KANCHANABURI

BRIDGE OVER RIVER KWAI (My understanding) Whilst everybody was busy trying to stop Hitler erase everyone without blue eyes and blonde hair, his allies, The Japs were busy reaking havoc on Asia. During the WWII the Japanese successively seized many countries and captured hundreds of thousands Prisoners Of War. They used some of these POW's as laborers to construct a railway line from Bangkok to Burma. The men were forced to work in very harsh conditions and a lot died from starvation, exhaustion and dehydration (90 000 Asians, 6318 Brits, 2815 Aussies, 2490 Dutch, 356 Yanks and many more) the line is now called "The Death Railway". Part of this railway is a bridge over the river kwai. Regarding the part of the River Kwai Bridge that was formed by iron, when the Japanese had successively attacked and seized Java, they demolished th eiron of the Java River bridge then shipped it to Thailand and reassembled it into the River Kwai Bridge. The construction involved purely human laborers and the work was done both day and night in rotating shifts throughout its period. It took one year to complete. It's an interesting day trip from Bangkok to see the war museum and the railway. After the depressing war chat you get to go for a ride on the train which the locals still use today as public transport.

PING PONG

Can't believe I forgot to mention the Ping Pong show! Think I'd just conveniently erased from my memory.

Moagly was adamant that we had to see a PingPongShow whilst we were in Bangkok. So the first guy that whispered "pingpong" to us in Pat Pong Market we followed, mind you it was only 6pm, personally I think thats a little early in the evening to watch ping pongs fly. We followed him off the market (stupid), down an alley (stupid), and up a dingy stairway (again...) into an empty bar. We were escorted to a table by an old, hard, hagered Thai lady. Then out trot on stage the entertainment- one I'm sure was male, another really didn't want to be there and the third I'd like to introduce to a little thing called a "Brazillian"! Not sexy in any stretch of the imagination.
Our beers came and the girls started stomping around, unceremoniously on the stage and tapping their TIP jar- we really wanted to leave at this point but we thought we'd at least attempt our beer (ROOKIE mistake!!! If you're uncomfortable in a situation, LEAVE!!!). They did a few tricks, which I don't have the stomach to re-live, involving ribbon, fizzy pop and not a single ping pong.
Checking out C and M's mortified faces I decided it was time to ask for the bill "cheque bin ca"! We didn't enjoy what followed...
The 2 bar men made themselves visible by our exit, one big lady pimp brought over a piece of paper that read 4000THB (80GBP)... for that...! I don't think so.... Over come 3 more lady pimps that start doing some kind of snarl/growl at us- well this is uncomfortable to say the least. I'm feeling really threatened, actually one of the few times in my life that actual fear griped me... not so much for me but more for C and M.
Thoughts went quickly through my head- "idontfinktheylkilusforfourthousandbattheycantjustbeatusupnletusgocoswelgotothepolice" etc
So what can they do really? Bring it! I got 500THB from my purse and my can of pepper spray. I chucked the money on the table, barged past them and made my way to the door, C n M were still trapped but were quickly encouraged to sod it n just follow me. As soon as we got through the door we bolted on to the market, headed straight for the english pub and didn't stop shaking until beer number 2. I learned from this that body doesn't deal with fear too well, pretty hard to stand n fight when ur shaking all over, so softy that I am I'll be avoiding any kind of war in the future and will definitely leave "sleazy thailand" to the fat, old foreigners! LESSON WELL N TRULY LEARNED!

