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Well, my planned route around Australia was basically about to go completely to pot..... originally I intended to fly to Darwin, see Kakadu then visit Ayers Rock before heading up to Cairns and travelling down the East coast ending up in Sydney then Melbourne... instead, I arrived back from my Kakadu trip at 8pm on Saturday evening and by 10pm the same evening found myself checking in for a flight to Melbourne... en-route to see a certain little Aussie, Mat - of Chaing Mai & Phi Phi appearance!
Am not entirely sure what came over me but I found myself, a total state following the rain, mud and snakes of Kakadu, thinking, as Mat's mum would say 'I'm over Darwin' and would quite like to see Mat before we swop shores and he heads to London to use his years visa the way I'm using mine here... so, a quick surf on Virgin Blue and call to Mat, I booked my flight and then pleaded with the girl at the hostel to let me use their shower and luggage room to clean myself up before leaving... an hour later I was clean (she agreed thankfully) and on my way, thinking 'what on earth am i doing.. i'm never this spontaneous!' But you know what... I should be.. it's a good thing spontaneity and i don't regret it for a second!!
Despite being ridiculously cold on board I think i must've managed to sleep a little on the flight as it seemed to pass fairly quickly (am still in shock about the size of this country... 4 hours to fly from one side of it to the other.. that's like me flying to Cyprus from home.. madness!) and before i knew it, it was 5am and I was in Melbourne trying to find a bus to take me to Box Hill where Mat was meeting me... as it was so early and a Sunday this was a pointless exercise so I called Mat, woke the poor guy up and got myself a cuppa while i waited for him to come get me, bless him!
I have to admit, the whole thing was surreal, but hey, sometimes the best things are! 45 minutes later and Mat bundled me and my stupid amounts of stuff into the car and took me back to his brother's - now, can i just say I never had any intention of imposing myself on the Hyde family but my suggestion of booking into a hostel was dismissed as ridiculous and another 45 minutes later I found myself cosily snuggled under a duvet (yes, duvet not 'dooner' Mat!!) at Mat's brother's in the Melbourne 'burbs where a few hours of lovely, warm sleep later I awoke to my first day in Melbourne with Mat and his family...
After being introduced to Mat's Mum (Gwen - in the pic below with Mat), brother (Chris) and brother's girlfriend (Peta), 5 minutes after waking up when looking a total state - nothing like creating a good first impression eh?! (and this was nothing like one i can assure you!) Sunday morning saw us all chilling out at Chris and Peta's lovely house in Box Hill along with their very cute dog; Cooper! Now, most of you probably know I've never really been a dog person but Coop.. you just can't help but love him.. he had me at 'woof!' God, sorry... that line was about as cheesey as is humanly possible! Check him out in the pic though... how adorable is he! It was a lovely morning and fab to get to know Gwen, Chris & Peta - Mat'd always told me how close he was to his family and how fab they were but to see them together was lovely, they're a great family and it's lovely to see 2 lads so close to their mum.
Sunday afternoon we had Mat's leaving drinks to go to at a local pub, where i met loads of Mat's friends - They're also a lovely bunch and obviously the afternoon turned in evening and involved lots and lots of beer. When Mat decided it was hometime (it was his day, only fair he got to decide) Gwen very kindly came and picked us up and dealt with taxiing a very drunken pair home in the back of her car! Thanks again Gwen!
The following morning (or should that technically be afternoon!?)... when we were both feeling a little jaded it's fair to say, Mat, Gwen, Daniel (Mat's best mate) and I headed into St Kilda for something to eat and a wander along the beachfront and in the shops.. was a nice leisurely day, i don't think our heads could've handled anything else! In the evening, as it was Mat's last night before leaving for London, Daniel & Trina (Dan's girlfriend), Mat's Dad and stepmum and his stepmum's sister & brother in law came over for a BBQ, so I unwittingly found myself at my first real 'Aussie Barbie'... and a fab one it was! Again, it was lovely to meet Mat's Dad and more of his family and it was a lovely evening - me being an annoying veggie was obviously a big source of amusement at a proper Aussie BBQ too!! Sorry for being so awkward guys! ;0)
The next day dawned and i can't say i was looking forward to it too much - Mat's last day! His flight wasn't til the afternoon so the day was basically spent sorting him out and making sure everything was in order... you'll all be amused to know that he's as unorganised as me (sorry Mat but it's true!!).. so there was a fair bit to be done. Gwen and I took Mat to the airport and watched from the nice (?!) long queue for economy check-in as Tim Henman and his entourage sailed through to first class in seconds!
All checked in and ready to go and so came the bit i was dreading - saying goodbye to yet another friend.... this one being the hardest yet! Mat, thanks for making my first few days in Melbourne so perfect. As much as I'll miss you and its rubbish that we've swopped sides of the world, I had a wicked time with you and your family and never thought I'd find myself there but am very glad that i did! Make sure you enjoy your travels, don't forget my family are there for you should you need them and I look forward to seeing you when I get back. x
Now, one thing i haven't mentioned about our time in Kakadu so far is that it's the Rainy Season.. and yes, that means it's pretty damn wet.. as we were to discover today! Once again our day started at the ridiculous hour of 7am, once we were up, fed and watered we headed off to find some waterfalls... today there was lots more walking to be done, which, although it may come as a shock to some of you, i was actually quite looking forward too.. I've not done much by way of exercise for a while.. unless you count a little swimming and some frisbee golf?? No, thought not! So was quite looking forward to feeling like i'd actually done something.. we set off and truth be told, the actual walk was pretty easy.. it was the heat that made it unbelievably exhausting... so much so that we were stupidly pleased when it started to rain! We made it to the first waterfall and despite warnings of the odd stray croc sometimes being around we all went in to cool off... it was bliss.. i cannot believe the heat of the Northern Territories... i constantly felt like i needed a shower.. even just after i'd had one! 
