Saturday 26th January 2008

We got up early again this morning and after breakfast we finally managed to sort out some anti-malaria tablets in a nearby chemist. I'm glad we did leave it until now because they're so much cheaper than they are in the UK! With that off of our minds (I tell a lie, we weren't really that bothered - we just thought it was something we should probably arrange), we caught the MRT up to the Golden City Complex where we booked a coach ticket for tomorrow. Now, I thought we were going to Singapore and then straight into Thailand - but we're actually stopping in Malaysia which is a wicked bonus! So, we arranged to stop in Kuala Lumpur for two days... yippee!

This afternoon we caught the MRT down to Harbourside, where there is a huge shopping centre, but also the Sentosa Express, which is a little train that takes you over the water to a little island called... Sentosa - it's Singapore's beach resort.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out on the beach before going into Café Del Mar for some drinks. I had a nice cold Carlsberg and Nikki had a Singapore Sling. We then sat for about an hour listening to the music and watching the world go by. When we'd finished relaxing, we caught a chair lift to the top of this huge hill and rode on the luge back down. The luge is like a little go-kart or sledge (but with handles to steer) and was great fun. Before leaving the island we saw a snake charmer with an albino python, which Nikki made me hold. Fair play to her - because when i'd finished, she held it too.

When we got back to the shopping centre, Nikki found something else she wanted in River Island - so I rushed straight over to Marks & Spencer and bought more Percy Pig sweets (ha ha). This evening, we booked some accommodation for Kuala Lumpur and then went down into Chinatown for some food. It was brilliant - the streets were packed with people and we bought some food off of one of the street vendor stalls - it was easily as good as anything we've eaten in a restaurant. On the way back, Nikki bought herself 12 mini Chinese cakes and I had an ice-cream sandwich - yes, a block of vanilla ice-cream in between a slice of bread, as recommended by Nikki's friend Marc. It was gorgeous!

Ice-cream sandwiches... i'm gonna miss Singapore!

Friday 25th January 2008

Because of our reservation for 'Afternoon Tea' at Raffles later today, we didn't want to go too far away from our hostel. We wanted to be able to get back, get changed and then back out again in plenty of time - and get to Raffles at exactly 3.30pm (yeah right, we could've set off at 9am and we'd have still found a way of being late). So, the day got off to a great start when Nikki went for a shower. I was led in bed (and our room is the furthest from the bathrooms on our floor) when all of a sudden I could hear some sort of bird screeching outside. I tried to ignore it, until it sounded like it was calling my name. I went to investigate and it was a good job I did, because I found Nikki trapped in one of the shower cubicles. She'd gone in and locked the door only for the handle to fall off (ha ha). The funny thing was, the shower was also broken - so she couldn't even wash while she waited to be rescued!

After Nikki had finally escaped and we'd eaten breakfast we caught the MRT out to Orchard Road, which is Singapore's main shopping strip - but instead of shop after shop, its shopping mall after shopping mall! It's no fun shopping when you're not buying anything (we can't be bothered to carry anymore things) and so we came back to our hostel at about 1pm to chill out before getting changed. We left our hostel at just before 3pm and crossed over to the Clarke Quay MRT station, which is dead opposite where we're staying. Raffles was only two stops away so we were definitely gonna be on time...

Wrong! Somehow we managed to travel almost the whole of the Singapore underground circuit. We got off at 3.25pm and quickly walked round - we weren't too late - I think we got there at about 3.35pm.

Afternoon Tea was all very la-de-da and when we walked to the Tiffin Room where it was held we were told our table was ready... only to be told it was outside (almost in the hotel lobby). Now, I wasn't having that! I don't buy a ticket for the football and listen from the car park - so I was definitely having tea in the same room as everybody else. I think they thought we were riff-raff, but causing a fuss worked, and we were sat right at the front - right next to all the food... yippee! We hadn't eaten all day and managed to scoff ourselves stupid. I've never drank so much tea in my life (in the two hours we were there, I think I would've given June a run for her money). We made sure we were there for the maximum time and I visited the buffet table about 4 or 5 times... well, you have to - don't you? Before leaving, we went up to the Long Bar, which is where the Singapore Sling was invented, but we didn't stop because it was packed.

When we finally rolled out of Raffles we caught a bus to the Singapore Night Safari which, as the name suggests, is a safari... at night. It was brilliant! First we did the walk around the park and because the place only uses soft light, the animals don't seem to notice anyone. Another good thing was that the animals were behind glass and not bars, so they could walk up to just a few feet away. Next we caught a tram which took us right into their habitats - some of the animals were crossing the tracks - but luckily it was only deer and not the hippos or elephants. We had an amazing time and at about 11.30pm we caught the bus back to the city and walked back to our hostel.

Afternoon Tea at Raffles don't you know... what, what, what, what, what!

Thursday 24th January 2008

We only booked to stay one night in the Waterloo hostel and so we woke up this morning, had the free breakfast and then packed our bags to leave. When we were out and about yesterday we managed to find a nice hostel called the Summer Tavern (with really friendly hosts) and arranged to stay there. At about 11am we left the Waterloo and caught a taxi round. Our room was being cleaned when we arrived so we just sat and surfed the internet while we waited.

At just after 1pm we checked into our room and then went out for the day. The hostel is quite central so we took a walk down to Chinatown for a look around in the light. The place was absolutely packed and we thought we'd pop in to one of the little restaurants for some food. When we walked through the door, we were pounced on by three small women who were all waving menus in our faces. We thought that they were just really keen, but it turned out there were actually three places sharing the same space and they were fighting for our business. When we eventually ordered, we had some food from one place and drinks from another!

We had a good look round Chinatown - looking on all the stalls and at the different food before leaving and catching the MRT (train) over to the World famous Raffles Hotel. The train actually stopped in the shopping centre - so we had a look round there first. It was good fun and just like being at home, because Nikki bought two tops from River Island and I bought some Percy Pig sweets from Marks & Spencer! We eventually left and went over to the hotel where we looked round all the designer shops - like Louis Vuitton, where we drew some funny looks when we walked in wearing our shorts and flip-flops (it was like something out of Pretty Woman). Afterwards we found the lobby of the hotel and booked ourselves in for some afternoon tea - tomorrow at 3.30pm... yippee!

This evening we walked up to Little India to have a look around. When we got there we went into the Prince of Wales pub for some beers and watched some footie whilst chatting about our trip so far. Afterwards we walked the streets, which was great because they were filled with the great smells of Indian food. We found one small place and ended up sharing a beautiful curry. Tonight, we came back to the hostel and chilled out in the bar downstairs. Singapore's pretty cool actually!

Third night in Singapore, third different bed... I hope we like this one - I can't be bothered to move again!

Wednesday 23rd January 2008

We woke up in our 'Penthouse' apartment this morning and, after having some breakfast, we were sad that we'd have to move on - unfortunately they didn't have any more room for us. Before we left, our lovely 'landlady' Jennifer, let us use her phone to make some local calls to find somewhere else to stay.

Nikki managed to find us a hostel in Little India, which had a double-bed, so we packed our things and at about 12.30pm (we spent all morning watching SKY TV and using the free internet) we made our way over. The bus journey was a nightmare - it was absolutely packed, and not easy when we were wearing our huge backpacks. It turned out though, the journey was the least of our problems. When we got to the hostel, Sleepy Sam's, we asked to look at the room before committing to two nights but they wouldn't let us. The girl got really rude and gave us some crazy story why it wasn't possible - in the end we just walked out and made our way to another hostel. We couldn't be bothered to walk and so we flagged a taxi, who's driver turned out to be just as rude as the girl at the hostel... what is it with the people of Singapore?

The hostel we checked in to is called The Waterloo and is a bit strange, so we only booked one night. Once we'd put the bags in our room we couldn't wait to get out and start exploring. We had a look around the hostel area and then walked down to Clarks Quay. When we got there we went into Hooters for some lunch. When we'd finished, Nikki went to look round the shops while I sat and watched the footie. This afternoon we looked around the shops together and then when it started to get dark this evening we went on a river cruise from Riverside Point.

