TravelStream™ news feed for member fiandrob on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/fiandrob en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:32:50 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1115682600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1115682600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1115682600/tpod.html Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:32:50 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Pretoria, South Africa

Well what can be said about the last leg of our epic round the world trip? Well going by the last few travelpod's probably a hell of a lot so let's get it ooooon as they say!!

The ticket had reached its end and the time had come to leave Oz. Obviously we weren't ready for that so we decided to finish out the trip in South Africa and have some home time back home and catch the next freighter back to the colony. Now I have to admit I was a little anxious about this due to being as broke as a pikey in a social welfare audit (that's for the accountants out there!!) but I was persuaded by a mixture of browbeating and honest to goodness emotional blackmail.

We did some research and came up with a pretty good deal for a safari to take up the bulk of the time. We had to say no to a number of other packages and of course when I say we I mean me. We came up with a plan that due to work restrictions left us with only 5 days back in the sod after we had left South Africa. We had to fly to Perth first to before heading on to Joberg. We had found a cool hostel where if we stayed a night there and a night in their other place in Pretoria we would get a free lift to Pretoria. Considering that our safari was leaving from Pretoria that suited us down to the ground. When we landed in SA the owner came to pick us up and he turned out to be a Norn Iron exile so we had the banter on the way back to the guest house. On the way he pointed out the massive corn fields and also the "boys" who steal the corn and basically walk round the corner and sell the "mealies" or the stalks of corn on the side of the street. We got back to the house and got stuck into the Castle beer which was quality. The beer was flowing and the good thing was that yer man was so enamored with having fellow Paddy's around that he gave us more than one for free.

When we woke up the next morning we were ready for our trip to Pretoria. We headed out and when we got there it was much more of a hostel atmosphere. We were assigned a garden shed, literally!! We were very happy with this cos we were used to 5 star Asian hotels and it was so cool to just stay in a shed in the middle of South Africa. It was a little unreal. Also staying with us was a battalion of squadies from England and I swear to god it was like dropping into Ibiza. All you could see was fat, pasty, tattooed, fucked out of their head 20 year olds. Of course there was one poor 18 year old whose whole time there was spent being abused for being a virgin and as a consequence was the centre of a number of schemes to have him pop his proverbial cherry!! Thankfully we had moved on by this stage! The place was savage. Our little shed had everything you would want and of course when we go there and Fi saw the sheds there was no where else we were going to stay. They had a pool but cos we were still in the southern hemisphere it was the depths of winter which meant that the sun and air were nice and warm but the water would reverse puberty! We headed out into the main town that night. Pretoria is the student capital of the country and as such it is quite cosmopolitan. We went for a few beer and of course 8,000 miles from Ireland not only did we meet an Irish person, cos thats nothing interesting but we met a guy from the nure and to be more exact about 5 houses down from where Fiona lives! We had a beer or two or three and I had some Biltong, which is dried and smoked meat kinda like pepperami if anone has ever tasted it. I never have but I have to admit the TV ads did amuse me but if it tastes like Biltong I don't think I'm missing anything! M.......U........C........K!

The next morning we were picked up by our tour guide. We had picked a tour which included 2 national parks and a trip into another country. There was only one provision and that was you had to have at least two people for the trip so we were feeling cautiously optimistic! The guide showed up the next day with a nice little 8 seater VW van. Not the cool 60's one the more efficient 2000 one. The good news was that we were the only people on the trip so we basically had our own personal tour guide and van for around the same price as a trip to Galway for a long weekend so we were understandably stoked. The bad news was that he was roughly as old as newgrange. Once he opened his mouth our enthusiasm basically extinguished. His name was Gerrit Van Der something or other. I missed his surname in a tidal wave of saliva as he spoke his first name. O yes, I got the weather and not the news. Its not prounonced how it's spelt. It's Ghhheeeeerrrrrit so of course after a couple of tries he was christened "hey". We had a bit of a trip to the first destination so we had a bit of a chat and he openly admitted that he used to work for the government and even more interesting than that he was actually a foreign attaché during the apartheid years! So his job was to represent the worlds most racist and evil country since Hitler's Germany in countries which generally despised them. It was a very interesting conversation and he apologized a lot. An awful lot. Then we drove by the shanty towns where a lot of the black Africans still live. He started apologizing again surprisingly enough.

We reached the Kruger national park and got ourselves settled in. Apparently Kruger is roughly the same size of Wales so not only did we have a savage holiday but we also found, finally, a use for Wales, as a comparison to a national park in Africa. Well since the mines closed and they became shit at rugby they needed something!!

We got to Kruger quite late and we were staying on site actually in the park. We were brought to our accommodation and we were staying in huts called roundfelds. They are small round brick huts with high pointy reed roofs. So we walk in and are suitably impressed. It was a great little room considering we had paid about 450 euro for a 9 DAY safari but just as we were about to get settled in "hey" showed up and told us there was an issue with our room. We actually though that we were doing well and so we prepared to move and it actually turned out that the room we were in was the guides' room. Now South Africa depends a lot on tourism so if a guide shows up with 2 or more people they stay for free to keep prices down! So we moved into a great little room. The next morning we headed off into the jungle wilds. Now what happened after was both the best and the worst holiday we had been on. It was the worst cos spits couldn't organize a prayer meeting in a nunnery but the sights we saw will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

The plan was to move from one site in the park to another each night we were there, or for comparison move from Cardiff to Lynlatthlyhttylfidl to some mine some where with a choir of large men in red jerseys singing a chorus in the background. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out like that. We had 5 days in Kruger and we spent very night in the same camp. Thankfully it's not Disney land and the attractions tend to roam quite a bit and there's no height restrictions! We got our breakfast included as pat of the package and then we headed out. Obviously we saw a grand total of fuck all for the first couple of hours, thinking what did we waste the money on and then we came across a South African species of rat and straight away it was like "worth every penny". Seriously though we saw all kinds of antelope and zebra and buffalo which the David Attenborough fans out there might think was a bit tame but it blew our minds. When we saw our first elephant even though it was on the horizon it really was something else. I think there is still a couple of greasy spots on the windows of that VW van today.

We had to be back at the accommodation by 6 pm which was a bit of a bummer but in fairness it did get dark at that time so it was probably for the best. Part of the deal was a night tour where you went with a ranger at night on the tracks that you were not allowed travel down on you own. While we were waiting for the trip to start we were watching a Rhino beetle which apparently is the strongest creature in the world per body mass but like most jocks they are a bit light in the smarts department. Poor fucker basically hammered his armor plated shell off the lights 5 times before it knocked itself out! But the wonders of the natural world aside we headed out on the road. There were a couple of lights handed out and instructions were given to the most deserving people on the van, one of which was me! Fi was so jealous, she'll call me a loser, you know to my face but deep, deep, deep, down in her suppressed darkest recesses of her soul she was horribly, horribly, some might say twisted....ly jealous. Anyhoo I was sweeping my light like a legend looking for the reflection of light from the animals eyes when the ranger made a bit of a smart arse comment (cue the clarification from Fi) but as I said to the ranger I was looking for monkeys and not nocturnal leopards in the trees and he's being paid to give us a magical, memorable night of nature and not a half arsed stand up comedy routine. Pretty soon after that we came around a corner and face to face with two huge bull elephants. The biggest one head was about 6 foot wide and they were literally ripping the bark from the trees. The ranger said lets turn off the lights and get a little closer which considering the fact that we were already being hit by splinters already I was a tad worried but we got close enough that if we weren't attached to our limbs we could reach out and touch them! He also knew a lot about the stars and the constellations in the southern hemisphere which was interesting. It also game an amusing counter balance when later on in the trip Oldie McGee gave his best bumbling absent minded professor imitation remembering that he knew about the constellations and he was "supposed" to tell us about them as part of his tour guide duties.

One of the higher points was a river cruise included in the safari. We were assured that we would see plenty of Hippo's. We had seen a few from the safety of a bird hide a couple of days previously but they were quite far away. We saw dozens of hippo and crocs as well as a few sea eagles. It was a very relaxing experience and we had a few drinkies. Since our guide was only "the help" he was left behind and we got an hour to our selves!

After that the animals are pretty much a blur! I can't really tell you what we say on which day but in fairness it was almost two years ago so I'm afraid you may have to kiss my arse on that one. High points included seeing a lions paw. The rest of it was unfortunately hidden behind a bush. I saw a leopard, everyone else missed it, and we saw some wart hogs, a load of giraffes and some savage birds. I hope I'm not understating the amount of animals and the caliber as it was un- fecking- believable. Then we hit payload!! Rhino central baby!! We also saw some elephants crossing the road, one or two of them. I took a low quality video of them. No big deal. I may have sent it on to one or two close friends. I might have had it as my e-mail signature for a year or two but if you have missed it I'm sure I could hook you up. It wasn't all sweetness and light though. The highpoints I've listed, well as many as I can remember anyway. One of the more surreal ones was having breakfast under a canopy where there were dozens of bats roosting. The bad points were all linked to our geriatric guide. The main one was not seeing as much of the park as was planned. The other was the 6 o clock deadline which meant come 5 o clock to hell with the animals we were on our way back to the gaff. It's kinda difficult to spot the wildlife once you pass the 50 mph mark so this caused some tension in the van. Then we were supposed to be booked in for a morning walk where you walk of into the wilderness with an armed ranger and hope you don't get eaten or stamped on but it was never booked which gave us the shits (aussie saying, not what it sounds like). So we went on another night trip instead but it wasn't as good. The Kruger park part of the trip ended and it was fantastic experience full of amazing memories, most of which I basically couldn't be arsed sharing with you. Stop living your life through us!! Go on your own exotic African Safari damnit and get your own memories.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1116299700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1116299700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1116299700/tpod.html Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:31:57 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Cape Town, South Africa

We moved on from the park to Durban. We said good bye/riddance to our intrepid guide. There were some tears but they dried up quite quickly once Fiona stopped slapping him. We stayed the night in Durban before heading to Cape Town the next day. Nothing to report there.

