... More pictures following previouos blog post !

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Australia, New Zealand & Fiji

I know it's been a while since i posted! Have been so busy :) . So here is a few piccies and brief blog about all 3.

Australia- After i left Perth, i spent a few days in Sydney, before going down to Tamworth to visit some family friends. Sydney is cool, i found it was quite like America in the way thaat it's built. It has lots of space and very wide streets... Alot like NYC. I loved seeing the Opera House, walking along the Harbour, seeing the Bridge and doing a day of touring on the Hop on, Hop off bus. Although as a solo traveler there is a limit to how much fun you can have in sydney!

Few photo's of Aussie ;

New Zealand - I flew into Auckland, and my friend Nikki was there to pick me up. It was so nice seeing her again! I stayed with her in Hamilton, about an hour an a half out of Auckland, and took day trips during the week while she worked.

I went to several cool places; Rotarua, Waitomo, Hot water beach and some other little towns on the NE coast.

Rotarua is famous for its natural mud pools, hot pools, smelly sulpher air and also for its Traditional Mauri shows.

Waitomo is famouse for its amazing caves and black water rafting, it's main attraction is the Glow worm cave. The Glow worm cave was incredible, you get taken into th cave and you climb into a boat. You go through the caves in the pitch black, but 5 mins into the journey, you look up and there are millions of tiny blue lights. It's as if your star watching!

The Mauri show was also really amazing. I got to the "Mauri Village" and was greeted with a song and dance, then we went into have a traditional mauri cooked dinner. They cook the dinner underground using earth and wet towls to keep the steam from the hot pools in the pit. After our delicious supper, we went on a walk into the forrest to find a village, where we watched a 2 hour show. Was a great experience !
I could go on forever about all my story's, but here are some pictures for now... I'll tell you the rest of my stories when i see you all :) ; Will post more pictures in seperate Blog, as i cant on here for some reason ....

Hello Australia!

Just arrived this morning in Perth, West side Australia .

I am staying with my cousins and Aunt for a few days, which is nice.

I'm glad to be starting the next leg of my journey, which will be mostley seeing friends and family on my way to Camp TT in MA.

After i leave perth, i have a few days in Sydney and down the coast towards Byron Bay. Maybe i'll do a little shopping :D . . . and of-coarse some of the must see attractions, Sydney opera house, sydney aquarium etc...

will post pictures soon x

Bali

Hi guys!
So after i left Thailand, i went to Singapore to meet Mum, Dad & Kit. We were in Singapore 2 days. Its a very cool city, it reminds me a lot of London in many ways. . . But the majority of its population are chinese. After Singapore & doing a little shopping with mum, we were off to Indonesia. First stop, Gili Air.
The Gili's are 3 small islands just off the coast of Lombok ( another small Indonesian Island) . There wasnt much to do on Gili, just eat and sleep and snorkle.
Kit and mum got 3 or 4 dives in, and i just snorkled as i couldnt be bothered to do a diving re-fresher course. We decided to leave Gili early as there wasnt too much to do and head over to Bali.
Instead of flying, we took the 2 hour ferry ride. The idea was fun, and it was less of a hassle than getting a flight. But our bums were so numb by the end of it ! From the ferry, we then took a "Taksi" (taxi) to Ubud. Its right in the centre of Bali. Its so green, and there are lots of Paddy fields, Temples, shops & Touristy things to do. Its quite a Hippy part of Bali, which i like :) .
We stayed for 2 nights, and then went down to the Sw tip of Bali called Jimberan. Where mum had booked us 2 nights at a very posho hotel for my Birthday :D . It was AMAZING. Considering i had been living in cockroach infested rooms for the past 3 months (or however long) .

