08/06/12 - Sunning it up

Struggling...

And relax!

Really struggling/failing...

Unfortunately hadn't seen one on our travels to date...

Ironically, despite a diving trip not going ahead, the weather was absolutely amazing for the majority of the day, so we caught lots of rays by the pool and registered for a dive the following day. Fingers crossed for no big storms overnight – things did not look good when the power went out at the resort for half an hour…

Close your ears...

Key Learnings:

1. Even if Annaliza is aware of a massive gecko in the room, that doesn’t stop an ear splitting scream that would make Maria Sharapova jealous!

07/06/12 - Cruising to the other side

Goodbye Than Sadat - a slightly more civilised sunrise than at Hat Rin! 

Didn't dare get out the camera
before the paved roads!

Haad Yao beach - come on now sun!

After 4 nights at the same secluded spot (apart from the trip to Hat Rin!), we decided it was time to move on and see a bit more of what Koh Pha-Ngan had to offer. The only way out (other than the boat we came in on, which wasn’t running today anyway, much to the annoyance of other guests and our amusement!) was via a rickety ute tuk-tuk which had to contend with roads that even the Beaut wouldn’t manage, combined with some intense gradients. Very glad we weren’t driving!

Great to have a pool table again - Annaliza needed some practise -
remind you of anything Danny (count the number of balls!)

Upon getting to the resort, we immediately went to the dive shop to book ourselves in for an outing the next day, only to be told it wasn’t happening due to 1.5m waves. Bummer. We were told to keep our fingers crossed for the day after, but enjoyed the sun and a few games of pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Key Learnings:

1. Trying to get on an inflatable Lilo in the pool is harder than it looks

2. Even if you fill out slips of paper to give your dinner order that still doesn’t mean you get what you ask for. Unfortunately the resulting free pizza didn’t land on our table. 

06/06/12 - Aus trip in review - part #5

Walking/scrambling in Karijini NP

Sandy Creek

Grand Canyon, Pinnacle Walk (Grampians)

Top walks:
1.      The Pinnacle – the Grampians
2.      Sandy Creek – Kangaroo Island

3.      Wilpena Pound - St Mary’s Peak trek
4.      Bluff Knoll – Stirling Ranges

Wilpena Pound

5.      Nature’s Window walk – the Kalbarri National Park
6.      Karijini gorge walk (although you could hardly call it a walk, more
of a slip, slide and scramble)

View from Bluff Knoll, Stirling Ranges

7.      Picanniny Gorge Walk – in the Bungle Bungle


Impossible to restrict to 5, but could have been many many more!

Fun and games at Nature's Window, Kalbarri NP

Top souvies:
1. Widey the Whale Shark

Picanniny Gorge, Bungle Bungles

2. The mini big rocking horse from Gumeracha, Adelaide Hills
3. Nullabor links Wombat hole golf ball
4. Free Karijini West Oz active stubbie cooler
5. Crocodile oven glove from the Bungles

And of course the unknown quantity of fridge magnets. We had intended to get a photo of them all but never had 3 hours to spare

05/06/12 - Full Moon Baby!

If we could sum up the Full Moon Party in one picture - this would be the picture...

Hard at work on the blog, before the
main event of the day

The rope of death...

Today was a big day, or perhaps I should say night… Yep, the full moon was on us, and there is only one thing to do on Full Moon Eve on Koh Phan Ngan, and that’s head to Hat Rin beach and P.A.R.T……Y? Because you gotta! The weather was pretty much the same as the previous day, although we were hoping the night wouldn’t be the same – there had been a pretty serious thunder and lightning storm through the night which Tony had managed to sleep through but Annaliza was pretty convinced the bungalow was heading into the sea! Luckily throughout the day we had ample time to charge our batteries and physc ourselves up for the night’s shenanigans…

Just plain foolish

Cheers!

Which stall to choose?

The boat journey itself was a hotbed of expectation of what lay ahead – unfortunately it was packed with Frenchies so couldn’t quite be enjoyed as desired… Upon arrival, we did a quick up and down of the beach, marveling at the fools who were getting involved in the flaming skipping rope. A quick way to get an expensive trip to hospital! By then, we’d discovered our preferred bucket vendor, and ordered two of his finest…

A picture tells a thousand words!

Several hours later…

Sunrise was a bit of a blur for some...

A nice sunrise, but why oh why would
you swim in the s(p)ea?

Our dancing shoes had been worn out, and our voices (and heads!) were a little bit worse for wear. We enjoyed watching the sunrise (actually, watching the earth rotate into the part of the sky where the sun is!) on the beach, to the dulcet tones of hardcore dance music pumped to beyond the capacity of the speaker system being used. Lots of people were still raving, and a few were raving mad to be swimming in the water after having witnessed most people using it as a convenient toilet all night!

