Leo and Sonny on Tour - Thailand & OzThailand:
Chiang Mai
We arrived in Chiang Mai not really knowing what to expect - a bit like Vietnam, but a richer economy perhaps? This turned out to be fairly accurate based upon first impressions. The airport was a bit scary with a lot of
Chiang Mai was fairly nice to look at and had a pleasant climate as it is quite high up. After checking into another www.wotif.com discount special, we ventured outside to walk towards the old town to find some temples. We were immediately rewarded with lots of typically Thai (from photos I had seen), brightly coloured, intricately detailed buildings. Outside the first was a woman selling little birds in small cages which you were expected to buy so you could set them free outside the temples. At first I missed the significance of this and got a bit grumpy with the lady for being so nasty to small birds, but then I just decided to be mildly miffed in case it was a religious thing rather than just preying on our western sympathy for small, imprisoned animals. After a long walk around the old town trying to decipher the map, we found the main temple which is the largest in the city. Inside we were expected to dress respectfully and so we had trousers on and had to take our shoes off. I am glad it was that way round. The place was interesting with a large golden Buddha, intricate wall carvings and some American tourists. The surrounding gardens were beautiful too.
On the way out we fell victim to one of the famous 'sales chat-ups' where they get you talking about something random - just pretending they are a friendly person to get you talking, then spring a sales rap on you after 15 minutes of chatter, after which you feel obliged not to just walk away saying 'sorry, not interested'. This guy pretended to be a lawyer who was on his day off, just sitting outside the biggest tourist place in Chiang Mai. For a laugh like.... mmmmmm. In the end we felt obliged to promise a visit to his sister's, brother's, friends' silk house where they happened to be having an extra special sale as it was the king's birthday, so we had to go today, and we had to mention his name. We were really on to them now... no more mistakes like that.
TO be perfectly honest, after 3 countries with serious temple action, the whole place just didn't get us excited. We tried very hard, and perhaps because I wasn't too well, I believe that we made a semi-conscious decision that we were not going to go and see any more temples or churches. We spent the next few days in the hotel room trying to ignore a pain growing more intense in my chest. Once it was impossible to eat or drink anything without feeling discomfort we made our first medical visit since leaving home to the local hospital, which I mention only because it was really good! They were very nice to us as we were not drunk - apparently the only English people they get in there are drunk Brits who have been causing trouble - quite a problem out there in Chiang Mai according to the hospital staff. Makes you feel so proud doesn't it?n.
The hospital trip was our first introduction to Tuk Tuks - they are fast, noisy, but fun motorbikes with 3 wheels. The pricing policy is completely open - you haggle your way in and out of one. They are an exhilarating ride as you are kind of outside and close to the ground.
The weather turned sour then and, after 3 days of illness and more rain, we decided we'd had enough and headed south... to Phuket to recuperate. We felt that so far on the trip we hadn't seen nearly as many beaches as we should have done and enough was enough. Did I hear you say 'Ahhhhhhh'? We managed to get on a very cheap last minute flight on Thai Airlines, very surprised by the availability so close to Christmas.
Before we went though, we managed to jam in a quick visit to the elephant sanctuary which we were a little worried about, not knowing whether it was going to be an awful zoo-circus with miserable animals on chains. We reasoned that, one way or the other, we would find out and then we can either be pleased and tell everyone to go there, or witness what a disgusting tourist trap it is and tell everyone to send hate mail. In the end, it was excellent and well surpassed our expectations. On the way in you are offered the chance to purchase some bananas and sugar cane to feed them. We bought a few bunches and walked in, more than a little exhilarated at the thought of seeing these things close up for the first time. We went down a few walkways wondering where they all were and just how close we would get, when I suddenly felt all the treats we had bought snatched from my hand. Turning around I found myself confronted
by a mature elephant about 4 metres high. Not the biggest of elephants like the African ones, but believe me, it makes you jump first time. The thing had eaten our entire supply in one gulp and was patiently searching sonny's hands for anything else.
Rounding the corner we suddenly had too many elephants to choose from. There must have been about 15, all making their way down to the river where they were bathed in front of us - the baby ones enjoying it the most. The young-uns treated us to pretty much everything you wanted to see - spraying us with water, rolling around playfully (although you really wouldn't want to be playful with even the smallest of these animals). We were then taken off to a kind of arena where they played football, demonstrated how they had been trained to lift logs and place them in complicated arrangements. This was kind of interesting to me as Granddad (my mum's father) had to work with elephants when he was a POW under the Japanese in Burma. They used the elephants in the logging going on up the River Kwai to send timber down river to build the famous bridge. More on that later as we actually went there.
The most fascinating thing at this elephant sanctuary was that that the older ones knew how to paint. What? Yes, paint. Like, pictures and stuff. Some of them were lots of coloured dots in abstract patterns, but the best ones were pictures of trees and even one of another elephant. This clearly demonstrates something about animals which I guess most people don't think about too much - they are aware of what they are, what they look like, that there are individuals and that they all look roughly similar. It was quite mind blowing to see some actual evidence of this as scientists have banged on about how this must be so for ages, but there's nothing like seeing the real thing!
After the elephants, a quick visit to an Orchid farm revealed... that they are flowers. Ummm. Butterflies seem to like them too. More on that from Sonny perhaps..?
errrm, rows and rows of colourful beautiful flowers that are then exported to all kinds of countries. Apparently there are over 100 different kinds of orchids found in Thailand. They did have some pretty orchids that had been glazed over and turned into hat pins, hair clips etc. So there you go, lots of flowers.
Phuket.
With the rubbish weather up in Chiang Mai we decided it was time to explore all the famous beachy areas of the country. Our first stop on the hunt for some sunny weather and white sandy beaches was Phuket. We arrived there only to find that the weather was equally bad. Instead of heading to one of the busier accommodation areas we decided to find a smaller place, our choice happened to have a whopping 7 rooms! It was a gorgeous little place tucked away slightly inland from the local beach that the guests could use. The little bungalows were built around a little courtyard that had a really nice little pool and the people working there were really friendly. On our first day we realised that we were the only guests staying there even though it was supposed to be high season out in Phuket but we didn't complain as it meant we got the pool to ourselves and we had more time to get to know the guys working there. On our second night we were joined by a few more guests, who turned out to be the business partners whose annual board meeting was taking place at the hotel. We ended up meeting the owner who was a really nice New Yorker who had been coming to Thailand for years and had eventually decided to buy some land and set up a tiny hotel.
