It doesn't feel quite right saying happy new year considering the circumstances at the moment, but i trust you all had a pleasant, if not thoughtful evening. Is was pretty quiet here, a small toast with my dorm mates and a bit of banter was followed by a reasonably early night.

I went to Noosa's national park yesterday to do a bit of walking and managed to see my first Koala and Kangaroo. A reminder of the fact that I am in Australia, and not as it sometimes seems, a hill billy town in America. Its very pleasant at Noosa North Shore where I'm staying on a kind of ranch, up untill yesterday i was sharing an 8 bed apartment with huge kitchen and lounge, with myself. The greatest taste of luxury I've had in 4 months.

Im off to Brisbane tomorrow for a couple of days where i should be able to upload some photos. Untill then.

Ive spent the last 3 days on Fraiser island, a massive sand mass about 150 X 20 km hosting dozens of microclimates and freshwater lakes. Being the only member of our group that could drive (and navigate, pitch a tent, cook, walk more than a hundred yards without gasping for water) I took us around the islands many sights in our beast of a 4X4 jeep. The main highway is the wet sand of the eastern beach which gives access to the many off road tracks, all of which look un driveable untill you find the right off road gear. We camped on the beach, we camped in the rainforest, we saw dingos and iguanas, we had a good time. After 300km of slogging around the island we returned to mainland. I packed, and then left for Noosa (where i am now).

Christmas - I hope everyone is having a good one, many thanks for your e-mails. James and Karen, Nick and Gill, Celeste and Paul, Kat, Sean and Amanda, and of course, Mum and Dad. Seeing as i'm not there to buy presents for, prehaps you will all have some spare change to send to the victims of the tsunami, and i will do the same. You can do this here among other places

http://www.worldvision.com.au/appeals/tsunami/

Sam - hope you get better soon mate, give me an e-mail when you get out of hospital so i can call you.

Enjoy new year everyone, and just remember, when the clock strikes 12 in england. I'll just be waking up with a hangover.

After 15 hours through the night ive arrived at Rainbow Beach, a 30km stretch of white sand about two and a half hours north of Brisbane. The town is very small and there doesn't seem to be much going on, it appears to be mainly used as a hopping point over to Fraiser island, where i will head on the 27th.

Anyway, i believe its Christmas tomorrow so i will take this opportunity to wish you all an enjoyable day. As fun as it sounds basking in the sun next to the Pacific. There is definitely something to be missed in sitting in front of the fire in your new socks, consuming vast amounts of port and cheese. Enjoy. Merry Christmas all.

Sailing around the Whitsundays turned out to be more of a 3 day motorboat trip due to the lack of wind, but was enjoyable all the same. Our boat, the 'Habibi' took us to several different locations including a place called Whitehaven beach. The sand there is 100% silicon and so is pure white. Turtles and dolphins played at the side of the boat in the early mornings, and the evenings were left to look at a perfect night sky, where once the moon goes down the milky way was so clear it almost had a defined edge. Not the worst view to go to sleep to.

I just cant get into the Christmas spirit. Yes there are decorations. But when the sun is blasting at 40o and people are wearing swim shorts and a santa hat its just plain weird.

Ive arrived in Airlie Beach where i will set off from tomorrow for three days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. Its a live aboard boat so obviously i wont be in touch untill just before Christmas. Untill then, enjoy your mince pies everyone.

After some pretty extensive organization and trawling through a library of information i have managed to set my self some kind of plan for as far as Brisbane. I leave tomorrow for Airlie beach where after a nights sleep im hopping on a 15m sailing boat to tour around the Whitsunday islands for 2 days. Back on a bus and down to Rainbow beach, where i'll spend christmas, and then out to Fraiser island for 3 days. With a tent, stove and a 4WD jeep at our disposal we (people i haven't yet met) will tour the national park before returning to the mainland in time for new year at Noosa. From there I'll hit Brisbane, and worry about the next leg of the journey. Australia, it would seem, is hell of a lot bigger than it looks on a map.

On arriving in cairns I was told in no un-certain terms not to swim in the bay due to salt water crocs, sharks and stingers (a deadly jellyfish). This is obviously advice that one does not ignore, especially poignant as the local news is currently focused on a young local killed by a bull shark a few days ago. Coincidently the husband of an employee at my guesthouse. So when I saw the sign for a days snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef I couldn’t wait to get in the water. Sort of.

More through my own ignorance than lack of interest I always believed the reef to be very close to shore. It is in fact (in Cairns at least) some 2 hours on a speedy catamaran from the mainland to the outer reef.

