It was quite a culture shock arriving in Kuala Lumpur from Labuan Bajo! I had managed to hop on a flight straight to KL when I arrived in Bali. I arrived at midnight, feeling a little under the weather, so decided to treat myself to a couple of nights in a hotel. And what a treat it was! It was a swanky little place in Chinatown which set me back a whopping 15 pounds a night. My room had air-con, a TV and a huge bed with a duvet and real pillows, and my bathroom ...

I have just spent the most incredible week on the island of Flores in Indonesia. The island is in the eastern part of the country, very near to the Komodo National Park which protects a group of hundreds of small islands and the waters surrounding them. The park is famous for 2 reasons: the Komodo dragon lives on 2 of these islands, their only natural habitat left; and the marine park is one of the top diving destinations of the world. Getting to the town of Lab...

Selamat pagi! Hello from Bali! I am writing this after 5 action-packed days on Indonesia's most popular tourist island. It is hot, humid, beautiful and a little bit crazy. I arrived late on Saturday night after an exhausting flight from Sydney, via Melbourne of all places! It took about 10 hours! Then another 2 hours to get through customs and immigration.. it was 3am my body-clock time when I finally arrived at my hotel. I had booked somewhere in advance as I kn...

I arrived in Sydney on Friday afternoon. Scott was very kindly letting me stay with him in Balmain again, and he even came to pick me up from the aiport! Such a nice change to negotiating public transport. I went out for dinner with him and Mary-Beth that evening in Balmain. The following day Azza arrived from Brisbane for our last few days together in Australia. I had found her a nice hostel to stay in in Glebe, thankfully replacing the terrible impression of h...

It is fantastic to be back in the Sunshine State! Northern Queensland is possibly the most beautiful place I've been to in Australia, and it certainly has the best climate at this time of year. It has been a consistent 27 degress with clear blue skies and very little humidity. Perfect. I landed in Cairns on Monday afternoon and caught a bus straight up to Port Douglas. I spent the afternoon wandering the pretty little town and the beautiful 4-mile-beach. The nex...