TravelStream™ news feed for member gypsy_traveller on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/gypsy_traveller en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:59:30 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1145341320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1145341320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1145341320/tpod.html Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:59:30 -0400 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Ko Tao, Burma, Phuket, Similans, Pattaya, Bangkok, Home..., United Kingdom

I'm so cold... so very very cold... I can't walk... I can barely talk... I'm SO... VERY... COLD... Which can mean only one thing: I'M HOME -- WAHEY! Yep it's true, I flew back Tuesday under the cover of darkness in a covert operation to scare the shit out my parents, who thought I was back in a few weeks! Anyway, here's a very quick update on what happened during my last week on the road...Had a great day on Ko Tao snorkeling with an Aussie lad we'd been looking after and me and Giggsy burnt our backs superbly! Then we bought the biggest water guns money would buy... the reason? It was Songkran, Thailand's New Year, when it is customary to cover everyone in water! It was so much fun, you could shoot anyone; women, children were all fair game... Then add alcohol into that mix and you start shooting anything that moves, people passing on mopeds, grannies in hammocks, dogs, cats -- you name it, I shot it! Then that night we headed to the full moon party on Koh Phangan. I got really, really, REALLY drunk that night and returned the next day with memory loss and wearing just my boxer shorts and a vest!After the full moon party we realised our Visas had expired, so we had to pop over to Burma to get an extension. After which we caught the bus south to Phuket, where we went on a day trip to the Similan Islands -- a fantastic time spent snorkeling in crystal clear waters, which was topped off by me and Giggs burning our fronts on the boat home (the plan being to get a tan before coming home, but that plan has gone tits up after a week of peeling!)...Next up Pattaya, to pick up our bags from Terry. What can I say about Pattaya? It's a bit like Sin City. Everywhere you looked you saw dirty old men with young Thais. Anyway, we had a few cheeky drinks at night and generally kicked back and did nada (apart from watching just about every episode of South Park) for a few days before heading back up to Bangkok... We didn't stay long in the capital because we had a plane to catch to our final destination, a little place called Engerrland. JFT: THAILANDCheap. Hot. Great islands. Great jungles. Sweaty. Cheap. Polluted. Funny language. Like their footy. Ladyboys. Cheap. A great place to end the trip. Highlights: Songkran water fight, snorkeling / scuba, motorbike madness and Giggsy's fat foot! So the trip has ended, and what have I learnt from travelling? Well, I've learnt that whales can hold their breath for hours, but dolphins are still cooler; that the Dodo looked funny, but its extinction was anything but funny; the human liver can take an absolute pounding before it fails; motorbikes are ace, but dangerous; crocodiles aren't cute; hippies are idiots; if you don't label something to get moved it won't get moved; chuey duey means 'help'; that you can train a monkey to ride a bike... and lots of other silly stuff!However, I think the most important thing I can take from travelling is that money is everything! Money CAN buy you friends and happiness! Without money life is rubbish! And I want it -- boy to I want it! Money money money! I am the money monster! SHOW ME THE MONEY!!! Right, I'm tired... I think I need a holiday!THE END
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1143023280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1143023280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1143023280/tpod.html Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:42:31 -0400 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Perth, Australia

Well... after 894,222 pints of beer, 345 gallons of goon, 1023 flatliners, it was finally time to call last orders in the land of the convicts. We had a fantastic final few days courtesy of Mitch and Greg, who force fed us more drink at their B&B outside Perth. It was really relaxing and a perfect send off after 6 months in Oz. But now, how to sum up the place...JFT: AUSTRALIANot everything I hoped for. The place definitely lived up to my expectations in regards to the scenery -- especially (on account of its size) how diverse it was, from the tropics in the north to the desert in the middle, and the perfect soonshine of Perth or Syders. The cities were also clean, attractive and really easy to get around. The beaches were the nuts, but better still, how fantastic the sports facilities were! And now to the disappointing part: the lazy fu*kers that don't use them! I was under the impression that all Aussies were sports nuts -- yeah right! It's second to only America for having the highest population of sofa loving hippos. Plus, with the exception of a few, and places like the middle, north and west coast, most of the Aussies we met might as well have been Americans... it should be called New America. So, to sum it up simply would be to say "Great country, shame about the locals". But no one wants this to happen, so I suggest our government says it made a mistake and get all the crooks back to Britain and we can all move to Oz... but still leave all the ruds behind. Whose with me?Anyway, I hope that doesn't sound too negative. I'm just peeved off I didn't have any arguments with the locals about how crap Aussie Rules is... The highlights were definitely Whitsundays, Frasier, Ayres Rock and Kakadu. It's a shame we didn't get to do the West Coast, but I'm sure I will return to New America at some stage...