Hmm so I figured it was about time I updated you people on what was going on!!! I got back from Thailand safely, got back to Mooloolaba ok too. I hope that's the end of the eventful travelling for a while.
Since I've been back I have been SUP-ing, swimming, sunbathing, surfing, walking, shopping, cooking and planning the rest of my trip. I have to mention the cooking. Previously, the only time I've mentioned food has been in reference to living off bread and barbie sauce. I'm very pleased to say that those days are firmly behind me! Last night I ate a salmon fillet with a potato, onion, avocado and egg salad. It was delicious :) Other delicacies include a brown rice risotto, steak and homemade chips, pasta pot and spag bol!!! Yummy :) I'm very proud of my current eating habits which includes about 3 apples a day.
I'm off to Cairns in under a week, very scary - must start packing soon! That should be fun, experience a little bit of the city, go up into the hinterland, maybe a little bit of snorkling, cable etc etc. then down to Airlie Beach to experience living on a boat for 3 days. Then back up to Cairns for 2 nights before heading to Melbourne.
A big change in my plans is the fact that I'm cutting down a month in New Zealand for 2 weeks on North Island. With everythign going on in Christchurch and a lower amount in funds and a dodgy exchange rate this is the best plan for me. Instead I end up with 5 weeks in the states. Los Angeles and surrounding beaches for a week, then up to San Francisco for a week before flying to New York, then over to Seattle then Vancouver. Very exciting!!!
That's my news!
Peace and love xx
Monday, 28 February 2011
Sunday, 20 February 2011
My travelling jinx
I have no luck with travelling. We might have noticed this already from the exploding engines, car crashes etc etc...I now have more to add to the list - oh joys!!
The trip back to Australia started off fine. The taxi picked me up from Thai Wake Park, understood that I wanted to go to the International Airport and took me there without crashing (no mean feat on the Thai roads). My plane to Kuala Lumpar was on time, and took off without any hassel. 2 hours later and the plane is on the tarmac and KL airport. So far, so good.
Now for the overnight stay. Thankfully after the amount of travelling I have now done, it is in my skill list that I have the ability to sleep anywhere - and I was going to make use of this newly aqcuired skill! After having some coffee, watching some wakeboarding movies to tire my eyes out, out came the sleeping back liner and down went my head on a highly uncomfortable black bench. I managed to get a good 5 hours tho, which is relatively impressive for me!
Waking up the next morning to coffee and peanut butter toast (not just any peanut butter this stuff was amazing, all gooey and creamy and sugary! Probably not the best brekkie to be quite honest!) meant a good start to the day and put me in high spirits after that uncomfortable sleep. I found the right gate, and settled down with my book to while away the time.
The plane arrives, we board. About to taxi out the gate when "I'm sorry to report that the plane has engine problems so we're going to have to delay departure while we attempt to fix them". After my previous experiences with flights to Australia (the first time ever, the plane got cancelled due to technical problems and we were delayed for a day...the second time, I'm sure you don't need any reminders about the A380), I was not a happy girlie!! Eventually we take off, and I'm surprisingly calm!! The flight actually went without hitch, just a slight bit of turbulance and a very misbehaved toddler in front.
Not the worst trip so far...Land in Brisbane to find that, due to our delayed departure from KL, I had missed the last train from the airport into Brisbane city. Thankfully a shuttle bus was running, that dropped me right outside my backpackers (base central, brisbane). Very happy, hungry, tired girl.
I go in search of Maccas as soon as I dump my luggage. A cheeseburger meal later and I'm ready for bed. Climbing into an empty bunk, I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow until..."What the f***, there's someone in my bed!" Inadvertantly, I had fallen asleep in someone elses bed!!!! Shows just how tired I was!
After some musical beds, I'm back all cosy and asleep.
2.30am. I'm rudely awoken by a piercing wail, otherwise known as a fire alarm. Jumping out of bed, pulling on some shorts and grabbing my rucksack (contains my passport, money, important documents etc) we are evacuated out of the building. Waiting accross the road on the pavement, I start to think how my travelling luck really seems to have been used up as the firemen rush inside the building to stop the fire. I still don't know if there even was a fire or it was someone pulling a prank. Either way, I'm happy to be safe with all my belongings but a full nights sleep would be much appreciated!!!
