Kakadu!

Hello all! This week has found us in Darwin, in the north of Oz. It has been very hot, and we have relaxed, reading lots and keeping cool in the cinema!!! Pride and Prejudice - bring back Colin!!! This week also has contained our trip to Kakadu National Park and rainforest....it was amazing! The group was lovely and we all got on really well, the guide was great too! There were 7 Germans, 2 Irish, 2 Danish, 1 Japanese, 1 Swiss and 1 other English person as well as us! We had 3 days on the tour, and had very early starts each day - 6am was a lie in!!!! On the first day we did a river cruise on the Mary River, and saw crocs close up, then walked through the wilderness to Baramundi Gorge or Maguk to swim in the rock pools!(and we needed to as it was very very very very hot! 80% humidity!!). On day 2 we were up very early to visit Twin falls and Jim Jim Falls.....as it is the start of the wet season we were amongst the first people to see Twin falls flowing - as it dries up in the dry season! We couldn't swim however at these waterfalls as the increased water levels meant the crocs could get in!!!! We didn't fancy that!!! We then headed on to Nourlandgie Rock to look at Aboriginal Rock Art. On day 3 we moved on to Litchfield Park....looking at Termite mounds - 7 meters high, before swimming in two more rock pools at Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls! We saw tonnes of wildlife, including dingos, wallabies, wild horses, cattle, pigs, birds of prey....and guess what......we actually saw.......a galah!!!! we saw a 'flamin' galah'!!!!!!! It is a bird, much like a cockatoo, with a pink breast! The best bit of the trip for me though was the 4 wheel driving - well, we were passengers, but i still loved it, it was like being on a roller coaster! and when i am on a roller coaster i just can't stop laughing.....it was like that!!!!! and the bestest bestest bit was on the way to Twin Falls - a part of the road was no longer a road, but a river - it was touch and go whether we could cross or not, but our guide decided to go for it!!!! i was loving it, the water was well high - to the doors, and we were tipping from side to side, but it was fab!!!!!!! hehehehehehe The whole trip was great, everyone was lovely, and we all got on well. At night we camped at sites in the wilderness, and although we had permanent tents, you could still hear and see the wildlife all around you! (Including frogs in the shower rooms!!!) We even had a bit of a sing song on the bus! And what camping experience would be complete without a fire! Mark has been wanting one for ages, and he finally had his chance - creating a brilliant camp fire that we all sat around on our last night! A true camping experience! On returning to Darwin we all met up in the evening for food, and as luck would have it we won $50 worth of beer and champers!!! A perfect way to end our trip! So although sweaty, tired, hot and just a tiny bit smelly.....i absolutely loved our trip to the wilderness of Kakadu!!!!

STF Challenge in SW Oz!! Beach & Treetops!

On the road.....to Augusta & back!

It has been fab to have a bit of freedom and space to ourselves this week....we hired a car (on impulse), and left for South West Australia! We drove to Albany and explored the beaches....including seeing a flock of Pelicans up close and flying above us, and having a snake crawl over my foot while walking on the cliffs!!!!! A small black one.....i didn't hang around to get a better look! The sand was as white as you can imagine, and squeaked much like silicon! We saw the 'Gap' and the 'Bridge' - two well sold cliff sites that mark where Australia used to be joined to Antartica many years ago as part of the great continent! We even saw two kangeroos in the road....what looked like a mother and joey!!! In honour of Ali, Christine and Christina we drove through the Valley of the Giants (huge million year old trees), and walked the tree top walk - we were up in the canopy, 40m and more above the ground! And, especially for Ros, we stopped to look at (and photograph) some llamas!!! Our drive took us onwards to Augusta (and yes, in true blonde fashion i did think Mark wanted to go there for the golf course - to start with!!!!), but no, Augusta, AUSTRALIA - is the most southerly tip of the country, and where the Indian and the Southern Oceans meet - you can almost see the different currents (if you look very very hard!!!). We also spent some time underground at Jewel Caves - deep underground, about level with the water table!! The caves are full of staligmites (might reach the ceiling)and staligtites (have to hold on tight), of all sorts of shapes and sizes! While we were on our tour of the caves....the guide wanted to point out a particular staligtite.....he asked the group..."what do English people have for breakfast?" Mark was keen to join in, so answered "cereal"!!!!! hehehehehe, the answer he was actually after was bacon, as this particular formation looked like a bacon rasher, but it was a very good effort!!!!!! ;-)