And so we arrived. A short introductory talk roughly consisting of don’t worry, don’t drown and don’t touch anything gave us our licence to enter the water and start exploring. The first location was as I expected lots of coral and lots of fish, very similar to that of Ko Tao in south Thailand only on a grander scale and with bigger fish.

Slightly disappointed I had lunch and we set out to the second location.

When you snorkel, or SCUBA for that matter, in open water you always have what is known as a ‘buddy’. The idea being should you run into difficulty they can wave your dismembered limb in the air as a sign of distress. I teamed up with a German guy, deliberately selecting someone that looked meatier than I, and we set off on the 100m swim from the boat to the reef.

After a short explore we decided to head to the back of the reef, and it was here that we saw our first shark, about 2m long. The particular species comman to this reef is the ‘White tipped reef shark’, completely harmless but still pretty vicious looking.

Despite knowing these facts, when you are 200m from the boat, totally exposed and there is a shark in front of you several things happen instinctively. Your breathing rate increases, your body fills with adrenaline and you look for the exit, which of course does not exist. I believe the collective term for these responses is known as “Shitting It”. After the shock wears off and reason sets in you begin to appreciate the beauty and majesty of the thing. However, that was not to be the highlight.

Minutes later a turtle swam directly between us and surfaced for air. We were able to follow it at very close proximity for some 15mins as it slowly and gracefully swam around the reef.

Im currently looking into the best way to get down to Sydney. Its over three thousand kilometres and buses are looking like the best option, although I don’t think I’ll make it in time for Christmas, or new year for that matter.

The 7 hour flight from Hong to Cairns didn’t look too much hassle, on paper. However the repercussions of cramming dinner, sleep and breakfast into a three hour window, passing two time zones and landing at 4 in the morning, are such that I feel slightly ‘discombobulated’. What also didn’t help was the gentleman sitting next to me who proceeded to tell me, at length, how he had been doing a gig with Gerry and the Pacemakers. The conversation only ending when I told him, at length, and in the nicest possible way, that at this hour I really couldn’t care.

Australian customs are some of the strictest in the world. If it grows, smells, is edible or dirty, and especially a combination of these, then you are probably not allowed to bring it into the country. Which led to the following: -

“Are you carrying any footwear other than that you are wearing sir?” bellowed the customs official.

“Urr, No” I replied, and may it be added – without thinking.

She hauled my rucksack onto the x-ray machine and froze the screen to reveal a size 12 pair of leather hiking boots consuming roughly half my pack.

“Oh yes, I forgot about those”

She looked into my tired eyes doubtfully and whipped out some papers.

Restraining myself from saying “Look Miss, its four in the morning and I’ve been cooped up with some wanna be rock’n’roll star..etc” I answered her inquisition and managed to escape with a minor shoe cleaning and the confiscation of some saffron that I was supposed to post. Sorry Matt, but your culinary wizardry will have to wait.

I’m now in Cairns, a supposed city that appears to consist of a few dozen pristinely kept blocks, a swimming lagoon and a panoramic ocean view. Despite the lack of Hong Kong’s technology such as talking escalators and bickering urinals, people still seem to manage not to piss down the stairs or get their fingers wedged in the lavatory. In short, it’s clean, well organized and realistic. Yes its expensive, but the facilities and quality are excellent. 20 pounds can get you a nights sleep and three basic meals, an amount that would probably stretch to 3 times fish’n’chips and a night in the cells were I back home.

I’ll probably head out to the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow and do some snorkeling, but for the time being I've got ‘no worries’.

Ive been amusing myself over the last few days with various buildings, museums, kung-fu demonstrations, piano shops and noodle bars. Although HK begins to grow on you after a while i'll be very glad to get out of here, if only for budget reasons. On average a meal costing 10 times that of other places ive been, and thats for the cheap stuff. I'll also be glad to be out my guesthouse, where no windows and cockroaches for company dont make for an enjoyable stay.

Im flying to Cairns tomorrow, and if my geography serves me correctly there is a little more room for breathing in Australia. Oh, and its summer there. :-)

Ive been out to Lantau island today via the highly futuristic Mass Transit Railway. Over half the island has been designated a country park and large concrete paths guide you like a zombie through the countryside. Its home to one of the largest sitting Buddahs in the world and made for an interesting day out. I then returned to HK to visit "The Peak" which gives you stunning panoramic views over the entire city. After returning back to sea level i crossed back to Kowloon to watch the nightly "Symphony of Lights" which uses the city skyline as a stage for a multimedia show.

