Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays and 1770!

After a very long night at the bus stop i was extremely happy when i saw the bus come round the corner. It was not a peaceful journey though as the bus driver seemed to be going extremely slow on purpose, interesting as we had told him we had to be at the pier by 12pm! We were very stressed but persuaded them on the phone to try and hold the boat while we got there. The woman even drove us down to the pier from the office in her car, and we had 2 minutes spare to get some goon! We were very happy to get on the boat, our home for the next two nights! 


We were even more happy as it seems the storms are a distant memory in Oz - it was boiling! We all spent our first day sunbathing on the deck and went to two seperate snorkelling points. Our boat seemed abit quiet and full of girls from Germany and Sweden who all stuck together. Fortunately there was Bryn and Johan on board who were funny! We spent the night drinking goon outside on the front of the boat and then finally after a long few days passed out in our bed!


At 6am we got woken up by the crew - its now obvious that we will not get any sleep in Australia. We went to Whitehaven beach which was beautiful and had a lovely viewpoint over the swirly beach! We all went in the sea and did baywatch videos which was funny. In the afternoon we did more snorkelling and the evening we drank the rest of our goon and played Dont Panic and drinking games. At midnight we went to the back of the boat and sat for an hour watching these two dolphins play in the sea. They were adorable and definitely made my whitsundays trip! I seemed to pass out again in bed - Naughty Goon. This seems to be a regular thing at the moment as Emily tells me she has full on conversations with me in bed and i cant remember even speaking to her. 


We spent our last morning on the boat sunbathing on the deck before returning back to Airlie Beach. The boys showed us their van they had been travelling with and took us to get our backpacks. We then said our goodbyes and me and Emily went to our hostel to check in! We met Hannah here who we met on our Reef tour in Cairns. We were all knackered so watched Baywatch and Sherlock Holmes on the sofa's. Later in the day we met Donna and Rosie who were also on our reef tour and we were reunited with Amy! We were all getting the night bus to 1770 at midnight so just sat around in our room waiting for a few hours before leaving to get our bus, i was so tired by this point. I never thought i would say that i couldnt wait to sleep on a bus for the night. It was good too and i slept for nearly 12 hours without even realising that we had stopped several times for breaks. 


Eventually we were in 1770, a good place to stop for the night to break up the travelling to Rainbow Beach. We were staying at 1770 Backpackers. After checking in we went to the supermarket and the beach which was amazing as it looked just like beaches in the Gower, only the weather was much better! Me and Emily left Amy on the beach to go get ready for our Scooteroo tour - a ride around Agnes Water and 1770 on bikes for three hours. Unfortunately it seems i was still not over the Thailand incident and freaked out but i got to ride with the main guy who ran it - Pistol Pete who told me loads about the town and pointed out cute kangaroos on the sides of the road! He was hilarious! Emily loved it too but burnt her leg on the exhaust so had to wear a lovely bandage! When we got back to the hostel to see Amy we were just in time for our free BBQ which was amazing! We were all in bed early that night as we had our next bus at 6.30am the next morning - i never want to go on a bus again after Oz. Despite the early morning we were all very excited to get to Rainbow Beach, where we do our Fraser Island tour! This is where we go in groups in 4x4's and drive ourselves around the island and camp in a tent for two nights! 

Magnetic Island...Mini Tornado, Cross Dressing and Koala's!

