Sat at Brisbane Domestic airport and for those who are interested there is a free wi-fi hotspot at the train station outside. Within the station there’s an Optus signal that I can tell you without looking will be charged for. There’s also a Qantas one that I’ve connected to and seems to be live, but [...]

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Well, after a quiet weekend I caught a train to the other end of Brisbane to have dinner with my cousin and her family. As ever, I had a great couple of hours with Avril, Jim, Heather, Jamie and Callum. It’s hard to believe they’ve been out here for seventeen years, now. The kids are [...]

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Just another post to let people know I’m alive. I’ve organised a few things, caught up with a couple of friends and hope to see some more before I move on on Tuesday. I managed to book a flight up to Mt Isa which wasn’t cheap, but was by far the quickest method to get [...]

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So, where was I? Ah, yes – Down at Ves’s. Well, I had a great chill-out and then an early start on the Tuesday morning. Mike drove me through to the train station where I paid the princely sum of $22 (£10) for a ticket from there all the way to Maitland. The journey required [...]

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A fair bit to cover as it’s been five days since my last update but I’ll try to rattle through everything. First of all, I have to give a huge thanks to everyone in Melbourne – Amy, her sister and housemate for putting me up the first night on short notice; Shelly, Reina, Julia and [...]

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Today marks the third year I’ve been traveling. Eek. On March 14th 2006 I headed for Heathrow and boarded a 1-way flight to Bangkok. The intervening years have been interesting to say the least, but one constant has been my folks back home. Despite whinging constantly about how I need to come home and get [...]

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I aimed to chill out today and I pretty much did. I set off at midday to meet Ben for lunch. Then turned round after 200m when my bike chain snapped. I grabbed the spare bike from the back yard, washed the oil off my hands and then realised that the spare bike’s back tyre [...]

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I joined the hordes today and watched the new Watchmen film on IMAX. It was OK, but would have been fine on a “normal” cinema screen and at the corresponding lower price. Mind you, the IMAX here in Melbourne‘s not that much more expensive than a regular cinema ticket. In the queue I got talking [...]

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I’m really starting to “get” Melbourne. The last time I was here, I was pretty much in a very depressed state – those who’ve followed the blog since it started will be fully aware of why. So even though I did a fair bit, I just didn’t get a feel for the city. This time [...]

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For some years now I’ve been harping on about how great Nationwide are as the only UK bank with a debit card you can use abroad for no fees. Likewise, their credit card is one of only three (along with Abbey National and the Post Office) with the same no-fee deal. I even changed my [...]

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