Back home

You're a very loyal reader to have got to this point, and I thank you for that. I had planned to do a signing-off post soon after I got back, and I've finally got round to doing that now.

Well, I was away for 303 nights, 35 of which were spent in a tent, 15 in mountain huts and 14 on buses, trains and planes. I read 36 and a half books and took 17 hitch-hike rides. I saw some astounding places and met some extraordinary people. I well and truly have the travel bug.

As I landed in to Heathrow just over a month ago, the weather was dreary and overcast and I was glad about this; it wouldn't have felt right to land back in to a UK blessed with good weather. I was pleased to be home, and this was exactly what home was supposed to feel like.

Since I've been back I've been trying to sort myself out. I have a job for the time being at the shop in which I used to work in St Albans, while I look for a more permanent job. In addition, I've worked on my CV, I've relearnt Java, I'm improving my Spanish, I'm doing some freelance web work and I'm applying for jobs. I'm hoping to find some charity work to do while I'm still here in St Albans without a full time job.

I'm having to make some serious decisions about my life now. Emma and I have both voiced thoughts about going and living abroad for a while, to learn a new language and do something worthwhile with our lives. We hope that over the coming months we'll consolidate these thoughts into a rational plan, but for the time being we will both be seeking jobs here in the UK. Emma arrives back here just before Christmas.

Some final news: though it's a bit late I've eventually got round to creating a custom domain for this blog. As you may have noticed in your browser address bars, the blog is now permanently situated at

www.rucksacmonologues.com

I hope to use this blog for any future travel escapades (there will be some) so stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

A tale of two Khaos

After Railay and Koh Phi Phi it was time for me to say goodbye to the beach and head inland towards the jungle. My destination was Khao Sok, one of Thailand's many national parks and an area of pristine rainforest that has been thankfully largely untouched by humans. In the darkest depths of the forest lurk tigers, along with an immense variety of other animals and tropical plants.



I had only a couple of days in Khao Sok so I didn't have the time to go on a tour to the more remote regions. Instead I decided to do a couple of day-walks from Khao Sok village to some of the nearby waterfalls and natural cavernous swimming pools.

Being in the midst of the forest, surrounded by the din of the insects and birds, confronted by innumerable shades of green, and assaulted by the mingled aromas of life in the jungle, I was reminded heavily of my time in Los Cedros in Ecuador, and I smiled to think of how similar some parts of the world are, even when they are about as far away from each other as it's possible to be. My walks took me to various waterfalls, and at each available point I jumped in to the water (clothes and all) to cool off from the oppressive humidity of the forest.







After my first day-walk I treated myself to a traditional Thai massage. It was surprisingly brutal but also relaxing and invigorating, and at the end of it my limbs felt lighter and less strained, despite the lengthy walk I'd done earlier in the day.

After the second day of walking it was time to leave Khao Sok for Bangkok on a night bus. We were taken by minibus to the nearest large town, Surat Thani, from where everyone except me was told to get off and wait at a travel agent for the coach which would take them overnight to Bangkok. I was told that I needed to be taken to a different travel agent as I had booked my ticket through a different company. At first I was quite annoyed by this and I thought I was getting messed around. I'm very glad that I was moved, however, because I later bumped into an Austrian couple on the other bus who had had things stolen from their bags while they were asleep on the bus. My coach also had the advantage of having hardly anyone on it, and I successfully claimed all five back seats to lie down on for the trip.

Here in Bangkok I'm staying on the legendary Khao San road in the backpacker's mecca of Banglamphu. Khao San road is a heady mix of bars, street food vendors, internet shops, guest houses and the all-important counterfeit CDs, DVDs and t-shirts stalls. The atmosphere is unique here and I feel it's a great place for me to end my trip.



Today I walked into the historic royal quarter of Ratanakosin, a very different destination in Bangkok but one that's no less dizzying, decked out as it is with splendid royal palaces and ornate Buddhist temples. I visited Wat Phra Kaew, the incredibly ornate complex within the Grand Palace which houses the temple of the Emerald Buddha. I also visited Wat Pho, the home of the deservedly famous Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Here there is basically a very large (30m long more or less) gold statue of the Buddha reaching Nirvana. It's an impressive sight.

