round the world at last

caught the plane up to brisbane and martin and adrieene picked me up, we went to theres at cleveland, a suburb about half an hour away. after a couple of days chilling out there i went back to brisbane and stayed for a night at the palace backpackers where i happily chomped my may through a five dollar plate of steak and mash washed down with obligitary beer while watching the aus v greece match. next day a look around brisbane, which to be fair didnt take that long, befor getting a bus to surfers paradise. booked into a place in coolangatta, which is the town for the Gold coast airport. Nia flew in and we had a great couple of days in surfers, seaworld is to be thoroughly reccomended. I now find myself in Byron Bay which is really nice, a strange blend of tourism, backpackers, alternative lifestyles and great surf. In fact ive just been surfing the last couple of days, went to head point today which is one of the the top ten surf breaks in australia, it seriously did not dissapoint!!

ok, hows this for starters, met a beautiful girl, breakfast on bondi beach, sydney opera house, circular quay, darling harbour, ate kangaroo, ferry to manly beach, ferry to tarronga zoo,(koalas ahhhh), dinner in cafe sydney, horse riding, sydney bridge, sydney tower, cocktails in a revolving bar above the city, Hunter valley for the weekend...fantastic, partying, great food, great company....oh and a seafood platter at nicks restaurant. How good is sydney!!??!

got to singapore again and headed straight to the "inn crowd " hostel at dunlop st. again. met a really good guy jacob and sean and his missus and had a few beers etc.. next day had to sort out ticket to sydney... the end result was that i had to fly all the way to bangkok turn around and fly back to sing for a connection to sydney, crazy,,,, still it was ok and finnaly arrived in sydney. Was meeting a friend in the evening and so did a deal with a hostel just to use the room for the daytime, so that i could shower etc... got a hair cut, well needed and met up. sydney is pretty good, should have got here years ago, so anyone reading this who is under thirty( for visa purposes) get your thumb out and get over here.

got on a bus from phuket town to bangkok, took about thirteen hours , but the seats fully reclined, a/c and movies all for 550 baht so well worth it, dropped us all off right at the Ko Sahn Road, which is the mecca for travellers in the city. Staying at a lovely little place from the lonely planet book called the dd inn, worth 750 baht a night as the rooms are all a/c, spotlessly clean, free swimming pool on the roof and includes a stuff your face buffet breakfast!!! Bangkok i was told, was really mad and hectic!! maybe its not to me after New Delhi, for as i sat in a tuk tuk yesterday i could have easily just nodded off for a while!!! There seems to be a whole generation of backpackers that dont seem to leave this road and thats a pity as theres so much to see in the city, went to the muay thai kickboxing, wat poh(a huge 45 metre golden buddha) and gonna catch a boat uptown today!! Still resisting the urge for dreads etc..makes me laugh whenever i see people "turning native"!!
would you do yhat at home. maybe/maybe not!!oh well everyone to theyre own , although i do sometimes feel like suggesting soap to them...oh and by the way if anyone is over here, then please to remember that when off the beach wear a top or shirt as the thai people take offense, they would never say as they are far too polite, but try to have a little respect for theyre ways!!!cheers from grumpy old man..lol

ok, so i caught a bus from penang in malaysia up to krabi, bit of a long journey , but everyone on board was ok...than caught a ferry over to ko phi phi, the island where the Beach was filmed . have to admit it is absolutely stunning although quite expensive and touristy, so any backpackers beware!!! the scenery makes up for it and you have to go snorkelling amongst all the fish ...