Great Ocean Road

We landed in Melbourne on Monday, December 14th, and after a "brief" 2 hour wait with Customs we got our bags and were on our way to drive the Great Ocean Road just Southwest of Melbourne. Jon's parents and Aunt and Uncle who were in town for his sisters wedding all met us at the airport and we took off right from there. The first stop along the road was for lunch in Torquay. This is actually where numerous Surfing Companies first went into business that are now known around the world. You may have heard of the likes of Billabong, Quicksilver, and Rip Curl. They all had modern shops right in a row too which made it feel like an outlet mall, but was really cool to see a town that is famous like that for its surfing. Right next to Torquay is Bells Beach which is famous for the huge surf that rolls in from the Pacific as well as professional competitions that are held there.

After a picnic lunch we continued on the Road west and stopped in quaint little beach towns like Aireys Inlet, and Lorne. The scenery was beautiful along the road, but there was hardly any wind or waves, so all the beaches seemed to be relatively calm from what they could be. The next town which we stopped at was Apollo Bay, and that was where we stayed both the first and second night. The first night was en route to heading away from the city to the end of the road, and the second night was on the return trip back, as the entire length of the road is approximately 250 miles.

The following day was the real exciting one as we saw what is undoubtedly the most famous attraction of the Great Ocean Road, and that's the 12 Apostles. Although apparently once has fallen down recently. The 12 Apostles are tall forms of Sandstone that stick straight up out of the water just yards away from the sandy shores. It couldn't have been a better day to see them either as it was about 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. There is also a famous part of the road called London Bridge, and it too has fallen down...at least part of it. You used to be able to walk from the land all the way out onto the bridge looking structure that juts out into the ocean. The bridge like sandstone is now an island as the part that connected it to the mainland fell into the teal waters below. it actually stranded a couple of tourists on the island when it happened. See the picture below and you can see where the bridge used to meet up with the part that is now an island.

After returning to Melbourne everyone was finishing getting ready for Alexis' wedding (Jonathon's sister). She got married on Friday the 18th of December on a beach just outside of the city of Melbourne. The reception was at a winery and both the ceremony and reception were lovely. Congratulations to Emily and Mike who were married on the same day too, I wish I could have celebrated with you. I'm now staying with Jon's family through Christmas and a few days after before I fly up to Brisbane where I'll be for the majority of the rest of my trip. Brisbane is located right on the Gold Coast of Australia and a tourist area called Surfers Paradise. It's a good thing that my hair is starting to get as long as it is so I can fit in with the surfers when I'm up there working and surfing. I only got a few days in of surfing in Bali, but I think with practice by April I shouldn't be too bad at it. From everything I've read about Brisbane (or Brizzy) it is a very easy place to find short term casual employment. It also is a big advantage that English fluent is I. I mean that I am fluent in English I shouldn't have a hard time getting work either, according to fellow travelers I've spoken too. Merry Christmas to everyone and have a happy New Year. I probably won't be updating this as often as I have been since I'll be in one spot versus traveling around, so please send me an email and let me know what's going on...I love hearing from people.

South Island

After our time in the South Island I've realized a couple of things about New Zealand. 1) It has some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. From the bright turquiose waters to the rolling green hills and snow capped mountains driving from destination to destination proved to be one of the best parts. 2) If you are looking for any type of extreme adventure sport there is no place in the world better to go then New Zealand. Due to the unfortunate fact that I don't have unlimited funds I was only able to wade into the adventure waters up to about my waist instead of dive in head first from a cliff (which I'm sure was an option somewhere). All in all we ended up doing the caving, hiked up a Glacier, and went Bungy Jumping.

The South Island portion of our trip started at about 3 AM one night as we decided to take the overnight ferry from Wellington to the South Island. This time slot was a little bit less expensive, plus we caught a couple of Z's on the ferry and didnt have to pay for accomadation that night. Before departing from Welly though we saw the sights and toured the Capital building as Wellington is New Zealand's capitol. It was interesting to see how another nations goverment works, even in the brief hour long tour that we had. Upon arriving on the South Island we immediately began the long drive down the Western side of the island to the Franz Josef Glacier. It was raining the entire day which wasn't a terrible thing since we were in the car for about 7 hours to get there. We did stop off at a few sights along the way but it was tough to really see anything because of the rain and clouds everywhere. The highway did run right along the coast for a good portion of the trek and you could see the rugged coastline although not very clear due to the rain.

When we tried to book our hike of the glacier for the next day they were arleady all booked up (which was actually a blessing) because it was a grey rainy day that day as well, so we settled for the following day. It was a blue sky, sunny day, probably 70 degrees even on the glacier when we ended up hiking it, so everything really worked out well. We arrived at the tour guide's shop to get all our gear before going to the glacier. This consisted of wool socks, hiking boots, crampons, a rain jacket, and a nice little fanny pack to put the crampons in when they weren't on our feet. After leaving there at about 10:00 AM we had a ful 6-7 hours on the glacier. There were probably 50 people or so in our group so we split up between 5 different guides and could choose how extreme we wanted the hike to be, 1-5, from 1 moving the fastest, and using fewer ropes, steps, safety precausions, etc. to 5 being more about the scenery then climbing the glacier...naturally we chose group number 1. The only problem with this was our guide was currently training (and conveniently didn't tell us until the day was over) so it seemed like we weren't moving as fast as we could have. This is because most of the time he was in the front with a pick ax and would stop to make some sort of trail and steps for us so the group wasn't completley stranded on a shear ice cliff. After he asked all our names and where we were from he insisted on calling me Brad Pitt the rest of the day. Now the way I look at it this was for one of two reasons. Either that helped him remember my name because we are both named Brad, and Brad Pitt is American, or he kept calling me that because of my rugged good looks...I think its safe to say its because of the latter.

