A journey to the centre of humidity.....

It didn’t take long on our evening wander to spot the Towers out. They were, until 2004, the tallest buildings in the world, and are an incredible spectacle at night. Obviously, both being engineers we were bound to like them, but they even took us by surprise with their immaculate lighting and seemingly endless height. When we go back to KL we will defiantly be having another look!

With our Indian Visa still causing problems we decided to take a few days out from KL and head to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. This is Malaysia’s tea plantation hub and also the ‘coolest’ part of the country with temperature rarely exceeding 21C. Arriving around midday we spent the first day relaxing, eating more superb Asian meals, viewing the World’s least impressive waterfall and making a large error when ordering a pudding...After deciding we deserved a treat (‘Tis a hard life) we argued over who was to try the ‘Ice Kasang ABC’ and who had to endure the ‘Cendol’, without knowing what either dish contained. We settled on sharing and when they came out we knew we had cocked up. They both had the same base of rice flour and brown sugar (OK but very sweet), with the ‘Kasang’ containing sweet corn, kidney beans and a horrific brand of jelly and the ‘Cendol’ having some inedible Steve: “green shit on top”. Both equally disgusting and hilarious for the staff watching our faces!

The next day was tea plantation day, and we set off on a bus (that left its ticket lady at a random stop and then she miraculously appeared again 20 minutes later, strange) and then a long hike through the plantation to the tea house and factory. Accompanied by a Canadian couple we drank some local ‘BOH’ Tea and walked through the factory watching the Umpa-lumpa’s at work. We walked back instead of catching the bus only for the Australian Monsoon to catch us up just before the Tanah Rata Golf Club. Cheers. The evening was spent master-planning as our Indian Visa was still not ready for collection so we decided to cut our losses and head for Phuket and the Thai Islands, before coming back to KL to pick up the Visa, then fly to Cambodia so we don’t loss any time, make sense? Good.

And so the journey begins....the route between the Highlands and Phuket had three legs. Leg one was to get to Butterworth in Malaysia. However, after 90 minutes the bus decided it didn’t need a drive shaft anymore and left it on the road. The sound had to be heard to be believed. With another bus kindly giving us a lift to the next town we had to wait 45 minutes for a Butterworth connection. When it came after an hour we got on to find a passenger in the form of a loose chicken on board, very random. Leg two involved getting from Butterworth to Hat Yai in Thailand and therefore crossing the border. This journey could not have gone any smoother as it seemed we were the only bus at the border and with only 5 passengers we were away in no time. Then leg three, Hat Yai to Phuket. We opted for the 9.30pm so we would get in at 5am, early but the best we could do. Unfortunately, the regular driver was ill and Fernando Alonso took the wheel, cue a 3.25am arrival in Phuket! With nowhere open, we killed a very boring and slightly scary 4 hours at Phuket Bus Station.

As I am currently writing this we are in our fan assisted double room in Phuket town, trying to cool down from being at the beach today. Phuket is by far the hottest and most humid place we have been so far. Those of you reading in England should spare a though for us here, sweating constantly in some tropical paradise.....

A tale of two continents

After the massive night on the pub crawl we woke up bright and early. Not sure why, but we did. For some reason we can't seem to lay in anymore, so we staggered about in the bright morning and did some jobs, like getting the underwater photos developed and buying a fishing rod from a pawn shop!?!

Stu utilised this weapon the next morning and then promptly pawned it back in about 36 hours after he bought it. We lazed around in Cairns lagoon with Steve and new bez Ted for most of the rest of the day and lamented our lost football which unfortunately put pay to volleyball games. We also bumped into some of the girls from our Fraser Island trip who had just got back from the Whitsundays. Grrrrr. We actually quite like them though so we teamed up and planned the evening. It was Paddy's day after all! Some Guinness? Or more Goon. Well, goon is cheaper, and the chardonnay we bought was also very, very delicious...