Thailand with Caca and Moagly

Dossing around Samui as been great but as always after a few weeks I start to get a bit bored. There isn’t really much to do on the island and, with it being off season, there aren’t too many tourist around to go and mingle with. So I was eagerly awaiting the pair.
Aka Caca and Aka Moagly arrived on the first day of November. The weather prior to their arrival had been perfect, cloudy and rainy enough to keep you going for a kip in the chest freezer with the sun just coming out enough each day to keep the tan on top form, but on their first night here we received a cyclone warning and the whole island was told not to leave their homes, great, so night one consisted of us sat round the pool devouring Vodka. Caca and moagly hadn’t seen one another for years so there was plenty of good chat.
It rained constantly. We just got used to it. On day 3 we braved the outdoors, although the weather was worst we headed for the nearest food shack, encouraged by our rumbling tummies. It was the most extreme weather I have ever seen, the roads were like rivers. Wading out of the shack, after our feed, Caca screamed behind me- let me just say that since they arrived they have been screaming at everything that moved so I barley flinched- I looked down just in time to see the snake/eel/ thingy brushing past my leg whilst it was being swept down stream, it makes me shiver just reliving the experience.
We tried not to let the weather get us down. The girls used it as an excuse to lie in and be lazy which they loved. And I headed to the shop and bought ingredients for a weeks worth of Pina Coladas. After 4 days we were Pina Colada-ered out so we headed for the Capital.

BANGKOK
To save a few bob we got the bus up to Bangkok. We booked the Ferry and the bus with a local travel company so that everything would be taken care of and we could just show up and be took straight to an hotel in Bangkok, easy peasy- yeah right! (The best laid plans of mice and men and all that).
An organised taxi picked us up an hour late and took us to our ferry. We didn’t know what ferry or where to pick our tickets up and the driver spoke no English. He dropped us at a travel agent near the ferry terminal, off loaded our bags and drove off. The agent was the wrong one, she pointed us to a shop on the next block. Of which the woman behind the desk informed us we had missed our ferry. After much umming and arring, lot’s of phone calls and attempting to charge us again (I don’t fall Thais ripping me off anymore) they told us to come back in an hour.
Long story slightly shortened- 3 buses, 1 boat, 3 dirty toilets, 1 plate of rice and 18 hours later we were booted off a bus at 6am somewhere in Bangkok. We wandered around and asked directions til we found khaosan Road (the place to be) and stayed there a couple of nights.

SAMUI RING ROAD MAP

BIKING- SAMUI RING ROAD

DATE: 24/10/10

DISTANCE: 31miles/50K

TIME: 3hours

TERRAIN: Samui Main Road

ELEVATION: min 0ft

max 308ft

ascent 607ft

decent -607ft

I met Ilse, Janik and Luca at 6 am on the main road outside Kingfisher restaurant. We headed around the island anti-clockwise. The first major hill you get to the boys shot off ahead, Ilse stopped and walked and I peddled on. About half way up it was getting hard so I went to take the cog down and my chain flicked off. I waited for Ilse and we walked to the top together where the boys were waiting for us. They fixed my "very well oiled' chain and set off again- not the grandest start. Mental note- learn how to change gears less aggressively.

It was a national holiday in Thailand (Buddha day) there were lots of floats, Buddhas and people to dodge on the roads. I started the bike ride with out breakfast , by the time we were in Nathon, 10 miles in, I was starving so I nipped into the market for a banana, apparently you can't buy a single banana so I ended up emerging with a bunch, we had 2 each then I put 2 in my bag for later.

The night before I'd put my camel back in the freezer but it never defrosted in time so I did half the ride with a frozen slab on my back and no water to drink- another mental note, don't freeze your water for a 3hour ride!

We stopped again in between Lamai and Chewang, 25miles in, for toilet break and another banana.

The whole ride was 6am till 09:10am including all the stops.

I got home and had muesli fruit and yogurt and then went to watch the F1 in the bar, came home did 30 length's, back out to the bar to watch the Celtic- Rangers Derby and pray for Stoke to beat ManU, then bed! All in all a full sports day so to counter act it today I'll be having a massage, painting my nails, exfoliating and doing Yoga.

NO PHOTOS

I can't get any photos on here at the minute because my computer is jam packed and needs backing up then emptying, which is taking me forever!

