We then walked through the Sydney Botanic Gardens (which is not as nice as Singapores!) We followed a path towards a noise which sounded like a lot of birds. When we got there we realised it was thousands of flying foxes (fruit bats). They made a right racket! And poo was everywhere. The gardens are having problems as they have moved in and are killing the tree tops of the large variety of old trees. They have been given permission to move them on using non-harmful techniques - in our opinion its not working very well!
We walked across town in the boiling heat stopping off to have lunch in a posh cafe, to get to the Harbour Bridge. Only to be told all the trips for the day were fully booked and to come back tomorrow.
For the rest of the afternoon we walked around teh Sydney Aquarium. We saw lots of sharks, but not a great white!
Tracey then decided she had had enough of the boiling heat and it was Pimm's O'clock. These are quite expensive in Sydney, especially if you only drink the double measures!

Sue picked us up from the train station to take us to the RSL club (servicesmans club). Sue went to her Rock and Roll dancing class and we gave our money to the Pokeys along with hundreds of others!

Tracey playing on Pokey Machine

April 3
Another early start to catch the train into Sydney. Our first priority was to get to St James' park, find a clear, quiet piece of grass in the sunshine and have a nap.
Refreshed, we then walked across town to Darling Harbour to go to Sydney Wildlife centre. Here we saw loads of snakes, spiders and other animals that can seriously do you harm - they all live in the wild in Australia! However we did see nicer animals such as cuddly koalas, wombat (we only saw one!) and wallabies.
For the afternoons activity we walked to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to do the famous Bridge walk. Luckily it was cloudy so it was nice and cool for us. We had a training session on the safety equipment we were using - including a breathaliser test and going through a metal detector - like airport security! To climb up the bridge structure we first had to go up some steep ladders, which were reasonably scary, to get to the large steel arch. We then walked up on top of the steel arch all the way to the summit. From here we had an amazing view across Sydney. We would have got some amazing photos, had we been allowed to take our cameras - this is a ploy to get you to buy their very expensive cheesy shots of you - Rip off at 10 quid a photo!

Cheesy photo on top of Harbour Bridge

April 4
In true Aussie style James cooked his breakfast bacon on the Barbie!
Sue and the 2 girls who worked for her had managed to avoid work for the day and take us diving. They took us to Shelley beach which is North East of Sydney. At the dive shop where we hired the kit, the lady gave us 2 piece very thick wetsuits, telling us that the water is cold around here. We parked the cars inthe cliff top car park and put on these ridiculously thick wetsuits and all the rest of the kit - instantly sweat was pouring down our faces in the hot sun. We climbed dwon the steps to the beach and went through the gentle surf into the 23 degrees water - this is not cold! We did 2 shore dives both lasting around 45 minutes. On the dives we saw a giant cuttlefish - about 1.5 metres long! Also saw a couple of small sharks - Wobygong shark and dusty/black wailer.
On the first dive we took in our new case without the camera to make sure it does what it says on the tin - and doesn't leak! It didn't so on the second dive we took the camera and took photos under the water.

James scuba diving

Due to diving taking all day Sue had to drop us at the nearest train station as she was dashing off to Rock and Roll dancing class. We looked like typical, out of place tourists in just our beach clothes - Craig said looking like that we were lucky we didn't get a wholop from the crazy locals. As it was Erins birthday we went round there and enjoyed a few drinks and clowned around in their yard.

written by  James & Tracey on April 2, 2007 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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March 31
Today was a bit of a lazy day to catch up with writing the blog and stuff.
In the evening we went to the local pub with Sue - The Tahmoor Inn. There was a charity evening being held there and it was packed. They served us good large portions of "tucker".

April 1
We packed the car up and headed to the beach - a sunny day at last!
We went to Bulli beach, put up the half tent thing that Sue had given us and layed in the sunshine (James in the tent). We had a picnic on the beach. Then decided to brave the water - it was ok, not very warm but bearable! James had one of the boogie boards so played about in the surf for a bit, but the 12 year old surfers kept getting in his way and annoying him so he came out. By then the heat of the sun had gone so he was able to sun bathe!

We went back to Tahmoor, had some chops on the barbie.

written by  James & Tracey on March 30, 2007 from Tahmoor, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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March 29
We got up early and said our farewells to Clare. We headed along the coast, stopping off at various beaches for little strolls. The first beach we walked along for about 20 minutes before we had to turn around as it started to rain - this place is just like England - Cold and Wet! Not the best day to look at all the beaches but we went to them with our umbrellas. Don't think a lot of people have work over here as there were loads of people surfing, at all the beaches we went to!
As tradition in England when its raining we headed to the nearest pub. I had a hot chocolate and James a scooner of Tooheys (a scooner is just smaller than a pint at 450ml).
We drove on a new part of road - the sea bridge - it goes over the water and people have been raving about it. For me it was just a road but don't know how excited I'm meant to get about it! We drove through the National park and stopped off for some lunch - along with hundreds of cockatoos. Protecting our lunch from them was a big job! We stopped off at a few more lookouts on our way back to Tahmoor. I think I saw a Kangaroo, at first I thought it was a horse but then it stood up and hopped!!
We stopped off at Craigs house on the way back home. Had a few beers and some more. Also a drink called Wild Turkey - mixer drink with Bourben and coke.
I got to drive the car home - didn't go too fast as it was dark and also couldn't reach the pedals properly!