Anyway, there we all were, floating around, sitting under the waterfall, cooling off, chilling out.. not a care in the world.. so, someone somewhere decided to have a little fun with us (maybe it was Dad's way of amusing himself!! Meanie!! ;0) .. there were several of us all sat on a rock that was half way out of the water, before Oliver (the german guy in our group) and I knew what was happening everyone else had got up and left us sat there facing.. a Snake!!! We both made to get up obviously but were promptly instructed by the guide to 'stay very very still, not move a muscle' so I froze, arms around my chest, eyes squeezed shut, pretending i was anywhere but there while the snake slithered all around us, at several moments i thought it was about to disappear into my knickers!!! After what felt like forever but was probably really only about a minute, the guy told Oliver to really slowly lift his hands up (his were still resting on the rock, thankfully mine weren't) as her did so, the mean snake went in for the kill and bit him on his little finger! The poor guy went white as a sheet and was shaking so much. The second afterwards the snake swam off into the waterfall again and we could move.. thank god!! I felt terrible for Oliver, his arm swelled up loads and he had to be taken to hospital (he's ok, had to stay overnight but is fine, don't worry) but i have to admit, as awful as it sounds, I was so grateful it wasn't me!!! A tad to close for comfort in my opinion though!! Lots of people kept saying how they were amazed at how still I managed to stay.. truth me told i think fear kept me that still and to be fair, as ridiculous as it sounds, swop that Snake for a spider and I'd have be out of there like a shot! Anyway, following the drama of that, once we'd calmed down and i'd plucked up enough courage to swim off from the rock and get back over to the right side of the water, we headed back off to walk to the next waterfall - it was beautiful and we stopped there for lunch and a chillout which was brought to an abrupt end by a very heavy downpour (during which i found myself the lucky 3rd person under cover of a nice english couple's massive waterproof thing).After that, we headed for yet another waterfall (they were all beautiful so i wasn't complaining) and on route the heavens opened again. This time I ended up walking in just my bikini and towel round my waist and we basically could not have got any wetter.. in a way though it was a nice respite from the heat and the very irritating flies! At the 3rd waterfall, those of us on the 2 day tour were pick up by our guide for the return trip to Darwin and headed off leaving the others to continue for their final day. Our return journey took about 3 hours and saw us stop briefly at the pub where the buffalo from Croc Dundee is stuffed and mounted! We arrived back to Darwin at about 7pm.. caked in mud, wet through and in need of a good, hot shower! All in all though, despite dubious encounters with water pythons and ridiculous amounts of rain, I had a fab time and wouldn't have missed it for the world.. Kakadu is amazing and I'd recommend you visit if you get the chance!
Well, in true Flee style, I managed to be completely unorganised and find myself on a flight from Singapore to Darwin, landing at 5am with no lonely planet (for the record i did try and find one but can you believe Singapore airport had sold out!!!), no accommodation booked and no clue as to what i would do when i made my debut arrival into Oz... oops! However, worry not.... I'd decided on my way to board the plane that I'd just find myself an internet connection at Darwin airport, look up a hostel, wait til daybreak and head there... didn't get that far though.. within about half an hour of settling myself into my seat on the plane, the lady next to me along with her 2 daughters (an english family, although they've lived in Darwin for 12 years, on their way home from visiting family in england for christmas) had heard of my plight and invited me back to stay with them.... how nice is that!?! So, on landing in Australia I had 3 lovely chaperones, Carolyn and her daughters, helping me through customs, waiting for my luggage and taking me home with them... how grateful was i for them! 
We headed back to hers and she settled me in a room for me to catch up on some sleep (these night flights/buses/trains are a killer!) - it was bliss! Once I'd slept for a few hours I ventured out and was introduced to Andy, another backpacker staying with her - he was slightly more legit than me though.. Carolyn owns the local Rock climbing centre and Andy works for her. We chilled out for a while; was feeling a bit strange what with this being Jan 11th and it being too early to call home, being on my own on that day in particular wasn't the best planning on my part but I called Mat to catch up- as I'd promised i would on my arrival into Aus- and he cheered me up, just talking to someone who understood and cared made me feel better.. thanks Mat!) then Carolyn took us in to town so we could pick up some food, check emails and i could sort myself a hostel out. She'd very generously said i was welcome to stay with them but i didn't want to take advantage.. i did stay that night with them, was still shattered and in need of sleep so Andy and I cooked up some pasta, had a cold beer and watched TV before i was ready for bed again but booked a hostel for the next night. Was time to become a proper backpacker again! The following day, Carolyn took me down to Chilli's hostel, where i'd booked in for the night... I arranged to see them later by popping down to the Rock climbing centre (they'd offered to teach me!!) then I was alone again... or so i thought.. i checked into my dorm and immediately met an Irish girl, Elva (yes, at last... a girl.. now, I have to admit to being quite pleased about my new found friend.. I'd been getting somewhat concerned about how many men i'd managed to befriend and how few women!!!) anyway... from that minute on, Elva and I spent the day together, sorted our plans for the next few days (ie: booked our tour to Kakadu) and whiled away several hours drinking tea, eating chocolate and gossiping.. bliss! We managed to make it out of the hostel to go for something to eat, then ventured to the cinema to see Narnia before going back and getting our bags packed and ready for our horribly early (7am) start the next day! Ouch... I'm on holiday... 7am isn't meant to exist!! So, at stupid o'clock the next day our alarms rudely awakened us and we set about getting ourselves geared up and awake for our trek... now, i must stop here to mention something... when i say trek, i use the term loosely.. don't get me wrong - the heat made this tour quite hard work but trek at this point ot me still meant hiking with your backpack on your back all day, not showering, unless you wanted to use a cold tap and a bucket to do so and having no electricity (all resulting from my Thailand experiences!) well... lets just say.. this was pure luxury in comparison.. a shower block with not just running water, but hot running water.. a portacabin with proper beds and no need for carrying you're bags.. easy!! (well.. ish!)
