Rob John Williamson
Just another student in hope of a crazy adventure!Rob Williamson
Travel Blog Posts
June 13th 2008
So it has become official- the majority of our new group are about as exciting as Gordon Brown. Its frustrating that we had to change groups since our last one was full of "real" people , whom, beleive it or not, actually laugh. Anyway, for the next couple of days we did nothing but travel through campsites , occassionaly stopping on the road every 6 hours to make lunch on the side of the road (and very often, in the most peculiar , out of the way destinations). What I will say about Acacia is that the food served by Biggie and Letaloi is absolutely delicious. Believe it or not, Im becoming healthy since all weve eaten is fresh salads , full of vegetables and amazing meats. On May 27th, we finally had some real fun. ... read more
June 9th 2008
Hello! My last blog left off at Brisbane and not Fraser island where i spent my remaining time in Australia. Theres no much to say about Fraser other than its a beautiful island which we roamed around for 3 days in a 4X4. We then flew back to Sydney where we departed Australia and made our way to Africa! How very exciting. The flight from Oz to Johannesburg took 17 hours and gave me numerous numb asses along the way. Having to detour all the way up to Dubai and then to Joberg was the sacrifice we had to make for having such cheap flights. Johannesburg was literally astop off point where we waited around for 3 days until our Acacia tour bus arrived. In those 3 days the only thing we really did was visit ... read more
Surfers Paradise and Brisbane
Published: May 24th 2008Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Gold Coast » Surfers ParadiseMay 24th 2008
So, after our pleasant two hour bus journey, we had made it to Surfers Paradise- one of the most infamous stretches of coastal splendor. It was cool seeing the skyscrapers tour over the beach from a distance, I've never seen anything like it. After hopping off the bus, the first thing we did was grab a subway. I swear I must have eaten about 200 pounds worth so far! We checked into a 4 bedroom dorm at a place called Islanders which was appropriately in the centre of town. After a quick look around the place seemed really cool- fully equipped with 4 pool tables , an arcade, a pool and a jacuzzi! Lovely. We all had a little walk around to get a feel for the place and decided that it seemed quite a bit ... read more
May 13th 2008
Its been a very long time since Ive written. If im being honest its due to nothing but laziness! Im writing from Johannesburg, but still have a lot to say about the rest of my travels in Australia.... We caught the "Premier Motors" bus from Sydney all the way up to Coffs Harbour. We became so bored on the 10 hour journey, we even began wearing bags on our head. Dont ask why, but boredom seems to drive us toward madness! Along the way, New South Wales seemed desolute yet rich in natural beauty. I remember waking up and seeing us travel over a bridge that went through rich forrestry covered in a spooky type of mist. We arrived in Coffs Harbour around 4 or 5 pm and was shown around briefly by a rather annoying, ... read more
April 26th 2008
From the sleepless night train experience, we arrived in a rainy Sydney at 8am. We had heard how good "wake up!" hostel was for young backpackers, and so, headed straight there. The place looked really modern, fun and relaxed. The day was spent moping around, checking in and watching a few hilarious programmes with a kad from Newcastle. I dont know if you guys have seen it, but I never realised how bad "days of our lives" is. In fact, it was so bad and so intense, I started to get really into it. After heading to Liverpool street and picking up a few bites from the supermarket, Luke headed for the dentist to get his gums sorted out. We decided that the best place to go on our first night would be "Side Bar" which ... read more
April 22nd 2008
The flight from Singapore to Melbourne went swimmingly. I was genuinely excited to be in Australia and raring to see what it was all about. Even though it was 1am on arrival, the weather was refreshingly cold having become so used to the humidity of Asia. Unfortunatley, the weather hasnt been good since I arrived, and a part of me feels that I have yet to experience true Australia. We caught a taxi which took us to a hostel called "The Beach" which was in St.Kilda. Immediately, the place struck me as being good fun. It was nice having no difficulty communicating with the reception staff. Our room was a 10 bed dorm but we were the only ones in there. The entire place was of a really high standard. An absolutely lavish bathroom and carpeted ... read more
April 11th 2008
We allocated most of the time we had in Asia to Thailand. However, we still left 7 or 8 days to travel down through Malaysia from Ko Phi Phi and then depart from Singapore to Australia. In hindsight, I did'nt particularly thrive on the big commerical citys we visited and began to use the time to prepare myself for the highly anticipated Australia. We took an 8 hour minibus from Thailand which took us right across Malaysia where we took a short ferry ride to Penang. Exhausted, and suffering from a string of evil leg cramps, I hobbiled off the minibus, away from the stressy driver to "Love Lane". Here, Luke hilariously showed Me a picture of Myself sleeping on a girl by accident that I didnt know. Katie also hobbiled off the minibus, but it ... read more
April 6th 2008
Looking back on Ko Phi Phi, I cant say that it was what I wanted from the island. Having been in Koh Pahnagan and Koh Tao for a while, I felt like Phi Phi was a poor imitation of both, and had no real substance. However, the island was heavily hit by the 2004 tsunami, and its understandable that the place is recovering from mass destruction. We made our way over from Ko Tao via the almighty night boat. In the under carriage of a 4 foot tall deck with pillows aligned on each side of the boat as "beds', i felt like I was in Pirates of the Caribbean with me fellow ship mates- Arrrgh! With Ryan, Rob, Mikel and Kasper as company, we had a great time on what i expected to be a ... read more
April 3rd 2008
Hey everyone! Sorry its been so long. Ive neglected all updating duties and been having too much fun for my own good! So, we arrived in Ko Tao on the 23rd of March around midday, via a 2 hour ferry boat from Ko Pahnagan. Having had such a mental time at Pahnagan, I wasnt sure what to expect from the reportidily more relaxed Tao. The harbour was jam packed with locals offering taxi services, accomodation and most frequently, scuba diving courses (otherwise known as PADI courses). Ko Tao is famous for its diving, with shark island and other surrounding bays being a big attraction for foreign divers. Unfortunately I didnt have the time to do a diving course, but from what ive heard, its something I really want to do in the future. We asked to ... read more
March 25th 2008
I havent got too long here, but ill do my best to fill you in. We spent around 5 fun filled days in Ko Pahngan. Originally, we got the impression that Hat Rin (the party section of the island) , would be fully booked. Everyone wed met, including three chicks from the bus we took from Bangkok, were paying ridiculous prices in order to secure their place in Hat Rin. Having left it a little late, and not really wanting to fork out 1500 baht a night, we booked a place that was 30 minutes from Hat Rin on the west coast. Stepping off the ferry we caught a taxi in which we sit on the back of a truck and hold on. The place we arrived at was absolutely beautiful. Me and Luke named our ... read more
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.003s; cc: 13; qc: 86; dbt: 0.0616s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.7mb
