Travelling 2007

Hello again to those of you who have not got sick of my posting. I have had quite an action packed two weeks or so since i left the backpackers that i was staying in at Noosa.
Firstly i moved from the shit pit that i was staying at and went to Dolphins beachouse, a cracker of a hostel, right on a good surfing beach. During my stay i chatted to a bunch of people, and all the people who were coming down the coast told me to do Fraser Island. At this point i didnt really know what 'doing' Fraser Island meant but i found out. It seemed Fraser Island was the biggest sand island in the world and that many tour companies ran 4x4's out to the island, some were self drive and some were guided. Hearing that the Islanmds roads were all beaches and no sealed surfaces, i tripped over myself to get on a self drive trip, ehere me and 10 others would tackle the island in a toyota landcruiser for 3 days and 2 nights....camping. Anyway, in order to do this i headed from Noosa to Rainnbow beach, the closest point to Fraser Island, there the hostel organised everyone into groups of 11. They loaded us up with food

Hello everyone, it has been great to hear from people recently, but once again, sorry to hear about your smack Jack, and Harriet for that matter, because it was her car, haha (thats not funny). Anyway, I havent updated my blog recently, not because of being caught in a storm and washed out to sea as i thin Mother believes, just because i havent had the commitement. Its ok though, because i have found a computer in this cafe, where the trime is stuck n 23 minutes, and it has been for the past half hour, free internet for Ewan.
So i was in Queenstown Nezealand when i last wrote. I really enjoyed myself there, it had a small town feel but a big towns nightlife. I dont know whether i had mentioned the Danish guys before, but i spent most of my time with these 3 crazy characters, drinking and doing activities during the day, one of those activities happened to be an 134m bungee jump. Now it is hard to explain the feeling before you do one of these things, from waking up in the morning you have the usual butterflys and travelling in the bus to the jump station, those butterflies start to fly around a little more. Yet it is only when you have climbed the ridiculously steep hill

and taken a cable car to the middle of a huge gorge where everyone piles into this tiny cabin suspended by wire, that you start to crap yourself. Luckily for me though they were playing motivational music and i got in the fucking zone. I am not sure whether chris and jon felt the same but by the time i was about to jump, i was pumped like a gorilla on steroids, saying american motivational phrases like, 'yeah' and 'come on', 'alright' probably featured aswell. Yet all the self motivation in the world can not prepare you for when you walk out onto the ledge, suddenly all your senses are enhanced, you feel ythe wind more, the temperature and without looking down you can sense the height. Then before you can ponder the moment it is....3,2,1 jump. And like an obedient dog, off i jumped.

There is no point in me trying to write how it felt when i was plumetting through the air with nothing restricting my speed because i would nt be able to find th words. All i will say is that you can breath and you almost feel your heart stop. It was the strangest feeling in the world, but one i will never forget.
To help us get over how much fun we had, we all got ridiculously drunk that night, and most of what happened remains a mystery to me. The rest of my time in Queenstown was not so adrelin filled. We spent a drizzly day at Milford sounds, supposedly one of the worlds natural wonders but my experience was dampened by the fact we had to take a tour bus that was 10 hours drive in total, 5 there and 5 back with a 1 and a half hour boat ride when we got there. Spectacular, yes, but not my type of trip.

So then we had a few more nights out etc, enjoyed the mountain scene then i headed to Dunedin, one of the south Islands most southerly cities. Here i stayed in a really nice hostel called Hogwarts that was in an old Bishops residence, was a bit full of fucking snobby brits though, the type of traveller that thinks they ar better than most because they stay in places for 3 months instead of a few days. Piss me off. Anyway, they had a Cadbury NZ factory there, but the main reason for going was to see the penguins and seals on the otago peninsula, nearby. Luckily the Danish lads turned up the next day, as planned, and we hit the Cadbury factory haha, which was, interesting, well not so much interesting but just quite good. Anyway, after we had successfully gorged ourselves on dairy milk we had a few beers then hit the sack ready for a day of penguin spotting. Which might i add started at a fantastic time, 1 in the afternoon, none of this, waking up at 6 in the morning malarky. So we jumped on the bus with our super friendly guide Tony (not in a homo way). Drove out to see some albatross, fur seals in the middle of nowhere, then sea lions, we were literally 1 metre away from them, then finished the day with penguins. Those guys are fucking brilliant, they surf into the beach on the waves then waddle up the beach just like you would expect them to, i laughed myself silly, lookin at the little fella's. Once we had hiked back to th van, we drove back to Dunedin as the sun was setting across an incredible pink and orange sky, listening to jeff buckley as it was the anniversary of his death (according to Tony). That whole day was one of the biggest hightlights of my trip so far. It was so chilled out and fun but we saw some incredible things, and all for 65 bucks. Which is like 20 quid.
On my final evening the guys and I cooked up a famous Danish dish and enjoyed a huge meal, then all of a sudden it was my last day in Dunedin and I said my goodbyes to Morten, Jon and Cris, then headed to Christchurch to catch my plane. I stayed for a night in a hostel then flew out the next day. One the plane i started to think how quickly the months seem to be flying past but how much i had actually seen and done in the time. It still never ceases to amaze me when i stop and think about it.