Tonight we walked down to Chinatown, which is all lit up because it's the Chinese New Year on February 7th. It's going to be the year of the Rat and so there are pictures of cartoon mice(?) everywhere - including Mickey, Minnie and Jerry (from Tom & Jerry). On the way back to our smelly hostel this evening we stopped for a well earned coffee and slice of cake - just what we needed after a long day walking.

I didn't know what to think of Singapore - until I found Hooters... then everything was ok again!

Tuesday 22nd January 2008

It was already our last day in Bali, so after waking up quite early we went for our breakfast before packing our bags and then spending the rest of the morning by the pool. When it got to about 12pm, we headed out to find an internet café - we thought it might be a good idea if we tried to book some accommodation for tonight. At 1pm we jumped into the hotel shuttle bus and our driver drove us to the airport.

We spent a couple of hours wasting time and then before we knew it our flight was being called, so we said our goodbyes to Bali and boarded the plane. The flight was only a short one into Singapore and took us about 2 and-a-half hours. We were sat next to this guy on the plane, who is also travelling, and we had a good chat telling each other our stories. He's travelling alone and has done almost the same route as us. One thing that made us feel good was since September, when he came away, he's spent about £10k. IN 4 MONTHS... THAT'S CRAZY - we've only spent a couple of grand more, BETWEEN US... IN 9 MONTHS! Yippee for Ben and Nikki!

The airport in Singapore was crazy - it was huge! Apparently it's one of the best airports in the world, so it's a shame we won't be flying out of it (we're making our way across land through Malaysia and into Thailand... hopefully). Anyway, we collected our bags and then tried to sort out somewhere to sleep because our earlier efforts were wasted. We landed at 7.20pm and we finally got to our guest house at about 9.30pm. First we caught the train into the city and then the owners of the place came and collected us. The guest house is AMAZING! It's on the top floor of a big tower block, which has awesome views of the city, a huge comfy bed... and SKY TV. It's a shame we've only got it for one night... but nevermind.

We LOVE our room... it's safe to say, we'll sleep well tonight!

Monday 21st January 2008

We had a nice lay-in this morning and then after our free breakfast we decided that, seeing as it was another beautiful day, we'd spend it relaxing by the pool. It was really hot today - but not too humid or muggy, so it was nice to lay about and spend our time in and out of the pool. At about 4.30pm, we decided that we'd head out for some food and, seeing as it was our last full day in Bali, we went to Bubba Gumps... we love that place!

As always, the food was great in Bubba Gumps and, even though we've seen it like a million times before, we still sat through the whole of Forrest Gump. The staff were really friendly and one guy spent about 15 minutes with us, firing Forrest Gump questions at us. It got a little too much in the end - he knew EVERYTHING!

We headed back towards our hotel and the Poppies I & II area, but before we went back to our hotel, we went into one of the spas for a massage. I didn't get to have one of the 'Soapy Soapy' ones that Arno told me about, but just a normal full body one. Afterwards, Nikki even suggested we have a hair treatment called a 'Creambath'. It was really nice, and I might insist that Jason does it back home every time he cuts my hair. It was a bit embarrassing though, with people walking past and me sat in the window wearing one of those steam things over my head. I did wonder if I might come out with a blue-rinse and a perm... but I didn't. When we we'd finished getting pampered we went back to the hotel for showers before going out to one of the bars for the evening.

Bubba Gumps is great - you can have Boiled Shrimp, Fried Shrimp, Grilled Shrimp, Shrimp Cocktail..!

Sunday 20th January 2008

We were leaving Ubud today and getting a shuttle back to Kuta, so we got up at about 8am so that we could shower, pack our bags and then have our breakfast in plenty of time. We said our goodbyes to the lovely staff at the Hibiscus Cottages and then walked round to the internet café to pass the time before the bus picked us up.

No sooner had we got to the meeting point, the mini-bus, which wasn't very busy, turned up - so I thought we'd have quite a pleasant journey back to Kuta... I was wrong! The mini-bus took us to a central bus station in Ubud, where we were bundled onto a larger bus with LOADS of people, with LOADS of bags. This bus wasn't too bad and after about 20 minutes it screeched to a halt and we were all rushed off and on to another - I can honestly say, it was like we were hostages being transported somewhere - plus the new bus was rubbish. It had no air-conditioning and the windows were falling out - it was like a prison bus!

Finally, at about 1.30pm, the journey was over and we could finally stretch out again and walk around. The drop-off point wasn't far from our new hotel so we walked round. The weather was really nice today - probably the nicest we've had in Bali (every day has been really hot, but today there was no cloud), so we checked into the Hotel Arena and then spent the afternoon relaxing by their pool.

This evening we got ready and then went off in search of food. We walked for quite a long way - down all the little alleys - no longer scared of Bali at night. We found a nice little place that was quite empty and went in there. We chose some proper Balinese food and it was quite a shock when it came out. Nikki had Red Snapper (basically just cut in half, cooked and put on her plate... eyes and all) and I had duck. Both were delicious, although I had to cut Nikki's up for her because, like a child, she didn't like the look of the head!

Australia has had three weeks of rain... looks like we came on holiday to Bali at the right time!

Saturday 19th January 2008

Nikki still wasn't feeling very well when we woke up this morning - but she's a little fighter and so we went on our day out anyway. We ate our breakfast and then walked around the paddy fields to meet our guide. After quite a long drive North out of Ubud we came to our first stop, in a place called Mengwi, where we visited the Royal Family Temple. We didn't get to go into the temple, because in a few days time there is going to be a big ceremony - which they have to prepare for.

After looking around the temple our guide, Agung, drove on to the next place, which was called Bedugul - and was situated in the crater of an extinct volcano! Here we got to walk around the beautiful Botanical Gardens and then visit the Ulun Danu Temple - which is on the edge of Lake Beratan. Both seemed like the most peaceful places on earth.

This afternoon we drove further North until we reached a place called Gitgit - where they have the biggest waterfall in Northern Bali. Agung stayed behind and me and Nikki went off for an hour to find it. On the way along the path we passed loads of stalls trying their best to sell us things - we did fell sorry for them, so on the way back to the car we bought a few little things. The waterfall was very nice and we sat there for a while, just catching our breath and enjoying the scenery before walking back to the car.

Next, Agung took us to a place called Lovina where we got to visit the black sand beach and have some lunch. When we were told it was black sand we weren't expecting much, but it was actually quite pretty and the sea was lovely and warm. Unfortunately, we didn't have our swimming stuff so we could only walk in and not swim. It didn't matter though - because we were starving, so we went and had a pizza and some beers instead.

It was starting to get late now, but we continued to drive around Northern Bali. First we stopped at a place called Banjar, where we got to visit a hot spring (which turned out to be really hot and we couldn't stay in there for long) and then a place called Munduk, where the farmers harvest coffee. We couldn't see much because its the wrong time of year, but we could see the young beans on the trees. After visiting these two places we drove back to Ubud - which took an hour-and-a-half (or so i'm told, I slept most of the way).

We got back to Ubud at 7.30pm and collected the laptop from our hotel and then rushed round to the internet café to speak with Katie on Skype. She had a fun birthday, which was good, but I think it wasn't a particularly good signal because we didn't get to talk for long... stupid internet! When we'd finished and then dropped the computer back, we went for a meal in a really posh restaurant near our hotel. I really enjoyed my meal, but the portions were a bit 'poncy' and over-priced... can't really complain though - the total bill was only Rp107,000 (about £6 ha ha).

Beautiful, beautiful Bali!

Friday 18th January 2008

Nikki woke up really early this morning because she wasn't feeling too well. She lay in bed for ages and then, at just after 8am, we went out for our breakfast. The weather looked really nice today and all the trees and surroundings looked really green. After breakfast, we took a walk up to the local internet café, to test the wifi - we were hoping to do a Skype call with Katie later... who is 18 today - woo hoo!

The internet worked fine, so that was good, and after dropping off the laptop back at the hotel we went for a walk. We walked for quite a long way - in a direction we'd not been, but Nikki wasn't feeling 100%, so we decided to stay in the area of our hotel. On the way back we had another look in the markets and shops and then stopped for a small lunch. We also looked in a couple of the Tourist Information places and booked ourselves an all-day tour for tomorrow.

Tonight, it rained... hard... at the exact same time that me and Nikki decided to go out and try to get her some medication. We didn't want to wait incase the pharmacy closed - so we set off in the rain. We got absolutely soaked - walking through town in our shorts - but at least we managed to get Nikki her tablets. Afterwards we just came back to the hostel and chilled out on the bed.

Happy 18th Birthday Katie!

Thursday 17th January 2008

I don't think Nikki slept too well last night - she said she kept waking up - expecting to see the giant spider led in bed next to her. Luckily, there was no such episode and at about 9am we went out on to our porch, where one of the staff brought us our breakfast. We had green banana pancakes, fruit salad with tea and coffee... this is definitely the life!

We started our day by walking into Ubud and visiting the museum. To get in you have to cross a bridge from the main street and then climb some steps up into some trees - it made the whole place seem quite mysterious. The museum was full of the history of Balinese art, some of which was pretty cool.

This afternoon we had a look around the Ubud markets, which are pretty big and absolutely packed with stalls. Each stall was selling similar stuff to the next and so it was good fun having them fight over your business. Just like in Kuta, each person was convinced they had something for you... but they didn't for us!

Afterwards we went for a nice long walk down towards the Monkey Forest. We didn't go in again, but we stood outside watching the monkeys. Some of them were really naughty. One had stolen a bottle of water from somewhere and another, who tried stealing fruit, thought it was a better idea to climb a tree and throw things at the people below. As we headed back up to the main high-street we stopped for a massage in one of the spas. Me and Nikki were in the same room, which was nice - but it was a bit embarrassing for me because when they asked us to strip down to our underwear, I wasn't wearing any! They said it was fine - to strip anyway, I could wear this tiny see through skirt-thing. Well, that was even more embarrassing... it barely covered anything - at least I was led on my front I thought... D'oh! After half-an-hour I was asked to turn over, so that I could have my front massaged, but i'm happy to report, there were no indecent incidents. Included in the price we paid was the use of the hot shower. My massage finished about 5 minutes before Nikki's - and yet they were still encouraging me to get into the shower, which was in the same room - while they continued! I told them 'no thanks' and that i'd have one back at our hotel

Tonight, feeling all relaxed and refreshed, me and Nikki went out onto the high-street for a meal. We went into a place called Nomads, which was quite a posh restaurant. We ate like Kings and Queens, and had amazing meals. We had three-courses plus beers and our total bill was... £8 - yippee!

Note To Self: Next time I go for a massage... WEAR UNDERWEAR!

Wednesday 16th January 2008

We got up this morning to find that it was raining... again! The 'wet season' is exactly what it says on the tin here... WET! We had our last free breakfast at the Hotel Sorga and then went back to our room to pack our bags. We've arranged to go North, to the town of Ubud for a few days and had to check out. Thankfully, the check-out time in Bali is much more to our liking. Whereas it was 10am in Australia, its 12pm here, giving us plenty of time. At about 11.50am we settled our bill and then walked round to the Hotel Arena, who were going to be giving us a lift... they charged less (ha ha). The lift to Ubud only cost Rp150,000, which is a bargain - because it's over an hour away. Our driver was really nice and tried to drop us as close to our new place as he could - although, he couldn't get right to the door, because it's located in the middle of the paddy fields. The location is beautiful and the hotel, called the Hibiscus Cottages, is fantastic!

When Nikki rang yesterday to make enquiries, she was quoted Rp150,000 per night for the room - but she said that she'd seen it for Rp100,000 in the Lonely Planet (which is out of date). To our delight, the guy said that's fine - he'll charge us Rp100,000 per night and when we arrived he kept his promise - but on the condition we didn't tell anyone, because they're paying more. The thing that made us even more happy was that the room is TOTALLY worth Rp150,000... it's huge, with a huge en-suite bathroom and massive porch. We had a choice of two rooms and the first one was amazing - probably one of the poshest we've seen in 9 months - but we thought we'd have a look at the other... just in case. Our minds were made up before we'd even climbed the stairs onto the porch of the second one - we'd be taking the first room - because hanging across the entrance, in a web that must've been almost 5 feet across, was possibly the BIGGEST spider we have even seen. It didn't have a particularly big body but I think, if it would have been led out flat, it would've covered my face. I'm sure I seen it lick its lips as we were climbing the steps, and then tut as we walked away!

Once we were all checked in, we went for a long walk around Ubud. It's very peaceful here, and not at all hustle-and-bustle like Kuta. Ubud is a bit of an arty place, with loads of shops selling really cool pictures. Nikki loves them and is going to find out the cost of sending some home. When we were out on the main high-street, we stopped for some lunch - but didn't fancy rice again, so we shared a pizza instead... it was a Balinese one, so almost traditional.

This evening we came back to our beautiful hotel and relaxed out the front of our room on the porch. We sat reading and chatting in the peaceful surroundings. The only sounds we could here were the ducks, insects and rain - which was on and off every couple of minutes. We did plan on going to a nearby jazz café tonight, but we wouldn't have got 100m away without getting soaked, so maybe tomorrow...

OH! MY! GOD! Three months TODAY and we'll be flying home to England... what a bummer!

Tuesday 15th January 2008

After breakfast this morning, we got dressed and then went out for another day in Kuta. After last nights storm, we thought we'd try and have another go at walking down Poppies Lane II. On the way, we stopped in an internet café to let the Mums know that we're doing ok and then moved on. It looked like it was going to be another beautiful day, but when we got to the little restaurant where we ate last night - the rain started as if it was picking up where it left off last night. Because we were dressed in shorts and vests, I suggested the most obvious thing to do at 11am... go into the nearest bar for a large Bintang (beer).

When the rain had passed and we'd finished our beers we got up to leave - but before we could, we had to buy a little leather bracelet from a small 9 year old girl. At first she wanted Rp20,000 FOR ONE! I told her i'd bought one last night for Rp1,000 - so she said I could have her whole bunch (there must've been nearly 20) for Rp20,000. By now, her even younger friend had joined in and wanted to sell us her bunch for a similar price. Eventually, they believed us that we only wanted one and managed to get it for Rp1,000 - although we gave them both Rp1,000 for their persistency... bless 'em.

Just like the street Poppies I, Poppies II was packed with stalls selling everything, being sold by really friendly people. It was great fun walking up and down looking at their things. They'd all say they had something we'd love - we just had to go in and look, and when we did it was nothing more than a bottle opener shaped like a willy or a hand carved chess set or something even more obscure that we didn't need!?

Whilst on Poppies II, we saw the Bali Memorial, which is to remember all the people who died in the bomb blast. It was quite sad really, because it's right in amongst the hustle-and-bustle and yet it's eerily quiet, and was covered with messages from loved ones.

After stopping for some lunch we continued to walk the streets for a couple of hours, looking for the odd bargain, before we came back to our hotel to relax by the pool. We went for a swim and then lay about chatting before coming up to get ready. Tonight we went out and found a small restaurant close by, where we had another traditional Balinese meal... it was lovely!

No thanks... we don't need anymore flip-flops. Nope that goes for the BB Gun too. Thank you!

Monday 14th January 2008

Our alarm went off at about 7.30am this morning, but Nikki was already awake - I think it was a bit hot for her again last night. The alarm was set so early because today, we'd arranged to charter a car and explore the island. For a car, a driver and all the petrol and time, it only cost us Rp450,000 (just under £25). After breakfast, we sat in reception waiting for our guide and when he arrived... we were off!

The first stop of the day was in a small place just on the outskirts of Kuta, where we got to watch some Barong Dancing. It was pretty good and told the story of a fight between good and evil spirits. When the dancing had finished, we had some photos taken with the 'stars' and then went outside to meet our driver.

Next, we went to a small town North of Kuta called Ubud, which looked really cool - there was loads there, like Kuta, but without the hustle-and-bustle. We stopped at a place called the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, which was awesome! It was a huge old forest containing loads of ancients temples - all of which was inhabited by loads of naughty monkeys. There were loads of people outside, selling fruit to feed them - and they were more than happy to steal that! Anyone that did buy some, but didn't dish it out quickly enough got climbed all over and we even seen one girl get bit! Luckily, they ignored us - so we got to take pictures and laugh at everyone else without any hassle.

After the Monkey Sanctuary, we made a quick stop at a place called Tegalalang, which are the rice terraces - and they were stunning! They were loads of steps and platforms just carved into the sides of the grassy hills. Next, we jumped back in the car and stopped at a place called Kintamani - where we had brilliant views of the valleys and the (active) volcano in the distance.

We were now up in the North of Bali, so we started making our way South again and stopped at Tirta Empul which is a giant temple and spring. Because it's a sacred place, we had to put on sarongs and scarfs before we could enter. The whole place looked really ancient and apparently, there are inscriptions that date back to about AD926.

Our final stop of the day was in Goa Gajah, or Elephant Cave, which was discovered in the 1920s. It wasn't as big as the temple at Tirta Empul, but was still pretty cool. By now, it was late in the afternoon so we jumped back in the car and made our way back to Kuta.

We had an amazing time today - and Bali, especially the more rural parts, is beautiful and NOTHING like Kuta. Everyone here seems really happy and are all working really hard, trying to get by. On the drive back - we saw loads of mopeds carrying anything from one... to FOUR people - that was quite a sight: there was a small child stood clinging to the front (as if her life depended on it (and it probably did)), behind her it was her Dad who was driving, next it was a larger child who was holding onto Dad - although she needn't have bothered, because behind her was Mum who was also holding onto Dad - therefore squashing child number two in... brilliant! One of the annoying things was having to pay to park in places - and then having to pay someone else when we left the same place. Our poor driver even got stopped by the police at a roadblock and they made him hand over money.

As soon as we got back to Kuta this evening we went straight out for food. We started walking towards one of the main streets called Poppies Lane II, but on the way the Mother of all thunder storms started. We'd been told it was the 'Wet Season' and now we were going to find out. We didn't want to go too far in case the rain didn't stop (and it didn't), so we jumped into the first restaurant we came across. It was actually a good choice. It was only small and was playing reggae music, plus the food was great. We had three main courses (between us), some corn fritters and two large beers and the total price (including a tip) was only Rp70,000... less than £5!

Man, if Bali is anything to go by, we are gonna LOVE Asia!

Sunday 13th January 2008

We woke up without the use of any alarms this morning - it was just too hot to stay led in bed for any longer (well, on top of the bed - it was too hot to get in). Instead, we got ourselves up and went down for breakfast. When we were ready, we went out for another walk. We walked in a different direction to yesterday and were gone for hours! I think we must have seen the entire city on foot.

Today wasn't particularly sunny, but was really humid and was really taking it out of us, so when we came across a huge department store - we couldn't wait to get inside and into the air-con. Whilst we were there we had some lunch, which we got to eat on a balcony overlooking the sea. When Nikki heard me saying 'hello mate, how are you?' she thought 'how can he possibly know someone over here?', but it wasn't the heat sending me mad - I was talking to the family we were sat next to on the plane ride over. It was their first time in Bali too - and today was the first day they'd felt brave enough to leave their hotel. They seemed quite excited about being out and we assured them everything would be fine, before saying goodbye.

This afternoon we found the way back to our hotel and just chilled out for the pool. The walking must've really done us in because we both fell asleep for a little while. Afterwards we had showers and then went out for a meal. We still weren't brave enough to venture too far in the dark and settled on a place about 5 minutes away. The food was lovely - and best of all, it was cheap - and so was the beer. We both had large bottles of a beer called Bintang (which were about a pint-and-a-half) and only cost Rp18,000 - £1... bargain, and this was a posh restaurant! Once we'd finished our meals, we took a slow walk back to our hostel and even stopped to buy some things off the small market stalls on the way.

I don't know about the rest of Bali, but Kuta isn't very attractive. There are hundreds of dogs walking around, the pavements are falling to bits and the place is absolutely packed with traffic - but despite all this, it's still a cool place to be. There is definitely a good, cheerful vibe about the place, which is good - seeing as it's been hit by three separate bomb attacks in the last couple of years and the Tsunami which affected Indonesia and most of South East Asia.

Yippee for cheap food and beer - yippee for Bali!

Saturday 12th January 2008

We woke up this morning in our new bed, in our new hotel, in a new country - and it honestly felt like we were on holiday! We got up, got dressed and then went downstairs for the complementary breakfast. Afterwards, we locked our valuables away and went out to explore the city of Kuta.

Everyone who we've told we were coming to Bali had warned us about the people - saying they do nothing but hassle you, but we didn't find it too bad. We thought everyone was really nice - as long as you were firm, but still polite - then they were happy to leave you alone. We walked along the beach and found the main shopping area, which was packed with shops and people. We had a look around a big shopping centre and couldn't believe how cheap some things were. We managed to find some insect repellant and when we went to pay, we noticed that they hadn't given us the correct change. Instead, they got as close as they could with larger currency and then gave us a couple of... sweets (ie. instead of giving us Rp4,750, we were given Rp4,500 and some mango chews)! Now, I love sweets but this was crazy. When we thought about it, it didn't really matter - it was only about 3 pence!

We looked round the shops for a few hours, and in one of the larger shops, Nikki had her nails painted by two women. They worked really quickly and Nikki's nails looked fab... plus she only paid about £5. We also looked in all the restaurants at the cheap food (salads are about £2, steaks are about £4 and beer is about £1) and when we got a little hungry we did go in one - but instead of one that sold traditional food, we went into the Hard Rock Café (ha ha). The food was awesome though!

Late this afternoon we came back to the hotel and chilled out by the big pool. The hotel is really nice and we're only paying about £11 for our room. This evening, when it was finally dark, we moved from the pool and had showers in our room before going down to the restaurant for a snack (we shared some pork fried rice). Afterwards we just chilled out in our room and watched a film on the laptop.

We weren't brave enough to venture out in the dark tonight - but we will tomorrow!

Friday 11th January 2008

I can't believe it, today was our last day in Australia... for this trip anyway. We set the alarm a little earlier than normal and then had showers, had a cuppa and did all of our washing. Afterwards we went out to the shops so that Nikki could spend her $20 Just Jeans voucher. After looking in two different stores which, believe it or not, sold EXACTLY the same gear she finally settled on some skinny jeans which, I must admit, look really good on her.

We came back to the hostel this afternoon and Nikki made us a huge Spanish omelette to share, using the last of our food. Afterwards, I stayed at the hostel to update the blog whilst Nikki went into town to ask at the chemist about Malaria tablets. In typical Ben and Nikki fashion, Malaria tablets can't be sold over the counter without a prescription - and seeing as it was almost 4pm, there was no way we were going to be getting one of them... d'oh! Hopefully we'll find some in Bali before the mosquitos find us!

Our shuttle picked us up at 5pm this evening and took us on the longest, most painful drive EVER. The driver was hopeless! At one point, he was sat at some traffic lights and somehow managed to put the van into reverse instead of first. When the lights changed and we shot backwards, he was disappointed that there was nobody behind that he could've scared... prat! Eventually we got to the airport and our time passed really quickly before we were called to board the plane. Whilst we were waiting, I finally got to try some food from Red Rooster too!

The flight to Bali only took about three hours and we were soon leaving the plane and filling out our immigration cards. You have to buy your Visas upon entering the country for US$50, but we didn't have any money... of any kind, so they let us walk right through Customs to the outer part of the airport so that we could use a cash point. We were told we needed to pay Rp500,000 - but we didn't mind, we were millionaires: when we checked our balance we had over 16,000,000 in the bank - I guess the interest on a Nationwide account is a lot better than I imagined!

With everything sorted we collected our bags and left Denpasar airport. Waiting for us outside was a man waiting to take us to our hotel - complete with board saying 'TENNEAR'. It was nothing like when we met Emma at Perth airport though, there were no cuddles, tears or anything. It was about midnight now and the short drive back to the hotel was unbelievable. It was every-man for themselves on the small roads. I'm just glad we were in a big land-rover, so we were one of the bigger cars on the road. The people on motorbikes must be terrified! We were overtaking when there was traffic coming, we were driving way too close to the people in front (i'm sure we nudged someone at one point) and we didn't stop round corners... worst of all, we didn't have seat-belts. The Hotel Sorga is at the end of a small lane and as we turned in, some poor guy had to jump over a wall to avoid getting squashed. I'm surprised the driver didn't turn the lights off - just to make the journey a little more exciting.

Thankfully though, we made it safely to the hotel and checked into our room, which looks really nice and has a great big bed. We were so tired, we just collapsed on it and fell asleep.

Goodbye Australia... Hello Bali!

Thursday 10th January 2008

As this was our last full day in Perth, we needed to use our return tickets for Adventure World, and thought that setting the alarm for 9.30am would give us enough time to get up, pop in to town to post some postcards and then make our way to the park... it didn't! We got up and got ready pretty quickly, but we decided to surf the internet. Then when we walked into town we thought we'd ring the hotel in Bali to check on our booking - what a nightmare! First of all we lost our money in the phone-box then, when we got some more, we found our phone card had expired... d'oh! We went to buy another and eventually - after about an hour we got through and did our best with the hotel. Finally, we could head over to Adventure World.

We finally got to the park at about 1.30pm and after having some lunch set off to go on the rides we'd missed last time. We got to go on all the rides - I even went on the spinny ones. We also queued for about an hour to ride on the go-karts which was... pants! I started at the back and had visions of racing up through the pack to take the checkered flag in a blaze of glory, but couldn't have been more wrong. By the time i'd made it out of the pits and across the start line, everyone else was half-way round. In the end my blaze of glory was nothing more than damage limitation, and I finished last - only being lapped by two people, one of which was Nikki... d'oh!

Because of our tattoos, we didn't want to go on any of the water rides until they'd healed so, after riding everything, we just chilled out in the sun. Eventually we decided to head back to the city - first catching a bus to Fremantle, then a train to the city.

This evening, we arranged to go out for some drinks with Andy and Grace - a couple we'd met in Melbourne on the Neighbours night. Me and Nikki went out at about 8.30ish for some food and then met them at just after 9pm in Novaks bar. It was really great to catch up with them and they'd made a real effort, coming in from the outskirts of the city by train - and all this even though we'd only met them once before. We stayed out for a couple of hours, drinking and sharing our traveling stories before saying our goodbyes.

D'oh! I can't believe we're leaving Australia tomorrow!

Wednesday 9th January 2008

As we only have a couple of days left in Australia, we thought it would be nice to catch one of the boats down the Swan River from the city to Fremantle. We thought we'd planned it all - and found that the boats left at 11am... we were gonna be fine... not! Despite our planning, and setting the alarm nice and early, we didn't end up leaving the hostel until about 10.45am, giving ourselves not very long - to run a pretty long way.

Thankfully, we made it down to the boats at about 10.59am and there was no queue - so we were able to buy our tickets straight away and then board the boat with Captain Cook Cruises. The trip to Fremantle was really nice and smooth, with running commentary and free tea and coffee. Some of the houses on the banks of the Swan River were stunning - one of which was for sale... for $85 million!

When we got to Fremantle, we went for a walk around the shops and after a while headed down towards the harbour area. On the way, we stopped for some sushi before going into the Maritime Museum. The museum was really cool - there are two in Perth, and this one is the Shipwreck Gallery and, as well as containing things found on sunken ships, it actually contains an actual shipwreck. We got to go on a free guided tour, which was good - because there was far too much to read.

This evening, after we'd had another look around the shops, we decided to go for a drink and something to eat before returning back to the city. As we were walking down the 'Cappuccino Strip' we came across a Mexican restaurant which had a fajita night on... so in we went. The food and drink was pretty good and the place was packed - so there was a pretty good atmosphere - a nice finish to a nice day.

If it's still for sale the next time we're in Fremantle - we'll buy that house for $85 million!

Tuesday 8th January 2008

We didn't have any alarms waking us up this morning and instead had a lie-in in our hotel-like room. When we did wake up, we just put the TV on and chilled out. Eventually, we made it out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast before going on the internet and looking for accommodation in Bali... where we're going on FRIDAY!

As we've already made plans for tomorrow and Thursday, we figured that we'd spend one more day looking round the shops in the centre - seeing if there was anything else we wanted to spend our Christmas money on. I bought a new wallet - and Nikki made a complaint in Just Jeans about a skirt she'd bought in Airlee Beach and then returned in Sydney, but had not been given a full refund for. The nice people in the Perth store gave her the extra $20 she was owed, which was good... yippee! On the way back, we stopped in the food court for some sushi and then did some shopping for our tea.

Today has been a really nice, lazy, chill out day... we love it!

Monday 7th January 2008

We woke up at about 9am this morning, and we thought we'd go and see Hopper - just to check that he'd booked us in for the next four nights and, if so, to pay our bill... d'oh - he hadn't! Because he knew we'd come to him on Friday asking to stay, he said he'd sort something out for us... and arranged for us to go and stay at his other hostel - the Emperor's Crown. He said he'd even drop our big bags off this afternoon for us. So we checked out and walked over with our smaller bags. We're so lucky - the Emperor's Crown is lush, more like a hotel than a hostel and we've got a double room with a TV, dvd player and fridge, but instead of paying the proper price of $88, Hopper has given it to us for $70... yippee!

This afternoon we caught the bus over to Cottesloe Beach, to have another look around. As soon as we got off the bus Nikki bought a sun-hat and then we went and got fish & chips - they weren't bad. Afterwards we went and sat on the grass next to the beach, where we spent the afternoon chilling out in the sun.

Tonight, we thought we'd go to the cinema, to watch I Am Legend, starring Will Smith. We had to catch two buses - one from Cottesloe back into the city, and then another out towards Scarborough Beach, because the cinema on the way had GOLD Class, which is big comfy seats and meals served throughout the film - and Wilksi and Vicky recommended it when we were at home... but we didn't expect it to be so expensive. When we got there we found that we only had enough for the seats and so it seemed like a waste of time if we couldn't get anything else. So, for less than one GOLD seat, we got two tickets in the 'cheap seats'. The film was still pretty cool though... and so was the popcorn we bought with the money saved.

Sorry Wilksi and Vicky... we couldn't afford GOLD Class like you guys!

Sunday 6th January 2008

We had to set our alarm nice and early this morning because, when we were out and about yesterday, we booked to go on a trip to the Pinnacles, which is North of Perth. We woke up at about 6.15am, and the bus came to pick us up at just after 7am. Once the bus had collected the other people who were going on the trip, we were picked up by another bus - this time a huge 4-wheel drive one.

Our first stop of the day was in a place called Yanchep National Park, where we got to see wild koalas, kangaroos and other Australian wildlife. Afterwards, we jumped back on the 'truck' for some more driving. At about 11.30am we stopped for an early lunch and then it was off into the dessert. As we were driving along the dusty roads we made a couple of stops to look at lizards and things.

This afternoon we eventually made it to the Pinnacles Dessert, which is in Nambung National Park. The Pinnacles are crazy! They are limestone pillars that rise out of the of the sand dunes. Some are nearly 4 meters tall... and there are about 120,000 of them! Jim, our driver, dropped us off at one side of a huge field of them and we got to walk through them before meeting him on the other side.

When we left the Pinnacles, we drove to a place called Lancelin, where we got to leave the sealed roads and drove onto the bumpy tracks and then onto the sand dunes - now the 'truck' could really go to work. Driving up and down the dunes was awesome! All the girls (and some of the men) on the coach were screaming as we went over the top of the really big ones, which must have been about 20 meters high and really steep! After tearing around on the sand, Jim pulled over and we all got to go sand surfing. It was great fun... coming down - but climbing back to the top for another go was exhausting. I had four goes at it - two sitting and two standing... I was USELESS at the standing, and was lucky I didn't hurt myself - I took a pretty spectacular tumble. Although, it was no surprise - I even fell off sitting down. Nikki was much better than me.

After everyone was too tired to sand surf anymore, we jumped back on the 'truck' and headed back to Perth. When we got back, after so much driving, we had showers and then just crashed out in our room to relax.

Everybody's goin' surfing, sand surfing WA!

Saturday 5th January 2008

Whenever we walk home from town, we always pass a certain shop. We've been in a couple of times this week, we went in when Emma was here too, but have never bought anything there... until today. Our alarm woke us up at just after 9am and we had showers and some breakfast before walking into the centre for our 10.30am appointment at Primitive... the tattoo parlour.

Tim, our tattoo artist was superb. He's a really nice guy from Melbourne, but has lived in Perth for about 20 years. He's seen pretty much all of Australia and wants to travel the world next year, so we had loads to talk about. I went first and my tattoo took just under an hour. After having one in Miami Ink in April, I knew what to expect - but Nikki hasn't had one done in 10 years, so at first she was a little nervous. As soon as he'd started, she was fine and didn't moan once - plus hers only took about 45 minutes.

When we left Primitive, we went into the centre and sat in the shade, where we ate some sarnies, before walking back to the hostel so that I could change my top. This afternoon we were heading over to Scarborough Beach to watch the XXXX Gold Tri-Nations Cricket, which was being shown live on TV - so I wanted to put my new Bristol City shirt on... just in case. We got to Scarborough Beach and the cricket had already started. It's a three team tournament with Australia, New Zealand and England. Even though we were late, we got great seats and were just in time to watch the big one... Australia vs England.

The beach cricket was fab and we hammered the Aussies. They finished on 126, but we passed that with about 3 overs to go, and finally finished on 157. We got to see loads of old favourites, including Graham Gooch, Phil Defreitas, Graeme Hick, Adam Holliaoke and Angus Fraser for England and Allan Border, Dennis Lillee, Stuart Law, Darren Lehmann and Mark Waugh for the Aussies. We were sat right next to the players entrance, and sure enough I got on TV as they were walking out. I'm not sure if it's shown at home... but Channel 10 on Aussie TV still counts!

After the excitement of watching the English beat the Aussies, we hung about on the grass next to the beach - it was far too windy on the sand. Pretty soon we were hungry, so we went and got a pizza from the shop where we got one on Christmas Eve... once again, it was LUSH! Once we were finished it was getting pretty late, so we caught the bus back to the city. I don't remember the journey, because I fell asleep - which was very embarrassing, because when I woke I discovered I'd dribbled all over myself!

YES! We were there when we beat the Aussies... at cricket!

Friday 4th January 2008

I don't know what's happened to us, but we got up really late again this morning. Nikki woke me up at just after 10.30am, and by the time we'd got ready, had breakfast and were ready to leave, it was almost 12pm! Just as we were leaving, we received some good news from home - Scottish Col' and Katie have had their baby - a little boy called William, who is going to grow up to play for both Bristol City and ENGLAND!

We had a look around the shops in town, still trying hard to spend our Christmas money, and once we'd completed some secret missions, we sat on a bench in the centre and ate a little picnic Nikki had made us. It was nice, just sitting there - watching the world pass by. I don't know how we're ever gonna get motivated to work again!?

This afternoon, we went to the Perth Museum, which was very impressive! We looked at all the usual exhibits including the animals, dinosaurs and Australian history, when we came across a really sad exhibition called 'The Stolen Children'. It was about loads of Aboriginal children, which were taken away from their families, so that they could live as 'white' people. Some of them were really young and never got to see their parents again - it was all very sad, and something I think some Australians are quite embarrassed about.

For our tea this evening, Nikki cooked us a lush prawn and mushroom curry. I thought it was spanking gorgeous, but Nikki didn't enjoy it as much - I think she was too hot from the cooking. Afterwards, we went outside to ring Emma and find out how life is back in the Northern Hemisphere. It did make us chuckle when she told us it was 2° when she landed in London - it must've been at least 30° when she took off from Perth, ha ha.

Congratulations to Scottish and Katie... Hello William!

Thursday 3rd January 2008

After a lazy morning, (we didn't wake up until after 10.30am), we got ourselves ready and then left the hostel. We walked down to the bus-stop, then jumped onto the Blue Cat, which is the free bus around Perth. We rode it until we got down by the Swan River, where we got off and headed for Kings Park.

We didn't know, but to get into the park from where we got off the bus, you have to climb loads of steps. Someone told us there were 480, which i'm not sure about, but any number over 10 is tough going in the heat it is here at the moment. It's not particularly sunny, but it is VERY humid. Anyway, once we'd made it to the top of the steps, we went for a walk around the park and Botanic Gardens.

Kings Park is massive, and we started by visiting the War Memorial - which can be seen from town - it's quite impressive. Whilst we were enjoying the stunning views of the city skyline, we sat on the grass and had a picnic. Afterwards, we took a walk around the gardens, which includes a tree top walk through... the trees! When we'd seen everything we wanted to see, and we were pretty tired from all the walking, we caught the bus into town and had a look around the shops. When we got back to the hostel this evening - we were both exhausted, from the heat and the walking - so we just chilled out in front of the TV with the others and watched a couple of films.

Yes..! The news said it's gonna be a 'cool' 31° tomorrow!

Wednesday 2nd January 2008

I had three alarms go off at about 2.30am this morning, so that Emma could have a shower before her taxi came at 3am. I don't really know why we bothered going to sleep to be fair, because we didn't finish looking at our pictures until after 1.30am! Anyway, once she was up and ready we carried her bags to the taxi and waved farewell... it was quite sat actually. It's the second time she's come to visit us - perhaps next time she'll stay the whole time?

After Emma had gone we managed to get a few hours sleep before the alarms went off again at 8am. We'd booked accommodation for EVERY night that Emma was here, but now she was gone we had nowhere to stay... and the YHA was full, so we had to check out and look for a new home. We rang the Witches Hat, and luckily they could fit us in, so we packed our bags and walked up to Northbridge.

This afternoon, after checking back into the Witches Hat and then having a toasted-sarnie for our lunch, we decided to walk down to an outlet shopping centre on the edge of town called Harbour Town. We were looking round for a few hours, but never bought anything. Instead we walked into the centre and had another look round the shops there.

When we came back to the hostel this evening, we were absolutely exhausted - we'd been walking back and forth all day, plus it was really warm today. We had some hot-dogs for our tea and then we rang my Mum to find out what the latest was on Emma's flight home. The silly wally was supposed to ring us when she was in the Departure Lounge at Perth International Airport, but forgot and we were worried all day. Thankfully, she was ok and had just left Dubai and was headed for Blighty. Afterwards we sat in the TV room and updated the blog, before watching Reservoir Dogs with the others

Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk..!

Tuesday 1st January 2008

I'm not sure what time we finally got to bed last night, but I do know that we didn't wake up until almost 12pm today! Emma was already awake, led in bed listening to the iPod I gave her. Because it's her last day in Perth, once we were dressed, Nikki cooked us all a massive fry-up - with sausages, bacon, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs. After that, we were all set up for the day.

We didn't have anything planned to do and, because it's a Bank Holiday, everything is shut - so we just took a walk down to the edge of the Swan River and spent the day chilling out on the grass. We talked, laughed and read our books for hours, until it started to get dark - when we went into a bar called the Lucky Shag.

At first we couldn't get a table, so we stood outside next to the river. Eventually, as people started to leave, we got some seats - but stayed in the same spot, and we were glad we did - as the sun set, the views were absolutely stunning. There were a few clouds in the sky and it just made it more dramatic - turning the sky all shades of orange, pink and red. It was definitely the perfect send off for Emma. When we got back to the hostel, the drink had made us peckish, so Nikki made us hot-dogs before we sat in our room and Emma looked at all our 'World Tour' photographs... all 5000+!

Ow, it's sad that Emma's leaving - she's become part of the gang!

Monday 31st December 2007

Once we were up and ready this morning, we had to check out and then walk round to the train station so that we could make our way back to the city for New Year. Our new hostel, Perth City YHA, isn't far from the train station so we didn't have far to walk. When we arrived they wouldn't let us check in, so we dumped our bags in the luggage store and then went out for the day.

As everything is gonna be shut tomorrow, we thought we'd spend the day around the centre so that Emma could buy any presents and things she wanted for the people at home. We did walk round to the Perth Mint to have a look round, but they wanted $15 entrance fee - and we're far too stingy for that, so we gave it a miss.

This evening, we got ready in our hostel and then walked up to Northbridge, to see in the New Year there. When we got there, there was some sort of street party in full swing - so we knew we were in the right place. As we'd not eaten all day, we decided that we'd go for a meal first and went into a posh looking Chinese place. Emma wasn't sure what she wanted, but settled on king prawns in a garlic butter. Me and Nikki ordered the banquet..! Our meals consisted of about 5 courses, and it was AMAZING! One of the courses was duck pancakes and they actually brought out half a duck, which they cut and prepared at our table. We were really proud of Emma - because she tried all the food, including the duck, some plum sauce and squid in a satay sauce.

When we settled the bill in the Chinese, we left the restaurant and went to a bar called Novaks, to get some drinks. There was a huge queue outside and inside was packed! We got in pretty quickly and there were no problems getting to the bar. In no time we were happily drinking and singing along with the live band that was playing. At midnight, everyone cheered inside Novaks, then we went outside to join in the celebrations out there and wandered about the street party, with the thousands of people in Northbridge.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday 30th December 2007

Our alarm went off nice and early this morning, so that we could get ourselves ready and then go out for a day on Rottnest Island. We had some breakfast, got dressed and then walked down to B Shed, on the harbour, where we needed to catch the Oceanic Express. The queue was already massive, so we went for a quick look around the markets in E Shed instead. By the time we'd joined the queue and then got to the front, we realised that we'd not got our tickets - and so in the time it took Nikki to sort them out, we missed it! It didn't matter too much, another ferry turned up about fifteen minutes later.

The journey over to Rottnest was quite an experience. It's 18km from Fremantle and we chose to sit outside in the fresh air and regretted it almost immediately! The sea was really choppy and we got absolutely soaked by the waves as the catamaran cut through them. It was probably a good thing that we were sat outside actually, because I reckon if we'd have been inside, which was downstairs, then we'd have been underwater half the time. As we were getting off, we did see a lot of ill-looking people.

Rottnest Island is only small, but has about 62 bays and beaches, so we bought a bus pass, which allowed us to hop on-and-off all day long. We didn't see all the places but we did see quite a few places, and did the following things...

• Parker Point: We sat and had a picnic that Nikki had made in a little cove we'd found. It was a really beautiful spot, with boats mored just off the shore.

• Salmon Bay: We found some huge sand Dunes and after finding it impossible to read (because of the wind blowing sand in our faces) we decided to have races to the top. I was a bit mean to Emma, because I reached the top well before her and as she was struggling I threw myself at her - much like on an episode of Gladiators - before dragging her back to the bottom. When I did eventually let her get to the top, we had swimming races back to the bottom, which Nikki managed to capture on video... we look like a couple of crabs!

• We took a walk up to one of the lighthouses that are on the island, and then sat and looked out over Rottnest Island. Because we were quite high up the views were fantastic. We even seen some Quokkas, which are the small animals which gave the island it's name (people thought they were huge rats, naming it Rats nest Island, before it changed to Rottnest).

This afternoon, we were leaving one of the bays and thought we'd walk along the road for a couple of minutes, waiting for a bus to pass... but it didn't! I'm not sure if we'd taken a wrong turn somewhere, but we ended up walking about 1.3km back into the main settlement area... Emma was not happy! We hung around the little town area and had ice-lollies, before going for a meal in one of the restaurants - DOME. The meal was absolute rubbish! I had cannelloni, which I think was made of rubber instead of pasta. Nikki had a Caesar Salad, and Emma had a lasagna. They both agreed their meals were equally disgusting!

We didn't have long to wait for the boat going back, so we went and sat on the wall by the port. It started to get really windy, so we thought we'd go back to DOME for a cup of coffee - hopefully they'd get that right... WRONG! Emma's was ok, but mine and Nikki's was almost stone cold - it was barely warm and when Nikki took it back, the woman said it was as hot as she could get it... without burning the milk! What a wally. It's safe to say we'll be avoiding DOME for the rest of our time in Oz.

Apparently, the journey back to Fremantle was quite eventful, with people screaming and breathing into sick bags. I say apparently - because I slept the whole way. Only waking briefly to give dirty looks to some child who's screams were annoying me.

Rottnest Island was nice, but what an absolute load of rubbish DOME was!

Saturday 29th December 2007

We decided not to set an alarm this morning - but Nikki still woke us up in plenty of time for the free breakfast (glad that old alarm still works... her stomach!). After eating, we went out into Fremantle for the day to have a look around the shops. In one of the 'Rock N' Roll' shops, Nikki bought herself a wicked t-shirt with the money Katie gave her for Christmas - it's 'The Who' logo, but in sparkly jewels... it looks amazing on her!

After looking around the shops and then the Fremantle markets, which were buzzing with hundreds of people, we took a walk round to the harbour. When we were there we saw a speed boat about to go out Jet Boating. We've wanted to do that ever since New Zealand, so we jumped at the chance... it was only $30! The staff took all our valuables off us and locked them away and then handed out plastic macs to the wimps who didn't want to get to wet... including Nikki. In no time, we were pulling out through the harbour and into the Indian Ocean.

The Jet Boating was BRILLIANT! We were flying across the waves - getting up to speeds of about 75kmph! Every so often the driver would throw a really steep turn or slow us almost to a stop - and the nose would dive into the waves, making waves crash over the boat, soaking everyone. It was so funny, because every time he did the stopping, Nikki would start to scream (thinking we were gonna capsize) and get a mouthful of sea water.

Once we were safely back on dry land we treated ourselves to fish & chips in one of the restaurants. We sat outside in the sunshine looking at all the boats and had a really good time. Plus a scallop somehow got smuggled into our bag of food, so that was a bonus!

This evening, we dropped our bags of at the hostel and the caught the free Cat Bus down to South Beach, where we sat on the sand for about an hour and chilled out. We would've stayed longer, but the wind started to pick up and was blowing loads of sand at us. Afterwards, because we'd missed the last bus, we had to walk back to the hostel and amazingly... Emma didn't moan once!

Jet Boating, Fish & Chips and free Scallops... what a cool day!

Friday 28th December 2007

We got up nice and early this morning and had some breakfast, before Nikki made us a packed lunch for our dinner. We were going out for the day... to Adventure World! We walked down to the bus stop and the bus arrived pretty quickly, which was good - because it seemed like we'd been faffing about all morning and I didn't think we were ever going to get out.

The bus didn't take long to get to the park and when it did, it dropped us right outside. It was already starting to get quite busy, so we put our bags in one of the lockers and went to go on the rides. Adventure World is half theme park and half water park. We figured we'd do the rides this morning and then, when it was really hot, do the water rides this afternoon.

There weren't that many rides there, and the one's that they did have were ok - but nothing amazing. After lunch we did the water ones and they were much better! We raced on the 6-slide speed racer, which Emma won twice. One thing we did which was hilarious, was the crazy river rapids. We had to climb to the top of some steps and then jump into a rubber ring on what looked like a lazy river... except it was anything but... it was mental! They'd set up loads of rocks and dips so that, in places, the water could get quite rough (it was supposed to be a kids ride!). The best bit was when, at the bottom of one of the hills, Emma fell out of her ring. I rushed down to help her and fell out myself - knocking her ring away... which meant she had to do the rest of the course on her bum. By the time the ride was over, she was red-raw the poor little cow! We had a pretty good time at Adventure World and as we were leaving, me and Nikki bought return passes for $10 - so we can come back once Emma's gone home.

