The end...for now

So I am now in an internet cafe in Byron Bay.... surprise, Josie is off shopping with Kylie!? We have visited the boys from Africa in Surfers, dropped in on Linley and spent a couple of days with Kylie and Grant.

Very tough life, but edge ridiculously close to Sydney now...actually arrive tomorrow. No doubt, SNowy will be serving up some waffle about Queensland winning the state of origin. If we are able to drive through the cyclone like storm that is hitting there tonight/tomorrow.

So for now this is the end of the blog.... we are going to be very busy for the next few months trying to get established in Sydney. We need to earn a few bucks as we want to buy a fishing house in weipa, a winter place at the gold coast and a house on the water at Sydney. (we have no chance).

Thanks for reading :)

Back in Townsville

And then we were in Australia – and I can tell you it felt pretty weird. Everyone has such a strong accent, it looks so different and we are hoping that we are not going to be homesick for the UK...which would be worrying as well as dreadfully embarrassing (eh Jonno!).

It was great to see Mum and Dad again...we had some issues in adapting to being parented after so many months fending for ourselves. We set about buying our 1^st car together...a long process that took 3 weeks, and many interesting chats with ‘colourful’ (i.e. full of shite) used car dealers. Long story short, we ended up with a Subaru Outback...and dare I say it, I think we came out in front.

We joined the gym for a month, to try and shift some of the additional holiday kgs ( I thought we were supposed to lose weight?)... at the time of day we go, the gym is full of muscleheads and ‘roid junkies – and this is just the women !!

Amanda and Brett had moved up to Weipa a few weeks beforehand...I have long dreamed of fishing up there...and could not turn down the chance to go up and wet a line. This is despite the fact they are still living in a cupboard and learning to speak a heck of a lot slower. We jumped on a flight, and then we were in a town made up of 2500 people pretty much as far north as you can go in Queensland. We did a pro tour for 2 days and did we catch some fish...and it wasn’t the best conditions!

As usual with the Wass’ we had a brilliant couple of days, and a very close competition where the boys where narrowly out fished by the girls. They flirted with the guide to get extra help and Amanda must have had some Barramundi voodoo doll – as it was ridiculous how many she caught.

I will be sneaking back up that way, making sure I have 24 hour access to a boat, and fishing until my arms fall off.

We are now back in Townsville a little depressed. Finally we can see the end of the holiday and the start of wo... wor... work! Damn, hard to say. So in a week or so we will descend on Snowy and Alyson to mooch while we look for accommodation and jobs. Bugger.

Singapore – land of gadgets

We had to get to Singapore to make our return flight...and I persuaded Josie to go a day earlier so I could get my new computer. They have a place their called Sim Lim Square – 6 floors of nerdy heaven. I dragged Josie around for about 5 hours before finally making a purchase. I saved about 500 aussie dollars which is not too bad – it would have been worth paying more just to shop there.

We didn’t do too much else, a bit of shopping for Josie (she is getting addicted) and then it was time for our last airport session. A flight to Brisbane and then a short jump back to Townsville. We even managed to jam everything in the bags, just got under the weight allowance and even got a whole row of seats to ourselves.

Langkawi Malaysia

We landed in the Langkawi port after an hour ride on the fastest boat I have ever been on. This thing was a rocket and barely touched the water. Langkawi looked very civilised after Ko Lipe, especially the very posh port packed with expensive yachts. The nice boat man even loaded us all into a bus and dropped us at the tourist beach where we found a cheap backpackers for about 7 quid a night.

We had a few days to kill before Brett, Amanda and co arrived...so we hired a moped and went a touring. We decided to stop into a waterfall, that had no bloody water?! I mean, it was the monsoon, raining every afternoon and this place had a big sign on the road showing the waterfall in its majestic glory. We couldn’t figure when they took this picture – maybe you need to go while it is raining. The trip wasn’t a total waste – Josie got bullied by a monkey who was not happy I was sharing my chips with her.

The food in Langkawi was lovely, gurus at satay (one of our favourites) as well as every restaurant having a “pick your own seafood” smorgasboard. They also did some lovely freshly squeezed juices. One thing I am looking forward too in Australia is no longer smelling open sewers. It really puts you off your dinner and in Langkawi in particular the rain was washing the smell onto the beach – sheesh.

Brett and Amanda arrived, with Mel and Nicko and new baby Liam. The girls immediately took advantage with some savage shopping trips – thankfully leaving us boys behind to amuse ourselves – mainly watching Borat (finally!). We tried to organise a dinner out, but lost each other in traffic and Brett and I spent most of the meal hoping to spot the other driving past.

Josie’s 35^th birthday happened – and the day was spent in a shopping frenzy. We then headed out for dinner (we walked this time, so we didn’t lose each other). Mel and Nico put us onto a local who took us to a brilliant restaurant, stunning everything and cheap. They even did a birthday cake and Flaming Lamborghini for Josie – which took her from slightly pissed to ‘fondle the statues’ and made a great photo. The loo in this place was ridiculously posh – so good Brett took the video camera in to film it....at least that was the reason he gave us?

The next day we did some obligatory tourist activities on the cable cars, visiting other waterfalls (that had water) and ended up playing a great boys vs girls game that night that was piss funny! And before we knew it, we needed to get ourselves to the airport and head for Singapore.

Sorry for the delay...

... no excuse, just slack. Seemed to lose its urgency now we are back in Oz. But finally decided to finish it off. I am also considering keeping like a family diary going as we go through more of the boring things we need to do in life, but will no doubt find there is not enough time...