Having spent our first day relaxing by the pool we decided to venture out and explore the area so we got a lift off the hotel's very own tuk-tuk. The driver dropped us off at one of the most popular beaches out there and it did look very promising. Having walked the length of the beach we settled ourselves by a little restaurant and hired some sunbeds. We were just about to get our books out when the heavens opened. Being English we weren't put off by a little rain and were convinced that this was going to be a light shower so we sat on our beds...10 minutes later we realised that the rain wasn't actually going to stop for a while so we decided that we were wet enough and it was probably a good idea to move on. To get back to our hotel we took a very long walk along the various beaches that were dotted along the coastline. When we got back the girls at reception were really shocked . Obviously taking a 40 minute walk is really not the thing to do on the island! We did stop for a bite to eat at one of the very few restaurants left standing following the Tsunami. The waiter was a really friendly guy who seemed to be keen to chat to us and find out where we were from and eventually he led the conversation onto the Tsunami. He told us that he had been working on the beach that day and that loads of tourists were already out on the beach and had noticed that the tide had gone out unusually far and due to this dead fish were left on the beach. Lots of them apparently had ventured quite far out towards the water when the wave came in. He explained that he was lucky to have been working very near the Laguna area which was relatively sheltered so when the wave struck he managed to seek shelter at one of the hotels in that particular area. He showed us how high the water levels had risen in the restaurant and told us that 60% of all the restaurants and huts that were located on the beach had been swept away. Their restaurant had miraculously escaped being destroyed. Having watched the news reports when it had happened, it was even sadder to hear these stories from locals who had survived. He was really sad to tell us that his best friend and a number of relatives had been killed. He also emphasised how important it was that tourists return to the area to help them recover faster. Much later on we realised how important it was for tourism to pick-up as many locals had moved to areas like Krabi to find work. He did say that compared to other areas in the country and of course Indonesia, they had been very lucky that the damage had been minimal.
On our third day at this little hotel we decided to hire a scooter and venture a little further away. We had found out that many of the larger hotels had a resident baby elephant that would come out to play in the afternoons and we fancied seeing them in action. It was great fun to travel around the island on a moped and it meant that we weren't tied down to bus times and other public transport. We parked up by one of the very beautiful large sandy beaches and went in search of some sunbeds for hire at one of the larger hotels. We spent the day relaxing, reading and swimming and eventually got introduced to our first baby elephant, Ning Nong. She was absolutely gorgeous and definitely the star attraction on the beach. Her owner took her down to the water so that she could have a dip in the water and some fun with everyone swimming nearby. She would lift people onto her back using her trunk and then fling them off. Leo eventually decided to go in the water as Ning Nong was being led up the beach for a shower and some food. As he got into the , Ning Nong caught site of him and made a beeline for him, trunk pointing right at him...."I'm coming to get you!". At the time Leo wasn't too sure what to do as he realised that a very large elephant was running down the beach in his direction but he decided to hang around and see whether he'd get a go at being flung from her back. He did, lots. After a day on a gorgeous white sandy beach, playing with a baby elephant and spending a serious amount of time just admiring the view we spent the evening talking to our friendly waiter who recommended a restaurant by one of the beaches we had visited, The Lotus. At least lunch was planned for the following day.
The highlight of the following day was our Lotus experience, this was definitely the best seafood restaurant we had ever been to and it turned out to be such a cheap meal too. It was so good that we actually ate there several times. The restaurant was quite big and right on the beach. As you walked in there were loads of tanks, housing some very impressive fish and seafood. We were spoilt for choice but decided to try one of the local dishes, steamed fish and rice. The fish arrived half cooked on a large dish under which they lit a burner, and left the fish to cook through. It was a HUGE fish, cooked in fresh herbs, garlic, chillies and lemon juice. Absolutely amazing, and combined with some steamed rice it was perfect. We spent the rest of the day soaking up the rays on the beach by the restaurant as we literally could not move after so much food.
Following a few days on the beach we were feeling a little guilty about not doing much so we decided to get busy again so we booked a cooking class with a lady in Phuket town. It was one of the activities highly recommended by the Lonely Planet and a few of our friends had raved about it. Our chef had actually converted part of her house into a student's kitchen. The drive from the coast to the centre of town was quite tricky thanks to the very dodgy directions given by our very friendly ladies at the hotel. When we finally got to our destination we found out that it should have taken us half the time, but hey ho, at least we got to see quite a bit of Phuket town (but it's not much to write home about). When we arrived nearly an hour late, we discovered that we were the only ones booked in for the evening class which was great as we were able to spend some time chatting to her about her business. She told us that she had lived in the States with her husband for a number of years and had run a Thai restaurant out there. Eventually they decided to return to Thailand and had settled in Phuket where she had set-up her cooking school. During our cooking breaks we were able to read some of the articles written about her in various travel magazines and local newspapers. She told us that earlier that year she had taught the Women's U.S. soccer team (to cook, not to play soccer). The cooking class lasted a couple of hours and she taught us to cook a four course meal consisting of Tom Yum Goong (very nice spicy shrimp soup), deep fried spring rolls, Thai green chicken curry and last but definitely not least, bananas in coconut milk, which was so simple yet incredibly tasty. Unfortunately we had had a late lunch so we weren't necessarily very hungry but we thought that our chef would be joining us for the tasting session. We finally finished the cooking and were seated at her dining table. She had set the table for two and then disappeared to sort stuff out. We were left with a massive meal but it was sooooo good that we were able to polish off the majority of it. We plan to perfect the dishes so that you can all come over and get a taster....not all at once of course.
Our last three days in Phuket were spent on beaches lazing around but, to be honest, it was hard to be dragged away from them as they are simply beautiful - long stretches of sandy beach, crystal clear waters, surrounded by amazing jungle foliage.
Our next stop was Krabi which turned out to be even more scenic. Leo tracked down a local cab driver on one of the beaches in Phuket and booked a car to drive us there. It was going to be an hour's drive but it was dirt cheap and it definitely beat getting a crowded bus in that heat. An hour after leaving Phuket we arrived in Krabi which was truly stunning. We had booked a room for a couple of nights at a tiny hotel recommended by the manager of the tiny hotel we had stayed at in Phuket, it was called The Cliff in the town of Ao Nang, and was supposed to have some really lovely views. The hotel was a little bigger than the one in Phuket but was still very small. Another very pretty place, little bungalows surrounded by gorgeous little gardens, a nice pool and some great views of the nearby cliffs. Having dropped our bags off we headed into the very picturesque town and had a wander around the shops and the restaurants and decided it was time for us to book some sort of day trip We booked ourselves in for a day cruise around various islands, including the famous one used in the film "The Beach". We were leaving the following day. Unfortunately later that evening it started to rain quite heavily so we spent the rest of the evening at the bar by the little pool, eating and drinking...it's a hard life!