Anyway, so we had a great time, and yesterday they went home. It was so sad leaving them at the airport. Its a really hard feeling to describe, but its really strange when you have been traveling on your own or just bieng so independant and self-sufficant. And then bieng back with your parents and acting exactly the same way you have always been with them. It was really hard (but lovely) seeing them, because all the "Home" emotions came back and because i had been in my "Travel Bubble" for so long i didnt really know how to feel.
So im on my own again now, and i miss them so much! I need to get back in the mind set of bieng a solo traveler again, and forget about everything else. Still i had a lovely time with them :) and now i'm back in Ubud. I think i will just walk around for today.
Will for sure be blogging quiet a lot over this next week, speak soon x

Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai

I have done a lot or really cool stuff lately, but here is a few snaps of today ...

Well needed update...

Sooo, it's been a while since I last updated. Right now I'm in Chiang mai, Thailand, having a great time. But let me rewind a little and fill you lot in on what else has been going down in china town ( that sounded cooler in my head) ... A week after Palolem/Hampi I travelled up to Delhi to begin my 1 week "Golden Triangle group Tour " . We all had to meet at a small hotel in the ghetto of Delhi. Day 1 of the tour was just a "get to know your group day", it also happened to be the 1st day of the "Holy festival " so we got to take part in throwing bright paints & dyes at each other and some locals. By the afternoon we looked like paint palettes and our clothes were unrecognisable . We all had a blast though :D . The next day we all packed into the mini van to start our tour adventure . Over the next week we visited temples, mosques, the Red fort , the Taj Mahal, Rajasthani local Market and a few palaces. The highlight of the tour was probably seeing the Taj Mahal. Photo's just don't do it justice, I took some typical tourist snaps which hopefully I will put up soon. Within this month at least :p . It all went by very quickly, and we were all exhausted by the end of it. But iwas such a good experience and a perfect way to use up my last week in India . Since india I have been pretty useless with my camera. I keep forgetting to take photos. I haven't got any of Thailand so far :s . Will try and start now . I've also been eating WAY too MUCH . It's so hard, because food is so yummy here ! I'm gonna come back bigger than I set off. Oh well, I'll try and be better .... Eventually . So I arrived into Bangkok about a week ago and headed to koh San road ( which is where all the backpackers and gap year students hang out). On the bus from the airport I met 2 lads from London, James and Lee, who were reli sweet and such a laugh and then we also met 2 girls from Bristol who are my age; Immy and Anna . Anyway, so for the first night after we had all checked in to our various hostels , we went out have a few drinks on koh San road. The boys and Anna left the next day and Immy and I just hung around ... And we've basically been hanging together since. I've met so many other cool people here, mainly my age group for a change :). A few things we did in Bangkok were, visited the NBK centre, went to a few markets, went to Siam square, got a thai foot massage, got the fish foot experience ( where you dangle your legs in a big fish tank, and the fish nibble at your feet, making them super soft) ... We walked around a lot & we ate a lot. Bangkok was fun, but 5 days was enough. Monday I got a sleeper train up to Chaing Mai with another friend, Ned from Bristol . (there are so many Bristol folk here) . The sleeper train was so cool! (Well comparing to Indian sleepers). It was clean, the lower berth beds were huge and they came with a pillow and blanket . Was great. So now I'm in chaing mai, today I have just been exploring my surroundings. I think tomorrow I will go to the Chiang mai zoo, Which is supposed to be reli nice. Saturday I will go to the famous night Market. Sunday Immy, Ned and I might go on a day trip up to the mountains where you can go elephant riding in the jungle, then White water rafting and swimming in the waterfalls. I also quite want to go to Tiger kingdom, where you can play with the Tiger cubs. Who knows.... So many options.... Will try and add piccies soon X