After a bus journey to Townsville and a short ferry to Magnetic Island we were at our hostel for the next two nights. It was very rainy and we soon realised there wasnt really much to do on this island without sun so me and Amy (our new adopted friend from Hereford!) went and watched the rest of the Inbetweeners movie that they were playing. We didnt really do much else apart from hide out from the terrential rain and wind in our hut for the night.
When we woke up the next morning we had received texts asking if we were ok...we then found out a mini tornado had hit Townsville! That explains why we thought our roof was going to come off all night.
Even though the rain continued we wanted to make the most of it so went to the Bungalow Bay where we could have cuddles with Koala's! I had one with the cute Koala called Matilda. We also held a snake, a crocodile and had a Cockatoo eat a seed from our lips - it was very fun! In the evening we hid away again with tea and biscuits!
The next morning we woke up SO excited at the sight of sun coming through the window - the storm had definitely passed and it was boiling! We spent the day sunbathing by the pool and went for a walk along the empty beach - it was gorgeous!
In the night there was a Cross Dress themed party at our hostel so we dressed up our roomie Chris and he became Christina for the night. He seemed to enjoy it a little too much. We also made excellent men and made the most out of the free punch for cross dressers!
When we woke up we discovered that our bus had been cancelled due to the flooding from the storm. Everyone was very stressed out as people needed to be in Airlie Beach for their boat trips in the Whitsundays. Poor Amy could not get to her original one in time. We hoped they would be running again early the next morning so booked on and spent the day sunbathing again on the island. We needed to be back in Townsville for our bus so we got the last ferry over and planned to sleep inside the bus terminal for the night. When we got there we were disapointed to find that it was locked and so we had to sleep on a bench outside. I thought it was pretty funny and it is definitely something i will look back on and laugh at! I dont think Emily was too impressed though...
Eventually after a long night with the three of us curled up on a bench hiding from the beetles, the bus came at 6am! We were finally getting out of Townsville!

Welcome to Oz - Cairns!

After a long journey from Bali (what should have taken a few hours ended up taking 12 with stops and cancelled flights) we finally landed in Cairns, Sydney! We headed for our hostel, Gilligans - pretty much where everyone stays in Cairns. It is HUGE with a pool, own zipwire, clubs and around 500 beds. Even though i only had 2 hours sleep i stayed awake all day. First me and Emily sorted out a rough plan of what we were going to do in Australia and booked a package to include lots of activities like a snorkelling trip in the Great Barrier Reef,  2 night sail around the whitsundays, and a tour of Fraser Island. Oh and also my skydive woohoo! Unfortunately the package has taken 3/4's of my budget for Australia so it looks like i'll be living off bread and tap water for the next month! 
I was so excited to get to Cairns so i could see Elin, Gwenda and Lucy! They tracked down what room i was in and came and jumped on me and it was so exciting to see them! We had lovely girls in our room too - Greta, Lisa and Sana from Germany! After predrinking we all went out to Gilligans and got very drunk!
Anyway we had to be up 7am the next morning to go on a boat trip around the great barrier reef where we could go snorkelling. It was beautiful and some of the fish were amazing. Some of the girls we met on the boat saw a massive turtle which i was devastated about missing but it was still good. The rain even stopped and we had sun for the rest of the day which was a bonus as Australia has been hit by LOTS of rain at the moment, and i have a bad feeling its planning to follow us down the east coast. 
In the evening i went out with the girls and their friends for St Paddys Day! This was an ultimate bus party thing that was so much fun and went round 6 clubs in Cairns. We also got to watch Wales kick ass at 2am too so that was amazing! 
For my final day in Cairns i chilled in the day - yes it was raining again! In the night we went out again as it was Elin, Gwends and Lucys last night in Australia! We went to ladies night at the Woolshed as we got free champagne for an hour before heading back to Gilligans club. They were doing a wet tshirt competition and Lucy was disgusted...

I was so sad to say bye to the girls this night as i had to be around 6am to start my journey, but i have loved every minute of being back with them and miss them loads already! I wish they were staying in Australia for longer but they will have an amazing time in Asia! Anyway i have only been in Oz for 4 days and i already LOVE it - even if it has rained every day. After Cairns, me and Emily are heading down to Magnetic Island for a few nights - lets hope the sun comes out!