The following morning we had a pretty early start and unfortunately it was still raining. We got picked up from the hotel and taken to our boat. 12 of us were taken on-board and we started our day long trip around the islands. What started off as a joke amongst all of us really did make us all feel totally miserable by the time we got back to Krabi at the end of the day....the sodding rain! The rain did feel quite light to begin with and luckily we had brought our rainproof jackets unlike the rest of the group who had to content themselves with hotel towels to keep them warm and dry. However, as the day progressed the rain was coming down very heavily and we all thought that the organisers would call it a day when they could see that we were all pretty wet and cold...nope. The highlight of the trip was our stop-off at the famous island which really was the most stunning beach we had ever seen. The sand was so white and so soft even on the greyest and wettest of days. The temperature in the water was actually warmer than on-board when the engines got started so we all had a dip to keep us warm. We all pictured Leonardo and the rest of the cast just sitting on this gorgeous beach in the sun and felt very jealous. The guides did stop the boat a couple of times to let us snorkel and despite the heavy downpours, we did see a really stunning array of tropical fish which made the trip worth it. Our boat dropped us off on land at the end of the day and by that time we had all lost our sense of humour and our ability to chat, by then our skin was blue and we couldn't actually feel a thing. We were wet through, cold and tired so we spent the rest of the day curled up in our room eating hot Tom Yum Goon which was a life-saver. For the next day or so it literally poured down with rain non-stop so there was absolutely nothing we could actually do except spend our day reading, playing games and eating. The hotel did have a TV in the eating area and a good selection of dodgy DVDs of the the latest films which they showed one of every night, so we remained entertained. After a couple more days of serious downpours and not much action we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of nights at a hotel highly recommended by a couple of friends. It was located on a tiny beach surrounded by the most spectacular limestone cliffs and junglist vegetation. The rain still poured for the first day, but that didn't matter as we had a few of the dodgy DVDs to watch which we had picked up for a dollar a pop back in the last town. The next day, after a quick game of squash with the resident 'sports-guy', the sun came up and we got some serious quality time on the beach.
The island and beaches were only accessible by water taxi as they are completely surrounded by overhanging cliffs and caves. The cliffs are covered in monkeys, all waiting for a quick snack from passing tourists, and the caves are covered in dreadlocked, muscled climbers hanging off the roofs and walls with coloured ropes and small metal hooks. No thanks.
The time passed quickly in this, the most beautiful beach side place we ever expect to see - books were read, Thai food was consumed, Chang, Leo, Tiger and Singha beers were drunk. Much of Thailand followed this pattern, us having forsaken the temples in favour of the beaches (and we had no regrets about this, but feel we can't offer much in terms of cultural perspective for this country. Sorry.)
After the beauty of this secluded beach resort, we hit Wotif.com again and nailed a 3 bargain night stay at a completely soulless American beach hotel. Also in Krabi, but away from the beautiful caves and cliffs, here we played Sudoku, had a quick teaser Scuba dive in the pool with a grumpy northerner (they do exist!), drank cocktails at the ridiculously early happy hour at 5.30pm (there was that little to do), and had an abortive trip into Krabi town, where we discovered absolutely bugger all and hopped a cab straight back. This was mostly to tie over to the highlight of the Thailand trip - Xmas with my parents (the Cooks) on Koh Samui, followed by a 3 night stay in a nice Bangkok hotel for New Years.
Koh Samui
After asking around a bit, we found out that the simplest, not the cheapest but not too bad, most scenic way to get from the Andaman sea side of Thailand, where Krabi was, to the Gulf side is to arrange for a taxi driver to take you. Cost about 20 quid, which may appal the hardcore backpackers amongst you, but it turned out to be a nice air con spacewagon with reclining seats. Alright! The route was through a national park to boot, so we saw some stunning jungle/limestone/
The hotel the folks had arranged was great - medium sized, boutique-styled, Thai architecture and furniture, good food, nice friendly people, interesting setting on huge elephant-sized rocks and boulders in the sea, sand, outdoor massage parlours, etc etc. We quickly realised that this would mean bugger all if it continued to rain, and the weather forecast was not looking too good. Son and I had realised after 4 months of travelling, that no matter how optimistic you are, for a brit, unless the sun is out, things do not look half as good. We had tested this hypothesis on quite a few occasions by going out in the rain, or overcast to see temples, sights, beaches and the like. There is a simple truth if you were brought up on a rainy island - things just look 5 times better in the sun. This especially applies to dusty old towns in Vietnam with a few shacks and a guard dog, but generally applies across the board.
Thankfully Leo's parents arrived in the evening and by then it was dry and there few signs that it had been raining so we hoped that come morning, the sun would be shining and the start of their holiday would be perfect. We spent the first evening drinking lots of lovely cocktails overlooking the ocean and catching up on family news. It was so lovely to see familiar faces again and we had been counting down the days til we saw family. The following morning was unfortunately overcast and the clouds were looking quite menacing but seeing as it was Leo's parents first day in Thailand it really didn't worry them too much. We all spent a relaxing day by the pool with the occasional ducks into the bar to shelter from the rain. Over the next few days the weather didn't really improve and the staff were not helping things by emphasizing the fact that Ko Samui had not had bad weather like this for years. By the third day we decided to ignore the rubbish weather and hire a jeep and do some touring of the island. Our emails home about baby elephants had got Leo's mum very excited so we decided to go in search of some. Unfortunately the jeep turned out to be a rusting lump of iron on its last legs, as we drove up the hill we realised very quickly that the hand-break didn't actually work. We somehow managed to negotiate the start on the hill without a handbrake but the suspension was awfully so the ride was pretty uncomfortable when faced with a large number of sleeping policemen. Our first stop was an elephant camp but unfortunately it was nowhere near as good as the one in Chiang Mai as most of the elephants were in enclosures waiting for tourists to hire them for a ride. But we did locate a baby elephant and spent some time feeding it bananas and cooing over how lovely it was. Leo and I had our second elephant ride which was great but our loyalties did lie with our friend Billy up in Chiang Mai.
After an hour spent with the elephants We stopped off at a tiny fishing village which was really pretty. We discovered lots of lovely restaurants and decided to have lunch in a tiny place overlooking the water that was run by a French guy. It was called La Siren and had some of the tastiest spring rolls we had had in Thailand. After our lazy lunch and our wander round the shops we headed back to the hotel for an evening of cocktails and amazing food.
The only reminder that we had that it was Christmas was the dodgy techno versions of Christmas carols that the staff decided to have on repeat throughout the day, for days on end! When we had finally listened to the entire album four times we decided it was time to let them know that a little variety wouldn't go amiss. Christmas eve crept up very quickly and we had planned to have dinner at the hotel seeing as the food was so good and the setting was idyllic. We were also treated to a lady boy show which was...interesting. For the first few minutes everyone seemed fixed on trying to figure out where on earth these guys actually hid their bits as there really didn't seem to be much room to fit anything in the very skin-tight fake leather trousers they were all sporting with sequinned bras on top. It was amazing to see how guys could actually have better legs and better figures than most girls, lucky b*stards! The funniest show was an enormous Toni Braxton singing "Unbreak my heart" to a couple of 18 year old guys who were on holiday with their parents. The singer actually managed to trick one of them and planted a pretty wet sweaty kiss on his lips which he didn't look too pleased about.
Christmas day was another overcast day but we didn't care, we were recovering from quite a lot of booze and food consumption the night before so the girlies had booked themselves into a spa for the day which turned out to be the most incredible day ever. Four hours of massages, facials, steam room and open air baths....bliss. The boys stayed at home and had a quick massage on the beach and decided to hit the whisky as there was nothing else to do due to the rain - so the girls joined in with a bottle of champagne when they got back. That evening we decided to eat out so we booked a cab and went up to a restaurant that was highly recommended in the Lonely Planet for its spectacular views and very good food, The Cliff. It definitely didn't disappoint.
