The end of Oz, Malaysia, and home...
I think where I left you last was just before heading up to Queensland.
Queensland - Great barrier reef, rain forest, and outback
We flew up to Queensland and on the first full day there we went out to the reef, which was amazing. For Dad's 60th birthday we had offered him SCUBA diving lessons or a hot air balloon flight, and he had reluctantly decided that he should probably do the hot air balloon flight as he wasn't up to the diving course. However on the reef it was possible for him to do a trial dive which was just the right thing. It was doubly cool as we were there to see him and there was an underwater viewing area so I could take lots of photos and video of him. I tried snorkeling for the first time and that was excellent too - it was amazing being so close to so many colourful, and in some cases large, fish.
The following days we visited rain forests and went up to the tableland and drove out a bit into the outback. I hadn't been in rain forest since I was in Ecuador and it was really great to experience it again. Unfortunately on one walk, a leech decided to take a liking to me - which I didn't notice for some time, until I spotted a rather fat leech slurping away. After putting some salt on, the leech gave up and then it was just a matter of wearing a plaster until it healed despite the anticoagulants.
North of Melbourne
The following weekend we went away with Kate and Obi exploring to the North of Melbourne. We stayed in a town near Castlemaine (of XXXX fame) and visited, amongst other things, a former gold mine. It was pretty impressive as the ground beneath the entire region is riddled with a network of literally thousands of different mines, which means occasionally people's houses disappear after heavy rainfall, because it turns out they were built over a forgotten hole! Sadly this marked the end of our time with Kate and Obi as we were to slowly start winding our way back to the UK.
Sydney
We flew to Sydney from Melbourne, and encountered there the first bad weather of the trip: the day we arrived was fairly gray and it did rain at one stage. The harbour was still outstanding though, especially at night when all the city, the bridge, and the opera house were lit up. As well as going on a tour of the opera house we went to see a play one evening (Influence by David Williamson).
Another day we traveled up to the Blue mountains which were spectacular. They are blue coloured due to a mist secreted by eucalyptus trees in the heat. The area was similar to the grand canyon in topology and I really enjoyed the walking there. It reminded me how much I love hiking - in exactly the same way walking in Colorado did, just over a year ago.
Kuala Lumpur
From Sydney we flew back to Kuala Lumpur where we were for about thirty six hours. The primary goal of this was lots of shopping and a little sight seeing. The highlight of my purchases was a new digital camera, but I also got some clothes, shoes, and DVD's.
Ipswich!
The flight back to the UK was about twelve and a half hours, and we stayed with some family friends near Heathrow after that. The following morning was a tough reminder of normal life in the UK - crawling around the M25 in the pouring rain! :(
So it's back to research and uni life. I'm quite looking forward to going back to Oxford and seeing everyone.
Time to try and recover a bit more from the jet lag.
Ali
PS I downloaded my photos to the PC today and I will try and edit them down to a relatively small collection, as there are way too many to bore people with on the web at the moment.
Queensland - Great barrier reef, rain forest, and outback
We flew up to Queensland and on the first full day there we went out to the reef, which was amazing. For Dad's 60th birthday we had offered him SCUBA diving lessons or a hot air balloon flight, and he had reluctantly decided that he should probably do the hot air balloon flight as he wasn't up to the diving course. However on the reef it was possible for him to do a trial dive which was just the right thing. It was doubly cool as we were there to see him and there was an underwater viewing area so I could take lots of photos and video of him. I tried snorkeling for the first time and that was excellent too - it was amazing being so close to so many colourful, and in some cases large, fish.
The following days we visited rain forests and went up to the tableland and drove out a bit into the outback. I hadn't been in rain forest since I was in Ecuador and it was really great to experience it again. Unfortunately on one walk, a leech decided to take a liking to me - which I didn't notice for some time, until I spotted a rather fat leech slurping away. After putting some salt on, the leech gave up and then it was just a matter of wearing a plaster until it healed despite the anticoagulants.
North of Melbourne
The following weekend we went away with Kate and Obi exploring to the North of Melbourne. We stayed in a town near Castlemaine (of XXXX fame) and visited, amongst other things, a former gold mine. It was pretty impressive as the ground beneath the entire region is riddled with a network of literally thousands of different mines, which means occasionally people's houses disappear after heavy rainfall, because it turns out they were built over a forgotten hole! Sadly this marked the end of our time with Kate and Obi as we were to slowly start winding our way back to the UK.
Sydney
We flew to Sydney from Melbourne, and encountered there the first bad weather of the trip: the day we arrived was fairly gray and it did rain at one stage. The harbour was still outstanding though, especially at night when all the city, the bridge, and the opera house were lit up. As well as going on a tour of the opera house we went to see a play one evening (Influence by David Williamson).
Another day we traveled up to the Blue mountains which were spectacular. They are blue coloured due to a mist secreted by eucalyptus trees in the heat. The area was similar to the grand canyon in topology and I really enjoyed the walking there. It reminded me how much I love hiking - in exactly the same way walking in Colorado did, just over a year ago.
Kuala Lumpur
From Sydney we flew back to Kuala Lumpur where we were for about thirty six hours. The primary goal of this was lots of shopping and a little sight seeing. The highlight of my purchases was a new digital camera, but I also got some clothes, shoes, and DVD's.
Ipswich!
The flight back to the UK was about twelve and a half hours, and we stayed with some family friends near Heathrow after that. The following morning was a tough reminder of normal life in the UK - crawling around the M25 in the pouring rain! :(
So it's back to research and uni life. I'm quite looking forward to going back to Oxford and seeing everyone.
Time to try and recover a bit more from the jet lag.
Ali
PS I downloaded my photos to the PC today and I will try and edit them down to a relatively small collection, as there are way too many to bore people with on the web at the moment.
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