Cairns

After just one night in Cairns, I suddenly found myself going on yet another camping trip. By now I had kind of had enough of camping, but I wanted to stay with my current group and join them for Saturday's sky dive. The three day journey took us to the beaches and rainforests around Cape Tribulation and Daintree. While most of the group seemed to have a good time, I didn't particularly enjoy it. Skydiving nerves lingered in the back of my mind, I woke up one morning having slept very awkwardly on my shoulder, and the scenery and trekking was very sub-standard compared to previous places on my journey. I was glad to return to Cairns on Friday.

Friday evening, however, was nerve-wracking for all of us. We would wake up in the morning knowing we would soon drop from the sky from 14,000 feet. I didn't actually believe I would enjoy it - I can't even stand rollercoaster dips of a few seconds, so how could I bare a 60 second drop? I was also fearful of losing my stomach the entire way down, and having trouble breathing.

My nerves this morning still persisted, but I wasn't the only one. However, a conversation with Jeff, our room mate from our first night in Cairns, reassured me that my fears would not be a problem. This put me in a much more positive mood.

The morning passed very quickly after this. Before we knew it we were on a bus travelling to the plane. Any fears we had of experiencing a fatal sky dive were not particularly helped by our professional diving partners joining in to Michael Jackson's 'Bad' on the bus radio with the lyrics "I'm dead! I'm dead!". (Jackson passed away the previous morning).

By now, however, I was more positive about the dive than ever. I felt ready. As we boarded the tiny yellow plane and ascended to the sky, I actually didn't feel scared. At no point did I fear death or injury - just possibly 60 seconds of falling hell before the soothing parachute glided us home. I actually felt excited, albeit in a nervous way.

When the door of the plane opened, parachuters and their trained partners began to pour out of the plane at a very speedy rate. I watched Roel spin out of sight, before I too was pushed to the open door. I'd seen this moment on TV many times before - it was a moment that had filled me with dread - but at that exact moment, I felt no fear. Looking at ground 14,000 feet below my dangling feet seemed very normal. In fact I almost felt calm - the ground was so far away that surely nothing could go wrong, for the next minute at least.

And then I was spinning. It took me a couple of seconds to remind myself that I needed to tuck my legs back before my partner would tap me on the shoulder to say it was time to relax our posture. I tucked in my legs ... and I felt a tap ... and then we floated. This was the most surprising part of the jump ... it doesn't feel like you are falling, but rather, you are floating. The ground was so far away that I didn't notice it getting closer. It felt like floating in a bubble, albeit with a very strong and cold fan flapping my face about. I didn't lose my stomach for a moment.

In addition to savouring the surreal experience of free-fall, I did experience some minor breathing difficulty. Deep breaths seemed impossible, but at no point did I feel unsafe.

After what seemed like 20 seconds, we jolted slightly. A moment later, I realised that the parachute had opened - I couldn't believe that the 60 seconds was up. The part of the jump which I dreaded was over, and it had been a sensation. Now it was time to enjoy the glide down to earth ... but something else unexpected happened; I was totally out of breath.

While falling, the minor breathing troubles were pushed to the back of my mind, but now we had slowed down, I realised I felt exhausted, nauseous and breathless. Unfortunately I failed to properly take in the parachuting section of the jump; I tried to just totally relax and feel okay again, but we slid to a halt on the grass before I fully recovered. To my surprise, no-one else had experienced this problem. Once my harness was taken off, I took a very deep breath. I wonder now if it had actually been too tight. Whatever the issue was, I had no regrets. The sky jump was spectacular, and I recommend it to all.

The rest of today will be spent finding my feet again. I don't actually know what's happening next. I may hang around and do some white water rafting with my friends, or maybe Ill now head south. Time will tell.

From Darwin to Cairns

Something was strange, and it wasn't just me who felt it. I had been travelling through Asia for five months. I had witnessed a controversial comedy show in a tiny front room, been the sole tourist on a village on an island on a river, and signed a stranger's guitar in a distant part of Thailand. My new friend Jasper had been travelling for twice as long as me and had experienced an equal amount of abnormalities. However, incredibly, both me and Jasper suffered serious culture shock in Australia. This was the last thing we had both expected.

Everything is different here. The prices are so high that you have to watch everything you do carefully. Food needs to be cooked yourself. Dishes need to be cleaned yourself. Laundry has to be washed yourself. And if you don't want to go bankrupt, travel needs to be done yourself. Maybe Asia has just made us lazy! To travel about without breaking the bank, you need to find other people who want to go where you want to go, and sort out a car. All the experience I had picked up in recent weeks seemed useless ... I was once again a newbie.

After two days of trying to find my feet in Darwin, I still felt confused. I just couldn't work out the best way to spend my time and money. However, things finally sorted themselves out at the end of the second day. Jasper witnessed a couple of girls being told that they couldn't put their message on the hostel notice board. When Jasper approached them, they informed him that they were going to Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks. This was perfect. Moments later, me, Jasper and Lutz had agreed to join Jaci and Nina in hiring a car the following morning and going on a six day camping trip.

Camping is not something I am normally accustomed to, but the six days went well. The scenery was nice, and the group got on well. The first night in Kakadu, however, was a little uncomfortable. Numerous mosquitoes munched on our bodies, and enjoying the camp proved troublesome. However, we woke up the next day in the knowledge that the following night could not be any worse.

