Islands and sailing

Days on the trip: 225

We travelled up from Agnes Water on an overnight greyhound to Airlie Beach, arriving very early.  Since our airbnb wasn’t going to be ready for another few hours, we ventured past the beach to Airlie Beach laguna and spent the entire morning and afternoon there. Since we can’t swim in the sea anymore due to jellyfish, this laguna will have to be sufficient to cool us down. It wasn’t the ocean but it was nice and relaxing and since neither of us wanted to do much else due to tiredness, heat and having our bags, this was great.

There were also some BBQs right next to it, so we thought it would be nice to have a BBQ for lunch/dinner. Great idea but unfortunately the entire area had a power cut and the main supermarket in town had to throw away all their chilled produce which meant no BBQ. Anyway, an Aussie pie filled our stomach along with a $1 frozen cola and we chilled a bit in the laguna before heading out to Canonvale, a village next to Airlie Beach to check into our airbnb.

 

The next day was similarly lazy. We did the bicentennial walk from Canonvale to Airlie beach, with a few drinks stops in between and then we chilled in the main square of Airlie beach at a bar with a big TV showing rugby (although not live) and some live music (although Martin didn’t appreciate the guy’s singing). A very lazy day was rounded off by going to a Brazilian all you can eat BBQ place which definitely filled us right to the top.

The next two days were the main reason we were in Airlie Beach. We had booked a sailing tour. 3 days and 2 nights sailing around the Whitsundays. As instructed, we turned up at 10am to check in, just to find out that the safety briefing was at 11.15, at which point we were told that we would board the vessel at 2pm. No idea why we had to be there so early but it gave us a bit more time to buy anything that we needed for the trip. We had already stocked up on booze the day before, but mixers were also needed and everybody mentioned that tablets for sea sickness may come in handy.

 

When we finally managed to get on the ship, called Habibi, it was very exciting. We set sail and were navigating past some of the islands – beautiful, peaceful and relaxing scenery. We were on the boat with 24 other people (mainly younger than us), most of them were doing a gap year, had quit their jobs or are on a sabbatical. In fact people with a job were a rare species. The boat itself was pretty compact – our cabin was tiny, although compared to what everyone else had it was a luxury room. Oh and the seasickness tablets came in handy on day 1 as Martin was feeling a little wobbly.

As we got to our stopping bay for the night we all jumped into the water – after squeezing into a tight fitting (and very flattering) stinger suit. It was so nice and refreshing with not many people around us. And after swimming in the salt water, maybe a shower would be a good idea. Oh yeah, the shower was right in the middle of the boat, no curtains, nothing, and because we only had limited fresh water on board everyone was limited to a 30s cold shower. Ah well, everyone was in the same boat and at least you had a lovely view when “showering”.

 

Ready for food and our drinks, we enjoyed the evening listening to some music, making new friends and gazing at the beautiful star-lit sky. Photo taking of the stars was a bit harder given the movement of the boat.

Martin thought this was a start – actually it was a light on the mast of a nearby boat!

The next day breakfast was at 6am. It wouldn’t have been our preferred time for breakfast but it meant that we were the first at Whitehaven beach and could enjoy it without the masses of tourists around. It’s a beautiful beach, with super fine sand, lovely colours of blue and turquoise, a nice viewing platform and also some stingrays and sharks around. And apparently some jellyfish. So equipped with our stinger suits we were allowed in the water. As it was time for us to leave it started to rain a little and more and more tourists arrived. It felt like the 6am breakfast paid off.

The next two stops for the day were two snorkelling spots. The first one to see some corals and fish and the second one to see some turtles. The first spot was really nice, we saw some pretty big fish seemingly not at all worried that we were right next to them. The swimming with the sea turtles was more of a swimming with jelly fish. Unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles. We had spotted lots before when sailing but unfortunately not when we were snorkelling. But instead there were a few jelly fish which scared everyone. The good thing was we could see them and knew they weren’t the most dangerous ones. The box jelly fish is the worst. It looks like a box with 4 tentacles up to 3m and its body is roughly 30 cm in diameter. The other bad one is the Irukandji jelly fish. It’s the size of a finger nail and transparent. Anyway, Martin, not at all worried about the jelly fish, also got more confident at snorkelling, dived a bit deeper and even saw a shark hiding.

The next morning it was once more an early start. We had another snorkelling session and then unfortunately it was time to head back to Airlie beach. We enjoyed the final couple of hours sailing back past the islands. It felt weird being back on land again but it was a fantastic trip.

 

Australia Day was coming up and after various discussions as to whether to head straight up to Cairns or not, we decided to celebrate on magnetic island, which is a short ferry ride from Townsville. We had seen plenty of adverts and posters for what’s going on there and so we were excited to go to a pub at picnic bay. It was a lovely pub and people were friendly and in a good mood but it certainly wasn’t the big party that we had expected. However, they had plenty of drinks, we could watch some thong (flip flop) throwing and Andi tried her luck in the keg throwing game.

The next day we explored the island a bit more. We did the fort walk and watched and fed some rock wallabies, followed by an evening in a pub, watching a band and then eventually heading home to relax in the hostel pool and do some booking / research for Cairns.

Not many people recommended Townsville itself but since we were there and had planned on spending a day in town, Andi took the ferry back to the mainland. Martin on the other hand caught up with some more booking on magnetic island. In Townsville, Andi walked along the promenade, learnt more about jelly fish, went to some nice view points and at the end tackled the goat trail up castle hill. It was a pretty warm day and the path was pretty steep. Granted, it’s not particularly long with just over 1km but given the conditions even on that distance Andi needed a half way break. However, when she got to the top she was rewarded with some lovely views over the surrounding area, plus she gained some achievement points.

The last few swims without stinger suits

Days on the trip: 215

Heading north from Brisbane, we travelled up the sunshine coast.  Our first stop was Noosa, but it didn’t start off well with Martin immediately losing his sunnies.  So first port of call was a shop. New sunnies, and covered in sun cream, we headed along the beach and then into the headlands of the Noosa National Park. Apparently, it’s Australia’s most popular national park.  We had a lovely coastal walk through bays, beaches and forests, and there were a few koalas in the trees, although none of them as close as on the great ocean road.

