North Island, NZ (the end of the world)

Flying from Sydney to Auckland, the time difference between us and the UK became 13 hours. The flight wasn't that bad considering, as Pete said, we had to be up at 5.30 am to catch the shuttle to the airport. When we arrived in New Zealand the weather was similar to that we left behind; warm, sunny and thong-wearing. We picked the car and headed for the city centre, through rush hour traffic which got Beast's blood pressure up. His road rage increased when torrential rain began to fall over the city of sails and we found it difficult to find somewhere to park. When we actually found somewhere to park, it was decided that it would be impossible to search for a place to eat and stay the night in such a downpour so we got back in the car and drove up the coast to the Northland region of New Zealand. On the way we found a motel at the side of the road with cheap rooms and crashed.

The next day we continued our journey up the coast to the Paihia in the Bay of Islands. On the way we stopped off at one of the many sign-posted natural beauty spots which are just off the main highways in New Zealand. Here we stretched our legs with a walk to a pretty awesome waterfall which was remote and best of all not tourist: we were the only people there. When we arrived in Paihia we realised that motels appeared to be the best option for our needs compared to backpackers hostels, as we could get a room for three generally with en-suite, TV and cooking facilities for between $65 and $105, instead of paying $25 each for a dorm, so throughout New Zealand we've been in motels/holiday parks.

Look for the jumping fish

Anyway, in Paihia we choose not to do one of the over priced dolphin swimming or cruises around the bays, but instead drove around the edges of the mainland taking photos and relaxing. The next day we went to Waiora Valley Adventure Park, which claimed to have one of the most difficult 18 hole mini golf courses in the Southern hemi-sphere. After a close round on the course which came down to the final hole, we tested our metal on the acrobatic activities. First we tried a sort of moving monkey bars which you had to swing over an inflatable wall at the end. Next was the high wire, which was way harder than it looked. Neither Ryan or I managed to get across from one platform to the next, but Pete the did the impossible, finishing with a frog splash. There was also inflatable slides and a fighting beam on which we had great fun playing Gladiators. The highlight however was the trapeze. Tutition was free and we were taught how to make the controlled leap from one swinging bar to the next, all very impressive although Pete had to retire before completing the feat because he had ripped many layers of skin of one patch of his hand and eventually so did I after over-gripping on one of the catchs on the second bar. It stung like a bitch.

The next day we headed even furthur up the pinnacle of the North Island along Highway 1, which turned into a gravel track quite a distance from Cape Reinga. The views from the hill top above the oceans, South Pacific and Tasman were spectacular, and had a real 'end of the world' type feel to them. The place was so isolated that only a few tourists and Moari's make the journey so the sound of the endless crashing waves onto empty beaches is very surreal. At the very edge of Cape Reinga is a tree whose roots are said in Moari folklore to be the entrance to the underworld. On the way back we saw some of the biggest sand dunes imaginable, really sand mountains, which were located at one end of Ninety Mile beach, which is really just a very long desolate beach. We then headed South to Kaitaia where we stopped overnight.

Forest, Grass, Swamp, Lake, Desert, Sea. Its a strange country.

The next day we woke early and spent all day driving down the North Island to Waitomo Caves, a very small village which has grown up around the tourist business brough in by the glow worm caves situated there. That night we booked into a Top 10 Holiday park, which is a chain throughout New Zealand that has cabins for silly cheap prices, the first of many. We also booked a tour of one of the many glow worm caves for the next day with The Legendary Black Water Rafting Company.

