Australia – Gold Coast

22.12.2009

My second trip to Australia!  In 2007 I had a 3 week holiday with ex girlfriend Maria and family.  A great holiday, we traveled to Brisbane with a trip to Fraser Island and then spent time in Sydney.  My overview was that the places I saw were very similar to England, especially the architecture – [...]

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Bali – Kuta Beach

20.12.2009

The second time Will and I had traveled to Bali.  The first time we travelled the majority of the island but this time we decided just to stick with Kuta Beach.

Kuta Beach has a pretty bad rep with a lot of experienced travellers and surfers.  It’s very commercial, overcrowded, the surf isn’t good and the [...]

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Padang – devastation

11.12.2009

Returning from our paradise island adventure we spent the next few days in Padang to catch up on a bit of work.
I became used to seeing the earthquake damage in Sungai Geringging.  Padang was something different, it was on a completely different scale.  Obviously being a city many larger buildings were damaged and destroyed.  Padang [...]

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Pagang Island – paradise

09.12.2009

Our journey to Pagang Island started at Lake Maninjau.  We heard about the Island from a local Maninjau guy, as soon as we heard the details we were sold.  A deserted island with no inhabitants (other than two island guardians), white sand beach, crystal clear blue water.  It sounded like one of the most exciting travel [...]

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Lake Maninjau

05.12.2009

On our departure of the HODR crib there was a large volunteer gang keen for another Bukittingi trip.  Will and I fancied somewhere new so instead we headed for a short stay on Lake Maninjau which is 16km from Bukittingi.  Lake Maninjau has an area of 99.5km², being approximately 16km long and 7km wide – [...]

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Sungai Geringging – Farewell HODR

05.12.2009

Returning from our visa run to the HODR crib we felt exhausted despite the break, physically and mentally.  The first day back to work seemed to drag and I spent the day wondering what the rest of Sumatra had to offer; the travel bug had returned.  It felt like it was time to move on [...]

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Kuala Lumpur Visa Run

03.12.2009

My 30 day visa was up and it was time to do a visa run.  The easiest and cheapest place from Padang is Kuala Lumpur, a one hour flight and around £35 for a return ticket.
Will and I were looking forward to having some home comforts for a few days and weren’t too keen on staying [...]

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Sungai Geringging – Week 4

30.11.2009

Four weeks, I am now in a routine and oddly feel at home.  I get up at 06.30, eat cornflakes with evaporated milk and a banana for breakfast.  Either salvaging; chinking bricks, collecting river rocks (a common material for Indo houses) and shifting rubble and timber into piles. Or, working on a deconstruction team [...]

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Sungai Geringging – Week 3

23.11.2009

Week 3 would end with my Birthday – 26 years old
Volunteer Eddy organised for 14 volunteers to do an overnight volcano hiking trip in the near by town of Bukittinggi.  So on the 21st November at 8pm – 14 of us after an exhausting day of work set off from the crib in [...]

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Sungai Geringging – Week 2

16.11.2009

Week two and day-off number two.
In the morning, Fern our resident Aussie Yoga expert gave the volunteers a class to relieve our aching muscles after a week of intensive labour.  The session took place in our giant tent (donated by a wealthy Jakarta business man) – a great start to the day.
Will and I hired [...]

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