On our last day at the hotel, Leo's dad got talking to the owner and found out that the hotel's very own boat was beginning its snorkelling tours the day after we left. After explaining that we were going to miss out on this opportunity the owner got everything ready and organised a trip for the four of us that afternoon. The kitchen organised an amazing packed lunch and some lovely chilled wine for the ride, PERFECT. The ride out to the other side of the island was beautiful as it was a lovely sunny day and it was nice to see everything from the water. Our first snorkelling attempt failed miserably as the water was still a little murky from all the rain and storms that the island had had over the past few weeks so we didn't actually see any fish, we just kept crashing into one another. The boat then took us to another beach where we were able to swim off the boat towards land. We did get to see quite a bit of coral which was nice and a few fish but again the water was not as clear as it had been in Krabi. Still, we did have a great day out, the food was fab, we had chilled wine onboard, great company and sunshine, what more could you ask for?! When it was eventually time to go, the captain realised that the boat was actually stuck on some rocks as the tide had gone out quite a bit and he hadn't realised how close he had anchored to these rocks. We spent a good hour trying to move the boat, at one point we all got into the water and actually tried to physically move it but it was going nowhere We got a ride back on land from a local boat that was taking some tourists back to base, unfortunately for our captain he was obliged to stay with the ship until the following morning. To begin with, we were a little worried about leaving him out there but then remembered he had a whole cool box full of beer, loads of sandwiches we didn't' eat, some amazing chocolate cake and some dry towels to keep him warm.
That was our last adventure on Ko Samui as we flew out the next day to Bangkok for the new year celebrations.
Bangkok
Bangkok was a great city and we wished we had had more time to explore it. We did get organised and booked a tour around the imperial palace and its temples as this was one of the best sites in the whole city. We joined a group of people on a minibus that took us on a mini tour of the city, the guide was another typical Thai who was very fond of the royal family and kept pointing out photos of the king at various different events. They have these dotted all along the huge boulevards in the city and very close to the palace. Apparently he is the longest reigning monarch. The palace and temples were incredibly beautiful, huge domes and walls covered in gold paint and multi coloured mosaics that made the buildings sparkle in the sun. The complex was enormous, it had around 7 or 8 temples that the royal family used throughout the year and there were the palace grounds, this was the palace that the family used for formal functions but they actually lived in another equally large palace just down the road that was obviously not open to the public. A building adjacent to the main palace was a guest house for visiting statesmen and other royalty, our guide told us that the queen was due to visit Thailand and that she and prince Philip would be staying there. It was a lovely building that had been commissioned by the king who featured in the famous film "The King and I", he was the heir to the throne in that film. He spent some time studying abroad and became a big fan of French architecture so when he returned to Thailand he had this guest house built for the heir to the throne at the time as his main residence. It did look a lot like the houses and ch?teaux found around the Paris area.
That day was particularly hot and there were quite a few visitors passing out from the heat and we actually saw one girl throwing up on the side of one of the temples which was pleasant. After a full day of sightseeing we got driven back via one of these government sponsored arts and crafts centres where they hoped tourists would end up buying anything from jewellery to Thai silks but we were just ready to get back and get ready for the celebrations that night. Leo & Mummy Cook were not happy bunnies and told the lady to just 'get them back to hotel'. Quite funny really, but they never tell you that you are going to be forced to go and buy things when you are booking the tours.
We did get chatting to a couple on the bus back to the hotel. We found out that they were Russians from Moscow. We spent a great deal of time chatting to them about their country, Son's love of Russian literature and her dream to one day spend a bit of time in St Petersburg. We then found out that the guy was actually self employed and was in the building business. To be more precise, he actually dealt with restoring period buildings. Apparently he had started out his career working in the energy business and had then changed his career direction and ended up working in real estate. Somehow we managed to find out that one of his biggest clients is a football club owner. He said that he couldn't mention names but he owned one of the largest clubs in the UK and he's Russian...any guesses? A mad world.
That brought us neatly into New Years eve about which we had been advised to go for 'The Big Buffet' in any of the big hotels. As we were sharing the experience with the majority of the immediate Cook family (sadly lacking the Bruv and Liz), we figured that food had to be top of the bill for the evening, so a buffet experience sounded good. We were already staying in a pretty big hotel so we just went to their restaurant which proved to be the most sumptuous buffet we had ever seen. They had a whole station devoted to Foie Gras, to give you an idea. 5 courses were eaten, wine was drunk (a fair amount of it too, on top of the glass of champagne we had beforehand), but efforts to engage our neighbouring table in a spot of streamer interchange, almost met with an international
The next day was spent wandering the shops nursing smallish hangovers - actually, it's the best I've felt on New Years Day since I was 13 years old. Must be losing my touch. In the evening for dinner we decided that only burgers would do following the previous night's mostly-seafood extravaganza. We made it as far as the Marriott next door where they had some really good ones, then off to bed for an early start the next day for a trip to the River Kwai which would kick-off with a pick-up at 7:00am, NICE.
We had all been talking about and looking forward to this trip a lot as my grandfather, (Al)Bert Branson was a P.O.W. under the Japanese and made to work in Burma on the building of the Death Railway and the bridge, made famous my the film 'The Bridge Over The River Kwai'. He survived, luckily for us all considering the number of men who didn't, but was plagued by illness for the rest of his life, having lost almost all of his body fat, most of his muscle and suffered various diseases from living in awful conditions in the jungle. These ranged from Strongiloids - a parasite caught from the rivers which lives under the skin, of which we saw warning signs about, to dysentery, malnutrition, yellow fever - you name it. Bert worked with elephants further up the railway line in Burma where they felled trees and floated them down the river to use in construction. Grandad told funny stories to us kids of his time in the camp - usually involving flatulent elephants - but never of the awful things he had lived through, and of watching his pals die around him. This is what we were to learn about on this visit.
The first thing we learned from the guide was that the River Kwai is not pronounced River Kwai, it's the River Kwaaaaa, kind of like 'QUACK', with out the 'CK'. When first presented with the bridge, you immediately do a double take and start looking around for another wooden one, not the new-looking iron structure in front of you. The guide then patiently explains that the original bridge was wooden, yes - like in the film, but the POWs deliberately put woodworm into the wood so that it rotted and became unusable soon after it was finished. The bridge was reinforced with iron or steel soon after (I believe by the Japanese, but we're not sure on that detail), so it looks like a pretty regular railway bridge. However, once you step onto it, you can see the wooden structure below, and that for me was when it all suddenly fell into place and a cold feeling came over me.
In the middle of the bridge we asked mum to recount Grandad's story as she remembered it. She recalled him talking about being on the river and all the POWs seeing a woman for the first time in ages washing her clothes down river, which obviously was a major event for them at the time having been imprisoned for so long. This made us all suddenly feel like he was nearby. Bert was in Singapore when he was caught in a massive
land attack by the Japanese coming down through Malaysia. The British had secured all the sea facing sides of Singapore, not expecting the Japanese to attack in this way. Bert's regiment among others was sent quickly up north towards Malaysia to try and stop the flow of troops in, and were not expected to succeed His actual job was as an 'armed nurse' - some nurses bore arms, some didn't. After the war he was awarded the Victoria Cross for going out under fire to rescue injured soldiers. He was incarcerated in Chiangi jail for a while before being shipped up through Thailand (Siam as it was then) to start work.
