End of Aus, beginning of Malaysia

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After going to Cape Tribulation and Port Mcquarie we decided to have a couple of days just relaxing. I wasn’t feeling very well either as my cold was slowly getting worse. But on our first night back Nick won a prize in the weekly pool competition to go on a jungle swing. So the next day we got picked up from our hostel and taken to the rainforest where there was a bungy site. Basically Nick and a friend had to put in body harnesses and were then winched up into the rainforest where they then had to pull a rope which released them. They then swung through the jungle, back and forth about 6 times. They really enjoyed it and Nick thought it was much more worth while than the bungy as it lasted a lot longer, was a lot cheaper and you got a really good view. After that we had to go into town and buy a new camera as ours had just decided for no apparent reason not to work. We ended up buying a new Kodak one for $160 which seems to be working pretty well at the moment. That was our last day in Cairns so in the evening we were forced to go out into town and celebrate with all the friends we’d made up there. It was a really good night although we ended up staying out until 1am and had to get up at 4.30am for our flight!! The flight from Cairns to Brisbane was probably the worst yet due to our hangovers! Luckily it only took 2hrs and we were soon off the plane and on to a train headed for the Gold Coast.
We’d arranged to be picked up by a friend who we’d met in Thailand and stay at his house in Surfers Paradise for the 4 nights we were there. It was a really nice sunny day so once we’d dropped our bags we went down to their swimming pool and relaxed. Nick tried to push one of the other guys into the pool though and ended up falling backwards through the fence, leaving a nice big gap! Luckily it was just a corrugated iron one and was easily put back together. The next day was really miserable so we decided to rent out some films and have a relaxing day. It was actually quite nice to just sit down on a comfy sofa and watch films. The next day we were originally planning to go camping but the weather wasn’t brilliant and we ended up heading into Brisbane to go climbing. They took us to a really nice spot right on the river which had loads of climbing opportunities and seating areas with BBQs. We’d brought some sausages with us and while the boys set up the climbing ropes another girl and I started cooking up some sausages and onions. After lunch Nick was the first to climb and the only one to make it all the way to the top, which really surprised us considering he hadn’t done any exercise for 11months! He did come back down with blisters on his hands though because we didn’t have any chalk and the rocks were heating up in the sun. I waited until the end and decided to abseil instead of climb because my upper body strength is pretty poor. So I went to the top and got clipped in but as usual it didn’t all go to plan. At the top there was a ledge you had to go over and as I stood on top of it I slipped and landed on my bum with my feet up in the air above my head! I managed to get back into a standing position but as I went to go over the ledge I slipped again and got my finger caught between the rope and the rock giving me a nice big cut. After that it all went fine although I just wanted to get down on the ground and Nick kept stopping me and telling me to look at the view! Our friend went down after me and made me feel a lot better when he slipped as well. That evening we all decided to treat ourselves and go out for dinner in town. We were taken to Outback Jacks, a steakhouse right on the river with an excellent view of Surfers Paradise. The meals were pretty expensive at $30+ for a 250g steak, but they also had an Outback Jacks Challenge which was $40. Basically it was a 1kg steak, 500g wedges and 500g veg and if you ate it in under 30mins you got it for half price. Well we decided instead to just buy one and ask for two plates so that we could split it, therefore only spending $20 each and getting double the amount of steak you would for $30….ingenious! Saying that however we did then go on to have a few beers and a couple of bottles of wine which brought our share of the bill up to $90…oops! We didn’t end up leaving until about 11.30pm so I went straight to bed, Nick on the other hand ended up staying outside drinking until 5am! Due to the boys staying up drinking the plans for our next day were also changed, mainly because they didn’t get up until midday. So instead of going down to the beach for seafood we went to the harbour and bought some to eat back at the house. It was really nice to spend our last day in Australia relaxing and eating some decent food. For lunch we had chilli prawns, Moreton Bay bugs (ugly looking crayfish), garlic squid and mussels and prawns with mango and avocado….all washed down with a nice white wine. Oh and we also had scallop slammers for starters; its where you have a shot glass with bubbly in then throw a hot scallop in straight from the pan and down it…some strange Kiwi thing…tasted quite nice though. In the evening we had steak and greek salad for dinner and a cheese platter with meat and grapes for pudding, all washed down with a nice red wine this time. It was delicious! Much nicer than the boring chicken fried rice we’re eating on a daily basis now!
Our friend was kind enough to drop us at the airport at 8am ready for our 10am flight. However when we arrived there was a massive queue for the Air Asia check-in. We were told after a 30minute wait that the computer systems were down so they had to check everyone in manually; we ended up waiting for 2hrs to check-in. We then went through security, this time with no extra checks, and were then put straight through on to the plane. I’m not really sure why they put us on the plane because we still had to wait another 2hrs before departure. I can easily say it was not one of our best flights, firstly we had 3 kids sat next to us whose parents had decided to sit in business class and leave them unattended… they were so loud and annoying! Secondly we had the worst turbulence ever and were constantly being retold to put our seatbelts on and lastly because it was a cheap Air Asia flight nothing was included but because the computers had been down at check-in we couldn’t order any food or drink. So for the 8hr flight (plus the 2hr delay) we were stuck with 1 pot noodle each and a can of sprite to share!
When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur airport we picked up our bags and went to the taxi counter to see how much it would cost to get to the city, we were told 66ringits which is about £13 (a lot in Asia). We thought the city was quite close and they were just trying to rip us off so we walked around trying to find a cheaper way. As we were doing so a man asked if we wanted to share his taxi as his company had already paid for it (he works for Air Asia). So we jumped in and off we went, thinking it would take about 10mins. It actually ended up taking us about 50mins as it was a 70km drive! We finally arrived at our hostel at 8pm and were extremely hungry, so we went out for a massive dinner. On our second day in Kuala Lumpur we booked a bus to Kuala Perlis which is where you catch the ferry to Langkawi, one of the only Malaysian islands we hadn’t yet visited.
We’re now in Langkawi and are settling back in to living the island life: lie-ins, followed by a few hours at the beach before lunch, back to the beach for a bit longer, lying in the hammock outside our room, dinner out and then to a bar to meet some more travelers….perfect. Well almost perfect, yesterday we got heat rash and have had to stay out of the sun ever since!
We’re not sure how long we’ll stay here before heading inland to Teman Negara, it probably depends if we can find a room for Chinese New Year or not.

Hope all is well back in the UK and its warming up a bit for you! 😊

Love us both, as always xxxxxxxxxxx

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