Today is my last full day in Bangkok, but before my flight tomorrow I'm going to brave the public transport system of Bangkok (which, incidentally, includes the world's largest bus network) to explore some more of the city. I'm also going to buy as many dodgy CDs as my overflowing rucksac will allow.

Kayaking & finding 'The Beach'

After the climbing I described in my last blog, I spent a few days chilling out on Railay, which included another half day of climbing. When I came back to the leading I felt much more confident and was able to lead some tougher routes, and I even managed to on-sight about half of an F7a on a top rope, which I was very pleased about. The day after that bit of climbing I took the boat back to Krabi town, where I spent the night before embarking on a day of sea kayaking around the nearby coast. We explored the mangroves that line this part of the shoreline, and ventured between towering karsts of rock.



We also ventured in to part of a cave, only accessible during certain periods of the day at low tide. We spotted an otter who came to play with us, splashing around the kayaks and swimming under us; whether he was really playing or telling us to get off his territory I'm not sure, but it was great to interact so intimately with the wildlife. As well as the otter we also sighted some monkeys, a long lizard, lots of salamanders and many brightly coloured crabs.







The following day I took a ferry to Koh Phi Phi, one of the most famous islands off the Andaman Coast. Many people here will tell you that Koh Phi Phi is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. They're probably right. In fact, Koh Phi Phi is actually comprised of two main islands, one of which, Koh Phi Phi Leh, is basically uninhabited. Today I took a snorkelling tour out to this island and explored the underwater realm of the coral reefs. The coral and the fish it played host to were very similar to what we saw in Lombok, but the surrounding landscape was very different. This is a truly beautiful place, where towering limestone plunges into turquoise water and sweeping stretches of pure sand lie beneath lush green palms. The beaches of Thailand are the most beautiful I've seen in the world.

Koh Phi Phi Leh was the choice of location for the famous film The Beach. The effect of this film on tourism to Koh Phi Phi was huge, and The Beach is treated with a similar reverence here to that of the Lord of the Rings films in New Zealand. After disembarking the boat at a rocky outcrop with the aid of ropes and lifejackets, we walked across the narrow island to come out on Maya Bay, the precise location for the film.



Another event that had substantial, but in this case negative, effects on southern Thailand was the December 2004 tsunami. Before I came to South East Asia I hadn't quite grasped the effect of this natural event on the people and communities of this region. Many of the buildings on Koh Phi Phi were destroyed, and many people lost their lives. In fact, speaking to a local man the other day, I found out that many people were too scared for months afterwards to go near the water. These people, many of whom rely on the seas for their jobs, completely lost their livelihoods. Many people have members of their family or friends who were never seen again. In a cruel twist of fate, I learnt that in the minutes before the tsunami struck, it caused a period of extreme-low tide which drew many puzzled people out on to the beach, wondering what was happening. These people would have been the first to perish.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to the mainland, where I'm going to spend a couple of nights with the gibbons in Khao Sok National Park. Then I'll head to Bangkok, where I'll do a crash course of the city in a couple of days before flying home.

Climbers' playground

After a quick couple of days in Singapore I arrived in to resort-strewn Phuket, Thailand. I wanted to make the most of my two and a half weeks here so I didn't hang around in Phuket long. I arrived in Krabi on Monday morning and from there caught a boat to the inaccessible and beautiful Laem Phra Nang headland. Laem Phra Nang, or Railay, is on the mainland, but the topography of the area permits no roads to approach it, so the only way to reach it is by boat. Approaching Railay by boat was a beautiful way to do it; gliding over the turquoise water, past the mangroves and towards the clean beach made the whole area feel beautiful and invigorating.





The main reason I came to this part of Thailand's coast is the climbing opportunities it offers. Limestone karst cliffs dominate the scene and local climbers have bolted up sport-climbing routes ranging from grade (French) 4 to 8c. I couldn't wait to give it a go, so I booked myself on to a one-day intermediate's climbing course for the day after I arrived. In the morning we got in to the swing of things with a bit of top roping, and I remembered how out of shape I am by not even managing a 6a+. We also climbed up the inside of a cave on pre-placed ladders and emerged on to a ledge from where we had a great view of the surrounding beaches, before abseiling down in to the forest.