After walking across the bridge (where we met another elephant in need of freshly bought bananas), we went further down river in a ridiculously overpowered sampan to the POW museum a few KM away. The sampans are worth a mention because they are the most outrageous combination of old and new technology - the basic sampan design, but someone has taken the engine out of, say, a 4.0 litre buick, and strapped it on the back. The engine is just bare steel covered in oil and looks like something out of a Terry Gilliam film. It makes an unholy noise and barfs out a ridiculous amount of pollution for a boat that size. For the time being petrol is cheap in Thailand, so I guess it makes economical sense to them and they aren't exactly going to care about the environment when the western world has had a free run of screwing it all up for so many years - they want to play. Even if the 1st world sorts it's act out (which it wont sadly) We're all dead anyway, unless we develop gills or something. Ho hum.
The POW museum is simply heart wrenching It's laid out exactly as the camps were in the 1940s - a long canvas tent split into two corridors with just enough space to lay a man. The relics and photos were one thing to see, but the descriptions of the torture methods and paintings of these being carried out, which had been drawn by a surviving POW turned artist, were too We much.
Interestingly there are many Japanese visitors to the area. The guide explained that they don't really get to hear too much about this period of history at school, and so they come here to learn for themselves. Good on them I say. The standard explanation for why life as a POW under the Japanese was so awful and why they chose to ignore the various international rules of treatment of captured soldiers, is that they have a long and very different history to the western world where, if captured, you are worthless and should kill yourself immediately. This translated into the Japanese soldiers seeing the prisoners as lower than animals and therefore expendable. This certainly holds water from what we saw on our Japan trip - but I expect that has changed a bit since WW2.
After a long trip back to Bangkok (the traffic is bloody awful in the evening), we managed a quick dinner with the folks before they had to set off for the airport for the arduous trip back to London. Sonny and I retired to our room and woke the next day feeling very sad that they had gone. We felt lonely on the way to the airport for Sydney. Fortunately Australia held the possibility to see quite a few friends from England - there are always many either living there permanently or otherwise, or just passing through.
After a long overnight flight from Bangkok (long as we didn't sleep at all), we finally arrived in Sydney Kingsford Smith airport. After taxiing up to our gate, stopping and preparing to leave we were told that the electronic arm thingy had broken down, so everyone had to stand in the aisles for half an hour before they would open the door (of course people wouldn't sit down again ho hum). For us this delay was annoying, but imagine what it would have been like for the people who were at the end of the full 24 hour journey from the UK. The people sitting next to us had come from London and were already late for a connecting flight to Auckland after which they had a two hour transfer to look forward to out to a port to get on a cruise liner to go back to England again. All that way just to watch cabaret and play bingo on a boat for 6 weeks! Some people are just nuts...
Our first stop in Oz was Palm Beach to the North of Sydney where the lovely Sam Leader and Jon-Paul Sena have lived for a few years. Sam is an old friend from Bristol University and I (Leo) spent many long afternoons talking over coffee instead of attending lectures. I met Jon briefly in the 3rd year, then a couple of years back when I was in Sydney they both looked after me with dinner and lots of wine. It's very nice to see that nothing has changed in that department - Sam and Jon have got to be the best hosts in the entire world, not only do they drive an hour out to the airport to come and pick you up at the crack of dawn but they also set about planning some amazing feasts to build up your energy for an activity-packed few weeks down under. They went out of their way to make us feel incredibly welcome and at home, in fact they did this so well that by the end of our first day there, we were quite comfortable lazing around on their sofas, admiring the stunning views from the windows and reading the papers and our books.
The location was spectacular, it was so beautiful that we didn't seem to worry about getting some time in Sydney. Their house is perched on a hill overlooking Palm Beach, a very long sandy stretch surrounded by towering cliff-tops, with some fantastic waves and loads of surfers busy doing their thing all day. Australian coastline we found to be on a much more dramatic scale than anything we had seen so far. It was also on this walk that Sam decided to mention that the roof over which their property looks belongs to none other than Leyton Hewitt. Being a massive tennis fan, I was pretty impressed although I knew he would not be home as he was busy bombing out of the Oz Open down in Melbourne - better luck next year ya little Aussie battler. He is also going out with or married to a bint off of Home and Away, so I guess the location is ideal for the both of them when Leyton is in town. Very nice looking place it was too - the whole area is a bit of a holiday home for fairly minted Aussies Sam and Jon, the Jammy sods, have managed to rent a huge flat at the prime spot on top of the hillside overlooking all the other houses and beach, for an absolute minimum rent. The only catch is they have to answer the phone and arrange bookings for groups of predominantly elderly peoples ('The Grunters') to come and see the beautiful hill-side gardens in which the flat is set. They come and sit in the gardens, admire the azelias (or whatever), and take rides in the stair lift which runs the height of the overall property. It's a very noble cause and a very, very sweet deal.
On our first day there we were fed some lovely breakfast before being taken on a stunning walk up to the lighthouse on the rocks which looks down on the whole of palm beach so you can see the hourglass-shape of the land below. I believe some of you have actually been up there too, so you'll know what we mean when we say it is an awesome sight. On the way up to the beautiful views we stopped off near Home and Away beach which was quite exciting - there were a few H & A tourist taking pictures outside the surf shack where many a bikini-clad up-and-coming Aussie would hang around and play pool.
We had planned on taking a few day trips whilst staying with Sam and Jon but after our first day of amazing home cooked food, very comfortable sofas in a gorgeous house overlooking a stunning beach, it was pretty hard to force yourself out of your seat and get going. We also completely abused their internet, phone and tv facilities, plus they have a bar - which is nice. So we ended up spending our days catching up with them, eating lots of lovely food cooked by our fab hosts, the menu included Spag bol, lamb madras, a Greek themed late lunch of salad, feta cheese and other nibbles (this was inspired by watching Bagdahtis beat Roddick in the Oz Open, which led to Greek food even though he's from Cyprus), pork chops a la Jamie Oliver (absolutely gorgeous). Sam and Jon are proper cooks, they spend a serious amount of time in the kitchen perfecting their dishes and entertaining lots of friends throughout the year, their cooking was so good that they have inspired us to spend a lot more time in the kitchen when we get back home and we have pre-ordered a bunch of cookery books on Amazon to make sure we do! On one of the evenings we decided to go and watch the new version of King Kong as everyone had raved about it, we got dropped off and then after a three hour marathon kong fest, we got home to a lovely home made curry, how perfect is that?! Kong was good but maybe a little too faithful to the original - could have done with a few changes to the plot as it was just a carbon copy.
Jon and I (Leo) had a game of tennis down the local park which was highly competitive and in perfect weather - breezy with bright sun when Jon was serving, clouds when I was. This was followed by a dip in the sea to cool off, then some more food. Overall, this was pretty much my ideal day (in fact I think I declared it so later in the evening after another excellent meal and lots of wine).
