Big red rocks

Sorry, still no photos - hotel net access remains expensive, so stuck to using net cafes.

Travelled up from Adelaide to Alice Springs on the Gahn train - more fantastic food while travelling through the middle of nowhere, all in complete luxury. I then headed outback to see a few rocks, admittadly big ones. Uluru (Ayres Rock) is probably one of the biggest letdowns in Aus, especially the sunset viewing which is just crammed with tourist buses, all having drinks parties. The Olgas was much better, as I had no expectations. For sunrise we avoided the crowds by getting close to Uluru, which was a much more plesent experiance.

It was a pleasently small group for the trip, 12 for the first 2 days after which one couple left us. However an ability to speak German would have been an advantage as apart fom an english family of 4, me and patricia from Austria the rest were all German. Still our driver/guide/cook Smiley did a fantastic job of getting the group to jell.

Highlight of the trip was palm valley, which we had to ourselves, a little part of the Jurasic in the middle of the desert. Even the flies (mostly) stayed away.

Late edit - photos of the trip now on Flickr, see link to right

Adelaide

worldtour_0661.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, just not felt like typing.

I'm curently in Adelaide having taken the Indi Pacific train from Perth and have spent my time exploring the city, and for the last two days visiting Kangeroo Island, with its roos, koalas and seals.

Hello from Aus

worldtour_0158.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Sorry for the delay in updating this, but having finally got somewhere with a fast net connection I've been trying to catch up on the backlog of photos from Bali.

So after a month and a half of traveling I've finally reached Australia - to be precise Perth, the most remote city on earth, with noting to the west but ocean, and desert in every other direction.

It's winter here, which means that its about as cold as an English summer :) and all the ausies are staying at home, wrapped up in there only sweater, shivering.

Bali ptII – White water rafting

Got tired of the beach so headed inland for a bit of mountain water sports i.e. more white water rafting. This river was a bit different to Thailand, since it included a 4m drop down the face of a dam, all survived without casualties. Got some photos, plus a short video of the dam drop with the waterproof camera, but Bali has such a slow net connection there is no hope of getting them online for a while. Hopefully I will have more luck when I get to Australia.

Kitesurfing has been slightly defeated by a lack of wind and low tides, so still have not successfully got on the board yet.

Sinapore and Bali

Caught the train from KL to Singapore last thursday, six hours, but only £10, and that was for first class. Since Chrissy & Mark had invited me for dinner that night, it meant catching the early train, so no lie in that day.
Singapore was slightly cooler than KL, but just as rainy, but I managed to dodge most of the showers so didn't get too wet.
For those of you reading this who are not of Gosport descent, Chrissy is a family friend who has moved out to singapore with her husband Mark, and son Freddy.
Spent Friday and Saturday exploring Singapore, meeting up with Chrissy & Mark for lunch on Saturday, before flying out to Bali on Saturday evening, arriving here just after midnight. As expected there is a kitesurfing school right by the hotel, but Sunday they were having a big competition, so no lessons, so I spent the time taking photos and reading the Deathly Hallows (no I'm not going to give away the ending).
Today was the start of the Kitesurfing lesson, more body dragging before attempting to get up on the board, so far fairly unsuccessfully. An american called Eric is at about the same level as me, so at least I wasn't alone in my failure. Decided to spend the afternoon showing Eric how to sail, so took out a Hobie, which would have gone better had the rudders staid down. And so far it hasn't rained in Bali (touch wood) which makes a nice change.

Kuala Lumpur

worldtour_0003.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Another day, another capital city. The journey from the Cameroon highlands didn't get off to the best of starts when I got to the bus station, only to be told that the original bus was kaput due to faulty brakes, and I had to wait for another bus. It then proceeded to pour down for the rest of the journey, including when I had to get off the bus in KL, and then the Taxi driver had trouble finding the hotel.
its rained just about every day since I got here, but today I managed to arrange it so that I was indoors (actually on the twin tower skybridge as seen above) when it rained, so I'm feeling dry for once.

Done the usual city stuff over the last 2 days, including a nice free water laser show tonight, I attempted to take some pictures, but was slightly hampered by the lack of a tripod, so tomorrow I will probably go off and see some nearby caves.

Cameron Highlands

Decided to take a side trip between Penang and KL and head up into the welcome cool of the Cameron Highlands. Met three other travelers on the Minibus up here, and managed to find a reasonable & cheap guest house despite it being a weekend and the Malaysian school holidays.

Got to go now - a choclate cake is calling - I'll update later

Later update - apologies for the delay, the cake hasn't taken me that long to eat.

As you may have seen the I did a little tour, starting with a trip up to the misty peaks & damp mossy forest, then taking in a tea plantation and factory, a butterfly farm and a jungle waterfall, complete with native guide (he dresses up like that for the tourists) and blowpipe. managed to team up with a dutch guy for most of the time so had someone to talk to over meals.