alexandtimonthegos Blog on RealTravel

Newcastle journal: trouble and defeat in newcastle

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 01:40:22 GMT

so i (tim) had this great idea to watch the england portugal match in newcastle as it was a big town, which would hopefuly have some big screens to watch the match on, and some fellow poms to either celebrate or commisserate with.

after driving all day we arrived late on saturday night and the match started at 2am. unfortunately for us the only campsite was a ferry ride away from town and the last ferry was at 2am, no good. so we headed into town to get a cheap bed for the night. again we were unlucky as the state finals for netball and football were being held that weekend and every bed ...

Arakoon journal: south west rocks

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:52:31 GMT

so we it was back on the road, heading south again. sydney was getting closer and closer so we spent a little time putting off the inevitable and stayed a couple of nights in a national park campsite right on the beach at South West Rocks. our location gave us some stunning sunsets and the big resident kangaroos were always enough to raise a smile, even when you're trying to find the loo at 3am!

Dorrigo journal: long climbs in dorrigo national park

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:43:16 GMT

while we were in nambucca we read about the dorrigo natinoal park which was about 40 kilometers north. so we double backed on ourselves and before we knew it we were driving through breathtaking hills and dales. suddenly it all made sense why this was new south wales.

the highway we were on climbed steeply up the dorrigo mountainn range and the wagon took it in her stride. well sort of. the tempreture guage on the car couldn't have got much higher but we reached the summit and were rewarded with some fantastic views. and the sky walk which is a 50 meter gangway that juts straight out ...

Coffs Harbour journal: coffs habour = big bannana

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:36:09 GMT

there wasn't much to see in coffs habour. apart from, of course, the big bannana!

its a giant fibreglass bananna which has become a pretty famous tourist attraction. inside the bannana are photos showing the history of bannana plantations in the area and a bannana themed theme park has grown around it, feature all sorts of weird stuff, inlcude a monorail, an ice rink and a tobbogan runs.

these people are very proud of their bannanas.

Nambucca Heads journal: making our mark in numbucca heads

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:19:10 GMT

the whether at byron bay still didn't clear so we continued south and stopped for a few days in nambucca heads.

this is a pretty typical tourist town but very beautiful all the same and we got settled into the campsite. because we were out of season most of the caravan parks were quite quiet and relaxing as they were filled with the more senoir travellers, the 'grey nomads' as we later learned.

the sunny days drifted by but the nights in the tent were getting decidedly cold, but we had the telly to watch the footy on. alex bought me a massive england flag for my birthday so in an ...

Mackay journal: one night in mackay

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:49:46 GMT

and that was about it! the journey down to our next stop was about 900 k's so we stopped off here to break it up.

Singapore journal: chilly crab in singapore

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 21:58:54 GMT

we headed south again and got a cheap bus to singapore. this was a pretty bad mistake. the bus down was bitterly cold from the air-con and getting through customs at the causeway takes ages, the whole thing took 8 hours. next time, we fly.

so we hit singapore feeling drained, very hot and sweaty and had colds. we then hit the western-ish economy, prices there aren't as bad as we'd expected but coming from the much poorer nieghbours it hit our fragile pockets with a shock! but we gathered our strength and met up with my friend Kai.

he entertained us much more than we deserved but i ...

Byron Bay journal: whales in byron bay

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:56:09 GMT

after putting it off for a couple of weeks the time came to descend into new south wales and further down into the aussie winter.

we hit byron bay in the wet, in fact a mother of all storms that the poor windscreen wipers on the falcon struggled to wipe away forcing us (tim) to miss the turn off a couple of times!

the next day thew whether cleared a bit andf we headed to the headland that the lighthouse sits on to hopefully see some whales. we were in luck and over about an hour we saw 2 pods (about 5-6 whales in each) heading up to warmer waters in the north. almost everyone we've ...

