Kuching, A Borneo Birthday & Monkey Mayhem

We left Melbourne bound for Singapore and were pleasantly surprised to try out the monstrously sized Qantas Airbus A380. The plane is a double decker beast of an aircraft from the outside and all nice and shiny on the inside. Service and entertainment was all top class (in economy) and with the widest selection of on demand films we've ever seen, we both managed to get through three.

Eight hours later and we were back in the Northern Hemisphere for the first time since leaving and touched down at Singapore Changi Airport. This was around 9.30pm and we had booked ourselves on the next flight to Borneo... this however wasn't until midday the following day. A little prior research had told us that Changi airport had won the 'Golden Bed Airport' award every year since 2006, meaning its been voted the best airport to catch forty winks in. It certainly didn't disappoint as we bedded down on some sleeper beds for the night, got a foot massage, checked out the gardens... cactus, sunflower, butterfly, koi... it goes on, and messed about in the entertainment zone. Skip the duty free there's even a free cinema in the airport, plenty to do, and the ideal place to pass half a day if transiting. Sure Singapore city is nice but we'll be there on the way back so plenty of time to see the city at a later date.

So on to our next destination, Kuching, capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, and known affectionately as 'Cat City'. Kuching is the biggest city in Borneo, but despite this it's still pretty easy to get around the place on foot, if you can stand the heat! We're using Kuching mainly as base to explore the nearby sights and national parks. There is however plenty to see and do in town. When it was too hot to bear outside we hid away in the Sarawak Museum which gives a great overview of the history of the state and the short history of Malaysia, the country will be celebrating their 50th year next summer. The waterfront, dominated by the golden domed municipal building, and the river which can only be crossed by a small river taxi give the city a nice quality, especially at sunset. We also took a stroll through Chinatown, along India Street, and around the very large Sunday Market. Although largely a produce market, you can buy almost anything from over 1,300 vendors, ranging from the smallest goldfish to live clucking chickens.

We also managed to catch the TV cameras from Kuala Lumpur as they were filming Malaysian Masterchef, the winners of which will go to KL for finals. It can't be an easy decision for the judges to make, as the food that we are eating here has all been superb. The temperatures are certainly rising from what we have been eating elsewhere on our travels but the flavour and freshness is a nice change from our own home cooked pasta that we were living off in Australia and New Zealand. At an average price of 5MYR (£1) per meal it's a welcome relief, and the cheapest place we've been to yet.

Two days into our stay at Borneo marked a first for us. Despite celebrating Christmas, New Year, Easter and a multitude of local festivals on the road, this was our first birthday on the road. Being half a world away from family and friends in Europe we decided to celebrate Geraldines birthday by overnighting at Bako National Park. Positioned on a headland peninsular jutting out in to the South China Sea, the park is only accessible via boat, where on arrival at low tide you need to jump out into the water and wade ashore to the beach.

Bako is home to all sorts of wildlife. The very cheeky long tailed macaque monkeys are ever present and great fun to watch as they're always up to mischief. We were lucky enough to watch a family of them grooming right in front of us on one of the walkways, a real David Attenborough moment (you can check it out here). On the second day we were fortunate to spot the much shyer (and oddly shaped nose) probiscus monkeys. We also spotted the bearded borneo pig, a flying squirrel, an ant superhighway and a fare few lizards.

From Bako we made our way back to Kuching, we've got ourselves a nice double room with (much needed) AirCon, internet, and breakfast for less than the cost of a small bottle of beer in Australia. This is what we've been waiting for...

Melbourne, the place to be...

A short three and a half hour flight brought us all the way down to Melbourne. Like a good Samaritan (with long hair and a Vauxhall Astra) Shannon was their to pick us up and offer us some financial refuge from the strong Australian dollar.

Melbourne is the capital of the southern state of Victoria, and has the tagline 'the place to be'.  Melbourne is a very young city, only 170 years old, around seven or eight generations. Despite this, it is now a multicultural cosmopolitan populated with over three and half million people from all corners of the globe.

