To Myanmar and Back

Thailand only gives foreigners a thirty day visa on arrival. Since the airport closure in Bangkok almost one month ago, the government decided to change all land crossing visas to fifteen days, which is going to severely limit the amount of time backpackers will spend in Thailand. I was lucky to just make the thirty day visa when I did my border run to Malaysia about a month ago, but It was running out and I needed to get another fifteen days. The best option for a border run if you're in the north of Thailand, head to the town of Mae Sai which borders Tachilek in Myanmar (Burma), in the heart of the Golden Triangle.

I woke up early, I mean early, to catch the 6 am bus from Chiang Mai to Mae Sai. It's a pretty easy five hour trip on the Green Bus to the border. The tiny bus was packed, and they managed to add an extra seat to a normal row of four, so we were five, crammed together. I sat next to a Buddhist monk from Luang Prabang in Laos, who was studying in Chiang Mai. He told me Luang Prabang had changed a lot in the three years since I was last there, but he seemed to think it was a good thing that there was a lot more tourist development. More money to the local economy. Since he was studying English, we talked for about an hour, and ironically enough, I gave him my copy of Siddhartha to read.

Mae Sai and Tachilek are shopping destinations. Tachilek more so, since it is much cheaper than the Thai side. Thais were packed on both sides of the border, carrying huge shopping bags filled with fake Gucci bags, cheap liquor, and bootleg DVD's and CD's. I paid $10 USD for my 14 day visa to Myanmar, even though I would only be there for a couple of hours. I felt bad supporting the current regime with my greenbacks, but I didn't really have a choice as I needed to extend my visa.

Myanmar is efficient when it comes to getting people across the border to shop. They held my passport while I visited Tachilek and gave me an ID card with my photo on it. I was even allowed to take photos of the border crossing (I should mention that my camera broke just at the border so unfortunately I have no photos of Myanmar). This was not the Myanmar I was expecting. I had images of the military occupying every street corner, and a huge sign at the border saying welcome to Myanmar, leave your rights and freedoms behind you...but don't forget to shop and spend money to help finance our government!

As soon as you cross over the river and the border to Tachilek, you are immersed in a shopping block with several side streets, crammed with vendors selling everything you can imagine. I lost count of the amount of times I was stopped by teenage boys peddling cartons of cigarettes, porn, and Viagra. I kept asking myself if I was really in Myanmar? It also doesn't say very good things about tourists if this is what we're buying when we come for cheap shopping.

After sampling some amazing local dish with three kinds of noodles, tofu, and some form of cheese, I looked for the quickest possible exit to get me to the real Myanmar. Okay, so I was in a border town, probably not the best representation of a country, but I soon found myself walking down side streets, and I was the only foreigner. I received stares from some face painted locals, but most smiled back when I smiled at them. I should mention that some of the local Burmese had painted their faces with orange, yellow, and red paint. It was quite beautiful. I only had a couple of hours to explore the streets, but I found a myriad of Buddhist temples, in great condition. Again, I asked myself, am I really in Myanmar? If anything, this quick introduction gave me more reason to fully explore the country at a later date.

After a long five hour bus ride back to Chiang Mai, I headed straight for the Saturday night market. By far, this was the best market I had seen to date in Thailand. Not as touristy as the daily night bazaar, the one main street was packed mainly with Thais, a good indication that I was in a better place to shop. Again there was great street food, and fantastic musicians. I got a sixty baht (two dollar) foot massage for a half hour, then bought a hand made purple scarf for my sister who's birthday was on the twenty fourth.

My final day in Chiang Mai was spent doing what the local travel agencies refer to as the Adventure Trek. It wasn't really a hard core adventure day, but we did make the most of a ten hour tour. Nine of us from a mix of guest houses drove for about an hour northwest of the city, into the mountains. I was with two middle aged Swedes, and a group of English mothers and their teenage kids. It made for an interesting afternoon. We started with an hour long elephant ride, pretty standard for anyone visiting this part of Thailand. It was touristy, but really so much fun. The elephants have little platforms on their back to seat two people, but since we were an uneven number in our group, I got to ride around its neck, the traditional way of riding elephants. It was awesome. Okay, so I almost fell off a number of times, but definitely worth it.

The next activity was a jungle trek to a waterfall. The hike was pretty easy, and we passed through some picturesque little villages. After the trek and quick lunch we went white water rafting. It was a pretty bare-bones operation, and the rapids weren't as big as what I did in Ecuador last year, but it was so much fun and we were laughing the whole way down. Towards the end of the trip down the river we switched to a bamboo raft, similar to a Venetian gondola but not that fancy, and floated ever so slowly down the remaining kilometer to finish the trip. Did I mention this whole day cost me $25 USD. What was the best thing you got recently for twenty five dollars?

This finished my time up north, now it was back to Bangkok on an overnight bus, followed by another day in the big city, with a second overnight bus to Krabi. Wow, just saying that was almost as exhausting as the trip itself. This time around I had a great day in Bangkok and kind of wished I had spent the night in the backpacker district of Banglamphu. If you do stay here, find a place off of Soi Rambuttri, not on Khao San Road. Some people love the city, and others hate it. I seem to love it, but only for a short amount of time.

With my eight or so hours to kill before my night bus, I headed to Banglamphu to drop my bag and get a ferry boat down to see the old royal palace and Wat Pho, with the famous reclining Buddha. The ferry is a great way to go, making stops all along the waterfront. But just as I was about to get my ticket I noticed the Green Bike station, and it turns out that Bangkok offers free bike rentals to tourists. I've driven motorbikes through some pretty crazy traffic in Asia, but nothing prepared me for peddling around Bangkok. There are some bike lanes, but of course, that is where all the cars park, so I had to pray that buses gave me some room while passing.

