The Islands of Indonesia

15th to 24th October - Denpasar & Gili Trawangan

Early into the evening we had arrived in Indonesia, after a minor panic about bringing alcohol/tobacco into the country we discovered it was alright and we headed through security with reasonable confidence. We split the tobacco between ourselves but even when it was clearly seen, nobody flinched. The first guy we saw attempted to hook us for a taxi and even after clearly stating “we’re ok thanks”, he followed us out of the airport, stood with us for ten minutes and then when we got in another taxi, for some reason he appeared shocked! I was placed with Ingham, Ronchetti and Jenny and we set off to our new home in Denpasar. I don’t think i’ll ever in my life have a more histerical taxi drive than that day, the driver instantly riddled us with questions which is quite normal but he continued to point women out on the streets and telling us how to pretty much hook up with people. He defiantly didn’t shy from details but the best comment from our new friend was that some Australian girls drink far too much beer, Bintang to be precise and because of this, they’re often ‘larger’. His words not mine. As you can imagine this conversation for over 20 minutes broke us up into laughter continuously. We didn’t even reply to much!

Denpasar was not quite what i was expecting at all, in some fashion it reminded me of Thailand, which worried me, it seemed like there was one large strip littered in bars, tourists and locals selling everything under the sun. We dropped our gear off at Pop Hotel and ventured to get ourselves grounded, luckily we discovered quite quickly the crowd was much nicer but hawkers were definitely in full force. After a few casual beers and a superb carbonara me, Paul and Jenny broke from the group and got an early night. It had been my graduation back in England the same day and i had a Skype call with the university group, it was brilliant to see everyone so happy and with that the next morning i had planned absolutely nothing, purposely. I wanted a day of just sitting on the beach, drinking some gin and eating fresh fruit. I did exactly that! Four of us sat there and watched the day go by pretty quickly, we spoke to some interesting people, one in particular that Paul for reasons unknown bought a blowpipe with darts from. This man told us about how it took him two weeks on a boat to travel from his home country Papua New Guinee where these ‘weapons’ are made by his uncle and sold to tourists as something for the mantle piece! Not a bad story at all. The rest of the group began to arrive into the late afternoon and we sat and watched the sunset on the beach, one of the best i’ve seen out here! The sun illuminated everything in an orange glow and its outline in the sky was visible as it disappeared over the horizon. The night continued with bars, pool and conversations before we arrived at yet another rooftop club, people opening doors for you, marble everywhere and Western priced drinks. I didn’t actually see much of the place before i needed taking home, i had enjoyed my graduations too much it seems! Thanks Ben for getting me back!

We wasted the next day with just relaxing by the pool at our hotel and heading out for a good meal knowing we had planned Waterbom the next day! It’s the third largest waterpark in the world, first in Asia. An early morning and off we set, we were far from disappointed when we arrived to see huge, spiralling slides across our peripheral. We started with the lazy river, something i’ve never given much time but they’re brilliant! Floating around a designed course on a tube where you bounce around gently through little water features and greenery. Afterwards we began on the larger attractions and almost all of them were brilliant but theres on in particular, Dan and Robin went on it first whilst i was busy on another, they came over afterwards and convinced me to follow them back up the stairs to this specific waterslide. Turns out it was a trapdoor kind of system where you stand at the top of the slide and after a countdown the floor opens up and you pretty much free fall into this ride! Obviously nervous i get in and prepare for the drop, i wasn’t disappointed! Apparently as it opened i screamed “like an old man” was just one of the quotes. You crash land onto the slide at good speed then thinking i’m about to come out the other end i began flying upwards from the momentum, around a slanted loop. Best ride there by a long shot, and literally zero people there all day! The staff there were also incredibly friendly, couldn’t do enough for you and actually had a laugh with you. I’d recommend the place to anyone else heading this side of the world.

       Travelling to Gili T was relatively easy with a travelling package bought at a tourism office, a quick taxi followed by a few hours on a ferry beached us on the island, we jumped into the shallow water with our bags and once again felt the horror of wet feet and sand combined. The island was nicely quiet with only horses and carriages going past us because engines are banned! I’m always most fond of the peaceful places we’ve visited on this trip. We booked our bungalows and headed down to the beach for a quick swim, snorkel kit attached and under i headed to have a look for some fish. Literally only 30 meters from shore the ground disappeared beneath where i swam into this infinite dark blue sea, it was an eery kind of emptiness that surrounded me! As i’m not incredibly fond on deep water that was enough  and back to the beach with an iced coffee i headed. 