So it was lovely to spend some real time with Sam and Jon as their visits to the UK are few and far between (not surprising considering the distance) and they have so many people to see that our catch-up time is never enough so at least we felt like we had spent some quality time with them both. Never got to see those bloody Blue Mountains though - for which I'll blame them for all eternity! Or we'll just have to go again, as if we'd need an excuse.
Sadly, after an amazing four days at Palm Beach we headed into central Sydney for a night before flying out to Melbourne. We stayed very close to the harbour which was great as it gave us a chance to walk around the area and soak up the atmosphere. Sydney is a great city, The Rocks area was interesting - lots of cobbled streets with funky little restaurants, bars and shops. We had an hour walking around the famous landmark, the Opera house at sunset before heading over to a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet.
The following morning we flew out to Melbourne where we spent three days and absolutely loved it. The city was beautiful and it's layout and some of the architecture reminded us both of New York. Lots of old mixed with new. Like everywhere else in Australia, the people in Melbourne were incredibly friendly, helpful and happy. We were amazed at how much time people could spend talking to you and giving you advice on what to see and do and actually going out of their way to tell you what was a waste of money or time. We popped into a book shop to buy a road map for the Great Ocean Road and when we got to the till, the guy asked us how long we were out in Australia for, where we were from and how long we planned on travelling on the Great Ocean Road. He then got the map out and started to tell us the quickest way out of the city, where to avoid the toll roads, what towns to not bother stopping at based on the amount of time we had and what not to miss. He probably spent around 10 minutes just talking to us! On our first day in the city we had a quick walk round the neighbourhood before settling for a restaurant for dinner that also featured in the Lonely Planet. It was a French/Spanish tapas restaurant which looked lovely and cosy from the outside.
On our second day we got up pretty early and decided to take on the city walk as it started just down the road from our hotel. It was really worth it, we got to see so much of the city including loads of its historic landmarks and various beautiful arcades which date back to the 1800's and are beautifully decorated with stained glass domes and really beautiful floor mosaics. We had lunch in one of the many food courts in the city, there seem to be loads of these in any large city. Normally located in the basement of some shopping centre, these house an endless number of food stalls where you queue for a huge portion of food and then you find a seat. The food stalls range from Chinese, Sushi, Vietnamese, Italian, French and Spanish. Such a great selection and these places are always rammed with people having a lunch break during the week. It definitely beats sandwiches from Boots or M&S day-in day-out.
We were so impressed with the restaurant from the previous night that we decided to go back and try some of the French food as the tapas had been soooo good. Yeah, it's kind of sad seeing as there are soooo many restaurants to choose from in that city but it really was amazing.
We had a lazy morning having some breakfast in a cafe just down the road from our hotel. Again, over in Australia you seem to get so many cafes offering breakfasts, on the menu you can choose from muesli, toast, fry-up or fruit. We got chatting to our very friendly waitress who had just returned from Ireland. She gave us some tips on what to see and do on the Great Ocean Road. After brekkie we went for quite a long walk across town to pick up the car we had hired for a couple of days. We then started our journey out of the city, with a brief stop at the very funky area, St Kitts which was right on the water and had lots of funky little bars, delis and restaurants.
The Great Ocean Road was highly recommended by Sam and Jon and boy was it a good call. We decided to drive inland on the first day and hit the coastal road on the way back into Melbourne the following day, this way we got to see two different views. Even though the inland route was not the star attraction it was still incredibly beautiful and not at all what we were expecting from a highway drive. The roads were practically deserted and the road stretched out as far as the eye could see. On either side you had rolling hills and fields, truly stunning. The drive up to Port Campbell was very leisurely. We had a booked a room at a B&B very near there that also had a local winery. So part of the deal was that you got an opportunity to try some of the local wine produced. We arrived at our B&B around 4:00ish and were blown away by the views from our room. Vineyards, fields and more fields and nothing else. It was so peaceful. The owner spent some time chatting to us and suggested we go for a drive around some of the famous sites so that we could see a few more things the following day without rushing.
We didn't actually drive that far between sites as they were all dotted along the coastal road every few hundred metres which was great. The weather was perfect for a stroll and some piccies. The main recommendation was to pick-up a pizza from a pizzeria in Port Campbell and to drive to the famous 12 Apostles and have some food in the car and then watch the sun go down over the area which was supposed to be amazing. When we got to the car park we had a lazy half hour munching our way through some incredibly tasty pizzas. By then we thought we had half an hour until sundown so we decided to walk over to one of the viewing platforms by the sea. The 12 apostles are very large tall rocks that have over time detached themselves from the mainland and are now dotted along the coastline in a line. It is a pretty stunning view. The place was quite busy, but we did secure a great view. As it turned out, the sun actually went down an hour later and we very nearly decided to give up but the wait was definitely worth it. You'll see what we mean when we get the photos online. Another site that is quite popular is the rock called London Bridge which looks like a bridge that is "falling down" and again it had a great viewing platform where we took some more piccies. There were a few more places we visited, one called the grotto and another called the steps, all equally beautiful and the drive along the coast to these places was spectacular.
We got back to our B&B and the owners had left us a bottle of their pinot noir red wine for us to try which was great. We were the only guests staying there so we got the use of the guest living area all to ourselves. So we curled up on the sofas and enjoyed a bottle of wine in front of the tv. The next morning we were cooked a great brekkie and we sat by the window overlooking the vineyards and fields. Before we set off along the coast we went down to the cellar where they were busy bottling. Most of the day was spent cruising along the coastal road, admiring the views of the incredible beaches and little seaside towns. The B&B owners had told us that a good place to stop for lunch was a town called Apollo Bay which was supposed to be very pretty and it was. We sat on the balcony of a cafe whilst having some lovely food and local wine, in fact, it was a wine made by the winery we had stayed at - one we hadn't tried. After lunch we drove inland to stop by one of the national parks where you could do a tree top walk which was supposed be cool.
The trees were incredibly tall, so tall that this national park had to construct huge 100 metre steel towers to hold the walkways between the trees and the viewing platforms. The bridges between the trees were so high that they would sway with the breeze. The views over the forest were amazing especially from the top of the highest tower which you could actually feel swaying when lots of people were attempting to climb up and down all at the same time. The walk lasted a good 45 minutes and Leo being a little scared of heights had to rush through it, hanging on for dear life and definitely not looking down but straight ahead. Back in the 1800's a group of convicts had escaped from their prison and had made their way into the forest and had managed to live there for a number of years before the authorities finally tracked them down and locked them up again. It was quite hard to imagine how anyone could live in such a dense forest in the heat, surrounded by mossies and very scary insects and animals.