So, we set off.. there was about 9 of us on our bus (another thing that was a far cry from what i was expecting.. no tuk tuks here guys!!) a few english, french, dutch and german - an eclectic mix but all good. We set off first for the Jumping Croc Cruise... 
after being scared with stories of Croc attacks and braving holding a snake - as you can see from my face, i wasn't the most relaxed during this experience (although if i'd known what was to come I'd have thought this was a piece of p*ss!) - we boarded the 'Croc Cruise' and set off to find some crocs... we did! Several! and all i can say is I never want to be sharing the same water as one of them! 
After that we headed on into Kakadu National Park.. which I discovered is actually the same size as Israel... just small then!!!???!! The pic shows our group at the entry sign to the park, after which we drove on to the visitor centre, then to the aboriginal art gallery.. which is not a gallery as we know it but lots of aboriginal art on the sides of the rocks in the park.. all with significant meanings - which i can't really remember now (I know, I know.. i really should pay better attention!)
After that we walked up to the look out point - has a name but again, i can't remember it! - amazing views though, as you can kind of see from the pic... - before heading to the camp for the night, where as I've already mentioned I was suprised to see what to me was luxury for trek accommodation (have to admit to being scared about spiders though.. am yet to encounter too scary a specimen though!) That night we all headed for dinner along with the other 2 groups that were doing the same tours and had a massive meal, all stuffed ourselves stupid, drunk a fair bit and went to bed... readies for another day... as the fraggles would say!! (??!)
So, after our oh-so-lovely bus trip to Singapore we arrived in the early hours and made our way to Fragrance Hostel (Dunlop street, Little India... anyone that goes to Singapore, this is a little gem - and thanks to Claire and Rob for recommending it to me) and between us charmed the guy into letting us into our dorm early for half the usual cost (I say dorm but we had it to ourselves so i'm still, at this point, yet to really expierence dorm life!) We promptly - or after faffing with our phone's trying to get a number to give Caroline to call me on - fell asleep for a few hours before heading out to make the most of my 2 days in Singapore! Now, people always say to me, you either love or hate Singapore, well, if that's true than I'd go with the former.. whether it was because I'd so recently come from Thailand & Malaysia and to be in a lovely pristine environment with all sorts of mod cons, not to mention hot showers (how much am i loving the new found hot shower thing again, small things eh!) whatever the reason, i had a great time there and think its a fab place!
On our first venture out of the hostel, after receiving lots of advice from the staff there (they're so helpful!) we made our way to the Sim Lim Centre to check out the electronics Singapore is famous for.. I got myself a spare battery and memory card for my camera and also found a cheeky new pair of sunglasses (as well as getting the guy that sold me them to fix my other - -'oh so good quality' pair bought from that classy establishment that is the Khaosan Road!! After that, we braved the rain (it really does rain here!) managing not to fall over.. our flip flops weren't exactly providing the best grip on the wet slippery roads and found ourselves a cab (we were going for the sky train but it was raining too much) to the Science museum as we'd spotted a Star Wars exhibition was on and Russell got all excited! On arrival there we were informed that as it was Chinese New Year and this particular Monday was a public holiday, the museum wasn't open.. so, we picked up a stray Singaporean guy who'd done the same thing but had no taxi to get him back to town and turned around.. deciding on the way we'd hit Orchard Road and do a spot of shopping! The journey backed proved very informative, not only did this guy pay for the cab (bless him) he also told us about a showing of Harry Potter in the Omni theatre at the museum the following morning.. it did mean getting up early but Russell and I were both quite excited about that! 
Anyway, we made it to Orchard road and hit the shops (always a mistake when i'm involved!) Having been deprived of 'proper shopping' since a while before my departure from home... i was like a kid in a sweet shop - i think Russell got a bit of a shock and there was one occasion he had to remind me that 'no, I didn't need a very lovely pair of 3 inch peep toe wedge heels whilst backpacking - Jules, you'll understand my distress at having to leave the shop without them but i did, very reluctantly, have to admit that he was right, damn it!! (Ju - I'll send you the link for them, then you can buy them and it'll be almost like i have them too!) I do have to admit however, to the cheeky purchase of a very cute skirt (ideal for beach wear so justifiable) and some earrings! Naughty? perhaps.. but could've been worse.. i could've shopped at Cartier!! ;0)We did intend to head out to the waterfront for dinner that evening but were so shattered that we made it to a cafe about 2 doors away from the hostel, had the best food ever including a vanilla milkshake that could've ben a meal in itself) and then mooched back and watched another DVD (really quite rubbish and we both fell asleep half way through it!)
