Australia - Sydney pt3

AUSTRALIA - Sydney

below: typical start to the day. $1 coffee from Hungry Jacks. Bargain or what?!

below: walking tour of Sydney. Free with donations. 1430 til1730. Very good and high recommended.

below: iphone 5 launched the previous day

below: the weekly fireworks in Circular Quay on Saturday! This 5min show happens every Saturday!!!

below: Sydney Opera House up close.

Australia - Sydney pt2

AUSTRALIA - Sydney

We are still in Sydney and loving it. On this particular day we walked across the Harbour Bridge to Luna Park and back again just as the sun was setting. It is possible to walk OVER the very top of the bridge for c$200 but we found the public paths gave greats views for free. That evening walking along George St a London Routemaster bus zoomed past, followed by several other vintage buses.When it stopped down the road I found out they were being used for the art festival 'Art & About' - providing free 10 laps of Sydney until 10pm.

below: approaching Sydney Harbour Bridge



below: across the bridge are cycle lanes, railway lines, bus lanes, car lanes and pedestrian walkways.

below: opened in 1932

below: rush hour

 below: Sydney Opera House and CBD

below: the other side of the bridge

below: city view on the walk back across the bridge

below: bit of GB on George Street

below: all the buses were full and very popular with arty people, locals and tourists

Australia - Sydney - Bondi Beach

Sydney - Bondi Beach

20Sep

A short bus ride to Sydney's Bondi Beach for an afternoon.

Australia - Sydney

AUSTRALIA

Sydney
arrived 18Sep at 0830.

After an 8.5 hour sleepless flight we arrived in Sydney about 0830. We jumped on the train into the city centre. After getting off at the wrong stop we then walked for ages before finding our hostel. World Square Hostel, 18 bed dorm but for $19/night. After a brief wonder about we we overtaken with jetlag and went to sleep at 1600 and woke up at 1130 the next day!

Since then we've explored Sydney during the day. Had a few drinks in the evening. While also roughly planning our journey in the campervan.

One of the things we noticed straight away was everything is a lot more expensive than the UK (and especially Thailand!)! But with the help of Coles (supermarket) for bananas, apples and museli bars and Hungry Jacks (burger king) for coffee and burgers... we can survive on a shoestring budget.

Some photos below. We are really loving Sydney as a city. It seems surreal being here but we are enjoying every minute. I'm currently at our next hostel (which is a lot nicer than before) doing laundry and catching up on campervaning tips. PS. Btw we discovered there is a 36 bed dorm around here!!!

below: double deck train from the airport to Sydney centre



below: Sydney Opera House

below: Sydney Harbour Bridge

below: George St, Sydney

below: the view from hostel no 1

below: open top bus ride of Sydney (and Bondi)

below: Sydney Opera House from Macquarie St

below: 'art' apparently

below: George St

below: infamous Coca Coca sign

below: Sydney skyline at sunset, taken from Dover Heights

below: meet up with co travellers in Side Bar during happy hour for a schooner! $3.50 best price about.

below: our 18 bed dorm. first night was fine. the other two were very noisy due to roadworks right outside our window.

Thailand - the last week

THAILAND
10 Sep - 14 Sep Koh Tao
14 Sep - 17 Sep Bangkok
17 Sep dep Bangkok

below: we left Koh Tao on 14Sep bound for Bangkok. We bought a combo ticket with Lomprayah (the most reputable company) for 1000baht for ferry+'VIP' bus. We had 90 mins on the ferry followed by a 9 hour journey on the VIP bus. Due to demand there were 3 buses heading for Bangkok Kho San Road. First impressions were that the buses were very luxurious. I beg to differ having sat beneath the leaky skylight which was dripping on my head and on my book. The journey passed without incident apart from when the coach slammed its brakes on on the motorway and swerved into the other lane. Anyway we made it back to Bangkok at 9pm.

below: 15Sep. This time we were staying in a slightly different part of Bangkok. Photo of Chao Phraya River taken from a bridge.

below: River Boat taxi. Very cheap way of getting about!

below: view from the river boat taxi

below: Hua Lamphong MRT (underground) station. Rather than plaster commercial adverts along the corridors they provide a comprehensive history of their MRT system and Thailand's transport history in general.

below: taxis and a BMW E30 outside Bangkok rail station

below: Hua Lamphong Bangkok Rail Stn

below: i got caught out in a thunderstorm. Ah well at least there was a nice big tree i could shelter under :)

below: Siam

below: a River Boat taxi

below: a River Boat taxi station. Locals sell bread to tourists to feed these fish. These fish are now ridiculously big.

below: me and Dave visited Dusit Zoo... a river boat taxi and walk away.

below: a big snake

below: a big tortoise

below: 17Sep. Our walk to the rail station to get to Bangkok Airport.

---

Thailand - Koh Samui island - Bang Rak

below: The Lounge, Bang Rak (nr Bophut), Koh Samui. Our stay for 3 nights. Simple, basic and cheap hostel with a chance to meet fellow backpackers. 7SEP.

below: the best way to see Koh Samui is by moped. We held back on getting mopeds on Koh Tao as the island is a lot smaller, the roads bad and the high number of accidents. So in Koh Samui we wented a moped each for 150baht/day (3GBP/day). This is my one no993. My first time on a moped. We practiced on some quiet roads and quickly got the hang of it. 8SEP.

below: so off we went to see Big Buddha.

below: Big Buddha.

below: me on 993.

below: 993. Fully auto. Didn't get her over 70kph.

below: pit stop while touring the island.

below: a Safari park. I nabbed a cheeky photo with this elephant which is free to wonder about as he wishes.

below: After an 8 hour day mopeding about we needed to unwind. Despite our good road sense and awareness the day did bring with it a few near misses.

ARKbar on Cheweng Beach. A large venue popular with everyone. We went there with fellow travellers from our hostel.

below: co traveller adam getting rinsed by one of the kids selling tat.

below: the gang from the hostel. L-R. dave, yanis, lauren, adam, sam, hazel, me and sam. and a randomer who ran in at the last minute.

below: Day 2 mopeding round the island. I now have a new moped (moped 88) as my original wouldn't start that morning. It was more or less the same apart from the basket at the front. A full tank cost 90baht. 9SEP.

below: a waterfall we visited.

below: dunkin donuts at the end of another tiring day.