On Monday we got the train from Sydney’s Central Station to the Blue Mountains. The station is supposed to have left-luggage lockers, so the Rough Guide to Sydney and the receptionist at Y On The Park said, but no, there are no left luggage facilities at the station so we ended up carting all our stuff with us on to the train.

The trains here are great. They’re double-decked so there’s lots of room, the seats have swing-backs so that you can change the direction that the seat faces, and they’re cheap, just A$11 each (about 5 quid) for a 2 hour journey. The trains are clean and so far have run on time too.

The scenery on the journey wasn’t great even as we reached the Blue Mountain area, finally arriving at Katoomba. Sure, there were hills but nothing very special.

We staggered the few hundred yards from the station to our hotel. We were booked into The Carrington Hotel which is a lovely heritage hotel, over 120 years old which makes it practically stone age by Australian terms. We had a “traditional” room which was a decent double with shared bathroom at the end of the hall. No view but given the amount of cloud, that didn’t make much difference.

Since we arrived in Katoomba the weather has been pretty damp with frequent rain and lots of cloud and fog. Not very spring-like at all, and the locals tell us that it’s been unusual, which pretty much covers our experiences with weather since we set of in the camper van in June 2004, or even before (you may remember our trip to Tromso in northern Norway one February where we experienced unexpectedly warm and wet weather instead of the ice, snow and clear blue skies we were hoping for).

Everywhere Internet in Sydney who had very fast access (and USB ports) for A$1.50 per hour if you spend more than A$3.

Virtually the next town to Katoomba is Wentworth Falls, where John, who we met in Arambol in Goa, lives. We knew he owned a deli there and had spotted one from the rain as we went past on the way to Katoomba, so the next day we popped in to see if he was around. With our usual excellent, timing he was away at the horse races.

Back in Katoomba we walked down Katoomba Road, past the impressive looking YHA hostel to Echo Point. Now we could see why people go the Blue Mountains. Spectacular views over sheer cliffs and scenery which is reminiscent of the canyons of American wilderness.

The next day we went for a walk in the National Park, heading down a path to where the a xhref=”http://infobluemountains.net.au/rail/ksr/Default.htm” mce_href=”http://infobluemountains.net.au/rail/ksr/Default.htm”>world’s steepest funicular railway ends. After an enjoyable walk down the mountain, through the trees, we took the train up to the top. We decided to skip the SkyWay and FlyWay and ventured back into the town for delicious hot chocolate at the Elephant Bean cafe.

Katoomba is full of little cafes and restaurants, most of them excellent. We tried Savoy, Journey, A-Roon’s Thai Kitchen and Cafe Zuppa. I also had a fantastic Ploughman’s Lunch at Treahorne, well worth a visit if you’re in town.

Once more it’s been a while since I updated the blog. We’re in Sydney now and having a great time. We’re staying at the very nice Y On The Park hotel which is run by the YWCA and is in the city centre close to Hyde Park, within walking distance of the harbour etc.

Sydney is currently suffering from a plague of Bogong moths and they’re everywhere; in the hotel rooms, restaurants, shops, everywhere. One evening we walked by the park and could see hundreds of bats circling the top of one of the skyscrapers, lit up by lights on the top of the tower, a truly marvelous sight as the bats circled and whirled chasing the moths.

We’ve been really busy making the most of the city. Done lots of shopping and have bought a very cool new Stussy jacket and some of those Nike Considered shoes which are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever bought.

What have we been up to? Well, we walked most of the length of Oxford Street looking at clothes, we’ve wandered round the Rocks, had a picnic in the Royal Botanical gardens, been sat on by Cockatoos, taken a ferry to Manly, and taken lots of photos of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House

One evening we ate in Hyde Park where there was a food festival taking place, alongside the “Art and About” art exhibition along the footpaths in the park.

We spent an afternoon at the fantastic aquarium which has a huge tank with loads of large sharks and rays in it. Quite unnerving to walk under a large toothsome grey reef shark as it glides silently over your head.