In the afternoon I learnt how to lead climb, something I've been meaning to do for donkeys' years but have never got round to. I really enjoyed it, and as soon as I get home and have enough money (ie around about December 2047) I'm going to get myself a rope and some quickdraws.



I'm going to hang around here long enough to do a bit more climbing (hopefully), and perhaps some kayaking, on top of reading as many Nick Hornby books I can find and trying to get a tan (nice try Mike you pasty bastard). I may end up staying here until I have to go to Bangkok, around the 11th.

This is probably going to be one of my last posts. How weird does that feel?

The Lion City

Legend has it that a Sumatran prince once visited one of the islands at the southern tip of present day peninsular Malaysia and sighted a lion there. He named the island Singapura, meaning city of lions, and it's to Singapore that my travels have most recently taken me.

Another airport, another time to have to say goodbye to Emma for a while. This was the third hard airport situation we've had since October (Heathrow and La Paz were the other two) and the knowledge that this would be the last stretch of time we would be apart did little to help things along. Emma's now remaining in Bali until after Matt arrives next Thursday.

Singapore is quite a culture shock after having got used to Bali and Lombok for the last month. Streamlined skyscrapers dominate the CBD, sleek shopping malls provide most of the entertainment (according to my guide, shopping is the national sport of Singapore) and an ultramodern subway system glides people around underneath the metropolis with the utmost efficiency.

Singapore acts as the principle business hub of South East Asia and in some ways Singapore is like a microcosm of Asia itself. It is home to a Chinatown, a Little India and an islamic quarter, Kampung Glam. The main language is English, but Mandarin, Malay and Tamil are quite close behind. It has an extraordinary mix of Asian cultures like no other city I've been to. I was at first surprised when the book put so much emphasis on staying and eating in Little India and Chinatown, since I thought that by doing this you would miss out on the 'native' Singaporean experience. But that is exactly what Singapore is: a heady mix of all things Asian.

As far as I'm concerned, one of the major plus points of having a diverse mixture of Asian cultures here is the wide range of culinary delights that are available. Singapore has a good attitude towards public eating; the majority of food sellers are located in 'hawker sites', arcades where cheap eats are available in a variety of different food styles. I pointedly decided to stay in Little India for this exact reason: I love Indian food.

Today, as well as going to see not one but two films at the cinema (Die Hard and HP, I have to catch up with everyone back home!), I visited the Asian Civilizations museum in the Colonial District. This was one of the best museums I've visited while I've been away, and I managed to take in a fair amount of information about the cultures of Asia. I got museum overload after about an hour so I took a stroll around the city. Tomorrow I'm flying to Phuket, but I'm considering a third film before I go. Come on, it's The Simpsons!

Authentic Bali: volcanoes, lush landscapes and laid back villages

I've been loving Indonesia for the last week. We've discovered the laid back, cultural and beautiful sides of Bali that were evading us before, and our experience here is all the better for it.

I mentioned in my last post that we were heading to the Lombok countryside to trek to the top of Gunung Rinjani, the island's highest peak. I should learn not to so specifically postulate what we are planning, since when I do that the plan tends to end up on the floor, in tatters, shat on and run over by the caterpillar tracks of a large combat-ready tank. For various reasons our plans didn't work out, so we decided to go back to Bali. That was probably the best course we could have taken, as we've really enjoyed our time back here.

We aimed for the village of Tirta Gangga, a sleepy place surrounded by padi fields and rainforested hillsides; a place not yet 'discovered' en masse by the tourists who visit Bali. We arrived at a hotel and asked for one night's stay, which in the course of things became four nights. We spent our time reading, walking to nearby rural villages across the fields and visiting the water palace for which the village is famous.







We also hatched a plan to trek to the top of Gunung Agung, the 3142m sacred volcano of Bali. Indonesia is a place where you can make seemingly anything happen, if you have enough money. Any jock on the street will, within 30 seconds, be able to find you transport to anywhere on the island. Extrapolating this idea further, given a bit of time and a smile you can get other things organised. So thinking, we asked our hotel man whether anyone would be able to drive us to and from and guide us up Gunung Agung, and a little while later we had it all nailed down and sorted. At 12:15am the next day, we met up with our guide and driver and headed up to Pasar Agung, the temple at the bottom of the mountain.