Brisbane journal: brisbane in the wet

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:48:15 GMT

after a few weeks in the tent it was very nice to spend a couple of days in a guesthouse. we were about 15 minutes walk from the centre of town but about an hour after we arrived it rained and didn't stop until we left.

for a state so vast brisbane is a compact city and the city centre is packed with skyscrapers. however it does have a good china town and we had some good thai and loas food there. it was tim's birthday and we tried to check out the tourist stuff, but it was hard to get enthusiastic in the rain so we headed to the pub!

we sort of saw the england sweden match at 5am ...

Gladstone journal: gladstone via marlborough

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:50:27 GMT

gladstone was just another stop off but the drive down there was one of the best of the whole trip. its all single carriage way, very empty of cars and miles and miles of undisturbed bush either sides.

along that part of the bruce highway we stopped at a proper cowboy town called marlborough, no really. the drove past the sunday rodeo (honest) and then onto the one horse town where about 30 bikes were lined up outside the marlborough hotel. thankfully the bikers were quite placid and we joined them on a very meaty BBQ. yhee har!

Whitsunday Islands journal: stranded on planton isalnd

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:37:02 GMT

after the day trip the whether really cleared and we had long hot sunshine all day.

as we were now experienced campers (3 nights) we decided to take a really good value option for experiencing the whitsundays. for around $50 return (about 20 quid) each we jumped on a boat transfer to take out to the very small planton island, a maximum of 4 people can camp on there at one time and nobody else turned up soo we had the whole island ton ourselves for 3 days!

the whether was amazing with clear skies all day, that also meant the nights were a bit chilly but we braved it. the island ...

Whitsunday Islands journal: day trip around the whitsundays

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:25:08 GMT

the whitsundays are a collection of spectacular islands set in crystal water. some have been developed into holiday resorts but most have been left unspolit and each is teaming with life and postcard views.

the whether was looking a bit shaky we decided to take the safe option of a one day quick tour around the main sites on a big power boat. when we woke up the skies were grey and windy, by the time we got to the boat the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day.

we saw our first glymse of the great barrier reef off hook island and then had a bumpy but sunny ride around to ...

Airlie Beach journal: tents up at airlie beach

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:52:08 GMT

we arrived at airlie beach in the on a cold, wet and windy evening. should have left nash and kirty's earlier!) anyway this was to be our first night in the tent and instead of admitting defeat and going to the hostel we braved the wind and put the tent up for the first time. this did involve a little bit of drama bit we got there in the end and had a cosy night.

the next day we planned our trip to check the whitsunday islands

Townsville journal: lazy days in townsville

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:46:58 GMT

we weren't sure how long we would stay in townsville but thanks to nash and kirsty's generousity it ended up being just over a month! thanks dudes.

so we're ashamed to say that after only 3 months on the road the creature comforts of showers, washing machines and sofas went down very nicely. and days flew by, sunning oursleves, walking the dog, maybe going into town....hard stuff! but we did have work to do as we were picking a car up from nash to get ud down to sydney. the car ended up being a bit more of a hassle than hoped but after a couple of weeks slow paced work we had her up and ...

Magnetic Island journal: sunshine on maggie

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:37:38 GMT

magnetic island (aka maggie) is about 15 k's off of townsville. named so becasue cpt cook had some compass trouble cause by magntism......

we stayed in some cool little huts in the forest and had our first days sun on an aussie beach. it was also the first time we experience the aussies wildlife, all around you, all the time. this included possoms and wallabees that strolled feeler through the huts.

then it rained again and we headed back to townsville!

Townsville journal: townsville to see nash and kirtsy

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:32:29 GMT

said fairwell to ultan and edell and promised to keep in touch.

we then found ourseleves in townsville. its a pretty big town and is known as the capital of north queensland. its usually also known as brownsville because of the heat and orange dust from the ground but becasue of the season the town and the surrounding landscape was lush and green.

it was really cool to see nash again (school mate of tim's) and kirsty and their mental dog tilly, half staffy,half......devil! only joking she a big softy really.

al's birthday was spent enjoying a drink or two ib the sunshine on ...