Bali & Gili Trawangan

After a short flight we arrived in Bali and went straight to the hotel that we had pre booked. It was supposed to be a 'superior room' that we paid extra for as we wanted one night sleep in a decent place. It definitely was not superior and felt like we were back in Delhi once again. We sucked it up for the night and after a long night hiding in our sleeping bag liners so no bugs could get near us we got the hell out of there! Ergh!
We found a better place the next day on Poppies 2 in Kuta. After a quick walk around town we realised why everyone tells you to avoid Kuta, it is horrible! Smells AWFUL and you cant walk 5 metres without someone offering you drugs or a massage - "No i would not like a friggin massage!!!". We were stuck here for a few nights as apparently the sea was too choppy for the boat to go over to the Gili Islands. Personally i think this was just a way of getting us to pay for a room for longer! Oh and the weather was awful, it felt far from being in Bali.
Anyway we finally managed to get out of Kuta and got the boat over to Gili Trawangan which was much nicer. We found a lovely place to stay that had a lush pool too! It even had a shower with a door which is a luxury after showering in wet rooms since January! We spent 6 nights on this island but unfortunately the weather was not great. Theres not much else to do on the island apart from sunbathe so we just sat around in the day and then went out in the night. I pretty much spent my week with a hangover - they definitely put something in the vodka on that island! I also seemed to gain a stalker while on this island - a balinese man called Norman. We met him on our first day and apparently it was love at first sight. He called me his flower and a few days later followed me down the island on his bike. He was freaking me out abit but never mind!
After 6 nights on Gili Trawangan we got fed up of the rain so decided to go to Ubud one day early. This day was very funny. First, we woke up and it was boiling with a clear sky - typically for the day we leave the island! Because it was sunny we decided to sit on the top of the boat to try and top up our tan - we are both very upset that our tans we worked so hard on in Thailand are fading! Stupid wet season! We were lying down on the deck when waves started to completely soak us - this continued for over an hour. We were both dripping but it was very funny - especially as i had a Japanese guy sitting next to me who was wetting himself and screeching everytime we went over a wave and we got soaked. I couldnt breathe i was laughing so much. Anyway we survived the journey (miraculously) without falling overboard or throwing up everywhere which was quite an achievement really. We then had a bus journey to Ubud and found ourselves in heaven! A gorgeous room with a lovely bathroom (we even have a bath), lush swimming pool and breakfast for £10 a night - on Monkey Forest Road. We both looked at eachother like he was winding us up but im not going to complain! One of the guys who was on our bus saw our room and immediately asked if there was another. Its a good thing there was as i was willing to fight for it. 
After a lovely sleep in our amazing bed, we were up early to go white water rafting! Although it should have been called Brown water rafting - they had a heavy night of rain so there was alot of mud in the water! It was so much fun though and we did not fall into the water once - obviously we are incredibly skilled! I did at one point slam backwards into the guides crotch though and got stuck so my head was in between his legs - that was embarassing. He got me back later though when he bodyslammed me in the back when we went over a rapid. It was alot of fun to get out and do something active so i would say it was a highlight of our travelling! Plus we looked extremely sexy in our gear.

We spent our last two days in Ubud just looking at the market and sunbathing by the pool etc. The only day we actually had sunbathing weather was the day we were leaving Bali, typical! Nevertheless i am very excited to go to Cairns especially as i get to see Elin, Gwenda and Lucy! I am also looking forward to going to a country where people dont stare at you constantly and follow you down the street, after 8 weeks people shouting 'Massage!' at you can get very annoying! Anyway, off to fly to oz! 

Singapore!

Thursday 1st March
My bus leaved at 11.30pm from KL and arrived in Singapore at around 4am, earlier than expected! I thought i would be dropped off at a bus station so i could wait until 6am and get the train to my hostel for the next night but nope! - i was dropped at the side of a road in the pitch black with no idea where i was going. I had a little look for somewhere i could wait around for it to get light but couldnt see anywhere and didnt really feel safe walking around at night in somewhere i didnt know with all my belongings on me! So i got in a taxi and hoped my hostel for the next night would let me keep my stuff there and just sit around in the lounge. 


However when i got there reception was closed so i could not get in to the hostel. I was tempted to sit around on the steps but again did not feel very safe and was so tired from not sleeping all night - i needed to find somewhere to sleep! I had a little walk and found a backpackers form down the road. I wanted to avoid paying to stay somewhere (the whole point of getting the stupid night bus) especially as Singapore is much more expensive to stay in than anywhere else we have been. But i was so tired i did not care and payed for a bed for the night - the top bunk in the smallest room i have seen! It looked so dirty so i just stayed in my clothes and fell asleep on top of the sheets - didnt get much of a sleep though as i swear i could feel things crawling all over me - ergh! 


