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Asia & Oceania
  • Rasmus Bech

Asia & Oceania

January 2018 - June 2019 Meer informatie
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    Surf's Up

    1 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We leave continuously later in the morning, this morning we didn't leave until 8 o'clock in the morning. We drove north to the small town Lennox Head, where we had a surf lesson with MOJO surf.
    Now, I already had a surf lesson in New Zealand and hoped these guys would teach us the same method, but they didn't. They taught us a different 4 step method that I actually preferred, however, the waves in Raglan were easier to read and ride. So even though I caught more waves in Lennox Head I preferred the surfing in Raglan.
    After the surf lesson we took a swim in the lake. The water looked really questionable, but the surf guides had recommended it, so we went in. The questionable colour of the water was due to Tea trees. Their roots go into the water and leak a red substance, which is antiseptic, so it is beneficial to swim in Tea tree lakes.
    From the lake we drove 40 minutes up the road to Byron Bay a town known for surfing hippies and parties. We checked in at Arts Factory where we are staying in bungalows. Emily, Katha, Lisa, and I went to the beach where especially Emily and I really got the hang of body surfing.
    Most of our group went to dinner at the neighboring brewery and had quite good food.    Meer informatie

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    Byron Bay

    2 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    I went for a walk in the morning as we didn't have any activities, the walk took me along the beach to the eastern most point of mainland Australia, so now I've been eastern most in Australia and southern most in Africa.
    My walk also took me to Byron Bay lighthouse, on the way I saw my smallest Wallaby yet, eating something from the forest floor.
    I got back into Byron Bay, which was now waking up, and had some lunch before heading back to the hostel wherefrom a group of us was picked up for a sea kayaking trip.
    The kayaking trip was pretty similar to what I did back in Raglan, so it was sit on kayaks and we were a big group and played followed the leader. In Raglan we had a bit more ability to have original thoughts and go our own way. Also here everyone were in doubles, which was actually quite nice today.
    Emily and I got really lucky and had a loggerhead turtle pop up right next to us. The aim of the kayaking trip was dolphins but we had to settle for the loggerhead.
    After the kayaking trip everyone did their own thing, but most of us went to town to get take out and brought that to the beach.
    A smaller group consisting of Aisha, Emily, Lisa, Myf, Sierra, Aaron, Laurens, and I went to the Railway a nice place with live music from 7-10. The music was reggae and super nice even though I hardly understood a word.    Meer informatie

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    Brisbane

    3 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Emily and I got up early and went to the beach for a bit of snorkeling. It was a rock reef, and it was abundant with fish. The variety was not immense, but the amount of fish were impressive, and we also managed to see a few sting rays.
    We walked back along the beach eating breakfast and headed back to Arts Factory to get ready to check out.
    At 11 we were picked up by a bus that felt quite luxurious after 1,5 months with G-ADVENTURE busses and drove towards Brisbane with a stop at the Gold Coast for a look.
    In Brisbane, Aisha, Emily, Lisa, Myf, Laurens, and I went for a walk to find food. We sort walked the wrong way but ended up finding awesome burgers at Fritzenberger. Before we went completely off the tourist bus and went for a movie.
    After the movie we went back to our hostel and met up with the new girl joining our group, who seems really nice. We went out for dinner after which I went for a walk.    Meer informatie

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    Noosa Heads

    4 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We were picked up by a bus from Noosa and went to Noosa Heads the main town of Noosa Everglades. The drive was a bit warm as the AC was not functioning at an optimal level.
    At Noosa Heads we went for a walk along the coast. The hope was to see Koalas but we didn't have the luck we had in South Australia. About a 100 meters before our target my 10+ year old flip flops died and I had to engineer a fix so that I could do the 4 km inland walk I wanted to do.
    I went of on my own on the Tanglewood track, but short after the halfway mark Emma caught up with me. We continued together and had a very good chat about traveling and all sorts of things.
    Emma and I went in search of food, flip flops, beach towel, and yet another pair of sunglasses for me. After finding all items but food we ran into Laurens who recommended an eating place and while we were eating we were joined by Aisha, Emily, and Sophie.
    We went out and found a shaded grass area where, reading, napping, and writing took place.
    We got transferred to our accommodation, which is a campground, but we are staying in huts with AC and bunk beds.
    Aaron cooked a great barbecue and most of us went early to bed as we had a truly early start tomorrow.    Meer informatie