NIGHT ON KOH PANGNAN

On Friday I got my dad to run me over to Koh Pangnan on the jet ski. A guy I just did the course with was over there traveling with his mates. Ended up staying on this little beach that you can only get to by boat or a two hour trek (forgot the name). Spent the day supping shakes, smoking and swimming. At some point we headed off to a club that was a pretty drastic trek through the jungle- and I forgot my shoes- This place was mad fully of the local xpat hippies that more than likely have been stranded there since the 80's. We danced all night- the sun came up at 6ish and that's when it got a little more freaky with all the shroomed-up hippies worshiping and chanting to the sun. I hung around for a few hours then the fear that they were going to commence on some mad cult came and I trekked back to the beach, put my head on the pillow at 9am... The rest of the Dutchies came back an hour later, I woke with a start suddenly sober and very worried about where my camera was, I went for breakfast and found out it was in someones bungalow down the beach, safe and sound, pheww!

Saturday i got a long tail boat back to Samui and crashed out on the couch at about 3pm. Again I just couldn't get to sleep because the dogs kept licking my face so I gave up on the idea of trying to sleep. Ilse called and said they were meeting at six in the morning for a bike ride around the island so I missed the Bolton game, sorted out the bike and went to bed.

Back in Thailand!

So I've arrived in Thailand after 3 weeks in Warsash completing my Officer Nav and Radar course. The course and exam was pretty hard, I was so sure that it was going to be bad news, I had an agonising week there waiting for the results but clever little me, PASSES!!!

It's been 18 months since the last time I visited mum and dad in Samui and in the time that I've been away they have let my pet tortoise escape and have acquired 2, rather large, puppy German Shepards (which, luckily for me, don't seem to mind me staying here). The pair of them are the most spoiled dog's you'll ever come across, I don't remember my dad looking after me n my bro that well when we were kids- he's going soft I reckon! They live on fresh fish, prime steak n chicken breasts, they go for a swim in the sea every morning with 5 walks a day and even went for a jet ski ride yesterday while my mum sat waiting in the scalding sun, with no water, on a rock- classic Ian Greenhalgh Stylee!

Got nothing major to report apart from the gym having to be put on hold for a couple of days due to the fact that I couldn't get my trainer on over the golf ball sized lump that sprung up on my foot after a water skiing mishap...

So at the minute I 'm just prepping myself and my stuff for my bike ride, which commences on 1st December in Auckland and will continue until the money runs low. Hopefully it will see me back in Thailand by mid April but not got a set plan... I would like to cycle all the way home but will have to keep on stopping to build up the funds... not saying that's what I'm going to do though, will just have to see what life brings or what I make life bring!!!

For now I'm looking forward to a worry free holiday. I'm going to be hitting the gym and the chillies hard because they are the two things I've missed most these last 18 months.

I'll get some more pics on shortly.

Photos

Recap Last 15 months........

Here is a slightly depressing, very neglected looking blog page, time to rectify!

So after my 2 week job hunt in France last year I found work on a 52mt Motor Yacht with a world wide cruising itinerary, perfection! But after 15 months onboard I have handed in my notice to begin another adventure. I leave with some memories of the best time of my life so far (been too busy having fun to update this blog lol).

I started off my time onboard with the mandatory, tedious med season with a slight twist- instead on the South of France we cruised and abused Turkey. The Turkey season was two months of back to back "guest's on" made sweet at the end by a very generous tip (usually unheard of on a Private Yacht).

My first holiday away from the boat was in October last year and I planned a road trip around Scotland (my favourite country). I commandeered my Brothers Vito, Mothers bike, Grandads TomTom and whoever elses stuff that I could grab and headed North with the intention of making the boot my bed for the next week. I spent the first two nights in Berwick- Upon- Tweed, Yes I know that's not Scotland but I visited a mate and surprised another friends parents. Then I cruised up the East coast to Betty Hill, my goal was Betty Hill as my dad had seen a farm house up there that need doing up and would have been perfect for my future plans of running an extreme sports B&B (I still think that the place is perfect- the fact that it's a 3 hour drive to the nearest Tesco doesn't matter too much as my plan is to be as self sufficient as possible). Also I believe there's great surf up there as well...

