Oz update

Hi, just a quick update on a couple of things.

We left Manly yesterday but before we did a bizarre thing happened - we were walking down the street going home after a hard day at the beach and we bumped into Mairi McLaren who was one of the Skye girls that was at Jordanhill when Katie and I were there! What a bizarre thing it was to bump into someone on the street this far away from home - weird. The amount of factors involved in determining this coincidence are astounding - if we had left the beach earlier or later we would have missed each other, if we hadn't gone to the internet cafe to upload photos it wouldn't have happened, Mairi had actually left her house earlier than usual to go to work, she had also walked a different road than usual that day. As I said - astounding.

Anyway, Mairi kindly took us out on our final night and we had a few beers and a bit of a catch up about the old days and the more recent developments. Really great to see her and hear about what she's been up to. ;o)

We left Manly yesterday and headed back to Sydney (it really is a fantastic city)- we did Wildlife world yesterday (well you kind of have to) and we saw all the traditional animals that are must sees in Australia (Koala's, Kangaroo's etc). It was also a bit of pre-outback education about what spiders and snakes might not be the best to run into.

We stayed in somewhere called the Y hotel last night (ran by the YWCA i think) right next to Hyde Park and then we went out for some chinese BBQ food and then went for a drink down at Darling Harbour (which is really impressive)After a fantastic nights sleep at the Y and a great breakfast which was included in the price (doesn't happen too often) we had to move today back to Sydney Central YHA (for anyone thats tracking our movements that was the first place we stayed in OZ) - we leave on a really early flight tomorrow to Hervey Coast and will be staying in the woolshed backpackers before doing a three day 2 night tour of Fraser Island which is supposed to be amazing. Two more nights at the Woolshed and then flying back to Sydney on the 24th but not leaving the airport and heading straight to Perth on a late flight. We don't have accomodation booked there yet but we will let you know as soon as we do.

The plan is to hire a camper van and drive up as far as Broome and as far down as Albany - just doing a bit of exploring really and having a wee bit of freedom.

Will write more probably after Fraser Island, next post may be from Perth depending on internet access.

Spk soon, hope everyone back home is well.

Steph

New photos on flickr.

Darling Harbour 3
Originally uploaded by katieandsteph88

I have put some more photos on flickr for everyone to have a look at, unfortunately i uploaded some extra ones from Chiang Mai and they are now sitting above the Australia photos but we are not back in Chiang Mai just on case you were wondering - I have now created "collections" on the right hand side - you can just click into a collection and look at the photos based on where we are or where we have been.

Hope this makes some sense. ;o)

An entry from me

Steph is so dilligent with this thing - I feel guilty!! However, my excuse is that I am in therapy and currently trying to undo some of the bad habits that I gained whilst at work i.e. sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day!! Once I have repaired the damage I will get better at blogging - promise!!

Anyway, Steph's last two entries are a bit of date as we have ditched Cairns and most of the east coast, but have just booked our flights to Fraser Coast (Hervey Bay and Fraser Island) and we then fly over to Perth to start a bit of a road trip covering Margaret River and Ningaloo Reef. Ulluru and Tazmania are a possibility but I don't want to say for sure as plans may change (again!!)

The Northern beaches have been great, Avalon the best and Manly as a place to stay is really pretty with quite a lot to do. We're staying here for a few days and looking forward to a bit of a special dinner tomorrow night (courtesy of Ewen and Andrea as an engagement present - thanks again you two!!)

Love K x

Day 21 - and it;'s raining would you believe!

Hi folks, before I start this entry I just want to share a great idea from my Dad - if you wanted a closer look at where we are at any time you could always check out Google Earth which means you could see the beaches we have been on etc. Unfortunately Google Earth isn't live real time so you can't see us swimming about or anything but you could have a look. Nice idea Dad - maybe I will look into some live webcams(like the one in George square, Glasgow) and we can arrange to wave to people or something like that. ;o)

Ok, well where in Australia are we now? We are staying at the Manly Beach house and it is raining here in Manly but that's ok, it's the first rain we have had really. Manly is part of the North beaches area just North of Sydney and is a place where Katie's friend Clare spent a good deal of time and we can see why, it's pretty nice. We've been staying in Collaroy but to be honest it wasn't that happening so we were spending most of our time getting the bus to other places - Collaroy was a good base for exploring but very little to do in the evenings, but I suppose that was relaxing.