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    Fraser Island

    5 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We had our first truly early morning here on the east coast. Waking up at 5:20 in Elanda Point Ecocamp in the Everglades. At 6:15 we were picked up by a massive 4 by 4 and drove towards Fraser Island. On the drive our tour guide Scott, who worked with Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin before he became famous in Australia Zoo, talked about the area, the coolest fact is that Fraser Island and the national park on the mainland has more sand than anywhere else in the world, and that the area has the tallest sand dunes in the world.
    Our 22 seater 4 by 4 was transferred to the island with a barge, and then we took the only sand highway in the world around the island.
    First stop was along the highway for a cup of tea and some biscuits. We were then taken through the township Eurong and along the inland tracks to lake McKenzie, a beautiful lake which sits more than 100 meters above sea level. The lake is 1 among only 70 perched lakes in the world. Perched lakes exist due to a waterproof nutrient layer that keeps the water of the lake to seep through the sand.
    After a swim in wonderful weather we went to central station for lunch. During lunch it started raining, but we still went for a walk, a soaking wet walk.
    It was now time to head back through Eurong to the sand highway along the coast. Here we got very lucky and saw to Dingos on the beach just running along checking the cars out.
    As the roads on Fraser Island were in stellar condition, we managed to be back in time for a short drive along Rainbow beach on the mainland. Rainbow beach gets its name from the colourful sand, which after a school project has been determined to contain 72 colours.
    After a stop at a petrol station we went back to the camp ground got freshened up and went to a nearby hotel for dinner.    Meer informatie

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    Canoeing

    6 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today a group of us went canoeing in Noosa Everglades. The group consisted of Aisha, Emily, Emma, Jenny, Lisa, Myf, Sophie, Aaron, and me.
    First we got a lift across the lake, and then divided into 4 canoes. Emma and I teamed up and it went really well. First stop was at our lunch site, but just because our guide brought in the boat with our lunch and then he jumped into one of the other canoes.
    Next we went up Upper Noosa River and found a bank where we took a swim. We found a log under the water and did some balancing acts.
    We then paddled back to our lunch site and did a short loop walk before we had lunch.
    Then it was time to head back to camp, first we had to paddle back to where we picked up the canoes, and Emma and I paddled right up to a group of pelicans, really big birds. After sorting the canoes out we were taken back to camp to shower and pack for our overnight train.
    Two days ago Aaron was informed the train is 3 hours delayed due to track works, so we were taken to Noosa Heads so we could spend our late afternoon and evening in the town shopping snacks and the likes as well as get some decent food for dinner.
    At 20:45 we were picked up and taken to our overnight train.

    Side note:
    My camera broke, so quality and frequency of pictures will greatly decrease from here.    Meer informatie

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    Cruise Time

    7 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The overnight train was pretty good, I didn't sleep through but got a decent amount of sleep via long naps.
    Our train was seriously late so when we got of at Proserpine station we quickly loaded ourselves into a bus that took us to the hostel we will stay at in a couple of days after our two night cruise around the Whitsunday Islands.
    We boarded British Defender and embarked on our cruise in the Whitsunday Islands. The weather was beautiful as we left the marina, and due to a strong wind we set sail. That happened by six of us helping with getting the sail up.
    We sailed towards Hooks Passage as that would be our anchorage for the night, on the way we got a suprise visit from a few showers. Close to our anchoring point we switched back to engine and a few hundred meters from where we wanted to drop anchor the engine died. Luckily the crew fixed it and we got to go for a swim, in stinger suits.
    After the swim we hung out and had a wonderful dinner, and we were not the only ones feasting. At dinner time the sun had already gone down, and swimming around in our light was juvenile Trasher Sharks out hunting for tiny fish.    Meer informatie