Our next few days consisted of mainly late nights and zero sightings of the morning, well deserved! Finally we pulled our act together, stopped wasting our time and got a boat hired to take us on a few hours snorkelling trip. Alas not everybody woke up so just me, Robin, Paul and Jenny appeared at the docks ready to go. Once again the trip was brilliant! We saw yet more sea turtles including me managing to swim quite far down for a better look, it was great for Paul and Jenny who i don’t believe had done this before. Later on we were told to jump in before our driver pointed further down the coast and he set off, luckily we can bloody swim! It was a good 30-40 minute journey through the coral gardens  which was crowded in both fish and colourful coral before we reached a huge ship wreck that the driver spoke about at the beginning of the day. We saw loads of scuba divers swimming below us exploring the boat but even from above it was very interesting. 

We arrived back later in the afternoon and told the group of our trips success and with that we headed back to the beach and booked a longer, better sounding trip for tomorrow. Five hours of both snorkelling and fishing and we got it for a bargain as well! I’ve never tried fishing and wasn’t by any means fully committed to what the day would hold but the morning came and we began at first with snorkelling. Unfortunately the current was strong meaning staying in one place was very difficult, you could even see the fish struggling as the zig zagged between the coral but to top things off my goggles kept leaking and there was nothing i could do about it, our driver had moved the boat and he wasn’t brilliant with English so i got nowhere. But still, swimming around is not the worst way to spend the day.

We began fishing later on in the day which by all means started brilliantly, i got myself sat at the front of the boat in the baking sun and with a quick tutorial cast my line with a tasty chunk of tuna into the deep blue, my competitive streak instantly came through and i was game for catching the first fish. A good 20 minutes passed before my chance of victory was shattered by both Ingham and Jenny screaming out they had a bite, reeling it in to our amazement it was fairly big! The day went on and alas beginners luck didn’t kick in for myself and i ended up catching absolutely nothing, from my knowledge everyone else did very well and by the end of the day we had a good haul! When we arrived back at the docks we said our thanks to the driver and he bagged up the fish and left, guessing he was going to have a good BBQ later on at our expense. The next morning it was time to leave and we arrived at the beach nice and early, after a horribly long wait on my own with a very uninterested staff member he finally told me we couldn’t get on the boat as it was already full and we had to come back the next morning! I’ve been stuck in worse places so we spent our extra, unexpected day at the beach relaxing on bean bags and planning our next destination, Ubud. 

Paul & Jenny 

 Preparing for our first scuba drop

 The happiest photograph of Robin i've ever seen!

 The beach at Gili Trawangan

 One of our overly friendly bar staff

 Can't beat beanbags!

 Paul & Jenny highjacking my camera

 Biggest catch of the day by Ingham and Jenny. Rep Snapper i believe?