South Goa

well, South goa is SO much nicer than North! I arrived in Pallolem a few days ago, with Jess and Sarah. We had a long tiring journey from Mumbai.
1st we took a night bus & i was lucky enough to get seated next to a guy who was puking the whole journey (so i couldnt get to sleep, and it smelled SO BAD) ! And sarah woke up to find the guy next to her, holding her hand !... so that was fun : / .
Then we took another bus from mapusa to calangute, which was hot and sweaty. When we got to calangute, we were nakerd and still needed to look for somewhere to stay. So sarah sat in a cafe, keeping an eye on the bags, while jess and i went to find a hostel/guest house... We looked at about 6 different places all over. Eventually we found one in our budget and it wasnt that bad. The next day, we were fed up of bieng in calangute. Its really not very nice, the only people you find there are old german and russian pensioners & thompson holiday fish and chip Brits. We made a plan to go down to Palolem (where i am now) by only using local buses... that took a day, and again we were exhausted. But it was so worth it when we got here. Its still touristy here, and still India, but the beach is gawjus and the people are mainly cool middle aged hippys, studants and english kids on their gap year . So i was happy.
Jess and sarah also loved it, but they decided to only stay a day here, as they needed to get to Bangalore for a 10 day Meditation course. kinda sad saying bye, but we had a good time together, and i didnt mind being back on my own.

I am staying here for maybe 1 more night, and then taking a night bus to Hampi. Where i will stay one night, 2 days, and then return to Goa for the 17th. On the 19th i will take a 26h rain ride to New delhi..

I seriously need to dedicate some time, to working on my tan. But its just so HOT here ! but better hot then cold i spose :) .

will update soon, and hopefully upload some more photo's...
x

Back in India..

So I'm back in India. I have been in Mumbai for the last few days, with Jessica (cousin) and Sarah. We are staying in an apartment that Jessica's friend owns, which is simple but great, because we have our own space. Mumbai is so different to everywhere i have seen so far. Its so nice to be in a city for a change , but it can get a little tense and hectic.
It's so nice finally being with friends, even though its only for a few days. Walking around in Mumbai is an activity in itself, and it's nice just to wander. We haven't really seen any tourist attractions while here apart from "The Gateway of India" which reminded me a lot of the "Arc De Triomphe" in Paris.
Yesterday we visited a small school, that was set up by a nice Indian lady. She has turned an old city bus into a school for the street children to attend. The kids all lived in the slums or on the street. She teaches them basic English, Maths & Hindi, because they are only young ( 4 - 8 ) and then gives them a full meal after the lessons. I really enjoyed seeing the school and meeting the kids, they were fascinated by my blue eyes and they kept giggling and squishing my arms.
Tomorrow we will visit the slums and hopefully I will get some really interesting photo's.
Our plan for the next few days is to take a train or bus from Mumbai and make our way down through Goa and down towards Hampi. Then Iwill slowly make my way up to Delhi. Jess and Sarah will leave me on the 15th and get to Bangalore to do a 10 day meditation course. I can't join them because I have a 8 day "Golden triangle tour" starting on the 20th, in Delhi.
Ok , well, will update you guys soon x

Facebook Photo's

I Have managed to upload some photo's onto facebook. I am only uploading my Sri Lanka photo's for now, and will upload the Indian photo's at the end of march. As that is when i will be leaving India ... Take a look, the album is "Sri Lanka", was really original i know ! hope you enjoy :)

Hikkaduwa

So since Friday, I've been in Hikkaduwa. There is not much to do here, apart from lay on the beach, and most days its just too hot. I have been working hard to try and fill my days with going to see local tourist attractions.

Yesterday i went on a river boat safari, where we stopped at a little cinnamon farm island. We got given a brief basic tour, and then got showed how they prepare the Cinnamon for cooking/selling or making into oil. It was interesting enough. Then a little further down the river we stopped at a temple, where we were shown around by a very serious monk. He showed us a 450 year old tree, and a few very colourful paintings. It was nice, slightly boring as i have been to at least 8 temples now. We continued down the river, taking in the gawjus scenery, we saw a few monitor lizards, herons, blue jelly fish and a couple of other birds i cant remember the name of.
After the boat safari, we went to a local Moon stone mine. It was interesting but there wasn't a whole lot to see, they made sure we spent the majority of our time in their shop. In all fairness, they had thousands of things to look at, all jewelry they had made there. I bought a simple blue moonstone pendant, only $20 (that is supposed to be a pound sign) .
Then i got back to Hikkaduwa, had a quick nap (10 minutes because people kept shouting outside my room) and went out for Rotti with a friend.