So i jumped of the aeroplane and was greeted by a sun drenched sydney, sunny, but chilly, remember, it is winter here. I spent the evening wandering around and orientating myself with the city. It seemed huge, compared to the cities in NZ, and very american in its layout and even its culture. American brands dominate the high street alot more than in New Zealand, where they seem to be holding onto their British routes a little tighter. I had a cracking Thai and hit the sack, i spent the next day exploring and soaking up the sun down by the harbour. I did all the typical sights, the harbour bridge and the Opera house. Both were very impressive. Especially the opera house, its interior looks dated now, but its design is still very muc holding its own. By now, i had my fill of big cities and i wanted to get to the beaches. I bought an overnight Greyhound bus pass to Byron Bay which is just south of Brisbane. I say just south, it is probably 4 hours away, but this country is so ridiculously huge that it takes soo long to get anywhere. I spoke to a guy in NZ who had worked on the cattle farms in the Northern Territory, the one he was on wa 500, 000 acres and considered an ;average' size.
Anyway after a hideous 12 hour bus journey i arrived in the balmy town of Byron Bay NSW, famed for its good surf (ha) and its beautiful beaches. By chance, i stumbled off the bus and into the tourist information, picking up the ni8cest looking hostel flyer and made my way towards it. I rocked up and immediately i knew i would like it. The Manager was a young attractive woman and there were palm trees all around. Then she showed me to where i would be staying. There was a house, with two floors, they had maybe 4 bedrooms on each floor, a selection of dorms, twins singles etc. On my floor, upstairs, there was a large veranda and big kitchen/lounge. When i walked in there was a bunch of people all just chilling on the veranda, sat next to THE BARBY. I dont normally go into so much detail about hostels, but this one was different. I stayed there for 5 days and it became home. Every night we all had a big barbeque, splitting the cost for the food and drunk cheap wine (goon). I surfed every morning and kept my board at the hostel, i loved Byron and the people were ace, i got to know the ones who stayed pretty well. I miss it now that i am not there. The surf wasnt great though, that was one of the drawbacks, and the weather was a little...unreliable but the nightlife was tops, especially the night when me and two other american guys tried to getinto a club on the guest list. Then one of them got arrested later for trying to jump through a window round the back of the club, then climbing onto the roof. That was a funny night.
Anyway, i reluctantly left Byron, which, in the scheme of things is not very far up the coast, to my destination, Cairns.
2 hour bus ride and i arrived in Surfers Paradise, but not my paradise. Large Residensial skyscrapers dominated the horizon and only the beautiful white sand beach provided salvage from the neon lit commercial town centre. Granted, it is supposed to be a good night out, but i didnt try. Instead, i tried to surf it, which was damn near impossible, then i left.
After Surfers i hit Brisbane, another big city with high rise buildings, not fantastic weather and no beach....why stay. It was a nice city though, the centre was lively and had someone thrown me a coupleof hundred buckks i could have had a riot. I moved after one night though, and now i am in, glorious Noosa.
It is another, smallish surf town but has developed, in certain areas, into somewhere that the O.C could be filmed. Rich people with their beautiful cars and houses dominate Noosa heads, and the main beach area. Its kind of like southern california i would imagine, rich girls and rich boys, but beautiful beaches, which is why i am here, and relatively good accomodation. I have to say goodbye now though, as my time is up.