 

Whilst we thought it was pretty hot, there were loads of crazy people going for a run in the mid afternoon heat. In fact on our way back we stopped for a refreshing early evening swim because it was a bit too warm and we needed to cool down. The swim was amazing though – we found a little bay, away from the main beach (although not totally deserted) and jumped up and down into, through and over waves.  Refreshed, and with a more bearable ambient temperature, we went for a walk along the beautiful Noosa river, and sat beside it as the sun went down. A lovely evening in a lovely place.

 

Unfortunately we only had one full day for Noosa, so it was already time to leave the next day. Whilst Martin got friendly with some staff at a Thai restaurant, Andi headed to the Noosa laguna lookout. We were supposed to do it the previous day, but because of the sunnies shopping and the heat, we bailed. The view from the top was really lovely. You could see how the meandering river, the laguna and the pacific ocean all connect. But the walk up to the top was not the easiest, and in the midday heat, it was unbearable.  When Andi returned, she  looked terribly tired, and very sweaty. However, she was happy that she saw it and at least Martin knew the menu and staff at the thai restaurant quite well by now.

 

 

Luckily for Andi, the next place we were staying at had a swimming pool. Since we were now booking a little more in advance, our airbnb in hervey bay was cheap and had a pool.

Our first day in Hervey Bay was really just to settle in. We walked along the beach and relaxed most of the day. Martin desperately tried to find an Indian for lunch, but they would all open only for dinner and we certainly couldn’t wait till then. So standard burger lunch it was. And back at the apartment we really got into a TV series called Westworld.

 

After our relaxing day, we had enough energy for an early start the following morning. Hervey Bay is very much a gateway for Fraser Island, for which we had booked a one day tour. Fraser Island is an island just off the coast which is entirely made out of sand. Only 4×4 vehicles are allowed on the island, and even then some people recommend not to go unless you have experience of driving in sand. As it turns out, they really weren’t joking. We saw plenty of 4x4s getting stuck in the sand, and having to dig themselves out. Anyway, we were safe going with a tour company, being driven around in specially designed lorry-busses.

 

After getting a ferry onto the island, we first drove to Lake McKenzie. It was a beautiful lake, with clean fresh water and the beach was made out of pretty much the finest sand we had ever seen. Apparently it’s supposed to be really good for peelings. We had a nice swim in there, although unfortunately because it’s such a nice place we were also surrounded by hoards of other tourists. Certainly no private beach here.

 

After the lake we went for a walk in the rain forest. Even thought the island is made out of sand, the movement of the dunes across the island brings nutrients inland to support a large variety of plants.

 

Our next sightseeing stop (after an all you can eat lunch – oh wow, we certainly ate our share of this) was a drive along 75 mile beach, a beach that is, well, 75 miles along. The road/track was right along the beach, going through little creeks of water flowing into the ocean. Zooming right next to the water on the beach is certainly a cool experience. Then part way along the beach is an old ship wreck, the Maheno, which was a pretty well preserved wreck, and a bit further along the beach some interesting rock formations called the pinnacles – sand stained by clay.

 

Our final Fraser island stop was Eli creek. It’s another spot full of tourists again, but it is really beautiful. It’s a small and chilly creek that you can paddle or float along. You have trees, bushes and flowers all around you, so it really feels like paradise – or at least it certainly would do with fewer people there.

 

Heading back to the ferry we were running a little late and our driver got a bit nervous about missing the ferry. And what happens when you’re already running late? A guy in front gets stuck in the sand and you cannot get around! The driver frantically helped him out, and we made the ferry – or more likely the ferry waited for us.

 

What a great day out. And if it wasn’t already fantastic, Martin finally got his Indian for dinner!

 

The next day we continued our journey north, stopping at Agnes Water. It doesn’t have much going for it, except for being next to a town called Seventeen Seventy, so called because James Cook landed there in 1770. Seventeen Seventy itself is also not the most exciting – it had a monument and a nice coastal walk. Just don’t make our mistake and cycle there. It was way too hot!! But with not much else to do we split our time between the beach, the pub and our apartment which had the quietest aircon on earth. The beach was quiet compared to those on the gold coast, and significantly more wild. At least we made the most of our last place where we could swim without stinger suits.

The Gold Coast

Days on the trip: 208

Our Australia Trip In Full

From Sydney we got on an overnight bus to Byron Bay. Originally we hoped we could book everything just a couple of days in advance, but turned out that this was peak season and the country is full of holiday makers and backpackers all wanting to spend New Year in Sydney and then travel up the east coast. So by the time we booked, everything in Byron Bay was quite expensive and instead we chose a caravan in somebody’s garden in Lennox Head. Lennox Head is a sleepy but also hippy town about 30 minutes south of Byron Bay.

 

When we arrived at our air bnb caravan nobody was there, the caravan looked deserted and we were already worried that we’d have to find some other last minute accommodation. However, it all turned out well. Kat, the host arrived and was nice and friendly. Turned out she was on a date the night before and therefore a bit behind on her to do list (it must have gone well). Anyway, she showed us around, said she would get the caravan ready and then gave us beach towels, a beach bag and drove us into the centre of Lennox Head and gave us a little tour. She then dropped us off at the pub where we cooled down a little and enjoyed some lunch.

It took us a while to leave the nicely air conditioned pub given the temperatures outside but we also knew that if we can’t deal with this we’ll have a big problem as it gets hotter further up north. So eventually we were brave, walked along the beach, dipped our feet in and then looked for some shade. There wasn’t any near the beach but there was lots by the coca cola lake. Also known as tea tree lake, Lake Ainsworth gets its nick names because of the colour of the water, caused by the tea trees growing along side it.  They cause the fresh watered lake to go a deep caramel brown, and the water is said to have healing properties when used on the skin.  It didn’t help Martin’s feet though, as he managed to get sunburnt on the top of his foot.