On Wednesday evening we celebrated our second wedding anniversary (which was actually Tuesday) by having a superb meal at the Opera Bar by the river followed by an evening at the Opera House. We went to see “HMS Pinafore” and “Trial By Jury” and had a great view from our seats in the Circle. A bit pricey, but it was our anniversary and how often are we going to get the chance? The building is amazing to look at and has a really nice feeling, being very open and airy, with cafes and restaurants lining the harbourside. At sunset the building sail-like domes are bathed in a beautiful amber light.

On Thursday we caught the ferry over to Taronga Zoo and spent a day watching the animals. On landing near the zoo you can get a cable car up to the top of the hill which gives great views of the harbour as well as some of the animals in the zoo.

We saw loads of animals, lots of Australian species like kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, platypus, koalas, quokkas, dingos, wombats, emu etc. They also have lots of non-Australian animals like Sumatran Tigers, lions, gorillas, orang utans, gibbons, giraffes and some very playful Asian Otters.

I’ve uploaded some photos, a couple of Singapore , and pictures from Brisbane and loads from Sydney .

Sydney is great, quite like a sunnier, cleaner and more airy version of London. Quite expensive, but we’re getting used to that. We’ve had some great meals here, particularly the one at the Opera Bar.

The shops are generally good, not particularly cheap but quite good choice and Vic’s found lots of clothes she likes in Witchery.

On Friday evening we met up with my cousin, Brendan , and his wife Bee. I haven’t seen Brendan for about 30 years and he’s been working in Sydney for 3 years so it was an excellent opportunity to catch up. We met at their wonderful apartment overlooking most of Sydney, and they took us out for a fantastic meal at Otto’s restaurant. It was great to meet Brendan again and to meet Bee for the first time and they were very friendly and kind to us.

We’ve been reading a bit about the bombings in Bali on Saturday night.

Having been in Kuta only 6 or so weeks ago, we feel fortunate to have avoided the bombs but also very sorry for the Balinese. They’re lovely people, only just recovering from the bombings of 2002 and they really do want people to visit their island.

I only hope that people won’t avoid travelling to Bali, it’s such a beautiful country with a fantastic atmosphere. By boycotting Bali, people will be doing exactly what the terrorists are trying to acheive, destroying the economy of the only non-Muslim part of Indonesia.

All those in Britain who say that they won’t let the London bombings affect them, show some solidarity with Bali and don’t change any plans you have for trips.

Not had a chance to write much as we’ve been so busy.

We flew from Koh Samui to Bangkok, had a day pottering round and then met Cedric in the Siam Discovery Center a week last Friday.

He’d been in Bangkok for most of ther week and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was staying with his friend, Guy, who has written a book about Bangkok . We went on to a bar/restaurant called Chlorophyl where we met Guy’s friend, Asif, for some food before getting cab to the State Tower where we went up to Scirocco bar at the top of the tower with a fantastic view of Bangkok.

On the Saturday we went to Chatuchak market and bought some jeans and t-shirts. The jeans were either original Levi’s or very good copies, and cost between 500-1000 Baht (70 Baht to the UK pound). After that we caught up with Cedric and Guy at the airport to see Cedric off safely.

More shopping on Sunday, some great shopping centers in Bangkok, much cheaper than KL but with a wider choice.

On Monday Vic persuaded me to go to the Silom Dental Center with her as she was getting her teeth whitened by laser (I’d have considered that too but only if they used a light sabre). I went for a “clean & polish” and checkup.

Didn’t turn out quite that simple though. After cleaning, the dentist decided that he was going to do four fillings and extract one of my back teeth. He also said that I’d need root canal work on another tooth but that he didn’t have time to do that. So I sat in extreme discomfort for two hours while several people fumbled about in my mouth, telling me not to swallow while blowing water on the back of my throat.

I emerged sore, a bit miffed and minus one tooth. Not terribly happy. The bill for my treatment came to around 4000 Baht (so about 60 pounds), pretty cheap I guess. Vic’s laser treatment came to 10000 Baht (150 quid) and gave her extremely painful teeth for the next 3 days. I tried to have some sympathy, honestly I did.

