After a peculiar flight on an empty plane with Australian Airlines, we started to get paranoid that people cancelled their flight to Bali due to the October bombings till we were reassured that we took the extra flight. Arrived at the airport, within minutes Andre panicked that he had his wallet stolen till he discovered it was in his bag along. Felt like I was rich when I first withdrawal money out of the bank, 1,000,000 rupiah equivalent to about 70 pounds...

A brief flight and we already landed 'Marvellous Melbourne', oblivious how remote Avalon airport appears, we had a rather perilous taxi journey, never mind our short flight! Caught up in the morning midst, meters rising, we saw Melbourne in its usual slogging rush hour. With Richard away at work, we were to help ourselves in the boy's pad @ Brickworks Drive. Verifying we are not trepassing, we checked the mails propped on the kitchen worktop before we crept ...

By daylight, we found Sydney trickier to locate our hostel after a few guided directions. While waiting for Andre to reunite @ Base Backpackers, we had found out a few changes to our plans when we already had arrangements with Richard Dougherty (also MH ex-pupil) to meet in Sydney. To no avail & work commitments, he invited us all to fly to Melbourne with the benefits of free accommodation & food. It was finally good to see Andre with his ruffled hair and s...

Disappointed to have missed Surfers Paradise in-between, it took a matter of hours to reach the neighbouring state, to get to fantastic Byron Bay. Outside to greet us was a line of hostel reps, with instant pressure, I had a quick browse in the Lonely Planet before choosing Backpackers Inn on the spot. For 1 night, Aman & I went separate ways for her to visit her grand-aunt nearby and I pitched a bed in an all-girls dorm. Brought back school memories of MH ...

The nearest point we were able to reach the Great Barrier Reef is where we stopped at Airlie Beach after midnight for the Whitsundays sail trip. With Cairns & Townsville's popular gateways to the reef, we were satisfied to have booked the sail trip included in our package. So we arrived Airlie Beach to find such colourful place with handicraft markets & many leisure choices. We opted for Magnum's, which appeared to be the most popular backpackers out of the...