As I said, the weather was just about perfect to hike a glacier that day, and with the sunlight beaming down, you could really see the bright blue aqua colored ice that makes up the insides of the glacier. How could I see the inside of the glacier when we were hiking on top of it you ask? We maneuvered through extremely tight crevases and cracks in the glacier that it really gave you an appreciation for the size and beauty of it. There were also pools of melted ice that form the bright blue pools of water that look fake they are so clear and blue. It was really an awesome experience to be on top of a glacier like we were.

The plan after the day hike was to begin the drive down to Milford Sound and get as far as we could before taking a cruise on the Sound the following day. Then we ran into the wonderful fact that New Zealand is not a heavily populated country when the only gas station within 100 kms was closed and we had 1/8 of a tank left. Needless to say we decided to crash in that town (out of necessity, not an option) until the station opened the next morning before continuing the drive...luckily there was a Pub in town. This was actually another blessing in disguise because the drive from the glacier down towards Queenstown is considered one of the most beautiful drives, and it didn't dissapoint us. We stayed that next night in Te Anau which is the last town before the highway up to Milford Sound. Not suprisingly the drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound is also well known for the scenery. Milford Sound itself is something that pictures don't do justice of the magnitude and beauty of it. It consists of limestone cliffs and mountains cutting straight down into jade green waters that again are remarkably clear. The boat ride took us around the Sound and stopped under waterfalls, pointed out wildlife, and allowed us countless different views of the beauty of Milford Sound.

From Milford Sound we made the drive to Queenstown, which looks really close on the map, is actually a long drive because the highways don't go in the most direct route. Upon arriving back in Queenstown the first thing we did was make our reservations to go Bungy Jumping. The site which we did our jump is the famous Kawarau Bridge and is the first commercial bungy location in the world. From the edge of the bridge you are 43 meters above the Shotover River. The waters here again are an amazing color of blue (sense a pattern?) Depending on how you jump...from falling straight off the platform like a rock, to leaping outwards dictates if you will get dunked in the river of not. The more straight down you go the more wet you'll get, probably from your head down to your waist. I wanted to get a good jump and show good form so I didn't fall straight down, but I also wanted to get at least a little wet, so I was slightly dissapointed when I came up completel dry. The guys in the raft below who picked me up said that I came within inches of the water though. The free fall was only a few seconds before the slack in the rope caught, and then you bounch around like a dummy a few times before geing brought into the raft. Even though the experience itself isn't long, it was definitely worth it.

Queenstown itself was such a cool town. It sits right on the banks of Lake Wakatipu and has huge snow capped mountains backing it on the other side. The city blocks were clean, new and the whole place had a lively outdoor feel that was impossible not to embrace and want to stay longer. Unfortunately there was still more to see and time was starting to run low, so we only had about a day and a half to spend there. One thing we did was take the Gondola to the top of the mountain which provided spectacular views of the city/lake/mountains. Now, due to our budget attitude when we saw the free trail to walk to the top we immediatly opted for that instead of buying the ticket for the ride. It was not an easy hike, and I happened to be wearing flip flops thinking I would be enjoying a nice leisurely ride. The picture below is from the top of the Gondola.

After Queenstown we headed towards Christchurch where Mark would be flying out of to head back to the states. If you didn't catch it before, he is one of Jonathon's friends who joined us for 2 weeks of the trip just in New Zealand. This drive probably took the cake as the most scenic which may be hard to believe after everything that I've mentioned before. It provided specatular views of Mt. Cook, Mt. Tasman, and the other Southern Alps for a good portion of it. My favorite part was the view of these mountains across the impossibly blue water of Lake Tekapo (see picture below). After dropping him off at the airport we didn't really spend any additional time in Christchurch and started heading back up to the Norther part of the South Island to spend some more time beofre going back to the North Island. There is a great set of hiking trails in Abel Tasman National Park on the Northern part of the South Island which we spent all day hiking.

Once we were back on the North Island we began heading up towards Auckland while stopping in Tongariro National Park to once again do some hiking. This National park has one of the most perfect cone shaped volcanoes which we hiked around and is famous for appearing in the movie Lord of the Rings as Mt. Doom. After 2 days of hiking for the majority of the day in a row we were pretty spent, but kept driving as we had to return the rental car in only 2 days and still had more to see. We continued North of Auckland and went to Cape Reinga which is the Northernmost point of New Zealand and is where the Tasman sea collides witht he Pacific Ocean. This was a really cool area and had some enormous sand dunes just to the south along Ninety Mile Beach which we climbed. We're back in Auckland now before catching our flight early tomorrow morning for Melbourne. There isn't going to be much time to relax as we're hitting the ground running in Australia with Jonathon's mom, dad, aunt, and uncle picking us up from the airport before driving the Great Ocean Road. After doing that for a couple of days we're returning to Melbourne for his sisters wedding on the 18th and I'll be sticking around through Christmas.