Beachy Freedom pics

Beachy Freedom

So, Australia.....we wanted to spend our time in Perth chilling out by the beach, and that is where we are now! I have to say we did not find Perth itself overly exciting....although we did get in some good shopping!!! (And guess what I bought - new shoes!!!!!!!)....So we have moved slightly towards the coast, to Cottesloe....it is gorgeous here, we are staying on the sea....and it is amazing, so free, so wild, so unknown....the freedom, the wind, the spirit, the sea, the sand, the peace, the fresh air and water & sand everywhere. Being here has revived us! Tomorrow we start to drive south, to explore the south west coast of Australia...and, especially for Ali.....to walk in the valley of the Giants Tree Tops!!!! xxx ps. my toes were attacked by a very small yappy dog while we were on the beach....Steve...has Tess spread the word?????!!!! Faye xx

Arriving....

Arriving is hard....seeing people met and greeted and hugged by friends and family touches a nerve. It is exciting to be reaching a new place, but it makes me so aware of being an alien there; and of how far away we are from home. Stepping into the unknown....it has become evident how much we (I) need familiarity and routine to feel safe. You have to focus on the new possibilities, or you would be very very low. It is hard to take control when you feel scared and tired. But how lucky we are to even be able to do this trip, i have worked in the past with those that could not do anything that varied at all from their daily routine...even if breakfast was 5 minutes that it would be a problem, yet we can plunge ourselves into the completely unknown.....perhaps we all need different amounts of routine.....we are lucky. Faye xx

Skin The Fish - for real!!!

Fishie!

Tskuji Fish Market - Tokyo! Crazy Fishie Madness

What an experience! The enormity is amazing - both of the market and the fish! so many fresh fish, at soooo many stalls there can't be much left out in the sea! And it really is fresh, so fresh there is not the usual smell you'd expect in a fish market, not at all....it is fresh! Being at Tskuji is so different to the rest of Tokyo, it is full of bussle and craziness.....don't stand still for 1 second or you will be overcome....there is constant movement, from the sky it would look like an ants nest! Men in wellies on bikes, lorries, scooter carts, or just on foot rush towards you. past you, through you......don't stop, because they wont!!! A near miss with fish guts and blood being poured out onto the pavement.....almost my feet......fish of all shapes and sizes, great huge tuna, crustacians, anything you can think of it was there! We finished the experience with some sushi - sat in a sushi bar in the middle of the market......a set of all raw fish....very slimey, and slightly mustardy!!!! We liked the Eel the best!!! (pictures to follow.....when i can work out how to use a mac!!!!!) My little Skin the fishies....rest assured.....the fishie tshirt made fitted in well at the fishie market xxx

STF Tshirt - Kyoto

Slippers

Hello! We are now in Oz, relaxing back into a more familiar way of life......including shopping and eating steak!!! Kyoto was lovely, although we both prefer Tokyo! We visited many shrines and temples in Kyoto, and the most spectacular was the Golden Temple, Kinkakuji - really took our breath away! The moss covered zen gardens are also beautiful! For our time in Kyoto we stayed in traditional japanese style accommodation, a Ryokan. It was a lovely place and the people running it were very friendly. The most interesting part (and also slightly confusing) were the slippers! When you enter you must remove your shoes and put on slippers, then when you reach your room you remove your slippers and enter bare foot. On leaving your room to go to the bathroom you must wear your slippers once again, taking them off at the bathroom entrance and putting on bathroom slippers, then swapping back again to return to your room!!! Although we could not speak any Japanese, and the owners had only a little english we managed to communicate, and they treated us to green tea at every opportunity, and a very traditional breakfast.....including a slimmy egg in oil and smoked salmon, and of course rice!! Good to try once! A question to ponder.....why did a nation that eats rice with every single meal, invent chopsticks to eat with.....this in itself proved interesting!!!! Overall we loved our time in Japan, and were actually quite sad to leave....such lovely friendly people, and a culture and society like we have experienced nowhere else! Lots of love to you all Faye and Mark xx

Skin The Fish - in Tokyo!

Kon-nichi wa!