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1144054320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1144054320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1144054320/tpod.html Tue, 18 Apr 2006 02:19:40 -0400 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Chang Mai, Chang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Ko Tao..., Thailand

Gee day all! Crikey! Not long to go now, here's what the Giggs and myself have been up to over the last few weeks...After Chang Mai, when we headed further north to Chang Rai. We had planned to go east, but the manager at our guest house said the north was so beautiful we had to pay a visit, so we did... and what better way to do so other than ragging around on a 250cc motorcrosser at breakneck speeds? Answer: there IS no better way -- it was the nuts!! And as promised, the scenery was beautiful, but in a blurry kinda way!Okay, so as some of you already know the trip didn't get off to the best of starts. Despite the fact the only experience me and Giggs had had with motorbikes was watching Moto GP on TV, we picked it up quite quickly. After getting used to the bike we went cross country to a Budda cave before hitting the road again... quite literally in Giggsy's case! We'd just dodged some cows before reaching a gravel road and when I looked in my mirror I saw Giggsy being thrown from his bike in a cloud of dust! Giggling, I turned around to find him lying on his back with the exact same look strewn across his face as when I made him do the bungy... at that point I knew it was bad. So, after a short trip to the hospital to get some comedy pictures it was time for me to carry on solo with the guide...I told Giggs the trip was rubbish -- but as Arnie often likes to say, "I lied!". It consisted of us thrashing the bikes across as many fields, dirt paths, mountain tracks as we could find, whilst occasionally stopping at the odd waterfall, hill tribe, temple etc. We had a night stop over at one of the hill villages, which apparently was one of the few hill tribes who still regularly used opium. Anyway, who knows whether this was true, but later that night I definitely saw a chicken eat a cow... The next day was again spent speeding through the jungles close to the Burma border, but this time I managed to have a few scares myself. My favourite being the time I shot around one corner to be faced with a muddy puddle and as I went to swerve around the puddle, I was faced with three mahoosive buffalo! I chose wisely and got covered in muck... So just to reiterate, the trip was rubbish!After Chang Rai, we headed to Karachanburi and the bridge over the River Kwai. We only spent a night there, but we did manage to visit the bridge, a museum and a tiger temple, which was okay... it could have been brilliant, but we thought the tigers would be roaming around freely as opposed to being in a controlled area. A bit stupid in hindsight, but all the flyers gave that impression. Anyway, it was probably for the best as I really wanted to play wrestle with the big cats but wasn't allowed to in the controlled area. Next we headed south to a small island called Ko Tao to do a 3 day scuba course. Once you get used to equalising the pressure in your ears, breathing dry air, sea sickness, not being allowed to do other sports after a dive and most important of all, not being allowed to drink alcohol, diving is great fun! And I am pleased to say we have just completed our SSI open water course, which allows us to scuba dive anywhere in the world! Which is great, because when I return I really want to check out the River Medway...Okay, better go rest now because it's the full moon party later -- bye!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1143435720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1143435720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1143435720/tpod.html Sat, 15 Apr 2006 02:45:41 -0400 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Singapore, Bangkok, Chang Mai..., Thailand

