Kakadu Pictures!

So I'm back from the outback! Just got into Sydney last night and already found a place to live :) Time to find work now....boooooo!

Anyway, here are the pictures from Kakadu National Park, I'll write about it all over the next few days!



The skull of a saltwater crocodile, its 1.1m in length which means that the croc would have been about 7m long!! scary...



This termite mound was about 7 meters high. Apparently they grow 1m every 10 years...



This bird then proceeded to swallow that fish whole!!



The first of many crocs we saw, a 4m long 'freshy'!



A sea eagle searching for pray



An aboriginal painting of a warrior hunting



The rocky view over Kakadu



Looking out over the wetlands



Sunset at Yellow Waters

Back in Australia....and off to the Outback!!

So....the last few days have made me feel like a pilot.... On the 3rd I flew to Sydney from Bangkok and had a little look round Sydney for jobs and somewhere to live etc. Upon enquiring about an outback trip, myself and Sara got a bit carried away and ended up booking a seven day all inclusive outback trip from Darwin right down the middle of Oz to Alice Springs.

Not only did we spend all our money, but we also booked our flight to Darwin the same day!! So it was a rush to get everything ready before boarding yet another flight to the Top End of Oz. Our Outback trip comprises of three mini tours; two days in Kakadu National Park, three days from Darwin to Alice Springs, and two days at Uluru.

I'm just back in Darwin after the two days at Kakadu National Park - it was amazing fun! The park is on land that has been given back to the Aboriginal people and is rented from them by the Australian Government so that it stays open to tourists. It is managed mostly by Aboriginal people so it was a great chance to find out about their culture as well as see a spectacular area of the country.

The first day we started off at 5:50am (aaaarrrgghh!) and drove to the Mary River for a little boat cruise chasing crocodiles. I'd been on a croc cruise before and saw a couple of crocs from a long distance so was expecting much of the same.....however, in the first 10 minutes we'd already seen two crocs! The river gets fed by the sea when the tide is high so contains freshwater AND saltwater crocodiles! We saw about twenty crocs in total, one about 4 meters long, and lots of eagles and other birds of pray. One of the best bits was when we saw a Jabaroo (a huge bird) catch a large fish and swallow it whole! After that we went to see some aboriginal rock paintings, that were thousands of years old, which showed stories and food that they hunted. We then climbed up to the top of the rocks for a 360 degree view of the surrounding wetlands and cliff areas.

The next day we went to Jim Jim Falls, a 150m high waterfall with a big swimming hole at the bottom, which runs dry at this time of the year. The whole area is completely underwater in the rainy season (making it impossible to access) and can contain dangerous crocs. For a couple of months after the wet season they search the area for saltwater crocs to make sure its safe for swimming before the area is opened to the public. They still leave the freshwater crocs in the area though as they are supposed to be less aggressive!!! We had a nice paddle in the huge swimming hole at the bottom of the falls and chilled out on the small beach at the bottom....didn't see any crocs though! After a quick stop at the Aboriginal Culture Center we headed back to Darwin for a night. Tomorrow we start the three day trip through the Outback to Alice Springs, hoping to see some more cool stuff!! I'll add all my pics later so keep a look out!

Kao Tao

Kao Tao is a tiny island (about 20 square km) off the Gulf coast of Thailand. Everything I'd heard about it made it sound beautiful so decided to brave the 72km boat trip and get over there! Arrived just in time....but it was worth it! The weather was amazing and the beaches had white sand with crystal clear water. Headed over to the 'less busy' side of the island but found it to be so busy that there was nowhere to stay! After looking around for ages, there was a cancellation and we ended up with a bamboo hut with a beautiful view across Tanote Bay :)