We had nothing really planned beforehand for Cape Town but taking it easy. We got settled in to our accommodation and went wandering around and very quickly it became apparent why the city has a bad rep. There were so many dodgy geezers about! There was also a lot of kids in the doorways whacked out of it sniffing glue. The place wasn't dangerous per say and once you were sensible you would be perfectly fine but I'm fairly sure a number of American\Japanese tourists would be relieved of their cameras and wallets every week. Saying that the place is as cheap as chips. Beer is bout a euro and we found a nice little wood fired pizza place where the food was great and a large pizza would set you back about 4 quid.

You can't go to Cape Town with out seeing Rothen Island which is where they imprisoned Nelson Mandela. We got to the ferry early and had a look at the mini museum while we waited. When we got on the island two things struck us. One was how bleak the place was and two there were penguins everywhere! We were part of a large group and piled onto a bus with the worlds greatest bus driver. He was full of stories and jokes and he asked every one where they were from and linked it in some way to the story of the island and apartheid. Ireland's story was the strike that happened in Dunnes Stores when the checkout girls refused to sell oranges imported from South Africa which was the first embargo on South African goods in the world. God bless them. Those north side birds would do anything for a black baby! We moved into the main prison then and got an actual ex inmate as a tour guide. We got all of the gory details and the inhumanity, torture and death. Basically they spent years breaking rocks in a quarry for absolutely no reason. No rock ever left the quarry it was just a case of break some rocks and then break some more! There were also though a surprisingly high number of positive stories. Almost all of the surviving inmates left the island with one or more university degrees. Mostly though it was all really depressing and a little of the evil aura of the place obviously still remained as I was bitten by a penguin! I bent town to take a picture and slightly lost my balance and put my hand down to steady my self but just to close and the little fucker bit me. There was more to come to add insult to injury. Everyone knows the major problem with guided tours is generally the people in the group. We hit irritation pay dirt. A family of African Americans were in the group. A middle aged couple with their mother in tow. You know the type loud, matching shell suits and those huge wrap around sunglasses that only really old people wear. The ones that look like a cockpit of a jumbo jet. Obviously the mother and daughter had a lot of important things to say as they spoke loud enough for everyone to hear and it was a big group. However at the Q&A they out did themselves. The main gist of the questions was asking the guide is it difficult to do the job and does it not bring back bad memories. He replied that it is difficult but it's a job that needs to be done. The daughter retorted with does it pay much. This lead to more than one head being placed in hands. Then the mother followed this up with a doozy "If you have a degree why don't you get a real job?" There were actual groans after this one. But one stupid, fat ignorant apple didn't spoil this barrel and the trip was an excellent way to spend the day.

We booked a full day wine tasting/sightseeing tour for the next day. This included a trip to a historic town, some vino, and a trip to see more of the killer penguins which settle on the local beach. Again we were picked up it a little van but this time we were not alone. We picked up a nice American couple and then a not so nice couple. The first guy to come out of the hotel was a big fat sweaty man for who every step seemed to see him pump out another pint. He was followed by a small immaculately coifed and groomed man impeccably dressed in his Ralph Lauren safari Khaki outfit. I turned out that they were not only not gay but one of the biggest property developers in Houston and the senator for Texas. The Republican senator for Texas!! They actually started off ok and we had a chat about our trips so far. Then they said they were hunters. Then it came out that their hunting was as fake as their clothes. They stay in a lodge where a guide drives them around what is basically a zoo where they just shoot animals lined up without even leaving the car. Even the guide was visibly disgusted by this and he's a one man operation who generally would not be able to afford to get on the bad side of his group. We didn't speak to them much after that unpleasantness. We headed on to the vineyards and getting wasted. Now we didn't know a whole lot about wine before this trip only that over here it comes in convenient, stackable cartons. After this intensive afternoon course all that we really learned was that the convenience and the carton was only a shoddy mask for the poor quality plonk contained within. It was a bit of fun and some of the wine wasn't bad. The next stop was the tour dud. It was some historic town for us to just have a look around. We soon finished up there and moved on to the final part of the tour. There were a large number of penguins which nested on the beach. We went down and they had built a big walkway around the area so that you could get close to the penguins without disturbing them. One or two of them went wandering though and our guide had to warn off a Japanese tourist from getting too close. Apparently they bite!!! That was the end of the tour and almost the end of our trip. All that was left was to watch the FA final that night. Man United lost! Fantastic end to a fantastic trip.

There were a couple of South African beers but the main one was Castle. I have to admit that this was one of the best beers we came across on our trips and I regularly drink in when I'm on airplanes as it is quite common there.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1116114900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1116114900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1116114900/tpod.html Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:31:29 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Mbabane, Swaziland

We moved onto the next leg of the journey which was into Swaziland which is a small country completely surrounded by South Africa. We journeyed down in the mystery mobile and came to the border control which was a fort Knox like bastion of security. It even had a boom gate! Swaziland is exceptionally poor and apart from tourist money is almost completely reliant on SA. Most of the houses were little more than shacks. Also Fi felt sorry for every person we traveled on the road cos they were plodding along and the road seemed to go on and on and on for miles! We decided it was time to spend that tourist money.

We were booked into a tour of Shaka Land but first of all disaster struck. Our accommodation fell through due to a combination of an ancient South African, an apparent over booking and a complete and utter lack of knowledge of where the accommodation was situated. We stopped at the first place we came to which was a bit out from the main city, to try and ring and Fiona, cynically if you ask me, said I bet ya he will say we should stay here. She was of course right but still the lack of faith was a little disturbing. Righteous indignation did take over at this point and we demanded to be taken into the city but the place we had in mind was a complete shit hole so we went back tails between our legs to the first place and in fairness it wasn't bad. We had a nice dinner and the breakfast was something else. We got up in the morning and had cereal and toast and what have you and then they brought out the real breakfast so we were seriously stuffed. We stayed there for two nights and on the second morning for the first and last time ever I had chicken cordon bleu for breakfast. Some things stay with you forever! So apart from clogging the old arteries we did get around to some sightseeing. I mentioned Shaka Land earlier. This is basically a traditonal African village theme park. It is based around the life of Shaka Zulu and it included traditional dancing and some home brew passed round in a wooded ladle. I thought it was a ladle each so I got stuck in but the filthies I was given by the bird refilling made me have some doubts about that assumption. There were shows about the weapons and dress and everything to do with tribal life. They had dancing and singing and all te good stuff. It was very interesting and it inspired me enough to try my hand (legs) at the tribal dancing after a few castles in Cape Town.

The next day we headed to Ngwenya Glass Factory which is a factory that uses recycled glass to make everything from Wine glasses to huge glass statues. They also gave demonstrations of all of the glass blowing and sculpting which was really good. Later that day we headed into the town to have a look around and jump on the net for a few minutes. In the place we possibly Swaziland's 3 biggest Westlife fans and I mean that in every way possible. Whoa mama! But there wasn't a whole lot else to do so we headed back to the accommodation for dinner and a few beers.
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Sydney, Australia

So we had finally arrived at our destination. It had been some trip to get here and I was at this stage seriously broke. After our little hostel booking malfunction we were staying in a little place called the Jolly Swagman which was a bit of a laugh. It was expensive though so we started looking for apartments pretty quickly. We met up with a couple of lads who have been here before us. Gar and Dizzy from IT Tallaght and their mate Adam. We got stuck into looking for both an apartment and also a job. We found a pretty good internet café in Kings Cross which gave you unlimited time for $4 so we inundated every agency and real estate agent with requests for whatever they had.

While waiting for a room over our head and some gainful employment we were introduced to Sydney pubs where I came across the schooner for the first time. My thoughts on this affront to nature are well documented and will not be brought up here again (fecking little useless beers........one mouthful and they are mostly gone...........mumble, grumble arrrggghhh). We went to one of the best pubs in Sydney, the World Bar which is a savage place and on a Tuesday had $8 jugs, which was nice. We also got to see Kings Cross at night. It was beautiful with all of the bright lights. Granted most of it was neon signs for the 24 hour bars, brothels and strip clubs but the place did have a nice red glow about it. The area is something else. The door men from the strip joints will actually cross the road to try and get you into the place and one day I was accosted by one of the girls on my way to work in the morning!! We also went to a nice pub near where the lads lived called The Sheaf. We did all of the touristy things too and saw the harbour bridge and the Opera House. They were both suitably impressive but when you got up close to the Opera House it looked like it had been tiled with some offshoots from some 1960's kitchen. We saw some of the great beaches around and enjoyed the sun and the sand.