The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed back to the science museum for the Harry Potter showing... it was wicked, the Omni theatre screen goes right over your head and round the sides so you can imagine what the criditch matches were like (Andy and Huggs..am guessing you're a little bit jealous of that!! hehe!) After the Harry Potter extravaganza we headed to another part of the museum for the originally intended Star Wars exhibition.. where i found myself part of a sound effects demo and beating Russell at mind games involving moving a ball with nothing but the waves given off by your mind when relaxed (can't remember the technical term) - obviously, being female and superior in the mind, i won!! ;0) 
After our Science museum overload we headed down to the Quay for a lovely lunch by the water before it was time for me to head back to the hostel and get myself sorted for my flight to Darwin... can't believe it's nearly time for me to go to Australia! Madness! Once I'd got myself packed, Russell and I chilled out and watched yet another DVD before he got me a cab to the airport, then i was off! Just to say Russell, thanks for being a fun travelling companion for the past few days, i was expecting to be on my own throughout Malaysia and Singapore so you made it much more fun for me and I look forward to catching up if our paths cross in Australia! xxx
Well, following my brief stop in Georgetown, largely spent sleeping (badly might i add thanks to the guy next door coughing constantly, getting up at 5am and the street noise outside!) or on the internet updating this thing i departed for KL, was told by the girl at the hostel that the best thing to do was just get myself over to the bus station at Butterworth and find a bus from there... it proved pretty easy and I didn't even haven't to pay for the ferry over - have no idea how i managed that but I'm not complaining! The pic shown is of Georgetown on my departure on the ferry - the only pic i took there so there wasn't much choice of what to put on here!
The bus to KL was ok, there were very few people on it and i was the only backpacker but it was ridiculously comfy and i was quite happy whiling away 4 hours listening to my i-pod and drifting off. I'd actually been organised this time too and booked a hostel in KL before arriving there; The Green Hut, in the Golden Triangle - I'd been told you need to be careful where you stay in KL and this was a fairly decent area. It was also my first experience in a dorm.. although it was 4 bed, there was one other girl in my room and i didn't lay eyes on her once so i don't think it was a true impression how dorms are! When i arrived I checked in then got chatting to a very sweet Dutch girl, we sat and chatted then went for soemthing to eat - she was waiting for an early morning flight to Australia so i didn't see her again after that but was nice to have some company for a while.
The following day my plan was to get up early so i could book my overnight bus to Singapore and make the most of my only day in KL.. while loitering about the lounge area of the hostel I met Russell, who helped me out with sorting my bus ticket to Singapore and who i then ended up spending the next few days with. Our day in KL consisted of visiting the communication tower... an impressive view of the city.. then onto Chinatown for some food, where we got chatting to an english couple that now lived in Sydney who gave us lots of tips for when i reach there. After that we were both exhausted and I personally found KL quite overbearing... it's so polluted and a little grimy i thought, maybe i didn't do it justice as I was there for such a short time but I can't say i was sorry to leave really, Russ had decided to come to Singapore with me as was flying to Australia from there a few days later than me so we headed back to the hostel and passed the remaining hours before our midnight bus to Singapore by drinking lots of tea and watching DVD's.. perfick!
The bus to Singapore wasn't quite like the one from Georgetown - KL, infact it was ridiculously uncomfy and again Russ and I were the only bakcpackers on it (where are they all? we were beginning to think they knew something we didn't!) it's safe to say we didn't get much sleep, it was so cold and condensation from the air con kept dripping on me, if it hadn't been for having company and Russell's supply of hot chocolate, I'm not sure I'd have got through it! (Thanks Russell!) xxx
Well, I can't quite believe it's happened already but I've now left Thailand! ;0( Phase one of my travels is over.. I could've quite easily stayed longer (Kate I'll be more than happy to come back with you when you decide to go).. anyway, once i dragged myself away from Dreamland and made sure my little taxi driver (from Dreamland) had promised to look after Luke for me, off i went to catch my boat... trip down to Malaysia consisted of boat to Surat Thani (the only good thing about it being the sunset you see in the pic) and train down to some random place called Sangoigolok or something like that, only once at the train station i realised that the random place was just that and changed my ticket to a train to Butterworth - a more well known tourist destination... that done all that was left to do was endure a 'pleasant' 3 hour wait for the train... great - i have never been so grateful for a train to turn up and a top bunk be waiting for me!
After arriving at Butterworth this afternoon i decided to pop over to Georgetown for the night before heading to KL tomorrow... this is where I am now... my hostel is ok, nothing special but it'll do and the people are friendly.. i have a feeling, as it's a bit of a whistlestop tour of Malaysia that i may spend my few days here on my todd but maybe it'll be good for me.. character building or something!! that's what i keep telling myself anyway!
Well guys, this is kind of acting as a journal for me too so i hope I've not been boring you with my tales (if anyone's been reading them that is!) if i don't write them down I'll forget all the little things that have made me laugh so much over the last 7 weeks.. i can't believe that's all its been too, seems like so long since i was at home!! I'm missing you all lots and I hope you're all well and happy and settling into the new year ok... post your comments or email me and keep me posted on all your news.. Love you all lots, me xxxxxxxx
Having moved my flight to Darwin back from the 3rd to the 10th, it was now time for me to actually leave - it would be so easy to stay! - On the 4th, as it was my last night we thought it only right to mark the occasion and headed to Game Bar for some fun along with a group of Scots and some Essex lads also staying at Dreamland... the evening progressed and despite intentions of a fairly early night, we stumbled home in the early hours instead.. oops! A 3 hour boat trip wasn't going to be good on a hangover!
Getting out of bed and waking myself up enough to actually pack my bag was a bit of a mission the next morning but i managed it, went for my usual pancake with lemon (that never once came with lemon, always lime) then lazed on the beach with Luke for my last few hours in the land of Dreams!
Once again, when i came to leave, i said bye to everyone then Luke took my bags out to the taxi (what am i going to do now... carry my own bag?! how rude!!;0) and i found myself all choked up - there's that saying bye to people thing again! - I thought i'd got used to it by now but nope, Luke I'll admit, i hated leaving you too - I've had a wicked time travelling with you and hope you've had fun too... I'll see you in Oz hopefully.. if you can tear yourself away from Dreamland that is!! 
