Having said goodbye to Nui and Phuket, I hopped on a cruiser to Phi Phi Island, one of those tourist-laden islands between the Phuket peninsula and the mainland, intending only to stay one night. However, heeding the immortal call "Are you for scooba?", I said a loud yes and enrolled in a 3-day Open Water Course to get my scuba diving certificate. So now I'm on a tropical island, which was made for hedonism, and I'm having to get up at 6.30am in the morning, so I can learn how to avoid an embolism, a subcutaneous emphysema or even nitrogen narcosis [View Full Entry]

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Where to begin? The feeling of "What have I gotten myself into?" intensified once I arrived in Phuket. After dumping my backpack at the hotel, I walked around Phuket town in a daze. Even though I had already gotten a taste of the Thai hospitality and friendliness (on the bus from the airport a girl was showing me our location on the map) I was freaking out. The chaos around the streets of Phuket and the sense of being completely alone (in the midst of all these people no less) was just scary. Staying in a completely sterile hotel without character [View Full Entry]

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As I was driving (I realise I'm changing tense here, but what the heck...) around Darwin on my last day in Oz, I really got to understand why they call it the Wet Season. The pictures speak for themselves I think. Apart from getting my second Hep B shot (nothing like leaving things to the last minute), I also checked out the NT Museum and Art Gallery. Meanwhile my mind was racing at the thought of what I was about to get myself into. One year abroad on my own. Bugger.... PS: At the airport I saw two groups of people [View Full Entry]

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After a day in Darwin, I take my little Corolla hire car to Kakadu. Halfway I find there's some water over the road. The Corolla handles it okay but I wonder whether I might get stranded in Kakadu, as more rain is forecast. I ponder the situation over a beer at the nearest roadhouse, while the Country Music Channel is spitting out some truly inspiring tunes. After a call to the Kakadu visitor centre, I decide to keep going. Once at Kakadu, it starts bucketing down and after discovering that my tent isn't waterproof I spend the night in the car. [View Full Entry]

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If you're going to catch the Ghan and stop off at Alice, be sure to chuck in a day of rest after your whirlwind tour of the red centre. I got back to Alice from the tour at 5pm and had to catch the train at 6. Not much room for a breakdown there. I spent most of the second leg of the train trip asleep. Woke up just before Katherine to find a completely different landscape, lush and green. Stepped off for a few hours to do a walk at the Gorge, get a taste of the humidity in the [View Full Entry]

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Could I have picked a more clicheed title? Oh well, I guess it is somewhat appropriate. Despite my dislike of organised tours, if you only have a few days in the Red Centre, I would highly recommend jumping on the 3-day Mulga tour, which took us to Watarrka (King's Canyon), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Uluru (Ayers Rock). Sleeping in swags, soaking up the heat, wondering why the Spanish guy sitting on the bus next to you is playing Zelda on his gameboy instead of enjoying the awesome scenery. It's all good! To top it off our guide cooked for us [View Full Entry]

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So here's the rough (ambitious, I know) plan for my yearlong round-the-world trip (subject to change, but you gotta start with something right?): 9th of February 2008 fly to Adelaide to catch train (the Ghan) to Darwin, with stop at Alice for a few days Few days in Darwin and Kakadu Fly to Phuket Roughly one month in each Thailand, Nepal (Annapurna or Mt Everest base camp trek) and China End of May train from Beijing to Helsinki, with stops at Ulan Bataar (Mongolia), Lake Baikal, Moscow and St Petersburg June-August Europe September-November North/Middle America (Cayman Islands - a mu [View Full Entry]

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