We all woke with a sense of excitement as the brochure had described the caving experiecne as a mix between extreme and wonder. We got "rubberized" into wet suits and collected our tubes which we would raft underground in after we had climbed down into the cave. Although the tour was very informative and enjoyable, with the many thousands of glow worms on every wall and ceiling lighting the way, we all felt a little disappionted by the rafting as it was rather slow, lacking the speed and thrill that we were expecting. During the underground adventure, we all had to jump of a waterfall which was definately the highlight. One of the instructors demostrated that it was vital to stick to a ledge on the left of the cavern as we approached the waterfall as to the right the fast moving water sucked you into a deep freezing pool, which one of the original explorers of the cave have died falling into. As we inched along the edge and one by one made the jump off the end of the waterfall, the guide turned around and shouted stay on the left just as Ryan lost his footing and was dragged into the freezing water. In a flash our guide had grabbed him and with my help pulled him back to the safety of the ledge. It all happened in an instant, and left Ryan with ice cold water down the gap in the back of his wet suit, unlucky. After warm showers and soup and bagels, we got in the car and headed further South for Whanganui. The drive along the edge of Tongariro National Park and the Whanganui River towards the city of Whanganui was superb, with twisting mountain roads and pituresque views. Again we stopped overnight in a motel and in the morning headed for Wellington to catch the ferry to Picton and the South Island. In Wellington, we spent time mooching around the shops in the city centre, and up the hill top overlooking the bay and the Botanic gardens. From the top we took the famous old cable car down and back to the car to catch the 3am Blueridge ferry to Picton.

Pics and the South Island adventures so far coming soon....

Hope everyone is alright back home, Tom.

Wellington

Beautiful Soul

We arrived in Brisbane off the back of Mardi Gras and with no sleep in 24 hours, the plane journey added to the misery. Took a taxi from the Airport straight to a YHA hostel and proceeded to book 2 nights, due to a late check out time we had to cruise round the city for a while waiting for the room to be cleaned, sleep deprivation ensued. After sleeping for nearly a whole 24 hours, we contacted the Aussie lads and met up for lunch with Nick and Marcus that day. Pete and Tom met with their friend Chris while i gained valuable sleep that evening.

The following day we travelled up the coast with Tim to experience his beach house for a few days, stopping at KFC on the way was a bad shout due to the fact that aussies KFC's are poor in comparison to ours, albeit cheaper, Tim's dad infact is the head of KFC Australia so we geared some constructive criticism his way. First impressions of the beach house were "that's bigger than my house", inside was pretty spectacular aswell due to a balcony overlooking the sea and a huge TV with sky. We barbecued that night before the rain followed us once more, we then retreated inside for a comedy session before bed. The beach called in the morning so we left with towell's, football and body board's and within 5 minutes walk were there, the surf looked pretty hairy and the call was given by the lifeguard for us to leave the water as soon as we got in, there was allway's tomorrow.

The Beach House

Phillipe Albert

Tim and Tom

On the beach nr Tims

We were due to leave today due to a university party back in Brisbane, we mooched to the beach once more though in the morning in search of the sun before we left. On the way back we decided to check out the Steve Irwin zoo but with less than 2 hours to spare and a $46 price tag we decided against it. Instead we headed up to see the Glass House Mountains for some spectacular views before our rental car began leaking brake fluid, under the hood we could see a tank of fluid where the water was boiling, the call was given to use lemonade to cool it down, and we then left with no further problems.

One of the Glasshouse Mountains (named so 'cos "Captain Cook said they looked like glass furnaces in his hometown in Yorkshire, England")

Back in Brisbane we met with Tim once again and went back to his house outside the city, which i must say was pretty damn spectacular. His sister drove us in to Brisbane, picking Poida up on the way. When we got to the destination we payed $10 to get in to this bar where the party was being held, we were greeted with a $10,000 bar tab. Not shortly after a fashion parade, Jesse Mc'Cartney(as the aussies called him), AKA Tom was thrown out due to being smashed. After some abuse was thrown his way for getting us all kicked out a free drinks bar, we mooched to another bar and entered using our Sects card's. After buying the first round, the question was raised "Where is Jesse?", the night then went even further down hill as our squadron began searching for the smashed youth. Several hours later he was found mugged, but uninjured, he didn't look happy, but neither were we, abuse followed once more, all privilages were then revoked.

The Day after that could be considered a Rugby sesh, we basically sat in Poida's house and watched it all day. Myself, and Peter, not being huge fans of watching the sport were pretty engaged as one match of the Super 14's league came to and end spectacularly as Western Force produced a last minute try to win the win the game. We stayed at Tim's that night after a pizza hut takeaway.

