Geo: 4.47134, 118.605Click on pictures to enlarge - will help with "critters". All underwater pictures and the 3 pictures of Sipdan are courtesy of Mathew Lee.Arrived in Kota Kinabalu and after a little difficulty (taxi driver did not know where our hostel was) arrived at Masada Backpackers which is very clean, comfortable, friendly with great breakfasts included (help yourself any time of day) and the only down side being the walls which have the same soundproofing capacity as newspaper. It was a pleasant stay, and from the town, which is mainly post war but not what you could call modern, we made a couple of excursions. One was to the Kinabalu Park which is the area from which walkers start their climb up Mount Kinabalu (4095 m). Despite the books all recommending it as a good ... read more

Geo: 2.21594, 102.253From Kuala Lumpur we took the bus to the Cameron Highlands (over 5,000 feet high), a strange area which provides a break from the high temperature and humidity of the coastal plain, and which combines British style buildings with Malay, Chinese and Indian and has a golf course reminiscent of the Crowborough Beacon course. There are tea plantations as well as a huge range of small farming enterprises seemingly growing all types of vegetables, fruit and flowers. Strawberries are big here, grown in shelving 3 or 4 stacks deep, and each strawberry farm has a shop attached selling everything you can think of disguised as a strawberry! There is no season so they are available all year round but without much taste as they are forced. Large areas of land are given over to ... read more

Geo: -8.68333, 115.433 Nusa Lembongan is a small island about 4 miles long and 1 to 2 miles wide, close to the larger island of Nusa Penida, and 12 miles from the mainland, but a world away from the bustle of Bali. I think this is how Bali used to be 30 to 40 years ago. There isn't a jetty so it is necessary to jump out of the small ferry boat into the sea. I did worry about our cases but the boatmen managed to keep them dry. There is a village on the beach and the few small hotels and hostels are dotted throughout the village and at a couple of other beaches. We are staying at Mainski Resort which does not have free wifi or hot water as claimed on it's website but ... read more

Geo: -12.4613, 130.842This is just a few final pictures of Australia in order to log a stop in Darwin otherwise the blog would draw a line straight from Alice Springs to Bali. ... read more

Geo: -32.1617, 116.054 After 2 weeks at Yardie Homestead we started our return journey to Perth. First we returned to Coral Bay and stayed 3 nights so we would have plenty of time to snorkel off the beach on the reef. We did go out on a boat snorkelling excursion which was good. The morning snorkel was very pleasant with good coral and lots of turtles. After a sausage sizzle lunch, ( a little disappointing, one sausage in a bread roll ), we moored on the outer reef and could snorkel as close to where the breakers came over the edge of the reef as we were able. The skipper warned us that the currents didn't make sense as the wind was strong, and the high tide was coming in over the reef in the opposite ... read more