December in the UK

Jandals, boardies and a singlet seemed like great travelling attire from HK... but quickly realised it wasn't my best choice as we landed at Heathrow in a brisk 2 degrees!  England was snowed in, with white gold covering the entire length of the country.  Over 10cm in London to well over 2 foot of fresh pow in Hexham!

While staying with Daves Family were we able to get some cheeky turns on our new boards in the neighbours field!

 

 



Thai time

While working in Hong kong, we both luckily got a week off work together... so what better way to spend a typhoon riddled week in HK, than excaping to Thailand for some beaches, sunshine and yum food!

It was the most expensive trip to Thailand I've ever had as we had just been paid cash for all our work in HK... so nice hotels, huge meals and lots of wine pretty much sums it up!... and also sums up why we both left with big smiles and even bigger bellies! Unfortunately Dave's foot was still broken so no running around or climbing for us, but it was still a sweet week of chillaxing, eating and muking about!

Khao San pad thai!

Dave proud to be at the Bridge over the River Kwai

Strolling across the Bridge over the River Kwai

Mean big bomb

this guy is real!

...very serious

What is this artist really trying to say...?

Not sure how they steer...

wahooo

Lounging rather than exploring Bangkok

ahhhh they feel so weird

Dave getting a shower whilst scrubbing his ride

Our scooter resting after a hard days riding

Our spot

Crazy firepoi show at Koh Samet

Good old fisherman pants... no trip to thailand is complete with them!

Honkers Konkers

Hong Kong... normally its thought of as an urban metropolis, with skyscarpers filling the air and housing the masses of millions that live in its crazy concrete jungle. That is what I thought of it after my week long stay there a couple years ago. However after working a Autumn season for Asia Pacific Adventures in HK city my perception of the place has dramatically changed. Unfortunately the pollution and smog was still there but this time I got to see so much more than just central!

The sweetest trip to Brides Pool Waterfall! The only time the falls run with this much water is when its puking rain... like when we were there!

Highlights of the trip included visiting outlying Islands, surf beaches, climbing and bouldering spots, hiking and cruising around in the untouched Nature reserves (that surprising make up 70% of Hong Kong).  I'm not sure if the hotcupping experience was a highlight... but it was definitely memorable!

Picked the wrong day to go to the Giant Buddha... on a public holiday!



Incense much?



Raft building on program at Wan Ye Chao

It seemed like such a good idea at the time... hot cupping hurts!

We lived on Lamma Island in an old fishing village that has now been revamped into a rather large expat community, with great restaurants, beaches, biking and hiking tracks everywhere.  It was a 20min ferry ride from Central and the perfect way to forget the craziness of the city... plus travelling to and from work by boat was awesome!

The fishermans village on the other side of Lamma

Nice backdrop to run urban OE programs on! (Lamma Island)

Program venues were so close to the city... but were actually extremely beautiful and resonably untouched!

Luk Wu Gorge... crystal clear waters!

Luk Wu Gorge with a whole lot of clients... geeeeeeezzz

Even though we were there for 3 months, a couple cyclones rolled through town and cancelled some programs so we actually had more time off than we expected... which provided an opportunity to chill and explore some more of Lamma and HK City as well.

Passing the time with a bit of slack lining

All you can eat sushi!



Some would call it a nice sunset... others might say a product of pollution



Cool little dude that was outside our house

Dave bouldering on Lamaa

It was never a problem finding Dave in the crowds!

Not the usual view I see while hiking... but it had its own beauty





Nice sunset on the ferry back home

 


Chillaxing after a bit of bouldering on Lamma Island





It was definitely a great experience checking out HK for a longer period of time... I got so much more out of this trip than the previous one!

Aussie aussie aussie...

After 2 years of traveling by myself and only staying in a place for a max of 3 months... I started to feel a little detached from my friends and family and pretty much all sense of a community so I decided it was time to change and that I wanted to 'settle' somewhere for 6 whole months! Ray Mackin (a friend I worked with in Italy) told me about a a cool company called OEG - the Outdoor Education Group in NSW Australia and sold me on the job due the family feel of the place and also the great programmes they ran. So after a few weeks back home with the family and my best mates in the world I headed off to Sydney to start my new life working for OEG.



The Salt Lakes with Mt Arapiles in the background



...and I stayed for almost 2 years!!! Well to be more accurate I was employeed for 2 years but they had a brilliant system were you choose how much work you wanted and therefore how much holiday time you wanted as well... so I went for the .8 load which meant 130 days of work a year and the rest off!!!! It was sooooooo sweet!!!! During that time off I went to Chile, Argentina, NZ a few times, Fiji and a couple trips to Araps in VIC plus I stayed local alot between programme and really enjoyed exploring the numerous crags and beaches that were so close to home.


The mighty mangled Gumtree

Plus I really loved the work there as well. Generally we would meet the students at the end of a road somewhere, give them all the food and supplies that they would need for the week and then head off into the bush an return 5 days later with sometimes very different students but always students dreaming of showers, Macca's and their Xbox... typical!!!!


Cold mornings in Kosziousko National Park

But the trips were amazing... hiking all over NSW and VIC, sea kayaking around Lakes Entrance, snow shoeing through Kosziousko NP in winter, biking around VIC, climbing in the Grampians and Arapiles, plus great programmes at Biloela - the property owned by NSW OEG.

The trainees doing their canoeing assessment on Mile Lakes

As it was a not-for-profit organisation, the company actiavely tryed to make the best programmes they possibly could without worrying about money being saved to go into the owners pocket. The managament were really supportive, the trainees were super enthusiastic, the holiday time was amazing and the ongoing inhouse training was better than any I have ever seen. I felt I could have stayed a long time there even though when I signed a year long contract with them I almost cried at the thought of being tied down for that long... they were a great company to work for.

Plus it wasn't always about work... I lived in the old station masters house which was the party house and we would forever be waking up to dozens of people crashed out in the lounge or around the house.



Our tv room the morning after programme finished

There were always trips to Nowra for the surfing and climbing. Plus new crags were being found and developed all the time around us so the climbing scene was really big.  The local spots were Wingello and Mt Alex and the favourite long distance crag was of course Arapiles which took a good 13 hours to drive too!



Dave climbing at Nowra

 

Great climbing at Wingello



Sofa and her brand new BD rack ready to be used her the first time in Araps



Dave struggling with 'the squeeze' at Araps



Its not always warm in Aus... but still no need for shoes

The aussie nature was very interesting... the snakes had me worried but the ants were the craziest!!!!


Flies, flies and flies... and mozzies everywhere


Our campsite friend... the Stumptailed lizard





My first friend in Moss Vale - the friendly non poisonious but always present and always pretty big Huntsman

I had meet plenty of Aussies on previous travels so had heaps of people to catch up with.


Sutto and I off for some solitude in the sun



The NSW crew at National staff day - spot the odd one out!



Classic Aussie humour

The food was amaaaazing on programme

...and there was always so much of it!

 The variety of destinations we went to for work was phenominal


Onroute to a canoeing program in VIC



Pre-students arriving on a programme on the mighty Murray ( 40 degrees)

We lived in Moss Vale as thats where the NSW base is located, and it was actually an alright little town... 3 pubs within 300m of my house, swimming holes, golf courses, wineries, lots of great restuarants near by plus being out of the city was a huge bonus.

The local swimming hole

And then there was Dave! We started as friends and climbing partners and grew from there over time.  When his visa ran out and he had to leave the country I came along too which was the first time I have ever gone anywhere for anyone else.  Was a pretty big move but I'm happy with my decision!
  

Good times with Dave in Araps