Cloudy with snow forecast, 18c You invite a strange Aussie into your circle of friends; introduce him to life in the Rocky Mountains & invite him to the dinner table for the most important celebration of the year - Thanksgiving. He eats all your food, enjoys some wine and than throws up in your bathroom. That person unfortunately is me. I was asked whether Adelaide has any high mountain ranges and before I could stop laughing I was informed that the mountain road I’d just driven across reached peaks of 11,500ft. That’s almost 11,000ft higher than any mountain I’d seen in [View Full Entry]

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Fine, 32c Oceanic Flight 815 broke into two pieces and crashed on the island. Well.. at least in the TV show ‘Lost’ it did. If you visit the ‘real’ Lost beach you’d be hard pressed believing it didn’t really happen!! Seriously.. It feels like you’re trapped by the mountains and the scenery is absolutely out of this world. The backdrop is very recognisable and still very well off the well worn North Shore tourist trail. Certainly a highlight of my tour around Oahu with Dad.. but more about ‘Lost’ in a sec Since last week I’ve bee [View Full Entry]

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Fine, 33c Toast, eggs and a glass of champagne - that was my first breakfast in America! Only 6 hours earlier I’d met my very lively Aussie seat buddy Shane who’s moving to the US, only the 3rd Aussie I’ve met in nearly 5 weeks. He decided we needed to celebrate our big adventures, so there were a few bottles of airline sized red wines and “cheers mate” in row 18. It was kinda fun and I felt very excited to be traveling again, an achievement in itself considering I hadn’t slept properly for two days and the journey definitely wasn’t [View Full Entry]

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Overcast, 35c Remember those two things when you come to Samoa and you’ll be right! The dogs are mostly friendly but you've got to be careful and it's rude to wear your shoes inside (I forgot a few times and felt bad!). Apart from that I’m really unsure what to say about Samoa. Not because it’s terrible, it’s just not terribly exciting. Very very conservative too. Da Vinci Code banned, church bells ringing every afternoon and you go outside to pray and Sundays.. well… there is absolutely nothing to do. Everything shuts and leisure activities are discouraged. F [View Full Entry]

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Mainly fine, 30c Chased by prostitutes, harassed by touts and barked at by wild packs of roaming dogs, welcome to paradise Suva style! You’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in Bombay or Calcutta, not only because of the presence of Indian Fijians but the environment - grotty streets, a harbour that’s a festering cesspool of filth and rat infested parks. Even the hardcore traveler’s bible Lonely Planet struggles for positives and advises “hide your money”, “beware of touts and sword sellers”, “always catch a taxi at night” and &ldqu [View Full Entry]

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Fine but partly cloudy - 28c Where the bloody hell are ya?? I’m staying at a very very swish dorm room at a resort by myself. There are 6 empty beds in two areas and my stuff is strewn everyone. Private verandah, exotic pool, cheap bar and very very friendly people. The ‘Wild Pig Hotel’ would be paradise even if the room was full!! For the first time on my trip I got a big dose of home sickness (or is that love sick ness?!) when I was dining in the restaurant. Surrounded by Aussies on romantic getaways I dined alone [View Full Entry]

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Partly cloudy & strong winds - 25c It has begun!!!! On arrival at La Tontouta airport I needed to find out where the bus stop was, so I asked in my best french and got a reply I'd never heard before: ‘Il ny’a pas buses.. something something’ (translate: there are no buses.. something something). Very strange?! I asked someone else and got the same reply. I looked up the ‘something’ word in my phrase book, it read "strike". The buses were not running because the workers demanded an extra 5mins lunch break (seriously... 5mins?!?) and were on strike. It cost me [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Home Hello!! This will be my virtual home when I'm away from Australia. So feel free to make yourself welcome! I'll update this page as much as I can, post pictures and let ya know what's going on. Feel free to add a few comments, I'd appreciate the feedback and it's ALWAYS good to hear from people when you're overseas. All the important stuff you need is at the bottom of the page - comments, message me, country info etc.. You can also subscribe and when I put a new entry in it'll email a link to click on. I'll [View Full Entry]

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