A selection of favourite pictures from my travels! [View Full Entry]

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And so I find myself at the final destination. After travelling for over a year on a fantastic journey, it really feels like the end now. This brings mixed emotions. I'm happy and even slightly relieved to be heading back to the familiar faces of friends and family that I haven't seen for so long, but naturally dissapointed that the ride has to come to an end. New York offers a totally different taste of the US from LA. The palm-tree lined boulevardes of Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills make way for housing blocks and skyscrapers in a colder, greyer [View Full Entry]

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Following on from my last blog (Fiji), I need to mention that my time on Mana Island did actually improve greatly towards the end. At the end of the week there was an influx of good people and the atmosphere changed drastically. I suppose this is the thing with such small places, it all depends on the people you are randomly thrown together with. After my stint on the tropical island I returned to Viti Levu and found a really nice place to stay, just of outside Nadi Town. Caught up with a few of my old friends from Mana [View Full Entry]

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Flew out of Auckland on a sunny summer afternoon providing some fantastic aerial views of the city and the harbour as I left. Three hours and a bit of turbulence over the South Pacific later, the plane was making its approach to Nadi International Airport. The first thing that struck me about Fiji was just how green it is. Less developed than I expected, even as the plane came in to land I was convinced we were going to put down in a field until just before the wheels touched down, thankfully on a runway! Certainly the best airport views I [View Full Entry]

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Escaping Australia was as simple as a three hour flight from Sydney to Auckland. Arriving in New Zealand I was happy to find the weather there was about perfect. Slightly cooler than Australia, but clear and fine. My time there was limited, but I tried to make the most of the good weather and got in as much sightseeing as possible. Obviously five days is far too short a time to actually travel around New Zealand, which is a real shame as the south island is reputedly really beautiful. Five days is enough to see a city like Auckland comfortably though. [View Full Entry]

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Well, finally escaped Australia after around ten months on and off spent in the land downunder. Oz has had its good times and bad times for me, most of the bad times whilst working for a variety of psychopathic employers!! I did leave with some interesting and unique experiences, plus I've met a lot of great people in my time there (very few of whom were Australians I should mention!). I had grown disillusioned with Australia a long time before I had to leave. Many people I met along the way saw it as a paradise to emmigrate to, but living [View Full Entry]

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A two hour train journey from Sydney Central took me to Katoomba, high in the Blue Mountains. The weather was certainly different to what I had experienced recently, cold and wet but changing by the hour to totally clear or to more drizzle. Lucky I brought my jacket, the shops seem to have a thriving trade in warm clothing and waterproofs for the huddled tourists, shivering in T-shirts and sandals! From Katoomba Station, I boarded the Explorer Bus and hopped off just outside town to walk down to Katoomba Cascades. Not particularly impressive cascades, so I headed onwards towards the Prince [View Full Entry]

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After my fairly stupid idea of taking the night-coach from Melbourne to save on a nights accomodation (I can never sleep in a seat), I arrived at my final destination in Australia tired and irritable at 6.30 in the morning. Not relishing the prospect of dragging my bags around the city in search of a cheap hostel, I went to the YHA across the road from where the coach dropped me off. A snooty Yank manning the reception desk seemed annoyed at my lack of reservation (it is a hostel for christ's sake!), and informed me that a bed in a [View Full Entry]

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My stay in Melbourne just would not have been complete without a tour to see the sights of the legendary aussie soap, 'Neighbours'! I was in luck on my trip. As I waited at the office to meet the tour bus, the guide excitedly told us that we would wait a while before leaving as a long running member of the cast would be popping in to sort something out with them. Turns out it was Alan Fletcher, a Neighbours veteran of over twelve years who plays 'Dr Karl Kennedy'! Very cool to see someone that you recognise even if you [View Full Entry]

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Whilst backing up my photos from the memory cards (again!), I came across these pictures from my flight Perth to Melbourne which never really fitted in anywhere and slipped my mind. Decided to put them on here under its own entry! Hard to keep track of all these photos, I bought my camera brand new right before my trip started, and I have long since rolled past 9,999. Roughly 11,000 pics in 11 months, so average of 1,000 a month!?! [View Full Entry]

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