On Wednesday we flew on to Singapore, staying at Sleepy Sam’s (whoever wrote that review saying that it was like waking up a luxury resort must be on some kind of powerful drug!). Our “double room” was a partitioned off section of the main dorm room. The walls don’t go to the ceiling so you can hear every snore or murmur of the people staying in the dorm. Not a great deal of privacy really. And only twice what we were paying for an en-suite room at the Samran Place in Bangkok.

I didn’t like Singapore as much this time as I did went we went a couple of years ago. The shops seemed more expensive (certainly more than KL or Bangkok) though Vic tells me that the shoes were cheap.

At the airport on Friday, I thought I’d check out the Apple iPod Nano in Duty Free but everywhere was sold out of it, despite it being fully stocked everywhere in the city itself.

We arrived in Brisbane at about 7am, and after a long time queueing at Immigration finally made it into the city at about 9:30am.

We’re currently staying at The Bunk in Brisbane. Bit of shock that we have to pay $70 for a double room, but I guess we’ll get used to it. The room is okay (bit small) but the bathroom’s good. The bed’s despite being described in one of the guides as “the comfiest in Brisbane” are covered in that thick polythene to prevent the drunken louts that usually stay there from ruining the mattresses.

So that brings us up to date. We’re probably moving on from Brisbane earlier than we had originally thought, skipping Byron Bay and Fraser Island, both of which seem to be expensive tourist traps for people who haven’t seen beaches before.

At the moment, we’re not feeling terribly positive about Australia. Despite what Australians everywhere will tell you, it’s more expensive than the UK, (A$25 for two coffees and two pieces of cake… that’s 10 quid). All the “backpacker” places are aimed at “Working Holiday” people, with Job Clubs at the hostels and prices in excess of YHA hostels back home. They also seem to be aimed at people who just want to drink all the time, which seems to be the main leisure activity in Australia (people drinking on the streets at 10am on a Monday).

We’ll see if Sydney is any better.

Just to let anyone know who might be looking, I’m not the lazy-llama that sold but didn’t deliver festival tickets. I’m in Thailand at the moment, and my ebay account hasn’t been used for over a year (and it isn’t “lazy-llama” anyway).

I only found out that someone was using the similar name when my host got a text message asking for my details (!) and through looking at my web referrer logs.

More info about the other “‘lazy-llama’ is here

Finally got down to work and uploaded some more pictures.

Here’s the silverwork that Vic and I created in Ubud, Bali last month. Vic made the nice rectangular pendant, and I made the rough-and-ready round thing.

I’ve also upload some pictures from Koh Phangan where we’ve been staying for the past month.

On Sunday we went along to the Full Moon Party on Sunrise Beach and enjoyed ourselves. We had a few beers and a bottle of wine and enjoyed the atmosphere. We took some photos but most of them turned out a bit blurry, but that’s to be expected in crowds at night with a compact digi-cam. They still give a feeling for the atmosphere.

The party was threatened with a powercut and the whole island had major power problems for 3-4 days beforehand, with no power at all for several hours at a time. The problem was that one of the two underwater power cables to the island needed repairing. Not sure why they decided to do it around the Full Moon Party when the island is full of visitors and needs more power than normal, but it could have something to do with a government minister trying to get the parties shutdown as they are a bad example to young Thai’s. The minister in question has obviously never ventured down Patpong in Bangkok where “pussy shows” are openly offered.

As it turned out, there was power for the party, and an early evening shower cleared so that everything went ahead just fine.

It rained heavily the next morning, and the power went again but most people were asleep so didn’t mind too much.

We’re off to Bangkok later tonight to meet up with our friend Cedric who is there for a week. After that it’s onward to Singapore and then Brisbane. So I should have a bit more to tell you all ;)

Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been terribly slack about posting for the past 3 or 4 weeks.

After we left Bali we were in Kuala Lumpur for a few days, mostly getting a Thai visa sorted out as we want to stay in Thailand for more than 30 days. We put in our application on the Friday morning and picked up the visas on Monday at 11:30am.

While in KL we were both quite sick with the coughs that had affected us in Bali. On the Sunday we were so tired and ill that we didn’t go out.

On the Monday we went to a different shopping centre, Berjaya Times Square, a new centre which hasn’t all opened yet.