We played some very noisy drinking games as we endeavoured to get rid of the stuff and had a fairly sizable posse, swelled to include some Welsh and Norwegians, by the time we headed into town to dance our boots off. Stu preceded to get so transmogified that he was found in another hostel in the morning as naked as the day he was born, spread-eagle on some poor unfortunate souls bed. We can only be thankful that someone was there to see it so the story could be told!

This little skirmish into the Australian night drew a close to our proceedings in this continent and we boarded a plane headed for Singapore (via a sausage roll in Darwin). Singapore certainly livened the senses after essentially a three week beach holiday in Aus. Colours, smells, lights and multiple hundred crazed drivers. We stayed in a little neighbourhood close to the centre and wandered about in the evening and ate a massive plate of (very delicious) Chinese food for about a pound. After this however things really did catch up with us, and with some of the comfiest hostel beds to date waiting, we turned in.

Fully refreshed the next day we set about exploring Singapore proper and hit up the CBD, Chinatown (perhaps the craziest yet) and the waterfront areas which gave great views of the city. After visiting a large temple we both decided to convert to Buddhism, but we are having some teething problems with the '5 Precepts'. We also took a stroll, sweating profusely, to the Singapore flyer, but before we got near we stumbled on the F1 track! Pretty darn cool, a deserted pit lane and grid all to ourselves. We also worked out the buses, which took us back to our South American days - all the tiny offices all with the 'best' price. After a lunchtime special sweet and sour pork we headed to the colonial area and saw and somehow wandered into the Raffles hotel which was very east of India, conjuring images of cigar smoking and very fine cut suits. In fact, lots of people in the markets were trying to get us to buy tailored suits. Could they not see we were melting?! Last but not least, we strolled down Orchard Road which is perhaps the most ludicrous shopping district I have ever seen. Skyscraper shopping centres lined the streets, everything was shiny and clean and expensive and we were blasted by ice cold air-con at every shop entrance. We also caught some sort of performance in the street here by some school children playing piano-harpy things which was quite cool.

On the last day in Singapore we intended to buy some bus tickets, climb a mountain, with 9km walk and see a reservoir in the rain forest. The end of Singapore's wet season intervened though and we ended up buying some bus tickets, having a huge curry and then getting a full body massage! Little did we know on entry that they took the words 'full body' very seriously, and after a while hands went a wandering and we were told we could be massaged further if we paid a little more. Resisting this proved difficult, but a swift exit was made!

Next morning we caught the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the bus driver constantly commenting on how tall we were. I was greeted with the line 'Do you play basketball for Brazil?' We were also warned about hitting our heads on the way out etc. Funny lad though and very helpful. When we stopped at some services in Malaysia our eyes opened wide. Now dealing with Ringets (5 to the pound) we were astonished at all the food that as on offer and how cheaply. We went for roasted duck noodle (about one pound). We also had some greasy Chinese thing (20p). On arrival in Kuala Lumpur we took the monorail across the city (22p) and arrived in Chow Kit, where we were to stay. That evening we took a walk round the infamous chow kit street markets (in monsoon rain) and ate the largest Naan I have ever seen (40p). This one Naan served amply for our entire dinner.

I don't know if it was the Naan, but something caught me out in a similar way to our arrival in Lima, and I was up all night with a tremendous stomach ache. I went from pure excitement at all the culinary options to eating KFC chips within about 24 hours. Things are settling though and we have just enjoyed another curry after spending today sorting out our Indian visa (don't ask), exploring KL's Chinatown and the historic centre. An evening walk beckons to get closer to the sight which dominates the skyline here - the Petronas Towers.

Bad luck, a change of plans and finding Nemo

The moment we set foot back on the mainland, after Fraser Island, the heavens decided to open again! Thankful that we had had 3 perfect days of weather we weren't too worried and used our last day in Rainbow Beach to chill with new friends, share more Fraser stories and have our first OZ BBQ (even if it was UK BBQ weather) and duly piled on the meat for a fantastic feed and a great way to end an incredible few days.


