Our Walkabout

We flew from Jakarta via Singapore back to north Australian city of Darwin, where we spent the day enjoying lunch with my auntie and uncle followed by a trip to see my cousin at work with her first and second graders at Nakara Primary School.  It was a fun trip, bringing back memories of the [...]

The Wave is something that will ring a bell for anyone who has ever driven in the Australian countryside.  If you find yourself driving in Australia a few kilometers outside any country town or 50-100 kilometers from one of the capital cities, you’ll see oncoming drivers (and sometimes passengers) signal some kind of greeting as [...]

Planet View: S22°27.994′ E118°33.428′ Street View: S22°27.994′ E118°33.428′ Maximum Temperature: 42°C (108°F) One of Western Australia’s most famous National Parks, we were both looking forward to exploring the gorges and swimming holes of Karijini.  Karijini’s located almost 300 kilometers inland from Port Hedland, it’s extremely arid country in the central Pilbara without a hint of [...]

Planet View: S06°17.027′ E106°47.461′ Street View: S06°17.027′ E106°47.461′ Our last stop on our tour of Southeast Asia was Jakarta.  My cousin Sophie and her boyfriend Richie live in South Jakarta, she works as an English teacher for the Wall Street Institute and he as an administrator for an offshore oil drilling rig.  After braving the [...]

Planet View: N01°18.276′ E103°51.205′ Street View: N01°18.276′ E103°51.205′ Only an hour plane ride from Phuket and what a different world.  Singapore exudes prosperity, order and cleanliness, a stark contrast to almost all of the other places we’ve visited in Southeast Asia.  The place runs like clockwork, the public transport system made getting around the island [...]

Planet View: N7°53.436′ E98°18.230′ Street View: N7°53.436′ E98°18.230′ A marathon 14 hour trek from Ko Tao took us via Ko Phangan, Ko Samui and Suratthani to the Adaman Coast and Thailand’s largest island of Phuket (I want to remember the modes of transport we used so I’m going to jot them down here: tuk-tuk, high-speed [...]