Over the last few days we have been to Collaroy beach, Avalon beach and then Palm beach - which is actually the place they film Home and Away and although it's not a show we watch we both remember it from when we were younger so that was a bit of a novelty.

We are now planning our next moves and have spent this wet morning trying to sort out flights and stuff and the plan is this - we are flying to Fraser Coast so that we can explore Fraser Island and then we fly back to Sydney and then straight back out to Perth, Western Australia where we will be hiring a camper van and going on a bit of a road trip - details to be confirmed but they should include all the highlights like Ningaloo Marine park, dolphin watching and swimming with harmless (?) whale sharks etc. We will let you know once we are a bit more sure.

We're both doing well, happy and healthy thanks for asking and we are still having a great time - just about getting used to (and getting good at) packing the bag every couple of days and heading off to the next place.

One bit of other good news that I can't remember if i mentioned last time or not but my applications for registering as a teacher in NZ have all went through so that means I can really start the job hunt (unfortunately internet access in the outback will be zero!)

Ok, well I better go for now I think Katie is wanting to put some finishing touches to this entry - or perhaps a whole new entry.

Hope everyone is well back home,

All the best, SB

p.s. I have all my photos here with me but this internet place is really cheap and charges for all the extras - to upload photos it will cost me more than my internet time - call me tight fisted but I will go to the place round the corner later where it won't cost me extra, so lots of photos to follow.

Sydney

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in posts - youth hostel life is very different to hotel life and the access we have to internet isn't superb but we are still alive don't worry!

We enjoyed three nights at Sydney Central YHA in the middle of Sydney and to be honest it was the best hostel I have ever stayed in. Ok so some bits weren't 100% clean but the leisure facilities and the kitchens and location were superb - and we were very lucky with our room mates. Would highly recommend it - there were actually families staying there in private rooms and I thought - Well why not, I probably would if I was coming back here with family or something (If whoever I was travelling with could look past all the young mental unwashed travellers who seem to be on the internet all day everyday!)

First day in Sydney - with serious tiredness setting in we went out for a walk (which we seem to do everywhere) and we ended upi at the harbour bridge and the opera house which was stunning I have to say. (The fantastic weather does help the aesthetics of course). After that we headed round a place called McQuarries point and then headed home via Kings Cross - we must have walked a fair distance round Sydney but it really helped for us to get our bearings. We were also able to find a supermarket and cook our first meal of the trip - only pasta and sauce with salad but it was blinkin good.

Second day in Sydney we wandered around some more and ended up at Bondi beach (now that is a heck of a walk from Sydney Central station) we sat and watched the sun go down with a bottle of wine and some tinnies which was great although it got so freezing cold I thought we could have been on Carradale Beach ;o)\

Third day and we decided to head back to Bondi - well we had to really, couldn't exactly miss it. Its had bad reviews for being cheesy and tacky etc but we really enjoyed it and we also enjoyed spotting the lifeguards from the TV show "Surf Rescue" (or something like that) - that made us laugh. After sunbathing for a wehile ) safely of course) we went for a coastal walk to Coogee beach (about a 5k walk but stunning) Coogee was really nice too but we were tired and the day was done, and we were packing up and moving on the next day so we got the bus home.

But when we got home we decided it was too boring to stay in so we headed to Darling which was fantastic in the dark - really very impressed although it was all just touristy london-esque bars and restaurants. I think I have some good pictures from there though - I will post them as soon as I can.

Today we left Sydney Central and we are now in a really small Coastal town called Collaroy - really relaxing so we think we might lay low for a week and plan the next stage of the trip. We are planning to go into Sydney centre tomorrow night though for a Saturday night out and to see the opera house in the dark. (if you know what I mean) Tonight we took a bike ride out to the big supermarket and we should have enough food to save us some $$$'s in the next few days.

The plan from here is a bit sketchy but it is definitely looking like planes trains and automobiles (hopefully hiring a camper van) up to Cairns, off to Ayres Rock and possible Perth before hitting Melbourne. Will keep you all posted!