We donned saris to enter the temple and gave our guide a moment to pray and ask the gods for our safety on the mountain. He had also previously left an offering to the gods in our hotel, presumably to protect us both on our drive to the mountain and on our ascent of it. The way Indonesians drive, however, he probably should have done several offerings. As it turned out our trip was entirely accident-free. We trekked through the night in order to make it to the summit for sunrise, and this midnight start made it all the more worthwhile. We had been worried that the foreboding rain earlier in the evening would prevent the top from being clear. It turned out that at sunrise Bali was all covered in cloud, but our mountain poked out of the top of it. We had views across to Rinjani on Lombok, and all over the south and east of Bali itself.

We returned to Pasar Agung with our mentalist guide Bob, so named because he's obsessed with Bob Marley and Bob Dylan. He was great fun; he spoke little English so we mainly got by on common Bob Marley songs. In true entrepreneurial Indonesian style he sorted us our transport to Ubud today too.







We're now back in Ubud, which we visited near the start of our trip here, and we are looking forward to having a couple of nights in a slightly posher hotel before I leave. I'm not at all looking forward to leaving Emma for another four and three quarter months. On a lighter side, however, Harry Potter 7 is out and I've got a copy. Fans of HP unite: this is an exciting time!

Upping the chill factor

Some of you may have been disappointed at the amount of beach-time I have logged on this trip. I'm sure that many people would utilize the privilege of a trip like this to maximize their tans and try to spend as much time as possible soaking up the beach vibes. Most of you, however, know me well enough to know that I don't really do beaches, and that I prefer mountains. Over the last few days, however, Emma and I have been in an island paradise that was worth doing absolutely nothing in. Barring the fact that we both became rather ill, I quite enjoyed it.

I shalln't (is that the correct spelling? I can't ever remember writing that before) be giving you a blow-by-blow account of our illnesses. It suffices to say that we both expelled nutrient-rich organic material out of both ends, almost at the same time. You need know no more about that.

In the times when we weren't toiling on or over the toilet, we were mostly reading, chilling or snorkelling. The main drawcard of South East Asia is its beautiful aquatic environment. All around Indonesia, Malaysia, The Phillipines and Thailand are coral reefs swarming with tropical fish, turtles and small sharks. The Gili islands, where we have spent the last few days, were no exception, and we enjoyed leisurely exploring some of the aquatic world with the aid of a mask and snorkel.

Life on Gili Air is very laid back, and most of the time you are no more than 100 metres from someone lazily strumming a guitar or sipping a Bintang (the local beer). The three Gili islands lie just offshore of Lombok, and the main economic drive here is tourism. Spending some time on the islands gave me time to think a bit more about Indonesia and reflect on my negative experiences which I spoke about in my last blog. I understand more now that many of the people so annoying me previously are poor and at their wits end. I guess I just wasn't expecting it, which is why it caught me off guard.

Here are some pictures with captions if you hover.









We're now back on the mainland in Sengiggi and are planning to trek up Gunung Rinjani, Lombok's highest volcano and the second highest peak in Indonesia. That means we'll be in the mountains, and I'm getting pretty excited. The idea of going to look for Komodo dragons has been shelved for the moment. We got our priorities sorted! I'll leave you with this sunset picture I took, which I'm quite proud of.

Ripped off when someone sees ya, that's life in Indonesia

It's been a week now since we arrived in Bali and we are now sitting in Lombok, another small island just east of Bali. We got here yesterday after 6 days of venturing to see the best bits of Bali whilst trying not to get too ripped off by the all-to-expert hawkers, touts and bus drivers that service the island.