So i disembarked the ferry at Picton, happy and thoroughly stuffed on free fish and chips. For me, the North Island had been great, but i travelled through the bulk of it in about a week, and lots of people i met told me that the South Island was better and more beautiful, so i was anxious to get down and find out what it was all about. One thing that you notice straight away is that the scenery is so much more dramatic. High cliff faces and steep mountains make it hard to travel over this country quickly, because iof the roads windy nature. Which is never a bad thing, as i cant explain how much there is to see, its quite amazing.
So i got on the bus early evening and it was a short nap and then i turned up in Nelson. The hostel here was great, free soup at night, free breakfast in the morning, brilliant. Anyway i was quite ill for a couple of days, and even though the sun was shining i was still feeling a bit under the weather. But whatever, i decided to take a trip into the Abel Tasman national park
W
hich was beautiful. Not what i expected from New Zealand, clear yellow sand beaches and perfect blue water, it looked more mederterrainian (?) than anything else. Some thing that does deserve a mention though is the girl who i walked through the park with. One of the thousands of Germans that i have met. She kept saying stuff like, some people say they cant even tell that i am German because my english is so good. "Do you think i sound German?" I had to hold back, because clearly this girl was deluded and had either been speaking to people from the most remote reaches of south america, or she was just being humoured because there was no mistaking where she was from. I mean she said ja and had a really distinctive tone in her voice. So i just said. "well its quite easy for me to tell to be honest....but maybe thats because i am english". Anywhay, she was a character. Fresh from my Germanic encounters i moved down the coast, through on one of the most spectacular drives i have ever been on in my life, which i am sure i will remember for a long time. We drove through a huge channel called the Buller gorge. It had huge mountains on each side and a massive river running through the middle, i cant describe it, but the bus was running just above the river and you got the full view of this truley massive place, i mean, the thing was huge. So when we came out the other side and travelled through a few forgetable towns we reached my destination. A hostel in a place called Punakaiki which is known for its incredible pancake rocks. Literally, a bunch of rocks with lines running down then. Spectacular nonetheless. Also an incrediblly beautiful place. Granted there wasnt much to do there. It was the day beforte my birthday though, and i decided that i didnt want to travel on my birthday so i stayed for 2 nights. The Hostel owner was fucking classic though. He was also a German aswell. He had a little round face and chubby cheeks, round glasses squashed into his nose yet his clothes were the best. He wore chequed button up shirts and trousers that swung around his sock and sandal clad ankles. His voice was brilliant aswell. And one morning, he came into the kitchen, with his German accent and just sung...."wonderful, wonderful, wonderful" quite loudly. I acted like this was normal and made my way quickly to my next destination. Oh by the way on my birthday i spent the evening in a hot spa with a cold beer and a few british girls, which was nice.
So i hitched a ride (well me and this canadian girl who i had met 1 and a half minutes before, and the driver wouldnt believe us when we said we werent a couple. I had heard reports about Greymouth, the place that this guy was taking us (at warp speed by the way, he was driving like a frikkin loon) but i just needed to be in and out, buy a few supplies and that was it. So i did this, and started to walk around the town, realised it was a shithole and tried to hitch out, but even the people leaving the shit town didnt have any sympathy for those stuck there. Like they thought you could catch something from its crapness. Anyway, i didnt get a ride so i got the bus. Moved further down the coast to the Franz Josef Glacier town. Which was literally what it says. Absolutely beautiful, but just that.

Stayed a couple of nights and moved half an hour down the road to the next Glacier town, where i did a bit of walking and exploring the beautiful area. I walked down to a lake, famous for the reflection it gives of the mountains behind. Unfortunately it was a bit mistyu up there on that day, but the photo is still pretty cool.

Anyway i stayed one night and then caught the bus down to Wanaka, a relatively up and coming town, just an hour and a half outside Queens town, New Zealands adventure capiutal. Now Wanaka is a town right on a stunning lake, with amazing views of the mountains behind it, its chilly but the sun was beating down, like in any good mountain town. What is hard for me here though is that in about 3 weeks the snow will come. Everyone is waiting for it, the hostels are full of snowboarders and skiers, sales are on at snowboard gear shops, and you can feel the anticipation all around the town. They have some pretty good peaks here and i for one would love to be here for the season. Yet i would also like to warm up in Australia. Anyway, enough of that. I then moved to my target destination of the trip. The place i will be doing my bungee jump. In fact i will be going to book that in about ten minutes. I am going to do the Nevis. An 134m jump that is the largest bungee in all of Newzealand, all of Australasia in fact. I keep hearing people come back and say how scary it is. Truth is, i cant wait. It is an 8 second freefall, imagine that. Anyway i am in Queenstown at the moment and am having the same problem with trying to stop myself buy a snowboard. I will be here until wednesday. Take care and stay safe everyone(if anyone is reading)

So, its nmy birthday today, so its just going to be a short entry.

So i left fiji and Arrived in at Auckland international on Friday the 27th. Immediately i was hit with how clean and western everything looked, it was like being back in L.A or London. So many people aswell all bustling around. Anyway, i caught the bus into town and booked myself in at the Fat camel hostel. Which has to be one of the best that i have stayed at so far. I stayed up late chatting to some other people in the dorm, a guy from Iceland and one from sweden, good blokes. The next day i did a bit of exploring around the very warm centre of Auckland, which isnt really anything that special. Yet later on, two english girls turned up at the Hostel, and myself and the two other guys, started drinking with them and eventually hit the town. I have to say. I had a ball, i thought it was very fun, we probably all drank a little to much, and aside a slight redecoration of the shower cubicle by Lisa, i have good memories of Auckland.
Having learnt the basics of surfing when i was in fiji, i decided that i wanted to continue. So on sunday it was of to Raglan, probably new zealands best surf destination, due to the reliable breaks, and long rides. I arrived early evening and checked into a great hostel on the waterfront. Raglan and around is beautiful and so laidback. I hired a board and wetsuit the next morning and was told that one of us would have to drive the hostel owners car down to the beach, with all trhe people wanting to surf in it. Obviously i was the first to volunteer. So that was how it went down...me driving the subaru Legacy estate. Both that day and the next. Surfing there was brilliant, and i would have stayed longer, had there not been so much that i want to do here.
So i headed to Rotorua, most widely recognised for its geothermal and volcanic activity. I spent a couple of days here and visited some incredible area's. Most notably the waimanga volcanic valley which was truely awesome. Had quite a good night out there aswell actually, when i met the girls from Auckland again.
Next i headed down to a place called Turangi. A small town that has nothing much going on, apart from good location. I stayed in a hostel that specialise in organising trips to do the tongariro crossing. This is a day hike, through the heart of Lord of the rings country. You climb up the side of Mt. Doom and walk around lakes and landscape that were used as Mordor in the films. It was absolutely beautiful and is one of the best things i have done since i have been here.

