Still down under

well its been a while so this is what iv been up to.

After four nights in Sydney and wandering around some of the beaches and a day at the climbing wall i jumped on a bus and headed north in search of Dan and Jo.

Last message i had from them is that they were up at surfers paradise so i thought this would be a good place to start. I was wrong, they weren't their and despite a very nice beach and what i assumed were good surf conditions the place didn't have anything really worth seeing and seemed a bit like a cross between a tacky 18-30's holiday location and somewhere which long ago lost its beauty to make way for the exploiting capitalism and souvenir's shops. I decided to head on to Brisbane and check out the city.

It was a good choice but still no Dan or Jo. However i did spend a couple of relaxing days in the city, walking around the green areas and even doing some climbing at Kangaroo point, which is a hidden little gem as far as inner city climbing goes but not a patch on the grit or sandstone of back home and fairly tame. I wasn't discouraged and spent several hrs soloing around on the rock and traversing almost its full length.

But as always city life is expensive and this was more than enough excuse i needed to return to the road, I had also received news that Dan and Jo were up in Childers looking for work so that determined my next stop and a day on the bus followed. After a couple of days we meet up and drank a few beers whilst running through the highpoint of our travels thus far. for Dan and Jo that didn't include waiting around in this poky little town waiting to pick mandarins but after a week of fishing and a day spent climbing on some lose lucking and friable sandstone in which dan seemed to have some strange that it would deify all odds and stay where it was, which to my non to reassured surprise it did. Wow.

After a bit of a drive we ended up at Harvey bay, the stop off point for Frasier Island and we got wonderful weather and had two great days driving a Toyota Hi-Lux around the sandy tracks and beaches. ate BBQ stake and enjoyed some wonderful scenery.

It was then time to turn north, my fellow travelers had plans to go sailing in the Whitsundays and for me a flight to Melbourne and then onto New Zealand awaits, So after a few days traveling some uneventful fishing and great sightseeing we parted ways a little wiser a littel older and somwhat more hungover than planned. All in all a successful month.

See my flikcr site for many more photos.

Of to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of OZ

Well i made it to Oz, no yellow brick road to follow but a few golden beaches. which is where I'm off to today.
Got into Sydney on the 22nd and have been stopping at the blue parrot hostel in Potts point, right next to the red light area of Kings cross.
I did the whole sightseeing thing, walking around taking photos, chasing a rainbow around Archibold fountain in Hyde park and trying to get a good shot of St Mary's cathedral. almost worked. (see my flickr page) also walked round the botanical gardens and down to see the Opera House and Sydney Harbour bridge.
Yesterday meet up with a few folks I know and went climbing to the local wall, its expensive and not as good a as the walls back home but after not climbing for about a month i decided the exercises was required and after a 4hr session my arms started to feel the burn but I'm not too disappointed with my performance as i did some of the harder routes and boulder problems in there. Still only climbing around 7a ish tops.. boo.
Am thinking off heading up towards surfers paradise to see if i bump into Dan and Jo, if not am sure fun can still be had and it will be a little warmer there, although it feels a bit like a British summer in Sydney and despite it going dark early and the lack of rain i could easily be fooled into thinking it was.

Will put some extra photos on here soon, Later folks.

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Macau

Wow, Shame its been raining non stop since i got here, but then again that appears to be the story all over china at the moment, The work up near Shanghai was washed out and apparently Yangshuo has suffered from some flooding, a few bars and cafes have been paddling pools over the past few days with the added problem of power cuts, glad I'm not sat in Yangshuo right now.

Macau is a funny old mix of quaint buildings with new fancy casinos and hotels popping up around them. They drive on the left and have some great food, Egg tarts are wonderful plus proper coffee again.
I have a week in town before i leave for Australia so with a bit of luck i will get some nice weather and i can get some good photos and explore the town a bit more, although walking around in the rain isn't a problem as it's still very warm, as i haven't had a warm shower for a week I'm tempted to strip off and stand outside with the shampoo. not sure if that would get me arrested though.
I went to a few of the casinos yesterday and wasn't able to work out how to gamble, most of the games are Chinese so it's hard to figure out how they work so after a few attempts on the slot machines which are still fairly confusing, last of the of the big spenders I gambled all of 20 Patacas, about 2 pound and broke even, so i guess gambling doesn't work for me.

Just as well as most of the tables have a minimum bet of 100 pacatas, however non of the casinos will accept the local pacata so you need to bet in hong kong dollers,

Well that's all for now I'm off to find some more egg tarts, yum yum,

O I do like to be beside the seaside.