So, I find myself alone again... still don't really like it - would much rather have someone to have fun with and now i keep looking round to tell 'my boys' something but they've both gone now (well, from sight anyway) so i just look like i'm talking to myself and as Andy would say 'I don't like it!' (not quite the same written as when he's doing his Little Britain impression but I can imagine it even if you lot can't!).
I have to say though, my time with 'my boys' has definetly not been wasted, not only have i made 2 great friends, I have also learnt to Juggle, play frisbee golf, chess and shoot a gun not to mention improve my originally non-existant skills in pool, poker (apart from the poker knowledge you guys at work taught me obviously) and musical knowledge...so all in all I think my time as one 3rd of ALF has not only been fun but productive too... I'm not sure if the other 2 thirds of the group benefitted from my being there but I hope i gave a little something back at least... even if it was only providing you two with someone to rip the p*ss out of constantly (although i think i gave as good as i got there too!) On a more soppy note, I have loved being a part of ALF and I'm very sad to have left you both now. xxx
As you can probably imagine, the rest of our days at Dreamland were spent quite leisurely! We had intended to leave for Koh-Tao for a few days on the 1st but in light of us now hobbling around we didn't really fancy going anywhere that meant lugging our backpacks around.. so we didn't! The most active things I've done since then is take a little walk up to the Panviman - one of Charlotte & Kev's honeymoon hotels - to see what it'd be like to stay in luxury! It was purely coincidence that i found myself on the same beach as my sis went for her honeymoon but what can i say guys... good choice! The Panviman is beautiful and the setting is perfect (pic shown is me sneaking in there for a peak at the luxury before sloping back to my cold shower bungalow!)
Other than my little jaunt up there, there's only one new thing to report... I've learnt a new trick... yep, with all this time on our hands, Luke's passed on some of his infinete talents (!?!) and taught me how to juggle - how much fun is that!! I even have my own juggling balls now (thanks Luke) and well, lets be honest, i'm really not that good but practice makes perfect and I'm loving my new trick.. it's great! xxx
After our comical start, Luke and I did make it to Koh Pha-ngan and after a rather entertaining taxi ride with some 'unusual characters' were dropped off at Dreamland! We'd decided on the trip over that following the hectic partying we'd done in Samui, we now just wanted to chill out... this place we'd been randomly dropped at was the ideal place something or other beach (can't remember the name right now.. Lotte do you remember?), on the north of the island - it was beautiful, largely deserted, no annoying sellers on the beach wanting you to have henna tattoo's or buy random items you'd never use.. nope, none of that, just lovely white sands, calm seas and a few bars and restaurants... perfick!
We checked into to a lovely little bungalow (view from which is shown in the pic) and settled ourselves in for some R&R.. to be honest, many of the days blur into one during our time here and we stayed much longer than intended (for various reasons) but mainly our days went something like this.... leisurely wake up, go for brekkie, maybe check our email, head to the beach, soak up some sun (if it was raining, chill out in the restaurant, reading or trying to get this thing up to date) have more food, chill out, have a few drinks, sleep! Hard life eh!!! We did kayak over to the other beach one day though, that was quite exhausting! ;0)
We did however, manage to spice things up a little on New Years Eve... not in the ideal way though to be fair. we got ourselves some Pha-ngan Tattoo's (as I'm now fully aware they're commonly known!)
. Having decided we'd been far too lazy and noticing that all the yummy shakes, banana & chocolate pancakes and ice-creams were taking their toll on our waistlines, we decided, along with another guy we'd met, that we'd hire motorbikes and see some of the island.... what we hadn't really banked on was the dubiousness of the roads and their general steepness... our little 125 with 2 of us on it didn't really approve and despite Luke's valiant attempts of control, we found ourselves hitting the road, literally, not long after leaving Dreamland... ouch! I fell backwards and landed with a bump on my bum (the pic above is a bandaged up me on NYE!!) and Luke found himself being dragged by the bike and hurt his knees a fair bit - we headed back to base camp to fix him up then decided we wouldn't let it beat us... so off we went again, this time more successfully, we made it to a waterfall then all the way to Haad Rin (home of the Full Moon Party) where it was packed with people and we felt very lucky to be able to go back to our little haven.
After eating and re-charging our batteries we hopped back on the bikes, only to find ourselves in a similar predicament to earlier not far out of Haad Rin.. this time Luke managed to get the bike in check but not before it had landed on my toe and sent me flying down the hill at top speed - the only way to stop myself was to chuck myself in a ditch, in shorts, this doesn't make for a good idea, however was preferable to running into oncoming traffic! This time I managed to hurt my legs and my toe wasn't looking too healthy.
We made it back to a clinic we'd seen earlier only to find it closed so decided that the best thing was for Luke to get the bike back and me to go get my toe checked at hospital. It started to rain shortly after i left them with the bikes so not only did i find myself worrying about them but i also found myself at a hospital with no doctors!!!!!! Yes, that's right - silly me thinking there'd be one there!!! I was told to go to a clinic, which i did to have the 'doctor' say 'i don't know' when i said i thought i'd broken my toe! hmm... interesting!! After some comical and completley pointless treatment, i was on my way home - i had been fearing that i would be stuck on my own there come midnight but thankfully i made it back and was relieved to find Luke safely there too.
Once we'd rested a little, i called mum and so as not to worry her, asked her advice on what to do about 'my friend's' toe - she called in expert advice (thanks Jackie) and i had my toe strapped up in no time! Luke and I treated ourselves to a nice dinner and numbed the pain with several beverages and comfort food - yep, there's those pancakes and shakes again.. we've no willpower but they're soooo good! It's not all bad though, we found ourselves on the beach at midnight with fireworks, not a bad way to see 2006 in! Luke was still bopping on the dancefloor at 3am - i was baffled as was still in pain.. not fair!!