I had seen the palace and Wat Pho three years earlier while traveling with my friend Tal, and both are worth seeing again, but I only had time for one, so I biked down to Wat Pho to see the large Buddha. It was just as I remembered it. Beautiful temples all over the compound and one massive reclining Buddha.



A trip to Bangkok is not complete without a visit to Khao San Road. The small street is packed with hostels, bars, restaurants, and hundreds of hawkers selling everything from tee shirts, jewelry, and fake ID's. As much trash talk as Khao San gets, it really is a one stop shopping destination in Thailand. I definitely wouldn't stay in a hostel on the street, but it is the best place to find amazing graphic tees, a new travel backpack (if yours was unfortunately stolen), and yes, every type of fake ID under the sun. I was happy to do a little shopping and then enjoy a beer on the street and just watch people go by.



I made it back to my apartment in Ao Nang, near Krabi, just in time for new year's eve. After a day of rest, I got on a boat to head back to Ko Phi Phi, the crazy party island. It was a party on the beach, Thai style, and yes it was crazy. Definitely a memorable place to spend new years, but I missed you all.

I hope 2009 will be a fantastic year for everyone, and wish you all great health and happiness.

Here are my photos of North Thailand and Bangkok.

Reborn in Borneo

Borneo, where the hell is that? Unfortunately, geography taught in North American schools usually doesn't cover Borneo, or Southeast Asia for that matter. For some, the only recognition of Borneo comes from a season of the reality show Survivor, that used one of the outer islands as its location. Pretty sad isn't it? But to be honest, I wasn't too sure of where Borneo was located before getting to this side of the world. But I am really glad that I made the decision to visit.

The island of Borneo is shared between both Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysian Borneo is divided into the two states of Sarawak and Sabah. I decided to give myself two weeks to visit Sabah, the easternmost point in Borneo, and that was the perfect amount of time to explore the cities, mountains, and jungle.

I spent a couple days in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, and then took a cheap and easy flight on Air Asia to the city of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. KK as it's known, isn't a destination in itself. It's a working city, the largest in Sabah, and a main point of entry for tourists visiting Borneo. I had only planned on staying a night, but due to a health scare, I spent an additional two days in the hospital. I was actually at the base camp of Mt. Kinabalu, celebrating one year on the road, when I decided to travel two hours back to KK to see a doctor. The first day was spent in the Queen Elizabeth public hospital, which was a sight in itself. The place was old, and cramped for space. I'd be a little scared to have surgery here. Later that same night I checked myself into the Sabah Medical Center (SMC), which was a private facility. Talk about night and day. The SMC reminded me of any western hospital back home. But the prices were about ten times the amount. To give you an example, I paid roughly $15 for an emergency room visit with a doctor at Queen Elizabeth. At the SMC, I paid $150. Still, it's much cheaper than back home, but it reminded me that health care is a business, and the wealthy can afford much better treatment. It's unfortunate.



After one night in the hospital, a clean bill of health, some antibiotics, and a ton of pain killers, I decided to go back to Kinabalu National Park and climb the 13,435 foot (4,095 m) peak of Mount Kinabalu, one of the highest peaks this side of the Himalayas. The climb was fantastic, and I did it in two days and one night, which is pretty standard. It's a challenging hike, but not technical.

Here is a rough timeline:
Day 1

• Leave base camp at around 10:00 am


• Hike straight up for 6 kilometers. The hike takes about 6 hours, and the last two kilometers are like climbing stairs, but a little harder.


• Sleep at summit lodge of Laban Rata. It's actually a pretty nice place with dorm beds, hot showers, and great food. So you're not really roughing it.

Day 2

• Wake up at 2 am


• Hike straight up for 2.5 kilometers using ropes at times for balance.


• Get to summit around 5:30 am, for sunrise at 5:50 am. Try to stay warm. Temperature is roughly 3 degrees Celsius. Damn cold for Borneo.


• Leave summit at 6:00 am to hike down. Can't feel fingers.


• Get to summit lodge around 7:00 am. Pack and eat second breakfast of morning.


• Leave at 9:00 am to hike back down to base camp. The return hike takes about 3 hours, and is all down hill. First two kilometers are brutal. After this you slowly can't feel your knees and legs.


• Get to base camp around noon, and collapse.

But the climb is completely worth it. It's been different and hard at times traveling on my own this past month, but being out in nature, and seeing the spectacular views from the summit put a huge smile on my face. I could see the city of KK on the coast, and beyond to the surrounding islands. There were some older couples climbing at the same time and we discussed that these types of activities are priceless and worth the short term pain for the long term memories. So many times on the trek I kept thinking to myself, wow, I'm climbing a mountain in Borneo! This is living. I should also mention that I met a great group of Malaysians, an Aussie, and two Belgians who welcomed me into their group at the base camp, and were great hiking partners up the mountain.



Another must in Borneo is a visit to the jungle. From Kinabalu National Park, I traveled to the coastal city of Sandakan to unwind after the hike, and to visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC). I think orangutans are my new favorite primate. They are so cool, and hairy. The center has two feeding times per day (10:00 am and 4:00 pm), and in the morning I saw about 6 orangutans swing in from the thick jungle to a platform about thirty feet away. There were also some long tailed monkeys, but they weren't as fun to watch. After a couple hours of walking along the center's trails, hoping to see more orangutans, I headed to Uncle Tan's jungle camp.



