Mike and Ben on Tour

Hey gang!

Hope everyone is well. We moved up the coast again, this time to a little place called Port Macquarie. It’s a pretty cute place, lots of little coves, beaches and palm trees.

Yesterday we arrived and couldn’t find anything constructive to do so we went to the cinema! Ha Ha. Today we got our act together though and sorted out another day of fun and activities. First thing this morning (about 10.00 am lol) we hired some state of the art bicycles from our hostel (to be honest its a miracal they even had saddles, they were that bad) and cycled all the way down the coast to a little rainforest. They had a raised walk through type thing where you could see all two birds left in the rainforest really clearly!

This afternoon we stopped off at a koala sanctuary and hospital to have a look at all the cute and injured koala’s playing in the trees. It was pretty cool + free which is always a plus.

Were off to a local pub that serves koala steaks for tea…. Na only joking, loads of the English crew we met up with in Newcastle have made it up here so we think we are just going to enjoy ‘All you can eat pizza night’ at the hostel and then see if this banging town has a pub that stays open after 8.00 pm. Fingers crossed!

Take it easy guys!

Ben and Mike

XxxX

Hello from Newcastle!

We got a feeling the weather might be a little better here than in Geordie land! Ha Ha. We arrived yesterday and spent the day on the beach watching some surfers warming up for a big competition out here. (The waves are massive because of Cyclone Larry, the Aussies wont shut up about it!) We then entering a pool competition the hostel we are staying in was running. Bit of advice never beat an Aussie at pool, especially after a few beers otherwise he will try and fight you. (Gimp) lol.

Today has probably been the best day so far though. We did a dolphin spotting mini cruise just up the coast in Port Stephens. We got to sail round on a massive boat in the sunshine for an hour or so. Once we found the dolphins they lowered a big net off the back of the boat and you got to get in and take a closer look!

Second part of the day was spent riding round sand dunes really fast in a massive 4×4. The guy then drove up a massive hill, gave us a dune surfing board and pushed us off the other side. Good fun all round.

We also met a rare breed of semi sane travellers called 'English people'. So were going up the pub for a drink with them.

Have a good day guys

Mike and Ben

XxX

Alright you lot?

Were officially travellers then! Were paying 12 quid a night for a room we share with two other guys, one called Macey who thinks everything is “sick, man”, clicks his neck, and has a coffee grinder that definately definatley is not used to grind coffee! Yesterday we just checked in and hit downtown Sydney!

Crazy, crazy place. Were basically staying on the edge of Chinatown which means entertainment consists mainly of naked dancing women. We also split up last night for the first time. Ben activly sought out slease and alcohol in Kings Cross (the so called ‘red light district’ of Sydney, while Mike recruited an indian man (??what, why??)  who showed him the ‘gentlemens’ clubs of the city. We both met back at the hostle about 3.30 in the morning a bit dazed and confused each with equally random tales to tell!

Were just getting ready to head off to another beach in Sydney and nurse our hang overs. Heading up the East Coast to Newcastle first thing tomorrow so you’ll probably hear from us there!

Take it easy man, have a awesome sick day dudes!

Ben and Mike

XxX

Alright guys?

Hope everyone is well! We arrived back in Sydney on Monday and have basically been taking in all the cheesy tourist sights for the last week! On monday we shipped all our excess baggage and dive stuff back to England (look out for that mum) so we are now about 20kg lighter. Also BOTH started a new dose of antibiotics. Mike has a parasite in him (mmmmm) and Ben’s ear infection doesn’t want to go away yet, so were both poppin pills at regular intervals through out the day!

Done all the regulars, visited the Opera house (again) lol, botanical gardens and Ben even managed to squeeze in a bridge climb (www.bridgeclimb.com). Mike being a tight ass refused to spend ‘too much bloody money’ so spent the day walking round the Harbour and can now tell you the price of any meal in any restaurant in Sydney!

Thursday saw us heading to the surf capital of Sydney Bondi Beach. Basically its a slightly warmer version of Newquay with a bit bigger waves. Also FULL of really hunky surfer dudes which wasnt really much good to us as Ben is not that way inclined and Mike is otherwise ingaged. HaHa (Mike would like to point out that the term ‘Hunkey surfer dudes’ were Ben’s words not his!)

Big thank you to Mike’s Uncle and Aunt for looking after the wounded travellers and putting us up for the week! I think if we could live in a quater of the comfort over the next few months we would be more than happy

Take care guys, speek soon

Mike and Ben

XxXxX

Hey Gang!