New Years Day saw Luke in a fair bit of pain with his knee's so off we went to the hospital again - this time they had a doctor and were far more useful, although unintended the nurses offered to clean my wounds and the doc then sent me for an xray on my toe... verdict: nothing broken - (and that goes for Luke too!) Phew! So, other than our new found Pha-ngan Tattoo's, as I've recently discovered they're known as (apparently this is quite a common occurence) we're ok, but i don't think we'll be venturing back onto a motorbike in the near future!
On that note... Happy New Year everyone... i hope you all saw it in in style!! xxxxx
Sad as it is, all good things have to come to an end... Andy left for New Zealand on Boxing Day so ALF became ..LF - Andy leaving has once again reminded me of the thing I like least about travelling... having to say goodbye to people... I've loved travelling with him and have had so much fun, it's very strange to be without him and I'm very glad to have made such a good friend. Andy - cheers for making me laugh, being silly with me, looking after me, doing all the daft things I dare you to and making the past few weeks so much fun (don't let this go to your head though, I do still plan on abusing you lots, making you do more daft things and kicking your a*se at pool, polka and the rest as soon as we're in the same country again, ok Smeghead?! ;0) 
Just to amuse you bods (if there's anyone reading this!) and prove that the remaining 2 musketeers are actually pretty useless without our 3rd member, we decided to ditch our transfer to the boat we'd booked to Pha-ngan (we'd decided to move on aswell) and share a taxi to the port with Andy to see him off then just hang out til it was time for our boat.. this is what we did, only when we headed over and confidently showed our tickets, 10 minutes before our boat was due to leave, we were informed that our boat was indeed leaving in 10 minutes - from a different port, 20 mintues away... oops!!! So, we did the only thing we could do - laughed at ourselves and bought another ticket from the port we were at!! Comedy! xxx
Well, it's safe to say I've not had a Christmas Day quite like this one before... first things first, we had to wrap our pressie's.. nothing like leaving it til the last minute eh! 
Anyway, pressie's wrapped, champagne retrieved from the fridge and glad rags on (for that read bikini's and board shorts) we headed off to a lovely little cafe on the beach for our champagne breakfast and present giving - we decorated the table with a few little bits (courtesy of mum) popped open the bubbly and declared the Christmas festivites open (even though they'd already started last night).
Sat there with our champagne, full brekkie, sunshine and presents on the beach we decided life was pretty good.. there were worse places we could've found ourselves on Christmas Day! We spoilt each other lots and I was very chuffed with the lovely presents i received & amused that the joke presents were made full use of immediatley (good work lads!). After we'd polished of the champers we headed out for Chaweng to action the plan of surfing (the boys), soaking up some sun (me) then food, drink and silly games!
Just as we reached Chaweng beach it started raining a fair bit - sun soaking idea abandoned, i had to have a massage (tough life eh?!) while the boys surfed. After those strenuous (well for the boys anyway) activities we headed to The Wave, where we'd booked our traditional English roast... starters weren't exactly traditional but were delicious and we were all ridiculously full so postponed our dessert for a few hours and just had a merry old time doing the quiz, making balloon animals (i still think ours was the rightful winner even if the rest of the pub didn't! and it's a cobra for those of you wondering!!) and generally being silly - in comedy Chav Chic burberry visors (it was a joke don't worry!).
Once we'd exhausted ourselves in Chaweng, made all our phonecalls home and Luke had used up all his fireworks, we headed back to Lamai and hit Ninja Crepe's for another internet/phone sesh, including amusing ourselves abusing each other on msn, this time with webcams - brilliant - before contentedly collapsing into bed!
All in all I had a wicked Christmas and I couldn't have picked 2 better guys to spend it with if i'd tried... Andy & Luke, you made my Christmas full of fun, laughter and silliness - thank you, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! xxxx
Christmas Eve.... yey! Let the games begin!!!
Before they could though, there was something that needed sorting out... Andy! Yes, a very worried boy returned from Ninja Crepes that morning - troubles with his flight to New Zealand booked for a few days time. I won't go into the details but suffice to say the majority of our christmas eve was spent in one of those little private booths (using the internet that is, honest!;0) Andy & I eventually came up with a plan of action, made sure he was ok and could breathe easy again then ventured out to start the christmas fun...
First things first, Christmas Shopping! It's been strange not having to do the usual christmas shopping (despite my good intentions of sending some home... you will get them eventually guys, i promise!) so off to Lamai we went, not the biggest town in the world so we kept bumping into each other and having to hide presents we were about to buy! I had to resort to enlisting the help of a poor unsuspecting man just enjoying a drink with his mates as my idea of sizes for men's clothes is rubbish! Anyway, we eventually got ourselves sorted and instead of heading home, happened upon a bar with chess boards on the tables... i think it was just an excuse for the boys to beat me at something new but I agreed to be taught and by some christmas miracle managerd to win the first game (thanks Andy.. think your tips might've just swung that one!) needless to say, that's the only game of chess i have won so they were right, they can beat me at that too!! damn them!!
After that, we headed back to dump our purchases at home and pick up some supplies for the champagne breakfast we'd decided on for Christmas Day.. not very backpacker like but we decided we deserved it!
