We got to Kota Kinabalu and basically did nothing or as close to it as possible. My (Nicola) hands had become swollen (it turns out the rock I'd had to hold while diving in Barracuda Point had moss on it which stung me) and I was feeling pretty rubbish. Thankfully we had Gareth's Mum on hand and after a remote diagnosis our huge first aid kit we'd lugged all over the world saved the day! There is loads to do around the city in day trips but we found ourselve...

Getting to Mulu National Park involved 3 flights in one day - unfortunately on our last flight the weather had really gotten up around the park and after circling 3 times the pilot decided we couldn't land and headed back to Miri. And thanks to Malaysian Airlines we had a night in a fancy hotel and a gorgeous dinner - the perfect little luxury between two trips into the wilderness. Mulu National Park is amazing - if you've seen Planet Earth where they explore ...

After seeing the wildlife the oceans around Borneo had to offer it was time to see what the jungles had as well. We headed into the jungle near the Kinabantangan River with Mal and Sylvi. One our boat ride into the jungle the fun started with long tailed macaques jumping between the trees and the most amazing Probiscus monkeys right in front of us. The Probiscus monkeys have the funniest noses but they didn't seem to want to let us see their noses, like as if t...

Diving in Semporna was out of this world! Sipadan is one of the top ten dive sites in the world and even seeing it from the above is amazing - basically just off the island there is a huge wall of coral which drops straight down for over 600m! We did two days diving there and it was awesome. We were diving with huge turtles swimming along beside us, being surprised with the sudden appearance of grey reef sharks (up to 2 and a half metres in length!) and white t...

A quick 24 hour stopover in Kuala Lumpur en route to Borneo was taken up with a lot of shopping for English books (a huge Borders with a Starbucks cafe just made my day) and a water proof camera for diving! Our friend Mal and Sylvie joined us there (after much arm twisting from us and talk of how amazing diving in Borneo was going to be) and we did a whistle stop tour taking in Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, the Petronas Towers and the markets in Chinatown.