Freezing my nut off (a slight exaggeration maybe but it was abotu 23 degrees and I was in short shorts and a singlet) for an hour or so, we're eventually let back into the building to go back to sleep.
This morning, I checked out early and went to book my flights around Australia in the Qantas office. All booked, so I am officially going to Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney before flying off - don't worry Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays will get a visit too! Now I'm sat in Maccas, making full use of their free internet and waiting for the train to Landsborough which doesn't leave for another 2 hours. Oh the joys of travelling!!
Peace and love people
xx
The trip back to Australia started off fine. The taxi picked me up from Thai Wake Park, understood that I wanted to go to the International Airport and took me there without crashing (no mean feat on the Thai roads). My plane to Kuala Lumpar was on time, and took off without any hassel. 2 hours later and the plane is on the tarmac and KL airport. So far, so good.
Now for the overnight stay. Thankfully after the amount of travelling I have now done, it is in my skill list that I have the ability to sleep anywhere - and I was going to make use of this newly aqcuired skill! After having some coffee, watching some wakeboarding movies to tire my eyes out, out came the sleeping back liner and down went my head on a highly uncomfortable black bench. I managed to get a good 5 hours tho, which is relatively impressive for me!
Waking up the next morning to coffee and peanut butter toast (not just any peanut butter this stuff was amazing, all gooey and creamy and sugary! Probably not the best brekkie to be quite honest!) meant a good start to the day and put me in high spirits after that uncomfortable sleep. I found the right gate, and settled down with my book to while away the time.
The plane arrives, we board. About to taxi out the gate when "I'm sorry to report that the plane has engine problems so we're going to have to delay departure while we attempt to fix them". After my previous experiences with flights to Australia (the first time ever, the plane got cancelled due to technical problems and we were delayed for a day...the second time, I'm sure you don't need any reminders about the A380), I was not a happy girlie!! Eventually we take off, and I'm surprisingly calm!! The flight actually went without hitch, just a slight bit of turbulance and a very misbehaved toddler in front.
Not the worst trip so far...Land in Brisbane to find that, due to our delayed departure from KL, I had missed the last train from the airport into Brisbane city. Thankfully a shuttle bus was running, that dropped me right outside my backpackers (base central, brisbane). Very happy, hungry, tired girl.
I go in search of Maccas as soon as I dump my luggage. A cheeseburger meal later and I'm ready for bed. Climbing into an empty bunk, I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow until..."What the f***, there's someone in my bed!" Inadvertantly, I had fallen asleep in someone elses bed!!!! Shows just how tired I was!
After some musical beds, I'm back all cosy and asleep.
2.30am. I'm rudely awoken by a piercing wail, otherwise known as a fire alarm. Jumping out of bed, pulling on some shorts and grabbing my rucksack (contains my passport, money, important documents etc) we are evacuated out of the building. Waiting accross the road on the pavement, I start to think how my travelling luck really seems to have been used up as the firemen rush inside the building to stop the fire. I still don't know if there even was a fire or it was someone pulling a prank. Either way, I'm happy to be safe with all my belongings but a full nights sleep would be much appreciated!!!
Freezing my nut off (a slight exaggeration maybe but it was abotu 23 degrees and I was in short shorts and a singlet) for an hour or so, we're eventually let back into the building to go back to sleep.
This morning, I checked out early and went to book my flights around Australia in the Qantas office. All booked, so I am officially going to Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney before flying off - don't worry Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays will get a visit too! Now I'm sat in Maccas, making full use of their free internet and waiting for the train to Landsborough which doesn't leave for another 2 hours. Oh the joys of travelling!!
Peace and love people
xx
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Thailand part 2
Thailand has been interesting!! Tomorrow is my last full day here before I venture back on a mammoth mission to get back to OZ :)
Wakeboarding has been good, Thai Wake Park is such an awesome cable - a reallly nice pull and some fun obstacles to play on. They have little pumps that spray water onto the top of the obstacles so they're always wet which is novel. I think my favourite is the rainbow rail and also the kickers, they are the nicest I think I've ever hit. The water is refreshing, and it makes a change for it to be fresh water.