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    Whitsunday Islands

    8 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ 🌧 26 °C

    After breakfast we sailed to Tongue Bay. It was still windy but due to the direction we went by engine, it was really hot in the cabin and the swell was big, so quite a few of us was feeling a bit sea sick, even with medication.
    At Tongue Bay we were put a shore and walked to Hill Inlet to look at Whitehaven Beach, which has some of the whitest sand in the world as it is 98 % Silica, which is why NASA had one of it telescopes build using sand from Whitehaven Beach.
    We then made our way to the beach where we split up and did our own thing. I went into the water to do a bit of body surfing, so did some of the others.
    Back in Tongue Bay we were picked up and now set sail to go to Blue Pearl Bay. Close to the bay we had to cross which meant more work, so Laurens and Stuart tightened the rope that made the boom cross, and Myf and I trimmed the sail.
    As the ship crossed our high side became our low side and vise versa, this gave a huge reaction from some of the girls, and the climb to the new high side was challenging for some.
    In Blue Pearl Bay we went for some snorkeling, it was easy to see the devastation caused by a cyclone some time ago as the ocean floor was littered with broken coral. However, there was still plenty of fish, and I got to swim in school of blue and silver fish with bright yellow tail fins.
    We went by engine to Stonehaven and anchored for the night, had dinner and kept running up and down the stairs as the weather was continuously changing. It was a good relaxed evening and Emily, Aaron, and I were very silly when we went to bed and creeped a few of the others out.    Meer informatie

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    Airlie Beach

    9 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Got out of bed and almost immediately went for a snorkeling session. The fish life wasn't as good as yesterday but the corals were a lot better. I did manage to find a few fish as I left the corals and swam to the rocky area.
    After snorkeling, we sat sail to head back to port, I was again volunteering on the winches and for the first time on the trip we got the sails up on one try.
    We were now traveling against the wind, so the ship was leaning hard to starboard and we got some massive sprays up on deck.
    As we were sailing against the wind, we were allowed to drive the boat a little. So Laurens, then Emily, followed by Susanne, and finally me went to the helm and manoeuvred the boat for a bit. Which was very good fun.
    Back at Airlie Beach we got our rooms and everyone went for a shower as we were very salty.
    After lunch a few of us went to a Didgeridoo lesson, it was quite fun, and it was interesting to learn a bit, but it's not for me. After the lesson Aaron showed us that if you lick the bum of a green ant it tastes like lemon, and sure enough it does.    Meer informatie

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    Floods in Tully

    10 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We were headed to Cairns, so we got up really early and caught a bus to Proserpine station, as the train was running late the bus driver was kind enough to take us to a bakery.
    The plan was to go to Tully and visit an Ingan cultural center, however, Tully was flooded and completely inaccessible by rail or road. So we got off in Townsville. Here we had a few hours to kill. Luckily we just managed to catch Black Panther in the cinema, great way to kill two hours.
    After the movie we had lunch at the nearby pub, and then we were transferred to the airport to catch a flight to Cairns.
    In Cairns there was a small hick up with our hostel transfer but nothing major. Once at the hostel we planned to head to the city for dinner so we caught the free hostel transfer to the city center and split up in smaller groups to find food.    Meer informatie

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    Gateway To the Great Barrier Reef

    11 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    7 am transfer from our hostel to the Reef Fleet Terminal, her we checked in and then boarded Passions of Paradise a beautiful catamaran and embarked on our tour that would take us to the great barrier reef.
    It's a 2+ hours travel time to the reef from Cairns, and during that time we ate our carry on snacks and chatted among us.
    We finally made it to the reef, and after putting on all the gear we jumped into the water at dive site 1770 on Hastings Reef.
    It was great. We had to swim a bit from the ship to reach the actual coral reef, here we could see loads of soft and hard coral, a few giant mussels, plenty of fish, and a few strange creatures such as the sea cucumber. I got really lucky and got to see a white tipped reef shark as the only one in our group and there were maybe just 2 or 3 others on the entire ship who saw the shark.
    We were called back on board, and as a head count had confirmed everyone was back, the ship was moved while everyone had lunch.
    We didn't move very far as we stayed on the same reef, only the dive site was now called Stepping Stones. Here we had an hour and a half to go explore. Again there was plenty of coral and fish, but now we could also find blue starfish, I swam a lot and tried to mix it up between the edges of the reef and the center. Each has its own pros and cons. The edge has fewer but generally larger fish, where the center has more but often smaller fish.
    I made it back to the boat right before they called everyone in. It didn't feel like an hour and a half. Emily thought the call back was a guided tour coming her way so she tried to escape, until she realised what was going on.
    On the way back to Cairns we went to a talk about the reef, it was interesting to learn that the stories about coral bleaching the past two years were greatly exaggerated.
    Back at the marina our transfer was delayed, but at least we got to see thousands of bats leaving the city to go foraging.
    Back at our hostel we got ourselves ready for our final night together. First we had dinner before going to a nightclub.
    Some of the others like me have a couple of days or more in Cairns so hopefully we can manage to meet up during the next couple of days.    Meer informatie