We 'd also decided that we'd take it easy this evening so we were fresh for Chrsitmas Day and a full on sesh! Well, as you can probably guess... best laid plans and all that... didn't quite go as expected.. we headed back into Lamai and had some food then onto Bauhaus (the cocktail place) again, where Luke prepared his cake of 1000 dubious chinese fireworks for 'lift off' at midnight... the pic's here show the before, during and after effects of that particular cake! Luke's 'big kid-ness' is most evident in his love for all things firework related as you can probably tell from the pic's! the previous evening had seen Andy and I running for cover when the loudest firecrakers in the world were being lit by our friend Lucas! ;0) 
Anyway, following our firework display and some cheesy dancing to a few christmas 'toons'.. the DJ then took leave of his senses and starting playing some odd stuff, cleared the dancefloor and signalled it was time for ALF to leave the building (no, we didn't get chucked out, it was us deciding it was time to leave) so we wandered back to our local, serenading the lucky Lamai bods with some of our own tunes along the way... i wish I had a video of our brilliant rendition of Bohemian Raphsody but unfortunately that's the only one i didn't capture on film... we were all a bit caught up in the moment! What followed was serveal games of pool (me geting beaten alot again) and lots of drinks.. the whole staying sober thing didn't really work.. we all got very drunken and silly and staggered home at some ridiculous hour, doing daft impressions and singing at the tops of our very out of tune voices... oh what fun and there was a whole 'nother day of it to come too... Get in!!
On that note, I'll leave you for now with a pic of me and my boys (aka: ALF) taken just after midnight on Christmas Eve. xxx 
Following the effects of our numerous cocktails and dancing efforts, we didn't really see much of the next day... we whiled away the few hours of daylight that we managed to see in our new-found favourite place.. Ninja Crepes.. the best internet cafe in the world, with little private booths, director style leather chairs, web-cams and a little button to call the waitress when you needed something to quench your thirst or line your tummy.. brilliant!!
The evening came and despite intentions of heading to a beach party we'd seen advertised, we didn't make it beyond our bungalows, where we spent the evening playing cards and drinking dubious thai whisky that cost about 25bht (all of about 30p!!) Can i just add that i actually managed to hold my own in the card playing stakes that evening... ok, so it was only Sh*thead but that's not the point.. i managed to beat the boys at something.. that's the point!!!
The following day; the eve of Christmas Eve, Andy's wish finally came true... he got to surf!! Or at least.. try!! Courtesy of Luke, who can already surf, we headed to Chaweng to give it a shot - 
I'm ashamed to admit I actually chickened out of trying it and yes, i am kicking myself now, i should've at least tried body boarding, but hey, there's always Australia! 
- Anyway, i digress, the boys hired some boards and headed into the water to teach Andy some surfing etiquette... I was 'official photographer' for the occasion so settled myself on a sun-lounger and prepared myself for some surfing delights! I wasn't disappointed, Andy made great progress and managed to catch his first few waves, standing upright too... to make up for me telling silly tales and putting comedy pic's of him on here, I have included one of him surfing when he'd got the hang of it! (and one of Luke too).
After they'd tired themsleves out riding those waves, and i'd had enough of being harrassed by various people wanting me to have henna tatoos or buy all sorts of tat, we headed off for something to eat and to find somewhere to book for our christmas dinner. Mission complete we headed back home to chill out and decide what to do with our evening.. as the boys were shattered from surfing, we decided on visiting our local and getting an early night... visting the local happened (which meant i got to have Ali's delicious Massaman curry, my new fave! Yum!) but the early night went to pot a little when we embarked on a game of Poker.... i think i put up with more abuse in that evening that the rest of the 'ALF' adventure altogether... In my defensive, i was doing pretty well then Luke and I went head to head, bets getting higher and higher... when we'd exhauseted our betting tactics and showed our hands... we both held a Full House - unfortunately for me Luke's hand beat mine, only just mind - but you can imagine the gloating that ensued from there on in.. esp as i was then left with only 8 chips!! hey ho, its the taking part that counts.. honest!! ;0)
That coupled with numerous drinks, including a shot recommened by Ali - Baileys & Jaegermeister (try it, its good) - and some good tunes (again, requested by the boys) made for a very entertaining evening - more so for the boys who loved being able to rip it out of me for beating me so dramatically at poker! xxx
A new era was dawning today... unbeknown to us that morning... Andy & Flee were about to become 3! Well, ok that bit we knew but what we didn't realise was that we were embarking on The Age of ALF!! Yes, our 3rd member; Luke, is as big a kid as the two of us so that could only mean one thing.... triple trouble! Get in!! And for those of you who haven't worked out the obvious (duh!)... ALF = Andy, Luke & Flee! Originally invented as a means of keeping score in the numerous games I was to be beaten at in the forthcoming days but soon to become our collective identity!
On our way to - reluctantly - deliver our lovely little Jeep back to it's proper owners, Luke; Andy's friend, called to say 'I'm here, come get me..' so we did a movie style about turn, slammed on the brakes, did a wheel spin to end all wheel spins and shouted over the screech of tyre against tarmac 'it's alright mate, hang on.. we're on our way!' (Not really Mum, don't worry, we did a very safe 3-point turn and off we went to the port to find our 3rd musketeer!) We had intended to make Luke stand in the back of the jeep in 'Surfin' USA' stylee but as it was raining, took pity on the weary traveller and let him squeeze in the back and keep dry!
After waving goodbye to our faithful Jeep we headed back to Lamai to get Luke settled in his own private bungalow on the beach, then made use of the frisbee and football on the beach... needless to say, i got totally slaughtered, this time by both of them, much to their amusement - esp when on my suggestion we played piggy in the middle, in the sea, almost out of my depth... what was i thinking??!!
Once we'd given Luke 5 minutes to breathe and recover from his seasickness, we voiced our half price cocktail plan... a winner it seemed! So we headed off to what was to become our local.. The Drunken Sailor! Run by a lovely lady named Ali who very obligingly put up with us playing pool, alot, and adhering to the many musical requests of the boys (by now, they'd both realised how rubbish my musical knowledge is so the tunes were left to them - although my iPod is now looking much more healthy in its selection of music thanks to Luke, the IT geeks, expert assistance! Thanks Luke!)