Scarlet bought a new life jacket so has given me her old one, which is so kind of her! It's been lovely to see people from home, even if it does seem like they have crazy strong British accents!!! I am very much looking forward to going back to Ausland, missing my friends there and the adventures of travelling alone.
The room has been fantastic here and I've been making full use of the free internet. Looking forward again to going back to Australia and putting the laptop away for a bit tho.
It's been fun hanging out with Freddie, Louis, Dan, Cain and a few others who I had heard many stories about! We have just spent most of the evening throwing people's boards in the lake for them to swim to fetch in the morning - mischief is always fun :)
So far the outings have included Big C and Tesco...doesn't sound that exciting but trust me it's an experience. Big C is a big shopping centre out here with a market downstairs and a supermarket upstairs. There's an ecclectic variety of stalls and things to buy, including a porn section in the supermarket. Well, I guess we are in Thailand!! Jimbo and I ended up doing some shopping that included a ball, frisbee, stickers, hosepipe, dvds, chocolate, beer, plastic cups and ping pong balls. I may have made a comment along the lines of "Isn't it ironic that we're buying ping pong balls in Thailand?!" which was misinterpreted as there being a show later that evening...there most certainly wasn't!!!!
We have had some good fun out here! This evening a group of us headed to Tesco for a massage. I highly recommend it as I currently feel amazing and can't wait to wakeboard tomorrow as I have no little niggles :) Full body massage for an hour was only 200 baht...no complaints at that price :) The trip back from Tesco was slightly more interesting. Jimbo, Harry, Andrea (a german girl we met out here) and me piled into one taxi; John (Cain's dad), Henning, Steph and Scarlet climbed into another pink taxi. We set off from tesco, following their taxi. We soon headed down a wrong turning but as our driver spoke very very limited english we were stuck following them. Half an hour, one petrol station, a few bumpy off road tracks and an almost crash later we arrive back at Thai Wake Park. Never have I been so glad to see Maureen, one of the stray dogs here at the cable.
I think it may be time for bed dow as my grammer and spelling seem to be leaving a lot to be desired!
More updates on their way from OZ when i get back :) Not long now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peace and love
xxx
Wakeboarding has been good, Thai Wake Park is such an awesome cable - a reallly nice pull and some fun obstacles to play on. They have little pumps that spray water onto the top of the obstacles so they're always wet which is novel. I think my favourite is the rainbow rail and also the kickers, they are the nicest I think I've ever hit. The water is refreshing, and it makes a change for it to be fresh water.
Scarlet bought a new life jacket so has given me her old one, which is so kind of her! It's been lovely to see people from home, even if it does seem like they have crazy strong British accents!!! I am very much looking forward to going back to Ausland, missing my friends there and the adventures of travelling alone.
The room has been fantastic here and I've been making full use of the free internet. Looking forward again to going back to Australia and putting the laptop away for a bit tho.
It's been fun hanging out with Freddie, Louis, Dan, Cain and a few others who I had heard many stories about! We have just spent most of the evening throwing people's boards in the lake for them to swim to fetch in the morning - mischief is always fun :)
So far the outings have included Big C and Tesco...doesn't sound that exciting but trust me it's an experience. Big C is a big shopping centre out here with a market downstairs and a supermarket upstairs. There's an ecclectic variety of stalls and things to buy, including a porn section in the supermarket. Well, I guess we are in Thailand!! Jimbo and I ended up doing some shopping that included a ball, frisbee, stickers, hosepipe, dvds, chocolate, beer, plastic cups and ping pong balls. I may have made a comment along the lines of "Isn't it ironic that we're buying ping pong balls in Thailand?!" which was misinterpreted as there being a show later that evening...there most certainly wasn't!!!!
We have had some good fun out here! This evening a group of us headed to Tesco for a massage. I highly recommend it as I currently feel amazing and can't wait to wakeboard tomorrow as I have no little niggles :) Full body massage for an hour was only 200 baht...no complaints at that price :) The trip back from Tesco was slightly more interesting. Jimbo, Harry, Andrea (a german girl we met out here) and me piled into one taxi; John (Cain's dad), Henning, Steph and Scarlet climbed into another pink taxi. We set off from tesco, following their taxi. We soon headed down a wrong turning but as our driver spoke very very limited english we were stuck following them. Half an hour, one petrol station, a few bumpy off road tracks and an almost crash later we arrive back at Thai Wake Park. Never have I been so glad to see Maureen, one of the stray dogs here at the cable.