The priority though was somewhere to live. We had finished our couple of days in the hostel and the guys let us crash on their couches for a couple of days. They even invited us to stay with them on a permanent basis which Fi was pretty keen on. I was a little less than taken with the idea. After hearing their tales of yore from their Asian trip I was even less keen (several episodes of mistaking beds, wardrobes, lockers and even heads for loo's being one of the many "high"lights). I wasn't looking forward to a midnight golden shower. Finally we spent the night there and that pretty much sealed the deal. Like World War 3 erupting around us. They killed each other!! Unfortunately we weren't having much luck in the apartment finding department. We went to a couple of places and got some of the worst service form the estate agents. We went into a couple of places and were told that we could go see the place on a Saturday which was a few days away and they didn't seem to care.

We did strike gold (kind of) with a place though but it was shaky for a moment. We got to a place called Ramsey's and they had a place or two available and wonders will never cease we could view it that day so over we went to have a look. Firstly the ditzy bird couldn't get the door open and it took quite a while to even make it past the front door. When we got in it was fairly obvious that there was someone still living there and they hadn't exactly looked after the place. The biggest indicator of this being a large portion of the bathroom ceiling actually sitting in the bath. When we questioned her with this she said that they "would have to get it fixed before we moved in" - No shit Sherlock!! So again we trudged off despondent but not beaten. We viewed a place that was absolutely gorgeous but was basically a hotel room and too expensive anyway and we decided to try one of the other apartments available in Ramsey's.

We went in and enquired and got some 12 year old behind the counter. Again he gave us the Saturday viewing line and we said forget it. During all of this there was some guy on his hands and knees in the place fixing something. He growled something Australian at us, without even glancing our way, which we didn't quite catch. It turned out he was asking us did we have our passports, which we did. So he gave the working experience guy a look that would skewer a rampaging hippo and told us that we could view the place that minute if we left a passport as security. So we did and off we went. Looking back it was a master class in salesmanship. We were so happy to actually get to see a place and so we were slightly blind to the absolute crappiness of the place. It was a pokey studio with a bed that folded into the wall. We should have really thought bout it more but like I said genius salesman. We went back to the office and said we'll take it and we got a two week bond (instead of the usual 4), 3 month lease and the only info he wanted from us was one of the ATM receipts for Fiona's bank. Plus we were able to move in that night but we decided to wait until the next day.

So the next day we went off nice and chipper to move in. There was still nothing brewing on the jobs front but it would only be a matter of time. We got ourselves settled in and gave the place a good scrub. It was mid winter but it was still quite warm except at night when it was very cold!! We couldn't understand why until I noticed that the "window" had slipped in its frame. It turns out that the window was plastic and had moved down leaving an inch or so gap at the top. We soon stuffed that with pillow cases but there was also a small hole in the window which we repaired with Sellotape. So it had its problems but it was home and we were happy. Of course that didn't last!!

I finally got a job working in a call centre selling insurance to people who were not expecting my call and were of course delighted to hear from me. Fiona was having a little more difficulty. We had both decided that we wanted different jobs when we arrived, I was looking for a serious proper job and Fiona was looking for a fun hassle free job. We applied for several and the call centre was all that bit for me. Fiona got an interview for a travel agent but they gave her a geography test so that was the end of that. Also we were slowly finding out that while Woolloomooloo had beautiful dockland and was full of rich people that part of it stopped just short of where we lived which was right beside authority and halfway housing. The local basketball court served as a beddrug stashmeeting place of the local displaced population. This led to the first unpleasantness. While I was at work having only started a couple of days earlier I got a phone call from a very upset Fiona telling me that our apartment building was on fire!! I left work and came back to find out that Fiona was sitting in the apartment when some little shite bags started throwing lit sparklers at the window. She let a roar at them and they stopped. Well they stopped throwing them at our window but they did manage to lob them into the apartment about. Oblivious to all of thus Fiona heard a commotion outside. Worried that the, quite large, mothers of the kids had congregated to abuse her she hid for a while but they kept up so she stuck here head out the curtain to be told to get the hell out, the building is on fire. So I got back to find her in tears and thankfully no real damage was done outside the apartment that caught on fire. Things were not going well. Particularly when this was on a day when Fiona had 'had enough of Sydney' and decided to sit home and get pissed for the day! The nice policeman told her to 'go have a cup of tea' before he took her statement!!!

It wasn't all bad. We got a George Foreman grill which was one of the highlights and we did celebrate my birthday there (I got a PS2) which was a lot of fun and Fi went to a lot of effort to decorate the place and we had a great night out on the beer. I was a bit tipsy and was giving out cos people weren't watching the Olympics opening ceremony but I soon quieted down. Saying that the two lads did have a bit of a ding dong both inside and outside the club but no punches were thrown, though I did have to spend the last half an hour of my birthday night separating them and trying in vain to talk some sense into Dizzy.

Fiona then got a job and of course despite her best efforts it was a proper job. She started to work for Pfizer doing a similar job to the one that she had left in Ireland. I was working 12-8.30 in the city and Fiona was doing 9 till whenever in West Ryde about 10k's out from the city. This is where the studio apartment started showing some serious flaws. As I wasn't up until all hours I was staying up later than Fi who had to be up and out early for the trip to work. So basically we were living in one room where the kitchen, bed and living area were all on top of each other so I was watching TV on basically mute and Fiona was waking me up at 6.30 in the morning when she was getting ready. We decided that we needed to get the hell out of there. Plus Fi was doing some crazy hours and most days I had to walk halfway to town to meet her cos of the freaks around and cos she was walking home in the dark most nights. That and the fact that there was nothing to look at in the apartment but each other and you couldn't even go into your room if you wanted some alone time.

We had been invited to one of Fiona's old Aussie friends wedding before we left Ireland so we decided to head to that and then seriously get stuck into some new flat hunting. Plus I was seriously over my "job" having recently gotten a new team leader who took offence to the fact that I didn't hound every person who I called until they cried like I should. So I decided that I would go away and enjoy the weekend in Perth and then decide when we got back if I could hack it anymore!! So we had settled in and begun our life in Australia and even though it started as a bit of disaster we were determined to make the most of it and were looking forward to the break in Perth to soothe our stressed spirits!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1088579220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1088579220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1088579220/tpod.html Wed, 12 Jul 2006 04:50:12 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Brisbane, Australia

We flew overnight and arrived in Brisbane early morning. We were excited to finally be arriving down under. After the problems with my visa I was just happy to be in the country at all. Of course the bloody swords were to give me one final problem. Cueing up to make our way through immigration I filled in the card saying (incorrectly in hindsight) that the swords, as they were blunt, were not weapons. The guy at the head of the line pointed this out to me but I said that I didn't think they were considered weapons as they were just display swords. Then he started getting smart asking was I an expert in Australian customs law with this smirk on his face. Of course I politely reminded him that he was just some loser fuckwit standing on the end of a queue showing people where to go to talk to the actual immigration people. Obviously I then dropped into ninja mode and unleashed my two (blunt) swords and had to be dragged away by (several large) security guards under the watching cameras of the Australian TV show "Border Security" (apparently I broke their bleep machine) to the local detention centre to await deportation.

Now all this didn't happen but yer man was such a dick I really wanted to plant my two (blunt) swords up his arse but after the problems I had with my visa and the fact that he was technically right (but being a wanker about it) I kept my mouth shut and left him to his rewarding and very important job of pointing people at desks. The drama wasn't going to end there for me though, oh no!! Fiona was able to go ahead through as an Australian citizen so she waited patiently for me to come through. Once I managed to fight my way to the front I was then informed that once again there was a problem with my visa. It seems they had left my middle name which appears on my passport off the visa. So I was waved through while they sorted it out and eventually they fixed up everything and I was allowed to leave. Unfortunately they also never gave me an entry stamp which was to haunt me for the next year. When we got our bags we were approached by a customs agent with a sniffer dog who was smelling it's little heart out. It was the cutest little beagle and of course Fiona was loving it. For some reason the dog was loving our bags and stayed sniffing around them for about 2 minutes which might not seem like much time but we were sweating a bit. They must however be trained to bark if they find anything cos they wandered of without saying a word to us which was nice considering the trouble I had getting into the country I didn't really want be kicked out before I'd seen the place.