 Robin fishing

 My first and probably last attempt at fishing

From one side of our boat

The Islands we Craved

12th to 29th September - Phuket, Koh Phi Phi & Koh Phangan

As we flew into Phuket i was gob smacked at the beauty of the green islands scattered through the light blue sea, it looked absolutely amazing, that was me itching to get exploring! After a short taxi ride we arrived at the best accommodation we had yet, big rooms, comfy beds and a damn good pool, best thing was it was all below budget. With me being far from healthy and the guys just wanted to relax thats exactly what we did for several days, hanging out by the pool and eating at the hotel. Our second night however, we decided to go to a quiet bar and have a few drinks which i was just about feeling up for. After a cheap sweat and sour chicken we were directed to a place called Bangla Road, even though i'd researched Phuket i'd never heard of it and wow we were in for a surprise. The place was more hectic than Bangkok! Instantly we had 20+ vendors offering us ping pong shows, night clubs, you name it. We settled down in a bar on the far side where you get offered matches of connect 4 and jenga for free tequila shots from the staff which in turn made our 'quiet night' into a much bigger event. We spent hours going from bar to bar laughing with people and getting the main part of our drinks for free, i'd admit this was the best night we had in Thailand so far, much better than what Bangkok had to offer. For the next two days of our stay in Phuket i stayed in, trying to eat plain food and try to get back on track. Several of the guys headed out for yet another round of bars and told me of their crazy antics the morning after, at times i was glad i stayed in, not to mention how bad the weather turned, a tropical storm had come down from Vietnam and began battering the surrounding islands of Phuket.
     We set sail once more to Koh Phi Phi via a quick taxi followed by two hours on a ferry. If you've ever watched the film 'The Perfect Storm' you'll understand around how choppy and dodgy the ferry was. Waves were bouncing off both sides to the point where the window next to me began leaking! Ingham hates the sea and generally anything to do with it, he slept for the first half of the ferry thank god but woke up half way through and quickly went pail! I don't blame him, even i was a little on edge! We jumped off the boat into the relentless rain and quickly found our new home for 7 nights, it looks absolutely nothing like what we booked but it was a bed and air conditioning, got the basics at least. The first two days it rained again none stop and we struggled to do anything apart from eat and sleep but finally the clouds began to clear and we had the choice of two very different beaches within a 5 minute walk from us. Firstly an incredibly shallow and slightly murky water bay which was good to just lay in, where as the other side was deeper and very clear. I didn't drink a drop during my stay at Koh Phi Phi as i began to get even worse, one night whilst the guys went out to the parties on the beach i was getting stomach cramps and started to actually pass blood... Sorry for the information! But this obviously got me incredibly worried and the next morning i went straight to hospital, they took a blood sample and asked a million questions, thankfully i was told my chances of survival are very high and with some antibiotics for a stomach infection i was on my way and within a few days i was beginning to feel my real self again.
     Nearly two weeks of feeling horrible got me quite down in the dumps as i'd done next to nothing but we finally headed out and began sea kayaking which was awesome, i bought myself a snorkel kit and parked up our kayaks at a place called Monkey Beach which, you guessed it, had loads of monkeys on it, that was fairly cool but the actual snorkelling here was much better! I'd never done it before and to be swimming with these fairly large, colourful fish cheered me up no end, only panicked once about sharks as well! We did the same on another day because we enjoyed it that much and later on hiked up to Koh Phi Phi viewpoint, nice and easy hike with a cool view of where both bays almost meet in the centre of the island. We bought most of our food from this restaurant called Cosmic which did surprisingly, really great Italian food for damn cheap, it sorted me out in terms of staying away from spice and grease whilst recovering. It was a good place for a none alcoholic drink and a few card games. Our time, even with a week there passed very quickly and before long we had planned our trip over to Koh Phangan for the biggest party of the month, the full moon party!
     Koh Phangan mainly consisted of sitting around the pool and drinking beer, that was our aim for the island and it was definitely achieved, its not something i’d do again on this trip but with five of your best friends you’ll struggled to have a bad time! It was nice to chat to other people as well, they had mainly arrived just for the Full Moon Party but because of that they brought a different, fun vibe with them. The beach was littered with bars and loud music every night we went down but the best place by far was Mellow Mountain, a really relaxed place where everyone sat with cushions on the floor. After one of the nights we jumped into a pick-up truck for our lift home, about a 30 minute drive with crazy roads and fast speeds... It was once way to get an adrenaline rush! All six of us were bouncing around in the back whilst the driver couldn’t care less, great fun though, it was like being on a rickety roller coaster. The Full Moon Party itself was like any other night on the beach but with 10 times more people, getting anywhere became a struggle but the atmosphere was brilliant, everyone was in high spirits and there to generally have a good time. We sat on the beach and watched the sunrise in the traditional manner of the party, it was a good ending to a great night. 