Hello from Tokyo! What an amazing city.....the energy and enthusiasn of Bangkok, but soooo clean and ordered and polite, I have never experienced anywhere like it! Everything is shiney -the cars, the buses, the buildings....everything! Firstly a huge A-ri-ga-to (thank you) to Zoe who sorted out everything in Japan for us....it has been soooo easy! (I can recommend for anyone travelling to Japan...Audley Travel and their Japanese expert - Zoe Woods!!!! - my little plug!) We arrived late on Thursday and had to travel at night on trains and tube, but the city was as alive as ever, i have never seen so many suits!!!! Our accommodation is fantastic, even including a heated toilet seat - you haven`t been to a toilet until you have sat on one of those!!!! They also give you free slippers and a rather fetching night gown! We are staying in Ginza, a lively entertainment and shopping area of Tokyo. We explored around there today and I have to say spent quite a bit of money!!!!! We then ventured into one of the karaoke booths...well, it had to be done did`t it!!!! it was fab, a tiny booth to ourselves! It took us about 30 minutes to work out how to load the songs as it was in japanese...however, once we got going there was no stopping us.....from billy joel to the foo fighters, from elton john and kiki dee to Whitney, we did them all!!!! Yesterday we explored the city a bit, walking round the temple at Asakusa, then taking a boat ride on the Sumida river to Hamarikyu Gardens - with the oldest pine in Tokyo! We then headed to Shinjuku - this will be what you imagine of Tokyo - the lights, the shops, the people! Apparently more people pass through Shinjuku station every day than the entire population of Canada! Last night was a special evening...we met up with Gabs (a great friend from Ipswich who happened to be in Tokyo on business!!! How lucky!). We joined him and his colleagues at the Palace Hotel for drinks....what a treat, the view was amazing - overlooking the Imperial Palace Gardens and the whole city! - and of course the company was fab! The taxi back to the hotel was quite an experience, Tokyo is huge, and the taxi drivers do not have the knowledge that you will find in a London taxi driver, so, it is advisable ALWAYS to carry your hotel address (in Japanese) with you at all times!!! A tip which we had neglected to follow!! Our driver knew the district we were heading to, but had no idea of the hotel....but....no problem....trusty technology was on our side.....he turned to his GPS....however, only knowing the name of the hotel is not enough for this great invention....and after many attempts, and suitable frustration when the system crashed after he pressed the buttons too much....the only hope was to go to the police! Yes, the taxi driver drove to a local police station, ran in, found the necessary information and returned....and now the GPS came into its own! The driver was more excited than we were when the hotel came in to view　- he almost jumped out of his seat!!!! (Was glad he didn`t as we were still moving!!!!) So, we made it safely - but there is a moral to this tale....always carry your hotel address clearly with telephone number, so that you can get home!!!! The most amazing thing has been the people - so friendly...they all try to help, even when you are stood looking completely mystified at the utter lack of any english or even recognisable symbols....even if they don`t speak a word of english they will help...or try to help...it is soooo refreshing! Tomorrow we head to Kyoto by bullet train to experience the more traditional side of Japan! ok, so that is quite a lot...i will sign off now.....enjoy! Faye xxx

Evening with Gabs!

Challenge Accepted!

Hello all! As Mark said, we are here, in Bangkok and it is a crazy town! Thanks to Christina and Rachel for all their great tips - the Asia Bangkok hotel is fab! They even brought us complimentary fruit to our room!!! Experienced a bit of a monsoon today....and not the high street type.....it was amazing, i have never seen rain, or had wet shoes like it!!! Had our first ride in a Tuk Tuk also, not as scary as we were thinking, and got there very very fast indeed!!! Last night we experienced the Calipso Caboret....a very interesting show put on in our hotel. Tina Turner, Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe performed...amongst others! All done to mime, without any pretence that they were actually singing!!!! The biggest surprise of the show was when they all suddenly stripped while singing 'I am what I am'...to reveal there weren't quite as many ladies on stage as we thought!! An experience to say the least - the locals seemed to love it!!! and.....thanks to Christofart for his Skin The Fish Challenge.....i accept, and will proudly model my STF tshirt around the globe (will be uploading photos when we work out how!!!!). Hope all is well back home Love and hugs Faye xxx

Here we are now...

Hello, Just over half-way through our time in Bangkok and we have found it remarkably easy to get used to being very rich and having lot's of money to spend on food, guides, taxis, beer and expensive hotels! Although it is hot and humid it isn't actually in a bad way as we had thought that would be. It's more like having a free trip to a steam room! So far we have had an unashamedly lazy time, recovering from packing our life into very small boxes and tidying our house in order to make sure we got our deposit back. For anyone who plans to do this we recommend taking at least two months off in advance because this still wasn't enough for us! 2day was busy tho as we went to some temples and got caught in thunderstorms. It was nice to get back to the hotel to chill this evening. We're planning a big shop 2moro as I need a 60GB mp3 player to keep me going while away and I hope to pick a cheap one up here. I have all my tunes backed up b4 we left onto a 100GB portable laptop HDD which is v v neat, powered by USB. Get in! ok, here goes the 1st post and here's to many more! Cheers, Mark