So far Thailand lives up to our memories. Of course there are new hotels and even a mall now but something's never change. They tried, with smiles, to con us before we had even cleared immigration. You could stand in the go-slow queue or pay extra for the fast queue. Interestingly there were no official signs and the immigration officers were working the long queues showing you hand writing bits of paper advertising what looked like their little side deal. They t...

Final morning in Australia. Thanks to help at the train station we got to the airport on public transport for only $4.40 each - bargain. Unfortunately we can't say bargain for the trip to Oz generally. It's noticeably more expensive than the UK (pint of beer ranged from $5 to $11.50 so £2.50 to £6.00) and after Vietnam seriously pricey. We spent £1500 in 15 days and hotels averaged out at £100 a night but it was a struggle to get good choices for that budget ...

This our last full day in Freo and indeed Australia. We booked a walking tour for 10am so up nice and early for us. Freo has some issues with its larger neighbour Perth and the tour guide made sure we knew we were in a city in its own right and NOT a suburb of Perth. The tour took in all the main sights you would expect, prison, 1970's car park, prison warders office and home, the site of the original shore line, prison officers quarters and the oldest structure ...

First thing we saw when we got off the plane was our next adventure - flights to Antarctica - yes Perth really is that far from anywhere. Got into the apartment around 12:30 last night. Straight to bed as it was 3:30 Sydney time. Looking forward to a lie in but the 2 hour thunder storm at 6am put pay to the idea. Got up and went for breakfast in the cafe downstairs, basically to get their wifi code. The search for free wifi is never ending. Loped around Freo (as...

Final day in Sydney. It's a late flight tonight to Perth so we took advantage of the Sunday morning late checkout. Walked down to the harbour with the intention of catching the ferry to Manly. It appears we weren't the only ones with that bright idea and there was a massive queue. There was a cruise liner in so we decided all the passengers had swapped their big boat for a smaller one. To let the rush die down we went to bridge lookout. You climb up one of the br...