After a week in Thailand, Singapore seems like a dream... but my air ticket says I stopped there, so it must be true! Because we only had a day there we didn't get up to much. What we did do was a lot of walking, jumped aboard a tourist bus and stopped at the botanic gardens, entered about 10 huge shopping centers... and that was about it.JFT: SINGAPOREGeared towards shopping and expensive, so for two skint backpackers with only a day to spare, there wasn't much going down. Also, the weather was extremely hot and shitty!So, as previously mentioned, we're in Thailand now and the reason my memory is a bit jarred is because we've been living it up! Because everything is so cheap, it's similar to when we first started travelling; drinking lots, hiring mopeds, going on treks, basically doing stuff... the only difference now is me and Giggsy have nothing to say to each other anymore -- we're officially a married couple! We know exactly what the other is going to say and what they're thinking and whenever we meet people we always say "we've done this" and "we've done that". In fact, count how many times I use 'we' in this entry -- it's embarrassing! So now the plan is to book onto as many trips as possible to meet other travelling couples like us... Anyway, that made the surprise meeting of Terry (Giggsy's bessie mate who he'd lost contact with) in Thailand a welcome relief. The three of us spent a couple of days checking out Bangkok before going our separate ways. We had a trip on a long boat on the extremely polluted Chao Phraya river (kids were diving in and surfacing with a turd on their head and an extra arm), shopped along Khao San road, and then in the evening checked out one of those seedy 'ping-pong' shows... you can imagine my horror when we got there and was actually just two ladyboys playing table tennis! After Bangkok, Giggs and I headed north to Chang Mai while Terry went to Pattaya to start his 6 month scuba diving course (with some extra baggage, i.e. mine and Giggsy's rucksack and my snowboard -- the lucky bastard!). We've just finished a 3 day, 2 night trek near the Burmesse border. It wasn't as tough as I hoped, but good fun none-the-less. We rode an elephant, walked through the jungle past a few waterfalls, stayed with some hill tribes, got pissed, and ended with some bamboo rafting! Our guide was also quite funny, he was like a little cartoon character and the only thing he really said was "enjoy dinner -- enjoy liiiife!" and "no money no honey, no honey no bom-bom, no bom-bom no bay-bee!".We had a really cool day today at a nearby activities center; we went go-karting, to a snake farm, a monkey school (yep you heard me right!) and a shooting range, where we shot a couple of hand guns. We might go back tomorrow to have a go on a shotgun or M16 and do some paint balling... also, there is a bungy jump, but it looks a bit crap so I'll see what happens. After that we're going to hang around Chang Mai for a day or so before heading east... We were going to leave earlier but we've started to play footy with a group of locals I meet the other day. None of them speak English, but we all speak the international language of FOOTBALL! And at the end of the day, so long as football remains the winner, isn't that all that matters? I think so. Good night people and God bless...PS I scored the winner -- YESSSSSSSSSS!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1141530660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1141530660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1141530660/tpod.html Tue, 14 Mar 2006 23:40:43 -0500 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Alice (Alice, who the feck is Alice?), Darwin and Perth..., Australia

We arrived in Adelaide at the start of the Fringe Festival, which is a smaller version of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival... Lots of theatre-types around, comedians, plus a few real life carnies! Giggsy visited Hugo the Magnificent, who was a blind con-artist ("watch me make your wallet disappear!"), and I had a go on a trapeze (very hard to do when pissed!). It would have been nice to stay for the duration of the festival and get jobs as pick-pockets or knife throwers, but unfortunately we had a train catch... The train journey on the 'Legendary Ghan' (as the Aussies call it! Ever heard of it?) took about 19 hours to reach Alice. Not much to do but take in the scenery; desert, desert, and err, desert! We did, however, see some fascinating wildlife; a horse, a sleeping cat and several cows! Arriving in Alice Springs you're hit straight away with the following: the heat (it averaged around 40 degrees), the flies, and if you're really unlucky, one of the many pissed Aboriginies that live on the street in town! We were informed later by our tour guide that the Abs who lurk around town are the outcasts (the rapists, murders etc) who've been thrown out of their community. We had a week to wait before the next train travelled up to Darwin, so we took a 3-day outback trip, which was great fun! We rode a camel en route to The Rock (that's Ayers Rock, not the Scorpion King!), then headed to the Olgars, then back to The Rock for sunset and a night under the crystal clear skies... ahhh! The next day we headed for a close up look of Ayers, and yep, it's definitely is a big rock! Unfortunately due to some selfish bastard dying a few years back of a heart attack we were unable to climb it (apparently it was too windy, but actually it wasn't!), so we ended up just walking around. Our tour guide threw in an interesting theory as to how Ayres was born, apparently two Aborigini kids built it with their bare hands and used it as a slide... well, kids will be kids! After an afternoon in the information center learning more totally believable Aborigini history, we left for our night stop near Kings Cannyon, where we spent another fantastic night in the swags, under the stars, intoxicated with goon... A few hours later we were up and drearily staggering around Kings Cannyon, where we saw some bush trees, bush rocks, bush tomatoes (everything had 'bush' in front of it, so a nameless