... More pictures following previouos blog post !

Read previous blog first ...

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