Perth, North Island of New Zealand

After leaving Thailand our next destination was Perth in Western Australia. For those of you not familiar with Australia, Perth is about the only city in the entire state of Western Australia, and WA is almost half the country. Perth has to be the most isolated major city in the World. First of all it is about 2,500 miles to Sydney in the East. It is actually closer to Singapore in Asia, then the main city in it's own country. To the South is just the Southern Ocean, which doesn't see any land until you reach Antartica. To the north is seemingly endless uninhabitable land in the Australian outback, and to the west is about 5,000 miles of Ocean until you reach Africa. Again, my point is that it is a remote city, but the population is over 1 million people and it was quite nice. We got in around 9 PM the first night so didn't do anything until the next day which we spent walking around the downtown area, the waterfront and spending time in Kings Park, which is actually the largest city park in the world...yes bigger then Central Park in New York City. It is perched on a bluff just outside the CBD and provided great views of the skyline and Swan River. The following day we took the train to Fremantle as Perth itself is on the Swan River and not the Ocean. Freo as they call it is the main port town and is really a great seaside town. The downtown area felt like Hill Valley from Back to the Future, as it was really a neat town. There were street entertainers, markets, and a lot of bars and restaurants, and the weather was perfect that day. We found ourselves at the Little Creatures Brewary, suprinsingly, and enjoyed a couple of cold beers out on the deck right on the water. It was a huge microbrewary (does that make sense?) and it was bustling with people. After leaving Freo we stopped at Cottesloe Beach, which is the main beach in this area. The waters were again crystal clear blue, and we caught a great sunset there before heading back to the city.

Next on the list was a quick stop in Melbourne (just the airport) during a layover to pick up some camping equipment from Jonathan's parents to use while in New Zealand. The flight gave me more appreciation of how vast Australia really is, as it was a 4 hour flight over essentially nothing, then from Melbourne to Auckland, New Zealand was about another 4 hours, so it was a LONG day of traveling. Once in Auckland we met up with a friend of Jonathon's from the States named Mark. He's taking a 2 week vacation to tour around New Zealand with us for a little bit. Jon and I getting along great and everything, but it has been nice to have another person around.

We didn't spend much time in Auckland (part of it was actually catching up on some sleep too) before renting a car and starting the drive to different spots throughout the country. First we started out and drove around the Coromandel Penninsula which is just east of Auckland. It was a cloudy and extremely windy day, but some of the views of the mountians and water from the penninsula were still incredible. From there we continued further south towards Rotorua. We could smell the city of Rotorua from about 30 miles away as it reaks of dirty rotten eggs. It is a geothermal hotspot, and all around the city are heaps of geysers, boiling mud pools, hot springs, volcanoes, etc. The smell from these was overwhelming at times, but it was really fun to go around to the different parks and see all the activity created by the earth. The colors of some of these pools were remarkable too. One pool looked like a bright yellow highlighter which was caused by the high sulfur content. There were also bright blues, reds, and greens. We also went to a Maori night show which included some history of their culture, a performance of warriors, singing, dancing, and an AMAZING meal. This happened to be the Friday after Thanksgiving here, so it was probably still Thursday back home so it counted as our Thanksgiving meal. It included pork, stuffed chicken, potatoes, gravy, different salads, fresh seafood, and great desserts, so it actually did feel like a Thanksgiving meal. The end of the night show concluded with a geyser erupting at night which was lit up by lights, and looked really cool.

After leaving the smell of Rotorua and washing all our clothes and showering numerous times to try and rid ourselves of the smell...just kidding,it wasn't that bad, but we headed to the Waitomo Caves next to have an underground adventure. Wai means water, and tomo means hole in the Maori culture, which creates the name waterhole for the caves. We actually stopped at a different type of watering hole after our rafting too. The experience of climbing through the caves in a wetsuit and going from water to rocks repeatedly in pitch black dark where you can't see 6 inches in front of your face was extremely extreme. The only thing illuminating our patch was the lights on our helmets, which weren't used all the time, and the thousands and thousands of glow worms in the caves. It was quite a sight to see all of them dot the ceilings of these caves in a bright green light that looks like strands of christmas lights. In order to get into the cave alone we had to climb down a ladder that was sandwhiched between rocks with the hole no bigger than 18 inches across, I had to go down at an odd angle just to fit. There were also several other places along the trek through the cave where I thought I was going to get stuck. Many of these locations were appropriately named by the guides too. I'll leave the imagination to you, but there was ankle breaking alley, concussion rock, the bermuda triangle, constipation hole, and my personal favorite where we had to crawl through head first with our head lamps turned off was the re-birth canal. That was very tube like in shape about shoulder width wide, and I have no idea how long it was because I could not see A THING without my light on. The water was a warm 12 degrees C, or approximately 55 degrees F, but you didn't feel cold with the adrenaline working our way through these caves that involved climbing, squeezing, crawling, swimming, tubing, did I mention squeezing through small spaces?!? The only bummer with this trip was that we couldn't bring cameras down in the cave because of the affect the flash has on the glow worms.

After leaving the caves we began the drive to Wellington, which is the capital of New Zealand which is where we're at right now, and we'll only be here for a day or so before taking the ferry accross to the South Island to explore there too. It was a very scenic drive through that part of the North Island, and I'm really looking forward to the scenery of the South Island. We have already seen tons of sheep which seem to populate every grassland or empty space.