Next stop was Airlie Beach and a three day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands, paradisaical in every sense of the word, and so still travelling with Irish Steve the Leprechaun who was booked on the same boat as us, we braved another night bus with excitement running high. However on arriving in Airlie Beach we found yet more heavy showers and some light breezes to boot. Slightly annoyed that we were going to have to sleep on a wet deck in the days ahead, we headed out for yet more volleyball world records in the Iriganji-free lagoon and afterwards a few beers and some NRL viewing. By the following day, these light breezes had picked up dramatically before finally, upon check-in, the bombshell was dropped, the boat was cancelled and with a tight time schedule and no obvious weather improvement foreseeable, our Whitsunday dream was over! All the good luck we have been having, and the disasters that have been following in our wake, have finally caught up with us with devastating consequences.

A time for a change of plans to turn this bad fortune around was decided upon, and after moving our funds over to a Great Barrier Reef trip in Cairns we made a big call to move our flight forward to Singapore by 4 days with Australia not holding much more interest for us and time looking short in Asia. We then proceeded to get 'Transmogified' on Goon to drown our sorrows and hatch new plans, under the severe influence to Fruity Lexia.

The one last box we were both desperate to tick before leaving OZ was the Great Barrier Reef and with Cyclone warnings constant we crossed our fingers and prayed to the gods for some mercy. Thankfully they finally obliged and we set sail and what turned out to be an unforgettable day.

Come 6.45 the alarms went off and we were ready to roll, the first stop was Green Island for a an hour or so chill before heading out to the Wall, a famous part of the Reef that only our boat, the 'Ocean Freedom' goes too. A quick stop to devour some delicious lunch was then taken before we jumped in the slightly choppy, 28 degree water for some snorkeling and were treated to some spectacular views, with the reef in touching distance even from the surface. However, we didn't have long before it was time to don our diving equipment, both slightly nervous with Steve losing his diving virginity and me failing miserably with a rubbish sinus system at the last attempt. But with crazy Becky at our side it could not have been any better. In the 30 minutes we saw some of the best Reef the GBR has to offer with hundreds of different types of fish and coral, including Nemo, and even managed to get down to 9m, much deeper than other first time divers. The pictures we took on a cheap underwater camera don't really do this underwater paradise justice and it was certainly on of the best things we have done on the trip so far. The only dodgy point being when my body, which had not enjoyed going down too much, liked coming up even less and saw thousands of tiny stars on the way up which required a long sit down afterwards. Not fun. The trip concluded with a glass bottom boat ride and some more incredible food, if Carlsburg made day trips.....









We concluded the day with our hostel's, Asylum (prison themed hostel...), Mad Monday Pub Crawl which got very messy, very quickly with plenty of games and new friends being made. A great way to round off one of the best days of the tour so far and our last major day in OZ. The next blog post will be coming from Continent number 4 of the trip....

Sun, Sea, Sand, Sports, Surfing, Super-lash and Driving around in a Really Cool, Big 4x4

We arrived in Noosa having not booked any accommodation on the basis that it seemed so easy to find it along this east coast. We had not however banked on another Australian monsoon and so on arrival we simply ran into the back of the nearest hostel minibus. We were told that there were only rooms left in a dorm that did not have water but our lack of motivation to find anything better saw us agree on the basis that we were going to be given a better price. After about ten minutes in the room the plumber turned the water back on. Bonus. In fact this hostel turned out to be a find. It was here that we met up with Millie and Josie, another English pairing that had discovered Goon. After a terrible showing in the game of killer pool in the hostel we played cards together into the evening. After a morning dip in the hostel pool we hit up charity shops in town to find Stu a replacement for his jumper and spotted a tasty blue woollen number (6 dollars can’t be bad for a sailor’s jumper). We then grabbed a surf board and embraced the showers to get some more practise and had a pretty successful session on Noosa main beach. In the evening we managed to find Jaimey and Ruth from Brisbane tales and a worm two rooms down from us! Cue another night of Goon, cards and cookies.

The next day found us on a bus to rainbow beach, following behind Josie and Millie on the OZ Experience, whom we shared another morning swim with and walked with to Noosa lookout for what is almost certainly a fantastic view on a sunny day...

