Backpacking and Bloodshed!

Over the last week or so the news has been filled with the civil unrest in Cairo and across Egypt. We have been bombarded with the usual media images of make shift hospitals and tales from locals on both sides of conflict.

What made this more poignant for me though was the fact one of my life long mates and fellow travellers Luke was currently on a working holiday visa teaching in Egypt, living in Cairo city centre. Luckily he’s back on UK soil now so I caught up with him to ask how it all went down in his eyes and if it’s altered his perception of travelling the middle east.

FROM THE VAULT – “Ningaloo Reef”

I’ve spent a lot of time of the last few weeks starting with the inevitable “this time last year” quote. So I thought I’d recap the highlights of my time in Oz one year on in a new feature called “From The Vault”.
This weekly series will pick out the best times and experiences of down under. So to start it off I’m seeing what I was doing this time last year…at Ningaloo Reef during my West Coast Roadtrip :)

A Packed Few Weeks…

So I’m now back in the UK for the foreseeable future, and the last few weeks have been rather jam packed with a whole heap of things.

11 Down, 1 to Go…

Half way through today I was informed by Kez that today marks the start of my final month in Australia – I fly from Sydney on October 12th.

…where the hell did the last year go?!

Goodbye to The Monkey

After numerous shifts, job roles, a heap of money and a whole heap of hassle I’ve finally become unemployed again after handing in my notice at Cheeky Monkeys.

Top Ten Tuesday – Films and TV

Since traveling, well more to the point – since settling down in Byron, I’ve pikied alot of films off peoples hard drives and chillaxed in many a hostel common room watching movies. It seems a central theme to travelling – sharing music and films. It’s opened my eyes to new tunes and awesome media – mainly from Ryans laptop! So this week I’m bringing you my Top Ten Films/ TV Shows.

A Bit of Visa Advice

The phrase goes “hindsight is a wonderful thing”.

It’s very true.

I shouldn’t have bought that.

I shouldn’t have said this.

The same is true of a one certain part of my Australian adventure. A part that is rather fundamental to the whole thing – my working holiday visa.

FEATURE: So You’re Thinking of Coming to Oz? (Pt 2)

Following on from the Part one yesterday I continue with a few words of advice on planning your trip to Oz.

In Part 2 I’m going to be bantering about BUDGETTING, INSURANCE and BANK ACCOUNTS.

So lets get stuck in…

FEATURE: So You’re Thinking of Coming to Oz? (Pt 1)

Ok so you’ve spent a lot of time debating it over in your head, reading up on stuff and getting stoked off all the travel banter on the internet.

You’ve made the decision.

Your coming to Oz.

First of all *high five* on making one of the best decisions in your life – as you might be able to tell from my blog I’m pretty dam happy down under!

So now your scraping together the cash and trying to get everything in place. This is a massive undertaking and pretty daunting, especially if your travelling alone.

I’m currently feeding muchos advice to my mate Jimmy who’s heading out here in late June – and I thought the answers to all his questions might help you out a bit too, so I’ve typed up this feature article for you.

In Part 1 of 3 I’m chatting about VISAS, FLIGHTS and PLANNING.

So grab yourself a pen and paper and start taking some notes!