Thailand

Thailand thus far has consisted of a few days in and around Bangkok and more than a week on different tropical islands that truly are a paradise. After arriving in Bangkok on the bus from hell, we basically got the first room we could find, shortly followed by the coldest beers as well. We ended up staying with a girl from Belgium who was on the same bus as she was going to be in Bangkok for the same amount of time as us before returning home. The next day the 3 of us rented a tuk tuk (which is basically a carriage pulled by a motorbike) for the day to go around and see some sights of the city. The driver knew good spots to go, and the cost was only 30 Thai Baht, which is the equivalent of about $1 USD. The only catch with the whole thing was that after a couple of stops at what we wanted to see he took us to a few places that gave him free petrol coupons for bringing tourists in. After stopping at a suit factory first, and a travel agency later in the day we declined to go anywhere else except the sights we wanted to see. He then told us they give him free fuel, and since it was costing us a combined $1 for his services for half a day, we decided one more stop wouldn’t hurt. The main things that we saw were religious Buddhist temples and statues. There was the Giant Buddha, which stood 45 meters tall and was a solid gold color. There was also the sleeping Buddha, which was probably just as tall, but was lying on his side. We walked up the 450 steps to the top of the golden temple which provided great 360 degree views of the city, and it is a big and hectic city too. The final stop was at the Grand Palace, and Grand is used lightly to describe it, as it was enormous, and the details around all the design elements and colors was remarkable.

The following day Jon and I took a bus up to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over River Kwai, and some museums and memorials talking about the history of that. The museums were very well done, and it was interesting to learn about the history of that POW camp and the bridge. We actually walked across it, and a train happened to be coming by when we first stepped onto the tracks. There was a couple feet of room to stand off to the side, but most of the space was on rotting wood and rusted iron being the only thing between you and the river below. Looking back it was a good thing that I got shot in the leg with a nail gun while working construction and got that tetanus shot, because I felt like my jaw was locking up, and I was getting tetanus by just looking at parts of the bridge. You could definitely tell we were in Thailand on the nights when we were just walking around some of the bar and market areas because numerous people came up to us showing a list of about 15-20 different sex show categories we could choose from. The sex industry is huge in Thailand, and since I’m not sure how old the youngest reader of this may be, or how young the oldest reader is for that matter, I won’t go into any of the details of the shows…most of them were quite funny though.

We jumped on a plane from Bangkok to Phuket next where we only spent one night before taking the first ferry over to Phi Phi Island where we stayed for the next 4 nights. I was awe struck by the beauty of this island and the ones surrounding it to. The first thing you notice upon approaching the land was the sharp limestone cliffs with lush green vegetation on top that cut straight down into bright turquoise water that is crystal clear. It simply was a sight that cannot be described how beautiful these islands were. While staying on Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee) we lounged around on the beach for the majority of the time while also renting a sea kayak to explore other parts of the island from the water. The highlight of this was going to Monkey Beach…yes I know, more monkeys! This beach was maybe a kilometer around the corner from the main beach and was inhabited by wild monkeys, so we played with monkeys, again. This island was hit pretty hard by the tsunami in 2004, and virtually every building there today had to be rebuilt after it struck. There were several pictures showing the damage, and it was pretty sobering to see that everything we’re looking at now was completely flattened a few years before. There were also signs directing you to the tsunami evacuation route which led us up step stairs to the highest point on the island which was also a viewpoint, and the view was excellent. We had to hike up there twice to soak it in, and it is definitely a view that I would not get tired looking at. Our last full day there we took a water taxi over to the other Phi Phi island; there is Ko Phi Phi Don, and Ko Phi Phi Le. Phi Phi Lei is where one of the most beautiful beaches is located in Maya Bay. In 2000 they shot a movie here, ironically called The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, and it is a very famous destination for backpackers worldwide to visit. Needless to say we were not disappointed with the beauty of it.

The next island we stayed at is Ko Lanta, and that is still where we’re at right now before heading back to Phuket tomorrow to catch a flight from there to Singapore to connect there before going to Perth, Australia. Ko Lanta is much quieter and laid back then Ko Phi Phi, and it’s been nice to relax on the beach here and have a lot of space to ourselves. It’s not as scenic as Ko Phi Phi, although the picture of the sunset below is from here, so maybe my standards have gone up a little. It’s hard to believe that our SE Asian portion of the trip is almost over. I think out of habit I’ll still be ducking while walking through doors (they don’t build em very tall here) and I’ll definitely miss the $2 meals of authentic Thai food.

Kuala Lumpur/Cambodia

We jumped on the night train to leave Singapore bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and were greeted with the fact that although we were told that we purchases sleeper car tickets, we were sitting in the regular cars. After some debate with the crew (not much due to their lack of English) and paying a little bit extra we got in a sleeper car just after crossing the border into Malaysia. It was also the bumpiest train ride I've ever been on by far, so I got about 2 hours of sleep before arriving in KL at about 6 AM. Our first day there we walked around the city and different markets and everything before heading to the Kuala Lumpur Communication tower to go up to the observation deck to view the city. It is the 4th largest in the world, but because of the fact that it was raining we actually put that on hold and opted to do it the next evening to watch the sunset and see the city at night. If you don't know Kuala Lumpur is home of the famous Petronas Towers which are the twin towers connected by the bridge in the middle, and up until a couple of years ago were the tallest buildings in the world. They are an architectual beauty and are very photogenic. Our second day there we explored the towers and were there both during the day and at night time and got some great pictures. The KL tower was kind of a let down as the observation deck wasn't that big, and was cluttered with souviner shops and packed with quite a few people. The following day we had a 7 AM flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and had another interesting airport experience. KL has 3 different airport terminals which are all a good distance away from each other. The only stop that the train has is at the international terminal so we thought we were in good shape. It was the international terminal for elite flights though, and we had to catch a ride over to the other international terminal. We got to the airport at about 6, and the check-in counter closes at 6:15, so we quick grabbed a cab to the other terminal before running to the checkout counter and made it there JUST in time.

