TravelStream™ news feed for member mellowmantaray on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mellowmantaray en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:33:25 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1214435460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1214435460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1214435460/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:33:25 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Singapore, Singapore

We arrived in Singapore at 7pm feeling quite tired from our journey. We got a taxi to our place in Little India, dumped our stuff and wandered five doors down to have a Malay dinner sat on little plastic chairs in the street under the stars. At this point we both realised just how much we missed Asia and it feels great to be back, even if somewhat briefly. We went to bed afterwards as we were knacked especially as Singapore is 2hours behind Oz so it felt much later. Sleepy Sam's is a lovely cosy characterful place, our dorm beds are in rooms which are open but have curtains for a little privacy.We were up early the next morning due to our jet lag, free brekkie and then we were off to potter about Little India and have a good look. The little brightly coloured terraced buildings are very pretty, as is the Sultan Mosque just at the end of our road. We walked over to the Little India Arcade where becky got some henna done yay! We stopped for a butter naan and something I've forgotten the name of, they're like doughnuts that you get with 3sauces. They were all brilliant anyway and becky could've done with much more food like that while she was actually in India. We also visited the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple which was prettily decorated, a similar style to the temple in Madurai but much smaller.After that we decided to visit the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, on the way we stopped for a stret side lunch of duck at a place called Yuk-ee, yum (luke especially enjoyed his homemade iced lemon tea). The theatres were cool to see, they were built with similar intention to Sydney Opera House, to astound people. They certainly do look very different and have been compared to Durian fruit and fly's eyes. We walked over the bridge and back round on ourselves past the impressive Supreme Court, City Hall and into St. Andrew's Cathedral.We grabbed a yummy raspberry and blackcurrant ice drink and got the MRT (metro), then the 138 bus to Singapore Zoo. We had a couple of hours in the zoo where we saw a sloth with it's baby in an open enclosure, we were so close it could probably feel us breathing on it (this was becky's favourite bit!). We enjoyed the giraffes, rhinos, orangutans and all the usual stuff. We headed over to the Night Safari for a spot of tea before going to the Creatures of the Night Show - really not very good (the first animal didn't come out, the owl flew away, the otter wouldn't let go of the can blah blah).Next, a 45min tram ride around the park, we saw various deer, lions, elephants, flying squirrels, ant eaters, and three hippos snuggled up together in the mud. We walked the three trails afterwards to see more... like the spotted hyena and the tiger. We were knacked by the end of this, got a Ben n Jerrys, got the bus, got the MRT and got back after 11 yawwwwwwwwm.That brings us upto this morning, Luke has just come down so we'll go for brekkie. Think we're going to Raffles, Chinatown, Orchard Road and maybe the Asian Civilisations Museum depending on time. We will be home soon!! xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1214006640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1214006640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1214006640/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:10:16 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Port Douglas, Australia

Heyyyyyy guys,So, Port Douglas is our last stop in Oz and we are quite glad to be near the end as we miss home.We spent alot of our time playing on the ping pong table in our hostel, playing catch on the beach and playing pool. We also visited the Sunday morning market, a little old lighthouse and we went for a walk in Mossman gorge, part of the Daintree National Park. The walk was nice, we saw lots of huuuge trees and some bush turkeys, but we chickened out of swimming in the gorge as it looked chilly and we were feeling lazy.Port Douglas was a nice small sleepy place to end with xxxx.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213679520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213679520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213679520/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:28:59 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Hello,Here we are writing your blogs.Tomorrow we dive the SS Yongala Wreck, look it up if you fancy, it sounds suuuuper cool, don't get too jealous xxxxxxxxWe'll probably update you from Cairns or Port Douglas.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213420200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213420200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213420200/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:25:32 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia

Hi,We arrived in Hervey Bay in time for tea and indulged ourselves in an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet in the hostel for 4pounds95 each.We were up toooo early the next morning at half6 to get our day tour to Fraser Island. It was *a little* chilly at that time in the morning as we waited for the bus to pick us up.Fraser Island is a gigantic sandbar measuring 120km by 15km, it was created by thousands of years of longshore drift. Although you'd be wrong to imagine it as desert island, rainforests and over 200 freshwater lakes dot the landscape. There are dunes too, towering up to 224m tall, allegedly there is more sand here than in the Sahara Desert.The island takes it's European name from James and Eliza Fraser, the Captain of the Stirling Castle and his wife were shipwrecked on the island in 1836. They were captured by the Aborigines and separated. After the couple were reunited, the Aborigines thought they were scheming to escape so they speared James through the throat, killing him, his remains are still lost somewhere on the island. Eliza was resued a few years later by an escaped convict and on her return to England she sold her story to the newspapers.In the 1900s European settlers realised the value of Fraser's timber and began logging, the island was also mined for it's mineral sand. In the late 20th century the focus shifted from exploitation to protection, the sand mining ceased in 1976 and the logging in 1991. Unfortunately sometime in this period the Aboriginal tribe lost their land and the Church moved them from the island.Anyway, back to our trip....We crossed over to the island on a ferry where we boarded a 4x4 coach thing with biggggg wheels. The drives between sights were extremely buMPy. First we had a short walk along Wanggoolba Creek in the rainforest, we had to stay on the paths so we didn't get eaten by snakes or spiders or dingoes. Warren, our guide, told us the names of trees and some of the history of the island. We saw some living fossils, ferny-plant-things (yes that's their scientific name), they have been around since the dinosaurs and are only found in 24places in the world. They are stubborn, having not evolved at all.We drove over to the east side of the beach where there is a 75mile beach 'highway' and we were driving along when we broke down. We were actually on an official 'highway', you can be booked for speeding and can be stopped for a breathiliser test (this may be because there are alot of young adults going across to do self-drive tours in 4x4s). The thermostat was broken so instead we drove back a bit for an early lunch at Eurong Resort while it was fixed.It got fixed. So we drove back along the highway to Eli Creek, a crystal clear freshwater stream. There is an ancient layer of humus, decayed leaflitter, underneath Fraser Island which acts as an impermeable layer. When it rains the freshwater becomes trapped in the island, Eli Creek is a 'leak' from the top of this supply. We waded up Eli Creek and we waded back down, it was about knee-deep. We saw our first dingo on the beach at the bottom of the creek. The dogs were first brought across to the island by the Aborigines after Asian merchants brought them to Australia. The Aborigines used them to keep their children warm at night, like living duvets. Shortly after the island became a tourist attraction, hotel resorts started using the dogs as their own free waste disposal units. They set up feeding stations around the back of resorts to get rid of the scraps. The dogs became reliant on the food, not teaching their young how to hunt but rather where and when to go for a free meal. Their numbers multiplied reaching 600-700. When the island became listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site the resorts were banned from feeding the dogs, leaving them rather hungry and angry. There were reports of dogs killing each other for food and some tourists were bitten. It was in 2001 when a 9year old boy was tragically killed by the dogs that the government decided to do something about it. They shot lots of dogs in the tourist areas and fenced off resorts. Our guide said he has no doubt that if the tragedy repeated itself there'd be no dogs left on the island afterwards.Next we visited the Maheno, the wreck of a passenger liner that was blown ashore by a cyclone in 1935 while being towed to a Japanese scrap yard.Our last stop of the tour is the stunning Lake McKenzie, Fraser's most beautiful freshwater lake. This lake was also created by an impermeable layer of humus but it's separate to the underground freshwater, it's more of a giant puddle. The lake is incredibly clear and at half4 we braved it and went swimming!! It was rather chilly but swimming out it suddenly drops off becoming deep. This gives the lake a black appearance even though it's completely clear, it was very odd and impossible to descirbe really.After the trip we met up with a Welsh lady, a guy from from Brighton and a German couple for A drink, they were nice.Monday morning (Bam's 16th birthday!!), we sat on the beach for a little and went for a paddle before our overnight 18hour bus to Townsville. xxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213247340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213247340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213247340/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:31:35 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Noosa, Queensland, Australia