bush became a bush bush!). Luckily the weather was in the low 30s, so the trek was easy, plus we had a nice dip in a bush pool to cool us off further! The journey back to Alice was spent in and out of consciousness, but I do remember seeing a few feral camels. That night we had a big piss up with our group, who were very nice by the way! We had a nice mix this time; some English, some Irish, a young German lad donning a tash, and even a Ewan McGreggor look-a-like! The next few days were spent catching up on sleep before the second leg of the trip up to Darwin. The trip up to the top was a painful 23-hours on the Ghan. It was cool going from desert to tropical, and in true tropical condition, it was hot and shitty when we finally arrived at our destination. Not messing around, we booked a 1-day tour of Litchfield and a 3-day tour of Kakado. Both parks were excellent. At Litchfield our tour guide basically didn't care what we did, so we ended up doing a few things that weren't on the flyer, ie rock climbing, jumping off rocks into plunge pools, swimming down creeks, riding on the top of the 4x4 whilst looking at a huge area of swamp land the guide had bought! Kakado on the other hand was with a more professional tour guide and was an amazing experience. We did loads of trekking, swimming, learnt lots about the Aboriginies (I won't bore you by making stuff up -- but it was interesting) and the land, saw some crocs, went drunken snake hunting, played games, talked of yester year and drank to good times... Plus I ate like a sumo wrestler for 4 days! It were proper brill! Currently in Perth now, where we need to book on earlier flights to SE Asia (I'm really looking forward to Thailand now, where I'm going to buy a small village and live as their king!). Perth looks like another great city, but we're actually heading out of town to stay with one of my mum's old friends; 17 acres of land by a huge lake... should be alright! Until next time, folks...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1140487380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1140487380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1140487380/tpod.html Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:53:55 -0500 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Syders to Melbourne to Adelaide!, Australia

Our return to Sydney didn't pan out as expected. There was no fan-fare, no flag waving, not even a fireworks display! A bit rude we thought, but never-the-less it was good to be on familiar ground. Unfortunately we didn't get as much work as we hoped, so money's going to be too tight to mention for the rest of the trip, but hey, I can always rely on my sponsors -- the Bank of Mum and Dad, and H.S.B.C. Thanks you guys! And despite the frosty welcome, we did get a warm send-off courtesy of Raj (our boss) and Jippee (one of the Irish lads) sinking a few beers before we caught our 13-hour bus ride to Melbourne...MMmmm, 13-hour bus rides -- how cool are they? Err, they're pretty horrendous actually! I was in pain after 4 hours when I had two seats to play with, then a big Chinese man sat next to me... The remaining 9 hours was a real pain in the arse! However, we did get to watch two videos, Along Came Polly and Around The World In 80 Days... both rubbish! Then it happened -- the saddest thing to happen so far on this epic adventure across the globe: MY IPOD DIED! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK! I'm so gutted! There's no getting away from it -- it's the worst thing that could happen to me... I mean, I'm actually going to have to talk to people now! If only there was a place to send damaged iPods. Of course there's Apple, but I've heard they're really slow and unreliable, not to mention expensive. No wait! Now I remember, there is a place! It's called UK iPod Repairs (www.ukipodrepairs.com) -- and they're the best in the business I've heard! That's right, they charge excellent rates for all generation iPods and provide an unbeatable service! So, just to confirm, I'll be sending my broken iPod to UK iPod Repairs. Why? Because they truly are number 1! (Tom, congratulations! You've just become one of my sponsors! I'll send you my bank details shortly...)Anyway, we eventually made it to Melbourne and met up with one of our travelling buddies again. It would be the last time we saw Al this side of the world so a massive piss up was in order... Of course this meant the next day was a right off, except for pigging down as much fast food as possible. The following day we managed to have a cruise around in our hire car, the Silver Bullet Mk 3! We went to the old jail, where Ned Kelly got his commupence and loads of other people died slow and horrible deaths -- it was really nice. Then that evening we headed over to Phillip Island to watch the p-p-p-penguins. Luckily we were warned by a guy named Michael it takes 90 mins to get there, "Gee, thanks Mike!" we said. 2 and a half hours later we made it to Phillip Island -- just in time to get told the penguins were long gone. The next day we went to find Mr Schumaker to thank him again for his advice, but were told he was busy cruising around Melbourne in his F1 car at 200 MPH! 90 minutes my arse...Despite missing out on the p-p-p-penguins, it was definitely a shame to be leaving Melbourne and especially the St Kilda