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    G-ADVENTUREs No More

    12 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    When I got up Laurens had already left meaning I was alone in my room. So I went to the nearest café to find some breakfast and then I waited around in the lobby area until 10 AM where I checked out and took the shuttle bus to the city center.
    A few of the girls from my G-ADVENTUREs trip did the same, so at the night markets where we were dropped off I said goodbye to Jasmine, Jenny, and Sierra.
    After a short walk I found my way to NJoy travellers resort. Here I checked in to my private room and enjoyed having fast WiFi for the first time since Tamworth.
    I got a message from Emily stating that she simply would not be able to stay at the hostel she had booked, and after a chat with her and the reception at NJoy we agreed to share a twin room while we are here in Cairns.
    After Emily arrived we relaxed at the hostel until about 3:30 PM where I went to a total of 3 camera shops to see if I could A: fix my camera and B: if not how much would it cost to rent a camera.
    So I ended up renting a camera from Calypso for the next three days.
    Went back to the hostel for a free barbecue dinner with Emily before I had a phone call with Maggie and Niclas.    Meer informatie

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    Tablelands With Uncle Brian's

    13 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Was picked up by the Uncle Brian's Waterfall bus as the first passenger. We drove around town and picked up more people. We were supposed to be 21 but 7 people either over slept or were stuck south of Tully, so we ended up being just 14, and apparently with an unusual concentration of guys, in fact it was 5 girls and 9 guys. Pretty strange to experience after being 17 girls and 3 guys for the past 2 weeks.
    The bus was called Gus which made me think of Gus bus from the North Island of New Zealand. Brad our tour guide was a lot of fun in that classic Australian tour guide way, which means a lot of really bad jokes and inappropriate comments. Brad was however also very knowledgeable and informative.
    First stop after leaving the Cairns was Babinda Boulders, here we did a short walk to look at some rapids down from the swimming hole and then we had some cake, biscuits, and juice before jumping into the water, and when I say jumping I mean jumping. We swam across the lake to some boulders and did, dives, bombs, flips, and other jumps.
    After the swim we drove up the mountain to Josephine Falls, here it was prohibited to swim as the water levels were to high after all the rain the area had received during the past couple of weeks. However, during some rock hopping I was unfocused for a few seconds and didn't make it far enough between to big boulders. So I slid down the boulder on my stomach, landed beautifully between 3 boulders in the water and got myself out of the rapids before I was swept away. Other than two very small cuts I escaped completely uninjured.
    We went and had an included lunch in a small B & B, it was simple food, but really good. On the way we played a few games, such as pass the pastil between matchsticks in our mouth, and we were surprisingly good.
    Next on the agenda was Millaa Millaa falls, here we went for a swim, and the best part was we could go behind the fall and swim through it.
    Final stop was Lake Echam, which is a lake in a volcano so obviously we had to swim there as well, here we again did jumps, and there were hand rails running into the lake, which were the perfect waterslides.
    Next we went to a hostel to change and then drive down the 262 curves down the mountain to Cairns, during this drive we sang along to songs and danced in our seats.    Meer informatie

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    Lazy Day

    14 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Didn't sleep to well, luckily nothing was planned for today, so after a late breakfast I got a nap.
    After the nap Emily and I went for lunch, and then Emily went to sort out her 3 day 2 night dive trip.
    Following that we went to the lagoon, a massive public pool here the aim was to have a stop and then a lie down, but free water aerobics was on, so Emily bullied me into that and after a very quick change of clothes we went to join the people of Cairns for some exercise.
    After the aerobics class we changed into dry clothes, walked around the esplanade to work up some more appetite and then went to a wonderful Italian restaurant.    Meer informatie