written by  James & Tracey on March 28, 2007 from Wollongong, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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March 27
Sue had got us a whole load of brochures and leaflets on stuff to do in and around Sydney, so we waded through them in the morning.
Ray took us for our first "bush walk". We went through their back garden and into the "bush". We didn't see any of the dangerous wildlife (thank goodness!) Only a termites nest and wombat droppings! We saw wome waterfalls. We got back and had bacon butties - great!
In the garden they don't have the usual birds we get back home, apart from the odd Oz pigeon. Here they have Parrots! Red ones, green ones, cockatoos - madness!
Craig (James cousin) came round and we had a few drinks. James hasn't seen him in 20 years so a bit strange to catch up.
We had the tradition of Steaks on the barby for dinner and salad (so good to eat fresh salad!)

written by  James & Tracey on March 26, 2007 from Tahmoor, Australia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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March 24
After a restless night - all the backpackers coming home in the early hours slamming doors and making loads of noise - pesky kids! We lazyly left mid-morning for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. We walked to the Great Palace past tons of wannabe tour guides and Tuk Tuk drivers telling us it was shut - which we ignored thanks to the advice of the lady boy recetionist. When we got to the palace (after walking the whole way round!) we found out it was actually shut because the royal family were there and it wouldn't be open until mid afternoon!
We stopped off at the nearest piece of shade which turned out to be the entrance to the temple with the reclining buddha. This is where we had hoped to walk onto next - saved us a journey! And allowed us a chance to dry off from the huge amount of sweat dripping from us! The Buddha was enormous - it is the largest reclining Gold Buddha in Thailand and is 46m long and 15m high. Plus they have loads of other gold buddhas sat round a temple.

Reclining golden buddha

Pink Cab

If it wasn't for the strength of the pound all these crooks would have us bankrupt by now, but fortunately the money we have been ripped off isn't that much.

We found a nice hotel just up the road for 10quid a night - bargain - so we decided to stay for 2! To give us time to figure out where to go next.

March 14
As there is not much going on in Phuket town we decided to catch a bus to one of the beaches. We were meant to go to Kata but ended up in Karon as there were no signs in English. As it turned out the dive shop we were going to look for in Kata, was actually just where we got off the bus in Karon - very lucky!
We preceded to book 5 more dives for the weekend - 2 on Sat, 3 on Sun. We wandered round the town of Karon, which is where we had agreed to meet Dan on Monday. This is very much tourist central, as for the last week we have been the "only whites in the village" and now the only Thais are the ones selling stuff to the thousands of Germans, Ozzies and English.
We found our hotel and it was really nice so we decided to make it our home for a whole 6 nights!
After all this hard work we decided to relax and have a few cold beers/cocktails and food in one of the many bars near the sea front.

To get back to Phuket town we realised the buses had stopped, due to us spending too much time in the bar. Instead of bartering a "tuk tuk" taxi James managed to get us a lift in a spacious air con van, from a tour operator who had dropped his clients off and was returning back to base in the town. For his hospitality James gave him 1.50 pound - Bargain!! (By the look on his face we dont know if he thought this was generous or a joke!) So we quicly walked away and into the nearest shop.

March 15
We got up and packed our rucksacks once again - which we are now becoming experts at! We left the hotel with a clear idea of where we were going and how we would get there - for once, except unlike the day before, we had big rucksacks to carry in the blistering midday sun across town to the bus stop next to the stinking fish market.
After our local bus journey on what only can be described as an open back truck with bench seats and cost us a whopping 40p each, we reached the coast, and our new home.

The prospect of staying somewhere for a while, without having to figure out how to travel to the next place, where to stay and pack the bloomin rucksack is good!
After settling in we went for a stroll down to the beach front. Which is where the tsunami hit in 2004. It seems as though they are in full swing back to getting every penny out of the tourists.

For our evening meal we decided to eat in the Cafe/restaurant of our hotel, as it has a soup and salad bar, which looked well nice! Trace had swordfish - cooked to perfection. I had Duck in BBQ Orange sauce - the whole meal was lush!

March 16
Went downstairs for a buffet breakfast, which again was well tasty - I'm going to enjoy staying here! I had scrambled egg with shrimp and a full brekkie - with cereal at long last -Spot on!