Well i have spent the past week in Sanya, which is on the southern tip of Hainan, China. The weather has been, well tropical sunshine, which is what you would expect, and only a little rain on two days.

With a combination of swimming and teaching the girlfriend to swim, she didn't drown so that's a bonus
Surfing (falling off a floating object into the sea then trying not to drown)
Diving, fun but unfortunately a bit murky on that day, got to see the rare and lesser known rusty beer can, but also lots of fish, non of which i could identify.
We went for a stroll with a few others from china climb and some locals we know up to Wuzhishang, (five finger mountain) from which we saw a beautiful view from the inside of a cloud. some tree crabs and a sort of beetle about the size of my little finger which rolls up into a pefect sphere when frightened. the height gain is about 1000m and the path rather than meandering around heads straight up the mountain with staircases of nature formed by tree roots holding back the clay soil, eroded by weather and man, who also deposits a fair bit of trash, but thats china. Not forgettingto mention the odd ladder or six to ascend the steeper parts.
Hanging around on top in a thunder storm wasn't the best plan so a retreat to safer ground for lunch and then the walk back down to find little leaches had attached themselves to our feet and ankles and were mid way through their own feast.


Whilst were on the subject of food, I dined on some good sea food and a bit of Russian food also as this is a big tourist destination for the Russians during their winter months.


Well i now have a 16hr bus ride to look forward to in order to get back to Nannning then on to Yangshuo which will take a further 5 hrs but will leave that until Tuesday i think.

Well photos to follow when i get time but as I'm working from the 7th until the 13th and then you may have to wait until around the 15th depends on how expensive the Internet cafes are in Macau.

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Still in China

Well hi folks,

It's been a while since i last posted, Iv been busy and have slowly settled into life as a guide in Yangshuo.
The job is great fun and i find myself travelling around the local area with family's and school groups teaching climbing, kayaking, abseil, back country trekking and a host of other activity's. I've just got back from a few days of fun running activity's for 100 or so grade 10 children up in a place called Nambeihu, which is near Shanghai, so have been away for a week including travelling there and back by train.
The pay is rubbish if you look at it from a money perspective but the payoffs, spending days outside and teaching people new skills in a great environment make good rewards in themselves.
I now get to enjoy a few days off before the next groups come in so i hope to get out climbing and catch up with the girlfriend who has been down in Nanning finishing her final paper.

Life is much different here than i first imagined and a layed back approach is taken to daily life, although herding groups of children around can be fairly intensive and i find myself having to restrain myself from swearing at them occasionally.

I hope that life for everyone back home in the UK is good and hope your all well, I miss the peak district from time to time but know i will be coming back there a more fulfilled person and hopefully with a bit more focus and direction in life.

I still have another couple of months here, providing i can get my second visa extension next month, I will then be off to Oz where i will have to get back into the traveling frame of mind and with luck will find many more adventures to add to the ones I'm experiencing in China.

I think i will be back in China later in the year as I'm having so much fun here but as always that menacing aspect of money creeps up on you and i may need to earn some proper money in Oz before retuning.
I will try to post more often and give you a better idea of what I've been doing in Yangshuo which if you've not been is a crazy town but very addictive.

Yangshuo & birthday

Well I turned 29 last week and a celebration was had in chinaclimb the day before on Saturday the 8th.
As per tradition in china a fair amount of cake ended up in my face, and their was a large quantity of alcoholic beverages consumed which led to something of a hangover but fortunately the only work i was required to do was to head to Xinping Sunday night in preparation for a school group from Hong Kong who we have spent the past week trekking climbing and Kayaking with.

Today again is my rest day and i intend to do as little as possible (mostly catch up on some reading) but will no doubt be out climbing most of the coming week.
China and Yangshuo are starting to grow on me and iv been having a great time in this land of Karsts. with a bit of luck i can even get out to look at a few new routes over the coming weeks and perhaps even lose the belly that appears to have grown over the Xmas and New Year periods. I hope everyone is having as much fun as me this year and thanks for all the birthday wishes.

Hong Kong, East v West

Hi all

Well i made it to hong kong on Friday and spent the weekend climbing with some friends,a few of whom i met when i was back in yangshuo over the Xmas period.
Am just about to set of to apply for the China visa this morning which will probably take the until the end of the week to process.

I'm stopping with a lad call Bon whom lives out on the Island of Lamma, which despite being a fair size the Island is sparsely populated in comparison to Hong Kong, perhaps it because it has no cars and better still no McDonald's, KFC or any of the other big name monstrosity's which appear to exist on every street corner in Hong Kong and on the mainland here, makes for a wecome change.

Well im off to sort out the visa and wander around town, take care all and a happy chinese new year. which was great back in yangshuo.