Day 1 – arriving in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 14th February Flight 12 hrs 30 minutes –tired us both out. The Taxi drive was interesting, sat in traffic for a little while, hit 3 or 4 toll roads. Realised they drive on the same side of the road as us, right hand drive cars too. Driver had rather hairy ears … odd. Still was only £20 for an hour and a half – 2-hour journey … ridiculous! Landed in KL at 7:00am but weren’t allowed to get into the apartment until 3pm!! What to do? We walked around local area, landed in a very posh shopping centre; Serena KL- had an iced tea in Starbucks (it was around £5 for two drinks – good value). Looked at the Petronas towers, watched the tourists experiment with their poses which was a laugh, sat under a pagoda in the shade sheltering form the 30 degrees of heat. Popped to the shop to grab breakfast and headed to the apartment. Explored, had a well-deserved (and needed) bath! Went to Nandos for dinner, paid a tenner for the same meal we would have at home. Headed back to the apartment before heads hit the pillow after being awake for nearly 29 hours – well deserved and needed sleep. Day 2 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 15th February So, the plan today was to head over to the parks, museums and gardens. However, after these changed plans when the temperature hit 32 and we ran out of water. We jumped on the monorail – was RM6.30 which converts to £1.13 for both of us. Headed to Ma… something where China town was, wandered around there and planned to head over to the orchid garden. Took a few wrong turns and ended up at another monorail station. By this point, we were both sweaty messes and in need of water refill. We made the decision to swap our plans and head up to the roof top pool, Kuala Lumpur tower and helipad bar later in the evening. The trip back was even cheaper from Tu B something – RM 5.80 (£1.04 FOR THE BOTH OF US). Got back to the apartment, check into our flights for Australia and booked our uber for 5:30am (sooo early). Looked at house prices too – lots of flat or apartments but still for what you get in them and with them it’s still generally very good. Day 3 - 16th February – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Botanical gardens, orchid garden morning and evening swim. Johnny rockets for dinner, didn’t get gelato but got Hagen daz. Repacked our bags and not tired but need to be up early for flight. Day 4- 17th February: Australia flight Flight time 8hrs 15mins Up at 4:30 to put bin out, found Amy’s lost t-shirt! Headed down for the taxi, realised we are going to struggle without Wi-Fi … not good. Got taxi to airport, Amy nearly broke her ankle falling over a barrier she didn’t see as we needed cash to pay for the taxi. Made it with loads of time to spare and through security in under 40 minutes. Had breakfast, headed for the gate. Flight was okay had two elderly aresholes in front of us who reclined their seat the whole way! Met Charlotte at the airport and headed our apartment, right in the middle of china town. Chatted for a little while and fell asleep. Day 5- 18th February: first full day in Sydney. Got up met Charlotte, who was late! We went for breakfast which turned into lunch and then start our walk. We walked to the harbour bridge (Barangaroo), dipped our toes in the water and then carried on walking to the opera house. Saw lots of weddings and wedding photos being taken. Stopped for ice cream and pavlova as it started to storm and piss with rain … hard! Carried our walk through the botanical gardens, headed for Mrs Macquarie’s chair to take some photos, carried on walking past the colour run and carried on walking. Saw some bats, birds, rats and gala’s. Came back, showered and went back out for dinner. We walked ten more to find something to eat, finally ate the headed back to the apartment. In total, we walked 30,030 steps in total.
Day 6- 19th February: Coogee to Bondi walk Tried to get some Wi-Fi so headed to Starbucks, didn’t work so connected to the banks Wi-Fi instead. Had seem breakfast then headed to Charlotte’s to meet her and Sophie. Hopped on the bus to Coogee as we decided to rebel and walk the other way. Caught the sun (slightly burnt) had an awesome pizza, took some great photos and got some great exercise. Chucked it down with rain but at least it was the end of the day.
Day 7- 20th February: Blue mountains Today was tourist day for us. We headed to Central to get the train to Katoomba, 2 hours later we arrived. Decided to get the hop on hop off bus as the park is massive. First stop was Katoomba Falls, Eagle hawk look out, Narrow neck look out, Echo point and three sisters (where you can walk onto one of the sisters). We also saw the honeymoon lookout, Leura Cascades, Lyrebird dell, Pool of Silom: which was ours but also a jungle mission to get to. We then hopped on another bus to Wentworth falls. The number of steps or stairways to these places in unreal. Our plan was to talk back to the station; however, the walk was closed and we were knackered. We then waited 30 minutes for our bus, then a further 40 minutes for the train home, another twohour journey in return. We got back into Sydney at around half 8, grab something to eat and headed home. Slept very well. Day 8- 21st February: Sydney powerhouse and bridge photo retake: We had breakfast out this morning then headed over to the opera house and bridge to have a mini photo shoot. Walked into the town where it was clearly lunchtime. So many business people rushing around, barging and grunting. We popped into Vodafone, brought ourselves some Wi-Fi and headed back to the apartment, grabbed ourselves a $1 Slurpee from a 7/11 and walked back to Chinatown. We washed some of our stuff, packed our bags and waited for Charlotte to join us. We went out for dinner, met charlotte’s house mates and saw her house. Headed back to ours as we had to be out by ten. Day 9 – 22nd February: Campervan collection- Amy’s first drive: Travel time was 1 ½ - 2 hours Drive time was 2 ½ hours Charlotte helpfully googled where we had to go to get to the airport via bus to use up our money on our oysters. However, this is not as easy as it sounds. Buses do not inform of named stop. You guess, and count how many stops you pass assuming they are your ones. Anyway, eventually we got to the airport, only to find out we then had to get a taxi to wherever the hell the place was. $25 dollars later