Trace went to have her legs and stuff waxed. It was the most painful experience of my life!! They dont use hot wax here and think it hurt more putting the cold sticky wax on than it did ripping it off - ouch!

We headed on a "tuk tuk" (not like the ones in India - here they are more like mini trucks and have 4 wheels) to the next town along, Patong Beach. My goodness we thought Karon Beach was a tourist trap - this place is awful! It has loads of tacky bars and touristy shops galore. James a bit gutted as the Billabong T-shirt he bought in Singapore (from a "proper shop") is now every where we look and fake! Plus much cheaper, so it looks like he's wearing a rip off!!
Anyway getting sidetracked. We headed here for the dive shop. After being in the shop for over an hour trying on boots and fins and looking at dive computers. We had to make an exit to the internet cafe to take a closer look at finances then thought "sod it", went back into the shop and bought fins each, boots each and a dive computer!
After this we went to a nearby bar for a stiff drink! We wandered the streets for a bit looking in the artwork shops, trying hard not to spend any more money on paintings.
We headed back to our hotel for a quiet drink and food.

March 17
It was an early start as our pick up was at 8.30am for diving. We were on the boat by 9.30 am. We had a crazy instructor with us - she also found the tiniest things to show us in the water. most of the time we just nodded our heads and showed the "OK" sign but didn't have a clue what she was pointing at!
James wore the Dive computer for the first time - and it worked!
The first dive was great. James' ears were better than ever and we saw an 12 foot long Shark! Well....... we all thought it was a shark as it had a fin and was huge, made our hearts pound when it swam round us, but to our disappointment on the surface they told us it was only a Guitar Ray ( a cross between a shark and a ray). Whatever!
The second dive we were by a wall reef with loads of fish and coral. This time we did see a shark! It was a Bamboo Shark - granted it was only about 50 cm long - It was still a Shark!

By the time we got back tothe hotel (around 4.30pm) we were shattered and passed out on the bed. Only woken by the phone ringing (thanks Malc!) We were then ready for dinner. We tried hard to get in the spirit of St Patricks day by having a few drinks and watching Ireland whip Italy's butt! We tried very hard to stay awake for the England match but woke up when it was all over so don'teven know the score - or do we want to know?

March 18
Another early start, pick up at 8.30 am. Today the dive boat was full of Japanese! We had three dives today all slightly different with loads of different fish - scorpion, lion, stone, yellow trumpet and more!
On a wreck james spotted a tiny Snake/eel thing. It was about 10am long and about 3mm wide and the same colour as the stuff it was lying on. I think he was showing off as now he had found stuff to de-fog his mask he could actually see stuff!
We are now getting better with our air and not breathing too much, we can last much longer than some of the others on the dive. Both of us are coming up with the same amount of air. James is a little greedier as he starts with a 15 litre tank and I only have a 12 litre, but it means we can see much more!

Again we were shattered so went back for a bit of a siesta (well I did!). We went downstairs for dinner as couldn't be bothered to walk any further!

March 19
Woke up at our leisure this morning - bliss! James went for his hair cut. Better than my experience in Malaysia, but not as good as I cut it! He now has a tan line - around his neck where the girl cut it so short using a razor blade.

We went for a walk along the beach front in the heat of the day - boy its really hot here!
We met up with Dan - old uni mate of James - and 6 of his aussie mates for lunch and few beers. They proved straight away they were a lively bunch and knew we'd have some fun over the next few days!
We went out for dinner. A couple of lads had the biggest prawns we've ever seen - they were more like lobsters!

Cheers Dan

March 20
We got in touch with Dan after breakfast to find out that 1 of the lads didn't get back until 11am, and another was still unaccounted for!
We spent the day at the beach, sunning ourselves - finally! James waited all day for the sun to lose a bit of heat, walked back to the hotel to get 1000Baht and his camera so he could go on a Jetski, only to find out the price had gone up by 500Baht and he couldn't afford it - Gutted!
We met the lads for evening dinner and found out the missing lad had got back at 2.30pm. They had been partying and clubbing all the way through the night and morning and couldn't remember where he was staying - nutcases!! The majority of our group all decided to try the giant prawns - they were well good!
After dinner we jumped into a Tuk Tuk straight back to Patong Beach, to start another night very similar to the one before. This time We left with Dan at 2am, leaving the other guys carrying on.

March 21
We spent the day with Dan on an organised day trip. We drove to a Temple with caves and monkeys. The monkeys were eating bananas out of the tourists hands. We then went on a long tail boat which raced us through the mangroves. The large engine that was propelling us was so loud you couldn't talk to the person sat next to you!
The next form of transport we took were sea canoes - which were inflatable more like a long thin rubber dinghy! A guide paddled us around the unusual Thai coast in and out of small and large caves. To get into some of the caves we had to lie flat in the canoe to fit through the gaps between the water and the cave ceiling.