Today i went to see a mask studio, But again there wasn't much to see, just to buy. Then went with my friend to the lake and we rented a paddle boat, which was hot but peaceful. We stayed about an hour, so by 11am we were finished with that days plan :\ . But to be honest it was just nice getting away from the hotel and Hikkaduwa.
I have found over the last few days that if i don't keep busy, i think of home, and start to get a little low. After talking to mum and dad, i realize i am just missing the comforts of being with people i feel comfortable with. I mean its nice meeting people and all, but sometimes you don't want to have to make all the small talk, and get to know people. Also i haven't had a hug in like 2 months :(.
But i know, to take one day at a time and before i know it i will be seeing Jessica (god sister) and her friend in India on the 3rd march. Then i can have as many cuddles as i want :) .

So i think tomorrow, i will visit Galle. It is the main City here. There is a historical fort which everybody tells me is really beautiful to walk around it. Then i will have to think of activities for Friday and part of sat.
I leave for Colombo on Sunday and have a early flight to India Monday morning. I fly into Thiruvananthapuram and then stay 3 nights somewhere nice (thought i needed a treat, still in budget though) and then on the 3rd, i will get a flight to Mumbai and meet Jess at the airport :) .

Will update you guys soon x

SO...

So , i finished work on Friday. I wasn't sad to leave, but i will miss some of the turtles .
Wish i was able to sneak one into my pocket and bought him back with me :p . Working there was nice, and i really felt i had helped, but i was ready to leave and start my holidaying.
Since Friday night, i have been staying in Hikkaduwa. A local town, where lots of surfers and beach bums hang out. I've met lotsa cool people, but there isn't really much to do here so i cant see myself staying here for much longer. I am looking at flights to Kerela ( SW India) atm. Maybe will book one for Wednesday and stay in Colombo Tuesday night. Need to do abit more re-search.

Will update you when i have a plan :)

Turtles...for dad

Making a turtle nest in the warm sand















Placing the eggsin the nest
















Seriously once in a life time opportunity! who else can say they re-buried turtle eggs and waited for them to hatch and help them back to the sea .


So dad, you wanted a post just about turtles! Here you are, i'm going to bore you with all the facts i have learnt about Turtles ( which is what i tell the tourists when i am showing them around) .


At the Peraliya Turtle Farm, we have 5 different species of Sea Turtle ; Green Turtle, Logger head, Hawks bill , Olive Ridley and the very rare Leather Back.
The farm is owned and run my Nimal, but was started by his father in 2000. Sadly after the Tsunami hit, the farm was destroyed and Nimal lost all his family, including his wife and 3 young children.
Nimal was able to re-build most of the farm/Hatchery with the help of the Hikkaduwa Area Relief Fund in the UK, many volunteers (like myself ) helped build it with him. Although it still needs alot of work, Nimal has helped hundreds of thousands of turtles back to the sea.
He charges a R.300 entry fee to tourists and encourages donations, however i do not like to get involved in that... so i let him explain his story.


now the boring stuff....
Green turtles - The Green sea turtle is largest hard-shelled sea turtle. Adults of the species commonly reach 1.5 m in diameter and 150 kg . The average size of a female is 1.8 m. These turtles are also famous, as they were featured in the film "Finding Nemo". We have one at the farm, i named her Elle. In my opinion they are the most attractive turtles and are very gentle.


Hawks bill Turtles - the Smallest of our sea turtles. Can reach up to 1 m in diameter and average weight of 65kg. They are given their name because of their beak like mouth. Years ago, their shells used to be sold for making fine jewelry , handbags and window displays. They have a beautifle paint splatted shell .


Leather back Turtle - The leather back is the largest living turtle and is so distinctive that it is placed in its own separate family, Dermochelys. All other sea turtles have bony hard plates on their shells . The leather back’s shell is slightly flexible and has a rubbery texture. No sharp angle is formed between the shell and the under-belly so a leatherback is somewhat barrel-shaped.The front flippers of a leatherback are longer than in the other marine turtles, Even when you take the leather back’s size into account. They can reach 2.5m in diameter and weigh up to 600kg .