Port Douglas journal: port douglas

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:23:33 GMT

the trip we were on went through port douglas to the south where we decided to leave the groovy gang on the bus and stay for a couple of nights in port douglas. it essentially big resort town, nive looking restuarant and shops and a marina.

we spent easter sunday there and relaxed rounfd the pool. it then rained all the time after. during a night at the guesthouse we met a nice couple from lreland which ended up with a late night with many stories and a beer or two.

we had a good couple of days with them and they kindly gave us a lift dowm south to townsville where we were to meet ...

Cape Tribulation journal: wet in cape trib

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:16:03 GMT

cape tribulation is named so because capt cook had some 'tribulations' here....imaginative eh?

so, as we were in the rain forest, at the end of rainy season, 2 weeks after a cyclone, with very grey skies you would ahve thought that we wouldn't go for a walk down the beach. we did and after about a mile rain shot downward from the skies the likes of which hurts when it hits you and then soaks every fibre of your clothes and yourself in 15 secounds. bugger. getting back was a bit of a drama, losing flip flops in flooded creeks etc.

the place we stayed was a fantastic collection of ...

Cairns journal: australia!

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 22:05:04 GMT

after all the buid up we entered oz at 4 in the morning with hangovers. we flew into the modest cairns airport with little fan fair! even the expected hassle at customs never happened.

we went the first guesthouse we could find to sleep it off. when we awoke we found oursleves in north queensland, a veru different place to SE asia. cyclone larry had hit a couple of weeks previously and it was very grey and very wet. because it was out of seasoin cairns itself didn;t have that much for us so we planned a trip noth to cape tribulation.

Gemas journal: the jungle line to gemas.....mmmmmm

Thu, 25 May 2006 20:26:56 GMT

this was upposed to be one of the highlight of our trip. the jungle train!

it would be wrong to describe this part of our trip as 'rubbish'. but it was. 15 hours on a slow hot train filled with cock roaches with nothing to see but trees, more trees and then fields upon fields of palm trees which the malays have replaced the virgin forest with. we got on in the dark, got off in the dark and ended up at the 'utalitarian' town of gemas. bugger.

Kota Bharu journal: one night in kota bharu

Thu, 25 May 2006 20:21:51 GMT

kota bharu did have some stuff for us to see. however time was tight so we stayed one night and had a very very early start on the slow jungle down through malaysia.

Hat Yai journal: one nigth in weird hat yai

Thu, 25 May 2006 19:54:50 GMT

we stepped off the boat in sura thani and after some hangling jumped into a mini bus to hat yai. we arrived very tired and with nowhere to stay. after a confusing taxi ride and a long stumble round town we found a very strange guesty house for the nigth.

the place looked like an old hospital and smelt like it too.

the next morning we were happy to leave on a very cheap train to the thai border.

Surat Thani journal: the long trip south

Thu, 25 May 2006 19:49:25 GMT

after the fun in koh toa it was time to head south all the way down the thai peninsular. to begin with we took a 5 hour ferry ride to sura thani. apart from a complete downpoor when we chnaging changing boats the trip was glourious.

Ko Tao journal: ko toa - PADI time!

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:31:21 GMT

ko tao is know as the 'dive isalnd'. the island has only been populated by tourists for about 8 years but now every beach is full of dive schools and dive shops for the day and bars and eateries for the night.

in chumphon we'd put a deposite down for our PADI (proffessional asscciation of diving instructors) open water course. this was a bit of a risk as it had been one of the first we'd found but it seemed cool and it was on the quiter southern cholok beach which is where we wanted to stay. the course included subsidised acommodation so we booked oursleves into a posh(ish) bungalow and ...