Thankfully i woke up and to my suprise - no bedbugs! Woohoo! I did not even shower, just grabbed my bag from the floor and got the hell out of there! I got back to the hostel i was staying in for this night and checked in - it was so clean and nice and i was very happy! Emily had already arrived so were reunited! We were staying at 'Five Stones Hostel' in Clarke Quay.


After showering (finally) we went off to explore! We went to chinatown first then it started to pour down with thunderstorms so we hurried back to the hostel to wait it out! Then when it stopped we went to search for the house that Emilys dad used to live in when he was younger and lived in Singapore - it was pretty cool! We had a look round the shops, found a lush placed 'the bread society' and got bought some almond slices to take back with us - our hostel has free tea and coffee so we are making the most out of it! 

We went to see the famous Raffles hotel on our way back too!

When we got back we watched the rest of the new transformers movie - the hostel also has a big tv sofa's and lots and lots of new dvds so it feels very homely! We drank lots of tea too! We could have stayed and chilled at the hostel all evening but forced ourselves to go out for dinner. After walking down by the river, we went back to Chinatown as it was cheaper. Emily got charged for using a tissue, it was funny! Luckily for me i didnt even realise there was one!

Back at our hostel, a guy from Mumbai was watching the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. I started watching it with him but he kept talking to me about the movie and making random comments about Jack Sparrow and the BlackPearl sinking in a previous movie. Frankly i did not care and he was starting to freak me out, its safe to say i didnt finish watching the movie with him that evening! 


Friday 2nd March
This morning i woke up happy after actually sleeping a whole night. Im still knackered though as im a few nights behind sleeping properly. Mum i know your reading this and i dont have a clue how you work night shifts and dont sleep in the day properly! 


I went to make breakfast and there he was, the guy from Mumbai. He accused me of trying to burn his toast, even though it was not his and it wasnt even toasted. It still resembled bread. He said he was in a rush so i gave him the anaemic pieces and made some more for me and Emily. I think he was in a mood that i ditched the movie last night... haha! The funny thing was half an hour later he was still sat drinking tea watching tv...he must have been in such a rush! 


Me and Emily wanted to go to Singapore Zoo so after going on a wild goose chase to find the bus (the hostel gave us wrong directions to the bus stop so we missed it). We found the public buses that went there though and set off to see some animals! Some of them were very cute, but we were abit traumatised at the Elephant show. At first it was cute and they were splashing in the water, then the men started to get them to pull out logs from the water with chains tied around them. They looked so sad and we couldnt stay and watch it so left. I will definitely be writing a formal complaint to that zoo the poor things! After this, nothing really seemed that great so we left and headed back to the city! 

This was our last outing in Singapore as we had a flight to Bali at 8.50pm. We left our hostel around 6 to get the train and got there at 7.30 so we were abit rushed but it was fine! It was finally time to leave and our travelling in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore had come to an end. I cant believe how fast time is going, it is very scary to think that my flight home is at the end of next month! I want to travel forever! (Dont worry loved ones i dont have enough money to and i miss you!)

Kuala Lumpur!

Monday 27th February
I woke up at 6am and was not excited for my 15 hour journey! I got picked up by a minibus and after picking more people up and driving to their office they realised i was on the wrong one so told me to get off it! Some Thai man was just telling me to follow him as he was on the phone trying to find where my actual bus was. Eventually he got fed up and didnt ask but told me to get on the back of his motorbike and drove around like a maniac to try and find where it was. This was while i had my massive backpack on and also carrying two other bags! I was stressed out haha but eventually he found some crappy looking van and told me to get in! Thankfully there was an English man in there who reassured me it was the right one and they would take me to Hat Yai bus station and not to a real life sequel to a 'Hostel' movie. 
At around 12pm after 5 hours in a boiling hot minibus i got told i had to get on some other bus which went to Kuala Lumpur. I found it just in time and got on. Considering people do this everyday you think they would be more organised! I love how when im travelling with Em it all ran smoothly but when im by myself its a mess! As soon as i got on the big bus to KL though it was all pretty funny, especially as i was the only tourist on the bus and i kept catching people staring at me!
Eventually at 10.30pm i got dropped off somewhere in the middle of Kuala Lumpur and the first things i could see were lots of shopping malls and a Nando's! Some lovely man pointed me in the direction of where my hostel was and after walking down some back streets in the dark trying not to look down after spotting a few cockroaches i arrived at my hostel - 'Reggae Mansion'. This hostel is incredible! I went to my dorm - 24 beds in one room but it was amazing and everyone had their own individual pods which were MASSIVE! After a long day i was extremely happy to go straight to sleep without an alarm set for the morning.