Uncle Tan's had come highly recommend by another traveler I met, and by Lonely Planet. They offer a three day/two night jungle safari, and although it wasn't as hard core as my previous trip to Ecuador's Cuyabeno reserve, It was a fantastic trip with tons of wildlife. The camp itself is basic but unpretentious. We slept in cabins that were raised off the ground, with mattresses on the floor, and mosquito nets to keep out the critters. Some common animals that were frequently seen running around the property were wild pigs, big monitor lizards, and mischievous monkeys who got into everything, and we even had to lock our cabins since the monkeys would steal anything they could get their little hands on. I now truly understand the expression "cheeky monkey."

The first day was mostly spent traveling to the camp. A two hour drive led to the river, where we traveled downstream for another hour, frequently stopping to see the rare proboscis monkeys with long noses, pig tailed monkeys, and more long tailed monkeys. We also saw tons of birds, and several salt water crocodiles, some up to two and a half meters long. Unlike Australia, there were no warning signs, but swimming was out of the question. That night we did a boat cruise in the dark and saw a python, more monkeys, and birds.



We woke early on the second day at camp. It was the perfect time for a morning boat cruise to see the active animals before the heat kicked in. I should mention that from about noon until 5:00 pm, you can't do much because of the humidity. We just laid in hammocks and slept. Tough life, right? Although there were no showers, so by day three I was the guy you didn't want to sit next to on the bus. We did two jungle treks, one mid morning, and the second at night. The highlight for me was seeing imperial scorpions, the largest of their kind in Southeast Asia, and a massive yellow ringed snake on the night walk.

It seems that most people who visit Sabah in Borneo, tend to have the same itinerary. You climb Mount Kinabalu, visit the orangutans, do a jungle trip, and head to Sipadan for some world class diving. I can't decide if it's good or bad, but it is nice to see the same people along the way. I met some great people on the mountain and in the jungle camp. Especially Scott from Australia and Lim from Malaysia (who lives in Singapore). I also ran into familiar faces diving at Sipadan, it seemed the whole crew from Mt. Kinabalu was there.

Sipadan is a divers dream, and that will take up a whole other post. In the meantime, here are my photos from Malaysian Borneo.

A quick visit to the Northern Territory: Darwin, Kakadu, and Litchfield

Ever since we got to Australia, we had been excited about seeing the "outback." Images of Crocodile Dundee, Billabongs (watering holes), and red dirt. The Aussies basically refer to the outback as anything inland from the coast/civilization. We tried to find some versions of the outback when we drove inland to Armidale, NSW, to see our friends the Greggs, and when we visited the Atherton Tablelands a couple hours from Cairns in FNQ (Far North Queensland). Here are photos from our trip to the Tablelands.

It wasn't until our flight was landing in Darwin, the northernmost city in the Northern Territory, that I saw red dirt from the window of of the plane, and I thought to myself that we are finally here!

Darwin is a nice spot to spend a day or two. My friend Eric from Holland who I met diving said he spent almost a month in Darwin just hanging out. There's no way I could do that, but the place has charm. We had less than 24 hours to see the city, but that was enough. It turned out that our one day coincided with a famous night market at Mindil beach, which rocked. We sampled food from the many stalls selling Thai, Indian, Malay, and even tasted some Crocodile and Camel.

The next morning we picked up a Wicked Camper 4x4 model, complete with bed and kitchenette (at a sweet employee discount), and headed off for Kakadu National Park (where they shot some of Crocodile Dundee).



Kakadu National Park is massive. I had heard that it is approximately the size of Switzerland, and I can tell you that we drove 1100 Kilometers in 5 days visiting both Kakadu and Litchfield. It took us a good day to drive from the North to South part of the parks. Note to any traveler, there are long boring stretches of road between the interesting sites. You need at least 2-3 days to see it all. I also think we went at the wrong time of year, since it was the end of the dry season. But there really is a small window of opportunity to see the park since it's flooded during the rainy/summer season.

We spent 3 days in Kakadu, and here is a map to follow our route. We drove in along the Arnhem Highway, visiting the ancient cave paintings at Ubirr, and spending a horrid night with mosquitoes at the Merl campground. The next day we drove to see more rock paintings at Nourlangie Rock, then visited the Warraddjan Aboriginal cultural center, saw a crocodile in the wild at Yellow River, and finished off the ridiculously hot day with a dip in the free pool at Cooinda. I should mention that the average daily temperature was about 38 degrees Celsius, and there are only a handful of places to swim in the park because of the Crocodile infested waters. The final day we drove along a 4x4 track to the swimming hole at Maguk, which was paradise. Probably the highlight of Kakadu for both of us. We didn't visit the famous Jim Jim or Twin Falls, which were dry this time of year, but they are supposed to be great at other times.

From Kakadu we drove out south along the Kakadu highway towards Litchfield National Park, which is much closer to Darwin. This is the place to come and swim. There are an abundance of waterfalls and swimming holes, that are for the most part Crocodile free!

We had two nights and almost two days to see the park, and that was plenty. You can really do it in a night and day if you need to. Here is the official fact sheet and map so you can follow along. On the way in we stopped by the huge termite mounds. These things were at least 10 feet tall and there was a field of them. I had no idea there were different kinds of termites, but Litchfield had magnetic mounds, which arranged themselves in a North-South axis to keep warm and cool, with the changing desert temperatures. There are also many fields of termite mounds in Kakadu, and this is where we first saw them.