Day 6 or 7, cant remember which was going to be a house party but ended up being a night out in Toowonga. A stop at the bottle-o for some piss(as they say over there), and a short food stop began the night. Nick's house was our base for a few hours before we hit the town. The whole night took place in a club in toowonga, after a few drinks we took to the dancefloor/club area for some dancing lessons from Nick, allready pretty smashed by that point we left him to impress the ladies with his magic. He had his eye on a black girl and shortly after was chatting to her, the follow up went like this: Nick lifts girl's skirt, hand's girl his phone and then goes to get her a beverage, return's with a glass of water. After we watched his attempt's to woo the girl she approaches Marcus, "You're T-shirt is cool, you're friend is not" she bellows as she hands Marcus Nick's phone. After leaving the club and going in search of food, we found a kebab shop where kebab's come wrapped in a tortilla like bread and is so much easier to eat than home's offering.
After a reconaissance mission to find a Maxi taxi(you can work that one out), i was left with Nick lying flat on the pavement, and after 3 passes from the law, decided i needed to get him up, using a bottle of water i proceeded to pour it on his face, still he would not get up, i then decided to pour it on his trousers which got him moving. We returned to Nick's house for bed and woke up for a Hungry Jack's before departing Brisbane for the coast and then to Sydney.
Many thank's to the boys for putting us up while in Brisbane.

Ryan

P.S. Hired a car for our trip down the coast which took a couple of days. Stopped at Byron Bay, and when you're there its pretty understandable as to why its classed as one of the best beaches in OZ. Also stopped over in a place called South West Rocks, a nice small town with a quality beach. Visited the Blue Mountains before heading back to Sydney, where we met back up with Geoff, Alex and Sam, but opted against having a big night out considering we needed to be up at daft o'clock to catch the plane to New Zealand.

Postcard pic of Byron Bay (and that guy is blatantly a spy)

Pete at Byron

Byron Bay

Tom - South West Rocks

Sydney... and Mardi Gras

Ok then, now we get to Sydney, the most famous stop-point on our short tour of Oz. Yeah, we're only here for a month, that's seriously short! We've met people who spend a year in certain cities before moving to the next. Couldn't be arsed with that like, but it would be nice to spend a bit longer and be less pressed for time. But to do that you need the money or you need to work. We don't have the money and we don't have a work visa. So it ain't an option. Anyway, less of that rambling. After exploring Perth and Melbourne we were aware that they were both nice cities but to be honest, and i'm putting this down to just how good the city is, i'd rather spend the day (or night) in Newcastle any day of the week.

Sydney is totally different. You get here, walk through the park and into town, down by the marinas, the harbour bridge, the opera house, and even if its clouded over you think 'Christ, Sydney's awesome'. It totally deserves to be the most famous city in Australia, and god knows why it ain't the capital. Yeah, maybe we haven't visited Canberra but come on! Who ever recommends going there??

We got there after flying from Melbourne with Jetstar, the easyjet of the southern hemisphere. Got to the hostel around 10pm and before we'd got in our room I got a text from Shelley saying 'Where are you? We're waiting'. So we had quick showers n got changed before heading out with Shell and Ben, her boyfriend who she's travelling round Oz with. Headed to World Bar in the Kings Cross area of Sydney where everyone from the hostel was gatherin and got quality deals on drinks, which ensured a pretty awesome night.

Ben & Shell

In the mornin we did the traditional sightseeing you have to do while you're in Sydney, and our hostel was in a great place to do it. We could literally walk out the door, through the park and botanic gardens and we were at the Sydney Opera House. We actually didn't go straight there, it was boiling so we stopped off for lunch at Circular Quay, a marina overlooking the Harbour Bridge, which was a pretty spectacular place to have a meal. When we eventually got to the Opera House (which is when you finally realise how far you are from home) we got some snaps before the clouds rolled over and Britain's traditional weather began. It always bloody rains when we go to tourist sights. This was a thunderstorm though, which was actually pretty impressive over the harbour. After getting bored with that we mooched back to the hostel for a siesta and suddenly the sun was out again, full heat! Maybe it ain't like Britain afterall. That night was a quiet one, started watching a couple of dvds that we bought while pissed on Koh Tao (anyone for Retrograde - starring Dolph Lundgren? Or Savage Planet? Ambulance 2? Or a documentary about the Thai King's dog that was murdered by the Thai Prince?). The bad doo was that they were in Thai, so that film-watchin sesh ended pretty quickly and we resorted to watching trash TV.

