Elephant Trekking

7/1/11
Off we all go, Me, Julie, Rachel, Tobias and Mark for a magical adventure into the hills to see and ride some elephants. Met two lovely girlies Carrie and Kerri!!! :D both radiographers who had some interesting stories about cement found in unusual places! AHEM! We had a brief encounter with some orchids where Tobie made an interesting documented video.

We arrived for the start of our trek around 1pm and was given our lunch. fried lice on bamboo leaf! not actually lice! LOL! We made a really fun group, lots of laughs, photos and videos to look back on along with a bloody steep uphill walk which seemed to last forever. hah! What had we gotten ourselves into, eh?
But I tell you something, seeing those elephants for the first time, out in the wild (kind of) was..AMAZING!! and definitely worth the 2 and a half hour hike! was it that long? bleugh!

We had arrived at Jumbo Camp!



-our raised bamboo shelter/shack to the right. Jumbo Camp with uber cool nellyphants!

After our sweaty trek- we all plummeted into the 'swimming pool' to cool off!

NOW it was time to ride the elephants! YAAAYE!! best thing ever- what a cool experience!especially enjoying it with some really good friends :D

Carrie and Kerri at the rear, Tobias and Rachel in front! mind the elbow- i cant crop

After our ride- we fed the elephants bananas. naaw! And then we waited patiently to be fed ourselves! haha! A few Changs and a very tasty dinner later, we found ourselves listening to Julies ipod whilst gathered around the fire and taking it all in. Everyone went to bed early, at which Julie thought was truely outragious! haha! Well it was 9pm!! We went to our shack on the hill where we all slept on thin mattresses under mosquito nets- pretty cool! Me and Julie caused a little trouble- mainly Julie! hahahahahaha!! 'bloody Kiwis' Ok I did go on for a while making shadow puppets on the mozzie net using my torch (thanks liz)-it def came in useful!

We finally settled- after a lot of giggling!!!! It was rather chilly- so Julie stole extra mattresses and bedcovers so we had a very comfortable little den!!

8/1/11
To wake up to ..firstly the sound of cockerels at probably 4am- and then ELEPHANTS trumpeting at 6am! MY GOD! That was so crazy! Me and Julie's bed was right at the front of the shack and it was just a bamboo rail seperating us from the view! AND WOW! It was quite something to wake up to!

Today we fed the elephants some more- and bathed them too! So cute! Rachel had another little ride as well! :)

After breakfast we left for a small hill tribe 'village' and then a waterfall for lunch where the boys and Julie had a splash around and tried rock sliding down the waterfall! crazy kids!! haha!

We then went rafting! the normal kind- and also on a bamboo made one! Dunno what they're called :s awesome fun! a nice end to a fun adventure with the elephants. we saw a few baby ones on the side of the river too.

After all these activites I was ready for one hell of a nap!! We got back to Chiang Mai around 5 maybe!  We then planned to meet back up to go the Saturday Night Market!

Chiang Mai

Later that day- I arrive in Chiang Mai and feeling pretty safe, two thumbs up! Taxi to a guesthouse in town, it was fully booked so I went to one across the street! DIVA guesthouse baby- what an ace place! I soon settled back into dorm life!

Met Tobias and Mark from Preston and had a walkabout town and my first TUK TUK experience! And boy oh boy it was wild! I kept screaming and laughing so the driver kept laughing and driving all crazy like! it was funny! Had some intersting cocktails at a local bar plus a neverending supply of popcorn- awesome! :D

6/1/11 Tiger Kingdom

The boys rented mopeds and I asked if I could go along, I didn't think it wise for me to rent my own as the people drive all crazy here! Instead trust a strange boy! haha! only joking! he wasn't that strange and knew he rode bikes at home so all is good! Dont worry! LOL
Ended up having the most amazing day! Baby tiger first

and then the big ones!! :O

and in case your wandering, no they weren't sedated! they just sleep a lot during the day!

I know Jill- look at that tongue!

After Tiger Kingdom we got back on the mopeds and carried on riding through the countryside round Chiang Mai! Do you call it countryside? LOL! but WOW it was beautiful! and really nice roads.

We got back to the hostel and Julie had arrived! YIIPPEE!! I also moved into a civilised triple bed as Julie was with her new friend Rachel. We now had a nice little group :D Yaaye!

We all went for a walkabout to the night bazaar and had some street food. Everyone went back to the hostel after but me and Julie had some catch up times so headed for the pub!!! Happy days!

Brunei Airport 5/1/11

The inbetween stage. In Brunei after travelling all night from Brisbane. I've slept on the most uncomfortable chairs with the worst pillow in the world- my camera bag! eugh! And to top it off its bloody freezing. People need to sort their AC out!! LOL!
I have two more flights to go until i am in Chiang Mai. Trying to plan things in my head but who knows which way I will end up travelling! It is a strange thing not to have any plans. I'm meeting Julie in Chiang Mai but not until tomorrow. I hope I'll be ok for tonight when I arrive.
Its definately comforting to know that I am meeting a friend there.