So we had finally arrived in Brisbane. Unfortunately we got there fairly financially insolvent and so I guess we needed to make the most of what would be one of our last holiday times for a while. We had organised a hostel from Japan in the main street in Brisbane so we high tailed it over there and got ourselves settled in. No dorm of course (we were a bit broke not povo!!) so thankfully all we had to worry about was our 2 ton of luggage falling through into the room below but at least if the floor held it was safe. Due to this one of our first decisions was to scrap our flight to Sydney. All the stress and hassle with luggage and swords and visa just was becoming a bit tiresome so we decided that we would drive down from Brisbane to Sydney when our week ended. We could then use the flight to get us to Perth for a wedding of one of Fiona's friends in September. So that decision made we were free to relax and enjoy ourselves. We had flown over night so we got some kip and then headed out and about for a look around the city. The hostel had a bar and a café downstairs which would come in very handy. It was the first of July which in the southern hemisphere is the very depth of winter. So as we went around all of the winter sales watching the natives' bundles up in coats and hats we were a bit confused. See it was 26 degrees or so and me strutting around in my g'er, Fi as red as a sunburnt beetroot and both of us sweating like a priest in a nun's bedroom we looked slightly out of place. Except of course for the other Irish around the place that you could spot a mile away. County jerseys, freckles and a bogger tan line so straight that it looked like it had been done with a T-square. One of the first culture shocks was every shop you went into every body was real friendly and was asking how we where. Now when I was a supervisor in Virgin and in the cinema I was always trying to drum into my guys to meet the customers with a smile and a "how's it going" instead of a grunt. Now these guys took it to a whole new level. Every shop it was like "hey, how are you guys today. How's things", which obviously got real annoying real quick. They didn't seem to take the hint at all. I mean if you walked in with 10 fully cocked skunks tied to you with a sign proclaiming "STAY BACK OR I'LL SQUIRT" there would be more than one Brisbane shop assistant having the old bleach shower that night. At one stage I had planned to turn to the next person who asked me how I was and start with "Well I'm glad you asked" and proceed to tell them, quite loudly, several real and imagined unpleasant problems but Fi didn't want to cause a scene so we just got on with the shopping.

We didn't have an awful lot of time so we checked out a couple of tours. First stop would be a trip to lone pine Koala reserve followed later by a package that included The Big Pineapple, a honey factory and Australia Zoo (Crikey!!). For the meantime however we had to amuse ourselves in the local boozer. Luckily as I mentioned before there was one just downstairs. So off we toddled and first thing we saw was a sign pronouncing $10 for a dinner and a free pint. This was both a good and a bad thing. Good obviously cos you got a steak and a pint of beer for about 6 Euro. Bad because as we were guzzling down the XXXX by the pint load we were being lured into a false sense of security, not knowing that once we hit Sydney (or another pub in Brisbane) and went to the bar and ordered one of their finest brew of hops, yeast and yes, barley we would be presented with something known as a "schooner". I think renowned poet, wit and self proclaimed world's greatest penalty kicker; Ross O'Carroll-Kelly described it best as a "Fisher Price Pint". This has left many an ex pat limp wrested and unable to hold their beer as tales of sculling 10 beers with the lads just don't sound as impressive if you are sitting there with a glass of beer like your Great Aunt Betty. Further horror was to be ahead when I found out that some people in Australia are so poor they need to buy beer by the mouthful in something known, somewhat ambiguously as a "middy". If that's a middy, I don't even want to contemplate a smally.

Anyhoo as is often the case when discussing beer and the vessels for the amber nectar I digress. There we were having a nice pint and some succulent dead cow when all of a sudden some fucker snuck in the UCD student bar when we weren't watching. One minute there was a sedate few people enjoying a snifter of port or two and then there was shot filled belly buttons, banana filled crotches and whip cream covered nipples from wall to wall. As far as I could tell no one gave the DJ head but I wasn't watching the whole time so who knows. Obviously we quickly finished our meal and well, joined in. There was many a jug and hotly contested game of pool had before we hit the town with a couple of randomer's, got completely lost and ended up back in the hostel a little the worse for wear. One of the best things apart from the sunshine and cheap beer that we noticed in our time was that there was no ridiculous no shoes - no entry rule. This was good, cos I didn't have any. So one you looked semi respectable the fact that you were wearing runners wasn't a problem (and in some places county jerseys were acceptable - we stayed away from there). Finally some common sense. So far a positive start to our time in Oz.

The next day was our trip to lone pine Koala Park so we were picked up nice and early, fashionably hung over and we were on our way. Fiona's not a huge fan of Koalas as they are known to be quite violent in the wild. Apparently they'll have your eyes out and eat them like grapes if you are not careful. Once we actually got up close I was a bit sceptical. These things are about as lively as O'Driscoll at 3am in D2 on a Saturday night. They actually sleep for about 20 hours a day. Then spend the rest of the day eating. Now while I know this does sound like the life for more than one of the people reading this they are actually really lethargic for the few hours they are up and are constantly being splattered across various highways. They are mad looking things with two thumbs and their fur was really coarse. They were just sitting around relaxing and we got there at a good time cos there were a good few babies to be seen clinging onto the backs of the mothers. Of course we learned all about them and how the young are born and then we got to take a picture holding one. That was pretty cool and they are heavy bastards. We were told to stand still so that they think we are a tree. Dumb shits. Anyway we saw plenty of Koalas and moved on to have a look around the rest of the park. One of the highlights was they sheepdog display. They had a proper Aussie farmer with his sheep dogs and they herded a flock of sheep around. There was a lot of whistling and "come by" what ever the hell that means. He had one small little dog who he used to move them around in tight spaces and he would jump up on the back of the sheep in the pen. It was funny as. Of course Fi couldn't look as it was a bit too soon after leaving Daisy behind to me looking at other dogs.

They had a pretty big selection of animals. They had Kangaroos running wild around the place. Smoking, loitering, cussing, intimidating people that kind of thing. It was cool though cos for a donation you got a bag full of food and they would eat it straight out of your hand. There were lots of joeys around again and it was funny as to see them hopping along and jumping into the pouch. Some of them were quite big too with their feet and their legs sticking out. They had wombats (Fi's favourites) and all kinds of other Australian animals. Some of which are funny looking things!! There were a lot of wild birds who lived in the area. There were the Lorikeets which Fiona loved which are really brightly coloured red and green birds. They had feeding tables for them which were little platforms you could hold in your hand and they all flock around. They perch on your head, on your shoulders, wherever trying to get at the food. My favourites were the Cockatoos. I love their punk hair, their little fat legs and their fuck you attitude always has me in stitches. They had a few eagles but they were tied up cos they were injured. So we wandered around for a while taking in the sunshine and the wildlife and what have ya for another couple of hours. Then we headed back to the hostel for another night of old style drunken debauchery. We had to take it easy though cos we were up early for our monster trip to the gold coast and Australia Zoo.

We positively bounded out of bed the next morning like the proverbial Kangaroo. We were picked up outside the hostel and brought to the centre to get on our coach for our trip. We got an and were presented with the most aussie guy I have seen (or heard) since Alf from home and away (come to think of it I've never seen the two of them together, Hmmmmm interesting!). This guy was fully kitted up with the outback hat and the khakis and bizarrely a pair of shorts and knee high socks. Apparently most bus drivers and a lot of other guys wear this ridiculous looking outfit. Imagine getting on the 77a to Tallaght and seeing the driver behind the wheel flashing some pasty white peg between hid shorts and his FMS (fuck-me socks). I mean, how could he look the junkies in the eye when kicking them off the bus. He'd be a laughing stock. Saying that though the guy looked like Herman Munster so any comments I had about his dress sense (pre-disposition for diddling little boys) I kept to myself. We headed on our way to the Zoo. The trip consisted of a stop at the Zoo, the big Pineapple, some honey place (oh the joys of writing two years after the event) and a trip to sea world. First and most exiting was the Zoo. On out way there the driver regaled us with some tales about Queensland. Some true some probably not. Though it was a shock to hear that the largest City in the world was there and also the hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia was there. A skin blistering 53 degrees. He also gave us some spiel about Steve Irwin and it helped pass the time. Once we got to the place it was enormous. There was so much to see but we were on a deadline so we had to make do the best we could. We saw some baby tigers but not as close up as in Thailand. Posed for pictures with the crocodile hunter's truck and checked out as many exhibits as we could. There was also some turtles that were over 100 years old and they were enormous. I mean their shell must have been 3 or 4 feet wide. We were also there for the feeding of the elephants. They marched 3 of them down one of the main streets and came along with a bucket full of food for them. You just grabbed a piece and the elephants took it out of your hand and in the gob. They had potato and apples but the nelly's didn't seem to like the potatoes so everytime they got one the just tossed it aside. We needed to see as much as we could before the croc show. We packed into the stadium and there was a bird and reptile show with some snakes being brought through the audience. Then we got onto the main event. The croc show. Steve Irwin wasn't there that day which was a bit of a pisser but it was exciting enough. You really don't realise how huge they are until they are up close. They are of course completely untameable and will bite the bollox off ya if you get too close. Which the lunatic in the compound did, repeatedly. Unfortunately he kept getting away from the croc so there was no gore but it was an excellent show none the less.