The bus actually stopped outside our hostel in Rainbow (this town is fairly small) and we found ourselves in the same dorm as the girls again! Literally everyone is here to go to the island and the tours leave everyday, the whole hostel is banging to the sound of drunken dirty groups returning or groups getting spanked in a bid to get to know each other, so we settled in and prepared ourselves for the start of our Fraser experience.

Josie and Stu cleared the lungs with a morning run along the beach before we all went to the local (rather posh) tennis club where the girls put us to shame. The Millie Forehand was particularly devastating! We had a rather lengthy briefing in the afternoon, where we met the other 6 troops who would be joining us – Chris and Jenny the horny German couple (the former a ladatronic drink disposal unit, the latter an argumentative witch), Rene their speedo wearing countryman and his partner Kat, Maggie the Goon addicted super chef and Steve the Irish lashhound. The ten of us put in the Goon and beer order before taking advantage of the happy hour deals on Jugs to get to know each other.

In the morning we had another talking to, this time regarding the obscene amount of food we were being burdened with, how to drive a Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier along the world’s largest sand island and how to pack all this food and drink and camping gear and ten people neatly on the roof and inside. Stress was placed on the need to buy ice to keep the alcohol cold and how best to set up a banging beach party which, with seven jeeps going our day, each one Goon fuelled and containing a boom box, would not be difficult. We were given a rough itinery, a map and tide times and told to ‘get amongst it’ by Merv, who was very Australian and holds the Fraser Island petrol record.

We headed out in convoy, locked wheels in 4WD and left Merv at the ferry, which meant we were on our own, totally free to bez up and down the island exploring it’s delights. The first major stop was Lake McKensie which was totally unreal – perfectly clear waters and bleached white sand – the perfect spot for some serious volleyball and swimming. The drive there was pretty ace too, your man Steve whizzed us along the sand and Speedo Rene took us over the inland rough stuff, difficult driving terrain which I had the pleasure of negotiating on the way back after lunch and, crucially, after the Goon had been opened. What proceeded to occur in the back of the jeep as I was bouncing us all through the rainforest was pure and simple debauchery. Stu was meant to take over half way to the beach, he was simply in no fit state to do so. When I expressed a wish to change drivers and get Goon filled myself a hand stand competition broke out and on discussion we concluded that Steve, the only man foolish enough to want to take the wheel should be banned due to the amount of ethanol already pumping through his veins. I had to take us all the way to camp, but on Merv’s advice cracked a can at the wheel and joined the spirit (don’t try this on public roads children.) I had the time of my life cruising along a sun drenched beach nearing dusk, and in the back Stu managed to feed Maggie an even greater amount of Goon so that for the rest of the evening at least someone in the camp had to be on ‘Maggie watch’. During the responsible game of ‘I have never’ we managed to prize enough information out of Chris to ensure a serious domestic followed...

We managed to get all 7 jeeps in one camp and cooked up some steak, tatties and salad. At one point there was threat of a shower, which sent everyone running and climbing about trying to fix tarps over the stoves, but after a few minutes Mother Nature gave up and that was the last time we even saw a cloud. Such was the haphazard nature of our camping that night that a fair few (wild and apparently very dangerous) Dingos were attracted in. They were kept at bay by the 10 members of the Irish jeep who between them in 3 days consumed 44 litres of Goon, 5 crates of beer, 2 bottles of Jager and 2 bottles of Vodka and were still drinking at 6 in the morning. We heard a rumour that one of them was actually woken in a sand dune by one licking his ear, but then again we also heard a story that one of the said Irish shouted ‘sit’ at a pack of Dingos and one actually did. Believe what you want, but these are the lads that stopped to buy ice and instead drank 8 Jager-Bombs each at three in the afternoon!

