Greetings from Singapore,

It's been a while since i've written but i'll try and keep this short and sweet. We arrived into Singapore on Tuesday after 10 brilliantly lazy days in Bali.

But before i tell ye all about that, there's the West Coast of Oz to tell. When i last wrote we were in Perth and waiting to pick up our campervan which would be our home for the next 24 days. Our first destination was the Pinnacles (some of you may remember Billy Connelly jumping around them naked in his World Tour of Australia) which were really cool. After that we made our way north heading for the beaches and national parks which we had been told so much about.

Shark bay was superb. We went to one of the only places in the world which you can see the oldest living organisms in the world, Stromatolites, which look more like rocks but still impressive non the less. Monkey Mia was next to see the dolphins being fed on the beach. Although we didn't get to feed them personally it was still amazing to see this family of dolphins come up to the beach for 4 feedings all before 8.30am.

My aim for the west coast was to do something i've been told so much about, to swim with a Whale Shark, the largest fish in the world. With this in mind we went to Exmouth, a small town on the fringes of Ningaloo Reef (west coast alternative to the Great Barrier Reef). We booked our trip and off we went. We did a bit of snorkling around the reef in the morning, very impressive but all everyone wanted to do was swim with the Whale Shark. Then the call came through that the spotter plane had spotted one and off we went. Now i admit that i'm not the greatest swimmer in the world, in fact before we embarked on our trip around the world there is no way i would even have attempted to swim in the sea, nerver mind in 20+ meter deep water, but strange as it may seem that thought never crossed my mind as i jumped into the water chasing everyone else who was after the shark. As i finally caught up to everyone else i looked down into the depths and got the quickest of glimpses of this spotted giant as he flicked his tail and away he dived out of sight. I was gutted. Trish had been left behind in the chase and only caught up once the shark had disappeared. We were offered another trip, free of charge, as we didn't get to see the shark properly but after 2 days and no places available on the boats we had to go without seeing the shark.

What i (stupidly) didn't envisage about the west coast was the vast amount of nothingness. We could drive for 2 days solid only meeting the odd campervan or roadtrain and our only stop would be for fuel at the next available roadhouse; these were usually 250-350 kms apart. We would park by night on the rest areas on the side of the road hoping that we wouldn't wake up in the morning with a huge roadtrain up our tail.

We finally made it to Broome, a beautiful town. Spent a few days lying about, going to the outdoor cinema (the oldest in the world) and riding along the beach on the back of a camel. It was without doubt one of the best towns we been to in Oz. The plan from there was to go into the Kimberly Region but without a 4 wheel drive that's impossible. We bypassed that and went to Kununurra, took a fight over the Bungle Bungles, very cool, and went back in the Northern Territory, waving goodbye to Western Australia.

We spent a few days in Kakadu National Park admiring the aboriginal rock art, which dates back thousand of years, and the amazing views. A quick drive through Litchfield National Park to see 4 metre high termite mounds and magnificent waterfalls and we were in Darwin and then on a plane back to Sydney saying our goodbyes to everyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed our west coast experience but to see the best that this amazing coast has to offer i would definitely get a 4 wheel drive, maybe next time. The long journey home now begins through Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Russia and beyond. My tales on Bali and Singapore can wait till my next installment, this one has been long enough. More photos have been put up on our travel blog if anyone's interested. Hope ye are all well and until next time......

Paul.