So after a few more pictures we were back on the bus and on our way to the big Pineapple. It does exactly what it says on the (DelMonte) tin. It's a big pineapple plantation with the tackiest looking giant Pineapple shaped building. They grow thousands of the things here and you can see them stretching for miles. We were given a tour and an explanation on how they are grown and reaped. They also had dozens of other fruit grooving in the area and they had a nice little train which pottered along through the middle of it. For some bizarre reason they had Alpacas and a farm too but basically that was the jist of it. Kinda pointless really but it was part of the tour so what can ya do! Next stop was a honey shop called Superbee. Now I thought we might see some bees or maybe a part of the honey making process but all it did was sell honey so it was a bit of a disappointment and we were raging that we had to leave the Zoo for these two duds. The place also inexplicably had some birds and chicken and this was about the only highlight. They had these truly mad looking chickens there. They had this flap of skin basically covering their face and they actually looked deformed. They also had normal non-children -traumatising chickens and the old reliable Cockatoo. Again I questioned the point of visiting the place but we were soon on our way to sea world. So we got there and it was pretty cool. Plenty of sharks and turtles and at the start we were even allowed put our hands in the tanks with the rays which felt weird. So we stayed for the seal show and the otters and as much as we could before we had to head back to the coach for the trip back to the hostel. All in all it was a good tour but all killer-no filler it certainly was not. The Zoo and the aquarium were excellent the middle portion could do with a bit more work.

So our trips out of the way all that was left was to organise our flights and hire car. We had another night in the quality establishment downstairs and got up bright eyed and bushy tailed for our trip to Sydney. We had managed to change our flight to Sydney to go from Sydney to Perth with not too much difficulty and we found a place that would allow us to pick up a car and leave it in Sydney so I picked up a nice little Suzuki hereby referred to as Suzy Suzuki. We packed the bags into the boot and got on our merry way. Now we had a look at a map obviously and we knew we had to head south and it was one big straight road. There was about 1000 or so kilometres to drive so we wanted to head of nice and early. Now Suzy was an automatic which had it's own problems, like getting out of the car park in one piece. Once I got the hang of it though it was all good but the brakes were as tight as a badgers arse and one sharp tap was enough to send you through the windscreen. We found the road to Sydney right enough and there was little to tell about the first few hours of the journey. Around a place called Surfers Paradise we had gotten a bit pissed off with losing the radio station every 30 minutes and our bellies were rumbling like Ali vs. Foreman so we stopped for some CD's and a bite to eat. The place was like something out of an American soap. It had a kind of O.C. feel to it. It was a small town but had shops full of Armani and Gucci. We picked up our CD's and a subway and headed back to the car. When I got there I had gotten a fine for parking illegally. Apparently just pulling into the space isn't good enough for the rich folk. No I got a $80 fine because I didn't park with my rear to the kerb at a 60 degree angle. Ever so slightly miffed we headed on only to realise 2 albums and 90 minutes down the road that they had neglected to put the disk into one of the cases. So back we went to ripoffsville. I slowed down just enough for Fiona to commando roll from the car and as I refused to park I did a couple of circuits of the main street shouting random obscenities until Fi came out of the shop and dived Duke of Hazard style into the window and we got the hell out of there.

Again not much happened for the next few hours. I had great fun barrelling along the highway but when it came to overtaking there was a slight problem. I don't know if any of you have driven an automatic but there is not as much control over the acceleration cos there's no clutch so what I had to do was prepare to overtake, but the pedal to the metal and then wait a second or two before it kicked in sufficiently to actually move the car. So we pottered on our way down the road taking in the scenery, trees, trucks, endless miles and miles of road, the splattered remains of several dead animals, you know all the good stuff. The fact that we had to continuously play the same 3 cd's over and over and over didn't help the situation. We passed several motels but it was too early to stop as we had a lot of ground to cover so as it was getting late we passed a motel and I said we'll stop at the next one. Which we did. 3 long, long, loooooooong hours later!! So we finally came across this Bates Hotel looking mother trucker. Fi was a bit apprehensive about staying there in case a serial killer got her, which looking at the place seemed likely, but I had just driven for 8 hours so I over ruled her. We went inside and I swear it was just how a horror movie starts. Young, attractive, horny couple desperate for a place to stay rock up to the counter where the sweaty slob behind the counter checks out the young ladies rack while handing over the keys. Then we park in front of this seedy paint peeling door where we go inside and are horribly mutilated by some guy in fishnets and a mickey mouse mask. Thankfully the reality was a bit more mundane than that. Fi did her customary scout to make sure nobody is in there waiting to kill us while I was more worried about stains......if you know what I mean! We were able to get some food across the road and I was able to get some much needed kip.

We headed on our merry way the next morning refreshed and still in possession of all of our limbs. We finally arrived in Sydney in plenty of time to return the car however that wasn't the end of our drama's, not on your Nellie!!. We found the hostel with no issues and unloaded our bags only to be told that we weren't actually booked into that hostel as we should have been so the kids went back into the boot and we went around the corner to another hostel. One we got there we unpacked and got ready to drop back the car. We were looking for 101 Elizabeth street and could find 104 and 102 with no difficulties but we couldn't for the life of us find 101. We went up and down the road so many times we must have left furrows in the street. We went around in more circles than a one armed rower and we had to give up and call the place and let them know we would drop it off in the morning. We found out the next morning that one whole side of the road was a park and 101 was up at the other end of it so we found it handily enough then. So we had finally arrived in Sydney. Brisbane was great but we were very broke and we needed a job plus we knew some lads down in Sydney so it was probably best that we left. The beer was pretty good though we were to find out that neither Castlemaine XXXX nor Fosters is readily available in Oz with them more than happy to sell it for a fistful of Fosters dollars in student bars in Ireland. The weather was amazing and the fun was just about to begin.

Yeah baby!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1145053140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1145053140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1145053140/tpod.html Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:23:22 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Nadi, Fiji

After the trauma of several hours flying to and from Vanuatu we finally arrived in Fiji. We were almost 5 hours late and cos of this we had missed a cruise organised as part of the package. We got to the hotel absolutely exhausted as we were up at 5 that morning in order to catch the flight (after few bevys for Davy's birthday) and got settled in. The hotel was really nice. The staff were really friendly and once we got all of our bags up we decided to have dinner in the hotel. I had a nice one but Fiona was to begin a hate/hate relationship with what is her staple diet - chicken. We had a few beers and a cocktail and hopped into bed for some much needed sleep.

We popped out of bed the next day to pick up the next part of our package which was car hire for 3 days. So we got ourselves a nice little car for bombing around the island or so we thought. They have a saying over here called "Bula Time". Bula means hello, goodbye, and just about everything else. It's a laid back way of life and it's slow!! While driving around the island I noticed several cars with 50k/ph stickers on the back. This turned out to be a threat as opposed to a guideline so we spent a lot of time sitting behind a car that couldn't be any slower if the guy was out pushing it. It was a good way to take in the scenery though.

We had managed to reschedule the tour that we missed the previous evening so we decided to stay local and we headed to Denaru to the resort areas of the island. We went down to the Sheraton and Westin to have an old snorkel. What was very strange was that all of these people who were actually staying there were sitting by the pool, which was on the beach. So we were about the only people actually in the sea. The sea was very shallow and very warm and it was really nice but cos it was so shallow we had to walk out quite far so there wasn't a lot of fish to see so we just had a paddle around. The water was so warm even compared to Aussie so it was nice to have a swim around and it got us nicely hungry for our dinner cruise. So we had a few drinks by the pool in the hotel and toddled off to the cruise. We got there to a nice complimentary glass of Champers which was a really good start. There were also a couple of guys with guitars singing away. While we were having a few drinks and starters they were asking people where they were from and singing relevant songs. We got "It's a long way to Tipperary". So we had some nice beer and wine and some song and dancing. We went below decks for dinner. The whole atmosphere of the night was really nice. At the end they gave a presentation of traditional tribal dress and we had a few photographs and headed home after having a great night. At the bar we got talking to the barmaid and a bloke staying at the hotel and several beers later we made it to bed a little worse for wear.

The next morning we decided to head off down south towards the other main city on the island. Our first port of call was Natadola Beach. Now we had a rough guide or lonely planet or guide to the arse crack of the world or something for Fiji and we were told that this was probably the nicest beach in the whole of Fiji. So we followed the instructions and took the poor little Toyota Echo (A saloon version of the Yaris.) up and down some of the worst terrain known to man. We soon ran out of tarmac and then we ran out of gravel and we were driving on dirt roads. We were up and down more times than a Thai hooker. We heard some scraping sounds coming from under the car which didn't sound too healthy but we carried on regardless. After about 30 minutes of this madness we came across a small town where the ground levelled out. We finally got our first view of the beach unfortunately the road was blocked by a fallen tree and some boulders. Ahead of us the ground sloped up quite steeply so I decided fuck this for a game of soldiers might as well at least get a look at the beach before we even consider going on. So I hopped out and legged it to the beach to have a look and it was pretty impressive however it was completely deserted and there was no sign of any roads or access to it. So we gave up the ghost and headed back. We didn't even get a picture of the little town cos when fi went to take a shot one of the villagers stuck his head out and gave us some serious filthys so we got out of there as quick as we could. Once again another 30 minutes of roller coaster action was ahead and then we finally saw tarmac. Driving back the way we came what did I notice only a sign for the fucking beach we spent the last hour to get to. It seems the travel guide, which had directed us into the jungle track that passes as a road over here, was printed in 1992. Needless to say I wasn't too happy. Of course this wasn't the last of the adventures. When we turned down this road eventually we came to a dead end. Either we turned into some private property or we drove over a disused railway bridge. The bridge proclaimed that it could hold up to 12 ton so for a second I actually considered driving over it but then I realised I had left my fedora, whip and junior adventurer id card in my other underwear and I wasn't actually Indiana "bleedin" Jones. So we turned around and eventually stumble our way onto the beach. I have to say it was worth the effort.....just!

