Sydney is surrounded by some beautiful places and one place that I had on my list of 'to do's' was the Blue Mountains. It's a mountainous area consisting of a sandstone plateau that includes gorges up to 760 metres in depth, and has high points up to 1,190 metres. It's namesake is derived from the blue tinge the range takes on when viewed from a distance. My housemate Kate also mentioned that she would like visit too, so we decided to go to Katoomba which is about 100km from Sydney and provides a good base for exploring the area. We left on a hot and sunny Saturday morning and made our way on the train out to the Blue Mountains area. Once we were out of the suburbs of Sydney the scenery was pretty amazing. We ... read more

I know this blog has been 6 months in the pipeline, but it does actually carry on from the previous one, I just forgot about it whilst I was busy working in Sydney....!! So we left Tin Can bay having hand fed the dolphins and made our way down the coast as far as Noosa. Noosa National Park is a headland that covers an area almost 23 square kilometres and has many coves and beaches backed by forest. It's a very picturesque area and there are many walking tracks to discover. We decided we would walk one of the routes that was 4km or so and took us along the coastal path. The weather wasn't particularly great as it was drizzly but it was still warm and pleasant enough to walk in. There are many koalas ... read more

This blog begins in Townsville, where we arrived quite late in the evening and set ourselves up at a campsite. Our impression of our whistlestop visit was positive, Townsville seemed to have an upmarket French feel to it with a picturesque marina and colonial style buildings. The following morning we decided we would go over to Magnetic island which is just offshore from Townsville and is roughly 50% national park with some lovely bays and beaches to explore. The name of the island came about because of the apparent "magnetic" effect it had on the ship's compass of Captain Cook as he passed the island when sailing up the east coast of Australia in 1770. We spent a few hours relaxing on Horseshoe beach, one of the largest stretches of beach on the island before having ... read more

I left Ubud and headed to the north of Bali, to a town called Lovina, recommended by Lisa whom I had met in Singapore (Hi Lisa if you're reading this!!). Lovina isn't your typical beach-side resort as it's made up from black volcanic sand so it's spectacular in a different way. The bus journey from Ubud had lovely views as we went over a mountainous area and then made our descent with views of the coast and where we were heading down below. The town is a lot smaller and quieter than Ubud which was a nice change after the hectic schedule of sightseeing in Ubud. Also on Lisa's recommendation I checked into a cheap hotel called Angkosa that had a good location and an AMAZING pool area. Ellin (from Sweden) and Carlos (from Brazil) who ... read more

Finally I left my beloved Thailand; home to me for 3 months (minus the 2 weeks in Cambodia and Laos) and made my way alone to Singapore. It's very strange when you've been with people for so long, to suddenly be on your own again, not having anyone to consult with...especially when you are so awful at making decisions like myself! I had 4 days to explore Singapore, I wasn't sure if this would be too much but actually when I was leaving, I wanted to stay longer!! I managed to fit a lot into 4 days so I'm afraid this may be a long Blog! A bit of background info for you: Singapore is an island nation located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It is one of the few remaining city-states in ... read more