 Sunset at Koh Phi Phi Viewpoint

 Enjoying the beaches for the day

Monkey Beach which was only a short 15min kayak away

 Leaving the islands and heading off to Malaysia

Ella - The Beautiful Countryside

21st to 24th August - Ella & the train to Kandy

We awoke with the sun breaking through the hotels curtains and i jumped up and heading straight for our balcony, the views were amazing, situated in a valley with a clear view of the mountain range. That was me instantly happy. The staff were brilliant as well, calling us up for breakfast which was an array of fresh fruit, toast and eggs, much better than some places we've had with the added bonus of the scenery. Not long after the two guys Leonard and Friedl came up on the scooters and we decided to get our own bike and head to the waterfall just down the dodgy, dirt road that is riddled in pot holes. It's always fun with really thin tyres! The waterfall itself was huge and at times a difficult hike, we went straight up the rocks that ran side by side to the water. We struggled at points as it was more like rock climbing that a morning stroll but the views from the top were so worth it. Dan and Leonard went for a quick swim in a small patch of water near the top and then we sat down, carved up a pineapple and took in the location.
     The hike back down got rather interesting as we saw rain clouds rolling in and before long it began pouring it down, difficult on vertical rocks, trust me. With a small rummage through the forest on the side we got down ok apart from Ben that took a tumble on literally the last step, a small graze but none the less perfectly fine. we then took shelter from the monsoon rain in a small cafe near by, drank a copious amount of tea and played a new Israeli card game we had been taught, Yaniv. With the day nearing an end we grabbed some food and took an early night. As the morning came around we took our scooters and shot up to the local tea plantation for a tour, at only 300 rupees (£1.50) i couldn't complain especially with a complimentary tea tasting session at the end. I can happily say the process of tea is actually interesting, makes it taste ever so better weirdly. Unfortunately i didn't get the chance to photograph the tea plantation workers, apparently this isn't allowed. Looks like i'll be settling on rice paddies in South-East Asia instead. With time in the day still spare we decided to begin our hike up Ella rock, a well known hike which is known for a full view of the town below. We struggled instantly with finding the right path, they darted left and right every few hundred meters so we opted for a guide who we met at the bottom, he took us half way before the rain began to flood the area again so we chucked a few rupees and a thank you his way and decided to stay in a small hut for half an hour, waiting for it to pass. Not complain though as we continued the card games and threw some music on. Continuing the hike got interesting as we walked through the forest which i swear was almost completely vertical. I realised at this point i'm not as fit as i use to be! Few more of these hikes and i should be back up to standards. We reached the tip of Ella rock just before sunset and this golden glow along with rays of light illuminated the scenery, catching on the mountains that surrounded us. We sat, photographed and watched as the light disappeared and began our hike back down with torches in hand.
     Once more we awoke at some crazy time in the morning, around 3:00AM ready to begin our next hike up Little Adam's Peak for sunrise, with our tuk tuk driving and two mopeds we shot up the edge of the mountain to the beginning of the path and hiked up in the pitch black. Thankfully it was an easy hike at only 30 minutes and we settled down whilst eating coconut biscuits awaiting the sunrise. And we weren't disappointed, i was in my element running around with my camera and tripod whilst Leonard worked on training a dog that followed us up the mountain side, god knows how but he made it stand on its back paws and even sit. I'm sure Sri Lankan dogs don't speak English. We got back down, grabbed some breakfast and said our farewells to the two guys, we all got on so well and its a shame to see them leave, but we've now to plan a new road trip to Austria, where they're both living currently. Our last day in Ella arrived and we decided to sit in our favourite cafe and organise the rest of Sri Lanka, out of nowhere we saw Catherine, a lady we originally met in Arugam Bay, she's from Hong Kong but travels quite a lot. After a quick chit chat it was decided she would come along with us to Kandy where we had booked a four people apartment so that worked out perfectly, making it cheaper for everyone. We agreed to catch the train in the early morning together which everyone talks about, and they weren't wrong to. It was possibly one of the best train drives i've ever been on. They leave the doors open and you can just stand there and watch as we rocket through the mountain ranges. Most areas looked completely untouched by man, almost jurassic in some respects. Typically i'd just put my head back and get some sleep but instead i stood there and watched as we travelled for four hours. It completed our trip to Ella beautifully. It's definitely a place i would revisit, once again and likewise with Ella the Sri Lankan people are so welcoming and friendly.

 Beginning the waterfall hike

 Friedl clocking me taking a photograph

 Group shot - Me, Dan, Leonard, Friedl & Ben

 Professional Selfie

 The guys having a break

 One of the best pineapples i've ever had

 The hiked waterfall

 Waiting for the monsoon to finish after the waterfall hike

 Waiting for the second monsoon to finish whilst hiking Ella Rock

 Our awesome guide!

 Mountain cows...