After being beaten several million times (its all good practice though, that's what i keep telling myself, and the boys, anyway) at pool, we ventured into town to sample a few cocktails.. or ten at least.. that was our aim as we wanted the free t-shirt - a successful mission might i add! You'll note the 'lovely' t-shirt modelled by yours truly in the pic! The evening inevitably progressed into an amusing drunken dancing extravanganza, with the highlight being our amazing display on the dancefloor of an imaginary frisbee match, much to the delight (?!) of everyone else in the bar.. Personally i think we surpassed ourselves, especially with the inventive methods of catching an make-believe frisbee that we, and in particular Luke, came up with..!Unfortunately, as we were all three involved in this party piece, there's no photographic evidence.. perhaps not a bad thing!! As you can probably tell though, the tone for the next few days had been set... Get in!!
On that note, guess what.. I'm hungry again... so I'll leave you with a couple of comedy photo's from that evening..and the rest, well.. to be continued... love you all lots xxxxxx 
Ok, so decision made to hire Jeep and move to Lamai beach... off we went in search of our perfect Jeep.. visions of an open top, sporty little number were dancing in our heads... didn't quite end up with that vision but it was a cool little two-seater and did us proud... we were both quite excited about driving again (small things eh!) so got Andy's funky little I-River set up, put some tunes on and off we went, zipping round the island... we started by heading to 
Lamai and finally found a halfway decent place to stay that wasn't charging the earth... a little place called Wish Bungalows.. quite cosy and no hot water but on the beach and a big improvement on Maenam Village Bungalows so we were happy campers! We dumped our stuff and headed back out onto the open road... heading west to check out the beaches over there. It doesn't take long to drive round Samui and once at our destination found a gorgeous seafood restaurant (Big John's) and stuffed ourselves with delicious fresh fish right by the sea! Yum!
We noticed that this was a fab spot to watch the sunset so decided to come back later to see it.. off we went again, this time to Chaweng in search of someone to teach Andy to surf... the aim of this part of the trip for him... Chaweng is the best beach for surfing on the island so we headed there and found the Hardcore Surfing shop... on enquiring none of the staff had any clue about anyone on the island that might offer surfing lessons so we eased Andy's disappointment by spending money.. western prices, oops!.. on some rather lush Ripcurl flipflops for Andy and Reef ones for me (well, i felt his pain too, i couldn't let him go through it alone, what kind of friend would i be then!?!) Jules, am just going to say two words to you here... Dry Oats!
Having spent a rather long time deliberating our purchases we finally got back on our merry way... only to discover on leaving the sanctuary on the surf shop that, in true Andy & Flee style, it was dark and we'd completely missed the Sunset ... oops!! Instead we popped into an internet cafe to check our emails quickly... two hours, an abundance of msn abuse (yes, while we were sat next to each other and paying for the priviledge but it amused us) and some hugely childish antics, of the laughing so much your tummy hurts kind, involving Kandi's friend back home and another 'foreign body' who would i imagine wish to remain nameless, we finally left said internet cafe and found our way back to our funky automobile for our cruise home! Oh, how that evening makes me chuckle to myself - Andy, if you're reading this, I've just one thing to say to you... 'What goes around...!' ;0) I hope you're laughing as much reading this as i am writing it!! 
I have no photo's of our nifty little Jeep or of the beaches on the west... am not sure why, think i must've been too busy map reading/driving/playing eye-spy/laughing at Andy's impressions/and generally batting abuse back and forth with Andy to remember to take any pics, unlike me I know, sorry guys! The pic shown above is of the beach at Lamai by our little bungalow.. and the one to the right is the view from our bungalow.. was very pretty!
Anyway, we ended our adventure that day by heading out for food and a few beverages in Lamai at a place called Bauhaus, which we noticed were having a half price cocktail night the following evening... as Andy's friend Luke was arriving to join us for christmas the following day, we decided it'd only be polite to welcome him to the island in true style..well, it'd be rude not to really wouldn't it?! despite the fact that he'd have been travelling all day to get there! Ah well, a little siesta and he'd be raring to dance the night away, we were sure...ish!?!?! xxx
After being introduced to Mat's Mum (Gwen - in the pic below with Mat), brother (Chris) and brother's girlfriend (Peta), 5 minutes after waking up when looking a total state - nothing like creating a good first impression eh?! (and this was nothing like one i can assure you!) Sunday morning saw us all chilling out at Chris and Peta's lovely house in Box Hill along with their very cute dog; Cooper! Now, most of you probably know I've never really been a dog person but Coop.. you just can't help but love him.. he had me at 'woof!' God, sorry... that line was about as cheesey as is humanly possible! Check him out in the pic though... how adorable is he! It was a lovely morning and fab to get to know Gwen, Chris & Peta - Mat'd always told me how close he was to his family and how fab they were but to see them together was lovely, they're a great family and it's lovely to see 2 lads so close to their mum.
Sunday afternoon we had Mat's leaving drinks to go to at a local pub, where i met loads of Mat's friends - They're also a lovely bunch and obviously the afternoon turned in evening and involved lots and lots of beer. When Mat decided it was hometime (it was his day, only fair he got to decide) Gwen very kindly came and picked us up and dealt with taxiing a very drunken pair home in the back of her car! Thanks again Gwen!
The next day dawned and i can't say i was looking forward to it too much - Mat's last day! His flight wasn't til the afternoon so the day was basically spent sorting him out and making sure everything was in order... you'll all be amused to know that he's as unorganised as me (sorry Mat but it's true!!).. so there was a fair bit to be done. Gwen and I took Mat to the airport and watched from the nice (?!) long queue for economy check-in as Tim Henman and his entourage sailed through to first class in seconds!