Hope everyone back home is doing well, we miss you all folks but time is flying already - I think on Tuesday it will have been three weeks away.

Ok, I am off to drink some VB (Aussie beer) and then go off to bed - probably have some beaches we need to check out or soemthing tomorrow. ;o)

SB

p.s apologies for any spelling mistooks, I have no time left to check this - maybe later

Sydney

Hi folks, we finally made it into Sydney - just as Bangkok exploded into the worst riots for 50 years apparently! How's that for timing?

Anyway we are here safe and sound and will keep you updated with our progress and photos - already been to the opera house and bridge.

SB

Instructions for leaving posts

Hi folks,

A few people have emailed me about how to leave a post so I just want to run through a few quick things.

1) On any of our posts you can leave a comment just by clicking comments link under the blog entry.

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8) Any help needed just email me at stephbrown8@aol.com ;o)

Chiang Mai - Final day

Hi everyone,

it's the final day in Chiang Mai and almost the start of our exciting trip to the Land of Oz.

We leave Chiang Mai tomorrow at 8.30am to fly to bangkok and then we are off to Sydney at 6.10pm arriving in Sydney at 7am the following day.

Once again, I am planning my in flight movie viewing in advance but with the flight coming in at 8 hours it will be a bit tighter to fit those darned movies in.

We got our CD of elephant images today but the internet cafe we are in doesn't let us use CD's - They charge for copying or making cd's so the cd drives are taped shut ;o(

Not to worry though - the elephant images will be on soon enough. For now you will have to make do with a photo of me wearing crazy mahoot clothing and crouching like a maniac over our fantastic lunch.

Speak again soon,

SB. ;o)

Chiang Mai - Ellies!!!!

Well today was the day I have been waiting for so far - apart from the day I win the lottery!!

For those of you don't know, my work colleagues contributed to a fantastic leaving gift/experience which was to spend a day working with some elephants. It wasn't your usual mass tourist thing, it was really personal and the elephants lived and behaved probably as close as possible to being wild. We were picked up at 7.30am from our 7 pound per night hostel (very, very, nice btw) and travelled by chauffeur mini van for 45 mins into the Hang Dong Valley where we arrived at the 'farm' and met the owner and the guides. They gave us a rundown of what to expect and broke the news that we would be getting a private trek because the family booked with us had cancelled and an extended one because we looked fit and healthy! We were delighted as we didn't expect to be on our own!! We trekked for a short while out to the area where our ellies were and were greeted by two big ladies called Kwuan and Masai Noi ('Jennifer' and 'good lady') They were both rescued, Kwuan from the streets of Bangkok (she cost 45,000 pounds 2 years ago) - most ellies today cost around 180,000 pounds to rescue so it is a pretty costly business. Kwuan was mine for the day and Masai Noi was 35 and rescued from an illegal logging company - she was the matriarch and responsible for training Kwuan, so as you can imagine mine was a delinquent at 19 years old. She was quite naughty, eating huge bamboo stalks and generally being a bit troublesome! I tried applying some horseriding skills - but unfortunately that wasn't too effective!!

I could go so much into detail, but it may bore you senseless, so I will sum up what we did, we checked the ellies were happy and healthy, we inspected some poo, we washed them and fed them and then trekked through countryside, paddy fields and very high into the mountains for a couple of hours, it was really beautiful and as I said totally natural on our own with the ellies and the guides following behind to make sure 'little' 10 ton Kwuan didn't make a race for the nearest bamboo trees. They were so gentle especially when we went swimming with them at the secluded waterfall. That was the best bit for us, also quite entertaining when Steph managed to fall down 4 times in the water into the deep areas - he was there one minute and gone the next!!! We also had a fantastic picnic there on a banana leaf table cloth with an assortment of weird and wonderful mainly vegetarian food (healthy like the ellies apparently - you would love it Noan, D on the other hand may have had a problem with eating off the rocks on a banana leaf!!)

This is a long ramble, I am sorry, but just a very cool day and hopefully there will be many more to come.

Gotta go now, more markets to scan and great food to sample.