I did the return trip to Bolton down the West coast Via Fort William and Isle of Skye. After my run up the Nevis Range I decided it was time for a shower so I booked into a campsite for the night and cycled into town for some pub grub and a few cheeky Ciders. Anyway this Road Trip kind of started a new obsession with roadys and many more where to come in the next year.

Back onboard and bound for Galapagos with refueling stops in Sint Maarten and Panama. After going threw the Panama Canal we arrived in Panama on Christmas Eve just in time to get the glad rags on and jump into a taxi. The taxi driver informed us that there was nowhere open apart from a strip joint- I didn't believe him but strip joint it was. Our 12 crew rocked up there, after 4 weeks at sea, to find out that it was all you can drink for 30 dollars, long story short, by 1am they changed their minds and asked us to leave (don't think the crew trying to have dance offs with the strippers helped our cause very much). Christmas day is just a blur of Champagne and laughing......

On boxing day we headed to Galapagos to pick up charter. I'd love to say that Galapagos is beautiful but I can't. Unless you dive, if you go to Galapagos all you will see is rocks and birds and lots of them but if you're a diver- unique!

Before Galapagos all of diving experience was in Tropical seas with multi coloured reefs and a n abundance on small marine life, diving Galapagos is completely different- it's all about spotting the big stuff! Sharks, Whales, Dolphins and yet some more Sharks can almost be guaranteed on any given dive. On one dive site you can actually see scholes of about 300 Hammer Heads! Do I sound like I experienced it? Well I didn't- gutted! We don't dive on charter, it's all about making sure the guest see it all- obviously- But we were planning to stay behind 4 days after they left to experience it ourselves. On my first dive there i descended to 20meters and then passed out....... I came round, clung to a rock feeling very dizzy and finally plucked up the courage to surface. I did surface threw a schole of White Tip Sharks though. Needless to say the Captain banned me from all future dives until I'd seen a Dive Physician. I still saw some stuff from the surface though including Hammer Heads, Galapagos Sharks, Whale Sharks, more spinning dolphins than you can imagine, blue footed Boobies and enough Sea Lions to make you hate the smelly things.

Then we did Costa Rica and America for a few months- obviously a lot of stories from the months there but I'll remains on them some other time.

Anyway, the revival of my blog is all in anticipation for the up and coming months ahead. I am leaving the boat in a few days and, after a stop in Samui to see the folks, I'll be heading to New Zealand to start a bike ride that, Pennies Permitting, will see me to Scotland, I'll keep you posted each step of the way, very EXCITED!!!!!!

MAY 09 Home Sweeeeet Home

At the end of May 09 I left Samui bound for Bolton, Gutted! (Well not really) Had enough of Thailand for the minute and itching to get back to work and traveling.

Ill be home for 2 weeks in total and then will be heading to the South of France to look for work on a Yacht.

Not really getting up to much at home, just organizing my endless boxes of rubbish stowed away at my Grans house. I think she's dieing for the whole of our family to leave home and no one as just the now, lol! My Grandma's house is home to Grandad, Grandma, Bro Sean, Auntie Sue, Cous Grace, Mum and Dad (when they're home), Brandon (at weekends), ME (when I'm home) and last but not least Mad Max and Bruce- our little puppies. It's truly a mad house of the Greenhalgh clan!

For my last weekend at home I ventured up to St Marys Loch in Scotland. It was Hannah's birthday and she was camping up there. After much faffing around on Sat Morning, getting the address to load in the temperamental Tom Tom, realising the van was rancid, cleaning the van excetra excetra, I finally set off. So off I went up to Scotland with an empty tank n my fingers tightly crossed that I'd make it to the first Services. The bank holiday traffic to the lakes was hellish but from lakes north twas nothing but open road. Loved the ride up there- country roads are soo much fun! wish I knew how to turn traction control off.

Very glad Hannah and her crew were well set up with tents, food, bevies etc or else i'd have been cold, hungry and thirsty. Camp was set up on beautiful St Marys Loch surrounded by hills n valleys. Hannah and I attempted one such hill with 2 little dogs in tow. Half way up the old legs were burning but we made it to the top and enjoyed the view. We had a few tent dramas due to gusty winds, Davey attempted to act as the missing tent stake and got knocked dooon, lol. Anyway met some top peops and had a fab weekend!