In the morning we got up 'early' (10am) and caught the bus with Ben and Shell to Bondi Beach. Was expecting a massive, long amazing beach but when we got there it was just a bay surrounded by the town. The sand was quality though and the waves were huge. Met a guy called John who Shell knows from home and he took us out surfing. We all opted not to wear wetsuits or rash vests. Why oh why. We could have been told before that if we didn't we'd all end up with red raw chests and searing pain in our nipples! Anyhow, surfing was fun albeit hard, all of us nearly drowned a few times and it didn't help that the surfboards were huge. We had a couple of bodyboards as well though, which are a hundred times more fun and require a hundred times less effort. We had a quality time though, and went for a drink afterwards in some members club where you needed an ID for temporary menbership... I'd left my valubles in a locker in the hostel so didn't have my driving licence. Instead had to blag it with a temporary PADI licence thats on a ragged piece of pink paper! John had none either but apparently doesnt have a proper ID other than his passport and has perfected the art of blagging in Australia.

Went out after surfing to a bar/club called the Gaff, which the hostel had ties with which allowed you free drinks. Moved back to the World Bar later on, where we met Nick, the guy who organises all the nights out for people in the hostel in return for free rent. What a deal! Turns out he's a mackem, and referred to us as Geordie scum, although when he found out I was born in Hartlepool he said 'F*ck man, thats even worse that!' Banter. He's also played rugby recently in the Guinness Premiership for Northampton, before knacking his knee, so as the free jugs of beer kept coming the inevitable rugby drinking songs kicked in. Went back to the Gaff after where Tom had his falling-off-the-bar-and-hitting-a-stool-incident. I wasn't gonna catch him! No injuries were sustained so its all good.

Nick

Ben, Geoff, Tom, Ryan, Peter

Next day was spent sleeping, followed by a book-reading sesh in the park, whilst lying in the sun. Can't wait to get the pics up so you can all see what we're doing when you're at work/uni/college! Might have said this before but the internet cafes n that in Oz are pretty poor, no usb ports in sight! As opposed to Thailand where they were everywhere. Thought this was the advanced nation... Anyway, that night was pretty chilled, just went for a walk by the marina, had a BBQ on the roof of the hostel and a game of poker. That was our last night we had booked in the hostel, and as the following night was Mardi Gras they were fully booked. In fact, everywhere in Sydney was fully booked. We had no beds.

Shell and Ben were the same, so the next day they headed to Bondi to book a room there, while we went looking for a hire car before planning our next move. Turns out the only available car we could find (few companies rent to under-21s, the few that did had no cars!) was some banged-up Hyundai which looked like it had been built from scratch in the time of the cavemen. Considering they wanted over $900 to rent it for 11 days we politely turned the chance down and booked a flight to Brisbane at 8 the next mornin. That was when we made the decision to go without sleep for the night, instead leaving our bags in lockers in the previous hostel.

Went into town about 5, had dinner in Darling Harbour, which was beautiful by the way, and visited the aquarium. By 7 the city was starting to get busy, as a parade was starting at 8. Now, I knew Mardi Gras was pretty camp and featured a fair few gays and that, but there was no need in what we saw at that parade. It was minging. And we had a limited view. Put it this way, at one point in the parade a bus went past with a load of old men in it with MAG - Mature Age Gays written on the side. This was followed by a cage of 'Dreamboys'. Christ. It was quite an experience but one we'd rather not have again. It's just wrong. Behind closed doors, please.