area. But we had to stick to our watertight schedule. Next up: The Great Ocean Road! The person who named this road had the right idea. If it were in England it would probably be a 'B' road or something. Maybe the B101? Who knows... who cares! The GOR runs through some really cool sites, Bells Beach (where the last scene in Point Break was filmed), Lornes (an attractive little tourist town - with great surf), the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, and last but by no means least, the Shell Garage in Apollo Bay... Just made it into Adelaide, where we're staying for couple of nights before catching the train up the middle. There's a big parade happening tonight to mark the start of the Fringe festival, which we might check out... WhoOooOo... what will that be like? Tune in next time folks to find out! Ta-daarrr!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1139273940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1139273940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1139273940/tpod.html Wed, 15 Feb 2006 05:33:32 -0500 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Fraser, Brisie, Surfers, Byron, Syders..., Australia

Ripping around at 80ks on the beach in a big-arse 4x4 was great fun! Fraser, the world's largest sand island, was built in the 60s by dingoes, and still inhabits a large population of the flee-bitten wild mutts! It's a pretty mad island with lots of forests and fresh water lakes, which were great to swim in, plus endless picture perfect beaches! To say we were slightly unlucky with our group would be an understatement -- only one girl in sight... who was with her boyfriend! Before we left we were split into two groups of nine and had two other English guys and five Irish guys in ours. Now we've met lots of Irish on our travels and have found them easy enough to understand, but I swear you needed an enigma machine to work out what these guys were saying! They were from the deep south and would say things like "tirsty turrdays" instead of "thirsty Thursdays" (or the classic, "tirtytree ana terd" = 33&1/3). Nice guys, and it was fun trying to double guess what they were saying...Shortly after Fraser we headed down to Brisbane, because there is literally nothing to do in Harvey Bay. I couldn't help thinking it was a shame we stayed in Sydney for long after spending just two days in Brisie, as it looks like the place to be! Loads of cool little cafes and bars, markets and plenty of decent live music! We would have done more if we hadn't got plastered on goon the our first night, but hey, walking around and taking in the sights was still a good crack! After Brisie, we head south for an hour to Surfers Paradise, where we spent another few nights. Hotels, motels, hostels, bars, clubs -- a shite load of neon lights, oh and a cracking beach makes up the Las Vegas of OZ! We were a bit unfortunate with the weather, the cloudy grey sky made the place feel more like Margate in the winter than Surfers in the summer! However, we had a great time after meeting up with a girl we'd met on the Whitsundays, and unfortunately for her she turned into our personal activities organiser -- which was great for us lazy bastards! Weeee got drunk, visited a national park, had an awesome barbie, I went surfing (well, if you can call rolling around on the ocean floor 'surfing')... t'was gnarly, dudes! Next up on our travelling sprint down the east coast, we stopped at Byron Bay. Here we spent an afternoon chilling out on the beach, whilst waiting for our night bus to arrive. Brian Bay looked a great place to be (backpackers hot-spot -- you could smell the merryiguana in the air), but unfortunately we had to get to Syders for some mo-money!! So, after an absolutely frigin' amazing 11-hour bus journey, here we are back in the big smoke and are starting work... yep, 7:30am tomorrow! Err, goodnight.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1138174560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1138174560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1138174560/tpod.html Tue, 14 Feb 2006 02:26:33 -0500 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Awesome Airlie, Wicked Whitsundays, but Bollocks to Bundy!, Australia

Arriving in the sooonshine of Airlie Beach was a nice change from the pissy conditions further north. We didn't think there would be much to Airlie as it was most famous for being a gateway to the Whitsundays, but she turned out to be a little gem. Like a scene from Falaraki, it has a long strip full of bars, clubs and, of course, travel agents! Plus, girls, girls, girls! This is the place to live it up for a while we thought... unfortunately we only had enough money to pay for our sailing trip and a night's accommodation out of town... Luck, however, was on our side! Our original 2-day, 2-night trip we booked got cancelled, so we were upgraded to a 3-day, 2-night cruise on a similar boat. It was a fairly small ex-racer that went like the wind... well, when it was windy at least. There was only 12 people on the trip so it wasn't over crowded, plus we had perfect weather for the full three days... On the first day we went to Whitehaven beach, which is known as the second best beach in the world... but I don't care what the judges say, I reckon it's even better than Camber Sands! There we saw some sting rays and these tiny little sharks. And the next few days were basically spent cruising about the ocean, relaxing, snorkeling, at night drinking goon*, sleeping, relaxing, snorkeling, at night drinking goon, relaxing... etc etc. The snorkeling was really ace -- probably better here than at the Great Barrier (no crazy-black-human-attacking-fish either!). I saw several big-arse blue fish that I liked to call 'bubbas', lots of jelly fish, a confused-looking turtle which I swam next to for a while and rubbed it's shell, a black tip shark that I chased but it turned into a torpedo and sped off at a million knots, plus heaps of other big fish, little fish and cardboard boxes...So after a few fantastic days sailing and having fun, you'll be pleased to know that the last week has been well and truly gash! Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with picking fruit as a profession -- if you're a septic-swamp-dwelling-imbred-hillbilly with leprosy! My God, people actually pick mangoes for a living! And their idea of a holiday is going to pick tomatoes for a week on the farm down the road! The first farm we landed at wasn't actually too bad. The locals were friendly enough, I think (I couldn't understand a word they said!), and we even got a day picking sweet potatoes, or peanuts from a shit as I liked to think of it. Plus, I got to see a 60 year old, 18 stone woman get medieval on a rats ass! She stamped the hell out of it with all the grace of an elephant!! However, the second farm we were sent to was run by the biggest bunch of arseholes around! Really arrogant and patronising, and I saw loads of guys getting bullied and then sacked for the owners pleasure. I really wanted to remind them that without us backpackers the work would take three times as long, and the only reason they do this job is because only really, really, really thick people would enjoy it! Although having said all that, Giggsy seemed to have fun...* Goon is a term used over here for extremely cheap wine. You can buy 5 liters for $10 -- ie about 4 quid! Of course, it takes like acid and if you spill any on you you need to wash it off sharpish, otherwise it will burn your skin! Lost in translation... I've been meaning to mention this for a while -- a lot of the Aussies we've met keep saying "but" at the end of every sentence. Example: "Awe yeeeah, it's not too bad this time of year but" or "it might rain but" to which we will always reply "but what"... Hilarious and hours of fun for us!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1137314580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1137314580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1137314580/tpod.html Thu, 09 Feb 2006 02:17:04 -0500 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Syders to Cairns to Townsville (Arizona), Australia

Okay, so the time finally came when we had to leave the big bustling bosom of Sydney and do some travelling at last. It was definitely time to go, but as we did I had a few regrets... Firstly that we hadn't found a good job and got an apartment instead of staying in the hostel so long. Secondly that we had squandered most of the money we had saved over Christmas and New Year. Thirdly, and most importantly, that we booked the 6 o'clock flight to Cairns the morning after my birthday -- and I'd been downing Irish car bombs a few hours before the taxi turned up...!!I was surprised by a few things when arriving in Cairns. Mainly the weather, which was either overcast or absolutely tipping it down the whole time we were there (anyone would think it was the wet season... oh, it is!), whilst also being really humid. Next, we were completely surrounded by rainforests, which was cool, although there wasn't a beach in sight. Finally there isn't much to the town other than hotels, hostels, restaurants, cafes, bars and an abundance of travel shops. In fact, that's all there was -- all offering the same thing. I'm not really sure what else I was expecting, but something that didn't involve me handing over all my money over would've been nice. Anyhow, the first day we took a day trip on a catamaran out to the Great Barrier Reef. Despite the cloudy start, when we got to our first location the sun was out. As part of our package we were allowed a 10 minute free scuba dive (wahoo -- 10 mins!). Despite only hanging on a rope about a meter under water, it was good fun and I can't wait to do it properly in Thailand where it's cheap and there are lots of sharks! After our freebie, we spent some time snorkeling on the reef before we came back onboard for the main event -- lunch! Boy did I eat my money's worth! Four plates full of food and when I couldn't eat anymore, I stored some fruit in my hamster pouches for later. When I re-entered the water at our second location, I kept one eye on the fish below and the other keeping lookout for any Japanesse whaling ships! All-in-all the trip was great fun and the highlight had to be at the second location when I nearly became fish food... I was first to jump in the water and as soon as I did a huge black fish with big eyes and big lips, and even bigger teeth went for the little strap on my goggles! I spent the rest of the time trying to bite it back! Our second day we hired a car and drove north to Cape Tribulation. Not too much up there except rainforests. Although it did have