Thailand Jan Feb 2009- KITEBOARDING

I've been learning to kiteboard. It has taken a while but I'm getting there. We've only had like 2 weeks of good wind in the last 2 months- it sucks doing a sport where you're so reliant on the weather but saying that, most sports I do are reliant on the weather, apart from running and badminton. Thailand isn't exactly famous for it's strong winds, I really should have thought this through more.

Been being patient and sticking at it and voila, I got up. I can now ride left foot forward pretty well but when it comes to getting back it takes me forever.

I also, very irresponsibly, took a loan from my parents to buy the gear- it's way to expensive to keep on renting. This way will be cheaper in the long run, I'm Sure!

Thailand 2009- NEW YEARS EVE

Mmmmm Back in paradise. This time I am going to be slightly more productive on my thailand stay. I am going to learn how to Kiteboard.

First thing on the list was New Years Eve. We went to Chewang beach and is was hectic.  I'm not usually into huge crowds but this I could handle. Throughout the whole night people were send off lucky lanterns, there must have been thousands in the sky, it was stunning. Thai's were going around selling fireworks to the tourist and not just little rockets I'm talking fully fledged industrial style rocket launchers. The fireworks were constant for our 5 hours there. A few did veer off into the crowd but I didn't see anyone injured.

I wen there with my mum and dad and the neighbors and had an excellent night.

Home SWEET Home 2008

Home SWEET Home!!!

 

The last six months I have been a NOMAD. Leisurely drifting between the UK, Thailand and Cyprus.

My Time in the UK usually involves a lot of babysitting. Auntie Dawn really gets into full swing. I have my nephew, Brandon, all day when it school holidays and we go on mad little missions, which I think I enjoy more than he does.

I have been in the UK for all the summer holidays and the Christmas ones too. I have had a blast with the wee fella.

And I took him on his Hols to Ibiza- sooo much fun!

Really going to miss my Bolton Kiddies!!!

Petra's April Thai Visit- Koh Tao.

Thailand Travels

 

Koh Tao

 

Koh Tao is mostly famous for its dive sites and very laidback way of life. When I worked for the dive school in Koh Samui each day we would make the 2 hour boat ride here to take the customers diving and snorkelling.  It’s a very small island with probably as many expats living on it as Thai locals. People only inhabited it some time in the sixties.

We got a bungalow for 300baht/£5 a night each. It had all that you need, fan, mosquito net, shower- cold, toilet- hole in the floor and smack right there on the beach. What more do you need?

We went snorkelling everyday, had many Thai massages and hired a quad bike. One day we decided to go to a bay on the other side of the island on our newly hired quad bike, armed with nothing but a road map. The way that we followed was clearly marked as a road on the map. HA! It turned out to be a death trap. After 2 hours of serious off-roading we came to a succession of seriously downward sloped gravely paths. Petra got off the bike and slid down them on her bum, I stayed on the bare tired, out of control quad with eyes closed- with a, if I can’t see the sheer drop of the edge then its not there, kind of attitude. Somewhere along the journey I decided that there was no way in hell that I was attempting to go the way we came on the quad and after one more stupidly steep hill I decided to refuse to drive on further. So we trekked the rest of the way on foot, more often than not we were on our buts after slipping on lose stones. We made it to the resort we were heading for about an hour later, we were well out of water and VERY hot! But due to my knack of finding scary situations  absolutely hilarious we got there in good spirits, although looking slightly dishevelled.

We ended up paying two Thai guys 500Bhat/£10 to trek back to the bike and drive it back for us. A 5 hour journey there and a 20minute boat ride back.

The Thai guys arrived at our bungalow about 6 hours later and looked possibly just as me and Petra had done when we walked into the resort earlier- Poor Guys! There’s no way I could have done it though.

We made our way back to Samui the next day.