When we tried to escape from the gays and meet Ben & Shell at the hostel we made the fatal decision of going up the street as opposed to down it. Oh dear. We knew were were on the wrong side of the parade but didn't expect to have to mooch a few kilometres outta town just to get to the other side!! We made it to the hostel just as the other were leaving and got the free drinks wristbands, etc. Got into the Gaff, which was absolutely heaving, understandable considering it was Mardi Gras and they were open from 6 til 6. Had a great time, but got out about half 12 in order to try and catch the Liverpool v Man U game. You should have seen the state of the street by the way, i've never seen so much litter, it was a river of rubbish. They had to clean it by leading a line of police horses up the street with cleaners following!

Sayid, Alex and Ryan

Saw the match in the hostel, followed by the Arsenal v Reading match. Said goodbye to Shell and Ben, though we're sure to meet up again in England. Shell's been an awesome mate and we'll miss her for sure and Ben was totally sound from the off, quality guy, it was great to meet the both of them and it was wierd leaving for probably the final time. During the Arsenal match was when we started feeling the tiredness, and we were gonna get to sleep before some nutters came in and decided it'd be a good idea to watch the Big Lebowski at daft o'clock in the mornin! Good film, but it wasn't the time. So that's how the brawl started, Jack Bauer style, windows smashed, blood flowing, the lot.

Joking, but it meant we hardly got any sleep so were already knackered when we got the plane. In Brisbane we couldn't get into our room til 11, so we walked around the city and down by the river for a bit, feelin and smelling pretty bad. Met Marcus and Nick for lunch today though (two of our aussie mates who we met in Thailand). We've also hired a car (a better one, for less than $900) and tomorrow we intend to drive up the Sunshine Coast (jealous?) to Tim's beach house where we'll probably stay for a few nights (jealous some more?).

Pictures coming when possible. Ciao.

Peter

Melbourne

Been a long time coming this blog entry, my apologies. Think I've had more grief off these two to get it done than I ever had off my mum to tidy my bedroom or a teacher to hand in a piece of coursework. Obviously travelling doesn't change you that much, I'll still put everything off 'til the last minute. So (after much side-tracking) our travels take us to Melbourne, Victoria...

The flight from Perth arrived at Avalon airport (apparently thats the middle of nowhere like a million miles from the city and even further from where Mike and Chrissy live) at roughly 11pm. Mike had agreed on the phone to pick us up and we found him easily yet felt guilty after he told us about the ordeal of finding the airport. Mike and Chrissy are friends of my parents; my mum met Chrissy whilst she was travelling through Europe many years ago and both ended up working in a pub in London. When we arrived at their house, where we spent our entire and very enjoyable time in Melbourne, Chrissy was awake and quickly got round to making hundreds of cheese, ham and tomatoe toasties - Superstar.

The next day we slept in, it being the first morning we had spent since Thailand (I think!?) when we hadn't been woken my some person in our dorm going to work very early. At some point after midday we were dropped off by Chrissy at the train station in the Brighton suburb of Melbourne, Chrissy and Mike live in East Brighton and apparently Shane Warne is a local who still lives nearby. After scrabbling through our pockets for $6 plus worth of change each, we boarded the train heading for Flinders St station in central Melbourne. On the train we found 6 empty seats (2 sets of 3 each facing each other) and ryan and I immediately lounged back with our feet on the chairs in front of us, bad idea. Along comes a train ticket inspector and his gang of cronies or as most like to call them local pommie hating yob's. After studying our tickets with a magnifying glass he kicks off about the fact that we hadn't validated them. Sorry mate but its our first day in Melbourne, the ticket shows we bought it today and its valid for all zones so whats the problem? Then he noticed Ryan had his feet on the seat (somehow he missed mine) and all hell broke loose. Basically he threatened us with a $200 fine each for the ticket mishap and an extra $200 for Ryan. Instead he said he'd be kind and throw us off the train!

When we made it to Melbourne went for a mooch through Batman Park, more like dry shrub land next to the river, heading for Crown Casino and Entertainment complex, for one reason and one reason only, Rocky (although i wasn't that bothered about it the others were adamant we had to see it asap). Very average film. We got the train back to Brighton and had a beautiful Roast dinner (didn't realise how much I miss home cooking) with the whole Egan family. Ryan and Peter were introduced to Jonathon and Alex, Chris and Mikes kids, who we'd missed in the morning. Jonathon showed us his X-box 360 and we discovered Madden 2007 for the next few days. After dinner Mike tooks us to the local pub where we all drank and I loved Carlton draught.

