The Czech Republic has always been somewhere I have been drawn to. It would be easy to say it is because of the beer, or the culture, or the length of the Czech girls’ legs – but in reality it is because that is where my father was working when I was a boy, and [...]
2010 is now here: ‘The Year of the Future’, ‘The Year of Change’, ‘The Year of Progress’ (and apparently also ‘The Year of the Girl Guide’.) And for me personally it will also, at least in part, be the year for catching up on my blogs.
It was with much sadness that I left the wonders, warmth and whimsy of Australia behind me and returned, prematurely I felt, back to the UK. I had made so many friends, seen so many fantastic things, and been to so many exotic places that the previous year had swept past me with the speed and force of a tornado, leaving me a little dazed and dizzy in much the same way.
When it came to extending our stay at the hostel ‘Bungalow Bay’ we found out they had a seven night maximum stay policy, so we sadly accepted that we would have to get back on the road and leave behind the tropical paradise of Magnetic Island. We were returning to Townsville later that day anyway [...]
Townsville is one of the bigger cities in Queensland with a population of 120,000 who mostly serve in the armed forces or work in the mines in the outback and use Townsville as their base during their time off. The town itself is a sprawling mass of houses and bars, and the main attractions are [...]
It is just over 1300km from Brisbane to Townsville, and much of that stretch has been described as ‘famously uninteresting’ in at least one guide book we have with us. So we were lucky that we travelled in a shit-heap of a van which made our journey far more remarkable! The van had been ‘affectionately’ [...]
Our last morning in Byron Bay started slowly on account of the beers consumed the night before, but by midday we were on the road to Brisbane where we were meeting our friends Mike and Bex. We had originally met them in the Blue Mountains before Christmas, and seen them a few times since, but [...]
When the tourists came in droves to Byron Bay, the hippies had to find a new place to hang out which still had the charm and character of a tiny peaceful community. And that was how Nimbin had been sold to us. Even before we arrived though, I began to wonder how charming and tranquil [...]
Eager to get on up the coast, we left Billengen after a slow morning in one of the town’s cafés and a bit of browsing around the few shops in the high street. It was Monday morning and the town was a completely different place after the weekend of parties and crowds. But keen to [...]