Tuesday 11 January 2005

Week 99, Day 655

As usual I've been a slacko when it comes to updating this site. So I will try and encapsulate the goings on of my journey over the last 7 weeks as concisely as possible!

GREAT OCEAN ROAD - End Nov 2004
From Adelaide, we took the Groovy Grape 3 day tour along the beautiful Great Ocean Rd, unfortunately sporting a heavy hangover from the previous nights adventures at a Drum 'n' Bass night with one of the other guys in our previous tour, Dan. The tour was more chilled out than the Central Australia one, and while we saw some amazing seaside scenery, I was kind of glad when it was over. The coolest part had to be the 10minute helicopter flight we took over the Twelve Apostles and watching the penguins come on to the beach at sunset.

MELBOURNE - Beginning Dec 2004
Four days in wonderful Melbourne could never disappoint. With the weather slightly milder than expected, we escaped by shopping and drinking. Caught up with the lovely Mel and Cushla, ran into a few people from the tours we had been on and drank a lot again. Going to Cherry Bar - which is now on the newly named AC/DC lane - the night before leaving was brilliant. A definite must go for anyone in Melbourne on a Thursday evening - funky soul tunes.

SYDNEY - Dec 2004
For the final 3 weeks in Oz, Alex and I just chilled in Sydney, catching up with friends and family and doing the odd spot of going out. We managed to make a few short trips as well. One to Canberra, to see Cypress Hill perform and catch up with old friend Gabby. And the other was to the glorious Blue Mountains for a few walks through the greenery.

We did quite a bit of socialising, ending up at Loaded a few times and making drunken fools of selves. Finally saw the Killers the week before Christmas, after attmepting to see them three times earlier in the year (and failing dismally!).

Christmas came and went way too soon. It was great to be back for the most important event in my family and of course, to sample and cook all the great food that goes with it. It was a million times better than my last solitary Christmas.

THAILAND - New Year 2005
We left for Thailand on Boxing Day only ten minutes after hearing about the disasterous Tsunami that hit the South Western area of the country. It hindered our plans slightly, but nothing we can complain about considering the circumstances! Landed in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, flew to Bangkok and spent the night there, before flying back down to Koh Samui, a popular island off the South East coast of Thailand. Made our way to Koh Phangan where we set up for the next week. It was heaving due to the time of year and the Tsunami. But we still enjoyed it.

The days on Koh Phangan meant gave us an excuse to lounge about, touch up on our suntan in the warm waters, watch lots of pirated films in restaurants and drink ourselves silly with the Buckets of Joy on the beach every night. Ah, the island lifestyle! We even managed to slot in a small tour with the Reggae Magic Boat, which took us around the island, with a few minor stops and a small bout of snorkelling.

After, we headed to nearby Koh Tao for some serious lounging - staying in Tanote Bay where there's only 5 Guesthouses and you can only get there by boat or a trecherous journey on the back of a 4WD with nothing to hold on to, travelling along steep, dusty, rocky pathways. It was worth it just for the tranquillity and the best snorkelling of the trip. Overall, we saw thousands of fish including rainbow coloured ones, Zebra fish, Sting Rays, box fish, and a massive jelly fish! No sharks though :(

We are now up North in the trekking capital, Chiang Mai. We passed through Bangkok on the way to check out the shopping. But have instead bought an array of jewellery from the night markets here. Yesterday, we randomly ran into Alex's best mate Lyndon's brother, Fraser and his girlfriend, Alice. So we all met up for drinks last night, after our first day at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. Today was our last day there. It's fair to say I am sufficiently stuffed after having to eat everything we cooked. It was unreal, and anyone coming to my place in the near future can look forward to some fantastic but spicy traditional Thai dishes.

Trying to make our way over to Laos in the next week but first up is our jungle trek tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Want to wish some belated happy birthdays to the following special people - Carmen, Amanda and Christie!

x
Vanessa