We spent two nights at the Florence Falls campground. After two horrible nights in Kakadu, being eaten alive by mosquitoes (or mossies as they are known in Australia), we finally found peace in Litchfield. The campground is high up on the tableland, and a nice breeze seemed to keep them away. Florence Falls was my favorite of all the swimming holes. It was tiny, relaxed, and had great cliff jumping options for the fearless. I was happy jumping from a 20 foot cliff, but some crazy Aussies jumped off the main falls which are about 60 feet or more.

The main attraction is Wangi Falls. It's huge, picturesque, and a great place to swim. It's just overcrowded compared to the others. If you don't mind company of a hundred or more, then go for it. It is a good place if you have kids or don't want to walk much. Most of the other falls require at least a 1 km hike.

We didn't make it onto the off road track because of some deep river crossings, but I heard that Tjaynara and Surprise Creek Falls are supposed to be fantastic if you have a 4x4 vehicle.

Here are our photos from our visit to Darwin, Kakadu, and Litchfield National Parks. Photo captions by Julie.

Magnetic Island and beyond to Cape Tribulation

The tropical North of Queensland. This has been our final destination for the last two months of driving, and I should mention that we finally found hot weather. I know it's winter in Australia, and we figured it would be a little cool, but until we arrived in Cairns, the weather had really been quite chilly. So for all of you who think that Australia is always hot, try coming here in the winter season. The cold weather down south meant it was off-season and not too crowded, but it's the peak season up here.

From Airlie Beach, we decided to drive to Cairns as quick as possible, with a stop over visit to see Magnetic Island off the coast of Townsville. Three of us set off for the four hour drive to Townsville, to catch the thirty minute ferry to Magnetic Island. Three people you say? Well, we decided to invite another traveler to join our trip since the cost of fuel is astronomical over here, and we met Eduardo from Madrid who clicked with us like chorizo y queso.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best when we visited Magnetic Island, and we stayed in possibly the worst hostel ever (Arcadia Hotel, formally known as Magnums, and Arkies), but the island is beautiful and definitely worth a visit if you have time. We had a great day of hiking around the island, visiting some old World War Two bunkers. Most people outside of Australia wouldn't know this, but Townsville was actually attacked by Japanese planes. We also had one of the best days of animal sightings in the wild. We saw more koalas, kangaroos, and got to feed the colorful rainbow lorakeet birds, and a huge group of rock wallabies, which look like minature kangaroos. Another highlight was winning our third trivia night at the local pub. This time we took home the gold...three jugs of beer, and two really tacky tee shirts.

After two days on the island, we drove the last four hours to Cairns, the largest city in Northern Queensland, and a major holiday destination for visiting the Great Barier Reef. We spent two days getting a taste for the city where we planned to settle for a bit, and then said goodbye to our new amigo Eduardo, and drove north to see the nice trendy town of Port Douglas and then spend a couple of days in Cape Tribulation part of the Daintree National Park.

You can't come all the way to Cairns and not visit the northern beaches and rainforest. Cairns unfortunately does not have a beach (they do have a man made swimming lagoon), but drive 30 minutes north and you have the breathtaking areas of Palm Cove, Eli Beach, and Port Douglas, plus numerous deserted beaches, except for the crocs! We spent a night in Palm Cove, the affluent and touristy suburb of Cairns, and absolutely loved it. There's even a city-run campground right on the beach if you are lucky enough to get a space.

Drive two and half hours north of Cairns, and you'll finally get to Cape Trib, as the locals like to call it. The scenery reminded us of Fiji with beautiful jungle mountains just beyond the shore. We had to take a car ferry to cross the croc-infested Daintree river, and once you're on the other side it's a sleepy area of several villages without cell phone reception. We spent two nights camping at the Noah Beach campground run by the National Parks, and had a huge beach all to ourselves. I think the highlight for the both of us was taking a cruise down the Daintree River to see crocodiles in the wild. We saw four of them that day, and it was amazing to see them in the wild, just sunning themselves on the river bank. In case you are wondering, crocs are found in Australia and are more aggressive than American alligators. The salt water crocs can get as big as 5 meters (about 15 feet)!

Just another note if you decide to visit North Queensland. Don't go swimming in the ocean near a river mouth as crocs probably live there. If it's the summer season (Nov-May), wear a stinger suit in the ocean, as the tiny box jelly fish can actually kill you. And if these two things don't get you, then there are the sharks. Basically, Australia has more animals that can kill you than anywhere else, including several snakes and spiders, but the chances are slim, and this place rocks anyway!

We are back in Cairns now, settling into our new jobs and new apartment, but that deserves a whole separate post. Here are our pics of Magnetic Island and Cape Trib.

Sailing the Whitsunday Islands

In the nine months we've been traveling, Jared and I have slept in hostels, buses, planes, a tent, a camper van, and a station wagon. Now we can add one more to the list, a sailboat. We just got back from a three day/two night trip through Australia's Whitsunday Islands, off the Great Barrier Reef.

We left for our sailing trip from Airlie Beach, which ironically does not have a beach. And it's just as well, because the ocean north of the Tropic of Capricorn is inhabited by lethal box jellyfish in the summertime, which the Aussies amusingly call "stingers." To make up for Airlie's lack of Beach, the town has a free swimming lagoon. It's basically a man-made swimming pool, but a beautiful one at that. On sunny days, it seems the whole town is sunbathing at the lagoon.