 Just as sunset began up Ella Rock

 The beautiful light we got at Ella Rock. Worth the hike

 Leonard shooting

 Ben with the best seat in the house

 Another group shot up Ella Rock

 Quick shot from Little Adam's Peak before sunrise

One of my favourites from Little Adam's Peak 

Wildlife & Surfing

15th to 20th August - Arugam Bay

With the arrival of a few new people at the dorms we had a streak of motivation to move us away from the beach and finally head to Yala National Park, something we had been planning to do for over a week, but we had just been far too relaxed, like i said, bean bags and beaches, its hard to be torn away from. I’m horribly woken up by my alarm at 4:00AM to jump into this jeep and reach the park for sunrise, whilst falling asleep on the incredibly bumpy road to our destination or driver slams on the breaks and starts pointing and shouting “Elephant, elephant!”, there it was just stood roaming on its own and i’m kicking myself that its still dark and i’m lacking the iconic photograph of this creature. Onwards we drove seeing the odd bit of wild life until we reached the park and headed in, straight away we were met by loads of wildlife like deer that came straight up to the jeep and we began feeding them crackers, apparently they’re rather fond of them! This was followed by monkeys, wild boar, crocodiles, millions of birds and finally a few elephants, but once again miles away from me which gave me a total of zero photo opportunities. I’m sure within the next four months i’ll finally get my chance. The national park itself was beautiful, i’d love to of spent more time just photographing the landscapes there but in a group, you’ve got to keep moving. Overall i’m so glad we did it and especially for the price, it rounded off at around £15 for six hours and being picked up. 

     The next couple of days nothing of huge interest happened, we relaxed with some of the best company we’ve had so far, must of been a group of 12+ in total most nights, a few quick drinks and swapping stories of travel. We also finally got to try surfing thanks to Leonard and Friedl, the two german guys we had been with for over a week. They were great teachers and showed us through the basics including all the safety before heading out into the deep blue. I absolutely loved it, i managed to get use to the balance and stood up around 4 times, even if it was just for a split second, catching a wave is a whole new experience and then to just drop into the warm water was amazing. With my board hitting my face whilst underwater and my skin becoming red raw on my chest from scratching on the board i think it was reasonably successful. On our last day we decided to get the whole gang together and go to Whisky Point, a known surf spot just 20 minutes out of the bay, with four tuk tug’s and our boards on top we convoyed across and jumped in the water. Unfortunately this time the wind was so strong none of us had the strength to battle the current and surfing definitely failed that time, none the less though, we all had a great laugh and got some group photographs. The next morning was difficult to say the least. Saying goodbye to a huge amount of people that we almost saw like family, even Lukeyta who had been with us from Colombo was splitting off from us. Both Leonard and Friedl had planned to drive over to Ella and meet up so we knew at least we will catch up with these guys! Two members of staff at YMCA had also become good friends of ours, firstly Nehal, the DJ who was possibly the most relaxed guy in Sri Lanka, he was always friendly and couldn’t do enough to help. Secondly there was Sarai who we had originally met on our first day when he invited us in to sleep on the sofas, he is an incredibly interesting man with stories that draw you in as you wait patiently for each word. He came up to me one evening and said “I know things about you that you don’t know, i know you don’t have a bad bone in your body”, It’s most likely the best compliment i’ve ever had! On the sly he apparently told a woman at the bar about me, really making me sound great! Unfortunately i had already gone to bed haha. But he really seemed happy with all of us at the hostel, when leaving he said we made the place great and we will be sorely missed. Us three will genuinely miss him and story time as well!

     Our journey out of Arugam bay was not without its problems, firstly i lost my wallet which was a huge panic but after 20 minutes we discovered it down the side of Ben’s bed, i placed it there the night before but after half a bottle of gin, how am i to remember? Disaster everted we got our tuk tuk to the bus station only to find Ben’s had now disappeared, after over an hour of going back and fourth to the hostel it was found between two mattresses stacked against the wall, very odd if you ask me, i’m doubtful it was accidently put there but nothing missing and we heading to get our bus along with Steve who would be separating from us at the next big town. After the ‘traditional’ pestering whilst waiting for our bus we got on and set sail to the next destination Ella, we arrived for 7:30PM at our bus change however it turns out we had missed the final one. We should of known with our luck, but with a bit of bartering we got a tuk tuk for the rest of the journey, two hours in a tin can heading up mountain sides, nerve racking at times but actually really fun! We arrived late at night and threw our heads down for some well deserved sleep.

Deer tucking into some crackers! 

 Yala National Park

 Me, Dan & Steve... Bird watching

 Rover, our beloved dog from Arugam Bay, he will be missed!