Cambodia was in some ways much different then I expected, and in some ways it was sadly what I thought it would be. Suprisingly they use United States currency, and of all the countries we've been to I would say they spoke the best English too..probably including Australia ;) One of the first things that hit you was how it is a country that is struggling to obtain its identity after several years of terror and war. You could still see the pain on the faces of a lot of the people caused by the Khmer Rouge. This was very evident in the number of people on the streets that were missing arms and legs, and asking for money. It was so sad to see the destruction caused by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, as they killed nearly 2 million Cambodians with most of the deaths coming in the form of starvation and disease. At the time that was approximately a quarter of the entire population. The people missing limbs that we encountered most likely lost them due to disease or even land mines that are still around the countryside, and we probably saw close to 10 people in one afternoon while eating lunch and walking through part of town. The majority of the streets were just dirt roads with enormous pot holes that made riding down them in taxi's, buses, or tuk tuks extremely uncomfortable.

Aside from all that seeing the temples at Angkor Wat was a great experience. We were only in Cambodia for a few days to see them, and bought our day ticket the evening before so we could get in for free to watch the sunset from the top of one of the temples. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as it was packed with people. We got to bed early that night as the next day we left at 5 AM to watch the sunrise over the main temple, Angkor Wat. That was really a great experience to see that, and its also the first time in a while that I remember being up for a sunrise! Throughout the rest of the day we were wandering around and exploring other temples. Also while in Cambodia an ATM acted up on me and I never recieved the $200 that I took out, yet it was charged to my account. I've already contacted the bank about it...too bad it wasn't First National Bank of Michigan since I feel I might have some more leverage there. But if anyone wants to send me a check to help fund the rest of my trip I wouldn't be opposed! The next morning we had to get up early AGAIN to catch our bus from Seim Reap to Bangkok which was a whole nother adventure.

The bus drove around to all the different guesthouses that had people that booked tickets to pick them up. Keep in mind the roads I mentioned earlier are extremely bumpy, and narrow with street vendors, motorbikes, people, stray dogs, etc. The bus was about 2/3 rds full by the time we got to the station where there happened to be about 12 more people waiting to get on. There was room for at most 8 more. So the driver stacked all the luggage to the roof just behind the back row of seats, as well as to the roof in the very front seat next to the door. This didnt take care of all the luggage though, so there were bags laying down the entire isle, and stacked up in front of the door. A couple people had to catch the next bus, and they even brought a lawn chair on the bus because we were still over loaded by one person. They elected to just sit on the floor though as it was easier. We stopped twice along the way to the border to use the restroom once (which cost money) and to eat lunch at a restaurant the second time. I'm sure the driver gets paid by that restaurant to bring a bus load full of people, as our bus was the only people that were there. Once we got to the border around 1 we switched buses and got on another one which drove us about 2 kilometers to the border. From there we had to go through Cambodia customs, and then walk about 1 more kilometer to the Thailand border and go through Thailands customs. After that we were taken to get on our 3rd bus which was more of an excursion van...which again was overloaded with people and luggage, and the ride from the border to Bangkok was about 3 and a half hours. So we got into the city at about 5:30 after bordering the first bus at 7:30 AM. Needless to say it was a long day of traveling that always consisted of an overcrowded vehicle. We're now in Bangkok and have been here for a few days and are next heading south to Phucket and some islands of the west coast of Thailand. I'm running out of time on the internet so will post pictures of this portion of the trip soon.

Singapore

I don't have a whole lot to say about Singapore as we were only there for a couple of days. I was blown away though by the amount of development and building going on in the city. There must have been over 50 new skyscrapers/hotels/condos/casinos/office buildings/you name it under construction, cranes dotted the skyline everywhere you looked. Singapore is a very modern and technologically advanced city, and it had a great (and inexpensive) public transportation system. We actually took the night flight from Bali to Singapore, so we didn't arrive until a little after 1 in the morning, and stayed in the airport yet again. I'm trying to make sure this trip lasts as long as possible, so any shortcuts and freebies we get we'll take advantage of.

We got to our hostel early the next morning so we had almost 3 full days to see the sights of Singapore. The first day was spent mainly walking around the CBD and other parts of the city. It was really cool to see the fish/lion statue that sprays water out of its mouth that I have seen so many pictures of. The next day was halloween, and we spent the day at the Singapore Zoo, and Night Safari. The Night Safari was a separate part of the zoo where you can tour the animals at night when they are under in a different state of awareness. Since it was halloween they tried to make parts of it haunted, which really wasn't a bad idea with the exception of the number of middle school aged girls there that screem at EVERYTHING, even when its not scary. The main zoo where we were at during the day closed at 6 and the Night Safari opened at 7 and during this time there was a huge thunderstorm and downpoor. It actually culminated very well with their attempted theme of a haunted night safari. I say attempted because in a country like the U.S. where halloween is more widely celebrated it wouldn't pass for anything special. We got out and walked some of the paths instead of staying in the trolleys the whole time, and one of the highlights of walking through in the dark and rain was that hardly anyone else was around, and we turned the corner this one time and stumbled into a few giraffs eating. They were within 75 feef of us and it really felt like we were in their natural environment since Jon and I were the only ones around, very cool.