 

After our little wander around we definitely knew we hadn’t acclimatised yet and once more stopped at the pub. As it got later, it cooled down, so once more we went outside, walked to the Pat Morton Lookout with some lovely views. Martin was very lucky and enjoyed a curry, and then we headed back to the caravan and noticed that there was no electricity. Instead she put out candles for us and told us it would get fixed the next day. Luxury life of a backpacker.

The next day we got the bus into Byron Bay and started the day with a burger lunch and $5 bubbles. Andi was in heaven. So we sat there for a while and just looked at people walking past on the street. Byron Bay is full of trendy bars and gap year students which made us feel a little bit old. But we just tried to blend in.

 

When we got to the beach we saw everybody rammed on the sand. Very different to Lennox Head where there is plenty of space and everything is much calmer. Most of the people here had either adapted to the heat and the sun or forced themselves to get roasted on the beach.

Continuing our walk we headed along the coastal path, reached the furthest point east on mainland Australia and got to the iconic Byron Bay light house. This was unfortunately our only day in Byron Bay. In terms of sights we managed to tick them all off during our brief stay but it would have been nice to check out a few more bars, go swimming and maybe do some of the water tours offered there. Oh and watch some more gap year kids.

Anyway, for us it was time to move on to Brisbane, where the gold coast meets the sunshine coast. We didn’t have high hopes for Brisbane so only booked a short stay but the city turned out to be much better than expected.

 

We started with a nice picnic at Mount Coot Tha lookout during sunset. When we arrived we had a fantastic view over Brisbane and as the sun set we saw how the lights of the city were slowly turned on. It was a lovely relaxing evening, followed by doing a massive pile of laundry at our hostel. Ah well.

We only had one full day in Brisbane, so we walked along the river to the centre, wandered around shops and found a nice bistro for lunch and to use their internet. Since it was hot outside we thought we’d use the midday heat and the free wifi to book more of our trip. Turns out we stayed for quite a while until it was time to get to our free hop on hop off ferry. The ferry is free and takes 45 min to go up the river and then it goes back the other way. It’s a great way to see the city from the river, especially if you can get a seat at the top deck (which we did pretty early on during our tour). You see the south bank, the kangaroo lookout, the city centre, story bridge and the Brisbane river walk. We timed it so that we would see sunset on the boat, which was absolutely fantastic.

When we got to the end of the line we just stayed on and took the same tour back. This is pretty much what everyone does. Not many people actually use it as a hop on hop off service. However, rather than going back to our starting point we got off at the south bank to see what’s going on there. Turns out there is a big lagoon there and everyone, kids and adults alike, enjoy splashing in the water and cooling off. If only we’d had our swim wear.

Anyway, we walked past some nice artificial green patches, the big Brisbane sign and then realised it was time to head home and pack to get the bus to Noosa the next day. In hindsight we maybe would have stayed a day longer in Brisbane and certainly would have added another stop on the gold coast, especially because up north it was stinger season – meaning no swimming in the ocean there.

Happy New Year

Days on the trip: 203

The plan was for both of us to take an overnight bus from Melbourne to Canberra, spend a few hours sightseeing and then hop onto a bus to Sydney. Unfortunately we  (Martin) only managed to book one of the bus tickets for the right day so we had to split up. Andi took the easier and quicker, albeit significantly more expensive route of flying to Sydney. Martin spent the night on a bus with questionable air conditioning being stuck next to a big(ger) guy desperately trying not to lean on him but still get some sleep.

He finally arrived in Canberra at 6am and first of all needed 3 hours to come to terms with the day. When he eventually decided to be brave and face the sightseeing he went on to visit the war museum, parliament, and the commonwealth park. Canberra isn’t exactly the most impressive Australian town, but with it being the capital it’s still worth a stop for a day, or in Martin’s case, a few hours.

Now on a bus to Sydney we would soon meet up again at our air bnb in the eastern suburn of Maroubra, right next to the beach – a surfer’s heaven. We relaxed a little bit, and then wandered around the beach, along the rocks and to the swimming pool, which was essentially ocean water surrounded by a wall of rocks. And for dinner we were both craving fish ‘n’ chips.

The next day was New Year’s Eve and we’d arranged to meet up with Will, Selene, and a few of their friends to celebrate at Mrs Macquarie’s Point. It’s in the botanic garden and has some beautiful views over Sydney harbour – although with it being in a botanical garden it also has a fair number of trees. It’s a popular venue, so when we turned up at midday there was already a long queue of people trying to get it. Not to worry though, we had plenty of time and after about 2 hours we made it in.

It was pretty full inside so when it came to finding our picnic spot we could only get a patch of grass with no view at all. Never mind, we got our food out, enjoyed some drinks, played some games and generally had a good time in the sun. We walked around the area, checking out the views. People with the top spots had been there many hours before us and all looked pretty tired. And the harbour was packed with boats fighting to get the best view from the water.

Just before 9pm we managed to get an upgrade to our picnic spot. Not sure whether (and if so why) people left but we now saw harbour bridge (through a tree). When the 9pm children’s fireworks started this was our rehearsal to check out how much we could see. It wasn’t bad but also by far not the best. Also by now some people started to stand in the walkway, trying to get the best spot for the midnight fireworks. At the beginning the stewards tried very hard to keep the path clear but they soon realised it was pointless because as they send some people away, others will inevitably take that spot within a few seconds.

Standing for 3 hours wasn’t quite our thing, so we were a bit more relaxed and just before midnight went spot hunting. Sure, the prime spots weren’t available anymore but we still ended up with a decent view of the bridge and the opera house. As the countdown started we were ready to welcome the new year. Happy New Year everyone!!

 

After midnight we headed back to Maroubra. Going to bed just after 2am isn’t too bad for new years and so the next day wasn’t a complete write off. Andi was slightly more eager though than Martin and so whilst we both did the Maroubra to Bondi (via Coogee) walk, Andi walked right along the coast and Martin took an occasional short cut.