I want to be everywhere at once, I want to be home with my family, I want to see my friends, I want to be in America with Scott, I want to be in Thailand, in Malaysia, in Hong Kong, in Eygpt! haha! Oh and especially India! ooo! I wish I could just travel with all my friends and family and then I would never want to be in all so many places at once. LOL! Im talking jibberish now so I'll stop. I just need to remember.

Elly- Your in Asia!!! ENJOY!!

Gold Coast

Once back on the gold coast with the fam, I did a lot of christmas shopping trips, watched a lot of movies at the cinema and did NOT so much beachgoing :( :( it RAINED!!!! a LOT! this is not Australia!! I did get back into eastenders, corro and entourage though! hahaha! would u believe it!

Christmas and New Years with the auzzie family! aww! it was lovely! Aunty Sue cooked up a storm in the kitchen, turkey and massive yorkshire puds, whilst Mick barbequed a big bit of Pork with lots of crackeling! YUUUM!! We ate on the balc/veranda/terrace! It was very odd for me being in the warm weather! but really did have a whopper of a day!

and you said the auzzies dont celebrate christmas??? hahah!!! there was even snow shooting out of this house! oh and yes this is someones house!!!!!!
New Years- Aunty Sue took me and Brooklyn to Coolangatta where I treated them to an Indian, then we walked on the beach which was crowded with lots of families and kids with glow sticks, we watched the 9 o clock firework display- it was pretty cool! then we went to the fair and me and Brooklyn went on this rok n roll ride where we went upside down and i felt pretty sick afterwards, then the dodgems! To top it off we then got back home and went to the park for midnight on little scooters and watched the firework display over Surfers Paradise with Jake this time too.

1st Jan 2011

Finally booked my flights, I am going to be in Chiang Mai next Wednesday! whoppee! How funny to book somewhere that i have never heard of before. lol! This is where the real travelling starts.

Byron Bay 14/12/10

We arrived at Byron around dinner time. Soooo WE ATE!! at cheeky monkeys! YUM! Met some cool kids from the southbound oz trip, Mckensie, Lizzie and Will. Dan- my northbound buddie won a grands worth trip on the Whitsundays! bloody jealous! all from a tumbola! After Dan happened to win us beer, didnt really need to buy another drink! BINGO! haha! We then played flip cup, won 1 lost 2!! boo! it was a good laugh though! and may have done the trick! tick! The night went on with some table dancing shinanigans and some good times!
15th December 2010
Liz is having a boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! awww im soo happy and so proud! I cant wait to get home in April and have a wee nephew :D :D
Spent the day walking around Byron Bay, lots of cool hippie shops, lazy atmostphere and all round good times place. beautiful place! I did as Coaster told me and climbe up to the light house! WOW! it was amazing- didnt see any dolphins though like he said i would! boo! it was still worth it though! dont u think?

Surf Camp

Meet Coaster! a crazy and fun dude who drives oz travellers up and down the east coast providing folks with funfilled entertainment like window bingo! All inclusive in the 'love bus' which just so happens to need 'juice' from time to time! Our first destination (all 5 of us) was surf camp! oh no wait 3 of us as 2 decided to stop off at coffs harbour.

So surf camp- just as it sounds! where dreams are made of! hah! all the facilities are run by backpackers who just love to surf and decide to stop and live there running the business as well as getting to surf all day long! This is Spot X!!! dum dum dumm.....

Haha! i even got offered a job here to take photographs! not bad eh?! should have stayed- would have been a pro surf by now!
First night we had yummo dinner and all the tea we could drink! YES!!!! We played some cards learnt a new game called Anav which some girl from Israel taught us. Oh and cant forget the GOON!! My first real experience of the that leathel stuff! PAH!

The next day we go up bright and early and had our surf lesson at 8am! A wee bit hungover but the water soon sorted me out. Like Eilidh though, I didn't really find surfing all that in the end. i felt pretty cool when i stood up and rode those waves! but...i prefer just to swim!! lol! i like it under da sea, not on da sea! ya get me!? LOL!!

After i stripped off my sexy wet suit, we had lunch and then departed for Byron Bay!! Oh what a life!

13th December 2010

After a long day of walking around the whole of Sydney, Darling Harbour, the shopping streets, china town, the rocks and harbour bridge I settle down on the wall looking out to the opera house with a glass of wine. BEST moment so far!! The sun set, the vibe, people laughing and clinking wine glasses together. Everyone is also very dolled up as Oprah is in town and doing a show tonight at the opera house- so even more of a buzz about town. Absolutely loving it.

I can now see why Hayley wants to live here. Its gorgeous. Perfect summers day, clear blue skies, and to top it off, what a great city. Happy summer days