From turangi I moved to Wellington, where i stayed the first night in a Hostel in town, the night life was pretty good. Comparable to going out in somewhere like Bristol. Didnt meet any great people though. So the next day i phoned a Family that are good friends with Mum and had told me i was more than welcome to stay. Plus they were looking after my new Debit card. Met up with their kids and watched Spiderman 3. In case you guys see that film....Evil spiderman is the most unconvincing emo kid i have ever seen.
I then went back to theres and chiled, saw a few sights around Wellinton the next day and their daughter Deborah came over who has a commercial pilots liscence, she told me that she could take me up for a flight the very next day. I jumped at the chance.
She came and picked me up the next day and we went out to the airfield right next to kapiti island. She took me around a couple of islands and over the houses that i was staying in and stuff. It was brilliant. I loved every minute of it. Being up there you get an amazing view of things and see stuff that you would never have the chance of seeing normally.
The next day me and Micheal, their son went to their beach house in Otaki. It was beautiful there, if not fucking cold, but still beautiful. We used the sea kayaks and were surfing some pretty big waves with them. It was excellent fun. We then headed back (i drove...again, because micheal dosnt have his lisence) Had some chow and then headed into Wellington for student night. That was very fun, good quality laughs. Next day i was catching the ferry and off to the south Island. Destination Picton. By a fantastic bit of luck, Deborah worked on the ferries and was working the day i sailed, i got free fish and chips and into the cinema for free. I like free stuff.

Hello again. I am going to pick up from where i left off but before i do just wanted to say thank you to you guys for leaving comments and stuff. its nice to know that people are reading this thing. I think you have made the right choice with thailand by the way amy. I havnt met anyone who hasnt liked the place yet. Also thank you jack for your comments, i hope uni is going ok at the moment, you guys must be getting close to exams and stuff? Can someone also say happy birthday to rafe. Let me know what you guys got up to. Did the Amsterdam plan happen?

So... Last time i wrote i had just arrived in Fiji. I will try to make this piece a bit shorter than usual but it has been over two weeks since i was in fiji so quite alot has happened. So i arrive to grey overcast weather, still very warm, but grey. I went to downtown Nadi to stay a night in a cheap backpacker place which turned out to be more of a travel agent than a hostel. What you guys have to understand is that fiji is almost 50-50, 50 percent local, fijian people, and 50 per cent indians!! Where did they come from i hear you cry? Well apparently when fiji was a british owned state(it is still in the commonwealth) they bought the indians over to show the fijians how to work, as they were lazy and didnt know good buisness techniques. Which is hardly surprising, as they were still eating one another. The last cannibal in fiji died in 1965 i think, and he had eaten 99 people.

So anyway lots of indians in fiji and their way of life, way of buisness is so different to that of the fijians. When you walk along the street, they come up to you, hassle you and make you feel bad if you dont buy their priceless wooden box that they are going to sell to you for a twice cut price of $10. This is something i didnt like about the place. I have to say that it was mainly in the cities and towns that you experienced it. So i got the hell out. The next night i moved down the coast to accomodation called 'the fiji beach house'. Its a very nice, popular place, if not a little to resorty. It also happens to be the place where they filmed almost all of celebrity love island. The one way smoked glass is still in place all around. It was in a beautiful setting aswell, where i was able to go out and do some snorkelling on the amazing reef. The only problem was, that for the first two days the sun didnt show its head. Yet on my last day there it came out in full. Another problem with the place was that there was a hell of alot of couples there, and for me, just coming to terms with leaving my lovely lady friend, it probably wasnt the best place i could be. Although there was a few pluses of being in that place, these were, I met a group of three French people, who restored my faith in our continental neighbours, they were very friendly and incredibly interesting. I also met someone from stuminster newton. Nuff said.
Anyway the next day i moved down the coast to a place called mango bay, not knowing what to expect, i put my backpack on and walked around the coast, at low tide it is a half hour walk, from the beachhouse, to mango bay. I dont why i expected it to be much different, but hey, i got there and it was just a cheap holiday resort. it had good facilities but it was just to clean and unnatural for my liking. Worse still were the people who were there. 17 british guys from a football squad, with the one mission of getting trashed. Also possibly the worlds most obnoxious, racist ausralian woman. Who i had the pleasure of eating my dinner with. Along with one of the nicest french guys i have ever met. That was an interesting evening.
So in the morning when i realised where i was i left and got dropped of at the road near the entrance. I decided to hitch in whatever direction i felt like, as i didnt have any plans. So as the first vehicle came round the corner i stuck my thumb out and got picked up straight away. He was a hilarious character who had a brilliant laugh, and he took me along the road for about an hour. By this time i was starting to enjoy life in fiji a little more, getting away from the routine of a resort would do me good i think. So i turned up in a place called sigatoka and decided to grab some lunch. I intended on travelling back up to nadi and possibly going out to one of the islands in the manuaca group. It would be quite expensive but i couldnt see what else to do.

