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Mike Preston
This is a travel blog for me, Mike and my girlfriend Debbie. We're both from the UK, me from Manchester and Debbie is from Wem (in Shropshire). We're off traveling for 6 months starting 17th January 2007. We're mainly going around New Zealand and Australia. We've also got stops out in Toronto, LA then Fiji. On the way back we're calling in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.MikeNDebbie
Travel Blog Posts
July 14th 2007
Hello All, As I write this I'm now back in Manchester sat in my sisters house. Debbie's gone back to her parents. Don't worry,we're still speaking. I apologise for any garbled English as I'm a bit jetlagged from flying. The photos will be added later as Debbie took the camera back home with her. Here's a summary of our last week. We flew into Ko Samui and had someone waiting for us with my name on a big sign. We were took to our hotel, which was kind of a beach resort with our very own bungalow. Don't get the wrong idea, this place had a/c, en-suite, satellite tv, fridge etc and was a stones throw from the beach. A bit different to the one we stayed in Fiji. We found a place opposite called the ... read more
July 4th 2007
We got to KL (Kuala Lumpur) and before we'd got off the bus a taxi driver had already claimed us. We got riped off at 40RM (6GPB) but we did get to the door of our hostel. It seemed ok, a little dirty and most of the plumbing seemed to be leaking from the toilets which were also a wet room. You weren't allowed to wear footwear inside for hygiene reasons so going to the bathroom wasn't very nice. We couldn't go to our room as they were in the middle of "pest control". We went for a walk around where we stayed which was well located close to a monorail line though exactly where we were was pretty smelly and dirty especially in comparison to Singapore. KL is pretty hectic (where we were) with ... read more
June 26th 2007
Singapura meaning Lion City is right at the bottom of South-East Asia and a good place to start as it's an East meets West type of place. We'd decided to treat ourselves to a hotel (at 55 GBP a night) so we were expecting quite a lot as this was 2-3 times the price of hostels in Oz. We weren't disappointed, the room was really nice with a king or even maybe a super king bed. The location was great, just near a hawker centre (like a food court for locals) and about 5-10 minutes walk from Raffles Hotel. Our first night we ate out for about $8 (about 2.50GBP) for BBQ duck with noodles and chicken with noodles. Other than that we had a quick walk around the area but were quite tired so ... read more
June 23rd 2007
Hello avid readers, We've made it to our last state meaning we have done all 6 States and 2 Territories (I think the difference is a Territory doesn't have its own government, just the national one whereas States do.) Anyway as we are moving into winter here (opposite seasons remember) its got a little bit colder and a fair bit wetter. Flying to Perth from Cairns via Ayers Rock airport meant we got to see Uluru and the Olgas from the air which was still really impressive. We got a room with our very own toilet/shower this time but the downside was there were a few biting bedbugs again. Our first few days we spent wandering around the city and visited WA museum (its free!) We had already prebooked a tour to see the south ... read more
Sailing, the Outer Reef and Cape Trib
Published: June 12th 2007Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cairns
June 12th 2007
Hello all, sorry but I'm afraid this is another big one. Our last in Queensland. After another 7 hour bus journey we arrived in Airlie Beach staying at Magnums, we'd heard some bad things about the place as most people get to stay there for free as part of their Whitsundays package. We'd upgraded to a double room and were pleasantly surprised, it was a good room with our own fridge and kettle. The kitchen facilties were virtually none existant but we knew about this before we arrived, so we had brought food which was easy to prepare (cous cous salad). That afternoon we walked to Abel Point Marina, to find out where our boat would sail from the following day. We also looked around some of the shops. We also ended up buying a ... read more
May 29th 2007
Hello Readers, We're still travelling up the east coast despite some close encounters with ants and a spider............. From last time, we had one full day in Noosa so we had a walk to the beach and went to the National Park. Noosa has quite the rainforest feel to it, you do really feel you're getting into the tropics. I was still not coping well with the bed bug bites so we only did a 5km walk. We walked to a place called Hell's Gates where there is a sheer drop. We were lucky to see a turtle swimming around in the sea below but couldn't get a photo. After the walk we wasted some more time using the Internet for free. We left the next morning for Hervey Bay where we would be initiated ... read more
May 20th 2007
We're now in our 5th state. We've been looking forward to getting to Surfers Paradise (part of the Gold Coast) as we'd managed to book ourselves our very own accomodation for the same price that we pay for our doubles in hostels. We weren't too sure if it might be a bit of a mess but the place was really nice. It was really nice to have our very own kitchen again where the only washing up you find inthe sink is your own and you don't have to re-clean every other plate you want to use. We decided to treat it as a holiday within a holiday so for the next five days and nights we really didn't do much. The first day we went and bought a cheap body board in one of ... read more
May 13th 2007
Hello all, We're now in Byron Bay our last stop in New South Wales. For our last week we've had three stops: Newcastle, Port MacQuarie and Byron Bay. Newcastle is actually quite a big city but having come from Sydney it seemed quiet which was quite a nice change. Our first day we didn't do too much. All the staff and there freidns were pretty friendly so we spent quite a bit of time talking to them and we asked them what the best thing to do was given we only had two more days. They recommended Hunter Valley which is another wine region. We thought it seemed like a while since our last one in Adelaide so we booked it for the following day. The wine tasting (started at 10:30 having set off around ... read more
Oh I do like to stay beside the Sydneyside
Published: May 5th 2007Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney
May 5th 2007
Here's Debbie with this weeks blog: Arriving in Sydney from Canberra we jumped on the train for 2 stops to Kings Cross, which is meant to be a lively area of the city. Luckily our hostel was on a quiet tree lined street. From the end of the street you could see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. On our first night the hostel had a free bbq so we didn't need to cook. Our first full day in the city was spent getting our bearings. We were staying about 30minute walk from the Opera House. But it was a lovely walk through the botanical gardens. There were lots of cockatoos in the trees and at dusk you could see the fruit bats flying about. The next day we had to be at the Harbour ... read more
April 29th 2007
We left Melbourne for Canberra at 7 in the morning. A short coach trip later and we arrived just after 3 in the afternoon. We got to our hostel quite easily, probably the only place we did find easily in the place. The hostel included a spa, swimming pool & sauna. Plush! Unfortunately the sauna was broken, the spa was cold and the swimming pool I could've jumped over. Never-the-less we still went in the spa/pool for a bit. On our first full day we decided we'd go to both old & new parliament. We worked out how to get there, it looked easy but as soon as you start walking around Canberra for a while you start to doubt your sense of direction as it's bigger than it seems. We did eventually get there ... read more
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