We finally got back to Melbourne late afternoon and we drove straight to the airport where we were supposed to drop the car off. Unfortunately the hiring company had provided us with a somewhat confusing map to get to the drop-off, a photocopy of an aerial shot around the airport with an address...how useful would that be?! We started off ok by finding the area that had been highlighted on the map and when we found all the drop-offs for Avis, Hertz, Budget and some other local ones we knew that we were close. We drove up and down the same road about five times, what we failed to register was that the drop-off was actually at a hotel, or Lodge as they call them in Australia. We had driven by a building with a huge "Hotel sign" but hadn't seen the tiniest of italic print underneath with the full name Cilon Park Lodge. Leo was having a major sag-a-loo in the car and was determined on wrecking the thing before handing it back. After a stressful hour or so, we sat at the bar in the airport hotel and downed a few glasses of wine. Our next stop was Cairns the following morning.
Some people will ask me 'did I make it to the Australian Open or not'. They will ask this as, back in the UK, I banged on for ages about how we were going to get tickets to see some really cool matches. The answer is, sadly, no. Reason is that initially we booked the dates for Melbourne a bit too early to go the Open. I realised this and, as we had a flexible ticket, made a mental note to just change the dates later on. As some of you know by now, the memory part of my brain has been extremely broken for a while now, which is why I call most people Dave or Bob. So - I happily arranged to meet Andy and Sarah in Cairns, completely forgetting about the fact we needed to change the Melbourne dates. Going to the Open was pretty much the number one reason for me going to Melbourne so it's lucky we had a good time anyway. Apart from that - a lot of talent pulled out of the tournament in the approaching weeks, so not as bad as I thought but would have loved to have gone.
Cairns:
Cairns was a flat, non-descript city that is used by travellers as a stop-off point when organising trips out to the barrier reef and cape tribulation. The plan was to spend a night there so that we could hook up with Andy and Sarah Smith who were also on a round the world trip and had been following us around the world. We had been in contact with them quite a few times since leaving the UK but our paths never seemed to cross until we got to Australia. We spent a great evening down the pub catching up with them both and planning our week's travelling in Queensland. We decided to hire a car and drive up to a seaside town called Port Douglas which was supposed to be really pretty and a great place to stay over if planning trips round Cape Tribulation. We set off the following morning in our hired car and got to Port Douglas early afternoon. We found a great motel that was hiring out some apartments for 60 quid which was great as it was a stone's throw from the lovely beach and the building had its own bbq area and pool.
The place rocked - it had two bedrooms, a lounge with DVD player, washing and drying machines and every mod con we could have hoped for.
I think Andy and Sarah were really pleased as they had been in a youth hostel the night before and, for almost the same money, had a whole apartment. It's amazing what you get for your money if there's more that 2 of you.
The first day we just chilled out a lot but the second day we ventured north up the coast to Cape Tribulation, which Captain Cook had named presumably 'cos he had a bit of a hard time up there. In fact - I believe he ended up beaching his shop there for repairs, so something was wrong, but that's all we found out. On the way we checked out a rainforest treetop walk, of which there are many similarly named attractions
The actual cape is a huge beach stretching off into the distance, nobody around except a load of poisonous jellyfish. So after the long drive through torrential rain and across a swollen river full of crocodiles
The tour was more than just a tour - it was none other than 'Barry Belchers Crocodile Adventure'. No way, I hear you say, but Barry was the man for us. He had lived on the river all his life with his family and kids, and a million crocodiles, all of whom had names. He took us out in absolute torrential rain, which was actually quite atmospheric really, looking for the little blighters. Unfortunately Barry was not the Steve Irwin caricature we had hoped for and so he didn't just jump in and grab any by the tail. Before we knew it though - he had spotted one. You have to be bloody Legolas the Elf to spot them though as they are well camouflaged. We found a lady croc sitting on her nest checking you out with a beady yellow eye. Quite spooky, but she was only young - about 15 years or so and had only reached just over a metre in length. The males can be up to 5 metres, says Barry. The boat is only about 4. Gulp.
In the end, the girl croc was the biggest we saw. There were two other baby ones which were quite cute, believe it or not. They just sat in the water looking at us. Other highlights included a few bright green tree frogs which we jostled to photograph, but the light was quite bad so I couldn't get anything like the beautiful pictures you see of them sitting on tree branches. Oh well. Some giant fruit bats made an appearance. It was starting to get a bit dark so they were waking up from the upside-down sleep in the trees and starting to circle for food.
So, the trip up the coast, two barbecues, two dodgy DVDs from Vietnam watched, loads of beer and wine drunk, and a game of aerobee on the beach later we were all fully recharged for the long trip down the coast to the Whitsunday Islands. The owner of the apartment hotel had kindly advised us that we should go 'Bare-boating' which he and his wife had done for a previous holiday and had a great time. Sadly, it was not nude sailing as Sarah and Andy had hoped, but it's just a boat you sail yourself. They had said they did it with no sailing experience, so we just made a quick phone call and got it booked up. We got a last minute discount and booked a 3 night sail out from Hamilton Island.
The journey down there took a little while though, about 6 to 7 hours of driving, but Andy helped us out with games of name that tune on his IPod, as well as the
'Horsey!....Where?' game, which just has to be explained by Andy really. It was about a 600 Km drive from Port Douglas, so we decided to stop for a night at a motel about 100km from the end in a town called Bowen, so we weren't too rushed. Despite the town looking like the set from Salems Lot, there was a much welcome steakhouse next to our motel where I had, quite simply, the best steak I have ever had. No Kidding, It was huge, and to top it all off, they had decorated the restaurant with genuine metal suits of armour. Not a castle in sight outside - just a load of sheep, but, whatever floats your boat I suppose. So after a meat mountain under guard, and some nice cold beer, we Slept well.
We dropped the car off in a town called Airley Beach, which was a bit of a backpackers paradise - lots of hostel accommodation and bars advertising foam parties, wet t-shirt competitions and jelly wrestling which Andy seemed strangely drawn to. Something you're not telling us mate? We picked up a ferry from the port, which is a way out of town which took us out for our first glimpse of what all the fuss is all about with the Whitsundays. The glimmering turquoise waters were something none of us had ever seen before.
WE were met at the port on tiny Hamilton Island by a rep from Sunsail who we had booked the boat with. The Island itself is a privately owned resort with a few hotels, a few exclusive properties with moorings for incredibly expensive sail boats, and Sunsail which has about 40 or so boats and catamarans it hires out.
We bought a bunch of food and drink (not cheap on this island): quite a lot for 4 people for 3 nights and met a guy to do the briefing. This is where our so-far optimistic approach to the sailing started to falter. We had not really questioned the sailing ability of our little scout-troop as the people who'd recommended it had said (we are fairly sure they said..) that no experience was necessary. Sarah had done a fair bit of sailing with her dad when she was a child so we had felt extra secure in her bountiful knowledge. It slowly dawned on us through the briefing that there was something a-miss. They were talking to us as if we knew what port, starboard, jib sails, tide-times, and hundreds of other more obscure terms were. we just nodded and kind of got the picture, but with a feeling that we were just going to have to muddle through somehow. It turned out later though that we really were expected to have some experience and that somewhere along the line, someone should have asked us about ours. I told them that no one had and the guy looked aghast and couldn't believe that he was about to let us out in the big blue sea with one of their shiny blue boats. once it was established that we really had no clue what we were doing and that it probably wasn't a wise decision to let us out on the seas, he suggested we book him for a day's sailing lesson to see how we felt about sailing on our own for a further three days. This actually appealed to all of us as we had come so far and had geared ourselves up for a real adventure. By the time we had sorted all this out it was late afternoon, so our skipper, Tom suggested we take the rest of the day to chill out and enjoy being on land for the last few hours. That evening we experienced our first night onboard and it wasn't pleasant once we got to our cabins to sleep. The marina was incredibly hot and the cabins on board were literally cupboards with virtually no air running through them. However, dinner was great fun and it was quite exciting sitting at the front of our boat, listening to music and eating some meat cooked on the boat's very own mini bbq that was hooked on to the boat.