I think it may be time for bed dow as my grammer and spelling seem to be leaving a lot to be desired!
More updates on their way from OZ when i get back :) Not long now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peace and love
xxx
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Thailand part 1
Sat in thai wake park, with a gorgeous double room with aircon and an ensuite...10m from the cable, free wifi, amazing food for super cheap and some awesome people.
The flights over here were nothing - slept the entire way from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpar, and then it was only a 2 hour flight from KL to Bangkok. The taxi ride from the airport to TWP was interesting - the driver hadn't got a clue where he was going so we had a good sight-seeing tour of rural thailand :)
The cable looks sick, with some nice obstacles will be hitting those up tomorrow - Freddie Carter and people are joining us tomorrow so there'll be a strong british contingent here :)
Looks like we're set for a good week.
Just a quick one today I'll update more when I get back to OZ when no doubt there will be a million stories to tell. FOr now, I'm going to enjoy the sun, the people and the atmosphere :)
The flights over here were nothing - slept the entire way from Brisbane to Kuala Lumpar, and then it was only a 2 hour flight from KL to Bangkok. The taxi ride from the airport to TWP was interesting - the driver hadn't got a clue where he was going so we had a good sight-seeing tour of rural thailand :)
The cable looks sick, with some nice obstacles will be hitting those up tomorrow - Freddie Carter and people are joining us tomorrow so there'll be a strong british contingent here :)
Looks like we're set for a good week.
Just a quick one today I'll update more when I get back to OZ when no doubt there will be a million stories to tell. FOr now, I'm going to enjoy the sun, the people and the atmosphere :)
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Look at the stars, look how they shine for you
Hey guys,
Sorry about the brevity of my last post - I've been up to so much in the past week or so and still loving my time in Australia. I've practically moved onto 2nd floor in F block now in the hostel. The people are lovely and its just a lot more chilled out, there's an opportunity to relax a bit if you want to!
We have Dan and Ali (england), Simon and Anna (england), Tom (england), Sangu (korea), Emily (canada), Yasmin (germany), Sean (america) and Shawn (melbourne). They're all amazing and some interesting stories to tell. We've done trips wakeboarding and also to Gardner Falls in Maleny (about a half hour drive from the hostel).
Gardner Falls was a lot of fun - cliff jumping, rope swings, mangrove climbing, waterfall sliding etc etc :) Such a fun day and located down a tiny dirt track - you have to really know about the area to know to go there. We were all having a ball until Ali slipped on the rope swing and missed the rocks by literally an inch...scary moment for sure!!
We've also gone for many surf trips and beach trips, the whole group has just bonded fantastically and I'm going to miss them all a lot when I do leave here.
One person I've become very close to is Sean. He's a surf lifeguard from New York who's been working in Coolangatta for the past 3 months before coming up here. His trip is similar to mine for the rest of Australia so we're going to travel together for a bit of it. We went for a walk the other night and walked from Mooloolaba to Maroochydore and back (about a 8mile walk in total) in bare feet, spend most nights going to the beach and stargazing and checking out the surf. It's good fun :)
Another experience out here which is magical - words just won't do it justice - is the drum circle on the beach on wednesday nights. This old aboriginal guy with the longest dreads you have ever seen sets up the little hand drums (can't remember what they're called) in a circle and people just float in and out as they please playing. The energy that comes out of this circle is overwhelming and I'm just so happy to have been part of it a few times. Yes, I do realise that I sound like a bit of a hippy. This is something that I've really found out about myself in Australia is the energy different places and people have, and how it can really truly affect you and your feelings. It's really interesting listening to other people's stories and theories too, and I have some new ideas about the world ending in 2012 now :)
Another thing I've done is go on many surfing trips with the boys. We went to point cartwright the other day, I'll try and pinch some photos because there was the most amazing sunset. We walked out over the sand to the rocks, had to climb over the rocks then jump out into the ocean and paddle around the reef before getting to the surfing spot. from there you could see the lighthouse, the main beach and the high rise buildings of mooloolaba all silhouetted by the sunset - absolutely beautiful, and amazing energy to that place.