The following night, as it turns out, is probably the hardest night that any of us had ever experienced whilst on the road. The mosquitoes were in swarms. Our pasta sauce was riddled with the bugs. It took us an hour of fighting and squishing to eradicate all the insects from our tent. The following day I was riddled with hundreds of bites - although for some reason they were not too itchy.

We decided to move to Litchfield park at this point, and from then on things got easier. This was preluded by the 'Jumping Croc' show, which was good. By the end of the trip, however, I was tired of camping, and we all spent one extra night in Darwin before going our separate ways. For me, I took the bus down to Alice Springs.

Shortly after checking into my dorm room in Alice Springs I met one of my room mates; a retired Australian guy who for some reason chose to live in a backpacker hotspot. As he rattled on at me in the way that only old people know how, he began to baffle me and more. He seemed proud to show me his water cooler, the shoes he found in the park, and also his hat that was apparently used in both World War One and World War Two! Moments later he happily pointed out to me the label of the hat as well, stating it was made in 1991. Eventually I just decided to agree with whatever he told me. He seemed like a decent guy though, and when I told him that my sunglasses had broke, he donated me the ones he had bought in the charity shop. I'm not quite sure if realised that they actually didn't shield the sun.

Once I managed to escape the local man, however, there was little else to do in Alice Springs. I therefore soon booked myself onto a tour of the outback. I knew a tour would be expensive, but it seemed worth a try. Our group of ten was a relatively small group, and once again we got on well. While I found Ayres Rock quite dull (after all, its just a rock), King's Canyon on the final day was actually a very impressive landscape to trek through. One night some of the group were awoken by the howl of a nearby dingo. Moments later it was right by us, rummaging around with a mug that someone had left out.

After my tour ended, I wanted to go the East Coast. Fortunately, luck was on my side. A couple of Belgium guys had bought a camper van, and there was one place left. However, once I boarded the vehicle the following morning, I realised that I had miscalculated slightly. I expected 2 days of total driving, but they informed me it could take up to a week of driving and camping. This was okay though, despite the fact that I had already done a lot of camping lately. I joined Koen, Roel, Sofie and Katy on the journey east.

There was little to see on the journey, other than a brief visit to The Devil's Marbles. Everyone seemed to enjoy it though, although the entire time I was looking forward to getting to our destination; I'd done enough camping for a while. We all got on well though, a vital attribute considering that the majority of our time was spent in the van or around the campfire. The evenings were made especially enjoyable by the cryptic and baffling conundrum which Koen and Roel entitled 'The Game Of Snaps'. Katy, Sofie and me are still hoping to one day solve this riddle and perplex our future travel buddies with it.

We now find ourselves in Cairns on the east coast, and our next few days are already planned out. Tomorrow we go to Daintree National Park. In truth I'm not really ready for yet more camping, but its only for a couple of nights, and afterwards I will be able to accompany the group in what will probably be my final activity with the group; sky diving. This is terrifying, but it's something I feel I have to do. It's about as far away from camping as you can get.

From Yangon to Darwin

It's been a long long time since my last blog entry - I just haven't had time to write. I will therefore split my blog into two parts - so firstly, here is the journey from Yangon to Darwin.

The flight from Yangon to Bangkok was problem free. Me and Axel signed in to our lovely air-conditioned rooms at Happy House, my favourite Bangkok guesthouse. This was followed by a fun night out on Khao San road - a strange time in which I somehow found myself supporting Manchester United. As an Englishman surrounded by many foreigners, it only felt natural to follow the English team in the Champions league final. However, I clearly wasn't too bothered when they lost 2-0.

The following day I hopped onto the long train south to Hat Yai. From there I caught a bus across into Malaysia. My time in Malaysia was very limited. I had a plane to catch on the Wednesday. In fact my original intention was to visit Teman Nagara National Park, but quite simply I didn't have time. My new plan was to go straight to Kuala Lumpar, but after over 24 hours travelling, I had to take a break in Penang. Penang unfortunately seemed quite dull, but maybe I left before giving it a proper chance.

Kuala Lumpar, on the other hand, seemed quite good. It was probably the most modern place I'd been to on my travels - and I gladly tucked into a McDonald's after yet another long day's travelling. My short time in Kuala Lumpar was mainly spent strolling around the place with Becky from my dorm, plus a trip to the cinema to see Angels & Demons. In hindsight, Kuala Lumpar was quite a good platform for jumping back into the developed world.

On the Tuesday I took a bus down to Singapore. With just 24 hours before my flight, I once again spent my time just strolling around. What struck me immediately, however, was how clean it seemed. After spending four and a half months in South East Asia, even the air in Singapore smelt clean. It felt very refreshing.

On the Wednesday I continued my rapid journeying and took my flight to Darwin, Australia. By now I felt like an experienced traveller, and I was actually worried that Australia might just be too easy for me. I was scared I may find the whole experience too dull. I didn't have a hostel booked for my first night, and I didn't know really anything more than the average man about the country, but I didn't really mind.

At the exit of the airport I met Jasper from Holland, and on the airport bus we met Lutz from Germany. This would comprise of half of my friendship group for the next week - and the next part of my blog.