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Time is now running away from us and I can't believe how much I have to cover before I get to where we are now in Vietnam. Not loads left of Oz to fill you in on but I'll start with that. I last left you just before our trip to Fraser Island which was so much fun, one of the better weekends we've had in Australia weather wise which was amazing as we were able to enjoy the amazing Island with loads of sun. The trip invovled us joining a group with 12 others, our fabulous guide Mick, 3 jeeps and enough food to feed a small army. For 2 days we were to explore the huge sand island in our 4x4's visiting all its most important spots like the amazing Lake McKenzie, the huge sand dune at Lake Wabby, Eli Creek and feeding some wee turtles at Lake Allom. We had such a great time and had the best tour food I think I've ever had thanks to our slightly mad but very lovely guide Mick, which of course made it a winner for Tom and I!! The weekend didn't come and go without its drama's as 12 novious
Getting to know our tour group
I still think we should have put Tom up top!jeep drivers taking their first lesson on a huge wet sand island was bound to have an issue or two, not least the hour we all thought we were going to have to say our goodbyes. One of the girls on our tour insisted on driving through one of the really difficult sections with huge holes all throughout the track and not much seperating us from the track we were barely on and a huge sand cliff to our left. Apparently getting used to driving on the right hand side of a car is easier said than done as we continued to veer closer and closer to the edge despite our whole car full pleading loudly in unison to move to the right. Our suggestions for Tom to drive again as one of the safest options fell on deaf ears and we ploughed on finally stopping at the next stop with some very white knuckles and speeding heartrates. No damage done as we let a few others give it a go with a lot more success. We had a great night as we set up our camp, tents campfire for some melted marshmallows and a drink or two, followed by
Fraser island gets Morrellified photos!
The rest of my group loved me for it...honest some games on the beach which of course went to a new level as Morrell competitviness entered the ring, having two older brothers has defiantly made me some what anti social when it comes to an evening of fun and games, which must end in me on the winning team which of course add's a little too much seriousity (uni word not just my very bad english!)to a random game of spinning. Day 2 included our first dingo sighting, swim in the Champagne pools and my turn to drive on the beach, drove into a few more waves than my car load would have liked but I think I did an ok job. The way home gave us a stunning sunset to end a fantastic weekend with some really nice people, def one of our Austraila highlights.
The next day however brought a wee trauma of its own as Tom's front tooth fell out, I realise now that my inital reaction of devastation was a lot more selfish than I intended it to be, worrying mainly about the rest of our trips photo's and not poor Tom and how he was feeling-opps, my bad-the poor boy puts up with a
Tom working the nappy look
Tom had to go in a little further than expected as I accidently dropped my purse with all our money to the bottom of Eli Creek-oops! lot I know! The rest of our time in Hervey Bay continued to deliever the sun we had been craving and it held out as we made our way up to Agnes water and 1770, a very tiny little town that gave us another very cheap opportunity to do some more surfing. So much fun with the photos to prove just how good we were getting...or how quick the photographer was pressing the button. We had a few more long journeys as we made our way up the coast, through sleepy Emu Park and onto Airlie beach the home of the Whitsundays. Unfortunatly our time here didn't manage to include a trip to the amazing islands as money and my last sailing experience were putting a dampner on the idea, plus we still had the Great Barrier reef to look forward to. So although we were abit gutted to miss out we figured we still have enough to look forward to on the rest of our trip.
So onwards and upwards with the next stop being another some what sleepy town but we had a great time in Townsville. The sun was out the whole time we were there and
we had a lovely few days topping up our long lost tans, having our first experiences of stinger nets in the sea and generally just chilling out as we are now very accustomed too! Our last stop in Oz was the lovely Cairns, we had such a great few days some of the best weather so far, Tom squeezed in some late night United loyalty as the boys in red won the league much to his obvious delight, I purchased a late birthday present from all my family-a pair of Uggs which I'm completly in love with thanks guys (not exactly what I need in 30 degree heat but they'll go down a treat this winter) and I got to tick off the first of many things on this years list-snorkelling the great barrier reef. Although we got a really bad day for it, lots and lots of wind which made swimming much harder than usual and visability a good bit less than we had hoped it was still an amazing experience. The journey out there involved some more dreaded sea sickness but thankfully it didn't effect the trip at all and we were able to make the most of
Not quite getting it
I even make falling as dramatic as possible an incredible afternoon. A real dream come true to see it and not a glimpse of any sharks which made for a less nerve racking swim. A perfect way to finish off what has been another fantastic part of our trip.