Bali seems like paradise to most westerners who come to visit; its endless warm beaches with jewel-coloured water, blanket of tropical forest and fertile padi fields and its towering conical volcanoes all seem exotic and fresh to its visitors from foreign lands. However as I sit here I am being stared through the window by an old man who seems to think that by continually gesturing through the glass to me that he is in possession of a sizeable number of rather rancid looking bananas he will successfully entice me into buying his produce. A polite shake of the head or 'no thank you' just does not cut it here: these people are persistent. It can get extremely annoying and I have not experienced this incessant badgering anywhere else in the world. I've heard that India and Marrakech are the worst places for this; I dread to think what they're like. You learn in Indonesia not to sit in restaurants which have alleyways along their flanks; you will be badgered as you try to eat your meal. I know that I am from a different culture and I should accept these things, but given that these people are selling to westerners you would surely think that they would learn that by hawking us in such a way they are doing their business no good. It suffices to say that this, together with a bus driver who overcharged us by a factor of 10 and a 'guardian of the temple' who originally insisted his guiding was a free service, and later asked that we pay him an extortionate sum (we didn't), has partially spoilt my experience here.

Anyway, that's enough ranting. Here are some photos with captions of what we have seen so far in Bali:











In other news, Emma and I are becoming pretty good at learning Bahasa, the main language in Indonesia. We can now count arbitrarily high and we get smiles from locals when we try to use their lingo. Hopefully this will endear us more to these people and will mean we're less likely to get ripped off. There's my English sense of optimism coming through again; I mustn't let that get out of control!

I promise my next post will not be so grumpy! We're off to the Gili islands for lots of snorkelling and relaxing on the beach, before trying to find a way to get to Komodo islands to see their infamous namesake dragons!

Wine, crocodiles and rock art

It's been another quite busy couple of weeks which is why I've been a bit slack on the blogging. There's now too much to talk about in detail so I'll mention some of the highlights from the last little while here in Australia.

After returning to Perth from our trip up the coast to Coral Bay, we hooked up with my cousin Emma who very kindly allowed us to stay in a holiday home that she was given a free weekend in, south of Perth in the Margaret River region of WA.

Margaret River sits in a section of land that juts out west from the rest of the state and has a climate particularly suited to growing grapes for wine. After our quick few days in Adelaide which didn't permit us a stay in the famous Barossa Valley of South Australia (wine buffs will know it), we were looking forward to spending some time in the Margaret River region, a lesser known but no less enticing wine-producing region. Whilst the hot climate of the Barossa Valley produces predominantly Shiraz labelled wines such as those by Wolf Blass and Jacob's Creek, Margaret River's climate is more suited to, amongst others, Cabernet and Merlot grapes.

The three of us spent a really enjoyable weekend chatting, cooking, drinking wine and beer, admiring the rocky coastline and tasting wine, chocolate and cheese. It was the first time that I had experienced wine tasting and it was the first time I can honestly say I tasted big difference between different wines. It was educational, but great fun too. Emma has one or two photos of us wine tasting on her blog. We'll definitely be looking out for MR wines when we get back to the UK. You may have heard of Leeuwin Estate wines, and a large number of other wineries export their liquid back to the UK, so look out for it.

After catching a lift back to Perth with cousin Emma, girlfriend Emma and I flew to Darwin, where over the last few days we've been exploring nearby Kakadu National Park. Kakadu is Australia's largest National Park (which is saying something), and it is also a World Heritage Site, which gives you an idea that it a Pretty Cool Place, with capital Ps and a C.



Kakadu is an area that the Aborigines have been living in for thousands of years. Literally thousands - at least 20,000. I think that is astonishing. That is long before any of the history you learn about at school - several times as long ago as the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians. We learnt a lot about Aboriginal culture and tried to imagine what it must have been like for the indigenous people when the White Man came and overran their land. The most poignant reminder of the clash between Aboriginal and Western cultures is right in front of you every time you walk down the main street in Darwin. The indigenous people have never properly fit in with the new society and are reduced to begging on the pavements. It's sad evidence of how mistreated they have been, not only during the initial wave of European settlement in Australia, but as recently as the 1970s, at which time they still did not have the same rights as the whites.

The Aboriginal culture in Kakadu manifests itself in the rock art that is visible at many sites around the park. These are thousands of years old and it is like stepping back into a completely different era when you are faced with examples of these drawings. In the example below, the skeletal figure in the top right is lightning man, one of the protagonists in the Aboriginal Creation Period. He now resides at one of the many 'Dreaming Places' in the rock nearby. These sites are sacred to Aboriginals and it is important that they are not disturbed by outsiders.