The entire town seemed to be desinged for tourists. We couldn't find a movie theater, but there were hostels and bars aplenty. We stayed at Koala's, which is a hostel chain in Queensland. I probably wouldn't stay there again as it was run-down, loud, and we had our food stolen from the communal fridge, but it seemed like the other main hostels in town were just as bad. There isn't much to do in Airlie outside of partying, but we also had a big night out with our boat when we got back, and it was fun!


For our sailing trip, we chose the Prima, a 47 foot yacht with capacity for twelve passengers plus two crewmembers. The cabin was snug but had plenty of room for everyone. Along for the ride were a German guy, an Irish couple, two Swedish girls, a Dutch girl, and three other Americans. (The four Americans onboard were the most Yanks I'd seen at once since we left the States. American travelers are few and far between here.) Including Steve the Skipper and Andy the deckhand, we really lucked out with this group, and would recommend this boat for anyone who wants more than just a party boat, although we did have some late nights.


The rain came down heavily as we left Airlie Beach and didn't stop for two hours. By then we all donned rain jackets and went on deck. The rain kept us from snorkeling that day, but I was enjoying the novelty of being on a sailboat. (Well, except for when I nearly lost my lunch. Thank goodness for Dramamine.) Jared and I were both surprised to see that the islands were covered in pine trees, not palm trees. Although we were technically in the tropics, the Whitsunday Islands resembled the Pacific Northwest in the rain. That night we anchored in Refuge Bay, settled into our private, cozy room (the size of a closet, or Jared's first New York apartment), and were rocked to sleep by the boat.


The next morning we stopped at Whitehaven Beach, reputedly home to the whitest sand in the world. Apparently it has an almost pure silica content, which NASA used to build the glass lens of the Hubble Space Telescope, just in case you were wondering. The beach is also one of the most photographed beaches in the world.

It had stopped raining for the most part, but the sky was still covered in grey clouds. The beach was gorgeous, but we could all imagine how beautiful the scene would be if the sun was shining. Andy kept us entertained by taking lots of silly photos of us posing on the beach. As luck would have it, the sun finally came out just after we left Whitehaven Beach.

That afternoon we went to two snorkeling sites, in surprisingly chilly water. In the coral reefs, we saw clown fish and a large Hawksbill sea turtle, who let us get really close to him. It was just like Finding Nemo down there - the coral was as good as Fiji. I think our skipper Steve took us to the less visited sites, so we were not complaining.

We finally had a full day of sunshine on the last day of sailing. We took advantage and all laid out on the small deck sunning ourselves. Jared was lucky to get another day of sailing in after the trip ended and it was the sunniest day of them all. Andy, our great deckhand, was taking part in a local yacht club race around some of the islands, and his boat needed extra crew. Jared and four others spent 8 hours racing a 42 foot yacht, and had a blast.



Check out our photos from Airlie Beach and Sailing the Whitsundays.

The Capricorn Coast as seen by a Capricorn.

Born in January, I am a true Capricorn. So I was intrigued to check out the Capricorn Coast which incorporates the areas of Bundaberg (known for its fruits and vegetable production), Rockhampton (the beef capital of Australia) and MacKay (famous for its sugar cane). We didn't care too much for these towns as they were pretty basic and bland, but venture a little bit further away and we found some great spots to visit.

We had a week to kill before getting to Airlie Beach and our planned three day boat tour of the Whitsunday Islands, so we took our time driving the short distance north. Our first stop was the town of Agnes Water with its little hamlet, the Town of 1770, so named for the date Captain Cook disembarked on its shores while discovering Australia.

Agnes Water and 1770 were hyped up for us well before we even got to Australia. We had met some Swedish girls in Fiji who raved about the place as their favorite, and even the Lonely Planet guidebook mentioned it as the next Byron Bay. I hope it doesn't become like Byron Bay, but it's a long way away even if it is heading in that direction. Sure, there are some big building developments going on, but aside from this, it was one of the smallest beach towns we have visited.

The town is the last official surfing spot when heading north. It is the start of the Great Barrier Reef, and so the waves virtually stop a little further north. It was my last chance to surf and so we set up camp at the nearby council-run site called Workman's Beach, and chilled out for four days. The first two days had great waves, but the last two were mellow and we just laid out and I finally got to play some frisbee with a Hungarian traveller we met. I'm still not sure why I didn't bring a disc (frisbee) while traveling as it's one of my favorite things, but the last two days filled a void not met since we played with our friends Kareem and Noah in Buenos Aires.

A little sad, I sold my surfboard to a happy local, and we headed north yet again. We sped through Rockhampton, but made a stop to visit the Capricorn Caves about 20 Km north of town. It's a privately run attraction with a labyrinth of caves, one that includes a makeshift cathedral where you can actually get married. They even set up pews and played us some beautiful music timed with lights. If the place was run by the parks department you would never have an experience like this.

Our next major stop was the Finch Hatton Gorge, and Eungella National Park, just west of MacKay in sugar cane country. We did a nice quick hike in the Finch Hatton Gorge to a waterfall and swimming area, and then rushed to get Eungella to try and see a platypus. Found only in Australia, we had been trying to see one for the last month. We had seen kangaroos, emus, dingos, wallabies, koalas, wombats, and the last on the list was the famous platypus. We were lucky to see them both at sunset and the next day at sunrise from the lookout at Broken River. I assumed these things would be as big as a beaver, but they were tiny. Almost like watching a mutated beaver/duck offspring the size of a swimming squirrel. If that makes any sense. But both of us were ecstatic and stood in the rain watching them dive around for about an hour. Unfortunately we couldn't get any photos. I'll never drink from my Platypus water bottle again without thinking of the little critters.