I'm rambling on a little now, and must go pack for Thailand tomorrow - I won't be online I don't think for the next week or so as I'm going to be in Thailand but if I get a chance I'll try and make you guys a little bit more jealous about this trip :p
Just want to say a big thank you to Greg from the cable out here who's leant me his boardbag at the last minute absolute legend so thanks :)
Ok guys, peace and love xx
Sorry about the brevity of my last post - I've been up to so much in the past week or so and still loving my time in Australia. I've practically moved onto 2nd floor in F block now in the hostel. The people are lovely and its just a lot more chilled out, there's an opportunity to relax a bit if you want to!
We have Dan and Ali (england), Simon and Anna (england), Tom (england), Sangu (korea), Emily (canada), Yasmin (germany), Sean (america) and Shawn (melbourne). They're all amazing and some interesting stories to tell. We've done trips wakeboarding and also to Gardner Falls in Maleny (about a half hour drive from the hostel).
Gardner Falls was a lot of fun - cliff jumping, rope swings, mangrove climbing, waterfall sliding etc etc :) Such a fun day and located down a tiny dirt track - you have to really know about the area to know to go there. We were all having a ball until Ali slipped on the rope swing and missed the rocks by literally an inch...scary moment for sure!!
We've also gone for many surf trips and beach trips, the whole group has just bonded fantastically and I'm going to miss them all a lot when I do leave here.
One person I've become very close to is Sean. He's a surf lifeguard from New York who's been working in Coolangatta for the past 3 months before coming up here. His trip is similar to mine for the rest of Australia so we're going to travel together for a bit of it. We went for a walk the other night and walked from Mooloolaba to Maroochydore and back (about a 8mile walk in total) in bare feet, spend most nights going to the beach and stargazing and checking out the surf. It's good fun :)
Another experience out here which is magical - words just won't do it justice - is the drum circle on the beach on wednesday nights. This old aboriginal guy with the longest dreads you have ever seen sets up the little hand drums (can't remember what they're called) in a circle and people just float in and out as they please playing. The energy that comes out of this circle is overwhelming and I'm just so happy to have been part of it a few times. Yes, I do realise that I sound like a bit of a hippy. This is something that I've really found out about myself in Australia is the energy different places and people have, and how it can really truly affect you and your feelings. It's really interesting listening to other people's stories and theories too, and I have some new ideas about the world ending in 2012 now :)
Another thing I've done is go on many surfing trips with the boys. We went to point cartwright the other day, I'll try and pinch some photos because there was the most amazing sunset. We walked out over the sand to the rocks, had to climb over the rocks then jump out into the ocean and paddle around the reef before getting to the surfing spot. from there you could see the lighthouse, the main beach and the high rise buildings of mooloolaba all silhouetted by the sunset - absolutely beautiful, and amazing energy to that place.
I'm rambling on a little now, and must go pack for Thailand tomorrow - I won't be online I don't think for the next week or so as I'm going to be in Thailand but if I get a chance I'll try and make you guys a little bit more jealous about this trip :p
Just want to say a big thank you to Greg from the cable out here who's leant me his boardbag at the last minute absolute legend so thanks :)
Ok guys, peace and love xx
Saturday, 5 February 2011
quick, illiterate post
oh my gosh, just a quick one
been walking a LOT, about 8 miles a day at the minute, went stand up paddle boarding yesterday morning, learning to surf tomorrow, eaten dinner every night on the beach, met some amazing amazing people who i know will change my life, already are...wakeboarding a bit, swimming a lot, tanned lotsly, just wow :) and survived the cyclone - will expand when i can be bothered to type just letting you all know im alive, happy and just loving life...dont worry if im not online that much at the minute - why be online when you have australia at your feet?!!!
Peace and love
been walking a LOT, about 8 miles a day at the minute, went stand up paddle boarding yesterday morning, learning to surf tomorrow, eaten dinner every night on the beach, met some amazing amazing people who i know will change my life, already are...wakeboarding a bit, swimming a lot, tanned lotsly, just wow :) and survived the cyclone - will expand when i can be bothered to type just letting you all know im alive, happy and just loving life...dont worry if im not online that much at the minute - why be online when you have australia at your feet?!!!
Peace and love
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