Then as i was eating lunch a guy came into the restaurant, he had seen my backpack and started telling me about this accomodation down the road that was in the middle of nowhere, but right on a surfing beach. I have always wanted to surf and the guy said that they had boards for hire. He said they were going through a quiet patch at the moment, and I took that to mean that they wouldn’t have anyone staying at their place. So I had my lunch and then got a taxi to the address that he had given me. It was right on the beach in a small village, but a ten minute walk from the nearest house. Run by 2 guys and one girl, I was the only guest.
So I chatted to them and had a smoke with them, they seemed very cool. I guess I was a little on edge at first, because the accommodation was….budget and I was the only person staying. Yet once I had chatted to them I felt more comfortable. I had missed low tide so we decided to hit the beach the next morning. Until then I checked the place out, slept and ate. In the evening we went to one of the owners, friends house. A guy called paul. He showed me his arm, which had a huge scar right up it, that was in a half moon shape. He told me it was a shark and he got it when he was surfing. He is an awesome surfer and has competed in national events. What made things a little worse was that he managed to get the bite at the beach I would be surfing.
So I woke up to an awesome brekkie, then hit the waves for the first time in my life. One of the guys came out with me and gave me a lesson. I can honestly say that it was one of the most tiring things I have done in a long time. The currents pull you in the opposuite direction to where you want to go whilst the waves are bashing you from side to side. Although, when you catch a wave, and manage to stand up for a few seconds it makes it all worthwhile. It was very enjoyable. And where better to learn than in the crystal blue, warm waters of fiji, no wetsuit for me.

So now comes the move that I regret, anxious to keep moving and see more of the country, i left and headed back up to Nadi, where I stayed the night, realised I didn’t have much Fijian money left, so I went to a town higher up the country that was close to an island group, hoping to get a cheap crossing. No such luck, instead I was stuck in a crap town for a night, that was made easier due to the fact that I met two very cool English girls. So the next day I rang the airline and moved my flight forward a couple of days, stayed one more night in Nadi, then caught my flight out of there.

I had been in fiji for just over a week, and had really enjoyed myself at times but I felt like I would prefer to spend those extra few days in New Zealand. I met some ace people, who I intend to stay in contact with, but I don’t really feel like me and fiji clicked. Maybe, if I went back with a bit more money and a beautiful lady, my visit would be a lot better, who knows.

My first week in New Zealand is to follow soon….

P.S This is a photo that i took of probably the most amazing sunset i have ever seen, It was on the south coast of vana levu.