A swift, excellently executed team pack up saw us ‘leaving no trace’ but about 7 in the morning (you simply can’t sleep after dawn). We sped north to Indian head via a ship wreck and Eli creek, another beautiful spot to dip in fresh water. We climbed to the lookout and surveyed the beauty of the island before heading back south (somehow leaving a tent with the Irish who were passed out on the beach) and headed back inland to lake Allom where we thought we would be able to chill our bronzed bodies in some more fresh water. It turned out that this lake was reserves for turtles, who were very friendly but left us still feeling warm, so we returned to Eli creek, swam and broke the volleyball world record.

The second night’s camp was far more organised, and the girls did a job with the Thai chicken curry before we got back on the Goon and played the world’s largest game of ‘Ring of Fire’. It was later this evening that we found Steve asleep on the beach, a sight far less beautiful than the superb stars that were twinkling above us. In the morning we were a little fragile. When we opened our cool box we realised why. There was one can of beer floating all alone. Everything else had been consumed. Cornflakes and toast to the rescue.

The last day was mainly spent on a walk to and from and dip in Lake Wabby. This was after Stu’s antics trying to park the Jeep in gear with his foot on the clutch! We also saw a ‘sandblow’ on the way, which for all intent and purpose was a very cool (but stinking hot) desert.
Time to go home and remove sand from every orifice know to man. Quiz in the evening at the hostel and a very deep sleep. Wawawooey!

A very wet Byron Bay and Brisbane

With the first Premier Bus navigated safely, we arrived in Byron Bay ready to undertake the highly anticipated activity of surfing. Under the guidance of the surfing Guru ‘Wapu’ and his stunning assistant Diva we hit Lennox Head beach and attempted to rip curl some waves. However, even with excellent tuition and skilfully crafted, sand-draw pictures, surfing is not easy, especially with conditions not playing into our hands. By the half way break all we had really managed was being experts in how to fall off and sometimes not even get lying on the board at all! But, whatever they put in the oranges during the break worked as afterwards, both of us began to drastically improve and managed to stand up and enjoy some wave-powered propulsion. Also, as Wapu had said at the start ‘the best surfer is the one having the most fun’, and we certainly loved every minute, even if our bodies weren’t agreeing.

Our hostel in Byron was a little out of the way/4km outside of Byron itself. It also seemed to have more staff than guests with most of Tel Aviv staying there. However it did an excellent job in allowing us to take a few days out to relax after rushing around for the last six months. We did however also manage another trip to Byron beach with a hostel surf board for attempt two, but the board was far too small to do anything too crazy but a nice way to kill a few hours and watch some pros up close. Any other beach trip was avoided due to east coast beach being on a Tsunami warning after the recent Chilean earthquake (yet another natural disaster that has followed in our wake), cue chilling by the pool and adminating heavily.

Now, unfortunately, I have to be honest with you. For a while we have been bragging about the weather, and rightly so, but it has come back to bite us. Since mid-way through Byron and the last 3 days in Brisbane it has not stopped raining! Not once! It has got to the stage where Ark building is being debated. And it’s not just light drizzle either; this is monsoon-style stuff! Don’t ever let an Aussie tell you the weather in England is crap. This has meant that our time in Brisbane has been spent playing hostel Bingo, a pub quiz, a rain fuelled self guided tour of the city with Northampton ladies Jamie and Ruth, getting malaria tablets, Steve getting medical advice on possibly being pregnant and a few Goon fuelled evenings. However things took a turn for the better on finding that the Socceroos (Australian national football team) were playing Indonesia in a 2011 Asia Cup qualifier and World Cup warm up game, so we snapped up some $25 tickets and prayed to the heavens for a let up in the rain.



Come 7pm by some divine miracle, the rain finally stopped! With our free banners and tea towels at the ready, along with another 20,440 spectators at the SunCorp stadium, we watched the Roos in action against a somewhat diminutive and hopeless Indonesian side. We were lucky enough to be next to the Indonesian fans who didn’t stop singing and cheering all game, even though their side only had 20% of the possession and spent more time laying on the floor than playing football. Saying all this however, the Roos’ could only labour to a 1-0 victory, even with over 20 shots on goal. The final whistle brought an end to an up and down time in Brisbane, next up Noosa and hopefully some sunshine!