Logger Head Turtle - The shell of adult logger head is reddish-brown.
Average body mass about 113 kg. they can reach up to 1.9m in diameter. Hatchling's can vary colour from light to dark brown.
Flippers are dark brown with white margins. The belly and other under Parts have a faded yellow ochre appearance.


Olive Ridley Turtle - The Olive Ridley is usually less than 100 pounds and named for the olive color of its heart-shaped shell. This is an omnivorous turtle. It forages offshore in surface water or dives to depths of at least 150 meters (500 Feet) to feed on bottom dwelling shrimp, Crabs, Sea urchins and other animals crustacens, mollusks and tunicates. Olive Ridley are sometimes seen feeding on jellyfish in surface waters. But it is a problem as they can often mistake plastic bags for jelly fish.

So far, my work has involved; draining the tanks and re-filling them with fresh sea water. Cleaning the tanks, which involves getting into the smelly tank and scrubbing the algae off the walls ( can take up to 2 hours per tank :( .) Feeding time, where i carry each of the turtles to the feeding tank, and chuck in a bucket of fish. Giving tours (thats the fun part). Releasing babies (the highlight of my day :) .
I usually start work around 9am and finish at 1pm. I only have a few days left of it, so i'm taking loadsa pictures !

Some more pics...

Baby turtle scampers for the sea


Home sweet home Sri Lanka


My very own room!


Double bed, just for me and the mossies

Starting the project...

So i started the Turtle project on Tuesday. I'm really enjoying it, although it is hard work, especially in the heat. Every day i come in at 9am, i feed the turtles, then drain which ever 2 tanks need cleaning for that day. Later i scrub all the algae of the walls... yum... after that i hose the walls dwn and fill the tanks back up. By then its about 12.Its nice when visitors start showing up, because then there is someone to talk to !
I usually leave around 1pm, and go straight back to the house and have lunch. Which is always curry and rice. Although the cook is extremely good ! It is now natural for me to eat with my hands, and i think its gonna be hard to let that habit go :P...
after lunch i usually sit and read for an hour just to relax a little, and then i go out into Ambalangoda town. Where i sit in the cafe and have a fruit smoothie, or go to the internet shop... where i constantly attempt to upload photo's for you guys, but it never works :(.
I eat supper at 7, which believe it or not, is .... CURRY AND RICE! haha!
The i wash up, even though i have been told to leave it for the "helpers" to do... but i feel bad, they are constantly running around asking if i need or want anything.
And most nights i read until i fall asleep. It feels like i do so much, but reading this... i sound so boring!
my aim for tomorrow is to go out into Hikkaduwa, to meet some fellow tourists... so that i have some one to actually talk properly with and meet up with.

Will blog again soon x

El Problemo with the pictures...

I was trying to upload lots of pictures from Sri Lanka so far.... but as you know internet is pretty crap here and it wasn't uploading to my blog! But i am trying to get them onto Facebook... so check my pictures ! :) x

Sri Lanka

Just arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday , after many many hours of travelling .
It's been raining scince i got here :( . But its still warm and humid so its ok. The last few days i've been doing "introduction week" so learning about sri Lankan History , Buddhism , visiting temples and other attractions. So far i have visited a Batik factory and watched the women as they made some incredible peices of art, i went to The Temple of the Tooth (which is in Kandy) and i have visited Kandy city.
I will start my project next tuesday , i'm really looking forward to it. I will be staying with a family and starting work at the turtle factory at 7:30am . My job will involve sleaning the tanks, cleaning the turtle's shells, feeding, taking the turtles to the sea so they can have a little dip and then take them back, and looking after the baby's ! yey!
It is a fairly lonely job though, i will have to try and meet people on the beach, as i am the only volounteer and do not know anyone here :s .
Internet here is very SLOW and always crashing so forgive me if i cant update you guys as much as i was in india. Will try and wrirte some more after i have started work . Missing everyone , tata x

Photo's !

School

so yesterday was my first day visiting the school.

