It wasn’t a large rat, it was a bandicoot. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you obviously haven’t read the last blog. Shame on you! I like to think of our blog entries as individual episodes part of a larger series. A bit like Neighbours, only without the poor acting and Karl Kennedy (and, sadly, with the dubious script writing). Those that tune in regularly are rewarded with a greater understanding of the bigger picture. And while you are fully aware that the show is of questionable quality, you watch it anyway. Partly due to habit, partly due [View Full Entry]

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Something must be done, our blogs from Asia were getting in excess of 200 views, some even getting more than 350, but since leaving Asia people seem must have lost interest. These days we’re lucky if a blog gets more than 70 people looking at it. Therefore, in an attempt to try and spark some excitement in our travels again, this blog includes a couple of pictures of me wearing nothing but Helen’s thongs (well, in one I have socks on). It’s sad that we’ve had to stoop this low and, as I’m sure you’ll agree, they are a little small [View Full Entry]

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Prior to booking a 15,000 ft jump out of a plane the closest I had got to thrill seeking during my 24 years was sliding down the staircase at home in a cardboard box aged 10. So, naturally, skydiving seemed the next sensible step. In order for one to plummet towards the ground before a parachute is, finally - hopefully - unleashed, the weather conditions need to be pretty spot on. There must be little to no wind and also no rain nor chance of rain (as when you’re falling at speed the raindrops actually hurt). My skydive was booked up [View Full Entry]

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So, off we hopped onto another flight. For all those of you who now have an image of us bouncing like frogs past the check in staff, let me clarify. We didn’t literally hop, we actually just walked. I just thought ‘off we walked’ didn’t sound very good. See the effort and thought that goes into these blogs? Anyway, it was, I think, our 11th flight we’d taken so far. If everyone back home has a lovely summer this year then you’ll have to buy us a drink when we get back. I can quite safely say that we’re the ones [View Full Entry]

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As my Dad mentioned in the last blog we went to Kaikoura in the hope of having a ‘whale of a time’ (you can never use that pun too many times can you?) but, unfortunately, were disappointed on two counts. First, Kaikoura is a bit grim. Nicer in the sunshine perhaps but not on days like when we were there, days of high winds and rain. Which brings me onto problem number two: the whale-watching trip we’d booked had been cancelled. It was a shame because my Mum had been looking forward to it more than anything else in NZ. When [View Full Entry]

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After leaving the opulent surroundings of Changi Airport in Singapore - understandably regarded by many as one of the best in the world - we landed some 10 overnight hours later at Christchurch Airport in New Zealand’s South Island. After Changi, the kindest thing we can say is that it is not the best in the world. It was not helped by fussy immigration staff anxious to establish if I had brought my hiking boots with me (“I take ‘em everywhere mate but clean forgot to bring them today”). They are also extremely sensitive to food/fruit being brought into their country [View Full Entry]

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I decided to view our visit to Australia as a test: what would British people be like if they actually had decent weather? On the basis of Darwin, they’d be friendlier, more relaxed and drunk. Though thinking about it now, maybe the first two points are a result of the latter… So, this is going to be another long blog. Sorry, but we were in Darwin for almost 2 weeks and most blogs are only written about a 5 or 6 days…. I’d therefore recommend that you read this at work or at some other time when you have nothing better [View Full Entry]

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So our time in Singapore didn’t start all that well. The journey there was pretty good; armed with a couple of bags of Malaysia’s answer to Haribo the time flew by. And customs was seamless (which was a bonus given we had a few DVDs in our rucksacks that may or may not have been 100% legitimate - Singapore is a little “sticky” on such matters). We even had an Australian kid give us directions to a small store along the East coast of Australia where we can find the hard-to-come-by delicacy of sugar-free chocolate (no thanks), when we&rsquo [View Full Entry]

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The bus pulled in and the driver told us this was our destination. I could see a sign for the ‘rose cabin’ (our hostel of choice) and so we jumped off. The bus slowly chugged round the corner and I looked at the sign again ‘Rose Cabin - 2 kilometres’. Damn. The bus had dropped us off at the Mount Kinabalu national park, rather than the hostel we’d asked the driver to stop at. There followed another walk in the midday sun and with our full backpacks on. You might be wondering at this point why, when the reason we were [View Full Entry]

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The alarm sounded at 4.45am. This is very early for us unemployed. Nevertheless, Borneo wasn’t going to come to us so off we went and a taxi ride, bus journey and plane trip later arrived in the town of Bintulu. Advice for anyone going to Borneo: don’t go to Bintulu. The majority of people do not need this pointer, arriving at such a conclusion of their own accord. I know this because the sight of us two whities walking around the town was enough not only to make the locals stare, but actually tap their friends on the shoulders so they [View Full Entry]

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