Chumphon journal: chumphon - on the go to kho toa

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:56:33 GMT

on our quest south we had another early start to get the train down the penninsual to the port of chumphon. the journey was smooth and as there were no cheap seats left we were treated to the plane style service of second class, air-con, big seats and free food and drink oooooh. with the sea on our left and burma on our right the ride also showed us how thin the country is at that point.

on our way down we relaised i'd read the guide book wrongly and that the ferry we wnated to take to the island of ko toa wasn't going to leave for another 8 hours after we arrived, bugger.

but it ...

Bangkok journal: bangkok for one more time

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:39:44 GMT

we'd decided to get our PADI diving qualification on the southern thai isalnd of Koh Toa thereofore we needed to get south quickly (but still cheaply!) to still have time to get down to singapore to fly to oz. therefore our last stop in bangkok was spent doing chores. it was quite sad to know that we would'nt be back on this trip, but its not going anywhere!

Vientiane journal: a brief look at vientiene

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:28:17 GMT

the fun in vang vieng was over and it was time to hit the road.

the laos capital of vientiene gets bad press in the guide books, even so we had planned to spend a couple of days there to check it out. however, not for the first time we were made aware of having to get to singapore to fly to Oz so we decided to leg it south as quickly as possible.

the city seemed OK to me, we had a nice meal on the banks of the Mekong and bumped into some people we'd met in vang vieng and it would have been nice to have had more time in the communist capital. thats not to say we would have had a ...

Vang Vieng journal: happy happy days in vang vieng

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:17:38 GMT

the journy to vang vieng was a real treat. $2 each got us a hairy ride through the montains interupted occasionally by an entire hillside fully ablaze. as the land flattened out we stopped for lunch at a dusty sun blazed restuarant and afterwards a young fella with an AK47 round his neck joined us for the last part of the ride. none of the laos people blinked an eye about this so we tried to look cool. he was on board to escort us through along the next section of route 13 which in the recent past has been bandit counrty. aparebtly the nationalist rebels use have used this part of the road to ...

Luang Prabang journal: crazy speedboat to luang pruobang

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:56:15 GMT

the slow boat took 2 days stopping at pak beng which was supposed to be pretty awful. the more expensive speedboat took only 6 hours to the old laos capital of luang prabang, so without seeing the vessel we got o the peir, paid, and then made our way to the water.

the boat was about 15 foot long and 3 foot wide. it was flat bottomed and could have only been about 1 foot deep. the sleek lines of the boat made it look like it could shift, and this was re-enforced by the dirty great car engine strapped to the back. it was a typical thai long tail design, no rudder, but a big pivot ...

Luang Prabang journal: luang prabang

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:55:10 GMT

the journey down the mekong revealed to us the beauty of laos. our first glimpse of life in laos is the town of luang prabang which after the communist take over is now the old capital of the country.

its made up of french colonial buildings, temples all squeezed into a pennisular of land that juts out into the beauty of the mekong. this unique combination has given it a world heritage status.

this time of year is really hot. to begin with we made the mistake of getting up late and trying to take in the town around 1pm. we soonn realised that this was a mistake and before we knew ...

Bangkok journal: alexandtimonthego

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:53:37 GMT

on our way to a new life in oz we've taken a couple of months to travel around SE Asia

Huay Xai journal: The Laos border

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 22:07:36 GMT

we finally got our visa in chaing mai and jumped onto a bus to the thai border town of Ko Kong. the journey was long and sweaty and the last 2 hours were in complete darkness. no nights on the bus and not a sausage outside. only the odd bush fire to keep our visual ineterest.

we arrived and legged it into the nearest guesthouse and got our first view of the mekong.

we had a long day ahead so got up at to watch the sunrise over the mekong.

we then took a 31 minute ride across the river which forms the border and by 8.30 we were in Laos. as with cambodia the contrast in wealth ...