There is no denying that HK is an amazing city with a lot to offer but you really are left craving for space, searching for its identity and hiding from its sickly brand name obsession. It has been said that "culture is roughly anything we do and monkeys don't". I suppose in that respect HK has a lot of culture. However in comparison to the other countries ive visited its lifeless. Not because of its lack of energy but its lack of honest identity. It feels like a theme park, exposition and a greenhouse all rolled into one.

Im off to see an Organ recital tomorrow at the HKCC. Should be fun. See you later.

Hong Kong. Touching down in massive HK International airport it is immediately apparent that this city/district is unlike any other. From the towering skyscrapers to the impressive bridges that join the islands the whole place is awash with brave constructions. Im staying just off Nathan Rd in Tsu Sha Tsui, its HK's famous neon mile and packed at all hours of the day. At the end of the road is the famous harbor view and the Star Ferry that takes you over to HK island in a few minutes. Cheap accommodation does not seem to exist, rooms here falling into two categories. Small, horrible and expensive or lushly furnished harbor facing rooms, reserved for the uber-rich.

My first impressions of this city are mixed. Once the impact of some of the views has worn off i began to realize that its actually not a very nice place. On the whole the people here are obnoxious, rude, inconsiderate, unhelpful and devoid of any hospitality. Money seems to be the only language. The air quality is bad. The list is endless.

But im still managing to have a good time. Ive been walking around HK island most of the day. Its split into three levels inspirationally named Central, Mid-Levels, and Upper-Levels. An airport style escalator spans 1km directly through the city and up the hill allowing easy access to all areas.

Dim-Sum time

Yesterday I got a boat out to the floating village on lake Ton La Sap. Fleeing Vietnamese and Cambodians have built there entire village on the water. Everything from the police station to the local church is afloat, some childen swim to school. It’s a very poor area and most people's livelihood is based around fishing on the massive sea-like lake. I'm flying to Honk Kong tomorrow, one extreme to the other, so I better go and pack.

Some monks in Ta Prohm



The faces of Bayon in Angkor Thom



Nature vs Architecture (Ta Prohm)

Flying in over the eerily and largely untouched plains of Cambodia reveals a large geographical difference to other South East Asian countries, but these differences are insignificant in comparison to the ones that surround their social and economic attitudes. As most people know history has not treated Cambodia kindly. This is a country that has been attacked in one way or another for over 500 years. A trend that only really ceased in 1998 with the death of Pol Pot, who’s brutal Khmer Rouge were responsible for the death of nearly 3 million people over 4 years in the 1970’s. Throughout history the Americans, French, Chinese and Vietnamese have colonized, sent troops or dropped bombs into what used to be the most impressive and affluent area in the east. This is most prevalent in the Angkorian temples that surround Siem Reap, which I’ll get onto in a second. My point is that this country, one of the poorest in the world, has had a hard time.

Siem Reap is effectively a bubble. It’s quite possible to travel directly from the airport to a $1200 a night hotel and drink white wine spritzars with cosmopolitan madames without seeing any of the suffering or consequences of Cambodia's history. This appears to happen a lot. However you only have to look very slightly below the surface, or into the eyes of some people to see that the reality of life is very different to what many see through the window of their tour bus. Poverty is high, amputee numbers are high (from mines), mass begging, stealing and child prostitution are all high but a direct consequence of the countries history and pressures. Finally Cambodia seems to be getting on its feet after a rough ride but needs understanding and support from the international community, not charity from Angkor and Phnom Pen tourists.

I’ve spent the last three days exploring some of the 100 temples that spread over 3000 sq/km north of Siem Reap. Trying to do the major temples chronologically I got a bike driver to take me to the oldest and most distant temples. The following days I used a push bike to make my way around the others. Each temple complex is massive. Angkor Thom for example is about 16sq/km inside its walls. Angkor Wat (not the best), Bayon and Ta Prohm are impressive to say the least. The latter having huge towering trees growing directly on the top of corbel archways. My pass has expired as have my leg muscles and temple threshold and so after some enjoyable days im gonna relax tomorrow.

I also managed to have my first run in with the police. After apparently taking my bike the wrong way down a street I was fined $1 for my sins and told to be on my way. Curious as the scores of Cambodians ahead and behind be seemed non-eligible for this penalty.

Here are a few pictures before i fly out.

Sunset from my bungalow in Mong Ngoi



Rowing up the river in Mong Ngoi



The Crew



Buddah Caves in Luang Phrabang Province