One part of the centre has 6 or so floors given over to a theme park with a big indoor rollercoaster, complete with loops. Although tempted, Vic wasn’t well enough for us to go on it, but she’s promised that we can go to one of the theme parks near Brisbane when we get there.

There was also a Borders bookshop in the centre where we picked up some more reading material, and a watch shop where I bought a cheaper replacement for my Seiko Arctura Kinetic because the strap had perished (after less than 18 months) and it isn’t possible to get it replaced without sending the watch back to Seiko, which takes about a month.

KL is great if you like shopping centres, but doesn’t really have much else going for it as far as we could see.

After that it was a flight back to Bangkok with Air Asia. Once more they let us down and delayed the flight by several hours meaning that we missed our connection to Koh Samui. The actual flight to Bangkok was fine, and the views from the window as we flew overthe coast of Thailand were very spectacular, giving great views of rice fields and towns.

Fortunately, BangkokAir were very good and let us change our flight to the next day when we called them to let them know. That meant we had half a day in Bangkok, so we stayed at Samran Place again and visited the Emporium mall for some dinner.

The next morning it was back to the airport and on to Koh Samui, then a taxi to the ferry point at Big Buddha and the ferry to Koh Phangan, arriving at Sarikantang at around 3pm.

So that’s us, back on Koh Phangan, staying at Sarikantang on Leela Beach near Haad Rin again. We’ve joined the gym again and are going regularly. That’s probably also helped us get over the coughs which are completely gone now.

We’re here for another couple of weeks and then it’s time to move on; we’ll be in Australia by the 30th September!

It’s been a while since my last post, but we’ve been fairly busy.

We had a morning in Ubud at the Studio Perak silversmithing course. This was great fun, Vic and I both produced our own piece of jewellery in a few hours, with help from the instructor. Vic produced a very classy looking pendant, and I was pleased with my almost-circular, but not very classy pendant with a green peridot stone. I don’t have a photo yet but will get something sorted shortly.

A couple of days later we booked onto the Sobek rafting course at Telaga Waja. We had been with them at the Ayung River on our last trip to Bali and decided to go on the more exciting Telaga Waja course. It took about 45 minutes to get to the site from Ubud, travelling through beautiful hills and countryside with spectacular views over Bali.

We shared our raft with a couple from Denmark and our guide, Gabus. Only seconds after setting off we got our indication that this was going to be much more exciting than last time as the boat rose up against a large rock and the back end filled with water. A bit of scrambing and we were off again.

The course was much rougher than our first trip and all the more exciting for that. There was also a good deal more work involved paddling the raft, but we needed the exercise.

After about 7km of the 14km route. We stopped for a break by a fabulous waterfall where the guests from some of the other boats proceeded to slip about and fall in the water in various comical ways, including one English girl who had decided that a crochetted string bikini and wedge-heeled flip-flops would be suitable attire for whitewater rafting. She fell over at least 5 times and needed rescusing to avoid floating off down the river.

After the break it was on towards the big drop of the route, a dam with a 4 metre fall. We were instructed to lie back, almost flat as we went over, which we all did. I have no idea what happened next, but I suspect that as the boat hit the water at the bottom of the dam I bounced out. Next thing I knew I was lying on my back in about a foot of water, with one hand still on the safety rope in the boat. 15 seconds later I was back in the boat, unhurt but slightly wetter. Great fun!

An excellent lunch was provided at the end of the trip, before the drive back to our hotel.

Since then we’ve spent some time back in Kuta and flown back to KL, but I’m out of time to write about that right now. Some more photos from Bali are in the gallery

As I mentioned earlier, we’re on Bali at the moment. I’ve been here twice before, in 1999 and for our honeymoon in October 2003. Last time we were here was just over one year after the bombs which killed so many people. The memorial in Kuta at the site of the bombings is now completed and lists all of those known to have died in the blasts. It’s likely that even more people died, as it’s thought that some Balinese people were injured and returned to their villages where they later died.

The island has only recently recovered from the tragedy, and it’s notable that there are a lot more Australians here than last time.