We parked and hopped out. It looked like a real local family place and it was choc a bloc full of Indians so obviously we headed up the beach as far away as possible. We found a spot where the sea came in and split the beach in two so you could swim from one side to the other. While we were picking a spot we were approached by an old guy who offered us a boat ride. We didn't have much time or money with us so we said no and he guilt tripped us something terrible saying "this is how I earn my living" and stuff. He gave us the puppy dog eyes and shuffled on. But we were there to swim not prop up the local economy so we got our snorkel on and went for a nice swim to the other side. On our way over Fiona was frantically calling me so over I went. She said that she saw a sea snake so I basically swam for my life but when I turned around she was still there. It seems that she was telling me not to warn me, like a normal person, but to get me to help her look for it, like a lunatic. I crept over but we couldn't find it again. Of course I got great fun out of telling Fiona that it was a figment of her imagination. Every time she couldn't find anything I kept telling her it was with the sea snake. We paddled around for a while and got to the other side to take a little break. The water was clear but there wasn't a lot of fish around to be seen. So we had another little paddle and then hit the road. We had planned on heading all of the way to Suva but the time that it took us to find the beach kinda put a dampener on that so we just continued down to the coral coast and had a look down there. We stopped for some lunch and then we went into a resort to have another snorkel but we had a lot of hassles parking and didn't like the look of the place so we headed home. We were pretty tired after the long day and so we headed back to the hotel and got some take away from the local offie and had a gourmet feast of McDonalds and chilled for the night. It had been a long and stressful day. However while we were relaxing I got a text message from my sister sue and was informed that I will soon be an uncle. So I called home and found out that my brother Jonathan and his wife Noreen are currently brewing a sprog so obviously I had a few beers to celebrate.

The next day the weather wasn't so good so we headed north to Latoka. We were going to see an orchid garden. This was set up by Raymond Burr, of Ironside and Perry Mason fame, years ago to display his collection. It had some amazing displays of plants and even had a huge pond full of fish and frogs. We stayed there for a while and had a wander around. It was a nice place and we got some complementary juice when we were leaving. We drove around for a while taking in the sights before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner. We were told to try out a local restaurant so we headed out later that night to the Bounty restaurant. It was a real local place. A bit dingy to tell the truth but it was ok. Fiona finally gave up on the minging chicken but I said what the hell. Unsurprisingly it was really nice. Fiona wasn't too upset though cos she had a nice veggie curry. We had dessert and then proper dessert. They had some of the cheapest cocktails on the whole island and it would have been rude of us not to take advantage. I tell ya I could get used to this cocktail lark if they were as cheap in Sydney as they were here. Get's me all misty eyed bout the Chocolate Bar cocktail specials back at home (ahhhhh faaaaaaaaaaaatttttt frrrrroggggssssss!!). So a merry night of eating and drinking was had by all. We retired to bed early as the next day we were up early for the highlight of the holiday. A full day island tour!!

Now we had booked both tours as part of the package before we came over. When we missed the first one because of flight delays they let us reschedule it but when Fi rang them about it they had no record of it. So we decided to double check on this booking and surprise, surprise (it's Cilla 'ere) there was no record of us. We rang the number given to us and got it sorted out. Then we looked at the tickets and the tour that we were supposed to be on and the name of the tour on one of the tickets was different. What had actually happened is the tour operators had booked us into one tour and then given us the tickets for another so basically we had two to choose from. We were going to go with the tour we were not supposed to be on cos it looked better but the original one turned up first so we didn't want to risk having no tour so we went. We did the usual round up of the other resorts and of course we picked possibly the most irritating family on the planet. They were Indian-American (Think Apu not Tonto) and they managed to instantly make a bad impression. We were stuck there 5 minutes waiting for one of them to show up!! Finally we got on our way and reached the boat. We headed off to Beachcomber Island and it was a beautiful day for it. The boat had to stop a fair bit away from the island due to all the coral so we transferred to a smaller boat. It wasn't a proper glass bottom boat bit did have two large glass panels where you could see the coral and fish. Some of the coral was so high that the guy had to take the engine out of the water and let it glide so it wouldn't damage the coral. We got to the island and it was like something out of a movie. All white sand, palm trees and wooden huts. Even the pub was in the sand! We had a couple of scheduled outings so we relaxed by the bar and then went off for a snorkel. We wandered down to the water and the first thing we noticed was literally hundreds of fish just inches in from the waters edge. Of course when I say we I mean Fi who managed to get through them. I ploughed in unsuspecting only to have a handful of the bastards bounce off the side of my head with the rest of them, according to Fi when she stopped laughing, went flying over my head and out of the water. We swam around for a while, say loads of coral and fish but unfortunately a load of tiny jellyfish must have been there cos we got stung all over, not bad just really itchy. Once we got out and had a shower it went away. We then went on a proper snorkel out off the boat. We had to go a fair bit out and got a good look out the bottom of the boat. When we got to the prime spot we jumped in and it was amazing!! Some of the fish were as long as your arm and the water must have been 30 or 40 feet deep in parts. There was a group of people doing a scuba dive right below us. We swam around for a while but it's never long enough. We climbed back on the boat and headed back for some lunch. The lunch was nice enough, a buffet type of thing. The whole time they had this little group of guys singing away so it was cool. We were supposed to head off for fish feeding but we were busy drinking cocktails so we missed it. They had a beach activities hut with wind surfing, canoes, Jet Ski's etc. Of course just as we went to check it out it closed for an hour but we went for another snorkel while we were waiting. We had a choice to do something and see turtle feeding or catch the second lot of fish feeding. I was up for some windsurfing and Fi loves the turtles so we decided to hang around. When the hut opened I was told that it wasn't windy enough for the windsurfing so we both hired out canoes and the plan was to canoe to one of the other islands and chill out and head back. Didn't really go to plan though!! We started paddling away and we were doing ok for a while but when Fi was looking for ways to lash her canoe to mine so she wouldn't have to paddle anymore I got a little worried. Also some arsehole on one of the Jet Ski's thought it would be real funny to go around us in circles creating a bit of wake. Fi wasn't impressed and I have to admit if he had gotten close enough I would have paddled his ass....literally. We made it most of the way to the other island but again the coral was getting too close and we didn't want to be stranded so we turned around and headed back. We made it back on the beach exhausted but it was a bit of fun. We headed around to the turtle feeding and it wasn't quite what we were expecting. The guy had 3 little turtles that he has in a little pool that he looks after until they get a bit bigger. Of course everyone else said that the fish feeding was excellent. Typical!! Anyway our island trip had come to an end. We hopped on the little boat and back out to the ship and back to the resort.

We got back totally knackered but it really was one of the highlights not just of the holiday but of the whole time we were away. We just flaked out that night and ordered a room service pizza (oh the decadence) and had a few beers. The mixture of the beer and a truly massive pizza pretty much did us in. Plus that and the fact that we had to pack cos we were getting turfed out at 10 in the morning (Bula time my arse) meant we took it easy. We had planned to spend the couple of hours between sit by the pool sipping cocktails. Of course when we got up the next morning it was like Dublin in January, absolutely beating down. So we had little choice but to collect our bags and head to the airport. When there we just got our selves something to eat, something to read and of course munchies for the plane (couldn't depend on our $3 windfall) and got settled in. We were flying back through Brisbane and so got into Sydney quite late. It was a really good break. The scenery was amazing and the people were really friendly. I would recommend Fiji to anyone who finds them selves in the neighbourhood. The local beer was Fiji Bitter and Fiji gold. Basically they do what they say on the tin. The gold is smooth and light (a birds beer in other words) and the bitter was strong and really tasted like beer not some coloured water. I can't recommend Fiji higher to anyone who happened to be in the neighbourhood. Pure class.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1145041200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1145041200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1145041200/tpod.html Tue, 16 May 2006 03:30:17 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Port Vila, Vanuatu

The day finally came for our Island escape. We got up early double checked that we had every think, sunscreen, towels, snorkel sets. Everything was ready to go. We hopped into the taxi on our way to the airport. For one of the first times ever we were in absolutely no trouble of going over weight with our luggage. We checked in. Got some food and some munchies for the plane (Virgin Blue - Ryanair's soul mate in cheap air fair. Soon they will be charging for the oxygen in the flight). We climbed aboard and were on our way. We had a 4 hour flight ahead of us. A couple of hours by the pool sipping cocktails and then a nice dinner cruise awaiting us when we landed. We settled back and looked forward to landing. After some time we looked out and could see beautiful sun baked islands and palm trees. After a couple of circles we finally landed in Vanuatu and it was beautiful!! Except of course for the fact that the plane we got on was actually supposed to land in FIJI!!!!!!!!