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    Cape Tribbin

    15 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Went on Uncle Brian's Cape Tribbin tour. So after a 7:30 pick up, we drove to Port Douglas, here we had tea coffee and cake. We had two options while we waited around. Go for a swim inside the netted area, or go for a walk. So first I went for a quick swim, however, the water wasn't that great, so I got out and went for the walk.
    At the first viewpoint I managed to spot a turtle twice. I walked on for a bit, but as it didn't seem there were more viewpoints I went back.
    Next up was a long drive to Cape Tribulation, at Cape Tribulation, here we had half an hour to check out the beach. You can't swim there as you will either be eaten by crocodiles or stung to death by jellyfish. So instead we had a delightful lunch at PK's.
    We left our lunch place and drove to Mason's swim hole, it's a small clear water creek the crocodiles can't navigate as it's to shallow. It was a great swim where we climbed vines, and enjoyed the fresh cool water.
    We now went back to the ferry that brought us into the Daintree Rainforest as we had a crocodile cruise in the afternoon, on the way we saw a Cassowary for a split second.
    On the way to Belchers Daintree River cruises we had a movie and series theme music quiz, our team did really well with 12 of 16 but another team got 14 so they were the clear winners.
    The crocodile cruise delivered on a high level. We got to see Scar Face the dominant male in the area, 60 years, 5 meters, and 1 tonnes. We also saw Lizzie and her 5 days old babies, and a few other smaller crocodiles.
    We also got to see a male darter sitting on a tree until he was agitated enough to fly away.    Meer informatie

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    Cairns

    16 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    First day since Melbourne on my own. As I've been on the road for just over two months and hardly had any days without doing anything today was a day for just that, Nothing. All I've done is confirming my final activities here in Australia, reading, a quick swim in the lagoon and just relax.Meer informatie

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    Back on Passions

    17 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Free shuttles are awesome, so 7 am pickup from hostel took me to the Reef Fleet Terminal where I checked in to my second cruise with Passions of Paradise III
    Unfortunately we went to exactly the same places as before. Fortunately I am an adventurous fellow, so I went further away from the boat compared to last time, so I got to see other coral formations and luckily also different fish. This time I managed to find Nemo, and I also saw a way more large fish compared to last time.
    I was also more concentrated on my surroundings, so I noticed more this time, which was cool. The weather was also significantly better compared to first time, right until we had to head home so that made it easier to notice colours in the water.
    After the trip I went back to NJoy where Emily also had made it home from the reef. She was going out with the people from her dive boat, while I went out and had a lovely dinner with Emma and got a chance to say goodbye to her before she flies to Brisbane tomorrow morning.    Meer informatie

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    Free Time In Cairns

    18 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So I've been in Cairns for quite a few days now. I planned to have activities every other day, which has been great. But as I was warned by several people, the city itself seems a bit dull, that is of course unless you want to get your drink on.
    As I don't drink and as I have seen a lot of the city from the outside, today was about seeing a few things from the inside. I wanted to go to the contemporary arts museum, but it was closed, so I went to Cairns art gallery instead. I sort of did the gallery in reverse, this was good as the three exhibitions on the upper levels didn't really speak to me. The exhibition on the ground floor however was amazing.
    It was an interpretation of Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale & The Rose. It was beautiful drawings, paintings, and props for an animated movie. Absolutely stunning.
    After the gallery I walked aimlessly around town. Found an alley with some amazing Street art and a café in the end, so I sat down there, wrote my journal and did some reading, and later had lunch
    I met up with Emily and we went and found something to eat before we went to the lagoon. For the first time on this journey the heat had got to me, and I really needed to cool down.
    We went to Fasta Pasta for dinner and then saw Game Night in the cinema, the movie was a better than average comedy and really enjoyable.    Meer informatie

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    Rafting

    19 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Up early as I had a white water rafting pick up at 6:30. Luckily I checked my email as my tour was cancelled. The plan was a full day tour on Tully River, but the roads to the access point on the river had washed away in the flooding, so it simple was not possible going there.
    Instead I went on a shorter and less intense tour on the Barron River. We were 10 people and 2 guides going, and a guy from the company also came along to have fun in a kayak.
    The rafting was fun, but rather short, the best part was that we got to do a lot of swimming, and what is know as surfing where you on purpose get stuck in a rapid and let it flood your raft.
    At the surfing spot we got to try and swim across the rapid. I managed to swim so close that I got caught in the whirlpool, at first I didn't realise what was going on so I kept swimming futilely in the current. When it dawned on me I just enjoyed it until I first was pulled fully under life vest and all and then spat out again and swam to the raft. Final adventure was our guide flipping the raft on purpose, I ended up under the raft and had to swim out.
    The tour was over really early, so when I got back to NJoy Emily was still in our room. She suggested we could go to the aquarium and I agreed if we could go past the contemporary arts museum, which is right next to the aquarium.
    The museum had two exhibitions, the first one was pictures of Chinese people in Cairns cooking secret recipes. We were a bit puzzled as to how that was considered art.
    On the top floor the exhibition was a lot of large balls with a dim red light inside. A small sign set please interact with artwork, so we did. When kicked, punched, thrown, or in other ways stirred the light inside change to a bright light, so we just had fun with that for a long time.
    We then went to the aquarium, it's brand new only opened 6 months ago, and as aquariums go it was really good. We went to a behind the scenes tour and got to see their unique water purification system, which mimics thunderstorms to help coral growt
    After the aquarium we went to a café to snack a little, on the way we saw some low hanging clouds in the mountains across the bay.
    For dinner we went to a Greek restaurant. There was music, which along with the décor and staff really sent me back to Greece. The food was amazing, and a dinner party suddenly got up and danced traditional Greek chain dance. If our food hadn't just arrived we would probably have joined in. It was a good way to end a great day.    Meer informatie

