Flew Tiger Airways in Melbourne. It's such a budget airline you don't even get to go into the terminal. I was escorted from the plane to a shed out the back of the terminal to collect my bag and then shoved through a gate. Of course that was after I actually got on the plane. First it was delayed for over an hour and then we sat in the plane for ages without any air conditioning because the plane was broken. We could have walked to Melbourne in the time it took t...

So near and yet so far. For those familiar with my bowls record this will prove a familiar tale - making it to the final against the odds and then falling at the final hurdle. The main twist to the story is that I played from start to finish in glorious sunshine. I've just got back from Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast where I represented the university at the national Australian University Games alongside four other guys - (from left to right in the photo) Ad...

From 24 passengers to 5! And 2 guides! The tour up from Alice Springs to Darwin was much much quieter and a more relaxed affair (I actually got to wake up after the sun had risen). Had fun climbing round the Devil's Marbles - unlike some of the other aboriginal rock formations the locals don't seem to mind people wandering anywhere and everywhere. We also embarked upon the longest pub crawl ever - only a few hundred kilometres between each pub! Including a sto...

What a busy few days. Got off to a slow start though: Alice Springs is quite a sleepy little town really. Totally out in the middle of nowhere. Looking out the window on my flight into Alice was quite a sight - miles and miles of totally flat arid land and desert as far as you can see in every direction. Nice view from the top of Anzac hill though and a decent cultural centre in which to pass the time on Friday. The local Aboriginal people believe that the local...

This could be my final blog from Kingsford. Yes that's right - after just 4 weeks i have been informed that my landlord is upping sticks, selling the house and booting me out on the street. He phoned me tonight: 'can you put the bins out and clean the bathroom Sam?' - 'can you go and jump off a cliff?' was the gist of my reply. To think that I was worried about getting more space in the fridge at the start of the week. I'm half way round the world, just about as ...