Everything was going as usual on a budget airline. We refused to buy anything out of principle and were happy to read/chat/eat munchies as it was a relatively short flight. We did see beautiful islands with sandy beaches however the closer we got to the airport the weather got worse and worse. We circled a couple of times and then got the dreaded news that we needed to fly on and refuel. Of course we thought that it would be a 30 min flight, refuel and then back to Fiji in a jiffy. Unfortunately not. It took us over an hour just to get to Vanuatu. On our way there the cabin crew said that to try and make up for the inconvenience they would start the food service again and they would give each of us something free to the value of $3 (bout 2 Euro)!! So it was a choice between a can of coke and a bag of jellies. One of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make!!. We decided to pool our fortune to get a sandwich but of course they had sold out of anything remotely filling. Also poor Fiona can't handle descending and climbing in planes as the pressure gives her a really bad headache so I was scouring the ground for discarded napkins hoping to fashion myself a makeshift parachute and attempt my own descent into Fiji but to no avail.

We arrived in Vanuatu in Port Vila, the capital "city", and we ushered into the airport. Now originally we wanted to find a holiday in Vanuatu but they only flew on Saturday and Tuesday which wasn't long enough so on the plane I was wondering if they only fly on those days and given this is a Friday is the airport even open? It turned out that they were frantically ringing ahead to get people to open the place up so that we would have some where to go. So we got in and had some food in the café and of course I sampled the local produce. They had Tusker beer in stock and they were out of Vanuatu Bitter. So I tucked into a Tusker and have to admit it was quite nice. So we stocked up on munchies for the flight back to Fiji. As a final bit of cheek they actually started making boarding calls for us once they were ready to go. I mean what were they going to do, go without us? Although I was half-tempted to do a runner into the jungle shouting "asylum" just to see what they would do. We didn't get a stamp in our passport but we did mange to scrounge another entry in the travel pod which is almost as good. Then we headed off back on the plane to Fiji to begin our holiday. Hoping of course that we would be able to land which when we did we would be over 4 hours delayed!!.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1088349720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1088349720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1088349720/tpod.html Mon, 24 Apr 2006 03:17:37 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Tokyo, Japan

We arrived at Tokyo on what was the last leg of our epic journey down under. We were excited to almost be in Australia and determined to enjoy the last of our Asian adventure. Again here we were slumming it in a hostel. Well actually it was a Japanese guest house and because it was in the city it was actually the most expensive place that we stayed in the whole time we have been away. It was a traditional guest hose with the sliding wooded doors and futon bed. It was pretty cool. We got ourself settled in and as we got there late we just went for a wander around the area. We settled in with our noodles and beer.

The next day we went to have a look at the city centre. It was a bit crazy to say the least. They have loads of these Pachinko parlours which is some crazy kind of vertical pinball. Some of the outfits and haircuts you see going around were like something out of some bad science fiction movie. We got a bit of culture shock when we caught a taxi. The back door opened and closed by its self and the driver had a proper uniform and wore white gloves!! Saying that like taxi drivers all over the world he didn't really know where he was going. I guess it was a language barrier as well as the fact that he was just a bit useless. We got where we wanted to go eventually and every where we looked were little Japanese people with face masks. There was a fair bit of pollution about but the city and the skyline were something else. We went into the Sony headquarters and some of the gadgets we saw in there were amazing. Well I thought so anyway!! Upstairs they had a load of PS2's and there were wall to wall Japanese kids playing away. They are mad into their toys over here. I didn't want to be here at closing time when they had to throw all the heads out. There would be blood shed for sure. We went into an internet café to try and catch up with people and it was the weirdest place I have ever seen. There were basically wall to wall cubicles with doors. You could rent videos, DVD's and games as well as surf the net. Of course all of them were in Japanese so you had no idea what kind of stuff was being watched but I would not like to be a part of the cleanup crew in there. Saying that though by the look of some of the heads in there I doubt it ever closes to be cleaned!!

We managed to find a place with pics in the window so we were able to get some proper food. It was a nice little place with two old people that ran it. We ordered what we thought was chicken but what could have been pork curry. Fi not being much of a carnivore wanted to be sure but before she started miming "Old McDonald's Farm" I told her just to be happy it wasn't noodles or a Bigu Maku!! We wandered around town until it was dark and all the neon came on. It was like being in Blade Runner. We went for a beer and found a small place nearby. When we went up and tried to get a beer the woman was very adamant that we could have a beer but we couldn't get anything to eat. We were a bit confused but as we didn't want food it was no real problem. We met the first and for all we know only English speaking person in Japan. We started chatting and as we were talking we noticed that as other people came in they were being served food!! It seemed that they had food but we weren't aloud have any!! Anyway we were talking to the woman and Fi was teaching her a bit of Irish after she found out where we were from apparently she asked any one who came in some words to learn. Once we got a couple of conas ata tu's out of her some food "magically" appeared on our table. When I say food it was a small tray with half a tomato, some tofu and a bit of mustard. I didn't touch mine and Fi had a bit of hers. We finished our beer and went to leave and the bastards charged us for the "food". Almost 5 euro each. We complained but had no choice to pay for it. We were not happy and your woman learned some new words before we left!! Apart from that it was a good day and we headed off to the hostel for some sleep.

The next day Fi decided that we should go to Disney Land so I was more than happy to accommodate her!! We caught the little shuttle train to the place. We only had a half a day as we were due to fly to Brisbane the same day so we had to make the most of it. When we got in it was kind of weird. It was like a little piece of America in Tokyo and while some of the guys around dressed up where Japanese they were mostly white. I don't suppose a Japanese Snow white would look right. So we had fun doing the tourist thing and as it was my first visit to Disney Land I had a blast. We went on all of the usual suspects; Thunder Mountain, haunted mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean (arrrrrrrrrrr) and a good few others. It was like being a kid again and we loved it!! But our time was growing short and after the obligatory photos we headed back to the hostel to prepare fro our flight down under. While in the hostel I got pretty attached to my kimono type dressing gown and so in the bag it went. We said good bye to Japan and headed for the airport.

Now usually at the airport all we had to worry about up until now was the excess baggage. However as it the way we had another couple of issues to deal with before we were allowed leave. Firstly we had two 3 foot long swords in our possession. We were given the relevant forms to fill out at customs but first they wanted to check them out before we checked them in, and check them out they certainly did. There were 3 security guards, one police man and a guy from the army. They unwrapped the swords from the packaging and all had a feel to ensure that they were blunt and safe and not an explosive device I guess! So that slowed us down a bit.
Secondly we had a lot of excess baggage at this stage and it was ridiculous. Fair play to the girl behind the counter as she gave us extra for free but the we had to dig out stuff from our bag, namely our Thai hand made suits, to carry them in over our arm and we had to pack our carry on bags to the gills.
Thirdly once this was done she checked the password and saw that there was something wrong with my visa. The numbers on the visa and the number on my passport didn't match so I was asked to wait outside the barrier while they sorted it out. Like an idiot I hadn't checked the visa properly and one digit was out. I think it was an o and it should have been a d or something like that (damn my bad handwriting!!). We eventually got it sorted and I was allowed to check in.
Finally one of the trollie dollies tried to stop us on the way through cos our hand luggage was the size of a small car but there was no way Fi was having any of that. I just stood back glad she was annoyed at someone other than me after the passport/visa incident but the girl behind the counter just waved us through and finally after undergoing more stress than a Muslim with tourettes flying to the US we were on our way to OZ.

Japanese beer was some of the best we had tasted never mind the most accessible. Vending machines on the street, genius idea. I don't know how they weren't vandalised and I never once saw anyone underage buying beer from them, and I was around them a lot. Cultural differences I suppose. Kirin and Asahi were the ones we drank the most often and there was also Sapporo. These are all available in Ireland. They are all top quality beer and very strong each one maybe 7 or 8%. It was actually cheaper for beer, McDonalds, public transport and most food items in Japan than it was in Ireland. The accommodation was quite expensive for what you got but everything else was quite reasonable. All in all a really good place to visit but the film Lost in Translation is very, very accurate. Some times people would be talking to you and you would have no idea what they were saying and would say so and give off plenty of "what the fuck are you saying" body language and they just kept talking at you. It really is like another world and like nowhere you have ever been. Cool though and they do have swords!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1087894560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1087894560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1087894560/tpod.html Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:52:59 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Kyoto, Japan

Once again we boarded the Bullet Train of Love. I was getting used to lugging 4 bags around by now so it was less of an ordeal to actually get on the train. We were sorry to be leaving Hiroshima so soon but this is the problem when you visit a place for the first time without knowing too much about it. From what I had learned about Kyoto it was very much one of the more traditional areas of Japan. I was expecting a lot of old castles and forests and that kind of shit. We arrived and for the first time in our travels we knew what it was like to be a dirty backpacker. We had booked into a hostel!! Now we didn't stay in a dorm or anything crazy like that. I mean we had our own room!! We are not complete bums!! One of the first things that we saw when we got there was a group of Geishas. This made Fi's day. She loves them!! So we settled into the place and got ready to have a look around.