The Singapore Zoo I think was the only one in the world with free ranging Orang utang, and that was pretty incredible. They have a whole ropes course type thing set up above some walkways and there are Orang utans swinging by and jumping from tree to tree. There are only a few places left in the world where they can be found in the wild, and all of them are in SE Asia, mainly the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. One of my favorite parts were seeing the group of giant Asian turtles. This is mainly for Bob, Meredith, Trish, Beth and Brooke if you're reading this...I like Turtles! The following day was spent seeing some additoinal things on the water in Singapore before catching the night train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where we're at right now before heading to Cambodia to see the temples at Angkor Wat.

Bali

Navigating the streets/alleys/sidewalks, whatever you want to call them is like walking through a mine field. They aren’t roads, but are driven on like they are. Most streets…again I say that loosely are about 8-10 feet wide and double as pedestrian walkways and for use of cars and motor bikes. It was always interesting when 2 cars were coming from opposite directions met, and what they had to do to pass through. It usually resulted in one of them all but pulling into one of the shops so the other one could squeeze by with only inches to spare. Not only do you have to keep your head on a swivel because of all the motor bikes going in every direction, but any type of sidewalk repair that’s going on leaves behind a hole about 3 feet deep, and 3 feet across while it’s being worked on. They also like to patch things other holes with spare concrete blocks, pieces of wood, metal, really anything that looks like it might be sturdy enough. It made it especially fun after having a few drinks. If you were to find something like this in the states there would be a lawsuit filed within the amount of time it’ll take you to finish reading this entry. One thing that I really liked about the motor bikes is some have 2 large hook looking things sticking off the side where you can strap a surfboard on the side of the motor bike and go to the beach. Kuta Beach in Bali where we’ve been staying is considered one of the hot spots for surfing in throughout the world.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Bali before heading north to Singapore. We’ll actually be crossing back into the northern hemisphere again, so my first time in several weeks, even if only a stones throw away from the equator. The Bali portion of our trip came at a good time since we were running around seeing so much in Australia it was refreshing to just kick back, soak up the sun and relax on the beach. After the surf session tomorrow it will be our third time that we’ve gone out to do it. Once you get a handle on the fundamentals of surfing it is a great feeling to catch a good wave and just ride it. We met a guy name Yanto one of our first days here, and let me tell you he is living the dream. He’s got a little “bar” right on the beach which basically consist of a couple big coolers, some lawn chairs, and an umbrella. He also has a bunch of surfboards to rent out and so we go to him to both grab some Bintangs (the Indonesian beer) and rent a board for a couple of hours. We went surfing late in the afternoon our second time and stayed on the beach to watch one of the most perfect sunsets.

We made it up to Ubud on the island of Bali earlier today to go to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary which is some paths through part of the forest that are populated with monkeys. Jonathon and I were both surprised at the number of monkeys that were there and how they were just roaming about around all the visitors. It wasn’t like a zoo or anything, they were in the wild, and just highly concentrated in this area. The highlight of the monkeys (although probably not for the victim) was when one jumped on a girls back causing her to drop her camera. Within seconds another monkey came from behind and scooped it up and took off running. About an hour later we saw one of the guides and the same girl trying to entice the monkey that took it with bananas as he was still holding onto her camera. I’m not sure if they were successful or not, but it was quite comical, and the monkey was trying to see what he needed to do to eat it like it was some type of food.

A perfect example of how truly small the world is happened after our first attempt at surfing was over. We got back to Yanto’s bar to return the boards and got some beers to try and rinse the saltwater taste out of our mouths, the sand out of our ears, remove the seaweed that was wrapped around us, etc. This of course was caused by all the wipeouts…again it was my first time. There was a couple at Yanto’s bar as well which we stuck up a conversation with. They just had thier wedding here in Bali and were staying for the honeymoon. Come to find out that they are both from Melbourne and Jonathon actually went to primary school with the lady. They were only 1 year apart and didn’t know each other, but knew a lot of the same people. It would be the equivalent of me vacationing somewhere in the Caribbean and just happening to bump into someone on the beach that I went to elementary or middle school with.

We’ve met some really cool and interesting people so far in our travels, and might end up meeting up with a few of them as our trips will overlap by a week or so in New Zealand. One thing that I’ve found interesting, and kind of exciting is that when asked by different Indonesian people where I’m from and I reply America, they mention that I’m only the 2nd or 3rd American they’ve ever met. I know Indonesia isn’t particularly close to the US, but it was still something very different for me to be this far removed from my home and be reminded of it by others. I have more pictures to post related to this story but it takes about 5 minutes per picture to upload, and I'm running out of time online, so I'll add some more soon!

Its been a long time since my last post, so I apologize to the close followers (if there are any). We’ve done a lot in the past week or so, but haven’t had much internet access during that time. This is going to be a long post too, so hopefully I can keep your attention for the whole thing. Currently I’m looking out over the oriental style rooftops in Bali, Indonesia from our 3^rd floor hotel room balcony just a few blocks from the beach. Let me go back to where I left off though and get you caught up on everything that we’ve done.

On Friday 10/16 we lathered up in sunscreen, apparently not enough for me, and headed east on the Ocean Free sailboat to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. It couldn’t have been a better day for it as the air temperature was right around 90, water temperature about 75, not a cloud in the sky, and not a breath of wind. That was also a problem since we took a SAILBOAT out there. It took about 2 hours to arrive and return to the reef since we had no wind power to use, but it wasn’t a problem since we still had plenty of time to snorkel, and a lot of the other passengers were around our age so we struck up some conversations and made some friends.