After a very restless sleep we were up really early as Tom was due to start our sailing lesson at 8:00am, no rest for the wicked! Tom was really nice and considering he was spending a day with three out four people who had no clue how to sail, he had the patience of a saint. The first half hour he spent just running through the different sails, the different ropes which all have a thousand different names and of course a run through some very big sea charts to plan our route for the day. Once we roughly knew what was what it was time to move the boat out of parked mode and out of the marina. I thought reversing a car out of its parking slot was a scary exercise (i think a lot of you know just how much i hate driving which means poor Leo gets to do most of it), until we were taking this HUGE boat out of a very busy marina with not much room for mistakes! Throughout the day we all had a go at steering the boat (lots of checking the different dials for depth of water, speed, direction and of course watching out for very big boats heading straight for you, especially ferries speeding by very regularly), getting the right sails out depending on what manoeuvre we were about to take on, whether it was tacking or jibing. Not only was it confusing picking the right ropes but then it is hard work having to wind these ropes and secure them as quickly as you can so that the wind catches the right sails. I must admit the whole thing could have been far simpler if Tom had yelled "pull the blue rope or red rope" instead of using the 50 different names each one had...bloody show off. Occasionally the sails would get caught further up the line as it was coming down, so you would have to rush up to the front and try and loosen it without falling into the water. Tom was really keen on getting us to sail as much as possible instead of cheating and using the engine. We had a good four hours sailing in the morning, we then decided to stop for some much earned food. We all knew it was lunchtime because everything became a million times harder and i was getting quite grouchy (if i get grouchy when I'm hungry i need food pretty soon or i become a nightmare). Before we got to eat we had to learn how to anchor which apparently is the hardest bit to master when learning to sail. Tom chose a little island with a good bay to give it a go. It involves figuring out whether we are at a safe enough distance from other boats and nearby rocks as the boat will swivel round and the last thing you want is to find that your boat has collided with another vessel or rocks. After you have done this, you have to then complete one circle of the area to check the depth of the water against the tide charts you are given to make sure you won't be stuck at low tide. Once you've figured all this out, you also have to check the charts to see if there is any coral around the area as you have to make sure you don't drop the anchor on any of it. The whole of the Whitsundays islands are a national park so you have to make sure you don't destroy any of the coral and marine life. It's then time to drop the anchor whilst you reverse the boat several times to check that it is not dragging, otherwise you could wake up and find you are somewhere completely different to where you first dropped the anchor.
Our first meal out on the sea was great, we had a good hour's break. After lunch we headed out again and did another couple of hours of sailing, perfecting all the moves we had learnt earlier in the day. By 4:00 Tom had anchored us for the day in a tiny bay called Cid. After he had left we decided to get into the little dingy and explore the island off the bay. We had a nice walk along a track through the trees, managed to spot a couple of snakes on the path and quite a few lizards. The track ended by a beautiful beach and the sun was beginning to set, it was absolutely gorgeous and you really did feel completely isolated as we were the only ones on the island and anchored there for the night. We were back on our boat in time to check-in with the office on the mainland. Tom had assigned Andy the task of checking in every day with the office in Hamilton. It was really good fun listening to all the different boats radioing in. It was even funner listening to Andy deliver his info. Just like in the films...."Sun-sail, Sunsail to Caroline over" (Caroline was our boat), Andy then had to reply "Sunsail this is Caroline, come in" and you basically had to let them know where you were anchored and what your plans were for the day in case something went wrong and they had to send a search party out to find you. A couple of boats that were responding really did like the sound of their own voices over these walky-talkies and kept banging on about the glorious weather, what they were about to cook and what a great day they had had.
The following few days were absolutely brilliant, everyday we would pick a new location to anchor for the night and spend the day sailing around the islands, stopping off a couple of times for some amazing snorkelling around some of the beautiful reefs. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of us all sporting our very flattering "stinger suits" which are standard issue for anyone wanting to venture into the waters. These suits actually protect you from the deadly stings from the various scary jelly fish and other poisonous fish. They look like they are made from girls opaque tights material. They are dark black with long sleeves and cover your entire body. It is definitely not very forgiving on any bodily fat you may have. On our last day we were sailing back to Hamilton Island and spotted loads of enormous jelly fish and it was at that point that we realised how useful these ugly things are. The best part of the day was the evenings when the stars were out and we would just sit back, listen to some music and take in the amazing sight above us. It was so peaceful, definitely a must for anyone wanting to explore that part of the country.
Andy and Sarah left for mainland the day we arrived back on Hamilton Island, we had a flight booked out of there to Cairns the following morning so we spent a final night on the island. The first few hours walking around on dry land was actually really strange, you couldn't help but feel like the land was swaying from one side to another and you automatically tried steady yourself to keep you from falling over. It was kind of strange being on our own again having spent a really great week with the Smiths but we were due back in Sydney for a last couple of days before our flight to New Zealand. Sam and Jon's was beckoning as soon as we got to Sydney and we really couldn't resist spending our last two days in Australia with these two lovely people in their incredibly beautiful home. It was so lovely to see them again and it really did feel like we were home, Sam and Jon, thank you so much for making our stay in Sydney absolutely amazing.
Our last couple of days were spent lazing around in the incredible setting we had been hard pushed to leave at the beginning of our trip round Australia and it was great to spend some more time with Sam and Jon before leaving. More top food, twice as lazy as before, more tennis, films, wine, washing etc.
For our very last day in OZ before jetting off to NZ, we hooked up with Anthony Kirham (AKA 'Geek') who went to my high school (except he didn't - he has just been adopted as he plays some good football). He's a top man and we met him and his missus for a beer and pizza. They have a fabulous apartment in the appropriately named, Manly (Anthony is fairly hairy) and they kindly put us up for the night in exchange for blowing up a load of balloons for a welcome party (or some fet
Australia was a great place to visit, the people are incredibly friendly and down to earth and there are so many beautiful places to visit. The only problem is that it is so damn big you would need a minimum of 6 weeks to cover a modest portion of the place and get under its skin. You also need that amount of time if you are visiting Sam and Jon's as you really don't want to leave their company and do anything else. We can't wait for an opportunity to return there and hopefully next time we will get to see some live tennis...one day Leo.
Basically I think what the Home Office are trying to say, is that if the women is too drunk to give full verbal consent then you are legally required not to play hide the sausage.