and we finally arrive to pick up our home for the net 21 days. Man, with a very strong accent shows us the do’s and don’ts’s of the van and away we go! We drove to Manly beach, had lunch then made our way to Newcastle. Found a lovely caravan park to stop in (even thou we were way past closing hours, they kindly let us in). Belmont pines was our home for the night, saw an amazing sunset, black swans, pelicans and promptly went to sleep. Day 10- 23rd February: Newcastle to Port Macquarie- Jodi’s first drive: Drive time 3 ½ hours Got up and headed on the road for 10am. Drove to the Merewether baths, walked up the beach past Surfest: festival where suffers compete or something. Had a swim in the baths- absolutely freezing! Jumped in the car and headed up to Newcastle beach. Bit of a disappointment, baths were empty, no food anywhere and we were starving and, not much of a beach. Climbed back in the van and headed to port Macquarie. Found a nice little site called Flynn’s Holiday park. Parked up, found a shop, did a wash, cooked some dinner, showered, set up beds. Tried to sort out accommodation for Cairns, as we got free Wi-Fi. Day 11 – 24th February: Drive to Byron Drive time 5 hours Jodi started driving, I picked up when we stopped to get petrol. Finally arrived in Byron, had a little trouble finding somewhere to stay as places were booked. Ended up in glen villa’s still very nice. Had a wander around the shops, showered, ate at the sticky wicket, bed. Day 12- 25th February: day in Byron Hot hot hot today. 29 degree’s with not much of a breeze killed us both. Started off with breakfast, very nice juice bar type place. Byron are very health conscious and like everything to be fresh or organic. Headed down to Clark’s beach, laid for a little while until it got cloudy. Came back to the van, chilled in the heat, wandered around the shops. Procrastinated and figured out the rest of our route, drive times and how long we can stay in once place. Popped to Aldi to stock up on some bits, didn’t realise they no longer give you bags, walked to get Domino’s with our shopping and returned to the van to finish off our plan. Earlyish night as we have a busy day tomorrow. Day 13- 26th February: Drive to Brisbane Drive time 2 hours.
We each did an hour drive, with a stop off at Tambourine mountain. Just a short (and sweaty) walk down some steeps steps and hills, you arrive at a series of pools over run by back packers. Basically, it’s a waterfall call Cedar Creek Falls which you can swim in. However today and where the weather has been so warm, there appears to be a bit of a drought. Anyway, it was lovely none the less and we saw a huge lizard (possibly a monitor) who wasn’t pleased to see us and witness a couple having an argument. Day 14- 27th February: Day in Brisbane city Today was the day we realised how hard it is to find something that is decent to eat in a city. We hoped on the local bus to take us to the city, changes were made and it all got a bit confusing but we made it. Went to south bank first, they have a little man made beach which was cute, forgot our bikinis and towels … again so we couldn’t swim. We then took a stroll through the rainforest walk, spotted some iguanas, and headed for the large letters which spell out Brisbane. Had a mini and very quick photo shoot before heading over the bridge which leads into the city centre. Popped in a few shops, bought a couple of tops and decide that we were hungry. This is where is all got very awkward. Cities in Australia don’t seem to do restaurants, its all a bit grab and go. So we eventually found a decent food court (where the majority of stands were not Asian orientated), shame we didn’t pick a decent food stop. Anyway, it filled a gap and we walked through the botanical gardens back towards south bank. We were rather annoyed to have then literally stumbled upon a Nando’s. Got ourselves and ice cream which cheered us up! Headed back to the campsite, where Amy pressed the bell for the wrong stop and the bus driver… well let’s just say if looks could kill, we would be dead. Anyway, we also learnt today that buses are irregular and we are thoroughly spoilt with the frequency of transport in London. Day 15- 28th February: Moreton Island Today was an awesome day. It was a spur of the moment thing but totally worth it. Early start, 6:00am wake up call to be at the port of Brisbane for 7:30am. Waited in the queue to board the passenger ferry as 4x4’s are the only vehicles suitable to go on the island, and took a seat for the 75 minutes’ journey to the island. We did this all ourselves, you could book a tour but in the end, we saved $200 but doing it ourselves and just paying for the sandboarding. When we disembarked, we thought about doing a snorkel over by the shipwrecks, we attempted this however it was so choppy 10 minutes in the water and you moved nowhere. We sat back and watched all the other little heads bobbing around with their snorkels and waited for the tide to go out just a little. We wandered to a more secluded part of the island and had another mini photo shoot before wandering back to find the tour we were going to join for our sandboarding. We jumped on a 4x4 mini bus type thing and headed for the desert. We are not kidding you when we say it was like a blooming’ rollercoaster! Throwing us in all manner of directions (which of course to us was hilarious) before finally arriving on the other side or middle of the island (we lost our bearings a little). We were given a safety demonstration and briefing before climbing the smaller dunes to reach the top. From up there, looking down at where we were about to travel at speeds of 15mph to 20mphwas a little daunting. However, neither of us hesitated and headed down the dune with grace and style. The downside, however was the climb back up to the top of the mammoth dune. We both climbed up again and headed a couple more turns before discovering EVERYTHING was covered in sand, behind and in our ears, down our tops, in our pockets … everything. Once everyone had a go, we headed back to the beach and went for a dip in the now what appeared to be a completely different and calm sea. Spotted some fish before jumping back onto the Micat and heading back to Brisbane. Was safe to say, when we got back to the campsite the first thing we did was showered. As I type this a bat just flew so close to me, time froze for a second! And that is it for February … roll on March.