The walk was really nice and a great thing to do on New Year’s day. Nice and gentle, with fresh seaside air, and doesn’t take up too much time. Also, the coast line along it was very nice with a mix of rocks, sand beaches, pools, lagunes, a bit of green and forest with colourful birds and even a cemetery. We ended at Bondi beach which was fairly packed and had a fun atmosphere, and lots of bars.  We might be biased, but we preferred Maroubra beach itself, but there are probably more bars and restaurants at Bondi, so it wins in that respect.

We continued our sightseeing the next day by getting a ferry to Manly.  It was a lovely, if windy ferry rise with impressive views over Sydney harbour and the surrounding harbour suburbs. In Manly we didn’t have a huge amount of time but certainly enough to check out the local 4 pines brewery, and walk along the beach. It would have been nice to stay longer but we had also planned on having an Aussie BBQ back in Maroubra. Australia is great because they supply free BBQs to use, but you have to finish before sunset, so there was a bit of time pressure. We got there in time though, bought some kangaroo steak and sausages and enjoyed the end of the day in the park.

The following day the plan was to go surfing with Will and Selene. However, the forecast predicted some pretty big waves, too big for them to handle and therefore certainly too big for us. So instead we met for breakfast near the centre. It was a yummy breakfast, followed by amazing ice cream. And location wise it also worked out pretty well because whilst we had now been in Sydney for a while we hadn’t actually explored the city centre. So off we went to walk through the centre, again to the harbour, the rocks and the botanic gardens (including the bits that were cut off for us during New Year).

Originally this was supposed to have been our last day in Sydney, but Martin had really got into the Big Bash League (BBL) – t20 cricket, and we had seen that the Sydney Thunders were playing the Melbourne Stars the following day. So we got some last minute tickets and booked accommodation for another night close to the stadium. The air bnb that night was interesting  – the host had set up a tent for us in the middle of her living room. Her parents (from China) were also visiting. The tent did a good job of blocking much of the living room and whenever we were around she and her parents seemed to be too polite to walk in and watch tv or sit on the sofa. She was really friendly though and for one night it was definitely fine and it was close to the match.

The stadium was in the Olympic park and so we walked around there for a bit before going in. As we got in we were given all sorts of fan things: flags, posters and empty KFC buckets to put on your head. In all the excitement we found a nice standing spot with a great view and never actually went to check out our seats.

The match looked like it was going to be pretty one sided. The Stars batted first and got a reasonable score. The Thunders were up second, didn’t score a lot and lost a fair number of early wickets. Martin was pretty much close to calling it a loss when the Thunders needed on average 12 runs per over (2 runs per ball). However, they kept the game alive. The required run rate was large, but it didn’t get any bigger and they kept delivering the 12 runs per over. So maybe all was not lost. But then their run rate went down again. In the last over they needed 16 to win.  They started well, got a few boundaries, and in the end it went down to the last ball. They needed 4 to draw (and go into a super over) or 5 to win. And the Thunders hit a six. The entire stadium was celebrating and we very much enjoyed our first live BBL cricket match.

 

Most of our Australia trip was going to be along the coast, but a couple of hours inland by train from Sydney are the blue mountains. So we decided to stop there for a couple of days. We had a relaxing trip up to Katoomba and then the next day went to Scenic World where they have several ‘rides’. The first was a cable car down into the valley, followed by a board walk in the rain forest and a steep train back up to the top of the mountain. Our last ride was a cable car across to the other side of the mountain. We had lovely views of the rain forest, the valley, cliffs, mountains and waterfalls.

From the other side of the mountain we continued walking along the cliff and to the three sisters, three rocks next to the cliffs. From our walk we once more had lovely views and enjoyed the scenery and saw some weird small animal sculptures. Our plan was to continue along the walk a bit further to the Leura cascades but then the path was closed, it started to rain and it was pretty late already anyway, so we called it a day and went back to our hostel for some tuna and sweet corn pasta dinner. Oh and a hot shower. Unfortunately the hot water was broken, so instead we had a bath with the hot water supplied by the kettle.

Before heading back to Sydney for another overnight bus up the coast we stopped at Wentworth Falls, had a picnic, enjoyed some more views of the blue mountains from a different town and then got the 2h train back into the city where we found a sports bar to hang out and watch more cricket until it was time to catch the bus north.

Our first warm Christmas

Days on the trip: 194

 

Earlier this year we had been looking for Santa all over northern Scandinavia. Now we were on our way to Melbourne, to spend our first warm Christmas in Australia. However, before it was Christmas time we had a couple of days to settle in and learn some Aussie slang.

 

Chrissie, Martin’s sister, and Bruno, top bloke, are living out there, so we had our own local guides showing us St Kilda and the penguins, Melbourne’s botanical gardens, a pop up croquet place, the river, south bank, the city centre with some awesome graffiti and of course plenty of nice bars and restaurants.

On Christmas Eve, the main day for Andi, we went to a winery in the yarra valley with Bruno’s family and a fun group of close friends. Got to celebrate in style! With some delicious wines and more food than we could eat we enjoyed sunshine whilst singing snowy Christmas songs. A fantastic day out and definitely a different Christmas eve.

One Christmas day, Jessie, Bruno’s sister, did an incredible job of hosting and cooking a delicious meal. It was a fusion between Finnish (where she is from) and Aussie xmas. The Aussie part was definitely the bbq’ed shrimps. The Finish part was the mulled wine, ginger bread and a trip to the sauna. Given that it was about 35 degrees we weren’t sure why people were so keen to jump in the sauna but you can’t stop a Fin, and it makes the outside feel much colder when you get out they tell us. Sensibly, we just drank some more sparkling whilst the others were sweating. Oh and the international part was a very fiercely contested Jenga competition.

It was a fantastic Christmas, thank you Jessie for hosting us and everyone for making ua feel so welcome.