From Eungella we made our way back to the coast, and spent a night camping at the secluded Smalley's Beach, part of Cape Hillsborough National Park to the north of MacKay. With only ten campsites, it was a treat to have the place to ourselves so to speak. Then we drove up to Airlie Beach where we are now, heading on a much anticipated three day boat tour of the Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef.

Here are our pics from our short visit to the Capricorn Coast.

Off-Roading in Fraser Island

A belated happy Canada Day, 4th of July, 9 de Julio, and Bastille Day to everyone! Jared and I celebrated every single holiday. For Canada Day, we were in Rainbow Beach surrounded by Canucks, so we had a proper celebration with lots of beer. I was feeling surprisingly patriotic on the Fourth, but we were on a tour with a bunch of European kids who couldn't quite understand why I wanted to track down fireworks. We grilled steaks and drank red wine for Argentina's 9 de Julio, and we rang in France's Bastille Day with baguette and brie. It's just a shame we're seven months early for Australia Day.


The Fourth of July fell during our three-day tour of Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island and a World Heritage Site. We left from the port of Hervey Bay, four weeks early to see Humpback Whales migrating through the bay. Unlike other tours we've done, this one was self-guided. After about 12 briefings from our tour operator, eleven of us crammed into a 4-wheel-drive van, with Jared and 3 others sharing the driving. All of the "roads" on Fraser Island are only navigable by 4WD vehicle. Either we were driving on the beach, or on extremely bumpy roads in the rainforest.


We were incredibly lucky to have an amazing group of people in the van with us. There were six mellow Swedes, an awesome Irish couple, and a cool Dutch girl. As other groups bickered or left food out for the dingos, we all got along like fish and chips. It's a good thing too, because we had to dig 2 vans out of the sand, and nearly got stuck ourselves!


Tiger sharks breed in the ocean off Fraser Island, so swimming at the beach is a no-go. Fortunately, the freshwater lakes on the island are safe and inviting, if not a bit chilly. After a bumpy drive through the rainforest, our first stop was the beautiful Lake McKenzie. Doesn't it look like something in the Caribbean? After a stop at another, not as pretty lake, we made camp for the night. On the second day, we started driving on the beach. We stopped at the 73-year-old shipwreck of the S.S. Maheno, just as the tide was flooding through the rusted hull. Next up were the Pinnacles, colored sand formations that looked like cliffs.


Fraser Island is covered in dingos, Australia's dangerous native dog. We were given umpteen warnings about the dingos, but only saw one on our trip. They have a reputation for harassing tourists, and I was standing in the back of our truck with a ham sandwich in my hand. It turns out that this dingo was quite well fed since another group left out $80 worth of beef the night before, and their campsite was raided by 100 dingoes. This guy (or girl) seemed like an ordinary stray dog, but we knew better than to approach him. There is something amazing about seeing a wild animal and in their native environment, and we've been lucky to see a few in Australia.


The rain came out at lunch on our second day (the 4th of July!) and barely stopped for the rest of our trip. Because of the weather, we nearly missed Lake Wabby, but on the last day, we got up early to see it. The sun came out just for the hour we spent at the lake. Bordered by a giant sand dune on one side, Lake Wabby was one of the coolest things we saw on the island. Jared and two of our Swedish friends took turns rolling down the dune into the lake. The sand is slowly filling in Lake Wabby, and park rangers estimate it will be gone in 40 years. Maybe rolling into the lake wasn't the best idea...



All in all, we had an amazing time on Fraser Island and would highly recommend it to anyone who is planning a trip to Australia. Hopefully you'll luck out and get a group as amazing as ours! Check out our photos from Canada Day and Fraser Island.

Australia Zoo: Koalas, and Crocs, and Roos, Oh My!

We are on a pretty tight budget, so we have to be careful which pricey excursions we choose. With discounted fares of $41 each, a day at the Australia Zoo was quite an investment. Our new friends Clementine and Ryan told us it would be worth the price, and they were right. The Australia Zoo is one of the coolest things we've done in our 8 months of travel.

Australia Zoo is run by the Irwin family, of Crocodile Hunter fame. Steve Irwin's image and legacy eminate throughout the place, adding a poignancy to the day. Naturally there were lots of crocodiles, many caught by Steve Irwin. All the crocs are deadly, especially the saltwater crocs, so they were each surrounded by not one, but two thick fences. One croc named Acco is 16 feet long and weighs one ton!


The zoo is one of the few places in Australia where you can actually hold a koala. Ever since we started seeing koalas, holding one has been a dream of mine, and at the zoo I happily ponied up $20 to have my picture taken with one. Since they sleep 20 hours a day, koalas are usually pretty docile when they are awake. My koala, a male named Minty, smelled like grass and poo and felt like a heavy cat. I only got to hold him for about two minutes, but it was absolutely priceless.


Australia Zoo's trademark is that you can get up close to most of the animals. Aside from holding the koala, we also got to feed an elephant, pat a few more koalas, and we fed kangaroos out of our hands. They even have packages where you can pay extra to walk a cheetah on a leash for 30 minutes. Where else can you do that?


We could have spent all day feeding the kangaroos. When we saw them in the wild outside of Armidale, they hopped away before we could get within 50 feet. The kangaroos at the zoo are used to people, and they will happily eat out of your hand. That's right, the KANGAROOS EAT OUT OF YOUR HAND! It's awesome! A bag of roo food cost only 50 cents, and last for quite some time. The roos walked right up to us, knowing that we had food. We had to keep them from just sticking their heads right in the bag.