We had such a great time in Austrailia, managed to only bump one of our two rental cars (bonus) and saw some amazing things as well as catching up with family and friends which was fantastic but when our 8weeks there had come to an end we were more than ready to move on. Our bank balance has taken more than a severe hit and we are excited to get straight back into the thick of it with some proper exploring again, language difficulites, dorm rooms, random foods and cheap cheap cheap here we come. After another long flight (which I'm slowly getting abit more used too, still not a lover of flying and there's still the odd tear here and there but my year of jet setting and throwing myself out of a plane has lessened the panic a little, although you may have to check that with Tom I'm not sure he or his sore hand would
Doing it like a pro
How long did it last though?? completly agree!) we landed in Singapore, tiny but amazing wee place. The streets and everything in them and around them are clean and shiney puts most places at home to shame with not the slightest glimpse of rubbish, chewing gum or graffiti anywhere-its all complety gleaming, the heavy fines for being naughty may have something to do with that though. Singapore dropped us straight back into the world of backpackers with a thud as we entered our biggest yet dorm room with 20 beds, full of people just waiting for lights out or an early morning to rustle some plastic, zip and unzip a few bags and clip together anything that can and will be clipped. Much to our amusement there was a few bed time bickerings with other members of our sleep over party as tensions grew thin and huge sighs, followed by snide remarks were whispered and a time or two shouted into the dark at the unsuspecting rustler..I of course couldn't stiffle my giggles probably much to the annoyance of the already grumpy travellers opposite us. Dorm room living is back! Although we had a lovely time looking around the city in a new wave of heat-the
heavy humid kind of heat, saw some lovely buildings and had a somewhat dodgy experience in one of their famous hakwer centres as we dined with the locals on unknown foods, Singapores highlight was definatly our chance meeting with the lovely Shaun (one of Tom's oldest and best friends). Amazingly Shaun's work schedule had him on a very rare day off the only saturday we were gonna be there as well which was brilliant. So weird meeting and catching up half way across the world but it was so much fun and amazing to hear all the stories from home and for the first and no doubt last time in my life be more tanned than Shuan was, much to his annoyance I might add!!! We met Shaun and some of his work mates over in Sentosa Island which was great, all a bit surreal as we were moved on from a pool side couch in a fancy bar area as the minimum spend to plonk your bum was a meager $1,000. Shaun and I tried our hand, very unsuccesfully at some trapese tricks which was fun but uber scary, yet another scream fest and stupid photo session. Our goodbyes
with Shaun weren't too bad as another stroke of luck our connecting flight to Bali leaves us most of a day in Singapore a few weeks from now when brilliantly Shaun will again have landed and be free for a few hours catch up before his crazy week of 12 hour days kicks in again.
Which leaves me only with where we are now in the crazy crazy city of Ho Chi Mhin or Saigon. Our first few days in Asia was lulling us into a false sense of security, air conditioned, clean, english speaking, organised Singapore it didn't take long to realise Vietnam was a very different kettle of fish. Landing wasn't an issue for us but a few of our fellow passengers got a bit of a shock as they arrived at customs with no pre letter for their visa application which meant that they were being told they would need to fly straight back to Singapore as they would not be granted entry-gutted! A good lesson for us to continue checking and double checking all the entry requirements before each new country. The same wave of sweaty Singapore heat hit us as we left the airport for
Great Barrier Reef
Camera kept breaking so not the best shot we could have taken but hope you get a bit of the idea our taxi journey to our hostel but that's where the similarities ended. We were only moments in our taxi literally metres out of the airport when we got our first experience of just some of the 4.5 million mopeds that are zooming around this crazy city. Our first experience will hopefully not become the norm though as our taxi driver proceeded to bump into one of the unsuspecting bikers with very little if any remorse he beeped the horn in annoyance as the shocked and now not so happy moped driver had come to a near stop in front of us, this was not what our driver wanted as he carried on driving as though nothing had happend, so realising the driver wasn't biting the moped guy cut his loses and carried on going-welcome to Saigon. So we arrived at our hostel unscathed if a little wide eyed, immediatly getting to experience some of the colour, noises and smells of this busy place. We are only two days in to our Vietnamese adventure but so far loving it, Tom's best yet is a 30p beer (we've been told he will eventually find 10p ones we just have to look a
Our mate Max
Crazy big fish that was eating from my hand in the middle of the ocean at the Great Barrier Reef-amazing bit better for those) and we've been on a city tour, didn't fancy a look around on our own amoung the cities 9 million residents. Already learning loads about the history of this amazing country (Dad you'll be very pleased with my new found love, which is even strecthing to keeping up with the comings and goings of the likes of Obama and good old Queeny as she arrived in Ireland for what seems like a really amazing step towards reconciliation which has been a long time coming. Its amazing how many people from all sides of the planet, some of whom only have limited information about either country have still commented along the way how odd it is for Tom and I to be together being from Ireland and England). Our excitement over cheap food, drinks and treats like massages has been slightly stunted today as I had my first one which invovled a women walking on my back and pretty much thumping me continuously for 15 of my 40 mins with her, not amused especially when she told us at the end the options for tipping were as followed, excellent-$5, good-$3 or none which funnily enough still cost
Tom the expert snorkeller...
Do you think he knows your not meant to let water in through that top bit??? $2...interesting. I think I'll stick to manicures and pedicures for my wee treats while we're here...good luck Tom. So we're really back into the thick of proper travelling and abusive massage aside so far loving it(minus of course the nation wide ban on facebook here-ggrr!). Heading to the Mekong delta for a two day tour to a few floating markets and countless other rural excitements which we're looking forward too loads. So I'll get going for now and apologise in advance for the realitive silence the next few weeks may bring to some of you who are used to us bobbing in and out of facebook-back to good old fashioned email for now. Love to everyone, the homeward bound journey is on, we'll see you all soon x
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Loved the blogg. Not too much to say as already spoke to you quite recently. Love to you both xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx