Topic: #holiday

Yearly update! What a year of not very much!

Haha! I’m getting really good at not blogging for a whole year! In doing a summary, it does feel like, overall, not much has changed too much, which is excellent! There are lots of little things that are absolutely wonderful, but too little to write about (or we’d be here forever). Maybe I should write about them out of the normal yearly structure…

Another year with little posting! It’s been terribly busy and of course, setting goals for this year, means I might jump back on the bandwagon on blogging, but let’s start with a year in review for 2018.

2017 flew by with 0 posts! Well I turned 30, which was a small deal. I ended up hiking the Six Foot Track, just to get away from it all. It was a gorgeous 3 days.

And another year has passed. Looking back, it’s been quite a huge year in my personal life and in my professional career. Personally, I’ve enjoyed numerous gigs towards the start of the year (with less and less in the last 6 months), went viral for about a day over the Fast Food Cake, moved in with the girlfriend and so much dancing. I’ve now reached a comfortable stage in my Balboa dancing which was a goal over the last year, which I think is an amazing thing for my dancing. It’s definitely the new love. There were a couple competitions this year, which I did pretty well in, but the biggest achievement would’ve been coming second in a Lindy Hop Open Invitational at the Pan Pacific’s this year! The second biggest would be that I’m now a Swing Dance Instructor. It definitely has been helping with my dancing to take the time and analyse everything that’s going on with my movements.

I finished up at DoE in the middle of January and started the new job 2 days later! Such a change. It’s brought on a lot more work (namely development work - YAY!) and a lots more learning. I’m now developing on Android, iOS and the trusty GWT. It is nice to see how a start up works and who does what when they are actually engaged and needing to push out work quickly and efficiently. Funnily enough, I’ve just finished the SSO components (something that I never escape for some reason). It has been very engaging work, where time flies and I forget about lunch and when it’s time to go home. Luckily, I do have dancing commitments so that helps me leave the work place.

The final trip home was a good fun drive, which was slightly driven by caffeine. We ventured from Broken Hill, through Cobar, Orange, an overnight stay there at Duntryleague, dinner at LolliRedini, and then back home the following day after a short 9 hole game of golf =). The drive included a number of hit and run on animals unfortunately. They all looked pretty fresh, so I’m assuming the killer was a couple hours in front of me. There were several stops to get these guys off the road as well.

The final day of work involved digging one last line of plots in the early hours to avoid the heat. After that we needed to make sure we had enough photos to document the foraging pits. It was nice to be able to drive around with the soul purpose of photographing. Of course, not all the wildlife appeared, but enough did to keep it all exciting.

Day 4 and Day 5 were digging holes. Lots of holes. In all, there were 1440 holes dug. It took just over 2 days to dig them all. The biggest impediment was heat. There was a slight heat wave for Spring there, and it did reach 39 degrees at some point. There was definitely the need for a lot of water and breaks. Theres just one photo of the plots (not taken by me), with the diggings in them.

The third day was spent marking out pits. Basically, these were 2m x 2m square plots with a metal stake on the north corner and then tent pegs on the other 3 corners, plus one in the centre. Each stake was marked with a copper tag with its density and type. For this, I created a lightweight contraption which would mark out the 4 corners for me. It was also adjustable, in that it would also mark the corners of 1m x 1m squares if we needed to make the plots smaller. It was essentially, 2 pieces of conduit which were joined in the centre by a bolt. This would allow it to collapse and be carried around easily. These were the diagonals of the square. I then had one more conduit piece which was 1 metre long. This was at the right distance to make sure that it held the diagonals in place to form a square. Here is a photo of it in action.

On the second day, we looked at doing transects where we took counts of how many Bilby/Bettong foraging pits and Rabbit foraging pits there were at regular distances. This would provide a baseline of what the density would be for naturally occurring foraging pits. The interesting thing for me was seeing these pits for the first time. I was tasked originally with figuring out what the best way would be to recreate these pits using normal tools and it was actually quite difficult to find images and descriptions online about them. I’ll document them in another post specifically about their sizes. In driving around Scotia Sanctuary in our breaks, we did come across some wonderful wildlife.

Scotia Sanctuary is a nature reserve between the NSW and SA borders. I visited on the 30th of September as a volunteer to help conduct my partners PhD fieldwork. I say conduct, which really means, digging over a thousand holes in the soil. This was a 2 week trip which I’ll retrospectively write about. The trip down was quite exciting and a lot of planning was done to make sure that fatigue wouldn’t become an issue. There was the first 5 hour drive to Wagga Wagga which was straight forward enough. The second leg (8 hours) was all the way through to Scotia via Hay and Mildura. Numerous spots of road kill and birds of prey it seems.

I spent the weekend out in Wentworth falls at the falls Mountain Retreat. It was a very lovely loft, super spacious, gas fireplace, spa and a balcony out to the forest. There was a trip out to the Lithgow Glow Worm Tunnel as well. The drive from Wentworth Falls is about 2 hours. Its a good 40 minutes to get to Lithgow and then its a slow, bumpy drive to the tunnel. There are a few signs in Lithgow, but then it turns into forest and logged forests. It is a constant change in scenery. There were even brumbys on the way! The walk to the tunnel from the carpark isn’t too far. It says 1 hour each way, but really, its about 30 minutes. Of course, if you stay a while in the tunnel, it’ll take an hour. The glow worms were terrific. There was a good section just after the first bend, but we missed it on the way in as our eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. On the way back, lots of photos were taken, so my eyes had adjusted properly by that time. Its a terrific day trip, except for the driving, but luckily we were there since Friday afternoon.

I realised I hadn’t posted anything about Hawaii when I was there on my way back to Sydney! I stayed in Waikiki at Ohana West (which has the slowest elevators anywhere). If you can get the discounted rate at about 70-80 USD, its best to do that. Otherwise the price did spike to 200+ USD which was way too much for 2 nights. I ended up staying at the Polynesian Hostel for those 2 nights because I stupidly didn’t book all 5 nights together.

I finished the Inca Trail a couple days ago now and I’m not sure what to say.. yet. The trek from “km 82” was a total of 44 km. The first day is a 11 km warm up hike to Wayllambama. This hike wasn’t so bad and was a very good warm up in terms of preparing us for the altitude and pacing ourselves. I realised the best way to actually pace myself (as I am normally a very fast walker) was to take photos. This isn’t too difficult of a job since every time you look around, there was a gorgeous site to behold.

This was one of the most surprising things on the trip thus far. I wasn’t expecting the home stay (yes, I’m sure it was on my itinerary that I read REALLY well), but also just the humbleness of it all and how much fun it all was! Dressing up of course added to that! It showed us all how the locals go about their lives in a community, with the women constantly spinning wool and making mittens, scarves, hats and blankets as their livelihood. It really does put into perspective how much time and effort goes into it all.

Yesterday was spent in Colca Valley and Colca Canyon looking at Condors and Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuñas. The morning started at 5 am to make sure we got to the canyon viewing point by 8 am. There were a few condors around, but quite far away, but after about 45 minutes, they came around and were, at a point, above our heads. It was a great spectacle to see. We were also graced with about 6 condors in total!

We spent an evening here to check out the sites and markets and also to acclimatize to the altitude (2380m). Its been interesting in regards to the idea to slowly progress up to the 3800m of Cusco and Machu Picchu. I was a bit light headed heading into dinner, but after a bit of soda and water, things were better. We ended up having dinner and a show where I ended up doing a bit of dancing to pan pipes (in a dress…). Photos of that won’t be shown here unfortunately! The next morning started at 5 am with me checking out the sunrise from Mirador de Yanahuara over the volcanoes of Pichu Pichu, Chachani and Misti (which is still deemed active).

Yesterday was an action packed day that ranged from having an amazing time, to nearly spewing everywhere - so overall - not a bad day! It started off with a tour of the Cahuachi Pyramids in a fantastic off roader buggy and then onwards to sand boarding or “samboarding” as they call it there. It was one of the most fun tours I’ve ever been on in terms of excitement and pure fun. Its something that is completely recommended, especially if you’re on a G Adventures tour. It was only 110 sols for 4 hours of immense fun.

I’ve spent the last day or so visiting the Monastery of San Francisco and the Catacombs in downtown Lima, and walking around Barranco. Barranco is a bohemian town which has started to become popular more recently as more restaurants have popped up. Below are just some images from around the streets.

I’ve arrived late last night from Fort Lauderdale. It was a scary drive to the hotel. From what I’ve read, there are posers in relation to the Taxi drivers, that aren’t real taxi drivers, but then again, it wasn’t as though they’d kidnap me, but rather charge more than would normally be charged. Then there were the stories of hold ups or diversions and they steal your bags from the cars. Then there was the fact that the driver was taking me through the back streets and so I was starting to freak out a little bit, but all is well it seems.

Miami Beach is very similar to the Gold Goast and Surfers Paradise (of course, without the waves) of Australia. Its funny how there is a region called the Gold Coast in Florida, which includes Miami and there is Miami the suburb within the city of Gold Coast in Queensland. I say this because of the number of tourists in the area. In any case, I’ve found that this area is somewhat stuck in the 90’s, with all the 90’s RnB and Spanish music blaring out from every restaurant. Its a bit like stepping back in time, but not stepping back far enough (like back to the 20’s - 40’s where the architecture takes you). South Beach is known for its Art Deco buildings and while they are spectacular on TV and the movies, it doesn’t have the same feel unless you’re an cop wearing khaki pants, a white shirt, aviators and a hat. You’ve also got to speak Spanish, drive an expensive convertible, wear very flashy watches and jewellery, be OK with having wrinkly skin, sport a tan, oh and drink OJ and Bacardi for breakfast.

20 miles later I’ve finally gotten back to the hostel in time to get my ride to the airport. Today was about a lot of walking around places I hadn’t been. Started by walking to Japan Town. Fillmore Street is great for cafes and boutique stores (note that everything seems to open from 11 onwards). The onto Union Street for more of the same thing. I found my way down to FIshermans wharf, ferried over to Sausilito and then walked over the bridge and over to Fort Point Rock, Helmet Rock, through Presidio of San Francisco (I got side tracked here and found myself walking further and further away from where I needed to be), by the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, back along to Pier 39, F line tram to 1st street and then back to my hostel on Post Street. Basically, I’m exhausted. Hopefully I’ll be able to crash pretty well tonight on the overnighter to Fort Lauderdale. Some of the images seem to look similar to last time I was here as well - nostalgia set in - then again, clearly if they look the same, it was the best way to look at it! Until then… SF Giants are down 0-8 in the 5th…

Lindy in the Park is run every Sunday in Golden Gate Park from 11 am until 2 pm. It has been somewhat a highlight of the trip in terms of dancing. First thing of course is that dancing during the day, outside, is amazingly fun (most probably because we don’t always do it). The event is on every Sunday and the turn out apparently is very similar, if not bigger than the photos I’ve got. Lots of lovely people from all over the place. It also has a free beginners lesson with it. They also have a “Jazz move of the week” session. It was one of the most enjoyable events so its highly recommended! I think this is definitely a must for anyone around on a Sunday in San Francisco and want to dance!

Saturday’s event is Lindy On Sproul in Berkeley. It wasn’t hard to find and it was nice to head out of town for part of the day. I wasn’t able to make it up the hill, but I was told to head up to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where there is a lovely view all the way back to San Francisco, but also a whale you can sit on. It was about an hours walk up there, so I think its a must do next time I’m in town and, if possibly, have a car.

I was expecting the Zombie Prom to be a place full of dancers ready to dance all night! but that wasn’t the case. There were maybe 10 or so dancers in total, of which 0 were rockabilly dancers considering The Rumble Strippers were somewhat rockabilly. Slim Jenkins were also playing. Both bands were fantastic and I do hope that they eventually come to Australia to play as they’d definitely have a better crowd that’ll dance all night for them!

This was my first college football game and it was amazing to see how many people turn up to watch it, considering that the World Series in baseball was on as well with the San Francisco Giants playing the Kansas City Royals on the same night. I was surprised at the move for the football games from Candlestick Park to the new Levi’s Stadium since it WAS in San Francisco and now its in Santa Clara. It took about 2 hours to get there from my hostel which was in town. Worst part being leaving at 11 pm and getting back at 1 am. I equate that to moving a home game in Sydney from Allianz Stadium or ANZ Stadium to Wollongong (although it does take forever to get home from ANZ already =) ). The stadium was amazingly hi tech as well (well from what I could tell). The screens were crystal clear, and the seats were like leather couches.

Thursday night was spent at the the 9:20 Special in the Russian Centre at 2460 Sutter Street. I turned up at 7:20 (they seem to operate at this 20 past thing), and had to have another “audition” to participate in class as they were at the end of their month long series of classes. After class was some what of a large social with a live band - Emily Asher’s Garden Party.

I found myself at Cat’s Corner, which is actually at Balancoire Restaurant, Bar & Night Club on 2565 Mission Street this evening for some swing dancing. They normally run classes on Wednesdays. The venue is actually pretty good and there is also a live band after class (starting at 9:30 until midnight - this was when I had left, so they might play later). I had asked to join the beginners and intermediates to have a feel for what and how the classes are taught, but they were 4 weeks into a 5 week rotation and I ended up “auditioning” so to say to be let into the class. Beginners was fine with just basics, and then intermediates they were doing the Shim Sham, after which I was cut from the class as there were too many leads. The beginners and intermediates were lindy hop, and there is a subsequent drop in beginners class right before the band plays which, this week was Balboa. Oh, the band was amazing - Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

The flight over from Honolulu to San Francisco was quite painless. In fact, they were boarding 15 minutes earlier and arrived early into SFO. You would think this is a good thing - I even started to think that maybe I’d have time to get to the Verdi Club for at least an hour. I had booked a shuttle with SuperShuttle. Them arriving late wasn’t such an issue until you realise that the guy barely speaks english and is just generally slow. On the drive into downtown, it was pretty amazing to see so many billboards with IT companies all over them. It then dawns on me the issue we were about to have. I was thinking that the company had an intuitive application that, given 7 destinations, it would be able to route the drive to the most efficient route. Instead, I was at 2 stages, about 4 blocks from where I needed to be. Given that Google Maps already has the routing algorithm sorted, its just a matter of using their API to do the calculations.

28, humid, and full of Japanese people is how I’d describe Honolulu airport right now. It definitely makes me miss summer and it’ll be amazing to get back to Sydney just in time for it. I think it’s pretty amazing to catch a night flight out of Sydney, go to sleep and wake up in another country. Sure it feels a bit yuck as soon as you leave the plane in pants and a hoodie, but thats really just my fault. So this time around, and its been a very long time since I went overseas, I’m heading to San Francisco as a first stop for a week.

Images of Melbourne

Images of Melbourne Graffiti

Images of Parkour in Melbourne

Images from Mollymook

I had a short stop over in LA on the way home from the REALStudio Conference. I hadn’t seen the skate park on Venice Beach before so I’m glad the weather had just cleared up.

Images from Sao Paulo

So I’ve just experience both sides of the falls and as with what most people say, the Argentinian side is a lot better. Whats better is the experience of the waterfalls. The understanding of how much water passes through these falls. I’ll start with yesterday. I arrived in the morning and checked into the hostel. Bus 120 took me from the hostel, which was a block from the local bus terminal, all the way to the falls and back on the brazillian side. Once inside, a bus will take you to different spots which have different activities and sites to see. The brazillian side is quite picturesque. I did quite enjoy this side as it was the simpler version, and also, less dangerous. This side can be done in a few hours, without the activities. The Argentinian side involves 3 buses. One to get you to the brazillian border - heading to Portuo Iguazu, one from the brazillian border to the bus terminal (via the argentinian border patrol) and then another to the falls. As a tourist, you must get off at the brazillian border, get your passport stamped, then get off again at the argentinian side and get it stamped again. One the way back it is the same case (except my bus didn’t stop at the brazillian side… I’ll be looking to head to the federal police in Florianopolis tomorrow to get that sorted..). Once there, there is a bit more walking it seems to get to the different points. A short walk to the trains - but it is faster to walk along a track to get you to the first point. Then there are a few walking trails - each with different vantage points. The man made floor structures are metal and when wet is extremely slippery. The jet boat ride is an experience.. to get wet. Note for anyone planning on doing this, bring thongs with you, or at least put your shoes and socks in the waterproof bag they provide… you get a complete drenching. The other spots are spectacular to see the numerous waterfalls. There food on this side seems a bit lacking compared to the brazillian end point which was a buffet. This was a mere take out place and the main meals are back at the beginning. This trek took about 4 hours or so at a quick pace. It is the transport which is a killer, but its nice just to see both sides of Iguacu.

Images from Puerto Iguazu

So I’ve seen a few blog posts already(** link up when i find it) (one of which was most helpful) about the journey from Punta Del Diablo to Foz Do Iguacu and just wanted to write about mine so other travellers can make their own decisions about it.

Images from Foz do Iguacu

Hostels:

Compression was different… photos do look a bit funny. I’ll fix this when i get some more time!

Images from Montevideo

Hostels:

Images from Colonia

Images from Buenos Aires

I will write soon, but just a few quick photos from Fuerza Bruta.

Home at last and back to work. Need to get my head into gear before writing anything, but here are a few images of the last couple days:

Exhausting day having had ridden 8 miles to Sausalito from the Pier in 3 hours and then having to ride the same 8 miles back in 1 hour was a bit too much since we were rushing back to make our Alcatraz tour. Day ended up being way too strenuous. Time to relax a bit:

Spent today shopping out at Vacaville Premium Outlets. This was followed by a drive to the Bedford Gallery to check out the PostSecret exhibition. It brought to life how real the content on that blog have been and also getting to ‘feel’ how the person created the postcard in the state under which they decided to let go of this secret.

[nggallery id=7] Written by Milton Lai in Turlock, California

Just a few quick photos of the ever-so-cheeky Kai and a few of the sequoia trees - General Sherman is featured in the last photo - the largest tree on earth by mass.

I’ve had little and next to no time to write about how my travels have been going. So far it has been non stop travelling and I hope that when in San Francisco the pace will slow down just a bit. Las Vegas could’ve been better spent with friends than family and two days just isn’t nearly enough there to see everything. The next couple days will be spent in Sequoia and Yosemite National Park. Plenty of photos so far here are just another few - testing out my panoramic skills..

Finally I found myself some free wifi. I’m currently in William, Arizona. I’ve had the busiest week so far, but currently, everyone is asleep so possibly I shouldn’t type for too much longer. Here’s a dump of photos from Sunday.

Photos from Las Vegas

Last leg. Currently at Vancouver airport - taking up their offer on free wifi.Its a bit limited with no direct ftp access, but all’s well. Last night had my final dinner with my hosts’ family and packed. This morning, headed out to see the south side of Stanley Park and also the Vancouver Art Gallery which featured pieces by Jeff Wall. Quite some nice pieces.

Exhausted. I really just want a day of sleeping in and then I don’t want to leave… just yet anyway. Plane heads back home tomorrow in the evening around 6. Today was spent with my hosts’ parents who took me to Queens Park, Granville Island, and quick drive through Stanley Park and a walk through Chinatown. There will be a lot of sleeping when I get back home and I don’t think I’m anywhere near done exploring Vancouver.

So after lunch, headed to Gastown and Chinatown. I wasn’t too sure if I was really in those areas since the streets were a bit quiet and not much was happening. I ended up hitting a block which was kind of scary - people who looked homeless and drug dealers - who pretty much lined the streets. I ended up at a Starbucks to have some relaxing time of editing more photos and writing. Dinner was soon after - thai food - my treat for the hosts’ family.

NYE was a new experience - I spent it at a club - not the best scene in the world, but I had to see it at some stage. The highlight was at the end of the night when the designated driver was… way too drunk to drive, so I ended up driving… in snow, on the wrong side of the road, whilst it was raining… quite a feat for the first time.

Had a lovely sleep in this morning. Just a tad bit sore, but all is well. The day has been so nice - blue sky and all! Headed off to Metrotown this morning before heading to Stanley Park. The days are a bit short, so I’ve only had about 3 hours of walking before it started to get dark and as amazing as the park is… it’d be a bit scary at night. The trails are completely snow filled and so the trail was… difficult. The normal path which takes you around the park was quite icy so the walk ended up quite slow. I didn’t quite make it all the way around the park, but it was nice to have no one about and to just relax with my iPod. It’s new years eve tonight and I’m still not sure what is happening as yet. Currently sitting in a coffee shop going through my photos and having a break. Its pretty much dark outside now. Quick post before I go!

Couple quick shots on my way back home this evening.

So I ended up bringing my camera with me to the Whistler yesterday… Problem was that there was no blue sky! As you’ll be able to see, there was good snowfall on that day. The previous day, we were having lunch at the top of the mountain and there were gorgeous views of the valley and the peak2peak gondola. I ended up with a few pictures from the morning and a lot of condensation in the evening before I left.

I’m on the road again. This time to Vancouver to go snow boarding and photograph. I’m currently here at Auckland airport and have about a 3 hour wait until my connecting flight departs. This time around, I’m a lot more relaxed about flying. My wait at Sydney Airport was spent editing photos for the latest APA (Australian Parkour Association) newsletter - I hope I can get the photos to them in time. I’m a bit worried about how my body is going to cope over the next week or so - mainly because my boarding lessons will have me leaving the house at about 6 am or a bit earlier. Thats 11 pm Sydney time!

Day 2 - woke up at 5 am - lift to the greyhound bus depot to hop on my 2 hour bus to Whistler village. Picked up by gear and coffee and lessons started at about 9:30. Snow boarding is… SO MUCH FUN. No sore muscles or bones at the moment. I can weave all the way down a slope, but as I gather speed, its a bit freaky because I can’t quite stop smoothly enough and possibly avoid hazards apart from falling over - which is fine by me. I hope to bring my camera with me tomorrow - since when we had lunch at the top of the Whistler Gondola there was an amazing view of the whole village AND it was snowing! First time I’ve seen real snow falling! Absolutely amazing. I hope to get some images tomorrow of the village. Another 5 am wake up tomorrow.

The last leg of my trip was in Japan. Headed into Akihabara, the technology town, and Shibuya, the youth fashion town. Japan was humid as anything when I was there. Akihabara - nice place if I lived there, too many 7 story stores of just technology. Then there were the alley ways where both sides were lined with tiny little shops which sold everything. Prices were average, nothing special, then again, I can’t say I was after anything. They sold a larger variety of gear than they do in Sydney thats for sure. I didn’t end up buying anything. Shibuya was full of kids shopping. Fashion wasn’t really my thing, but I had been told to go there. Nothing that special apart from shopping, but I don’t think Japanese fashion is really my thing. Not really liking guys with handbags and purses.. It was a really tough day, just because it felt like I had been up over a day, so anytime I sat down, I would fall asleep. Not the best thing to do when you are in a country where you don’t know where you are going.

Currently sitting at Heathrow airport awaiting for this board to tell me which gate to go to for my flight to helsinki. I’m not too sure what all the fuss is about when people say its a terrible airport. I think things ran quite smoothly. So with the past 3 or 4 days, I’ve travelled from Brusells to London.

So 2 nights have passed and I’m currently at Nick’s friends place in Sint Niklaas. Lovely place - apparently the biggest square in Belgium. When we arrived, it was the first day in the whole of summer where it was sunny and nice enough weather to have dinner outside and breakfast outside. Today and yesterday have been the same. We headed to Gent the first night to have a few drinks and check out the area - beautiful area around the canals and quite a few churches. Yesterday we walked around Brugge which was smaller and quite cosy, but kind of similar to Gent. Antwerp was considerably bigger and close to the river that flows into belgium. Massive shopping street there as well. Had many beers, most have been very nice,  one was horribly sweet. It doesn’t help if there are just a list of beers and I’m supposed to try them all. Chocolates - only had a handful, but we still have Brussels tomorrow - so there should be a lot more of them there. Waffles is on the list for tomorrow.

Rotterdam, the hostel was pretty well run - themed rooms. CutCopy were playing the night we turned up, but tickets were all sold out unfortunately. We hit up happy hour at the hostel before a couple of other places before calling it a night. The next day we went on a walking tour run by the hostel, and it was a good introduction to the biggest port in Europe. Oh and when we arrived, we found ourselves an all you can eat ribs place - which is only 11.90 Euros on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So currently I’m on a train from Brussels to Rotterdam. Thought I’d write a quick entry before I forget. I’m not too sure where I left off last, and which holes I haven’t filled. Since arriving in Paris from Bern, its been OK - great place to finish off the France section. So the day after my last entry - I turned up to the Eiffel Tower at about… 8:30 am. The lines weren’t so bad - maybe 30 people in front of me. There were 3 lines. Of course, I ended up in the line which was walking only. 670 steps to the second floor. Quite hard in the beginning, but it gets easier once you pass 200 steps. Then an elevator all the way to the top. It was great when I got there since not too many people had reached the top yet, so I was able to walk around freely enough. The view is quite nice. There weren’t too many people walking about either since it was sprinkling. Grabbed a few shots up there before heading back down.

Sitting at the park outside the Eiffel Tower. The sun just set and the tower is lit up. Blue. The queues to get up are a bit nuts at the moment - so I might head back here tomorrow morning to check out the lines before heading up. We took the longest journey to get here. From Bern, train to Basel, then to Mullhouse Ville, before a train to Paris Est. A couple Metro trains took us the rest of the way. 7+ hours later we get here. Hostel - 3 ducks hostel - doesn’t look so great. The shower is in the middle of the room - so there is no bathroom. Oh and wifi is NOT FREE here! It is right next to a metro station which is good, but it seems metro stations are about 5 minutes walk apart. Definately time for some dinner soon.

Wow, not having written for so long makes me forget things. So I believe I was on my way to Marseille. Our hostel in Marseille was in an area right next to the station. It was amongst the run-down backstreets and so at night - it was a bit scary. The town itself is quiet and people are generally nice. The night we turned up we had Cous Cous which was well worth it. Recommended by the hostel receptionist as a cheap eat in the area. The next day, just a whole lot of walking and exploring and found our way up to Notre-Dame de la garde.

So I’m actually in Marseille at the moment. Just a quite note for travellers out there. Make sure you bring a laptop with you. Most hostels charge for using THEIR computers for the internet. WIFI is FREE. So just as long as you bring a laptop / borrow one / buy the EeePC, the internet is then free. Internet prices range from 1 Euro for 10 minutes to 1 Euro for 1 hour. At hostels, they are generally 1 Euro for 15 minutes - 30 minutes.

I can’t quite remember what I wrote last time, but I’m currently in Riomaggiore. Its my second night here. So possibly the last time I left off was in Florence. So the last night in Florence was a quite one since we had an early train out the next day (which didn’t really happen) to Pisa and then to La Spezia and then to Cinque Terre. So we headed to the Duomo and had to queue up for that. It just wasnt that great… We did however, and stupidly, climb the tower next to it. 400+ steps. It had the best view of Florence though. I’ve got a few pictures of that. In climbing this tower, we ended up trying to race back to our accommodation to grab our bags and back to the train station. When we got back to the hostel, we ended up 5 minutes out from catching the train, and we decided it just wasn’t going to happen. So instead, we went for a swim in the pool. As left after about 40 minutes (train comes every hour), we decided to grab a feed since we hadn’t had breakfast. Found ourselves an asian take out place and grabbed ourselves sweet and sour pork… it took about 10 minutes to make! And so we missed out train… for sweet and sour pork… which I guess ended up being worth it, but just not at the time since we ran with our backpacks to the station.

So we ended up catching an early train to Florence, since we were too tired to see any more. We headed to the Vatican in the morning yesterday. The lines were around the block, I couldnt actually see where the line started or ended where we were. We ended up paying 35 Euro for a tour to skip the line.

So today we headed to the Colleseum at about 9am. There are a few people outside trying to get you to join tours. We ended up starting to line up for tickets, and found that inside, there are 4 Euro tours of just the Colleseum ( and not Palentine Hill). We took that, skipping the line (although the line wasn’t too long – about 20 minutes – as we came out, the line was outside the colleseum so that might’ve been into an hour or so.

So I’m in bed at the moment – its been a long day. Since I wrote last… I believe I had just arrived in Naples. Last night we crashed out pretty early. I ended up waking up early to grab some shots of Naples. A few nice shots, I had about 30 minutes or so to get them. Its still Sunday, so this morning was quite quiet and bright, so I felt a bit safer, although, I ended up putting on the wide angle and leaving it on, since when changing lenses, I have to lay so much gear everywhere, I was scared that someone might come by and snatch it.

So I had an hour to burn, so I installed a free RAW image converter and also a photo resizer onto my EeePC. Its VERY limited since they require 1024 resolution.

Right now, I’m at my hostel in Naples. Since the last time I wrote, we arrived back in Athens just fine. The directions were a bit confusing - the hostel ended up being about 2 minutes walk from our old hostel. Had a quiet drink since we were both quite tired from not having enough rest. We did go check out the olympic stadium in Athens and walked to the top of the biggest hill I’ve ever seen. The view was amazing. Basically it overlooked the whole of Athens. I grabbed a few shots of the sunset from there.

So I was going to write this one whilst having breakfast, but we ran out of time. Currently, sitting at the port on Mykonos waitng for our ferry – which is 2 hours away. Its basically dirt everywhere – and windy.