The dive spot was located just off Green Island which is absolutely gorgeous with all the colors of the water right around it. I ended up buying a post cord with an aerial view of the area we snorkeled just because I couldn’t capture the beauty with my camera. After the morning session they fed us a delicious lunch on the boat and took us to the island in shifts to spend some time on the beach there. Jonathon and I made sure to catch the first ride back to the boat so we could have quite a bit more time in the water before heading back to Cairns. As we were about to get in the water again we were greeted by 2 sharks and a couple of other large fish that were swimming around the boat. Feeling invincible like we are we slipped into the water quietly to swim with these animals. In the mean time our captain begins throwing pieces of left over lunch meet in the water real close to us (I was hit in the head once) and tells us to keep our hands and arms tucked in close to our body. I think you can imagine why, and I didn’t want to temp the sharks to think that my fingers were nice little pieces of meat that they can have for a dessert, so I obeyed without questioning. It was such a cool experience to be in the water with 3 sharks (a 3^rd came up later when they were eating) in the wild like that and watch them eat and swim. The crew was extremely fun and you can tell they love poking fun at specific nationalities when they get a chance…Canadians, and Italians were on the receiving end most of the day.

We had 2 more days in the Cairns area before flying to Darwin after that so we explored some beaches in the area and just relaxed by the pool and ocean. Cairns was a really fun city but its essentially on a lagoon and there is no beach there. It’s a shame since it’s the main destination for the reef and in Northern Queensland, but they did have a huge pool right in the main park of the city right across the street from where we were staying.

In my opinion when you picture the countryside of Australia the Northern Territory around Darwin fits the bill. We rented a car again to drive to Litchfield National Park, and see the Katherine Gorge. On the drive out that first morning to Litchfield we had to stop at the Adelaide River to do a crocodile jumping cruise. Any gator or croc that you’ve seen in the states would be a light snack for these creatures. The cruise consisted of a two deck boat, and one of the crew members dangling a piece of meat from a stick over the water. The crocs swim up to it and jump to try and get it. Seeing them open their jaws like that and the power of them was incredible. After the tour was over we continued onto Litchfield where we were both pleasantly surprised by the number of water holes and waterfalls to swim in. They were swimming pools of the wild that brought along probably the most refreshing dip I’ve had, not only because of the purity of the water and that we could have the waterfall rain down on us, but remember we’re in the Northern Territory…so it is HOT. I also quickly understood why people where the hats with the bug screen around their face because the flies up there were terrible. That was another reason that made the water feel so good, because you could escape the bugs for a little bit.

It was a great 2 weeks in Australia filled with a wide variety of things. We were cold and wet in Sydney while walking around the Olympic park and during the Australia vs. Netherlands soccer match, hot and stuffy in the Northern Territory while hiking the Katherine Gorge and Litchfield, saw numerous wateralls, and potentially deadly animals. We met some nice people from all around the world that we might be able to meet up with again in the New Zealand portion of our trip, saw one of the natural wonders of the world, and for me I got to learn some Aussie slang and expressions that I’m hoping to bring back to the states with me. Some of my favorites are how everything is abbreviated, when you hear me say sunnies I’m talking about sun glasses, and if I’m going to buy the next round of drinks, “I’ll shout for the next.” I’m excited to move onto our next leg of the trip in SE Asia and also to return to Australia in December when we’re done with SE Asia and New Zealand.

A potential major setback almost happened in the Darwin Airport. As we went to check into our flight for Bali we were told they couldn’t let us board the plane since we didn’t yet have a departing flight from Indonesia. Apparently Indonesia has very strict immigration and customs laws so we would have been sent back to Australia on the first flight out of there if they found out we didn’t have a departing flight booked. Luckily we got to the airport early enough that we booked a flight with the same airline to go to Singapore as our next stop, mainly because it was only a $50 flight, and that is the central location for all of SE Asia so it will be easy to head off in a better planned route from there when we can sit down and figure out some of the details.

I’m going to head to the beach now, so my next post will be about Bali, which if our first 2 days are any indication of what the remaining 4 are going to be like it should make for a good read if I haven’t put you to sleep already. More pictures to follow. Cheers!

More of Sydney and start of the Great Barrier Reef

So it turns out the Sydney Aiport isn't open 24 hours a day. Our flight left from Sydney on Monday morning at 7:00 AM, so we thought it would be much easier to check in late Sunday night and just crash in the airport before our flight on Monday morning. Shortly after our arrival we were quietly escorted by the Security at the airport, and rather then spending $100 for a hotel room we shacked up at the McDonald's right by the airport and just went on ZERO sleep. But we did get some double cheese's to help out. Before we left Sydney though we got to go to the Olympic Park where the 2000 summer games were held, went out with some of our new found friends at our Hostel, walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, took some great pictures of the city, and went to the Australia vs. Netherlands Soccer match. The Dutch were ranked 3rd in the world I think at the time.

The day we went to the soccer match the temperature was only in the upper 50's and raining. It actually cleared up a little bit right as the game was about to start, but it was really incredible to be around that atmosphere of an international soccer match. The Aussie's were definitely outmatched, and Jonathon will be the first to agree, but the game ended in a 0-0 draw, so it wasn't the most exciting for the fans either. We also went to Bondi Beach one afternoon, which is a world famous beach for it's surfing and scenery. Despite the not so warm weather it was beautiful there, and fun to just watch the Pacific Ocean for a couple of hours.

