This week brings me to the begining of my South East Asia trip. I have left Australia behind. I spent so much time there I am a bit home sick for it. I really miss Tim Tams. Singapore is another stop on the British Imperialst tour. Every time I think of how much arrogance it requred for Europeans to just show up in a place that seemed like it would be usefull to business and just claim it as their own. Forget about the people that were already living there. Of course on the other hand, had the British not invaded the rest of the world like a virus, it would be a lot harder for a monolistic English speaker such as my self to travel. It never fails to amaze me that no matter where ... read more

April 17-24 I took the Ghan from Alice Springs on April 16th and arrived in Darwin on the 17th. The overriding memory that I have of Darwin is the oppressive humidity coupled with the heat. The week that I was there the temperature was 35 degrees Celsius with 90% humidity. I can still feel the sweat dripping down my face. Ick. Darwin itself is a port town and distinguished itself as being the recipient of a several bombings by the Japanese in World War II and almost being wiped off the face of the earth by a typhoon a some years later. There are a few nice beaches and museums in Darwin, but I spent most of my time trying to avoid the humidity by dodging from one air conditioned building to another. I am definitively ... read more

"Under the sea Under the sea Darling it's better Down where it's wetter Take it from me Up on the shore they work all day Out in the sun they slave away While we devotin' Full time to floatin' Under the sea" -The Little Mermaid The Great Barrier Reef attracted me the most of all the attractive things in Australia. Its a massive expanse of living creatures that frolic beneath the sea. I find it very creepy. Especailly when you think of the carniverous coral plants just waiting for unsuspecting fish to swim by where they can grab them. I flew from Christchurch, New Zealand to Brisbane (my third entry into that particular city). I spent one night there and then took the overnight train to Airlie Beach. Well you can't actually take the train all ... read more

New Zealand has been a wonderful journey. You can tell this country was colonized less than two hundred years ago. The relationship the New Zealanders have with the native culture is very different from anywhere else I have been. Maybe because they had more experience with taking over the locals or because the Maori were cannibalistic and cooked a few unsavory European interlopers, but Europeans didn't eradicate the culture of the Maori. Maori is recognized as an official language of the country and they are allocated seats in the government. Of course, that doesn't mean Europeans didn't try to take as much land and resources for themselves as they could. But there is definitely a much more prevalent Maori culture here than, for example, Aboriginal culture is in Australia. In the last two weeks I have ... read more

Hi Everyone! On February 8th I left Brisbane and flew to Christchurch and then to Auckland. I had paid to check up to 15 kg of luggage so I spent quite a bit of time trying to get my backpack to weigh less than 15 kg. Eventually I put some things in storage in Brisbane (since I am flying back there in March) and I put everything heavy into my day bag to use as a carry on. It is a bit distressing to know that if the airline looses my luggage I wont have any clean underwear or shampoo but I will have my scrapbook, journal, and about 100 postcards. About three months ago I booked a ticket for a travel company called Kiwi Experience. It is this hop on, hop off bus that takes ... read more