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G'Day Folks!
Sorry it has been such a long time, we have been waiting for the return of the laptop.
As a lot has happened since the last post we will start by telling you all about the few weeks we spent in Koh Tao after the last post. Firstly Viks never really managed to master the art of scooter riding, she ventured out all of about three times on her own before the inevitable accident occured. Don't worry though folks apart from a few scratches on the bike and a big dent in her pride Viks was ok.
While touring the island one day we noticed a crazy golf course and bowling alley and decided it would be fun to have a game of both. First up was bowling, we went in expecting something quite civilised, however what we found Fred Flintstone wouldn't have been out of place in. Firstly they provided us with a blank sheet of paper and a pen to record our scores, then they turned on the lights to reveal the lanes, and lets say a British road would have provided a smoother surface. Still this isn't the weirdest part of the experience, just after we had selected the boulders (cos thats what the balls looked like) that we would bowl with we were told we needed to wait for the poor Thai guy who had to sit behind the pins while we bowled. His job was to stand the pins back up and roll the boulders back to us. Neither of us could bowl as we were laughing so much especially when Rik nearly took his head off with a stray pin. We did have the bowling alley booked for one hour but decided we couldn't play more than one game so outside we went for a game of crazy golf.
The game started off ok with Viks only losing by a small margin to Rik, but then came the hole from hell. From memory we think you had to hit the ball up a hill and through a small hole. Rik managed it with a few attempts but Viks wasn't so lucky. Twenty minutes and thirty seven shots later Viks managed to complete the hole. With the game obviously out of Viks reach she had nothing to lose and went all out scoring a hole in one on the next hole. Rik wasn't exactly Tiger Woods himself after he managed to hit the ball into the stream/ditch that flowed under one of the holes.
The final days were spent diving and touring the island to take pictures. Rik got some great shots that we will post on the site.
Finally we had to say a sad goodbye to Koh Tao and head on to pastures new, we stayed a night on Koh Samui again and then flew back up to Bangkok. The plane back was really small with propellers and looked like something from an Indiana Jones movie. We were unlucky enough to be sat behind the two fattest men in the world - Viks was nearly knocked unconscious everytime the man in front changed position, but we got to giggle when it took them about five minutes to get themselves out of the seats at the end of the flight.
The flight to Sydney was uneventful but the same can't be said for the trip through customs. After filling in our anything to declare forms we happily put our backpacks on the conveyor belt to be scanned thinking we had nothing to hide. Wrong. Viks was immediately pulled to one side and asked a series of questions, "Is this your bag? Are you aware of what is in the bag?" They just stopped short of reading her her rights. Nearly in tears Viks opened the bag to reveal the offending items - her walking boots. The customs officer, a matronly woman (and thats being generous) asked where the boots had been worn, to which Viks told her Africa. The officer didn't seem too bothered by the fact they had been worn in one of the most disease ridden continents in the world, just that they originated from that dirty place, England. After leaving Viks to sweat while she disinfected the boots she returned to issue a verbal warning and to tell Viks she would be on the customs list and would be fined if she didn't declare anything again.
After a nine hour flight and the customs fiasco we were looking forward to settling into a nice cosy hostel. Not to be. The hostel was terrible, the room smelt of urine and there were stains everywhere (no comment). We quickly dropped our bags off for fear of being overpowered by the toxic smell and headed out to sight see. Bondi was as cool as we had imagined it would be and we walked on the beach and promenade before heading off for an evening meal at one of the sea front restaurants as a treat.
The next day we headed into the city to complete the opening of the Aussie bank account. While there we happened to stumble across a travel agents that had furnished apartments to rent. We viewed a couple of the apartments there and decided one was absolutely perfect for us. We quickly went back to the hovel, I mean hostel and packed our bags.
The first night we moved in was the gay mardi gras. Rik got out his feather boa and best sequinned g-string and we headed down to the parade. It was really good, lots of Kylie music and men in clothes that would make Julian Clary blush.
The next task was to get Viks a job. After a couple of days of non stop agency visits, Viks managed to get a job at
Macquaire bank, one of the biggest banks in Australia. The job is going well but nothing exciting to report on that.
Since we are here for the year we haven't done much sight seeing yet. We have however visited the opera house and harbour bridge. We have also been to Darling Harbour where we had a look around a naval destroyer and a submarine. Viks couldn't believe how small the submarine was, God knows what she was expecting! Rik really enjoyed looking round the submarine at all the equipment, where as Viks got more enjoyment looking at how small the toilets and shower room were.
Finally we attended the Anzac Day parade and got some good pics of the veterans which we will post as usual. The day was brilliant and it really made you realise what the people who fought in the wars went through. Its nice to see that they celebrate it with such gusto, perhaps its something we should learn from in the UK. The marching bands were really good, a lot of them were children from the local schools. Everyone had a great day.
Anyway folks I think that brings you right up to date. Phew what a post.
Vik and Rik
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Scott
non-member comment
Sydney
Do some sight seeing already!