Heyyyyyyy guys,So, upon arrival we managed to jump into the Koala Backpackers' courtesy van to their hostel, phewwwwwww, so we didn't have to lug our bags up the hill!We went down to the beach for a wander along and to watch the surfers. We got ice creams yummmm a treat and Becky bought a new towel as the smelly one was in dire need of replacing (seriously!! Luke already chucked his and just uses his sarong).Up quite early the next morning for our 2hour surf lesson, we were taken down to the beach and kitted up. Our instructor took the 5 of us through the 'One, two, three' steps of learning to stand up on a surfboard and off we went.First he pulled us one by one into the waves so we could practise standing up.... or trying to stand up. We did alright though, a couple of wobbles and flops but we did some standing! Our instructor said it was surprising how well our group was doing, he doesn't normally get a group who do so well as a whole...... but maybe he was just trying to make us more confident.After a little instruction on the beach, we went back in trying to catch our own waves. Luke was great and caught some with ease but this is where things started to go wrong for becky. She managed to get tangled up in the surf with her board which landed on her elbow....fun. But after a second break we still both went back in, determined not to let the big mean waves scare us away (Luke wasn't scared really).The next morning we got offers from Quicksilver and Billabong to join their surf teams but we declined cos we miss you guys too much. Aren't we just the best?(By the way, where is the vote on salty popcorn? You're letting the side down).After a spot of lunch we returned to the beach to sit and watch the afternoon surf lesson so we could see if they were better than us..... we don't think they were.The next day, after sitting on the beach and watching another surf lesson, we left for Hervey Bay xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213096620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213096620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1213096620/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:26:38 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Lucky for us we arrived in Brisbane at 7am and check-out at our hostel wasn't til 10am which meant we couldn't have a room for a while. Because we're such good beans we set out to book our east coast bus ticket, buy our food supplies, get an adaptor and check out the library-internet situation.When we got back about 11am, we had brekkie and went to sleep.About 3pm we got up, showered and had lunch. We headed back out into the big world to check out some of Brisbane's old buildings. We visited a museum in City Hall and ended up coming here to the library to queue to get a computer so we could write you guys a blog.Today, we caught two buses and walked 2km to Daisy Hill Koala Sanctuary. We looked around the visitors centre and saw the koalas inside before having our sarnies in the picniccy area. We were joined by a wallaby, some odd birds and a kookaburra, got some good piccies. We decided to do a 4km trail where we met a koala sat at the bottom of a tree. He looked at us and climbed up a couple of metres but stayed to oblige us with some photos. He climbed back down after we moved off a little, it's funny to see them walk along the ground. This is also where we met Debbie, a nice lady walking her dog Max. She said we were really lucky to see a koala so close up on the ground, she walks there 3times a week and it's rare. We walked the rest of the walk with her and had a good chat. We also spotted a roo but it hopped off pretty quickly. Kindly she gave us a lift to the bus station, we were very grateful as we didn't really fancy the 2km walk back to the bus stop to wait for a bus.Tomorrow morning we're getting a bus to Noosa xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212656100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212656100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212656100/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:15:56 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Port Stephens, Australia

Hellooooo,We arrived early evening and had to get a dominos as everywhere was closed. The two couples who run Malaleuca Backpackers, Michelle, Pete, Mick and Jeanette, are lovely and friendly. They were really helpful and made life easy. We spent our first evening with Jerome, a comical Dutch guy, watching Mr and Mrs Smith.Becky was sick twice in the night, fun fun, no idea why, it was a bit odd.Up fairly early to go on a sand dune tour with Jerome. Stockton Bight is the longest moving sand dunes in the southern hemisphere, it stretches 35km to Newcastle, it's widest point is 2.5km.The dunes began to move at the same time 'white man' came and cleared the bushland from the coastal edge. The dunes move inland 5-10metres each year, covering more bushland, it cannot be stopped. The highway is only 1/2km away and in 70years it will be under sand, no one knows what to do about it. We drove along the sea-edge for a while before heading up into the dunes behind. On our way upto the highest sand dune (55m) the 4wd in front of us got stuck in a patch of soft sand and we had to tow it out... then we nearly got stuck. We drove along to Tin City, a small group of tin shacks which started out as a fishing village. Now most of the buildings are used by the fishing clubs, there are a few semi-permanent residents. No changes are allowed to be made to this area, no new additions and the current buildings must constantly be dug out of the sand.Our guide was very good and even