Katie x

p.s. Just in case you need to control an elephant here are some basics:

Pai - Go
NonLong - Down
Look - Up
How - Stop
Yanna - Don't
DD - Good

And thank you to all at SportCentral/Active Stirling for helping us afford such a great experience - more photos to follow on flickr ;-)

Chiang Mai

Hi everyone, apologies that the entries have been short so far this is because a) we have little available time for the internet b) we don't want to spend a lot of time on the net if possible and c) we don't want to overload people with information and make the blog boring - this entry however will hopefully be a little bit longer and explain what's been going on in more detail than before.

There has been a few problems getting photos on to the sites though, problem 1) I don't always have the card reader on me and 2) Katie's SD card has magically locked and I can't unlock it - there is a switch on it but I think it is broken - hopefully I will be able to retrieve the photos on it that haven't been uploaded yet. If anyone out there knows of a good way to do this please get in touch.

Also before I start I just want to thank everyone for checking out the blog, commenting, viewing the flickr account (www.flickr.com/katieandsteph88) and for emailing us. Please continue to keep in touch and we will reply as often as possible.

Chiang Mai.
We are now back down in Chiang Mai having travelled back down from Chiang Dao on the bus today. It takes about an hour and a half and the bus is full of local people just doing their stuff - it's a pretty authentic Thai experience and at only 50Baht (under a pound) is well within the budget.

We are staying in a rather plush new approach to Youth Hostelling called "Imm Eco" - as usual google it if you want to check it out - it's apparently an Eco-friendly hostel. Katie found it on the internet, it is only a 20 minute walk from the main attractions and we have a huge swimming pool and the place to ourselves - oh, and no bugs that I have seen so far ;o)

I will just quickly give you a run down of the last few days at the Nest - just in case you are wondering how that panned out - and whether or not we did in fact get eaten or contract some horrible disease.

I perhaps wasn't giving it a fair review in my earlier post - it was fantastic, the staff were brilliant and the setting was most impressive. The whole campus was set in amongst some pretty jungle like terrain and we were at the foot of some pretty big mountains. (photos will follow shortly) Yes the bugs were a nuisance but that didn't take away from the experience as the setting, the swimming pool and the food more than take my mind off of the ithcy bites.

Highlights of Chiang Dao? Well we visited the Tuesday Morning Market and mingled with the locals which was really interesting. The town is really small and being pretty much the only Westerners there that morning felt really strange but we were glad that it wasn't crowded with Americans etc. We didn't buy anything (cos we have no room in our packs) but you could buy everything ranging from really disgusting smelling food to clothes - they were selling "Lives" Jeans (a rather poor imitation of Levis)which gave us a laugh. Some of the people selling were actually from hilltribes in the area and even that was quite interesting - we didn't get to visit a hill tribe but others at the Nest did and said it was great - maybe next time.

The other main highlight from out time at the Nest was yesterday when we hired a scooter. Everyone here travels on one so we though we would give it a go - it is pretty safe outside the big cities. We drove to the nearby cave complex and hired a guide who took us down deep into the caves with a gas lantern and showed us an unbelievable amount of bats - I was just glad they didn't scatter and fly straight at us(or maybe I have seen too many movies!)

On our bike (photos are on Katie's camera and we really hope we can get them to show you) we also travelled quite far north to visit the National Park with its hot springs and Waterfall - we were getting quite close to Burma though which I was not sure about getting too close to, as I have seen Rambo 4 ;o)

After that we just drove and drove - we had full tank of petrol and we wanted to use the whole lot - (by the way a scooter for the day plus petrol was 390 Baht - just under 7 pounds and apparently we could have got it cheaper) We drove into some remote communities and basically just had a good look around which was really interesting. We even stopped off for some authentic chicken noodle soup.

The adventure ended though when the petrol started to run out and the heavens opened. There we were like DUmb and Dumber clinging onto each other on the scooter keeping warm, wearing our big plastic ponchos (thanks Clare) - by the time we got home we were pretty soaked but it was still a lot of fun.

We left the nest this morning with a really nice couple from Norway who travelled down on the bus with us, they are pretty much doing the same thing as us so we have a lot in common and it's nice to hear what others have planned and what they have left at home.

So, are you still reading? ;o) Well done if you are - this is really a first and only draft so I am sure I will make mistooks and repeat myself and my writing probably isn't the best - I will improve it for the book we are bringing out on our return - just kidding ;o)

Take care and we will write more soon.

Steph