 

After a lazy boxing day doing some washing, planning and various other bits of admin we hit the Great Ocean Road, a 243km drive along the coast about 1h away from Melbourne. We started at the far end in Warrnambool and then headed on the road east. The weather wasn’t quite on our side in the morning (Martin being blown away and the umbrella taking a big hit), but the coast had some stunning rock formations and we took in all the different view points: London bridge, the arch, the grotto, … and of course also the 7 Apostles – and where necessary Martin would stand in a big puddle to get the best angle.

At Apollo Bay we took a nice stroll along the beach before continuing to a koala walk – where we saw a koala, and then to Anglesea lighthouse. This was our last stop for the day, which Martin was quite happy about that after an early start and lots of driving. In a nice hotel nearby we could relax, drink some wine, and Martin could watch his new favourite sporting event on TV: Big Bash League (BBL). It’s a 20-20 cricket game between Australian states.

The next day we briefly went to see some kangaroos (hiding at a gold club underneath some trees because of the rain, and then headed back to Melbourne. We once more met up with Chrissie and Bruno, who had been to Tasmania in the meantime. We had a nice refreshing drink, witnessed super heavy rain showers and enjoyed a lovely evening with Bruno cooking and trying out his new pasta making kit.

From here it was time for Sydney.  For this journey Martin had to buy Andi a flight since he messed up booking Andi’s bus, while Martin took an overnight bus journey via Canberra.

Singapore – the most Christmassy place ever!

Days on the trip: 186

 

On 14th December we headed to Heathrow, made our way through security, and boarded our plane – it was time to say good bye to Europe for a while, and to swap the chilly European winter for some warmer, summery places. Our first flight was to Colombo, Sri Lanka where we had a short 12 hour wait until our flight to Singapore. Cheerily, we were greeted at the airport with the song “snow is falling, all around us …”. There wasn’t really enough time to explore sweltering Colombo, so we spent it exploring the airport … and by that we mean the hand full of shops, one cafe, a burger king and a pizza hut. Thankfully, they had free wifi which kept us entertained and we had some dinner. Weirdly enough everything was paid for in US dollars rather than their own currency.

 

As the 12h were coming to a close we were definitely keen for the next flight. There wasn’t any more exploring of the airport to do, and quite like in the film “The Terminal”, Andi started to help other passengers around the airport and told them how to use the wifi.

 

Next stop: Singapore. One of our friends, Yvonne, lives there and kindly invited us to stay at their place, and it turns out that her entire family were super welcoming. Her mum and sister picked us up from the airport and took us for some yummy breakfast of prawn mee. Then back at their house we had a little rest after the flight before starting our Singapore explorer programme. The plan was to head to the botanic gardens, it now being roughly 4pm. It was still pretty warm but we thought we had managed to  avoid the main afternoon heat. However, as we were leaving, Yvette, Yvonne’s sister, told us it was still pretty hot and it’s more of a morning or evening thing to go to the gardens. Instead, checking out the air conditioned malls was a better idea. Well, maybe we should trust some local knowledge and so we headed to the shopping malls!

We’ve decided there isn’t a single thing in the world that you cannot buy in Singapore. Everything from super cheap to super expensive and from every corner of the world. You can even buy the traditional German Christmas nutcracker and pyramid there. The malls were huge, extending further and higher than we could imagine along Orchard street, and underground. Also, you certainly cannot miss all the Christmas decoration: Christmas trees everywhere, stars, snowflakes, reindeers, Santa’s bakery, elves, … You name it. We weren’t expecting this much Christmas in Singapore.

We were excited to explore Singapore’s extensive parks, so to make the most of a nice sunny Saturday morning we went to the East Coast Park with Yvonne, her sister, some friends and their cute dog, Taro for some roller skating. It was maybe a little warm to do too much exercise but we took it slowly and certainly Taro wasn’t keen on too much running in the heat. So we just went to a nice lookout of the marina and then headed back.

We freshened up briefly and then went to a Hawker centre. This particular market at he York hotel was only there a few weeks a year and chefs from Penang, the food-capital of Malaysia, are flown over. There are so many delicious dishes to choose from, so we tried to do our best to get through as many as we could, although I think for Singaporean standards we were pretty poor. More training required.

 

After that we headed back home, cooled down a little and then thought maybe we should go and see the marina from the other side. So we headed into town, walked along the marina bay area, where we saw an otter family, and then headed to the gardens by the bay. As it got darker and cooler we enjoyed the light show in the supertree gardens, had some Satay and then walked back along the Helix bridge and the esplanade to the smoke and mirrors rooftop bar above the national gallery. On the way we had some stunning views of Singapore at night, and the bar offered a great vantage point.

Maybe by now we should have known that doing exercise in Singapore is a bit more intense than back home. But for old time’s sake Yvonne and Andi decided to have a game of squash in the morning. Usually we would manage around 10 games in a long session but here even 3 games was a push. But it was lots of fun though to play again and we had some really good rallies and games.

Martin gladly sat out on the squash but definitely wasn’t going to miss the next activity: a visit to little India. We wandered around, saw a few temples, plenty of shops with “super crazy deals” and of course Martin wouldn’t leave without some Indian food. We couldn’t eat too much though because in the evening Yvonne’s family invited us to a family meal with all her relatives. It was really nice to see how they meet up regularly, spend time together and joke around. Living right next to each other makes it quite easy but still it’s really nice to see them keep up this tradition.

The following day Singapore sightseeing continued with a very busy day. In the morning we got up reasonably early to a walk around the botanic gardens. It was really pretty to walk around the rainforest, the lakes, (see and smell) the ginger garden, the waterfall and the bonsai garden. Definitely a nice visit. But as it got warmer, we headed back for a little break and then went out again for our River Safari followed by the Night Safari. Both are parks next to the Singapore zoo. The river safari was mainly about animals living in or around rivers: crocodiles (which Martin thought were plastic – but they were real, haha), fish, otters, … but the main reason we wanted to go was because of Kai Kai and Jia Jia, their two giant pandas. They definitely didn’t disappoint. They were so cute, cuddly, friendly and peaceful. Andi didn’t want to leave. Granted, they mainly sit, sleep and eat bamboo but still, a little pet panda would be fantastic.