Chiang Mai journal: Bangkok to Chiang Mai

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 23:27:01 GMT

After some careful thought we chose a 2nd class fan seat train for our trip up the 750km track to Chiang Mai. This was a compromise between cost and comfort as the sleeper ticket was too expensive and I thought that 3rd class would be too harsh for us, or me (Tim). To save further we’d also gone for the 15 hr so-called ‘rapid’ train leaving Bangkok at 2.30pm and arriving at 5.35am. So sleep was kind of important. All in all the journey was pretty cool. It started off all good and once we were on the go the windows down meant that a/c was definitely unnecessary. We saw the sunset over paddy ...

Bangkok journal: back to bangkok - the circle is complete

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 06:14:53 GMT

our first beach episode is over, poor us! we left ko samet on the slow boat back to the port of ban pai. at ban pai we confidently ignored all the enthusiastic taxi drivers and cramped into a sangthew (pick up truck public bus). that took us to Rayong and from there we caught another bus to Mo-Chit the northern bus station of Bangkok. As we'd left from there 3 weeks ago it all started to feel familiar and any of the previous nerves were banished.

Returning to Bangkok has produced an odd sense of familiarity and although we're definitely still beginners the sites and smells are far less ...

Rayong journal: more undeserved lazy days

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 03:25:44 GMT

so we're back to another beach.

ko samet is alot smaller than ko chang but alot more developed, that said the beach life is going down very nicely indeed. our packs are full of sand and or tans are coming along. the themes of the day so far have inlcuded getting up late, playing in the surf and then a variety of coloured curries in the evening (the best so far by the way is yellow...oooohh fiery!)

Yesterday was cloudy but me and dan had a wicked time trying to body surf in some of the biggest swells seen in thee parts for a while. we then got rather drunk on buckets (yes little ...

Rayong journal: ko chang to ko samet

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 02:35:19 GMT

ko chang to ko samet was straight forward enough. i missed the ferry so jumped on a speedboat, the only way to the port of ban pai was in a tourist mini bus. we'd so far managed to avoid these little beasties as they're expensive, tend to stop alot and definately not as comfy as thai's proper bus service. i also strongly suspect our driver was taking a little somthing to help him along but the journey but we arrived safely.

the resort isalnd of koh samet is a national park and all tourist have to pay a fee to a standard fee to stay on the island. however if you can charter a speedboat ...

Ko Chang journal: lazy days in ko chang

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 02:14:07 GMT

as the Thai bloke on the ferry told us lonely beach isn't very lonely anymore, but compared to the other toursit areas in thailands biggest isalnd its still nicely under developed. aronud the small bay are 3 or 4 beach hut places. you pay around 300 baht a night ( about 4 quid) for a very basic shed on stilts with a matress on the floor and a 'utalitarian' toilet and shower. each beach hut place then has its own bar and resturant. so there's enough good food and strong beer to prevent you having to go too far back into civilisation.

our favourite place for nightime entertainment was the ...

Ko Chang journal: koh chang to meet dan and jess

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 02:10:04 GMT

the time came to head back to thailand to meet up with dan and jess and have some serious beach time.

every bit on info we found suggested that it wasn't possible to get from sihanoukville to koh chang in a day but the locals seemed confident so we though we'd give it a whirl.

for comfort we chose the 7 hour speeboat ride to the border rather than the unpredictable mini bus which can apparently take around 12 hours, nasty. the best views of the coast are to be had from the roof of the boat but unfortunately we'd burnt ourselves so bad the day before that we decided to be sensible ...

Sihanoukville journal: phom pen to sihanoukville

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 02:05:43 GMT

after 2 nights in the comfortable narin guesthouse we left early for sihanoukville. the journey was really smooth with lots of camboidan kare-oke.

sihanoukville is a sea side resort town, the town itself was built in the 50's around a large port. the community is poor and the town is pretty grotty with the 2 main backpacker and tourist areas on the beach just out of town.

we stayed in the weird backpacker area in victory hill which is essentially a few dirt streets lined with guesthouses, girly bars and other effemeral establishments. sihanoukville showed us again the huge void ...