Being the culturally aware individuals that we are we tried to use the last few days in Vanuatu to get to know the locals, and learn a bit about them and their language. We befriended the guy that looks after the turtle sanctuary on the island (called Robson, the nicest person we have ever met!) and he asked us to come and look at his village. It’s an amazing place, they basically have nothing, corrugated iron and scrap bits of wood make up their houses. They are so generous though. Within 10 mins of being there some local guy scaled a tree to cut down coconuts for us to drink.

We also tried to learn a bit of the National language of Bislama. We started by learning that a piano in the old unreformed version of the language is:

‘A big European box with the white keys and black keys and when you strike it it crys out’ (or something like that)

We also learnt that as well as Bislama, French and English each tribe or village has its own language! (If you divide the total number of languages by the total number of people you realise there is a different language for every 400 people!)

Baring this in mind we gave up! haha. We spent our last night on Moso drinking Tusker, (an awesome local beer) with the resorts dive instructors, on a boat, watching the sun set between two islands.

Pretty cool stuff.

Ben and Mike

xXx

P.s The title is Bislama for a bra

Hey all, hope everyone is alive and well!

Not long now before we get on our plane back to Australia (and civilisation!) Recovering from a night drinking Karva with some traveling Aussies we met up with. Karva is a local drink made from some root or something that tastes like wet mud but paralyses you for a bit! Pretty messy! Two liters of the stuff and a few card games later we had the mother of all stomach aches. The locals now LOVE us though, we are the white Karva drinking legends of Moso. Ha Ha.

Mike has also completed his RESCUE DIVER course so is you ever need someone to save a local villager pretending to drown and getting really sun burnt in the process Mike is your man. (Thats pretty much what he did for two days) Ben is still not allowed in the water but has read 3 books, wicked!

Hope everyone is well, miss ya loads.

Mike and Ben

X

Hey Gang!! Sorry the update has taken so long but basically were staying on an island with some huts, a beach and a lot of stuff that likes eating you, well mikes legs at least! Broardband internet cafe’s aint exactly on every beach corner. Been having a really really good time though! Been diving almost twice a day every day. Seen some really pretty fish and coral as well as a shark and a sea snake (one bite and your dead). Vanuatu is basically as close to a paradise island as your going to get, calm blue tropical seas, yellow sandy beaches and palm trees!  

However paradise is slightly lacking on the entertainment front :) Were in the process of tweaking the plan slightly so we have about another week here then head off back to
Australia. This definately seems like a good idea now Ben’s got an ear infection in his outer ear and cant go in water for a week! Wicked! Been to a guy in a hut though so he’s all pilled up (he was definately a qualified doctor mum)  

Its really really good to hear all of your messages so do definately keep e-mailing and posting them on here. In a week (ish) we should be back in Oz so will be able to get in contact more regularly. + you never know we might actually get round to finding a computer that lets us put some photos on here! haha. 

Right were off to have a quick look round Port Villa before our 40 min mini van journy/adventure and 20 min boat ride back to our island. There is no speed limit in Villa and they drive on whatever side of the road has the least potholes! Scary stuff, although not altogether unlike
Lower Claverham! Also gotta try and avoid the mosquito bites otherwise you definately definately get malaria! 

Take it easy guys, look forward to hearing from you again next week. 

Much love 

Ben and Mike 

XXX

Hey all! This traveling lark aint half wierd. We have been on the move for about 30 hours and have already seen 2 sunsets and 2 sunrises. Plus the fact we left on the 1st March and its now nearly the 4th!!
Singapore airport is MASSIVE but has nothing in it appart from flowers and waterfalls, so we had a pretty rubbish few hours. We did try to update the site but almost missed our plane! lol.
Currently trying to kill 24 hours in Sydney before our last couple of flights to Vanuatu. Suprisingly its a lot harder than it sounds!
Some wierd Aussi took it upon himself to give us a guided tour of Sydney harbour, so it killed 30 minutes trying to get rid of him!
We just found out that Sydney airport shuts overnight so we are officially homeless between 11.30 pm and 4.00 am tomorrow morning. Wicked, wish we could be bums for longer!
Hope you are all well and not too glad we have gone Hopefully you’ll next hear from us in Vanuatu. (if we ever get there)

Much love
Ben and Mike
xXx