The first port of call was the local Kyoto Castle. It was more of a palace than a castle as it was a single storey building as opposed to the large castle in Osaka. We had a wander around and it was pretty cool but I guess I have said enough about castles at this stage so you get the idea. On our way back from there we passed through a park and saw a big group of kids playing baseball. It was weird they were all kitted out and baseball is a big deal out here!! We were on our way to another palace when I noticed a small samurai sword shop out of the corner of my eye. So off we went for a look. It has always been a plan of mine to get a sword while I was over here so I was excited. When I went in there was an American guy with his wife and kids buying a sword and I suddenly got less excited. He was organising to send home a sword he had just spent over 5000 euros on. Then I noticed a few really old and in some cases dilapidated swords. The most expensive of which was 2.4 million yen (Almost 200,000 Euro). I thought I had come into an antique shop but then I saw some that were in our price range, i.e. cheap as a bird on Pernod and black in Coppers. So I relaxed and had a look around while I waited for the shop owner to finish with the other guy. Now in the meantime Fi had gotten this look in her eye which I have come to know well!! It's the 'you are getting something cool I want one too' look. We both had a look around and I picked out a nice sword and of all the other swords in the shop she decides she want's the same one as me!!! Anyway by the time we were done here we had missed the closing times of the other things that we had come to so we headed back to the hostel. By this stage we had pretty much given up on eating out due to the language difficulties!! If there wasn't a McDonalds in view we were in trouble. Now the hostel obviously had a kitchen but buying food to cook was even more scary that finding a restaurant!! So the main staple of our diet was noodles, sandwiches and vending machine beer!!

We did go out around the place and there was plenty to see. We went looing for the local zoo and we had problems finding it. We had a map but couldn't find the damn thing. We stopped to ask a local for directions. Obviously they didn't speak English so Fiona used the global language of mime!! Using her arm as a trunk she mimed an elephant. The look that the guy gave her was absolutely brilliant. So in between fits of laughter I pointed at the word Zoo in the map and we were on our way. One of the funniest things I have ever seen!! We got there eventually and we went inside. Now we have been to several zoo's before and since this one but this was hands down the worse we have ever seen. Some of the cages were so cramped and it was really badly designed. It wasn't all bad. Some animals seemed to have plenty of room. They had a baby Hippo that we didn't realise was a baby until the mother walked out beside it. They had the usual suspects, elephants, lions tigers. They had some minging little monkeys and an agro gibbon which didn't like us much. But we were totally put off by the bears which barely had enough room to tun around!! We didn't stay too long after that.

On our way back to the hostel we passed TV Land. This is a TV studio you can tour and see all of the most popular characters. We were about to go in when we realised we had absolutely no idea who any of the characters were so we headed off for a beer. We stopped in an art gallery on the way. Not much of an art gallery man myself but there was some interesting crap in there. I preferred outside where they had a large koi pond. Some of those fish had amazing colouring and they were big!! On our way walking around we got caught in a very heavy rainstorm. We took shelter in a local temple/shrine. While we were in there we had a look around and it was a lovely little place. There were loads of turtles in the pond and some cool little buildings so it wasn't the worst place to see out the shower.

After our long day we found a nice little pub to have a quick beer. Once inside we were asked did we want a small or large beer. Of course I went for the large one. Fi opted for the small. They brought out the first beer and it was about the size of a pint so I took that one thinking it was mine. Then they brought out the actual large beer. It was a thing of beauty!! It was so big Fiona needed two hands to lift it. Suffice to say the next order was for 2 big beers, and the next one. We left the place in markedly higher spirits than when we entered. We headed off for a look around the city centre half pissed. We came across this building which was probably another shrine. We went inside and it was full of dozens of Japanese lanterns. They were everywhere. They also had a few mannequins all dressed up as old warriors. So we had a nice last night in Kyoto. We headed back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep and prepare for our trip to Tokyo.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1087982160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1087982160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/fiandrob/oz_adventures/1087982160/tpod.html Fri, 07 Apr 2006 03:57:26 -0400 Around the world in 80 Beers...

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Hiroshima, Japan

After Osaka we hopped on the Bullet train to Hiroshima for the next leg of the journey. This was our first experience on these trains and it was excellent. We went to the station to get our weekly ticket and actually the guys at the desk spoke fairly good English but God knows what they thought when they saw us plod along with our 6 bags. We got our ticket for Hiroshima and after Fi got her obligatory couple of dozen snaps we settled onto the train. The train ride was very comfortable and you really didn't feel the speed you were travelling at. We were a little anxious that it might not be the funnest place we have ever been to so we only booked one night's accommodation there before we would move onto Kyoto. What a mistake that turned out to be!!

We arrived with no issues and settled into our hotel. We were staying at the local holiday inn and it was here that I got my first view of a cockroach. I don't know it must be the left over radiation in the place but this thing was huge! Of course I screamed like a girl and blindly threw my shoe in the general direction of the thing. In an outcome about as likely as a pikey paying for something I managed to hit the damn thing! So after this ordeal I quickly found the nearest vending machine and had myself a lovely cold beer (again, those vending machines are quality).

Of course you don't come to Hiroshima to drink beer; well it's not the main reason anyway, so we headed down to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Or Genbaku Dome as the locals call it). The first thing we noticed on our way was the general atmosphere and look of the place. I don't know if we were expecting doom and gloom or an air of misery but the place seemed really alive. I've heard that there is a real bad vibe from places like Auschwitz and the killing fields in Cambodia where so many people died but there was nothing like that here. The place was so bright and the people were so nice and friendly. On our way to the memorial on the bus we saw this group of men in big straw round hats dancing up the street banging drums.

We got to the memorial and there is a big monument when you enter with the flame that they have lit and will continue to light until there are no more atomic bombs in existence. We had a look around the grounds and there were all sorts of memorials and plaques and monuments to different people and things. So we had a look around before we headed into the museum. There were a few clocks with references to the time that the bomb exploded and there were loads of Americans. It was a bit irrational but we found ourselves a bit angry at any Americans there, thinking that they shouldn't be here in this place. It was a bit like you would feel if you met a german in Auschwitz I guess. It soon faded though as you can't blame them for what people did 60 odd years ago. There was also a part of the place that wasn't landscaped around the clock which is the same now as it was back them just to try and give you an idea of the destruction.

Once inside, the exhibitions that they had were really something else. They had so many pictures and diagrams. They had a scale model of the area before and after the bomb went off so you could see the destruction it caused. It also had pieces of the buildings where a persons was sitting on the steps in front so all around their shadow was burned on the wall and you got some estimation as to the extent of the burn the person seated there had received. There was also some pieces where the blast was so powerful it embedded glass into the wall. There were school uniforms and in one display a young childs nails. They would grow straight out in a cylindrical shape and they had blood vessels so that for the rest of that kids short life this fingers bled when his nails were cut. It had some mock ups of what the streets around were like with dead and dying people. There were also a lot of video and audio clips that you could listen too and see these people. It also had a lot of documents from America stating why they chose Hiroshima and how they had no idea what the bomb could actually do only that it would be very destructive. They basically dropped it on a city of over a million people just cos it had a few factories and docks. There is also a wall of telegrams sent from the Mayor of Hiroshima to every nation with nuclear weapons sent out on the anniversary of the bomb. It was very moving however I was taking a picture of Fi and when she looked sad-being the concerned and loving boyfriend i asked "why the long face?". The incredulous look i got back was answer enough! (Fi here- think Rob forgot where we were and was actually glad he only said 'why the sad face' instead of shouting SMILE!)

Some of the best sites were actually outside the memorial centre, the major one called the A bomb dome. This was the old city hall which was the only thing left standing for a couple of miles. It had a large dome with lead roof tiles and all that is left is the shell of the building and the skeleton of the dome. The roof tiles were completely gone, melted away. These tiles melting point was over 4000 degrees which gave some idea of the heat that it generated. The bomb itself actually exploded before it hit the ground and hung 90 metres in the air and within less than half a second a 300 metre diameter fireball that was over 1 million degrees in temperature completely destroyed the place. The bomb didn't kill everyone though and what a lot of people (America included) didn't know was that the radiation would slowly kill people for years. So there are still stories and memorials to the people who died from poisoning. The most famous one is the children statue to Sadako Sasaki who while dying of leukaemia thought that if she made 1000 origami cranes would get better but died before she could finish so school children from all over the world make and send cranes to this monument. So it really was something to see but it was all really well done and it was more of a celebration of the people there than a depressing memorial. It was an amazing experience and one I would recommend to anyone who is travelling to Japan and we were cursing ourselves for only setting aside one night there!

But we made the most of the one night. We headed out around the city and it was an excellent night. We found somewhere that had pictures of the meals and so we were able to get some nice food and of course some beer. The next morning we headed to Itsuku-shima-jinja Shrine, located on Miyajima Island. This is a huge 900 year old shrine on an Island off Hiroshima. It has the world famous giant red arch/gate in the sea that you see on every ad/brochure for Japan. We took the ferry over and it was really nice. You could see the big red gate from some way out. When we got there we went for an old wander around and found that the place is over run with wild deer. They were cute for about 5 minutes but they followed you around looking for food which is ok when it's the little bambi like young deer but not so cute when it's the, my head belongs on a lodge wall, adult ones. Of course Fiona "Steve Irwin" Bennett wouldn't go anywhere near them so I got a few minutes entertainment watching her run away from them. We wandered around the shrine looking at some of the amazing buildings. We spent a couple of hours there before it was time to head off and get ready for our trip to Kyoto.
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