So after leaving the Swedish mainland behind (Saturday 28th June) and catching a massive ferry across from Oskarshamn to the town of Visby on the island of Gotland (and sampling a few of the local beers on the way) I was re-united with Nina - another of the Swedish girls from P.J.O'Brien's in Cairns, who in fact I was so impressed with that I hired for the Courthouse Hotel as well. And somehow I had managed to coincide my arrival with her one and only night off for the week, which could only mean one thing - a big night out! So off we went around to a friend of hers named Sofia's house (whose parents just happened to be away for the weekend) to kick off the festivities, before heading to a bar called Munken ... read more

Well I should have seen it coming - friday the 13th (June). Only one day after I arrived in Sweden, it all went horribly wrong. There I was killing time on the internet at Central Station in Stockholm while waiting for my train to Rättvik, when suddenly I realized that my wallet - which I had foolishly left either on top of my bag or on the desk beside the keyboard - had been stolen. Money, credit cards, everything. And since there wasn't much I could do about it once I knew it was gone, I hopped on the train anyway - cursing myself for not being more careful. So I arrived in Rättvik (in the province of Dalarna - which is famous for it's elaborately painted wooden horses) with no money and nothing to eat ... read more

After saying goodbye to my parents at Brisbane Airport (tuesday 27th May), I hopped onboard for my first international flight in almost twenty-four years (thankfully with none of the tears that had accompanied my previous overseas flight - a return journey from New Zealand when I was just five-years-old!), which would take me firstly to Singapore and then onto London - a twenty-four hour journey in all. Thankfully, despite having very little leg room and being unable to sleep for longer than twenty or thirty minutes at a time, I had no ill effects other than a slight bout of tiredness by the time we arrived in London - which naturally was blanketed in clouds so thick that I could barely see beyond the confines of Heathrow Airport as we came in to land! After a ... read more