you can stare at a rock for an hour. The colours changed dramatically from a dull red to a vibrant orange. We had a brilliant view too, with the campervan backed into a space, we opened the boot and sat inside with a beer. We had strapped the camera to the table to get the best photos and Jonty shifted some Germans that were spoiling our view!! We then drove into the desert and parked up under the stars for a great night’s sleep.

It was an early start the next morning for sunrise. It was just as spectacular. Uluru dominates the landscape and draws your attention. It starts to glow and no photo can really do it justice. Lou had a great view sitting on top of the campervan. We stayed after the masses had left for a cup of tea in our still-made bed and just marvelled at the sight. A great start to the day. We joined in with a Park Ranger walk around the base of Uluru. She educated us on the Aborigine lifestyle and influences in the area. We enjoyed our time there. The whole national park was an unforgettable experience.

We drove onto Kings Canyon. Jonty loved this place. The drive there was on the straightest road we’ve been on. We must have gone for 50km without having to turn the steering wheel! Let alone meeting another car. The walk around Kings Canyon has been one of the best we have had on this trip. It started with a steep climb to the top of the canyon and we then walked along and around the ridge. It had spectacular views and cliffs for Jonty to climb up and dangle his legs over. (Scaring the bejeebers out of Lou and some Italian tourists who were saying “Crazeee Eengleesh!”) Great fun.

We were lucky enough to coincide our trip with the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, Alice Springs’ premier event. It takes place on the Todd river, which only flows about 3 times a year. The brilliant thing about this regatta is that it is the world’s only dry regatta. Boats are bottomless, powered by legs and in some cases they are on rails and you have to paddle your way along the sand with a spade! Is this Australian ingenuity at it’s finest? The Aussies are completely crazy! But it was the best fun. We spent the morning along with 5,000 other spectators bathing in the sun, laughing at other’s attempts, before finally deciding to take on the challenge ourselves. The boat categories were numerous. They had 4, 6 and 8 man boats. Some with sails and some long boats. Having been canoeing with Jonty before, we went for the 1 man Kayak category. (He can’t paddle for toffee, and Lou felt it safer with his 2 big left Yank feet to go it alone!) Jonty had Ato Boldon in his heat and failed to qualify. Lou sailed through to the finals where she took on Australia’s finest to become Henley-on-Todd Kayak Champion 2007. (World Champion) The event finished with huge battle ships launching water, flour and fireworks at each other from cannons and slingshots. It was so much fun! A stupid, brilliant day.

The following day we caught The Legendary Ghan train to Adelaide. (Is it legendary for hitting kangaroos or being late we wondered! It did both on our experience.) It is a 19 hour (25 in our case) journey through the desert. We were entertained with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, endless desert and some tumbleweed. That’s all really.

We arrived into Adelaide and were met by the sunshine and a car to take us to the hostel.

Cairns 8th -21st August

We met Dee and Steve at Cairns airport. We were holding  two giant balloons that were unmissable-yes, they missed us!! It was a happy reunion and we quickly settled into our luxury B&B for a cold beer. Luxury is a bit of an understatement when you compare our new dwellings to the hostels we’ve been in. We have become accustomed to hostels and their strange ways, so moving into a B&B with a swimming pool and amazing breakfasts was a real treat.

We had 2 weeks to explore Cairns and its surroundings. We ventured off to Cape Tribulation, Daintree Valley and Mossman Gorge where Jonty and Steve went swimming in a watering hole that (by the looks on their faces) was very cold! At Cape Trib (where rainforest meets the sea) we spent the afternoon on the beach relaxing and enjoying the break in the clouds, when a Cassowary decided to join us. Now, cassowaries are birds bigger than an ostrich, with claws that look like they come out of an axe murdering film and a bone resembling a shark’s fin sticking out the top of their head. Other than this, they have a beautiful blue, turquoise and red colouring on the neck! We were delighted to see one as they are an endangered species. The trouble is that this one was a little aggressive and made a beeline straight for Steve. It was a close call, but the cassowary was scared off by Dee shouting at him! We were also lucky to find some platypuss in the nude in a creek in the Atherton Tablelands. It was great to see them popping up for air and then sticking their little bottoms up and disappearing again. Platypuss are a lot smaller than you think-we were looking for something the size of an otter, but it is more like a terrapin. We feel like we are turning into David Bellamy! We visited a crocodile farm and watched them jumping right out of the water for their ugly dinner of chicken heads. It was an impressive sight. The ranger was very informative and answered lots of questions that we thought of e.g. If you face a croc on land, run. (Like you would do anything else!) On Lou’s run the next morning she ran with only one earphone in around the saltwater creek, just in case! We visited the town of Kuranda which sits in the middle of the rainforest. We went there via a scenic railway and returned by cable car overlooking the rainforest-this gave us a totally different perspective. We thoroughly enjoyed the journeys.

In between these trips, we had relaxing days by the pool, watching Aussie rules and meandering round Cairns. We ate barbies in the true Aussie fashion and also made Dee and Steve honorary backpackers for a few nights too. We considered the best way to have a real local Saturday night out and decided that as their number one sport is gambling, to go to the dogs. We struggled to find anyone who knew where the track was, that should have been a giveaway in itself. But we arrived, couldn’t find the car park or the rest of the cars, so abandoned the car and entered. The attendance was a little shy of our expectations. There were about 20 people there, 15 of which either owned the dogs or were running the event! It was strange, but also quite funny. The commentator (yes, he was relaying the night’s events over the loud speaker system to the whole stadium!) showed us his commentary box and kept referring to us over the mike. It was slightly embarrassing as it was obvious from the lack of attendees who we were. But he then placed a bet on for us, which was a really nice gesture. It lost! It turned out to be a memorable night.

One of the main reason that people visit Cairns is to go to the Great Barrier Reef. The weather had not been particularly kind to us as the wind was stirring up the sea. We eventually took the plunge, and some sea sickness tablets, and ventured out to the reef. Lets just say that the journey was an adventure in itself and that we were the only family to retain the contents of our stomachs. When we arrived at the pontoon (1 1/2 hours from the mainland) we hit the snorkelling and were delighted. The visibility, warmth and calmness of the water was perfect for snorkelling. We saw lots of different variety of fish and coral that we had not seen anywhere else on our trip. We even got to touch ‘Wally’ the huge fish that was well over a metre long. (This is the same type of fish that had scared the bejeebers out of Jonts when we were in the Whitsundays.) We spent 4 hours at the reef, digested a nice lunch and went aboard a semisubmersible boat. All in all, it was an outstanding day. A great way to finish our holiday in Cairns.

We finally returned our hire car after 41 days of travelling up the east coast. And now we are off to the outback in search of a big red rock. We will miss our breakfasts, morning swims and company.