So, where do i start. The tie between when i last posted and now has been filled with events, of both the good and bad kind. I believe i was about to hit Corcovado national park in costa rica last time i posted, so i will pick up from there.
Shannon and I woke up early and jumped on the bus (an ex american school bus) at about 6 in the morning. We then had a slow 2hr bus ride to the park. Yet by just saying that it by no means tells the whole story. This bus was, in short...unbelievable. The road that we were driving on was only really fit for landrovers and panda 4x4's, but this full schoolbus was driving through rivers, up huge inclines where the wheels would start spinning, and my palms would start sweating, taking it all i its stride, it was quite amazing. Not to mention, very fun.
Anyway, we got to the stop for the park and had to make an hour hike down the beach (that is where the photos that i emailed are from), apparently this place was used to shoot some of jurassic park, and its easy to see why. Although amazing, the backpacks were starting to become an issue, so we stopped, had a cheeky splee and carried on...and what a difference that made. The whole environment seemed to be so absorbing that i didnt even think about what i was carrying. We saw scarlet macawas, by the dozens. loads of coatimundi and heard monkeys constantly, and this was before we were even in the park.
So we got to the rangers station and the guy asked us whether we had a reservation, which we didnt so he said we couldnt camp inside the park and would have to pitch outside it and only spend the day inside. Was a bit rubbish, but what can you do? So we ditched our stuff and started trekking through the forest, where we saw bigger trees than i knew existed, more macaws, and lots of monkeys. Highlights of the trip were also swimming in completely secluded waterfall pools. A welcome break from walking. I have to say though, that we smoked again and being stoned in the rainforest was a damn good idea. Everything is even more interesting than it usually is. We camped in the rangers station that night aswell, kindly sharing our pitch with a colony of ants and a family of crabs. Not such a highlight.
So we headed back the next day and travelled all of that day, making our way up the coast to a town called la palma. Where we stayed in one feckin weird hotel, called the hotel osa. The owners words were..."I give you room ten, room not so good, but bed very good hor he hor he". He wasnt lieing either, the bed was rubbish aswell though. So we moved to a place called Uvita the next day, Uvita, that is supposed to be a seaside town, except is split into two parts, one by the sea, the other inland. Foolishly, we got off the bus at the inland part. Here you had to have either a rental car or a bicycle to get to the sea, and nowhere hired bicycles which is a bit fucking stupid, seeing as it is a tourist destination. Yet in this appearingly useless yet hot town, there was a little hidden gem. Take a 1 km walk from our cabinas and you reach this bar/waterfall. Bunch of chilled-the-fuck-out homies kicking it around this bar smoking weed and charging people 600 colones (60p) to go down to the waterfall. Fuck me it was worth it though. It was incredible. Huge deep pools which you could jump off rocks into, and generally just drift about and relax in. I cant explain how beautiful it was though. Huge forest canopies above with light breaking through every now and then and an amazing stream of water coming down from the main waterfall into multiple pools below. It was brilliant.
So from there we went to dominical, a big surfers hang out on the pacific coast, and apparently a popular holiday destination for us residents. Where we stayed was budget, nothing very interesting but we met a good bunch of people there, two danish girls and an american guy, who, on the first night we drunk with and went out partying. Which was incredibly fun. I was pretty fuckin bladdered but when we got to this party it was ace, sort of an open air club that was packed out to the max, yeah ther music wasnt great, but its never stopped me before. Apparently in this town there is one club every night which is THE party and its not worth being anywhere else. This night it was here.
So we stayed one more night, alot more low key though, shannon had to go and see a woman who is going to help her get some work for a month or so when she comes back here, after i have left. She came back very happy, i think it was just waht she was looking for. I was chuffed for her.
So we woke up and got to the bus stop for 8 o clock to catch a bus to a place that i have forgoten the name of, but we had to go there to get to san jose (it was the day that i was leaving). So we got to the bus stop and found out that the only buses were at 7 o clock and 2.30. My flight was at 5.30 so they were no good, as we were 4 hours from san jose. On our last 10 pounds, our only option was to get a taxi to stop at a cash point and take us to this town, for the san jose bus. And that is what we did, i drew 40 dollars out of my account and we paid the man. Then got on the bus in this town and arrived in San jose. It was only when we were on the bus that shannon realised she had left her ipod, on the pavement where we were sat. Major booboo.
So we were in san jose, both only with a small amount of money, i was judging it just right, so that i could catch a bus to the airport and have a couple of pounds left. Shannon also had to go to somewhere in san jose to pick up a new credit card that had been sent to her. Otherwise she was pennyless. We caught a taxi to the bus station and said our goodbyes, which at the time didnt seem real, and there was this part of me that was like..'i will see her again soon, whats all the fuss' but the reality is i dont know when i will see her again. Anyway I got to the airport with three pounds in my wallet. I was then told that Costa Rica charges a departure tax of 26 dollars....Fuck. Nevermind, its ok, i will pay with my visa. I go up to the desk, looking through my wallet. Where the fuck is my card??? Mind starts racing and tracing back, then i remember, the cashpoint at dominical...We were in a rush, and those atm's give your money before the card, i grabbed the money and ran. My head started spinning and al of a sudden i felt very alone. I had no money to get out of the country and no way of drawing it out. I bought a phonecard with the last of my money, phoned my parents and asked them to cancel my card. Then phoned the place that shannon was going, because i thought i might be able to get her to spot me some money. Yet the guy at the end of the phone told me that they had sent her card to the caribean town of cahuita, where we had been a week ago, and she was on her way down to pick it up. Now i started to worry, what do i do. So i talked to the airline people and they said they couldnt help and i should get someone to spot me the money. All i knew was, that having no money in LA was better than having no money in San Jose. As missing a flight would add cost to my trip. So i waited around the departure tax desk, until this buiness looking man came along. I stopped him, told him my predicament and told him i would pay him back. He asked me which airline i was on (it was TACA) then he handed me 26 dollars and his buisness card. He just happened to be the regional manager of TACA airlines.
So i managed to board the flight with no money. I sat and decided to try and not think about it for the journey. Then this chap sat next to me, stereotypical traveller/surfer image going on. We got chatting and he asked about my travels, i told him about my crisis and he was only to happy to help. He said the same thing happened to him once, and someone helped him. So he spotted me 50 dollars for when i got to LA(where i was going to be for 24 hours and then flying to Fiji, supposedly. Looking back on it, i was very lucky that day, someone was keeping their eye on me.
So i arrive in Los angels at around midnight and decide to save money i should sleep in the airport. So i went to the domestic terminal and tried to get comfortable. Which wasnt happening. So i wandered around and finally found the international departures which was like a hotel compared to the domestic terminal. I slept on a bench for about 7 hours then woke up and bought some 10 dollar phonecards. Called the folks, sorted out a western union money transfer, which can be picked up at any branch, there happened to be one in the airport in Fiji which was nice. So until then i had 30 dollars and i ate macdonalds and similar quality meals. Made friends with the woman in the newsagent in the terminal and generally found out everything about the international departure terminal in LA. It was bloody boring though. I boarded my flight at around midnight and arrived in Nadi, picking my money up, no problem.
My travels were back on track, after a momentary disruption.