Kakadu is also home to amazing natural beauty, and one of the habitats, the wetlands, are home to crocodiles! We observed one crocodile basking under a tree trunk, but all other efforts at croc spotting turned out to be fruitless. Instead, we saw many species of birds.



After hitch hiking around Kakadu for a few days we returned to Darwin yesterday, and now we are biding time before going to the airport this evening for our flight to Indonesia. I'd better start learning some Indonesian phrases then!

There's sweet FA in WA

And that's what's so great about it!

Western Australia or WA is Australia's largest state, and that pretty much puts it at about the same size of half of mainland Europe. Over the last week Emma and I have been exploring it, or a very small part of it, namely a 1500km long stretch of coastline that unravels north of Perth, in an attempt to get in touch with the 'real' Australia. We realised that the most economical way to travel through this part of the country would be to hire a car, camp in the bush and on the beaches along the way, and cook our own food.

Our route took us along parts of the coast but also over vast tracts of inland wilderness; the famous Australian outback. It is a unique experience to drive through such an environment. Seemingly endless sections of straight road are surrounded by a consistent mess of bush, tracks that venture off the road look promising but soon peter out into impassable quagmires of sand, and the occasional fuel-selling roadhouse provides the only major evidence of human influence in an environment that is simultaneously beautiful and inviting but deceptive and deadly. I suddenly attained a great respect for the explorers who first came to this continent and had the nerve to attempt to stray into the unknown red centre of the country in order to try to cross it from the south to the north. The first explorers to survive the crossing died on the return journey.

On top of experiencing the outback we found numerous deserted beaches and visited several national parks and marine reserves. Emma's writing more about one of the highlights of the journey, Ningaloo reef, in her blog, which you can reach via my sidebar.

I'm going to write a little about the intriguing stromatolites of Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay which we found on our second day, 800km north of Perth. Bill Bryson mentions these interesting biological phenomena in his hilarious book Down Under, and after having read the book in Peru I was keen to visit them if ever I had the opportunity to.

Stromatolites are deceptive. They look like rocks, and they more or less are rocks, but with an extra twist. They're alive. These intriguing creatures once dominated life on earth for 2 billion years. They consist of a primitive form of bacteria known as cyanobacteria, which collectively join together and trap sediment. Over time, this materializes into a tangible structure which, on a long enough timescale, grows and spreads. When geologists first visited Shark Bay they were amazed to find evidence of stromatolites living today, as it was previously believed that there were no modern day examples of an organism which once dominated the earth and eventually evolved in to all other living things. The stromatolites of Shark Bay exist because the hypersaline waters of Hamelin Pool prohibit any of their natural predators, which include sea snails, from grazing on them and destroying them. A different species of stromatolite exists somewhere in the Bahamas, and there exist freshwater versions in Mexico, but otherwise the stromatolites of Shark Bay are unique. It was amazing to gaze in to the water below the boardwalk and see evidence of one of the first forms of life that miraculously spawned out of the primordial soup.





Here are some more pictures from our trip.











We're now back in Perth and are looking forward to spending a couple of days south of Perth (in one of the wine regions, not coincidentally) with my cousin Emma. Then we'll be off to Darwin to spend a few days in Kakadu National Park (think Crocodile Dundee) before changing countries again. Indonesia beckons!

City, flight, city, ocean, city, long bus ride, city, cancelled train, city...

If the last week is anything to go by, Australia must be composed of a number of huge gridded cities, linked by extremely long roads.

I think that that is probably generally true, but not the whole truth. It's like saying that love is a chemical reaction between two people that invokes an emotional response in both. It is true but completely misses the point.

You see, the only Australia I've seen so far is the quite boring part of Australia, namely its cities. After experiencing Sydney I flew to Melbourne to meet up with Emma and Matt, and I was left a little disappointed. I'd heard people say that Melbourne was a world class city. It's world class in the sense that it's big and has lots of trendy wine bars. But it don't got soul. The highlight of our time in and around Melbourne was, to be honest, the latter; the around. The three of us hired a car to explore the Great Ocean Road. It is all three of these things, so top marks to the Victoria Parks Authority for naming it. Lower marks go to its park wardens, who evidently don't approve of people like me pulling handbrake turns in its car parks.

