Having said goodbye to the car and Nadja and Andy i flew to Alice Springs to go and check out 'The Rock!!' (unfortuanately not Dwayne Johnson!!). As soon as i landed in Alice i was hit by the extreme heat of the place and the number of bloody flies!! And they are not like the flies we get in England, these flies are determined that they either need to be in your mouth or up your nose and they really do not take no for an answer! To get out to see Uluru i joined a 3day tour with The Rock Adventures, it was yet another really well organised tour with plenty of food!! and a very good guide. On the first day we went to Kings Canyon and walked around the rim, this very nearly ... read more

Wow finally writing another blog and this time i think i will be here all night catching up!! Not a great start on the oz front as my flight from Singapore was delayed by 3hours which meant a long night in the airport after several days already spent travelling. Thankfully the airport was big enough to keep me entertained! Finally arrived in Adelaide at 11am and, as seems to be becomming a habit of mine, i had no idea what i was doing there!! Fortunately the tourist info at the airport were great and they soon had me booked on a Great Ocean Road tour and my accomodation in Adelaide sorted. So with everything arranged i spent the next few days wondering around Adelaide looking for flip flops and not being a particularly good tourist, so ... read more

Well i decided after to listen to many stories and with some encouragement to go and experience a 10 day meditation retreat. Not knowing much about meditation i thought it would be interesting to learn and a great experience, however, i was slightly nervous about the silent part and the 'no eating after midday' rule!! (Yes I know you are now all thinking there is no way lauren could be silent for ten days, let alone stop eating!) The retreat was at Suan Mokkh which is just outside Chaiya half way down thailand. We took the night bus from bangkok and arrived outside the monastry at 4.30am, needless to say there were not many people around at this time but we were soon greated by a friendly monk who got us to sign the visitors book ... read more

After what was an increadibly long journey i arrived in Singapore and set out on foot to Little India, here i found a very friendly backpackers who let me take a much needed shower!! And leave my stuff there for the day. I spent the rest of the day wondering around the city. It is a really nice place, very clean with really friendly people and definately somewhere i will return to when i have more money!! I went to have a look at the famous Raffles Hotel but souldnt get in because i was not appropriately dressed!! I checked china town adn some of the shopping malls and then got a hopi ear wax treatment!! Disgusting!! Then it was time to go to the airport, which was an experience in itself! It is huge and ... read more

Pai (pronouced pie!!) is amazing, only intended to go for 2 days but ended up staying for ten days!! The countryside is gorgeous and the people are really friendly and the atmosphere is so laid back. Every night there are different bands playing in the bars - standards vary!! Our particular favorite was a thai man we named Pai Lennon!! And his girlfriend was Yoko Thai! Hired a motorbike for a few days and went to the waterfalls in the surrounding areas, also visited the canyon just outside of pai and got some good sunset photos. Every evening at the guesthouse we would light a fire and all sit around it (because unbelievably at night it was bloody freezing!!) and the talented ones amongst us would play guitars and sing (so not me!!). On a couple ... read more