Couldn't believe the amount of
people still going strong!

After a delightful ham and cheese toastie and healthy coke for breakfast, the boat back was equally amusing as the Frenchies were on surprisingly good form – no matter the language barrier you can always share a joke at the expense of a group of people who are on the brink of illness arising from drink…

Key Learnings:

1. So many to choose from... Full moon party isn't a place for inhibitions, for most people that is (obviously we were sensible at all times!)

04/06/12 - Aus trip in review - part #4

Dressed for the sun, even if it disappeared for the day!

D'Etress Bay 

Wilpena Pound

Annoyingly, after such great weather the day before, the rains decided to descend once again today. Not to worry - this meant the film collection we were travelling with got some more good usage! Thought we'd take advantage and share another couple of sets of highlights...


Top 5 Camping Spots:

Lucky Bay

  1.National park seclusion at D'Estress Bay, Kangaroo Island, SA 

Windjana Gorge

  2. Inside the pound - Wilpena, Flinders Ranges, SA

Lake Argyle

  3. Lucky lucky lucky Bay, Esperance, WA
  4. Gorging it up - Windjana Gorge, Kimberley's, WA
  5. Lake Argyle (loving the infinity pool!), Kimberley's, WA courtesy of our Aussie Bungles friends

Just the one barrel please...

Top 5 Wineries:

Cool sculptures

 1. Laid back atmosphere and cool wine labels at Stella Bella, Margaret River
2. The 100 year old at Spitalfields, Barossa
3. The views at Pindarie, Barossa
4. The unexpected stop at Salitage, Pemberton
5. Scultures of Vasse Felix, Margaret River

03/06/12 - Party island here we come!

Hammock time!

Breakfast at Bo Phut

Bye bye Samui

After a walk on the beach, the remainder of the morning was spent enjoying the rooftop pool and sun loungers whilst the sun graced us with its presence, before packing up our stuff once again and heading out to Koh Pha-Ngan by boat. Lovely views of the island as we circled it – was almost a shame to arrive at our destination and have to deal with our heavy bags again!

Our beach

View from the balcony

Our first look at Hat Rin

Had a bit of fun on the rock scramble with full backpacks on our way to our cliff side hut, and were very pleased with the accommodation – it had been described as a bit Robinson Crusoe but we definitely had more creature comforts than Robinson will have enjoyed with two hammocks on the veranda! Soaked up a bit more sun on the beach and had our first proper go at Waboba in the sea (the previous attempt in the pool was not a success! – for those of you who don’t know this is a water-bouncing ball). Very relaxing.

So the gap looks quite big, but in
reality it was a struggle!

Key Learnings:

Exhausting times...

1. Beware of putting on a fan and both lights at MaiPenRai Bungalows,Than Sudat –a smoking plug swiftly turned to fire. Glad we were there, pretty sure the wooden hut would not have survived long!

02/06/12 - A day in Samui

Rock formations Thailand style - shame there were a few dicks around...

Chaweng beach - refreshment stop #1

Al - your resort needs some work!

We ventured out onto the streets after a sumptuous breakfast (Tony had regained his appetite, fortunately, so the moaning had reduced to normal levels…), and hit the more traditional island transport rather than just hopping on a taxi. This involved waiting on the street until a ute style tuk-tuk beeped on its way past, indicating it had seats spare. Fortunately the wait wasn’t too long, but it didn’t quite take us as far as intended (always tell the driver exactly where you want to be dropped). Not letting this phase us, we decided to explore Chaweng beach straight away, which was a hub of tourist activity, hence every other minute you were saying no to a massage, sarong, and numerous other weird and wonderful Thai offerings…

Local fishermen at work

A bit further down Chaweng beach...

It was actually a bloody long beach, so our short walk didn’t quite happen – had to stop off on a couple of occasions for some liquid refreshments! Once we reached the other end, it was back onto the road for another tuk-tuk journey headed to the famous rock formations Hin-Ta & Hin-Yai. Slightly different to those we’d been used to in Australia!

Six Senses resort

Another Thai island, another Big Buddha

Following an extended period of haggling with taxi drivers, we arrived at a reasonable price and headed to Six-Senses resort for a pre-dinner drink. Didn’t realise that a 30 second stop at the Big Buddha  meant a significant increase in cost, especially when we were only told that when the journey was finished…

Key Learnings:

Dinner at Bo Phut

1. Taxi drivers on Koh Samui don’t know much English (limited to journey costs) until you disagree on how much you are going to pay them, when an array of more colourful language goes on display!