To be continued..........

Hola,
Once again. Thank you very much for all the comments it is great to see that you guys have been able to read up on what is going down. Thank you Camilla for those places to go in Thailand i really appreiciate it.
Anyway, What has happened since the last time i posted? i hear you cry. Well to tell you the truth, quite alot. Shannon was away last time i wrote so like i said i spent alot more time with the othe people at the project which was great. Yet i cant say that i wasnt happy when the 9 or whatever days were up. I met her in puerto viejo which is a 20 min bus ride from the entrance of the national park i was staying at. We chilled at nice dinner etc. Then hit a reggae bar in the evening, that place was jumping, granted, every tune sounds pretty similar to the one that has proceeded it, unlike drum and bass, but it was still fun. Actually staying on that point. No one knows what drum and bass is here, nor does shannon.. its reggae or hideous central american pop music, and i mean hideous.
So we returned to the project on the tuesday, having started to talk about leaving soon after as we felt pretty much done with the turtles. Plus, a couple of days before, i had been walking next to the toilets when, in typical ewan style, i stubbed my toe on a metal drain cover. Consequentally removing the entire nail from my toe. Which was nice. The tropical conditions also means that it takes longer for wounds to heal than it does tony to drive from shaftesbury to gillingham....which is a long time. Anyway, so that put me out of walking action for a few nights. Then when i returned with shannon i did my first patrol since my toe broke, woke up in the morning with an insanely bad pain in my eye, and a redness that could only be compared to what you may experience from the most intense of smoking sessions. So it turned out that i must have got something in my eye and it got agrivated overnight, but most people stayed away, believing that i was infected. Whatever, so the next day it didnt look that better. By this point it was thursday last week, and here in Costa rica they celebrate easter week. Consequently not everywhere is open, for that week. I got told that buses were not running and that if i wanted to see a doctor i would have to wait until monday. Not impressed by that idea i started to moan, then whilst we were eating lunch someone said "why dont you go and ask those guys from the red cross over there". I turned around and sure enough an ambulance was parked next to the beach with two paramedics kicking it in the sun. They were here because it was the easter holidays and lots of people hit the stretch of beach outside our station. So feeling like a bit of a prick i took my translator and found out that they couldnt do anything because eyes are to fragile and they didnt want to be sued. But!!! they could take me to the hospital, in their 4wd ambulance. What kind of idiot turns down a ride in an abulance?? I jumped in he got me to lie down on the most comfortable bed that i have laid in since i have been in costa rica. We bumped and bounced our way to the hospital where i was told quite sternly by a very vocal black lady that i should learn spanish, she then took my blood pressure and i swear squeezed harder than neccersary. Anyway the doctor gave me some eyedrops and a couple of pills but it was the hospital that interested me more than anything. the waiting area was open sided as were many of the corridors, with birds and insects buzzing about and doing their business. Fantastic for wildlife observation but im not sure it would be my first choice hospital for open heart surgery.
So a couple of days past and we made the decision to leave on sunday( 2 days ago). As sad as i would be to leave the people, turtles and the stunning views, im not sure that i will miss the work. We decided to try and rent the bar again for our leaving night. Rodolpho, the small time crack dealer/ bar owner was cool with the idea, so we ran with it.
During the day myself and two other canadian girls who i got on with reall well went to cahuita to do my laundry and find some green for the girls. So normally people come up and ask me but as it was easter wekend there were lots of families and police about so no-one was asking. We drifed around for a while looking for familiar weed faces but couldnt find anyone. The last resort was the laundry women who i have written about before and had become friendly with. Hesitant to ask her as i thought she may not approve i made sure i had paid for the laundry before i approached the question. Yet to my surprise when i asked she said, "marijuana? marijuana? we have lots of marijuana" Immediately she sprung into action, getting on the mobile phone and her husband going across the street to ask so strange looking chap whether he had any. So it transpired that one of us would have to go and get it with her husband and brother, apparently it was a short ride in the pick up, i elected myself. So we bounced down a dusty road and pulled up at this run down looking residence. The guy told me that it was jamican weed, best stuff in cahuita, and very sticky. I picked up an Oz for the girls, it was VERY compact but had a good weight to it, and was very sticky indeed. It cost 30,000 colones for the jamican Oz. That is about 30 pounds. I have never tasted such sweet produce, here they say it gives you a 'sexy' high, and they are not wrong, its bueno.
So we partied that night aswell, not to go into to much detail, drinking smoking etc. Hang over in the morning, left the project at about 12, in the back of a pick up. Then caught buses through into Panama (a neighbouring country) and finally arrived in David a big city in Panama at around 9.30. Bought food from the street market, which is mostly fried corn. More emphasis is on the fry rather than the corn though.
Left David Midday yesterday and arrived in Puerto jimenez which is ack in costa rica again, around 4 o clock (there is an hour time difference). Our last leg of the jounrney was by water taxi, across a huge stretch of water with high, mountaneous land all around, which was pretty stunning. Before we caught that though we went to a bar for a bit. This bar was something else, a bunc of dodgy looking fellas stood around eyeing up shannon, asking her to dance etc. I dont seem to be a problem for latin american men. Its almost as if im not here, they will come up and chat, whistle, ask her why she is with me and stuff, in spanish though, which is a bit annoying. Sometimes i do feel like showing them the devastation that these guns can cause.
So we are in Puerto jimenez today aswell, we leave for Corcovado national park tomorrow, which is what our trip is based around. Apparently the best place in costa rica. I have 6 days until i fly out of this country and for obvious reasons i will be sad to leave. Hopefully i will post before i leave, if not i will write from fiji. In the mean time stay safe and, the two jacks! very confusing, sorry about the mudle, chuffed to hear thatyou have a girl though kill. Hopefully there will be pics on here by the time you read this aswell.