We then flew into Townsville as it was much cheaper then to go all the way to Cairns. We rented a car and began heading up the Coast towards Cairns where the main attraction is for the Great Barrier Reef. A little over an hour into the drive on Monday we stopped at Wallaman Waterfall and did some hiking around Australia's tallest waterfall. It is almost 300 meters tall (just shy of 1,000 feet for you Americans) and we hiked all the way down to the bottom and climbed around the rock formations down there. This part of Queensland is in the dry season and they haven't had rain in a couple of months so the stream wasn't particularly strong, but it was so much fun to hike there and see the nature. We then drove further north to Mission Beach where we ate some dinner and stayed the night virtually right on the beach. I don't think I have to say it, but we were VERY tired from the McDonald's/Airport/Airplane sleeping the night and morning before and only getting maybe an hour of sleep, so we crashed fairly early that night.

Jonathon and I did wake up early the next morning and got a couple hours of beach time in before continuing north. The weather was in the upper 80's and the Australian sun is a little bit more intense then the sun in other parts of the world I've been to. We saw two groups of skydivers land on the Beach from 14,000 feet right by us. We decided to keep heading north and are now staying the next several nights in Cairns. We found a great deal at a Hostel in town where we are staying for only $17 a night including a free dinner each night from a local Pub (drinks not included) and it offers great views.



We ended up booking a snorkeling trip to the Great Barrier Reef on a Sailboat for this Friday. We are also going to spend a full day or more in the Daintree National Forest, some time on the Palm Cove Beach, and Port Douglas Beach (Google pictures there and you might be jealous!!!) After a couple more days on the Great Barrier Reef we're going to be flying to Darwin, Australia to spend a few days around the Australian wildlife before heading into Indonesia and spending about a month in SE Asia.

I'll be sure to include a lot of pictures of our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel, and describe that. My camera is waterproof so hopefully I'll be able to get some great shots of the Coral as well as colorful fish/water/islands.

Jonathan and I are wrapping up our 3rd day in Sydney now. The flight over from San Francisco was long and uneventful. Of course I had a hard time sleeping and probably only got about 2 hours in. We arrived in Sydney around 10:00 AM on Tuesday though, so we found a Hostel, stashed our stuff then started exploring the city right away. We have seen the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge everyday so far since the train station where we have to go through for must of our destinations is right there at the Harbour. So far we have walked around the downtown area, Darling Harbour, gone to some free Museums, taken a ferry across the Harbour to Manly Beach, gone through some local markets, and had a couple of beers at Sydney's oldest Pub. On the agenda before we leave here Sunday is to walk across the Harbour Bridge, go to Bondi Beach, walk through the Olympic Park, watch the Holland vs. Australia Soccer match, and see some Australian wildlife. After we leave Sydney we'll be flying to Townsville which is on the Great Barrier Reef, just south of Cairns. It was cheaper to fly there and rent a car then to fly all the way to Cairns, and then we can explore some of the rain forests and beaches easier.

Before leaving for Sydney though I spent a few days in San Francisco with cousin Tim Lueth, and it was incredible. I took the train from Bakersfield to San Francisco, which took about 7 hours, but Tim met me downtown and we had a few drinks for happy hour, then ate dinner downtown. The next day he took me to wine country and I got to experience a few different Winery's in Sonoma and Napa Valley, and learn more about the entire process of making wine. On Saturday we were regular tourists in San Francisco and did A LOT of walking. We started the day out by going to a park called Twin Peaks, which offers spectacular views of the city and Pacific Ocean. After that we went to the Haight-Ashbury district...which I really enjoyed, and had breakfast at the People's Cafe right on Haight Street. From there we went to another park that had some beautiful Victorian homes around it and again had great views of the city. You may be familiar with the view if you ever watched the TV show Full House. We also went to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 to see all the Sea Lions, saw the crookedest street, good views of Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge, and the list goes on. Tim and I then ate breakfast in Pacifica and watched the Surfers. Jonathan got in Sunday afternoon, and we spent a little bit of time walking around the city before Tim dropped us off at the Airport for our 9:00 PM flight that night.

San Diego/Bakersfield

I arrived in San Diego late Friday afternoon (9/25/09) and was picked up from the airport by high school friend Spencer Jensen, who attends San Diego State University. The minute I walked out of the terminal I was greeted by sunny skies, 80+ degrees, and a row of palm trees along the San Diego Bay. While staying with Spencer we were able to tour the campus, head to the beach area, go to a San Diego Chargers football game against the Miami Dolphins, and walk around downtown before my train left for Los Angeles on Monday afternoon (9/28/09). It was great spending time with Spencer as we became pretty close while on the golf team at Portage Central before he moved out to California.
It was a very scenic train ride up the coast from San Diego to Los Angeles, and I made sure to get a seat on the west side of the train to look out over the Pacific Ocean which was visable for more then half of the train ride. From Los Angeles I got on a bus, for the rest of the trip to Bakersfield where some of my best friends from college now live. Mark Howson, and Dave "Toaster" Healey picked me up from the bus stop. The next day the three of us drove up to Sequioa National Park and drove through the park, and hiked around a little bit to look at the GIGANTIC trees. It was a cold and cloudy day, so the pictures didn't always turn out the best, but it was amazing to see these trees that are thousands of years old...pictures don't do the size of the trees justice anyway. Tomorrow morning (10/1/09) I'll be leaving by train again to head to San Francisco where our flight leaves for Australia on Sunday, October 4th.