Mike, Alex, Chrissy & Jono

The next day was pretty similar, we got the train into Melbourne after validating our tickets and went for a mooch around the many different and interesting laneways of the city centre. In one we found a quaint little French cafe where we had a late lunch and a drink. After more shopping in the city centre and enquiries of what to do on future days at the stunning Tourist info centre we got the train back to Mike and Chrissy's.

Chrissy had left that afternoon, with Jonathon and Alex, for Wodonga and her parents house, so Mike was the only one in. Mike bought some steaks and wine, we bought the beer. The meal was probably the best I've had whilst we've been travelling, and we drank some J. Boags (Tasmanian) beer whilst watching an Essondon vs. Carlton AFL match.

On the Saturday we walked just down the road to Brighton beach, famous for its colourful beach huts. Although none of us fancied swimming, I sat on the beach reading a novel and Peter and Ryan went for a walk kicking a ball we'd borrowed towards the Marina and lots of talling expensive looking yatchs for a picture opportunity. They came back with no impressive photos and cut feet from standing on glass and playing footie in thongs.

On the night we had quick showers and another home cooked meal, then we rang a taxi to take us to Fitzroy St. There we found a backpacker friendly pub/club (the drinks were pretty cheap) with live music and a decent atmosphere. All the makings of a good night except the fact that the band played some awful covers with added expletives and a load of fat aussie girls kept dancing nearby where we were. Still it were better than yet another night out back home but not something I could do repeatedly.

On our fourth day in Melbourne we again headed into the city via the train. This time however we decided to do some of the tourist attractions. We climbed the Rialto tower to the viewing deck at the top where there were some magical views across of the city landscape and the bay. Then we got on the free tourist shuttle around the city centre which we had planned to stay on and see the sights, it was so full however that we jumped off after a few stops and found ourselves close to Old Melbourne Gaol. We paid the entry fee and we just beginning to explore the old jail when a uniformed officer gave us a leaflet and asked us to come on her tour of the Watch House next door. It was only an extra $3 so we bought our charge sheets and joined the group outside the Gaol. We were led by Constable White, who had forbidden talking, to the Watch House and charge of us criminals was given over to Sergent Blank. I was chosen from the rabble to present myself for prisoner profiling. I stood there and was barked at to leave my possessions at one side and give the Sergent my details. I was Sandie Lopez, arrested whilst trying to rob the Crown Casino, poshly put gaming theft. We had some banter throughout and the whole group was a good laugh. After this interrogation we were taken to holding cells in groups and the lights were turned out, blackness ensued. The tour was complete when we had been given time to explore the many other cells and exercise yard.

On the Monday Chrissy was back and lent us her car for a journey along the Great Ocean Road. We drove as far as Lorne, where we had a pit stop and excellent fish n chips. Then we carried along the road a short while to a lay-by with a track leading to a pituresque waterfall we had seen in a leaflet, the name of it escapes me. Anyways, we parked the car and set off along a dusty track only to be suddenly attacked by a huge hoarde of flys. They were relentlessly flying at us until we returned to the car. This was the least of Peter and Ryan's worries however (not mine as I'm not that scared of posionous animals) as this was clearly snake and spider territory. Then we came to a scene out of Jurassic Park, before us lay Velociraptor Field in the Valley of Death, (an apparently very scary corn field). Peter nearly shit himself when a snake slithered out onto the path and I kept handly pointing out the many giant spiders webs and holes to Ryan but all I saw were some pretty big lizards. At the end of this "terrifying" walk we came to the waterfall, which had spectacularly dried up. So we went back to the car and left never to return.

At the furthest point of our journey we reached the Twelve Apostles, the highlight of the trip. Here we took some amazing shots of the cliffs and stacks which had been left standing alone from the cliff face itself. The sea was battering them unmercilessly and it was clear to see why four Apostles have already fallen from grace and into the sea. Having driven all day I was shattered and Pete took over piloting the car back to our new home in Melbourne. The trip was special, with awesome winding roads along the beautiful Victorian coastline.