The night safari was all about nocturnal animals. We first attended half a “Creatures of the Night” show. Unfortunately it then started to rain lots, so the rest of the show got cancelled. But we could get the tram around the park and could walk little sections, seeing all sorts of animals from flamingos, pigs, bulls, antelopes, bats to tigers, leopards, hyenas, … It was a lovely experience although we definitely noticed that our eyes are not particularly good at spotting still animals in the dark – and our phone cameras were also not up to the task.

 

Since we got back quite late, taking all sorts of night busses, and walking over 30000 steps, we had a lie in the morning and then a very relaxing day. Rather than going out in the heat we went to a very nicely (almost too cool) air conditioned cinema to watch Rogue One. Neither of us is a great star wars fan, so we were a little bit worried that we wouldn’t like or understand it, but it turns out that it was a great film that we really enoyed.

 

In the evening the plan was to go to a Yvonne’s favourite curry place, but it turned out to be closed. So instead we went to Newton food court, where there is a huge choice of different foods from different places. We went with Yvonne and her family, as well as her boyfriend and another friend. It was really delicious, and to finish off our last full evening in Singapore we went to 2am, a dessert bar with yummy fresh and chocolaty desserts.

Finally, it was the day of our flight out of Singapore. However, since the flight was at night we still had some time to wander around. We went to the curry place that we couldn’t go to the previous day for lunch and then headed back to the marina bay area. This time the plan was to go up to the top of the marina bay sands hotel (the high boat shaped building) for an absolutely stunning view over the city. The view was incredible!! They also have an infinity pool at the top which it would have been great to go to but unfortunately that is only for hotel guests. Ah well, it was still worth the trip up to the top.

Back down, we walked to the other side of the marina bay to check out the merlion, a mix between mermaid and lion. It’s one of the main symbols of Singapore and so Andi thought she couldn’t leave without seeing it.

Unfortunately that was already the end of our time in Singapore. It was a great city and spending time with Yvonne and her family was fantastic.

Blog update

Greetings from Arequipa!  We’ve just crossed over from Chile, and over the next fortnight will be travelling around Peru before heading up to Ecuador.

We’ve been frantically writing blog posts to bring you up to date this week.  Our blog posting took a serious hit in Australia, so we’re going to post all the Oz blogs in just one or two weeks.  Then, we’ll be en vivo, or as close as you can get when travelling.  We keep the map on the front page up to date, so you can see where we are – so far in South America we’ve gone by bus from the very south in Ushuaia, all the way up to Arequipa – over 6000 miles.

Our route

Excited for our 30 hour bus journey!

Heading home – part 2

Miles on trip: 16103 miles

Countries: 27 (no more new countries)

Days on trip: 179

 

 

On Monday 5th December, we left Dresden with plenty of time to catch our ferry from Calais (4 days away) and had planned for a stop in Wolfsburg, where Andi’s mum works, and in Glandorf, to see Andi’s aunt. The day before we left, Martin did some Baloo checks and drove him around a bit to check everything was fine after the cold weather. So all was ready and good.

One hour into our drive to Wolfsburg, we felt a big bump accompanied with a loud noise. Did we just drive over something super bumpy or is something wrong? A few moments later, it happened again. This wasn’t good. We slowed down as much as we felt we could on the autobahn, and exited at the next stop.  Fortunately it wasn’t far at all, but once we’d stopped and jumped out to take a look, we saw smoke coming from the rear diff and a pungent burning smell. Noooo.  Looking up the nearest garage on google maps, we headed over to see what could be done. Unfortunately the first garage only dealt with BMWs, so couldn’t help us but they could give us the address of another nearby garage.

 

At the garage they immediately put Baloo up on a ramp, and noticing how much play there was in the rear diff, there was a sharp intake of breath and a shake of the head, and then they told us the bad news. We weren’t going to be able to make it to Calais. So close to home, yet so far away. We discussed options and in the end removed the rear drive shaft. It wouldn’t solve the problem but it would reduce the stress on the rear diff, and driving in front wheel drive only, we could hobble back to Dresden with our car. We also discussed removing the rear prop shafts to completely isolate the diff, hoping this would allow us to make it to Calais, but it was decided that this might be too much for the front diff and wasn’t worth the risk.. So this was all a bit of a disaster, but the good thing was that we were still very close to Andi’s parents house and Baloo could limp back there.

 

Arriving back in Dresden, we immediately started looking into options.  Very kindly, Andi’s dad said it would be fine if we left the car there and sorted out shipping etc later, so we decided to first look into flights back to the UK so we could make our flight out to Singapore on time. Unfortunately, meeting Andi’s mum in Wolfsburg and Andi’s aunt in Glandorf wasn’t possible anymore, but fortunately we hadn’t planned to go to Australia with Baloo, otherwise this would have been even worse. So a couple of days later we flew from Berlin to Manchester. It was sad to leave Baloo behind, but we were backpackers now, and hopped on the plane for the next part of our adventure.

 

Back in the UK, and at approximately the same time as if we’d driven without incident, we put our plans into action.  This meant that the first evening we made a beef roast, along with a yummy crunchy pie, and the second evening we went for a Chinese with Martin’s dad. Cravings sorted, it was time to check in on the turkeys.  No milking on the farm for Andi this time round, but with it being close to Christmas, Andi was tempted to help Uncle Dave with the turkeys.  She saw sense, and left it to them to get the turkeys ready. Poor turkeys.