There's more to the zoo than koalas and 'roos. We tried and failed to take a picture of a tasmanian devil, which never once stopped running around its enclosure. Safely behind a fence, we met a deadly Aussie bird called a cassowary that can disembowel humans with its middle claw. Bright orange dingos looked just like dogs, except they were only visible behind a thick glass wall. The only Australian animal we missed was the platypus.

So if you are going to be anywhere near Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast, don't miss the Australia Zoo! Don't forget your 'roo food! Take a look at our photos from the zoo.

From Sydney to Byron Bay...and everything in between.

Most travelers speed up the East coast from Sydney to Byron Bay. Friends of ours, Pablo and Christina, did the trip in three days. If you have limited time, then it really is only a 10 hour drive, but I think you would be missing out on some amazing national parks and beautiful coastline. We decided to take our time as we have a couple months to make it all the way north to Cairns, a classic travel route. I guess we're finally learning that it's better to take your time and see a place, than rush to see it all.

So, from Sydney we said goodbye to our friends and headed two hours west to the Blue Mountains National Park, and beginning of the Great Dividing Range that parallels the East coast. This was our one detour before heading up the coast, and I'm glad we made it.

The park has beautiful valleys, with gorgeous rock cliffs. If you get up early enough, fog covers the valley floors and it's pretty magical when the sun comes up. We spent two days hiking around the valleys, down to the floor and back to the top. A good climb. The whole place reminded me a lot of the Niagara escarpment outside of Toronto.

The town of Katoomba is the main place for visiting the park. It was also our first experience sleeping in our new car. Cozy, but took some getting used to. We actually slept on a residential street, and hoped that we wouldn't get a ticket. I can hear our friends shouting "dirty hippies." A highlight for us was our first visit to a Returned Services League, or RSL as it's known, which is basically a club for military veterans. The Cohens in Sydney mentioned it was a place to get a good cheap meal, and they were right. We were also entertained by joining in on their weekly trivia night, and even won some free drinks.

From the Blue Mountains we headed to the coast, and our first stop at Bouddi National Park. After a night at a beach front campsite, we headed for waves at Terrigal Beach. Now I should mention that for a long time I have wanted to get good at surfing. Five years ago I spent a week learning how to surf at Witches Rock Surf Camp in Costa Rica. Since then I've only gotten out about three times a year, and unfortunately became out of practice. So, I've made it my mission while in Australia to get good at surfing. Well, at least good enough to keep up with my friend Zack back home at Far Rockaway, Long Beach and Montauk, NY. I picked up a used board in Sydney, and we are stopping at every beach with waves. I need to thank Julie for her patience, as I drive from spot to spot stopping to see if there is good surf. It's kind of addictive.



There wasn't much surf at Terrigal that day so we moved on, resting at Crack Neck point to see whales pass in the distance, and finally stopping at Soldier's Beach near Norah Head for my first real afternoon of surfing. The next day we drove north to Newcastle, and visited a great little zoo, finally seeing wombats, koalas, emus, and kangaroos. We spent about 40 minutes watching the Koalas in awe, and the best part is that the zoo was free! That would never happen back home.

Our next stop was Hawks Nest, on the far side of Nelson Bay. A famous area for spotting whales and dolpins. Unfortunately we didn't see any, but we camped in a beautiful site in Myall Lakes National Park, and we had the whole place to ourselves. The next morning we moved on to Seal Rocks, visited the lighthouse, and got a good afternoon of great surf. We also had another night at a pristine campground in the national park.



After Seal Rocks we went to Crescent Head for more surf, and then headed inland over the Great Dividing Range to Armidale. The whole coast had suffered several days of pouring rain, and it made for an interesting drive. Some roads were flooded, and we took a ridiculously curvy path over the mountains, but we made it in time for dinner with the Gregg family. Some people looked at us like we were nuts to drive out of our way to Armidale, as it's four hours from the coast in farm country, but we went to visit with Vivienne and Michael (mother and brother of Julia who we stayed with in Sydney) who we shared three days with in a cramped landcruiser in the Salar de Uyuni in Boliva. After 2 nights of resting with friends, and getting our car fixed (our whole exhaust system was replaced after we put a hole in the muffler), we headed back to the coast.



The drive from Armidale to Coffs Harbour on the road dubbed the waterfall way, was scenic to say the least. One highlight was stopping in the town of Bellingen. Great architecture, with cool cafes and shops. It was like being in a Colorado mountain town. Coffs Harbour was a nice town, and I got in another afternoon of great surf.



The town of Yamba and the famous surf spot of Angourie was a must do for me. Angourie is so tiny, but everyone there seemed to be surfing fanatics. I can see why. They have a spot where the wave breaks perfectly all day, everyday. I hate to say it, but I was out of my league. I still need more practice, but at least I gave it a shot.

After a frustrating morning at Angourie, we drove a distance along the Pacific highway (our main route up the coast) to Ballina and then the coastal road up to Byron Bay. We stopped brifely in Lennox Head, to watch an all girls surf competition, and then finally reached Byron Bay in the late afternoon.