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    Kuranda

    20 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    It's my final full day in Australia as I fly to Vietnam tomorrow. Emma, Jasmine, and Sierra had all highly recommended going to Kuranda, so Emily and I took the Scenic railway at 8:30 from central station. We continue to be lucky with the weather, so we got to see one of the world's most scenic railways in its best light.
    Along the ride we saw waterfalls, rivers, and the beautiful world heritage rainforest. If you ever find yourself in Cairns a morning train to Kuranda should be high on your list.
    The train has two modern locomotives painted in patterns of the local aboriginal people, the rest of the train is comprised of older carriages, some more than 100 years old.
    Kuranda itself is a small town that clearly depends 100% on tourism. We went through the markets, which were nice and relaxing. We then went to the Birdworld. Here we handfed different parrots, lorikeets, and other birds. They even had a Cassowary.
    Next we went to Koala gardens. It's really small, and so are the pens and cages. So that was not the best experience.
    We went and found lunch. On the way I managed to finally find a souvenir for myself from this massive country. A bull roarer also know as a bush telephone. The lunch was not great, so we went to skyrail to catch our cable car home. This was the best cable car I've ever done, soaring above the canopy we got magnificent views of the rainforest, we even got lucky and had an unplanned stop above Barron River, which allowed us to spot turtles and a freshwater crocodile.
    We went of on both stops along the way and there got to see Barron Falls again and red peak.
    After a shuttle transfer to NJoy we finished our day with laundry, showers, 8 ball pool, packing, and a lovely dinner at the Turkish restaurant where we ate the first night in Cairns with G-ADVENTURES.
    A perfect way to cap off a wonderful time in Cairns and Australia.    Meer informatie

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    Last Goodbye

    21 maart 2018, Australië ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    My time in Australia had come to an end, luckily my flight was not to early in the morning, so Emily and I were able to have a last breakfast together and say proper goodbyes before I was picked up by a shuttle bus taking me to Cairns airport. It was hard to say goodbye, but I'm happy it wasn't a rushed goodbye.
    I had good timing in the airport and managed to get into the check in line just before a massive group of people, which also meant I had a very short wait at security.
    Like any airport it's pretty boring waiting for the flight, I watched a movie to pass the time, my final destination was Hanoi Vietnam, but first I had a flight 3 hours in the wrong direction to Sydney.
    With under 2 hours to collect bag, check in again and get through Sydney Airport I was a bit stressed. After collecting the bag I had to buy a train ticket to get to the international airport. After a quick check in, the automatic immigration didn't work, so I had to get handled manually, at this point I had 15 minutes to boarding would commence. At security my bag had to be rescanned twice, I was picked out for a body scan, where as always my right shoulder gave a reading, and to finalize the complete overhaul my bag was swapped for explosives. I ran through the airport to get water, lunch, and snacks for the flight.
    After an uneventful flight it was easy to go through immigration and after a collecting my bag I took my pre-booked transfer to my hotel, in the transfer was a danish girl and a danish guy traveling in Asia, they had been waiting in Hanoi airport for 45 minutes for me. So for the 4th time since leaving Denmark I spoke danish.    Meer informatie

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  • Rasmus BechAsia & OceaniaReiziger