A geography teacher's wet dream

When we got back Chrissy had saved dinner for us, which we ate pretty late whilst watching the oscars. Then we watched Starsky and Hutch before crashing. We woke early and packed, before Chrissy drove us to the airport, again at Avalon, for our flight to Sydney at 7.40pm. We would all like to give a big shot out to Chrissy and her family for putting up with us for so long. We miss you guys and hope to see you soon. Sad as we were to leave it was Goodbye to Melbourne and Hello to Sydney!

Now you see why I've been putting this off so long, maybe there's "too much detail" as Ryan says, but thats just the way I write. Hope everyone's good back home.

Pics coming soon...

Tom

Western Oz

**This post has been updated with new photos n that** Abbo you especially will enjoy this one.

Perth from nr. the bottom of the park

After a couple of days adjusting to Perth we realised it actually ain't that bad. Explored the Kings Park (which is on a hill) for some amazing views of the city and went for a big mooch around the rich suburbs and the CBD, past all the plush houses and bars. Looking at the houses around there, its not a surprise all the backpacker hostels are located in this end of town! The park was one of the best we've been in, although it was wierd seeing a load of people our age all dressed up to the max... having a graduation party/prom in the park! Can't blame them to be honest.

Kings Park. A rip off of a similar pic taken on a beach on Ko Samui.

The next day we got up too late to catch a bus to Albany so instead lazed around, eating the best ice cream in the world from a parlour in town and seeing the Blood Diamond at the cinema (top 5... honestly its unreal, get yourself along to see it). Caught a bus to Albany (on the south-coast) the next day, and as it was sunday they had one running in the afternoon as well, so after a suprisingly comfortable six hour journey we got there at 9 in the evening.

In the morning we had a short walk around the town, but only cos we were searching for somewhere to hire a car from. Eventually gave up and rang around, finding a company who'd rent to under-21s pretty easily. Set off at 11am on what was to be a 300-mile round trip.

First stop was a tree top walk near a town called Walpole (along the coast to the west). A lot of tourist attractions in the area seemed to involve trees in one way or another, but that ain't a bad thing. The tree top walk was pretty cool, but not anywhere near as epic as the Gloucester tree, roughly 150km further past Walpole. This is a 60m high tree (may not sound high but believe me it bloody is... higher than our bungy jump!) which you climb up via a near-vertical ladder of metal spokes which spiral up around the tree. And theres nowt to stop you falling to a very nasty death. And someone made the terrible call of climbing up bare-foot in case our sandals or flip-flops (called thongs over here) slipped or fell off. Half way up we realised this was a serious mistake... along with the terror of risking your life climbing up and down, we were wrecking our feet on metal spokes. Nevertheless, at the top it was quality, the view was spectacular for miles around, and it was quite fun to look down and see how high you actually are... until you realise you still have to climb down. Glad we did it though, certainly something to remember.

Tree Top Walk

The Descent - scary

On the way back we made a de-tour to some beaches, managing to spot a family of wild kangaroos bouncing along the road ahead of us, an eagle and a probably-deadly snake, which we only just prevented Ryan from stroking. All the scenery in the Albany area was stunning, so it was definitely worth the visit. Caught the bus back to Perth today, where we're gonna chill tonight before flying to Melbourne tomorrow.

Take care everyone. Peter.

Australia's tastiest cheese

Pass the stingray mate

Singapore

Arrived in singapore 10th feb, taxi to the hostel, "Air conditioning's broken". Result, redirected to Soho hotel, still in chinatown, turns out to be a bit of a shambles, Shelley was sleeping above an age of 90 singaporean on her death bed, coughing her guts up while "Tombrother" was enjoying the company of the radiant, eccentric, slightly obese, wonky eyed, filth loving Daby. While in Singapore we enjoyed the Liverpool v Newcastle match. 2-1, unlucky Shelley. After booking two nights at the fabulous Soho hotel, we left after 1 in search of pastures new. We found instead a very nice affordable hotel in the red-light district of singapore where we would reside for the next three nights.