First up for us though was a trip on the free tourist bus which takes you around the city with a bit of light commentary, a nice way to get a good sense of direction. Melbourne is a city really into it's sports, and we saw no less than five stadiums including the MCG and the Rod Laver, plus Albert Park, home to the season opening Australian F1.  Staying just outside of the center also gave us a chance to get to see the suburban side of a larger city and also get accustomed to the intricate and all encompassing tram network.


During the week we had plenty of time to check out Melbournes attractions, starting with the free ones of course.... a city walking tour, a sunny day in the botanic gardens and Shrine of Remembrance, Queen Victoria and Prahran markets, the ACMI (Australian Centre of Moving Image), National Gallery, and the tiny penguins down at St Kilda.  For what is an expensive country its surprising the amount of free things you can find to do, and with the free accommodation (thanks Kent Grove!) it means we will have at least some money left to take to Asia.

As much as Melbourne was about seeing the city and trying to immerse ourselves into its famous 'cafe culture' (no easy feat at $4 a coffee), it was for us a chance to catch up with friends who had fled the UK some years previous.  Midweek drinks had us catching up with an old work colleague and friend, Tamsyn, whose been living and studying in Melbourne for over two years.  A few later drinks had us getting a few freebies from a friend whose currently working in a bar in town.  A weekend road trip took us on a death defying drive down the Great Ocean Road (don't try this stretch of highway in the dark with intermittently working headlights).  We were rewarded and greeted on arrival by Adams friend Samia who put us up for a weekend at the 'Grand Pacific Hotel Lorne' and treated us to the surprisingly fun off-season Lorne nightlife.  (Thanks again, that was an awesome weekend and a great Friday night with some interestingly flavoured shots!).  The perfect way to wrap up our last weekend in Oz... a BBQ on the beach and even spotting a Koala in the wild.

This should be the last blog entry where you here us complaining about money as Borneo, Malaysia and Thailand make up our next destinations.

The Sunshine State

Stepping off the plane at Cairns we were back at the same tropical longitude as Fiji. Like arriving in Fiji the humidity hits you when you step off the plane, but alas no welcome band here. The wet season has just finished and its soon to enter its peak season, in the summer its wet and humidity levels can rise to 97%. Cairns is the activity hub of north coast Queensland, and has a very young clientele, average age of tourists here must be about 19. A nice enough town but for us it was a short two night stay before picking up our new camper van for a bit more glamping.

First up on our 10 day tour of the aptly named 'Tropical North' was Hartleys Crocodile Adventure. A chance to see enough crocs to last a lifetime, cuddle the koalas, feed the kangaroos, wallabies and cassowaries, and see a whole heap of parrots and Australian creepy crawlies. So much of an adventure we went back the next day!

The following day we followed the coastal road, the Bruce Highway. This took us past Rex's lookout, supposedly the most photographed point of this stretch of road. Your positioned several hundred metres atop a sheer cliff face dropping down to a beach which runs endlessly along the coast whilst in the water the varying depths and amount of coral provide an ever changing spectrum of blues.

Following the coastal road further north we soon arrived at the upscale tourist town of Port Douglas. With a better luxury of traveller and more of a holiday destination Port Douglas offers some of the best dining in Queensland, it is however well out of our budget so we had to make do with wandering the long 'Four Mile Beach'. The beaches here are beautiful but the threat of the Salt Water Croc's (or Salties as they call them here) and more so the Marine Stinger Jellyfish mean that there's only a small enclosed 100m section of the four miles where you can actually swim. This unfortunately goes for all of the beaches in this stretch of Australia, the positive however being that away from the swimming area they can be extremely deserted. The next day we made for the rainforest retreat of Mossman Gorge. A chance to see the Australian rainforest in action, including some huge strangling fig trees, lots of fresh water creeks and a very cold but refreshing swimming hole.