    Ha Long Bay

    22 maart 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    It's weird to be alone after so long time with G-ADVENTURES. Today I embarked on a 2 night cruise of Ha Long Bay, I was picked up from my hotel and drove from Hanoi to Ha Long.
    After traveling 70 days and meeting a grand total of 1 danish couple it was weird being in a bus full of young danish guys and girls. The drive from Hanoi was 3 and a half hours with a half hour stop along the way.
    The stop was at a massive souvenir shop, here they hand made alabaster stone idols, hand embroidered canvas into beautiful creations and made jewelry.
    We arrived in Ha Long and Boarded our boat. After a few minutes with welcome drink we checked in to our rooms. Being on a boat with private room, ensuite no less, is going to be awesome.!
    We cruised to Sung Sot Cave, along the way we saw a lot of boats, and there was a ridiculous amount of tourists primarily Chinese. Sung Sot cave was massive and made up of 3 chambers, first chamber seemed large, but each of the next were bigger, with the third being absolutely massive. The drip stone made amazing structures in the cave.
    After a 10 minutes sail we got to go kayaking in Kuno? Cave. This was a tunnel through the cliff to get into a bay with cliffs all around and the only way in or out was the natural tunnel.
    We rowed back to our boat and had showers and dinner.
    We were 18 on board 16 Danish and 2 Swedish, so it's almost like being home.    Meer informatie

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  • Rasmus BechAsia & OceaniaReiziger

    Limestone Islands

    23 maart 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I was really tired yesterday so went early to bed, and we didn't have to get up until 8 o'clock for breakfast.
    After breakfast we went to a less busy cave, it was really nice, and as less tourists come by that cave, more if it stood pristine.
    We had 20 minutes to change for kayaking, and then had a good 3 hours worth of kayaking and caving.
    Ha Long Bay is very beautiful, so it's sad to see the amount of rubbish on the beaches and in the sea.
    After kayaking we had lunch, followed by some time to rest before we visited a pearl farm.
    On the pearl form we learned they use 3 species of oyster to produce pearl, each create different size and colour. The oysters has to be cleaned every 2 months and even then they only have a 30% success rate, sometimes they have to wait 5 years for the pearls to grow
    We were taken to Ti Top island, here we again experienced a staggering amount of tourists. We took the 400 steps to the top standing in line the entire way. When we came down again 2 of the girls and I went for a quick swim. The water tasted like diesel and so we quickly got out again.
    After the swim the boys played football 5 vs 5, it was an even match which ended 8:7 unfortunately to the other team.
    Back on the boat we had dinner and then enjoyed a pleasant evening swapping travel stories.    Meer informatie

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  • Rasmus BechAsia & OceaniaReiziger

    Back to Hanoi

    24 maart 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After breakfast we checked out of our rooms on the boat, and we relaxed on the top deck, the sun was out for a change so it was actually quite worm, something I hadn't felt like since coming to Vietnam.
    At 10 we got to try our hands at making Vietnamese spring rolls, it was actually quite easy as it was a simple matter of filling rise paper with vegetables, meats, and noodles and roll it up and eat it.
    We had lunch at 11 and then we disembarked our boat and was taken back to Hanoi, it's a long drive so luckily we had a stop about halfway.
    Back in Hanoi I relaxed in the room and then went to dinner with two of the guys from the Ha Long Bay cruise. After dinner we walked through the night markets. A part of the old town, where they block of traffic and have a market in the street full of fake brand clothing, bags, watches, and everything else.    Meer informatie

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  • Rasmus BechAsia & OceaniaReiziger

    Hanoi

    25 maart 2018, Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Slept in, got up and found breakfast. By experience the best way to see a city is walking from green area to green area on the map. So that's exactly what I did.
    After getting a bit lost I found a lake with a temple. Halfway round the lake I left the rest for later to find the next green area, a huge park with playground carousel and other entertainment options. Where the first lake had been really busy and crowded, here there was a lot more peace and quiet.
    In the park I was approached by Vietnamese who just wanted to speak to a westerner to practice English, it's quite fun, one of them had been to Denmark on a roadtrip.
    I found some lunch and then went back to my hotel to relax, it's very different walking around in Hanoi compared to everywhere else I've been. It's really hectic and there's a constant risk of being hit by a car or a scooter so it's a bit stressful.
    After a long rest on the hotel where I chatted a lot with Emily I went and found dinner, I already knew I wanted Pho, and where we ate yesterday did a really good one, so I went there.
    Next I walked a little through the night markets before I went home to pack for my journey home.    Meer informatie

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