Ok, firstly apologies for my very delayed blog update but unlike last time when it was due to laziness, this time the reason could not be further from my natural lethargic tendencies and is in reality due to the fact that since arriving here in Australia my life has been incredibly hectic. To summarise... I flew into Sydney on New Year’s Eve and thanks to Mark had a ticket to experience the New year’s celebrations on a boat moored in Sydney harbour, which has got to be the ultimate in New Year’s parties - Thanks Mark. What was also amazing about [View Full Entry]

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As many of you know, Asia does have a lot of hawkers and their ability to extract money from you by either selling or offering services never ceases to amaze and also brass me off. That is until the other day at The Monkey Temple where I witnessed the most awesome piece of Balinese entrepreneurship I have ever seen. The Monkey Temple is situated on the edge of a cliff face on the southern side of Bali and is so named because of the ‘sacred’ monkeys that live there. I was warned not to leave anything dangling as the monkeys steal [View Full Entry]

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Yo Ho Ho, Merry Christmas to you all. Hope you are all having a good one and although I am missing you and a big Christmas roastie I am making do sunning myself, catching clean waves in the warm Indian Ocean, and having a big old nasi goring super for Christmas dinner - this whole getting away for Christmas might have to become an annual thing ? I am currently back in Kuta to surf for the last couple of days before heading to Oz for New year. The last week in Ubud was good and I definitely learnt some from [View Full Entry]

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OK, so up to press I had been surfing an awful lot, combined with eating and drinking copious amounts as well and not really getting too much into the whole traveling vibe which is what I was also here to do. This however was put to rights when I started pushing my (very mediocre) surfing ability by taking increasingly bigger waves at increasingly later take-offs, the result... one bruised ego, one battered body, and one snapped board... Oooops, time to move on ! So I’ve had the last 2 weeks traveling around Bali seeing a lot of sights and learning a [View Full Entry]

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OK apologies for no update on the blog for a little time, the reasons are : 1. I’m lazy ! 2. Although I have been here a while in Bali, I didn’t feel I had done much to justify a blog update….. and that is due to 2 reasons also : 1. The Surf. Which has been especially easy and good (3-4 foot and clean), so much so that I have surfed everyday and sometimes twice a day. I am currently in Kuta due to the fact that it is one of only 2 beachbreaks in Bali, the rest are all [View Full Entry]

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Woah, it’s been 4 and a half weeks and now time to leave Costa Rica - where did the time go ? The last week has been a bit steady due to an injury I sustained while snorkling at a small cove north of Jaco on Sunday. I managed to hit a sharp rock with my foot which took a chunk of flesh out and sliced into a vein…. So watching blood pouring out of my foot out at sea and knowing there were sharks about was very interesting… (is it only me who hears that Jaws theme when swimming in [View Full Entry]

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A lot has been happening this week, although it has been mostly dominated by one thing Mount Chirripo and to those not in the know (I didn’t know beforehand) it is the highest mountain in Costa Rica and the second highest in Central America.... now let me just digress here for a moment... While here I have had time to reflect on things and this was true for this matter... At school I usually got good reports, you know, intelligent(ish), hard working, etc, but I always got let down by the comment 'easily led into trouble' and on reflection of this [View Full Entry]

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Hey ! People have been asking me what the weather is like here... wel it's hot, dam hot, until one of the many tropical rainstorms and then it's hot and wet...."that's nice when you're with a lady, but it aint no good when you're in the jungle man" (Good Morning Vietnam). This last weekend was Halloween, I say weekend as the parties were not restricted to only one night but the Friday through to the Sunday and as one of the main discos in Jaco was offering $300 as the top prize for the best Halloween costume you can imagine the [View Full Entry]

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OK so after 24 hours of traveling I have eventually made it here to Costa Rica. I have booked in with a Spanish school in Playa Jaco and have decided to go the whole way and book in with a family stay as well, apparently it is the best way to learn and as my family is made up of Miriam the mother and her 4 daughters (of which only 1 speaks English) you can appreciate I am catching on pretty fast. Also as the family owns a Soda (small outdoor local café) I have been meeting and talking to [View Full Entry]

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Test blog.... still in Warrington, fly out to Costa Rica on Thursday morning, still not packed, loads to do and buy - why do I leave things to the last minute ? [View Full Entry]

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