We spent a week in Kuta, browsing the shops and relaxing. There are loads of surf-wear shops selling Billabong, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Cult, Roxy and other Australian brands. Prices are cheaper than back home (and I guess cheaper than in Australia, given the number of Aussies buying stuff). DVDs here are even cheaper than they were in Thailand, with the usual caveat that the more recent films tend to be very poor quality. There are also quite a few shops selling genuine Stussy and Mooks clothing, rather than the poor imitations that are available here and in Thailand. Vic purchased quite a few items of clothing (I’m sure there was an inch or two of spare space in her luggage…) but I held off for the time being.

On Saturday we got a taxi out here to Ubud, about an hour from Kuta. It’s quite a bit cooler here, certainly during the evenings, and much calmer. In Kuta, you’d be stopped in the street every few yards and offered transport, massages, t-shirts, leather jackets, “young ladies”, DVDs, newspapers and more, but here it’s much quieter, with only the transport guys being prevalent.

Ubud is beautiful, most buildings being built in the Balinese style with intricate stone carvings and gorgeous stone entrance ways. There are also loads of very good places to eat and drink, even the most expensive topping out at about £10 for a main course (usually fillet steak). We’ve been eating two courses with drinks for less than £10 for two of us.

The town is surrounded by hillside rice fields, adding to the calm atmosphere. Some of the cafes and restaurants look over the fields making for relaxing eating.

We’ve been looking at the possibility of doing some courses while we’re here as there are silversmithing, cookery, batik, painting, and carving classes held in Ubud, which is renown for its arts scene.

We’ve even found a decent gym, though it’s quite a trek from our hotel. It’s also at the end of a road which is inhabited by a series of bitey-looking dogs which barked and sniffed at us when we checked the gym out on Sunday.

We’re in Ubud for ten nights, then back to Kuta for a couple before we fly back to KL and then through to Koh Samui for another month at the gym in Koh Phangan.

That’s assuming that the current haze problems in Malaysia get better before we’re due to fly to KL next week. If they get worse, they may declare a state of emergency in Malaysia and close non-essential workplaces. That might well include the airport, preventing us flying back to KL, and possibly our later flight to Bangkok. So fingers crossed on that front.

I received some very sad news earlier this week. A friend of mine, Dixon Coulbourn , died on Sunday after a tragic accident.

I knew Dixon through his website dedicated to The Pop Group , a band who influenced a lot of the music I like, and who Simon Underwood of Pigbag played bass with before joining Pigbag. In 1999, Dixon came over from his home in Austin, Texas to the UK to visit some friends and do some research into The Pop Group for a few weeks. He stayed with me for a few days in my flat in London, and we got on well, sharing a common interest in the music. We went to see Asian Dub Foundation at The Forum and generally had a good time.

We kept in touch by email, usually dropping each other an email when something of interest to the other person crossed our radar. Dixon and his partner, Jenni, visited London again in 2001 and we met up again briefly.

On Wednesday I picked up my email at an internet cafe, here in Kuta, Bali. There was a message from Jenni with the news of Dixon’s death. It would appear that Dixon was electrocuted by a faulty light in the pool at their apartments while celebrating Jenni’s birthday.

Both Vic and I are shocked and devastated by the news. Although we only met a couple of times, we exchanged email regularly and we felt close. It’s painful to think that he isn’t there any more and we won’t be able to meet up again. Dixon was only 4 years older than me.

It’s a terrible tragedy for Jenni and Dixon’s family and friends, the pain they must be feeling must be enormous.

The funeral was held yesterday, sadly there was no way we could attend, but we sent some flowers. The funeral directors have a website with a guestbook for obituaries and it was wonderful to read how many people had been inspired by Dixon and how well loved he was.

The Pop Group were very fortunate to have their works promoted by someone with such passion.

Dixon, we’ll all miss you.

On another sad note, another friend of mine, Beermat (aka Greg), is splitting up with Sam, his wife of 6 years. I’ve know Beermat for about 15 years and attended their wedding in 1999, one of the most unusual wedding ceremonies I’ve ever attended. Beermat also has to find somewhere new to live as he and Sam were living with her parents, and to top it all, he’s looking for a job too.

Reading his blog, it looks like he’s sorting out the practicalities but it must be very hard for him with this all coming as a surprise to him.