How Close?

Floating Muslim Fishing Village

March 22
First job of the day was to pack our rucksack - we haven't had to do for a while! We checked out of our hotel and walked up the road 3 doors and checked into our new hotel.
All the lads left at midday to go to Phi Phi Island to continue their holiday, unfortunately we couldn't go with them as we have to get to Bangkok tomorrow. We won't be able to witness them causing carnage there!

We headed to the place where we could get ourselves a full massage. One hour later,a bottle of oil, some twisting and contorting and a lot of slapping, we emerged kind of ok and as good as new.
We got a tuk tuk to the art galleries at Patong, withthe intention of finding one we both agreed on in the thousands of paintings on offer. 2 hours later we emerged, after haggling, with 3 paintings. Trace was gutted as she saw a painting of a lion fish when she went by in a taxi a couple of days ago only to find afteran hour of searching for it, it to be half lion fish and half mermaid with her boobs out - not amused!

We got a tuk tuk back to Karon Beach and went for some food. We decided that we hadn't spent enough today so we shared a Thai green curry and a Lobster Thermidor. The curry was very hot and Lobster delicious!

March 23
Trace headed to the beach on her own to try and top her tan up a bit. James hid from the sun by going back to the gallery as the picture he picked had not been finished and they were finishing it through the night.
We went for lunch for the last time at Karon Cafe (where we stayed for a week) for a dirty burger and steak sandwich - Lush!

Taxi picked us up and we headed to the airport - our first plane journey in 4 weeks!

written by  James & Tracey on March 13, 2007 from Phuket, Thailand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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March 13
We got to the pick up point with 10minutes spare - or so we thought, infact we were an hour and 10 minutes early. It seems yesterday the train left on time and the time on the computer while using the internet were all hints that we had crossed a time line, but we never picked up on it. Until we then had to wait for the bus for that extra hour, oh well!

written by  James & Tracey on March 12, 2007 from Hat Yai, Thailand
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Whilst we sit here and type this, the Karaoke wails are starting, life definately isn't so perfect!

March 11
Today has been a bit of an uneventful day. As we couldn't get the bus tickets we wanted, we have had to spend the day in a pretty rubbish town.

However, we have used the time to wait in the doctors waiting room for many hours. It turns out I (James) have an ear infection probably from the swimming pool at the Best Western hotel yesterday. They have given me 4 different types of medicine and have been told that I cannot dive or swim until this has cleared up - that sucks as our plan is to go up to Phuket in Thailand to stay by a beach, swim and dive in the sea.

The rest of the day we spent chilling in our room, until our tummies overtook and we went out for some food.
We ended up at a bizarre chinese restaurant next to the sea. It was like a very large canteen with the menu very brief descriptions of the meals in English but prices in foreign language. But they did serve Tiger beer!

written by  James & Tracey on March 10, 2007 from Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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After a stroll along the beach with all the locals fishing, we walked for half an hour to find a Pizza Hut! I don't think they have ever had a ginger in their town, as there was a certain amount of pointing, giggling and subtle photo taking.

March 8
At 9am the phone rang and it was our lift saying they were at the jetty, where were we? Our info had definetely said 9.30am. We hurried down to the jetty to be greeted by the grinning Malay guys who were going to take us on our diving expedition. We got on to a twin 60 hp boat. We went straight out of the harbour and out on to the open sea with a very faint island on the horizon - 28km of bouncing off the waves, we arrived at our Island Tenggol.
Most people would agree that their ideal spot would be on a small deserted island with white sands, turquoise sea and palm trees.

View from our hut on the beach

Sunset over Bay

March 9
We arose early to attempt to eat the four dishes they presented to us for breakfast (who eats that much pasta for breakfast, everyday?) The day was spent relaxing in the sun, nipping out on the speed boat and diving. The first of these dives we left our small island and went across to an even smaller island which was 30m x 10m. We dived down to 32m and came back up for a safety stop in which I saw a baby Tiger Shark about 1m long. (he was the only one who saw it - Trace)

OK

Just do it!

The resort staff asked James if he drank alcohol, James said he did and was told to "wait there" - I think he was hoping for an ice cold Tiger beer, well he got the ice, but also a bottle of cognac to help himself to.

March 10
Again we attempted to eat a ridiculously big breakfast which would be ok if they didn't feed us anything else, but as they fed us 3 course meals at any given opportunity we were still full from the day before.
After breakfast it was that sad time where we had to roll off the island (which was 3km x 2km in size and the guy had bought 2 hectares for the price of 80 000 pounds - this is very tempting)
We went on the mad speed boat dash across the large rolling ocean waves to the town of Kuala Dungun. (Trace - if you didn't need the loo before you went you certainly had to check your pants when you got off!)

written by  James & Tracey on March 7, 2007 from Kuala Dungun, Malaysia
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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