The snorkeling just off the beach was supposed to be amazing so I finally had a chance to use the mask and fins I'd been lugging around for the last month. The coral formations were pretty cool but the amazing thing about snorkeling off Kao Tao is the variety of sea life you see! I saw Jellyfish, huge Tuna, Angelfish, Batfish, Triggerfish and lots more. However, on the best snorkeling session I've ever had, I was lucky enough to see a Black Tipped Shark!! It was about 1.5 meters long and was very fast in the water. I sped off after it, following it into more shallow water, as it chased a fish. I must have got a bit too close as I seemed to put it off its attack and it missed the fish it was after. It then proceeded to swim slowly towards me. At this time I didn't have a clue whether they were dangerous or not so had a tense but amazing few seconds as the shark cruised right past me, only about 3 meters away!! After I got out I asked the guys at our accommodation reception (which doubled as a dive center) about Black Tip Sharks. They said they were harmless to humans but I was lucky to see one as the last two parties of snorkelers they took out shark hunting hadn't seen any!!

We were on the island about 5 days and, other than lots of snorkeling, we climbed some small mountains, walked along the rocks to other bays and lazed on the beach....a nice relaxing end to my Thailand trip....

Yes, you read right, I'm now leaving Thailand. Not to come back to England as originaly planned - I'm not quite ready to come home yet. I've decided to raid the bank to do one last trip to New Zealand, which is one place I REALLY wanted to go (and thought I'd miss out on). So I'm back in Bangkok and tonight I fly back to Australia on the way to NZ. I'm actually gonna try to pick up some work in Aus as my working visa is still valid (and I have NO money!) and might even fit an outback trip in there somewhere. In a few weeks I'm off to NZ and finally fly home on the 22nd of November!




Kao Tao from 300m up!



Tanote Bay, where I stayed



Ko Pangang, a bigger island to the South



Sipping drinks on the beach as the sun goes down is a great way to relax....

Elephant Rider!!

Pai is a little town right in the hills and mountains of the far North. Its only about 140km from Chiang Mai but due to the steep winding hill roads the ride took over 3 hours! We found a place to stay and hit the tour shops to organise elephant trekking! We found a small family company who only had one elephant, so we'd be the only ones in the jungle and river on our tour!

The next day we got up ridiculously early and were picked up by the owner of the company for the short drive to the elephant camp. We came round the corner and saw this huge elephant being fed sugar cane, her name was Boonmaa and she was our elephant for the morning! We headed out at about 9am into the jungle on the top of a big seat on Boonmaa's back. We were about 4 meters up and as we entered the jungle there were loads of butterflies everywhere. The guide was always speaking to the elephant and they had a language which enabled him to control her so perfectly, he even got her to lift up a tree that had fallen over the path! She was so good but half way through they had what can only be described as an argument, which went on for about 5 minutes! Some sugar cane cured that and we were on our way again. At the half way point the guide took some pictures and got me to sit on Boonmaa's head! It was a lot more bumpy but loads of fun. We headed out of the jungle and back to the camp where the guide removed the seat and put a little hand rope in its place. We jumped on Boonmaa's back and headed for the river!

As soon as we got to the river we gave the guide our cameras. He jumped off at the shore and shouted commands for Boonmaa to go into the river. She loved the cool river (it was about 36 degrees) and legged it straight in. We wandered along a bit, thinking it was nice, then we were suddenly drenched with water as Boonmaa squirted us in the face! Next the guide got her to sit down, jump up, roll to the side and basically try to throw us off....she succeeded many times! Each time we'd have to wade back up the fast flowing river and jump back on, usually while being squirted by our cheeky elephant! It was so much fun!!!

After the river we were carried back to the camp where we cleaned ourselves off in water from some nearby hot springs, lovely :) That afternoon we returned to our hut and played with the baby monkey that lived in the complex. It was only 4 months old and very cheeky!! In the evening we had a BBQ with the other guests, fresh fish with lemon, mmmmmm!

The next day (a couple of days ago) we embarked on the mother of all journeys, the 26 hour journey from Pai South to the beautiful island of Ko Tao....





Our hut was called 'The Beatle's Tour'....



Boonmaa!



An action shot, just entering the jungle with our guide



Me sitting on Boonmaa's head!



Just having a rest



Getting soaked in the water!



Just before we fell off!



My new friend!



The little monkey that lived with us!



