This will be a long blog starting at 12AM on April 18 and not ending until 11PM of the same day. The blog starts with me going to Canberra greyhound bus station. I thought Canberra seemed like a boring city but on my way to the bus station the streets were filled with college age kids running around and partying in the streets. A lot of people were shouting at me on my way to the bus station. Taking a bus in Cambodia can be dangerous and taking a bus in Canada and USA is not comfortable. I was not looking forward to the Australian bus but it was comfortable and it had charging ports at each seat which helped a lot. I was able to sleep through most of the ride so I woke up ... read more

Everyone should have a bucket list. A list of things you swear to do before you die. #2 on my bucket list is hugging a Koala. To do this I would have to head to Queensland state in Australia. Most other states in Australia allow you to see Koalas and get close but not touch them. So I did some research and located Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary near Brisbane. They allow you to hug them but keep strict limits on how long the Koalas do this in a day. So the key is to get there early so you don't miss your opportunity. The hostel has free breakfast so I helped myself to some toast and jam. I was planning on taking a bus to the sanctuary and the train to the Gold Coast. After some ... read more

Woke up that morning and went looking somewhere to have breakfast. I could have just gotten something at the convenience store but since I was going to be doing a lot of walking that day I opted for a full breakfast. I found a nice restaurant that served breakfast nearby and had a regular breakfast of egg sandwich with bacon along with some orange juice. It was not cheap being almost $11 dollars. I reminded myself to try to stay within budget for the rest of my Aussie trip. First stop on the day was another post office. I should explain that I send a lot of postcards while traveling it does save me the trouble of buying gifts and bringing them in my luggage. This time I was posting a package to New Zealand. It ... read more

Today I would start out in Phnom Penh and by the end of the day I would be in Australia. I left the hostel in the morning to look for some breakfast place. Specifically I was looking for a place that served Durian. Durian is a large spiky fruit with a very sweet, almost custard like seed inside. It is native to South east asia and is known as the King of Fruits. Part of the reason is because the size of the spike fruit and the very strong smell it gives off. It is one of my favourite foods and I wanted to eat it at the source. I tried to politely decline the numerous tuk tuk drivers I past along the way. After wandering around for awhile I settled at a place that looked ... read more

Waking up that morning at 6AM I showered and packed as quietly as I could. I went downstairs and took a Tuk Tuk to the transport company that would take me to the capital. I had gotten advise from the hostel to take a van to capital because it was faster. BAD ADVICE. It was a 12 seat van and I managed to grab a window seat and shortly after 7AM we were on our way. The other van passengers were all Cambodian nationals and was not really built for tourists. It was fairly crowded and the air conditioning did not work that well. Once the van got going I wished I had went with the Giant Ibis bus instead. I did not put this incident on my facebook daily blog but on the way out ... read more