told us that Hawaii is the biggest importer of their sand because Hawaii is a volcanic island with no natural sand. So all those picture perfect white sandy beach postcards from Hawaii actually have Australian sand, haha.At the end of our trip we got to go sand-boarding. This involves sitting on a wooden board, like a small snowboard, and shooting down the dunes. You have to stretch your arms out behind you and run your fingers through the sand to keep balanced. You get a faceful of sand and the trek back up makes you puff but it's great fun! We've got some video to show you when we get home.That afternoon we wandered down to One Mile Beach, just 5mins from our hostel. It's a beautiful beach and we watched the surfers.We had a great nights sleep thanks to the family staying in the dorm room next door. The building has open eaves and the walls are incredibly thin. These country folk were pretty loud, we had women moaning about the men being out, phones ringing, the men coming back, the women having a go at them and just to top it off they got up very noisily at 7am! We had a long lie in to get some sleep and had a good moan about them over a late brekkie with the American girl who was also in our dorm. Saturday morning, lots of people arrived, it was quite strange going from 4people in the whole place to loads. Eventually we decided to catch a bus and climb up Tomaree Point for a bit of whale-spotting and a good view. However whilst waiting for the bus we realised it was infact Saturday, not Mon-Fri, and therefore our bus was not coming for another hour. We sighed and walked down to One Mile Beach to eat our sarnies, the sun even came out for a quick hello.By the time we caught the bus and arrived in Shoal Bay it was at least 3.30pm and it started to rain. Used to rain after Sydney we decided to brave it.....for about 5minutes, it got so heavy by the time we'd turned around and got into the pub our trousers were soaked through. We killed an hour and a half in the pub waiting for the bus back.That evening we made lots of new friends and had a great time. It was a long weekend in Australia due to the Queen's bday (yeh our Queen, where's our long weekend eh??)which was one reason for the influx of people. It was also the Bluewater Country music festival that weekend, there were two bands staying over (one the family who had kept us awake all night). For this reason there was also alot of country singing in our hostel's lounge/kitchen area. We got on particularly well with a group of young Australians, a couple of English guys (ENGLISH!!!!! YAY!) and a witty older Ozzie drug counsellor bloke.Sunday, we decided to go whale watching with the British guys but then they decided they would go watching further up the coast instead. It was drizzling a bit but we thought, 'Hey, rain's never stopped us before', apart from yesterday. We were on a largish catamaran, we took the seasickness tablets tat were provided to be on the safe side, donned the big fisherman raincoats that were also provided and sat down on the top front deck, ready to face the waves. The waves were pretty big, it was rather choppy out there and we got a liiiiiittle wet. We only found one juvenile humpback whale, about 7-8m long, 2-3years old. We followed him for a while and got some pretty good views of him coming up to breathe, unfortunately he didn't breach (jump) or filck his tail out. But..... our last sighting just before we turned back was spectacular enough for us, he surfaced about 10-15metres from the boat, right in front of where we were standing. Pretty damn cool.Went back and shared a $12, 4litre red wine box with the English guys and played card games all night with everyone. Luke and Neil (english guy) decided at half10, when we ran out of alcohol, it would be a good idea to cycle for half an hour (2.5km) on the pavement, in the dark to the nearest bottle shop. It was pitch black, no streetlights, but don't worry, Luke only fell off once. The bottle shop was closed hahahaha.Monday we caught a bus to Newcastle, where we got on our overnight bus to Brisbane. xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212118860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212118860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212118860/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:29:25 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Lak Lake, Vietnam

Sooo,Today was our first day zooming along with Philip and Tin Tin (Tan and Tien) and the scenery was stunning, nice to have the wind in our hair (not literally cos we were wearing helmets, 'safety first', as Tin Tin always said).We drove for half an hour or so before stopping to look at something and stretching our legs, then we were off again. This stopped us getting 'monkey bums' by sitting in the same position lots.As most of our stops were short there's little to write about in detail so we will just fill you in with photos xxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212307800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212307800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1212307800/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:52:43 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Well after looking forward to cooler weather for sooooo long we were fed up of the rain after a couple of hours. It did not stop raining for pretty much all of our time in Sydney..... but we didn't lose heart (although there may have been a few grumbles)and walked everyyyyyywhere.One of the first things that hit us about Australia was how long it took us to get through customs. Everyone had their bags gone through and Becky was not very happy when they confiscated the 2sticky rice hats she had been carrying around for 2months. They even wanted to check our trainers for mud, we found it quite bizarre.So after settling into our hostel and stocking up on 4days worth of food supplies we went for a wander over to Darling Habour. We visited the Maritime Museumn (for free yay)..... Luke's most interesting fact from that visit is a German guy kayaked over to Australia, it only took him 7years.We wandered across Pyrmont Bridge (in the rain of course!) to Sydney's Aquarium where we looked at all the pretty fishies. We saw our first platypus, what a super cool dude. There was also a large female crocodile, watching a crocodile blink is very strange as their transparent eyelid crosses over their eye sideways first (this protects their eyes if they want to see underwater) and then their normal eyelid closes. They also had a huge shark, turtle and ray tank with two tunnels. Becky liked the Ray Shark and Luke the Wollogong shark.We headed back and cooked our first meal in 4 and a half months, it was spag bol, tasted great as we are talented cooks! Becky loved staying in the dorm for the first night cos she was sharing it with 4 smelly boys, woo hoo.In Sydney we had.... a little trouble getting out of bed in the morning, we blame the jet lag, we weren't as bad as the rest of the people in our dorm who seemed to be hibernating. Eventually we walked up to The Rocks, where the first European settlement was established. At that time it was a squalid, racous and notoriously dangerous place full of convicts, whalers, prostitutes and street gangs. The old buildings look good against the backdrop of skyscrapers. At the point of The Rocks is Sydney Habour Bridge, we couldn't quite figure out how to get up there and the rain was a definite disincentive. We walked round the corner to Circular Quay, past all of the posh restaurants, and sat on a sheltered ledge eating our jam and peanutbutter sarnies with a great view of Sydney Opera House. A group of seagulls joined us and kept us amused for a worrying amount of time. Walked round to the Opera House, took some piccies outside but decided to return for the tour once we'd found a 20% off voucher. We resigned (but didn't really resign) to going to the cinema to see Indiana Jones. They don't have sweet popcorn in Australian cinemas, it is absolutely shocking, who likes salt? We would like to know who votes for salty popcorn, please leave your comments.The 3rd was not an incredibly productive day although we both bought a pair of jeans, Luke had previously managed to break every zip on every pair of trousers he had but one. We also went for our tour of the Opera House (with our voucher), it was fascinating to learn about the Danish architect John Utzon, how he became the architect after winning a competition. In 1966 Utzon quit after the government stopped all funds, he has never returned to see his masterpiece complete. We also caught a little of Sydney Symphony Orchestra rehearshing, it was spine-chilling. The organ in the concert hall has 56front tubes (?) in sight, our guide told us the rows go back 8metres and there are over 2000 of them. We returned to the cinema to see 21.Next day we visited the Botanical Gardens and the rocky ledge of Mrs Macquarie's Chair at the tip of Mrs Macquarie's Point. The rocky chair was carved for the wife of the Governor (Mrs M) as it was her favourite sitting spot as it offers fabulous views across the habour. We had lunch sat in a huge tree to shelter from ..... you guessed it...the rain. We fed the ibis some bread. We visited the imax to see a whales and dolphins film, the glasses were groovy. It was informative with some great footage but unfortunately an irritating American narrator.On the 5th we checked out and caught a coach to Port Stephens about 3hrs away. xxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1211961540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1211961540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mellowmantaray/1/1211961540/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:09:54 -0400 Luke n Becky go round half the world

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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hi guys,We decided to take it fairly easy in Saigon and we still seemed to end up trekking allover. We visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, the War Remnants Museum, the Reunification Palace, HCMC art gallery and a jade pagoda temple.The WR Museum was fascinating and extremely moving, it was mostly a collection of photographs during the war. It showed planes, people being rounded up, pictures of civilians just before they were needlessly killed, the effects of agent orange (dropped by the Americans to clear huge areas of forest where the Viet Cong were hiding) and napalm.The Reunification Palace, formerly the Presidential Palace, is still in the condition it was found in when the Northern tanks crashed through the gates to 'liberate' South Vietnam on 30th April 1975.We would write more but it's a couple of weeks and our memories are already failing to remember all the facts.We did enjoy some good pho in Saigon too. xxxxxoh..... and we lost luke's wallet.
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