A chinese new year thing

Over the next three days in singapore we enjoyed a variety of cultural specific activities including going to the cinemas and eating, as well as venturing to the very impressive looking night safari. The safari offered the best experience i have ever had the displeasure of experiencing, the animal show went one better and introduced us to the nearly extinct, never found in the UK, frontman of the world's zoos, ever jaw-dropping, Barn Owl. Jesus christ.

A shopping centre (one of millions)

Shell & Ryan

By the second day Shelley had left for Sydney in search of an experience that would better that of the Barn Owl (we doubt that the finding of King Arthur's Excalibur would top that). We however still in awe from the previous night's adventure, had the amazing idea of visting the science centre the day it was closed, that left us $30 out of pocket, wet and still smiling from the Barn Owl experience.

Barn Owl aside, Singapore did offer some good experieces, from eating in little India with a leaf for a plate to visting one of the Hawker stall's for a BBQ Stingray and some superb Chinese food. We also did visit the Science institute the day after and enjoyed the i-max film, Deep Sea, that was a first for me and peter and we left very impressed. Singapore itself was sort of like how i imagined Bangkok should have been, superb food, modern and best of all, clean. We visited a superb cinema to see The Last King Of Scotland and left very satisfied, Whittaker deserves an oscar for that. Still haven't seen Rocky Balboa, it should be out in Australia by the time we arrive.

We have now arrived in Perth and met with rain and not much to do, remain in high spirits for the rest of the trip. Tom's birthday on the 15th which has now been classed as international day of rest remains a date to look forward to.

Quick shout out to the rest of the GS Posse back home, another update nearer the 20th. Finally managed to upload pictures!

Ryan

Koh Tao

We arrived in Koh Tao able to swim and use a snorkel, we left qualified PADI Openwater Divers (that is Peter and me at least because Ryan opted out and just chilled on the beaches). The last few days have purely been spent studying and diving. So whats it like? Pretty amazing, I can now breathe underwater.

The first day was orientation at Bans Diving Resort, which we had been told was rated as the third best dive training centre in the world. The resort is pretty massive and incorporates a restaurant. bar, 2 swimming pools and is being extended to have more bunglows. It clearly was a major operation. We met our dive instructors Belinda and Chloe and then watched a rather boring diving introduction video, which Peter and Shelley decided they could skip and left half way through. Good idea as the second half was just as boring and common sensical as the first (who needs to be told how not to get your hair caught in your goggles).

Second day we began the proper training, although the morning involved lectures on the first 3 sections of our dive course manual - fun. In the afternoon, the three of us (me, Shelley and Peter) got sized up for our gear and headed to the pool for our first underwater scuba experience. Our group consisted of 8 students (from a total of about 20 on our course), our instructor Belinda and a trainee Dive Master Mervin. We practised all the skills that we would need to fulfil out in the sea to pass our Openwater PADI.

There were early starts to the next two days as we went out on the Bans boat to complete two dives on each day. Its impossible to describe the sensational feeling of scuba diving, so I'll just say that we all stuggled through the issues we had with the different skills and pressures on our bodies whilst scuba diving down to a maximum depth of 18m. My worst problem seemed to be the fact that a cold I'd picked up in Koh Samui meant that I had to endure "reverse blocks" on the ascent to the surface, causing rather nasty nose bleeds but nothing major. No doubt everyone will want to see the DVD of our last day diving. I'll let you watch it for yourself rather than describe all the laughs and awe inspiring marine wildlife.

Having completed our theory lessons and passed a rather easy 50 question multiple choice exam it was time to celebrate with the rest of the posse who had passed the PADI Openwater in the same three days as us. The night really began after dinner when 6 of us decided to play Ring of Fire and it ended with me having to skull a full pint of vodka, coke and Chang beer. Nice. All in all a good night, although it becomes hazy towards the end.

We're now back in Bangkok for our last night in Thailand after travelling all day today on catamaran and bus from Koh Tao. Tommorrow we leave for Singapore and the next leg of our trip. I'm sad to be leaving Thailand and the people we have met along the way, although we're all going to meet back up at some point, but at the same time I think we're all excited for what lies ahead.

Tom