 

After a brief catch up, we headed into Manchester with Martin’s mum to visit our 4^th Christmas market of the season. We had a nice time wandering around Manchester, the stalls and the shops. We learnt about the famous (hmm) Manchester soap sponge, a sponge that is covered in soap – pretty cool actually. [Ed. Future Christmas present idea]

Now it was time for us to head back down to London so that we could catch up with friends and catch our flight to Singapore. Being back in London is always nice, especially when Martin’s brother put us up in his flat in Kennington.  We spent a day back home in Brixton, visiting our old favourite sites, playing spot the difference, and visiting a couple of newly opened bars/restaurants. The next say we met up with Adam for lunch in Fitzrovia, and then we went to winter wonderland – our fifth and final Christmas market of the season. It’s been tradition for us to go there the day after Andi’s work’s Christmas party. Obviously there was no Christmas party this year but we went anyway, walked around the stalls and very importantly had our 3pm ice skating slot.

In the evening, our last in Europe for a while, we met up with a few friends for a cracking night in the Bavarian beer tent. It was great fun, and lovely to see Adrian, Becky, Stef, Emily, Filipa, Keo and Stephen. Thanks for coming. 🙂

Heading home – part 1

Miles on trip: 16063 miles

Countries: 27 (no more new countries :-()

Days on trip: 170

 

 

Our next longer stop was Germany which meant we had to cover about 1700km in a few days. Better get going then. Our plan was to drive for as long as we could during the day, find somewhere close to the route to stay the night and then continue the next day until we found ourselves further up north.

 

Day 1 was through Albania and into Montenegro. We didn’t cover as many kilometres as you might expect from a full day’s driving which was partly because we enjoyed a late breakfast and also because the bad road conditions and speed limits only allowed us to go 50km/h. We stayed somewhere just outside of Budva in Montenegro, close to the sea but unfortunately without a nice sea view – we were a little rushed finding a cheeky spot to park up for the night as dusk approached. It was fine for another nice home made dinner though. 

 

Day 2 was a good day for crossing borders. First we went from Montenegro to Croatia. Usually Andi dealt with the border officers, but this time the customs hut was on Martin’s side. The border guy asked us where we had come from today to which Martin responded very confidently: “Montenegro”.  Given that we were about to leave Montenegro, the border guy could have figured that one out himself. He was after the name of a town really and so Andi quickly said “Budva”. Close enough.

 

Back in Croatia we drove past Dubrovnik and had the same dilemma as last time about how to cross the Neum corridor, which is part of Bosnia. This time we decided to drive through it. It’s only 20km in Bosnia but technically we didn’t have the right papers. Luckily nobody asked for them and after a slightly nervous 20km we were back in Croatia and the EU.

 

Croatia has one bit motorway from the south to the north. Not sure how many people take that motorway the entire distance but since we had done the scenic coastal drive and we were just after doing as many km as possible we went on it. It was very empty, which made it more relaxing to drive but just before sunset we pulled into one of the parking / rest places on the side and stayed there the night. Certainly not our most scenic of stops, but we were far enough from the traffic and it was safe.  We began to feel the cold for the first time in a while, so we were wrapped up fairly early. 

 

Day 3 we realised we were making great progress up north and decided that we could think about visiting somewhere for a couple of nights. Originally we thought about Bratislava since Andi hadn’t been and we had skipped it on the way south. However, the weather wasn’t supposed to be great and also we weren’t keen on paying the motorway toll for Slovakia. Looking over a map at what other places were nearby we spotted Linz in Austria. Neither of us had been and obviously Austrian towns are usually gems – so we decided why not.

 

Unfortunately Linz doesn’t have a campsite and this late on, the hotels and airbnbs there are very expensive. However, our cunning plan was to stop just outside of Linz along with all the lorry drivers and then drive into Linz the next morning and only have to pay for one night. This worked out very well. The parking just off the motorway was actually very good. They had facilities, even including a shower, and an information board for Linz and surroundings. This was probably better than some of the camp sites we had stayed at and it was free. Yay.

 

The next day we headed into Linz, checked into our hotel (luxury) and then went straight to the Christmas market. Christmas market season, one of the best times of the year! Linz has several smaller markets, which are very nice. They weren’t too busy (maybe because it was still quite early in the season and a work day) but our first (and second) mulled wine of the season tasted great. We also checked out the churches and the pedestrian zone in Linz, which was all very cute, then went for a typical Austrian dinner of schnitzel and walked back to the hotel via the river. Overall, a nice relaxing stay and good to have a break after all the driving.

We were now close enough to Germany to be able to make it there in one big day. First stop: Dresden, to see Andi’s parents. We arrived there just after sunset and had a fun evening, catching up on the last few months and relaxing with some lovely wine.

 

The next day we had a quiet relaxing break in Dresden, planning our visit  to see Peter, Andi’s cousin in Berlin. Originally our plan was to drive to his straight from our big drive from Tirana, but we managed to make such great progress that we could stop in Dresden before. And now, being in Dresden and having driven a lot, we thought it might be more relaxing and easier to go to Berlin by bus. So we booked a Flixbus to and from Berlin for the next morning.

 

It was our first experience with an intercity bus in Germany and it all worked quite well. It was much cheaper than the train, dropped us off at a great place and we got there reasonably quickly. In Berlin we met up with Peter, who gave us a great tour of Berlin. We went up the Kollhoff tower for a fantastic view over the city and then walked around some of the main sights, like the Holocaust memorial, the Bundestag, the museum’s island and the Berliner Dom. We also went to one of Berlin’s Christmas markets for a quick gluwein and a small bite and then for a wander around the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market. This is now Christmas market number 2 this season. We’re doing well. Berlin doesn’t have one main one, but rather lots of little ones, all with their own charm and plenty of treats to try.

The next day Peter had to work, so we would entertain ourselves in town and then meet him for dinner. We weren’t exactly sure what to do. Berlin of course has plenty of options but we have also been a few times already. But then Martin found the Trabi Safari. It’s a 75min sightseeing tour in which you drive one of the iconic east German Trabis. Martin was especially excited after reading all the reviews of Trabis breaking down during the tour, so we signed up for one of these at once.