You see, the only reason I was pulling a handbrake turn was to achieve an optimal position in the parking spot. The fact that it was a disabled person's parking spot certainly did me no favours when I looked up to find the park warden looking up at me with an expression that included contempt, extreme disapproval and just a hint of admiration at the fact that I had the audacity to pull it off in front of him. He gave me a slap on the wrist and sent us on our way. I'm running out of time on this machine so I shall be quick - here are some pictures:







I'm really running out of time now so the story of our missed train journey will have to wait. Suffice to say I'm currently in Perth and Emma and I are heading on a 7 day adventure up the west coast. Bring on the real Australia!

A hop over the Tasman to the West Island

Or the name that the residents of this large, dry and deadly country like to call it: Australia.

After a couple of days in Auckland I stepped on a plane bound for Sydney, a city that until I was a teenager I always thought was the capital of Australia, before I found out the administrative centre of this former British penal colony outpost of a country is instead located in Canberra, which according to Bill Bryson is an infinitely more boring and frustratingly homogeneous city someway inland of where I am now. I'll take his word for it.

Sydney AIN'T boring. It's fragging cool, to use a pseudo-swearword-cum-adverb that I am known only to use when I'm praising something in the superlative. (The English experts amongst you would be correct but pinickity to remind me that the superlative of fragging would in fact be fraggingest; please don't waste your time emailing me). Anyway, to get back to the subject. I was quite taken aback when I had my first nighttime view down William Street towards Sydney's main CBD (it has two) on my arrival in the Kings Cross district. All the skyscrapers were lit up and shone high above the busy streets below. It really is a beautiful city at night.



Unfortunately the flash on my camera doesn't work. In fact, the camera makes crunchy noises when the lens comes out and as such, I don't have any good nighttime shots of this city, so you'll have to imagine it. I strolled down in to the city and explored some of the many parks before reaching the harbour. My stomach leapt when I had my first view of the Opera House. It looked great in the photos but it's something else to see in the flesh, glistening and crouching over the edge of the water. On the other side of the harbour is the rest of Sydney, and the Harbour Bridge hangs between the two like a coathanger destined for greater things.





For all of Sydney's charm I am, after all, on a tight budget, and when you are on a tight budget in a city where you could happily spend away the entire inheritance of an heir to the throne of a minor Emirate country in just one evening, you get bored quite quickly. Therefore, I'm quite looking forward to getting to Melbourne tomorrow. I've heard it's an equally fragging cool city. Possibly the fraggingest coolest nizzelest city in Australia.

Mount Doom

After a few days in Wellington chilling out and meeting up with my friend Jen, we quickly travelled to National Park Village (what an imaginative name), from which we embarked on the Tongariro Crossing on Sunday. The TC is New Zealand's most famous and popular day walk, taking in as it does views of spectacular volcanic landscape of Tongariro National Park and close encounters with hot springs and emerald coloured lakes. We realised that one of the volcanoes on the route, Mount Ngauruhoe, was the mountain used as Mount Doom in the LOTR films, so we decided to throw in the ascent of it as a side trip. The volcano is estimated to be under 2500 years old, and because of its young age it has a very symmetrical shape. The climb up was arduous and long, made harder by the loose scree. The scree run/slide down was much more fun! Hover over images for some descriptions if you're using Internet Explorer.







Once we'd descended the volcano we carried on with the rest of the walk, which was nice and easy in comparison. The terrain reminded Emma & I of Bolivia, with dark brown and subtly coloured red rocks punctured occasionally by turquoise lakes and the pungent smell of sulphur-infected springs.



This was, and will be for us, the highlight of our trip around the North Island. We are now in Auckland and will be leaving for Australia in the next few days. We haven't had long in the North Island but we're not disappointed because we spent so much quality time in the South Island. Auckland seems like a cool place from first impressions. It's the first proper sized city I've been to for three months since Santiago! It has massive buildings and everythunk!