Petra's April Thai Visit- Koh Phangnan.

Thailand Travels

Koh Phangnan

 

The Full Moon Party is a huge beach party for travellers on Koh Phangnan, which is the island next to Koh Samui. This months Full Moon Party (FMP) was set to be on the 20^th of April so we went to Koh Phangnan on the 18^th, planning to leave on the 20^th, this way we would actually miss the crazy night of the FMP. Not that I’m a party pooper in any meaning of the word but the actual FMP is psychotic. The speed boats come from all of the other islands bringing in the “Brits Abroad”. I prefer the nights leading up to it, still a big party but less chance of being stab by adolescent Thai boys, whose drug of choice is chewing batteries and whose favourite pastime is abusing the white folk. Anyway we boycotted the actual FMP and headed to Koh Tao for 3 nights instead.

But the eve of the FMP was a great night. I fell in love with an iguana and now really want one for a pet. Me and Petra were sat on the beach minding our own business when these 2 guys came over and asked us if we'd watch a Thai mans Iguana, as some kind of ransom, whilst the Thai man took them somewhere. By leaving his Iguana with us it meant that they were guaranteed to get safely back from wherever they were going. I didn't really ask any questions, all seemed a bit dodgy but I did look after the mans iguana. 

We also went to go elephant trekking but felt so bad afterwards because they were kept in such horrible conditions and were really skinny. I've not been elephant trekking since and now don't think I'll go to any kind of animal circus.

Petra's April Thai Visit- Koh Samui.

Thailand Travels

Koh Samui

This island is on the East of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand. It is where my parents live and where we spent the first 10 days of Petra’s trip. After spending the first 4 days trying to Petra use to the chillis and the sun, we finally gave up, we opted instead for learning the Thai way to say “not spice” which is “mai ow prik” and we bought her a huge sun hat- job done!

That taken care of we headed to the waterfall. This day just got more and more bizaar. I was sun-bathing by the pool at the base of the waterfall and a butterfly landed on me, how nice I thought, it sat on me for a while whilst Petra took some photos then I nicely shooed it away, but the thing kept coming back, I’d tolerate for a while then shoo it away again. After 10 minutes of this the thing started seriously irritating me and much to the amusement of the local Thais, instead of shooing it away I was trying to swat the thing every time it came near me. The butterfly was so persistent that in the end Petra and I had to move, how mad is that.

On the half an hour hike back down to the car we somehow adopted a tag along Buddhist Monk. The guy wouldn’t leave us alone and wouldn’t let go of Petra’s arm- He obviously wasn’t a genuine monk or he wouldn’t be allowed to touch a woman. This in mind and plus me still feeling slightly molested from that butterfly, I started getting a bit testy with the guy. I tried to tell him to go away but he just gave us a huge smile and kept latched on to Petra. We stepped up the pace and were actually starting to get a bit scared of him. Fortunately he momentarily lagged behind on a bend, so we adopted a pace close to a sprint the rest of the way back to the car.

What a peculiar day- first I’m attacked by a butterfly then Petra by a Monk!

SONGKRAN April 2008

Ah arrrr!!! SONGKRAN my favorite time of the year...

Petra paid an extortunate amount to arrive in Thailand in time for Songkran, which is 13th-15th April, but due to delays in London she missed it. BUGGER!!!

But I was here and had a great day.

Songkran is the Thai New Year, celebrated every year it falls on the hottest part of the year- the end of the dry season. Thais and tourist alike celebrate it by throwing water everywhere and on everyone. Its done to cleanse you and wish you luck for the new year.

The pictures explain the rest...

Thailand April 2008

I’m loving this free time now in Thailand. It’s a great chance to look after number one. I am exercising every day- even stretching, catching some sun action, also loving the Thai cuisine. Thai food is great it is so easy to eat healthy over here, at the moment I have not eaten meat at all for about a week, I am not a vegetarian but I’m just not missing it at all.

I have also got my chores around the house to do. There are fish and a tortoise to feed, pools to clean and lots and lots of wood to sand and teak oil.