 

The tour was with three other groups (three other Trabis) and we managed to pick the giraffe Trabi, i.e. a Trabi painted like a giraffe. When familiarising ourselves with this vehicle it definetly wasn’t the most comfortable one. Basic seating, small, no heating, no fancy displays, … Baloo would definitely win a comfort competition against one of those cars. Driving wise, the pedals were the same but the gear stick was next to the steering wheel. Each of the cars had a walky talky receiver, so the guide could tell us what way to go, where to turn and give us some background on the sights as we passed them. The guide himself was driving in front in an electric car and then we followed in a convoy.

Martin was the first to drive the Trabi. He quickly got used to it and enjoyed driving through Berlin in it. At the half way point we swapped and Andi got to give it a go. She won the competition of going fastest (which still wasn’t very fast), going into third gear the most number of times but unfortunately also the stalling competition. Ooops. Anyway, we had a great drive.

After the tour we visited a few more of the sights that we had passed: part of the wall and checkpoint Charlie, then we bought some gloves and went to another one of Berlin’s Christmas markets until it was time to head to see Peter and enjoy a curry.

 

Since a couple of other friends, Sarah and Klas, also live in Berlin, we arranged to meet them for brunch the next day. It was really nice seeing both of them and also meeting Freya, their little baby girl, for the first time. We had so much fun chatting and time flew bye until we had to head back to Dresden.

 

The rest of the week we spent in Dresden with Andi’s parents. It gave us some time to chat with them a bit more, plan the next parts of our trip, go to the Strietzelmarkt (Christmas market number 3), go ice skating, check out the bars in Neustadt and enjoy some delicious wine and food. Andi also got some pampering at the local hair dresser and her parents arranged her some Spanish lessons for the South Marican leg. In Chile, we would later learn it’s a common German thing to do to be so prepared 🙂

We had a great time back in Dresden, enjoyed all the evenings with Andi’s parents and had a lovely pre-Christmas celebration. Now it was time to continue on our way to the UK.

Albania – our last new European country

Miles on trip: 15114 miles

Countries: 27 (+ Albania)

Days on trip: 156

 

Albania was the last new European country on our trip. (sadly Macedonia is too cold, so we’ll have to visit it some other time.) Technically our phones already thought we were in Albania when we were on Corfu, but this time we are actually there. So we crossed the border easily enough, out of the EU again, bought our border insurance and continued towards the coast. We had to choose between Gjirokaster and Lagora national park. While the architecture in Gjirokaster is probably very nice and unique, we opted for the coast and found a lovely beach to stay the night. We drove right up on the sand, went for a swim (including shower in the ocean) and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with a dinner of pasta.

The next day we continued along the coast and had a stunning drive with incredible views, especially over the Lagora pass, where we could see the coast and the mountains for quite a distance. Unfortunately though we couldn’t stop for a photo. 😦 But we got some other nice views.

Back into towns we needed to go shopping, but it seems like Albania doesn’t really have supermarkets. They have a lot of corner shops but they didn’t accept card, it was difficult to park nearby, and we had no cash. So decided to try our luck with restaurants. Eventually we found one that didn’t accept card but was happy with euros. So finally getting some food in our stomach again we were happy and continued to Apollonia, which are some ancient Albanian ruins. Martin had probably had enough of ruins by now so proclaimed the Greek ones were better, but you can’t argue when you don’t have to pay to see them.

We were about 10km away from the sea, so we thought we’d take our last chance of a night at the beach. We headed there, found the beach and parked next to a deserted beach bar. Road conditions were pretty rough in this poor area, but we could see a lot of people hard at work renewing the tarmac.

The next day we headed to the capital. Our first day in Tirana was quite lazy. We looked into booking a few things like the ferry back to the UK and ice skating at winter wonderland and Martin got his hair cut (with a round brush again ;-)). We had Indian for dinner which made Martin happy, even though they didn’t have his favourite dish – chicken jalfrezi – and then we headed out into the bar area of town. There was certainly not a lack of interesting bars here.

 

The next day we made up for the lazy afternoon and went sightseeing. We first went to bunk’art. It was about 1.5h walk away so we thought we’d get a cab but the driver wanted to rip us off so we walked away and got a bus some of the way. The bus was certainly an interesting experience. The driver was very nice and insisted that we would take us to the centre (which is half way to the museum), even though we were heading the wrong way. We also learned more about driving in Tirana and half the time couldn’t tell whether the driver was on the phone or talking to himself. Generally, driving there seems to be quite informal. As long as you don’t have an accident you are doing fine. Traffic lights exist but apparently that’s not enough and so at each cross road you also have a police officer waving through the cars that can go. Suppose it also creates more jobs.

 

Anyway, from the centre we got a cab to bunk’art which was much cheaper now. Bunk’art is an Albanian bunker that now serves as a museum about Albanian history, including and insight into life in the bunker and some art installations. It was a nice experience and not knowing much about Albanian history we were much wiser afterwards.

Right next to Bunk’Art is a cable car up to the Dajti mountain, which was next on our list. Unfortunately we ran out of cash and their card machine was broken but luckily Andi had some emergency euros which got us our ticket for the cable car. The ride up in the cable car was about 15min in one of the smaller skiing gondolas (the ones were 6-8 people can sit in) with some pretty views over the town and the mountains. We wandered around a bit at the top where they seem to be offering all sorts of attractions like quad biking, horse riding and various shooting ranges. There were also a lot of hiking trails but with it being quite late and about to get dark we went for the lazy option of looking over the town and then going to the rotating restaurant where we had a nice view over the area. With the sun being in exactly the wrong position for nice photos of Tirana, we were hoping for a pretty sunset picture. It was nice but unfortunately it then started to get cloudy – lucky us. But hey, it was lovely being up there and with the sun gone we could take our night shot of Tirana. Back at the bottom of the mountain we walked into town, looked at some of the lit up sights in the centre which then concluded our Tirana sightseeing.

Not only was this the end of our time in Tirana, but also Albania and from now on it was a few long drives back home. We’re sad that this part of our trip is coming to an end but had a fantastic time.