 

Heading further north arrest off for Cape Tribulation. The Cape was given this unfortunate name after Captain Cook ran aground and had to spend several weeks repairing his ship there. An ironic name really seeing that it is now such an idyllic and beautiful setting that many people come here to escape the trials and tribulations of their daily life. Cape Trib is set in lush rainforest and can be reached only via 4WD from the North on a 80km unsealed road or from the South via a short cable ferry and windy narrow road. Luckily for us we were coming from the South so took the short ride on the cable ferry and wound our way through the rainforest (and the odd Cassowary) towards Cape Tribulation.

First stop in the Cape Trib area was at Thorntons Beach. This is the best beach we have seen in Australian so far, the tide was out and the beach was deserted and stretching endlessly in all directions... if only it was safe to go in the water! As well as the beaches dotted along the coast we did plenty of rainforest walkways, through some very wet and muddy terrain and through hundreds of intertwined mangrove trees.

 

After taking in the heat and humidity of the coast we made for the cooler conditions of the inland Atherton Tablelands. We looped round the waterfall circuit, taking in an almost endless number of different falls, swimming holes and thousand year old rock formations.

Ten days in the van flew by and in no time at all we were making our way back to Cairns. A week and half in the van and we covered such a small amount of what is an incredibly vast country. Our next stop takes us south though to cafe culture rich city of Melbourne.

The Land Down Under

 The Land Down Under...

 
The flight from Fiji to Sydney was probably our best flight so far.  A clear sky the day we left meant we had a fantastic view down to the the islands lush green vegetation, yellow beaches and blue corals lieing below.  Five hours later and the view coming into Sydney could not have been any different.  Theres more people living in Sydney than all of Fiji and the sprawling metropolis is a sight in itself.  Before even touching down in Australia we had some stunning views of the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

After dumping our bags at our hostel in Sydneys notourious Kings Cross we headed into town.  First stop was an impromptu visit to one of the many campervan rental stores.  A good hour or so in there had us feeling a little dejected at our plans and the thought of just how short our UK Pounds could actually stretch.  Here in Australia they don't stretch very far!  Feeling a little perplexed we wandered aimlessly taking in the memorable place names from home as we cut through Hyde Park and up Oxford Street.  Soon though we had a new plan, gone was the idea of buying or renting a van and driving it down to the coast, and so the original nine week trip was cut in half. Plan B;  fly up to Cairns, see the sights, fly down to Melbourne, see the sights, save everything inbetween for another time and make for the financial refuge of SE Asia five weeks earlier than planned.


With a renewed sense of optimism we made for those aforementioned tourist sites we had seen from the sky.  As we arrived at the Quay darkness was setting in and our first postcard view of Sydney was to be one at dusk.

On our first morning in Sydney we decided to partake in one of the Free Walking Tours.  We try and do these as much as possible when we first arrive in the larger cities as they provide a good sense of direction as well as being pretty informative, sometimes even including a free drink.  This one (Peak Tours) was no exception, and was probably one of the best we've done and would recommend to anyone arriving in Sydney for the first time.  An honest review - we obviously take no commission from recommending a free tour ;)  That evening we met up for a drink and some dinner with one of Geraldines friends.  Lucie took us round the very lively Vendredi Soir hotspot where plenty of Sydney were out celebrating the weekends arrival.

The following morning was spent lazing in the botanic gardens largely due to Adams inability to move.  What we thought was just a bit of a cold soon deteriorated until Adam self-diagnosed himself with dengue fever (a parting gift from Fiji).  Luckily for us some friends from London who had emmigrated here three years ago were on hand to offer some R&R.  A (fantasticly cooked)  roast dinner along with the most comfortable bed we've slept in yet and some great company helped fight the jungle fever.  Thanks again Mike & Sophie!  It took us out of the city and on the ferry to Manly which gives probably the best view of Sydney you can get.  Out on the water you can look back at the Bridge, Opera House and rising skyline of the CBD all in one view.  Once on the other side Mike took us to some of Syndeys best beaches including the original 'Home and Away' beach.

 
Back in Sydney there was just enough time to check out the notorious Bondi and Bronte Beaches via the coastal walk, and lose ourselves in Paddington district before formalizing a plan for our extra five weeks in Asia.  We've settled on the worlds third largest island.... Borneo!  But before that plenty still to do in Cairns and Melbourne!