Adios amigos

I decided that by creating a blog, hopefully everyone who wants to look at it will be able to. Instead of me sending out dozens of emails to people who potentially might not be that bothered. Anyway that is the theory. I don't really know what im doing though so we will see what happens.
So, Last time i wrote was about a week ago, i was just settling in to Costa Rica. Not a huge amount has changed since then i guess but i am starting to feel more at home in this place. Most of my time is spent in the national Park with the other volunteers. Patrolling through the night sleeping a long time, swimming eating and playing volleyball. Its all good fun but after a week you really look forward to your day off when you can just get out and do your own thing, see a few people in the towns and feel urban life for a bit. We have started to work during the day now, mornings and sometimes afternoons so i get out less. There are very few arguments but occasionally people rub each other up the wrong way. Which is to be expected i guess as we live so close together. Food is great here, although pretty predictable. If i had a slap for every time i had been served rice and beans, i would be a bruised and battered boy.
Since friday, Shannon (my...girlfriend type person)has been away so i have been spending alot more time with the other people. Which has been interesting to say the least.It has been brilliant though and i am laughing all the time.
One of the things that is holding me back at the moment is my lack of Spanish. I thought i would be able to learn it quite easily but the problem is, everyone at the project speaks English, so i don,t have to. Its quite frustrating but i am starting to pick up bits and bobs from listening to people. What makes matters worse is that Shannon speaks perfect Spanish, so whenever we are out, she is gabling away and i end up feeling a bit like and ignorant Englishmen, and i just cant stop thinking about the 1 year of Spanish lessons that we had at school where i learnt more about how far you could push the teacher before she sent you out of the room than what were the most useful Spanish phrases.
Although i really like it here i am probably going to leave the project maybe 5 days early and travel with Shannon around other parts of Costa Rica as i feel there is alot more to see. I will try and hook you guys up with some more photos soon.
I suppose one of the main events of the past week was this sunday just passed when a German girl who was working on the project was leaving, so we decided to have a few chilled beverages to celebrate. After Patrol at 12 o clock we went down the track to the closest bar (25min walk) where we had arranged for the owner to open up for us. So we knocked him up and sure enough he emerged and sleeply turn on all the lights and set up the bar for us. Gave us a piece of paper to write down what we had drunk and then went back to bed!! This bar also happens to have a heated outdoor swimming pool running right alongside it. So needless to say it was a fun night. He also left us some 'free' weed. Althouggh it became pretty obvious why it was free once we had skinned up. I have had stronger cups of tea. Generally though the green round here is very very good.
So that i guess is a bit of an overview of what is going on in my world ant the moment. Fairly boring im sure and i would be impressed if you read to the end. Fact of the matter is, the way i look at things, people, situations is changing, which i guess comes from having to be independent. Anyway, its time to stop waffling and go and pick up my laundry from the shortest woman in the world. Please comment on here if you can, just so i know if your reading. Im going to try and post as much as possible. Maybe once a week when i can.
Adios
Long live the queen