It's in a little rural village about a 40 minute bus journey away. But the bus journey is really pretty so it makes up for the long sweaty hustle and bustle of being in the bus. We pass rice padi fields, and a gawjus lake, & lots of colourful houses.

The kids are all different ages in the class, they range from 14 to 20. which is a little awkward for me, because I'm younger than a lot of them.

Today was kinda scary at first... because i was chucked in the deep end and asked to teach a whole class !(30-40 kids) which was a little intimidating , especially because all they do is stare, giggle and whisper to each other.

But i found the English teacher john ,sitting in the teachers lounge drinking a cuppa and having some snacks, and explained that i was only there to assist not actually take over their job... I ended up with 7 kids , who eagerly listened to every word i said.... I'm pretty sure they didn't understand most of it, but hey.

so tomorrow hopefully i will be a little more relaxed with them, as they will me :).

overall it was a good day. I'm happy :)

*flower market stall in Panjim.

*cows chilling on the beach

* At the beach in Anjuna

I had a lovely first weekend in Goa. Friday night ,i went out with some of the other guys and gals to Baga (to party). It was reli fun apart from on the way back in the taxi. I had to sit in the boot with no seat just a metal lump to sit on... and Indian roads are very bumpy! Sat, we went to Anjuna beach for a few hours. Anjuna is very cool, lots of hippies and colours... and it constantly smells of pot .

Today laura (a fellow volunteer) and i went into Panjim. We went to see another bollywood film and also checked out the famous flower, fish and fruit market... where we ought some ripped dvd's :s .

Tomorrow i start work, but i'm not very happy with what they have arranged for me to do. I will be at a village High school, working with ages up to 17 . I signed up to work with little kids in bangalore, yet im working with teenagers in Goa .

Well, anyway let's see how it goes.

so i've started to settle in now, it was abit difficult at first because all the plans where changed and i had no idea what was going on + i had barely had any sleep for the past few days. And also everybody doing the projects at my youth hostel is a lot older than me, so i feel a little lonely . But on the bright side, I've done some cool things so far...
This morning i was woken up at 6am , we had to go to the main room and do 1 hour of yoga. Of course we had a teacher, who taught us all sorts of funny breathing exercises to "cleanse your body of all its toxins" . We have to do the same tomorrow .
At lunch time i helped the cook make chapatis , she made it look so easy ... i was a bit rubbish at rolling them into perfect circles :s.
Below is a picture of a Temple Elephant , they go around a few days in the year and wonder through the local village's . People chant and sing and dance and feed it lots of treats.
Tomorrow we are going to a Temple to learn more about the Hindu lifestyle and religion. I'm looking forward to that.
After we are going to go and watch a 4 hour Bollywood movie. Should be fun.

So i have finally found a little shed in Goa where they have a computer ! Yippee! so now i can tell you all that I've gone through so far ...
New years eve mum and i stayed at the Hilton terminal 4 hotel. Where i relaxed and tried to calm my nerves, ready to go the next morning.
7am i had to check my bags in, which was all fine apart from the fact there was a 40 minute cue ! every Indian person there had at least 2 massive suitcase's ! So after i finally checked in there was no time to have breaky so i said a very emotional "goodbye" to mum and that was it... the start of my adventure.
The first thing i realised about India is, its all just go with the flow. Lots of last minute changes going on and not many people wanting to inform you ... so that was slightly scary, made me a little homesick :( .
So originally i was supposed to be in Bangalore, but i was informed as i got on the bus (literally) "By the way your going to Goa " ,"WHAT!? No-one told me ! whats going on?!" . so ofcourse that shook me up a little. Anyway i'm in Goa now...
Goa is very westernised as it used to be controlled by the Portuguise . We are staying in a small youth hostel which is run by one of the event orginisers. There are 5 girls in my room , i've only met one so far. She was on the bus with me . She is very nice and i dont feel so nervouse now that i know she is going through more or less the same thing as me.
Tomorrow we start our training week, i will give you more updates when i can. Probably on the weekend . :) . missing everyone and general civilisation .