some perfect beaches that were completely empty, but we couldn't swim there because of the 1001 deadly marine life eager to sting you on entry. Heading back down we stopped at Mossman Gorge, which was too dangerous to swim in 'cos of all the rain, and then Port Douglas, which was very nice. Finally, before arriving back in Cairns I saw the AJ Hacket bungy site. I was in a flood of tears as I couldn't justify spending the money to have a jump...After sitting out another few rainy days we caught the bus to Townsville, which is somewhere near Smallsville I think. While we didn't see the Man of Steel cruising around above our heads we did manage to get a bird's eye view of the town by taking a walk up Castle Hill; a fairly steep climb up a large red rock, which nearly left Giggsy needing to be air lifted to hospital! From up there we got 360 degree views of Townsville and views out to Magnetic Island. As we were walking back down a group of guys with mullets drove past and shouted "nice shorts, dick head!". The funny thing was we were both wearing nice shorts, so I don't really know if the guy was complementing us or failing badly to take the piss...The day after we decided to get the ferry to Magnetic Island... we weren't originally planning to go there, but some unseen force seemed to be dragging us there -- as though it was a huge... I can't think of the right word to describe it. Never mind, it was a pretty cool little island which is known as the Koala capital of the world. It's not really known as that but there were apparently loads kicking about. We managed to see one, but it was sleeping. So I climbed the tree and ruffled it up a bit, but it just climbed higher and fell asleep again! So, Giggsy picked up some rocks...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1128325620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1128325620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gypsy_traveller/world_tour/1128325620/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2006 08:58:29 -0500 Err...a wacky world tour with lots of thrills and spills!

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Syders!, Australia

Well g'day, ya flamin' galars! Long time no update I hear you say... Well, despite the fact we landed in Oz way back on September 9, there is still little to report; I landed with no money in the bank -- and I still have NO MONEY in the bank! Which reminds me, there IS a subscription fee to my web-site. I'll e-mail all your individual bills shortly... (Dazzler, you might want to put the buying of a house on hold until you see yours!) The money thing is a bit annoying, especially considering the last month or so we've been working solidly as removal men. Yep, that's right, the Chuckle Bros are back in town! But the really funny thing is, we're complete naturals and are really... wait for it... MOVING places within the company. After one week I was promoted to supervisor and next week me and the Giggs are project managers on a maker (or breaker) move for the company that will involve 100+ workers! We're moving Holden (Vauxhall) to a brand new warehouse -- over 38,000 vehicle components! Funny huh? Oh well, it will be an experience even if it does go horribly wrong. Anyway, we've a few more big jobs coming up after the Holden job and I'm expecting some big bonuses to follow, which should sort out my money problems. Oh and guess what -- I also get to drive a big truck which is really cool. I crashed it into a tree yesterday which wasn't cool... the tree came out from nowhere!As for Australia -- it's fantastic! Well, the parts I've seen... Sydney and a tinsy winsy bit of Melbourne. We're currently living in Kings Cross (Le Cross), which is a beautiful part of Sydney, full of hookers, pimps, druggies, wineos, hobos, gays and lesbians (lots of lesbians in Australia -- well, the ones we've tried to talk to anyway!)... We're staying in a hostel full of Germans! It's not ideal and we'd have preferred to get an apartment ages ago, but the plan to get a decent job didn't come through... as usual there was NO planning ahead! So at the moment we're trapped in a big Syders web working and trying to save enough money to get on the road again. Yeah... so... haven't really done too much... erm, did go down to Melbourne to watch the Melbourne Cup (a big horse race that pretty much stops the country). Got really drunk and lost my phone and Giggsy! We also went to the extremely cheesy Neighbours night, but I didn't have a clue who anyone was apart from Dr Kennedy. I'm a bit scared at the moment that I'm not going to see all of Oz, let alone complete the things on my travelling list (wrestle a croc, punch a kangaroo, pull several foxy Aussie chicks, arm wrestle a huntsman spider, take part in an Iron Man comp, become an Abbo for a week etc)... but it's all going to be alright -- I'm working on a plan! Apparantly drug trafficking is really safe around here and if you do trips to Singapore or Bali there is virtually no risk of getting caught and no punishment if you do get caught. Well that's what one of the friendly druggies in Le Cross said...Right I'm off to bed because I'm up early. I'd better wrap up warm tomorrow, I've heard it's only going to be 26 degrees... brrrr... what's the weather like at home?
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