A huge 24+ hours. So yesterday we headed on a tour of Acropolis. A whole heap of people were there – but fortunately my wideangle meant I stood in front of everyone elses photos and had a clear shot on my own =P. I’ll write down the sites I visited later. This took most the day. We then headed into Larissa Station to book seats for our Athens to Patras train. Found ourselves Souvlaki for the first time (we’ve had it many more times since then). That night – Happy Hour at our hostel, followed by a pub/club crawl. Our ferry was to leave Pireaus at 7am… so I ended up not sleeping the whole night, and Nick ended up sleeping 2 hours – the worst decision so far. I slept on the ferry, well we both did. Arrived in Santorini to about 30 different people trying to lure you to stay at their accommodation – not sure at what price though. We were picked up by John – the co-owner of our hostel. Picked up our quadbike – since we hadn’t riden a scooter before and not risking our lives… at the moment anyway. We headed to Red Beach, Kamari Beach and then to Oia.for the pictures I’ve dreamt about for this trip. So the stretch of road which takes you from the beginning of Oia to the sunset view place is… long – I’d say over a kilometre. It’s a tough walk – especially when rushing. I found my way to an awesome vantage point to grab my shots of the blue domes. I’m hoping the pictures turn out alright. The optimum positions were just… in peoples houses and so I wasn’t game enough to jump in there – just on and around. The lighting wasn’t the best since it was the afternoon and so half the island was bright and the other half were shadows.

So we ended up landing at about… 11:20pm last night. Took a bus into Syn****? Then found our way to Athens Backpackers. Its a nice little place – facing a small street – 24 hour reception. For the first hostel I’ve stayed at, it doesnt seem that bad – apart from our room not having a door… Beds and room seems quite clean. Shower and toilet are connected to the room. Had some trouble sleeping since people either checked in later OR we leaving in the early hours of the morning. We tried finding ourselves a midnight snack – souvlaki… no luck – there was a shop called 24 hours which had al sorts of food, but wasn’t cooking at the time we got there.

So my last hour here in Copenhagen. All packed - still keep thinking I’m missing things, but we’ll find out later if that is the case. Its 38 degrees in the sun right now - its so damn hot. Nicks uncle made us breakfast this morning - bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast. Top breakfast for a long day.

Currently sitting at the airport. The plane is delayed about 3 hours. So received a food voucher for 75 Kroners. Still undecided on what to eat. Still nervous about the whole going to a country where I can’t read anything – google maps has all the streets in greek. I hope to come back here in the near future – I feel now that I’d be fine to travel here on my own. It’s not a scary place.

So its 10:18pm and the sun has just set - the sky is still blue. Last night - got home at… 6 am. I saw the sunrise as I boarded the train… Something about a Bermuda Triangle. Not too sure what it was. Today was spent walking around the city - found me a Timbuk2 supplier here and bought a couple accessories for my bag. Of course, not colour matching, but its a whole lot better than paying the $50US for shipping to Aus!

Slept at about 3am last night. Possibly because of the time difference. Woke up at about 8 am, and again at 9 am, and finally at 10 am. I’m currently in a town called Allerod. Its a 10 minute bike ride to the station, and about 20+ minutes to get into the city. Had a tour from Olivia - since Nick had to complete some application forms for internships. There was a huge loop which took about 6 hours. So places I’ll hopefully upload pictures for: Town Hall, Nytorv Square and the Court Building, Christiansborg, Stroget, Nyhavn port, Amalienborg Palace, Opera House, Marble Church, The Little Mermaid, King’s Garden, Rount Tower and declined entry to Rosenborg Castle - because it was 10 minutes to closing time. There was just so much colour in the buildings - all pastel like colours - just beautiful. It’s so much nicer than the grey and brown in Sydney. Many spots I know Vince would be jealous about for formal wedding shots.

So I’m now in the comfort of a home. I’ve showered, and wide awake. I had a brief stroll through the main town, and my first meal was… asian buffet. So after the hour long wait, we headed off for dinner on the metro - which ran really smoothly. Then we walked down Stroget where it was kilometers of shops. The buildngs look amazing, and I hope to get some good photos tomorrow of the town. It is such a relaxed town. I’ll end up heading into town tomorrow and check out a couple castles as well.

8:51 am 28/07/08 +9

4:00 pm 28/07/08 +3

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8:29pm 27/07/08 +10