I have got a few weeks now till my friend Petra arrives. She is staying for 3 weeks and I’m sure I’ll get a lot of touristy things done in that time- can’t wait!

Till next time xxx 

AUSTRALIA

G'day mate.

Land of Kangaroos, Vegimite, 'rad' surfing, Steve Irwin and fish 'n' chips- I bet Aus as got nearly as many chippys as the UK, I would actually like to find out the numbers and compare.

My parents were out in Aus cruising around in a campercan so I arranged for them to pick me up at Sydney airport.

Australian immigration is probably the strictest in the world. I timidly stepped in to the 'something to declare' queue with my 'Cadburys fruit and nut' bar. Apparently I needent have bothered as it was processed and packaged but the form did say no fruit or nuts so i was only being honest. Anyway, after my escape from the law, I then bought a bottle of  water with a $50 bill to get some change for the phonebox and I called my Parents to let them know that I had landed. The Campervan couldn't make it into arrivals because of an height restriction so I trecked down to departures and awaited them there. 

The airport official outside departures, incharge of watching people drop off holiday goers, was obviously hired straight from a physciatric institute. He sported an elluminous orange vest and continued to inform me that I couldn't be picked up from there, only dropped off. I asked what was the difference, told him my situation but eventually decided to ignore him and stay there anyway. He hung close to me, I guess waiting to pounce on me the second my lift arrived. Lukily my dad pulled up just as he was distracted by a double parked taxi, I saw that as my get away and dived into the kitchenet shouting "drive, drive, drive!".

I was planning on spending two weeks in Australia and had already spent the last week with the 'Lonely Planet' planning an eventful trip up to 'Fraiser Island'.

We headed up the coast, kind of beach hopping. We spent most of the time on the road stopping every other night at a campsite to refill water, do laundry etc. The other nights we just slept by the road troubled with my mums fear that we were going to get crashed into by another vheical whilst we slept. 

The beaches in Aus are beautiful, they continued the whole of the coast almost, 20 mile long beaches in areas. We would stop off at various 'must see' places like, spectacular beaches, national parks, nice towns and so on. A few places that I had down as 'must sees' were, 'Mcleans' which is a small town that is very proud of its Sottish heritage, all of the lamp post are decorated with a different clans tartan. You could also get 'Hagis' there. I just thought that it sounded like a quirky place. After going there I decided that I really liked it and think I may of found my future retirment place- Scotland with Sunshine- but then again Aussies are just like English with a worst accent, so I'm still searching for my place to live. 

Another stop along the way was a small place called 'Ainsworth'. We stayed on a campsite there right next to 'Lake Ainsworth'. The lake as got natural tea tree oil in it that drips off the trees around the lake. After a swim there our skin felt great. I also enjoyed a long run on the beach there- I did go running everyday but that one was my favourite.

We set off again heading north bound for Australia Zoo, made famous by Steve Irwin. It was a great zoo, the animals were just roaming around free, no cages- just barriers. It really hit me that this should be the only way zoos are. We were there for the daily show that was hosted by Terry Irwin, it was a good show of elephants, crocs, birds, snakes and humour. After the zoo we headed up to 'Noosa Heads' were I met up with a friend I used to work with, I stayed there for a few nights whilst my parents headed up to 'Fraiser Island' via 'Harvey Bay'.

The next day my friend had off work so we ventured out for the day. We first went to a waterfall and trekked through the forest until we thought we had best turn around and head back before we ended up getting lost and spending the night in the Aussie Outback. On the way back we sopped at a few places in the car, first being a huge market on the outskirts of a town that I can't quite remember the name of, there were stalls selling all kinds of new, funky, handmade little trinkets and clothes. Throughout the market were bands playing all sorts of music and instruments- off-course the 'Didgareedoo'.

After the market we stopped for lunch in a lovely little town- really old english kinda feel, then headed backed for the night. 

My parents picked me up the next day and we drove the  miles back to Sydney. I'm now heading back to Thailand via Singapore.