This evening, Nikki did us cheeseburgers and salad for our tea and then when we were sat around chilling out, we decided to play Chocolate Roulette, which was a game Mum and Keith had bought us for Christmas. There were 11 regular praline chocolates and 1 chilli chocolate - all numbered from 1-12. You had to spin the wheel and eat whatever chocolate came up. We made a rule that you HAD to bite of at least half the chocolate, to make it more interesting. Emma went first and it was pretty tense. Pretty soon Emma had had her four chocolates and had not eaten the chilli, so it was down to me and Nikki. I let her spin the wheel and then we bit into our chocolates at the same time...

Uuuuuurrrrrgggghhhh! It was the most disgusting thing I HAD EVER EATEN! I knew straight away that I had the chilli because it crumbled, which none of the previous three chocolates had done. I kept chewing, but after about 3 seconds, my throat caught on fire and my tongue and lips started tingling. There was NO WAY I was going to finish it, so I quickly drank some tea and ate a handful of Cadburys' Chocolate Fingers, but it was no good - nothing would get rid of the awful taste. After about 15 minutes it did start to go and then, for some reason, Emma picked up the chocolate and tried it... we couldn't believe it! It was so funny though, her face immediately filled with regret!

So, there IS a chocolate that I won't ever try again... d'oh!

Thursday 27th December 2007

As Christmas had drawn to a close, so had our time in Scarborough beach. We packed our bags and after breakfast, checked out of our hostel and walked down to the bus stop, where we caught the bus to Fremantle. The bus ride took a while and when we finally got off we quickly found our hostel, the Backpackers Inn Freo YHA. We checked into our room and then hung about for a bit before having some lunch.

This afternoon, we had a quick walk around town and then went to Fremantle Prison to do one of their tours. This prison was fully operation until 1991, and was only closed then because the prisoners were living in inhumane conditions - even that late in the 20th Century, they didn't have flushing toilets - the did it in a bucket... uuuurrrgggghhh! The tour was really good, and even though we've already been to two other prisons (Port Arthur and Melbourne Gaol) on this trip, Emma had a good time. We were taken all around, and we got to go into the kitchens, the exercise yards, the cells even solitary confinement. The tour ended where it did for some of the prisoners... in the gallows!

After our tour, we had another look around town and then Nikki and Emma went and did some shopping for our tea. We came back to the hostel and Niks cooked us some burgers on the barbecue. We then spent the evening sat around chilling out.

We've been in some pretty basic hostels, but at least they've all had flushing toilets!

Oh, we were also told that this Christmas was the HOTTEST on record in Western Australia - with Boxing Day reaching 44°... no wonder the beach was busy!

Wednesday 26th December 2007

For some reason the air-conditioning we had in our room, packed in last night and we all woke up feeling VERY hot this morning. We heard that it reached 39° yesterday, so we wanted to make sure we put on loads of sun-cream today... it could get even hotter! Everything seemed to be back to normal outside, so we had a look around the shops and then made our way down to the beach. We spent a couple of hours down there - most of which Emma was in the sea. Nikki thought it WAS hotter today, but I wasn't sure because there was a nice breeze in the air (well, as nice as standing in front of a hair dryer can be anyway). We spent all morning running the couple of meters, across the hot sand, into the sea and the running back to our towels and being dry before we'd even led down.

This afternoon, we had some lunch and then went for another look around the shops. Emma decided it was too hot for her by now so she went back to the hostel and me and Nikki went back to the beach. We spent a couple of hours reading (well, I did), chatting (once again me to myself - Nikki had fallen asleep) and swimming before going back at about 7pm. We found Emma crashed out on her bed - so the sun had obviously taken it out of her.

Tonight, we got ourselves all dressed up and went out for a nice meal with the money that Uncle Col' and Auntie Paula had sent over for us. We chose a really nice Italian restaurant that overlooked the sea (although we sat inside because of the air-conditioning). The meal was FANTASTIC! Me and Nikki shared a bottle of wine, Emma tried new foods and we all had a really good time. The restaurant was packed and our waitress, bless her, had only been working two days - but we were in no rush and so were happy for her to look after everyone else while we had a good ol' chin-wag. At about 11pm, we paid our bill and walked back out into the heat and back to our hostel... we'd had a brilliant evening, thanks Uncle Col' and Auntie Paula!

So, that's it for another Christmas. I wonder where we'll be next year?

Tuesday 25th December 2007

Nikki woke me up this morning, when she burst in to our room with cuppas for us all... singing 'Dashing Through The Snow'. It took me a few seconds to understand what she was going on about but then I remembered... it was Christmas Day... yippee! We woke Emma up and then she joined us on our bed, where we opened our presents (from each other) and me and Nikki opened our cards from the people at home.

Even though we're on the other side of the world, we've still been spoilt. We were given loads of money from my Mum and Keith, Granny Vera, Uncle Col' and Auntie Paula, June and Andy, Grandma Iles and Katie (bless her, she gave us $100!). From Nikki, I had some boxer shorts (which, after 8 months of wearing the same 6 pairs, I DEFINITELY NEEDED), the book SLASH (from Guns N' Roses), a really cool Quicksilver surf vest and some chocolate and nougat. Emma bought me this season's Bristol City shirt, which was a nice surprise, and something i'll make sure gets in lots of photos before I get home.

From me, Nikki had a pair of Paul Frank pyjamas, a new diary and some Body Shop cream. She also got some pyjamas from Emma and some little bits (including nail varnish, hand cream, hand sanitizer and a bar of marzipan) from Father Christmas. We bought Emma a surf watch from a shop called 100% Mambo (the one in Byron that was having the sale - with loads of free food and drink) and she seemed really please with it... thank God!

With all the present opening over for now (we wanted to wait until we did our Skype call before opening the small gifts from Mum and Keith), we got dressed and headed for the beach. Nikki had been up since just after 8am this morning preparing the dinner and we thought we'd spend a couple of hours in the sun and then we'd come back to collect the food - before returning to the beach to eat it.

Everything was going brilliantly. We were all in-and-out of the sea, we had a really good spot on the beach and in typical fashion, Emma was getting burnt. When it got to about 1pm me and Nikki went to get the food. When we got back to the beach, we realised that we'd forgotten the bread rolls. I offered to run back and get them and, because our hostel wasn't far, I set off bare-foot... oopps! The sand was REALLY REALLY hot, but I thought i'd be ok once I got off the beach and onto the pavement... what an idiot, it was even hotter - and I was almost crying in pain. Suddenly our hostel seemed about 100 miles away. I couldn't even stop at the traffic lights waiting for them to change - I just ran straight across! I collected the rolls, put on my trainers and limped back to join Nikki and Emma.

Christmas lunch was brilliant! Nikki had prepared a cooked chook (roast chicken), with loads of salad, bread rolls and potato salad. We sat on the beach with our Christmas plates and serviettes, our crackers and party hats, and had a right royal feast. We also had mince pies and Christmas pudding - but it was way too hot for those, so we saved them for later. We spent the rest of the day, pretty much as we'd spent this morning - in-and-out of the sea and having a laugh in the sun.

This evening, we came back to the hostel and did a Skype call with my Mum and Keith. It was really good to see them both and, with what must be a new record, Mum cried 4 times! At first she cried because her kids were online together. Then when we were talking about our appearance on GMTV, when she started crying again. Next, we got them to open their present from me and Nikki... and she cried... again. We didn't really know what to get everyone for Christmas, but for our Mums we got our favourite pictures from our trip so far and put them in a calendar. My Mum seemed to like it! We had a nice chat and they got to catch up with Emma before my Mum started crying for the last time - when we said goodbye.

Afterwards we did a Skype call with Nikki's family, which was cool because we got to see Andy and Grandma Iles for the first time since we'd been away. June didn't cry when she opened her calendar, but she did have a good laugh - so that was good! We had a long chat (in which they showed us how much cauliflower-cheese was left, because Nikki wasn't there to polish it off), caught up on all the gossip and then said our goodbyes, leaving them to open their presents. By now it was about midnight and so, after our hottest and most unusual Christmas ever, we collapsed on our beds and fell asleep.

Merry Christmas everyone!