Byron Bay is not all it's cracked up to be. We were told it was one of the coolest spots for backpackers, but what we encountered is a chic surf town where the locals don't really like the tourists. The town has 9000 residents, but a ridiculous number of hotels, spas, and restaurants. I think they forget sometimes that the backpackers and tourists are the backbone of the town's income. That being said, the town is beautiful and has several beaches to choose from. We've been spending our days at Watego's beach just below the picturesque lighthouse, away from the crowds on Main beach. There are tons of cool restaurants, cafes, shops, and terraces to drink a schooner of beer and watch the sunset. Our plan was to try and get some work here for a month or two, but it's off season, and we get the feeling that locals are preferred. Oh well, their loss. We're headed north in search of better weather in Queensland.

So what's my impression of the New South Wales coast? It's basically like the California coast, but with much less people, and that's a great thing. There is beauty around every bend. A cliche I know, but in this case it's true. Here are my photos from our drive up the coast of NSW.

My Oh My Melbourne

Wow, what a great city. When I was living in Montreal during my "uni" days as they say here, I had some friends that studied abroad in Australia. I kept hearing how Melbourne was similar to Montreal, and I am happy to report that they were right. I loved living in Montreal, and I could seriously move to Melbourne.

From the moment I hit streets, I immediately felt the vibe of the city. It could have also been the fact that I had come from New Zealand with a significantly smaller population, but I'm attributing it to all the bustling restaurants and coffee shops spread out among the alleyways, and the hipsters in their skinny black jeans and Dunlop Volley sneakers.

This city breathes festivals and you can see how food and art are the topic of many. The major museums are free! I was there for two weeks in the Fall season, and witnessed the Next Wave Festival, Buddha Day, and the St. Kilda Film Festival. The Italian Festival was just after we left for Sydney and I could only imagine the great food dished out in the Italian neighborhood of Carlton. If this was the Fall, Summer must be one festival after another.

I was lucky to be staying in Southbank, just across the Yarra river, since there were great restaurants right on the water. I was also around the corner from the South Melbourne Market where I did my daily shopping for fresh foods. The Queen Victoria Market (or "Vic Market") is another spectacle. The largest market in they city, it was a must do for us on a Saturday, when it's the most packed with vendors selling everything from food to clothing. I ate the most amazing Turkish bread called "Boreks," stuffed with lamb and vegetables, and considering the huge line to get them, I figured it must be an institution.




So, I had a full nine days to enjoy the city before Julie arrived. I figured I could scope out the city and we could do all the fun stuff together. I stayed at a massive hostel complex in Southbank called Urban Central, that reminded me more of a university dorm than the traditional traveler's den. It was a five story building with a bar and endless number of rooms. Most people seemed to be long term residents with working visas, and living in the dorm. It was the last place I wanted to be for more than a week, but It worked out for me since it was low season and I had my own room. I should mention that even in low season there were more than a hundred people.



My good friend Dave put me in touch with his old flame named Brunka who was the best host. We walked around the cool neighborhood of Prahran, and went to an amazing house club that rivaled NYC and Montreal in the heyday of Stereo. I went to see live music at the famous ESPY in St. Kilda, and checked out the art and music scene in Fitzroy. The highlight of the week for me was a free day trip to visit the national park of Wilson's Promontory. Somehow the stars aligned and Bunyip Tours offered a couple free seats on their tour to the "Prom" as they were shooting a promotional video and brochure. Talk about a score. Normally the full day trip runs $110, but after going on the trip, I think it's worth the money if you are considering it. The Prom is located two hours southeast of Melbourne at the southernmost point of mainland Australia. We did two hikes, one up a hill to get a great view of the coast, and one along a beach, then topped it off with some animal viewings at sunset, the best time to see grey kangaroos, emus, and wombats.



Julie arrived on a Thursday and we painted the town red for four days before our flight out to Sydney. I said goodbye to the hostel life and we settled in with Steven and Natasha, our new friends. I should mention that they had never met us before, but our mutual friend Kareem put us in touch, and they were so gracious to let us stay in their home in Hawthorn East. So how did we do up Melbourne? We walked along the waterfront of the Yarra River, visited the botanical gardens, Federation square, the shopping areas in the CBD (central business district), took in day re-living our childhood at the Game On video game exhibit at the Australian Center for the Moving Image (best $5 I ever spent), ate really well from Natasha's cooking, and did a day wine tour of vineyards in the Yarra valley with our hosts.



The highlight of our wine tour was visiting the Yeringberg winery, which is only open two days a year. Their small stock usually goes to restaurants and wine enthusiasts like Steven. It is a family winery that has been around since the 1800's, and their $40 plus bottles were a treat to try. Corkmaster, do you have anything else to add about the tastings? I also got to see a "footy" match. The Australian Football League, also known as Aussie rules, is the sporting religion in the state of Victoria. I was lucky enough to see the defending champion Geelong Cats beat the Richmond Tigers at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, the site of the 1956 summer Olympics. I ran into some old friends John and Amit that I met in Fiji, who helped to cheer on Geelong.



So, after two weeks in Melbourne, we boarded a plane bound for Sydney. Australia has some super cheap low cost carriers. We flew Virgin Blue for $79 one way, and the bus was only $15 cheaper and takes 12 hours! There is also Jet Star, which is what we flew from Christchurch to Melbourne.

So, here we are in Sydney, about to head north along the coast in our new ride. I finally bought my first car. It's a pre-loved 1993 Holden Berlina station wagon with space in the back for the two of us to sleep. We have camping gear, my guitar, a new surfboard, a cook set, and the open road. What more could you ask for. Well, a job maybe? Yes, we need to find work at some point to help finance this pseudo-retirement.

Here are my photos from two weeks in Melbourne, and it looks like our blog found its way to the MSN.ca travel section, how cool is that.