Down Under

---

G'day! Strewth! Crikey! Can ya guess where I am yet?? That's right, the home of the bearded music playing vet man who coined a similar phrase to that one, Australia!!

Obviously, despite the fact that I've entered the Southern hemisphere for the first time has made no difference to the speed which time seems to be moving at, and I've appparently already been down under for a week and a day! Which doesn't seem at all right.

I got into Cairns early last week after a sleep deprived flight through the middle of the night from Singapore and spent my first three nights there. On my final day there I splashed out for the first time during my visit and went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Being certified and right next door to it, there isn't really a valid excuse not to, is there?

It was a really good day. There were two dives, the first of which wasn't great. The skipper managed to blame the moon, wind, waves, floods and bad luck, to mention just a few, when trying to explain why everyone was having to deal with such strong currents and poor visibility. The second dive was everything you'd expect a dive in the Great Barrier Reef should be though. Immense fish, warm water, great visibility and something to look at in every direction you turned.

This was also my first unguided dive, me and my 'buddy' Sandro the Italian heading off into the unknown all alone. To be honest Sandro was harder to keep a track of than most of the fish, but we managed to successfully make our way back to the boat in the end. Which is always a bonus.

From Cairns I got onto my Oz Experience bus for the first time, in the early hours of Monday morning and made my way to my first 'hop-off' point - Mission Beach. By the way for those that don't know, before I left Britain I bought my bus ticket, which entitles me to hop on and hop off at various stops along the East coast as I make my way to Sydney. This is a massive bonus as everything here costs a ridiculous amount of money, and my daily budget is veeeery small.

Anyway, Mission Beach wasn't really worth the stop off. It was one of the unfortunate places to be battered by Cyclone Yasi. So it was a bit of a ghost town, with not very much to do, which meant that the next day I was off again, this time to Magnetic Island, near the city of Townesville.

This was a much bettter decision, it was a fairly awesome place. Like Lanta in Thailand it was island life as island life should be. Slow, quiet, relaxed and hot. I was there for 3 nights, the first one very fun, the second one featuring toad racing (exactly what it sounds like) and the third one quite quiet. During the days I went for a couple of bush walks which resulted in me sweating a lot more than I thought was humanly possible as I ignored the advice to go early in the morning. All the sweat would have been well worthwhile had I managed to spot any of the wild Koalas. But I did not.

As I'm sure most of you know I am on my own for this particular two months of the trip, Chris is instead spending two months touring Indonesia whilst I'm in Oz and New Zealand. He has started a blog himself and asked me to give you a friendly nudge in its direction. You should be able to find it at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ChrisEllis/

Our final stop was Singapore and we were both suitibly impressed by the city. The downtown area was incredible and featured one of the cooler football pitches we'd ever seen, floating in the harbour with the immense backdrop of the financial district behind it. We ended our trip with a casual 'Singapore Sling' in the famous Raffles Hotel. Just the sixty Singapore dollars for two!! It was our last hurrah though, so our budget lifestyle went out of the window briefly.

For those worried that there won't be as many comical moments of idiocy (or Chrissisms as I've decided to term them) featured in this blog over the coming months, worry not. I have two crackers to keep you going.

Number one, on our final night in Singapore Chris pulls out his wallet to proudly count the 'Indonesian money' that he's "been carrying round for two months". It was Thai baht. Obviously. Which we really could have done with in Thailand...

Number two, and this is in no way a joke, he lost another card to an ATM machine in Indonesia. He recovered it the next day, but the point remains.

Unbelievable. For those counting his card stats, they stand at two blocked PINs and two swallowed cards. So... Make of that what you will.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and good and everything is awesome wherever you may be.

Speak soon,

Si

X

---

Comments

[Mum]

..... Finally!!
Well g'day Si we were beginning to think you had gone walkabout! Tis good to hear from you with some actual news! What a great week you have had by the sounds of it. We loved the pics of you in Singapore but I think the house that was my first home had definitely had a visit from Grand Designs 'cos it really didn't look like that way back then! Take care in all that sunshine, go easy with the 'tinnies' - oh and steer clear of the 'snags' - not good. Looking forward to chatting soon, miss you loads :<). Hugs! Mum xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Grand Parents R]

Greetings from "Chirk"
Hi Si, thanks for the Email good to hear of your progress it all sounds such a great trip. We enjoyed the latest blog you have packed such a lot into such a short time and Chris continues to entertain! Shame about the cost of a tinny (what a good job that you are a strict "T" totaler)!!!A good excuse to practice being one anyway. As you can see from the title we are out on the maden trip in the caravan we are camped near Chirk Castle, the weather has been very kind to us (for March that is) sunny days buy cooooold nights, We fulfilled a long standing ambition yesterday by walking over the Aquaduct (can't spell it's name) and through the long tunnel today, not in your league we know but we enjoyed it. The trial trip has proved very successful and we managed to entertain your Mum & Dad together with Mike & Cal to dinner this evening. Mike and Cal slept in the awning last night but it proved too chilly to brave a second night, so like true "wimps" they have all gone home and left us to our owm devices. We look forward to the next installment best wishes for now N&G XX

[elizabeth.morris]

Good'day Mate!
Dear Simon, I'm Chris' Nannie still reading your blog as well as Chris'. I hope you love Aussie as much as I do, I'm following you down the Barrier Reef,the travelling distances are huge,expect there weremiles and miles of sugar cane. My friend Margaret and I also went to Raffles in Singapore, as you say for the well worth it, expensive Singapore Sling! Enjoy yourself, keep safe,love O Z, Love from Chris' Nannie

[anna]

hey hey simon, its good that you are having a good time. miss you now, hurry home chap, come and see your favourite cousin! we can do some more career counsilling if you like. ;) i laughedd. hope you're doing all well, and having a lovely timee. tooodles. :)