Tuesday 28th February
I woke up after 11am, after missing my free breakfast (boo!) but felt so much better! I showered and got ready which was nice as the hostel was amazingly clean, and then went off to have a look around KL. I asked some nice guy at reception where to go and he pointed out a few suggestions on a map for me and told me where the metro station was which was nice! 
I first of all went to Central Market, had a look around and got some lunch. Then i went to find the famous Petronas Towers. I was very impressed with myself as i found my way there without any problems on the Metro and the towers were amazing! I promised Amy i would get a picture of myself outside them so i asked a randomer to take some snaps for me!

I then went inside the shopping centre connected to it and was amazed to find Chanel, Dior, Mulberry etc. Its such a nice change from haggling at stalls. After window shopping for a while and trying to take pictures of the Tiffanys without the guard looking (photos were banned in the mall) i went for a walk around the park before heading back to the hostel. I also had to go and book my bus ticket for singapore too so went on a mission around KL to find the bus station!
When i got back to Reggae Mansion i met Rachel, James and Matthew who were also travelling by themselves. We had dinner together and went to the bar to drink lots of wine and beer! We persuaded Matthew to get a taxi to the airport later and not get the train so he could relax and drink beer until his taxi around 2am. We also met Claire in the bar who had just arrived to the hostel and gave us half her pizza!
When we said goodbye to him we all went to bed as me and Rachel had booked ourselves onto a tour for the next day and didnt want to be too tired and hungover! I went back to my dorm and after drunkenly trying to get up the ladder to my pod i went to bed. This was after a group of 6 boys who were so drunk came back and also had trouble with their bunks! I could not stop laughing when i heard one of them who was slurring fall off the ladder and make a massive thud. They were hilarious and were grateful that i would still speak to them the next morning - i dont think other people in our dorm appreciated it haha!

Wednesday 29th February
I woke up early to pack and leave my pod in my dorm before i went on the day trip as i was leaving KL that evening. We persuaded James to come on the tour with us too and Claire also decided to come so there was a nice group of us! Our tour guide picked us up and he was hilarious. This is a very flattering picture of him.

So the tour was to show us the 7 wonders of Kuala Lumpur. This included a temple, Little India, the National Mosque, a Memorial site, the Palace, Malay Village and the Hindu temple caves! At the mosque we had to cover up and we were boiling! It was disgusting how much we were all sweating! I think i looked pretty sexy though!
The Hindu temple caves were also pretty cool and we had to walk up 272 steps to get there. On the steps were lots of little monkeys which followed you which were cute! This is some of the guys doing the baywatch run up the final hurdle! When we got to the top it wasnt really that impressive! I also felt sick after the lunch we had to eat - it resembled something i have seen my dog poo on many previous occasions. Not great! These are some pics of the caves and the disgusting food. 

The tour was actually pretty good and was a very easy way to see everything in the city in one day. These are some more pictures of what we did! Our tour driver was tring to kill time at the end so took us to a chocolate factory where we had yummy samples of chocolate and coffee!

After the tour, we got dropped back to the hostel and hung around for a bit. As i didnt have a room James and Rachel sat around with me and then we went for dinner with Claire too. James had never had a Nando's before (weird that they don't have them in America) so he wanted to see what it was like. I was totally up for this as i was amazed there was one here and would get rid of the painful memory of whatever that crap was we had for lunch! James loved it!

We went back to the hostel bar and had some drinks before i had to leave for my night bus at 11.30pm. I hoped having some wine would help me sleep! They then walked me to the station and i started my journey to Singapore. 
I absolutely loved KL and could have easily stayed one or two more nights. It was made much nicer by the fact that the hostel was amazing too and i met some lovely people! I would definitely recommend staying at the 'Reggae Mansion' to anyone who goes to Kuala Lumpur!