She kept stealing our stuff...



...but got tired out quite easilly

Being Spiritual in Chiang Mai

After another less than enjoyable 12 hour bus ride we made it to Chiang Mai, the biggest city in the North of Thailand. That evening, while walking back from dinner, we came across an elephant just walking along the road! At night the handlers lead their elephants around and tourists pay to feed them sugar cane and bananas.

The next day we rented a motorbike and headed to Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand, to see some waterfalls on the way to the top. Unfortunately, it was ridiculously expensive to enter the national park (which was the whole mountain) so we bribed the ranger to let us visit the first (and most spectacular) waterfall, Mae Klang Waterfall, which was huge!

The following day we visited Wat U Mong, a Buddhist meditation temple comprising of long tunnels, built into a flat hill, that lead to meditation chambers. While we were walking around the grounds we could hear the monks chanting and praying!

Our final motorbike day saw us head up Doi Suthep, another big mountain. On the top is a temple complex which you reach by climbing 306 steps. The golden stupa on the top looked amazing shining in the sun and the views of Chiang Mai were spectacular. We then went a little down the other side of the mountain to visit a 'hill tribe'. Unfortunately it wasn't exactly the rustic old-style hill tribe we expected.... the huts had satellite dishes coming out the roofs! We did find one area that was quite authentic and met a guy making crossbows out of bamboo. I was able to fire arrows at an apple hanging about 20m away and hit it on my third try! On the way down the mountain we saw another two sets of waterfalls and a Buddhist pray area.

One of the things we really wanted to do was an elephant trek through the forest. All the treks in Chiang Mai only lasted for 1 hour and involved walking around an overgrown field. After consulting the Lonely Planet book we decided to head right up into the mountains to a place called Pai, where we could go elephant trekking for up to 3 hours!




The stupa on top of the hill at Wat U Mong



Looking through the main tunnel at Wat U Mong



Inside a meditation Tunnel



A meditation chamber



There were lots of little statues of kings everywhere!



A temple near us in Chiang Mai



!!!



Paintings on the roof of the temple

Back in Bangkok again!

Arrived in Bangkok to meet up with Sara, who'd arrive in Thailand the next day. I also needed to find the one and only branch of STA Travel in Thailand to change the date for my return to London (22nd November!). STA was about as far away from where I was staying as you could get, so I took a boat down the river (for the first time). The river was brown with pollution but it was good fun and so quick!

Its funny how you meet people when travelling.... On the Cambodia-Bangkok trip I met an American guy and a Canadian guy. After swapping stories and chatting we decided to all get accommodation together for the night. After grabbing some food we sat in a "bar" (which was actually a few plastic chairs in the road) and bumped into a couple of guys from South Africa. After the usual 'where have you been?', 'where are you going?' type questions we asked them what they did for a job back home... 'We grow weed!' was the reply! Apparently they just grow weed full time and ship it out all over the world, making a hell of a lot of money in the process. Apparently they bribe the police and government officials if they ever have trouble and were talking about it as casually as if they had just told us they were estate agents. It was fascinating hearing all the stories! That night the Canadian guy hooked up with one of the Thai girls that ran the bar we were sitting in. The next morning she took us for some of the best Thai food in the area, its good to have connections!

Anyway, over the next few days I saw a few more sights of Bangkok. One was Wat Pho, which houses a reclining Buddha over 40m long, with 108 little pictures made from mother of pearl on its feet! Very interesting.... Another was the Golden Mount, an artificial mountain about 150m high with great views over Bangkok and a temple at the top.

After a few days it was time to leave Bangkok again and head North for Chiang Mai....




The boat I took down the river!



The Temple of Dawn



A cool bridge in Bangkok



The huge head of the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho



My best attempt at taking a picture of the whole reclining Buddha



The Buddha's feet, with 108 mother of pearl pictures!



The designs were amazing



A temple near the Golden Mountain



The temple was square inside with lots of Buddha statues inside



The entrance to the Golden Mount with a minature mount on top!



The big golden stupa at the top of the Golden Mount