 Lukeyta getting the week written up

 Steve buying the most expensive meal as always

 Me & Dan off to surf

 Ben, Dan, Lukeyta, Nikolaj, Nic, Steve, Mike & Me

 Leonard, Nikolaj, Lukeyta, Ben, Dan, Steve, Friedl & Me

 Our terrible attempt at the typical 'mid-jump photograph'

 Nihal at sunset

Sarai being Sarai

The Relaxing Continues

10th to 14th August - Arugam Bay

For several days now we've had a simple mixture of relaxing on bean bags, swimming in clear blue open sea, eating amazing food and socialising with the huge amount of people in our dorm. There's always a party every night here which keeps Ben and Dan happy, i've been attending the odd one but i'm normally happy to head out photographing or grab an early night. We rented mopeds again the other day and heading much further inland than we had done previously, four bikes with five people, it was actually incredibly fun! We got to see some views we'd never actually see, a beautiful backdrop of hills and mountains whilst every local we drive past waves and smiles, its a great feeling to speak and sit around with locals and nobody is after anything from you, people actually just want to chat. I felt like we rarely got that in India so i'm so happy to have decided that Sri Lanka would be a good destination to travel across. Once again, somehow, Dan got a puncture on the moped and we came to a stop in the middle of nowhere just before sunset, after a good 15 minutes we were in luck as a armed guard pulled over to check what was going on, one call and he had organised someone to come and collect the bike. With a quick warning that elephants kill people in the area we had broken down, he jumped back on his bike and left us to it.. Great to know, thanks. Not long after a jeep with several people arrived and picked the moped up and straight into the back, we followed to a small shack at the side of the road where a guy was attempting to fix the puncture, after a long wait and genuine effort put in by this guy he had bodge jobbed the inner tube enough that it worked! For over an hours work including pick up he charged a total of 200 Sri Lankan Rupees, exactly £1! Can't complain at competitive prices over here. Driving in the dark was interested, with me leading it was a further 30km back home and only my main beam lights worked, so every time i went past another car i was driving blind! I'm simply glad there was no elephants on the road this time.
     Swimming has been great here, we've been hit by some huge waves over the last few days so its been fun to tackle the sea. I'm slowly but surely getting over my fear of deep water, then again, its not necessarily the water i'm bothered about, more whats in the deep water.. Sharks etc. Our friend here Nik has shown us some burns on his forearm was jelly fish stings, thats another thing i'm eagerly trying to dodge! Last night was one of the best for getting out and photographing the stars, i took along Lenard who is keen to learn photography so sharing a single tripod we walked across the beach towards the end of town where there was very little light. When looking up it was absolutely amazing, no amount of photographs can show what we could see, the milky way arched across the sky from left to right and filled the sky, i'm sure it was one of the best views i've had. Set up and we start photographing anything and everything when some time in, one of the new arrivals Steve walked over, god knows how he found us, apparently he'd been walking for ages just taking in the stars. With it being the meteor shower the sky was lit up with them. He showed us that when walking on the wet sand it lit up blue! It was the phosphorus! I've honestly always wanted to see that with my own eyes, it looks as it we were surrounded by stars above and below us. With Lenard all taught up about astrophotography that was our line into learning surfing, hopefully we will finally get out there on a board in the next few days. Today, once more i've planned to do absolutely nothing but relax and swim but i'm going to get organising a trip to Yala national park to see both leopards and elephants naturally, in a few more days we will be heading into the mountain ranges of Sri Lanka, i'm really excited to get hiking and shooting some landscape photography!
     As an added note, i've come back to the laptop to get this posted and just a few hours ago when me, Steve and Dan were swimming we heard some guy from behind us start screaming help and splashing around in the water. Turns out this poor guy went under water and got caught by seaweed, when he finally got back up he panicked and started basically drowning! I swam over and grabbed this Sri Lankan guy, double the size of me and started dragging him back to shore, nobody seemed to help, i think most thought he was joking or something similar. As he's almost back to shore Steve comes and gives a hand as i'm struggling keeping this guy over the water line. The guy was glad to be back on land and really thankful but jesus christ, i don't even like open water as mentioned above, least i'm further over my fear now!

Going for a quick swim in the warmest water ever 

 This is how happy i'm actually in a photograph for once ^

 Ben looking smug on his moped

 The gang having a five minute breather, did a total of 220km that day!

 I never look impressed in photographs...

 One of the mountains on our travels

 On the road

 Little houses scattered across the country side

 My off road, speed machine

 Dans second flat tyre

 The cheapest mechanic i've ever known

 Drinking games at the YMCA hostel

 Milky way tail over the sand dunes

Silhouetted tree with the milky way