Hanoi and Halong Bay

January 24, 2026 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

We arrived into the airport in Hanoi in the late afternoon after a 45 minute flight from Vientiane during which time we were thrown a fairly decent sandwich. On the descent, you could see the smog hanging low over the city, and the air quality was ‘very unhealthy’. After inhaling quite a lot of dust and pollution in Laos, my throat and lungs were not very happy…

I’ve been to Vietnam before, in 2017, and in fact I am doing the exact same route with the same company. It has been interesting to see how things have changed in the last 9 years. The first noticeable difference was the number of cars on the roads. Last time they really were few and far between (due to high import taxes and lack of access to credit), with almost everyone driving scooters or motorbikes. There are so many more cars now (due to easier access to credit) and a lot of large EVs too. This makes crossing the road even more tricky as, while the scooters can weave around you, cars aren’t quite so nimble. I also felt that they are less willing to stop for pedestrians. Not that the traffic actually stops, you very much do just have to walk into the road with a sense of purpose and don’t stop until you get to the other side!!

After checking into the hotel, we went for dinner (Bun Cha for me) and then for drinks on Hanoi’s Beer Street

Bun Cha – minced pork meatballs in soup with white vermicelli noodles

The next day started with a trip to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Despite his wishes to be cremated and scattered around Vietnam, he was embalmed for people to proceed past him every day. A bit of an odd experience if I’m perfectly honest. We also went to the palace which is alongside the mausoleum and saw the stilt house that was built for Ho Chi Minh as he preferred this than the grander presidential palace.

Afterwards we went to possibly one of the newer ‘sights’ in Hanoi, Train Street. This is a narrow street which the trains from Ga Ha Noi pass through on their way out of the city. It’s lined with cafes and coffee shops and has definitely become something for the ‘gram.

We had an egg coffee, a Hanoi specialty, whilst we waited for the train to come through. When it’s on its way, the ladies come out of all the cafes and blow their whistles to clear all the tourists off the tracks (as it’s sort of a regular street when the trains aren’t there) and then the train chugs slowly past.

A free afternoon meant I retraced some of the things I remembered from my last trip, including a walk around Hoan Kiam lake, which had lots of beautiful plants and flowers in bloom, as well as a lunch stop at Banh Mi 25 which has become significantly more popular since my previous visit. Great banh mi though!!

In the evening we went to a Water Puppet Theatre show. Water puppets are particular to Vietnam and the puppetry was very interesting to watch even if I couldn’t really follow what was going on as it was all in Vietnamese!

This evening marked the final night of the trip for most of the group who had booked a 2 week trip from Bangkok to Hanoi (I am on nearly a month’s loop back to Bangkok), and we also met a number of new travellers who would be joining for the Vietnam leg of the trip. After dinner in a local restaurant, the Thailand and Laos crew enjoyed a final night on Beer Street to say our goodbyes.

It was a relatively early start with the new group the following morning as we headed the 4 or so hours out to Halong Bay for an overnight junk boat stay.

As we did last time, we had a stop at a workshop for disabled people, mostly women, where they are taught to sew and embroider. The artwork they produce is fantastic but as I’m not going home for 3 more months, I didn’t purchase anything.

We arrived in Halong Bay (the city is increasingly resembling Gold Coast with high rises and hotels) around midday and got on our junk boat which would be home for the next 24 hours. The weather was perfect, blue sky (unlike last time) and pleasantly warm. As we set sail we were served a delicious lunch which ended up being many different dishes being brought out for us to eat – more food than we could all manage.

Our home for the night and Halong Bay views

We sailed through the bay and past soaring limestone karsts on our way to Ti Top, an island with a viewpoint some 400 or so steps upwards. Much much busier than last time but still worth the views

After a gentle row around a bit of a lagoon, it was back to the boat for an incredible sunset, and more delicious food for dinner.

The following morning was a fairly early start to go to the caves, and then afterwards we had brunch whilst sailing back to land.

We drove back to Hanoi and arrived mid afternoon. I opted to do a food tour for the few hours before our overnight train south to Hue. Lots more delicious food and finished off with an egg coffee with an added shot of rum!!

I hugely enjoyed revisiting both these places. I really like the hustle and bustle of Hanoi’s old town even if it is completely exhausting trying to cross the road! And it was very special to see Halong Bay with beautiful clear blue sky.

Onwards on the night train to Hue…

Laos

January 16, 2026 ~ Cat ~ 2 Comments

My first new country on this trip. It’s been on the South East Asia backpacker route for quite a while but perhaps not the top of many holiday destinations lists.

We crossed the border from Thailand at Chiang Khong, at the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge VI. Visas are available on arrival for 40 USD (in crisp notes) plus a passport photo. I’ve now got a lovely full page visa in my passport!

After the border formalities, we drove a short distance up the river to get on a slowboat which would be our transport for the next 2 days to take us down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. It’s early January and winter here, though definitely a different winter to the UK! There was a chill in the air in the morning which necessitated a couple of layers, but by mid morning when the sun came out, it was very pleasantly warm.

We sailed for perhaps 7 hours on the first day, to our overnight stop at a local Lao village. This was a real eye-opening experience into how people live along the river. There is no phone signal here, and whilst there are electricity wires and telegraph poles running through the village, it isn’t yet connected. Some of the houses have generators, cooking is done over an open fire, which also provides heat. There is a village water pump. The village is supported by G Adventures as a home stay stop on their tours, so there were sit-down western toilets, albeit with a large barrel of water beside for a manual flush…

The families here are large, with a lot of children running around amongst the roosters and ducks and dogs. Houses are wooden and on stilts to help with both the heat in the summer and the flooding in the rainy season. There was a school in the village so the children can get an education. Everyone seemed happy, and I suppose they know no different but it was a very rustic experience. I was also on my period at this point which, despite the western toilets, I was generally finding quite tough to deal with so can hardly imagine how the girls and women here cope. It was really good to experience the home stay and the genuine way of life when travelling as it really does put things into perspective.

We had Laotian food for dinner which was absolutely delicious and were then treated to a traditional dance performance from the girls in the village. We were also invited to have a go, there’s a lot of twirling wrists which I found surprisingly tiring!!

The next day it was back to the boat for another 7 hours after which we arrived at Luang Prabang. I hugely enjoyed sailing down the river and watching the scenery pass by. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but I don’t think it was lush hillsides and limestone peaks. It was a very calming experience watching the world go by.

About an hour out of Luang Prabang are the Pak Ou caves, housing numerous Buddha statues in the caves on the riverside.

We arrived in the late afternoon for a 3 night stay in Luang Prabang, at one point the capital of Laos. Just in time for sunset, we headed up Phu Si, for views of the city and surrounding area

The night markets in Luang Prabang were perhaps the best we saw in Laos, or at least felt like they had the most local goods, and we frequented them each night we were there.

The next day we had a full day of activities starting with a tour of the ethnology museum to learn about some of the different peoples who live in Laos. We then drove out in a tuk tuk to a local community supported by G Adventures where we were received with a welcome ceremony and a number of cotton strings tied around our wrists, these provide good luck and fortune on travels and in theory shouldn’t be taken off before arriving home, but I’m not home for another 3 months…

We had lunch there and were then given a demonstration of making rice noodles and cotton weaving, before being persuaded to buy some scarves.

After that it was off to Kuang Si waterfalls for a paddle, and also to see some bears which have been rescued from the countryside and being cared for here.

The following day was a free day in Luang Prabang. Laos has the dubious distinction of being the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. During the Second Indochina war, on average a plane load of munitions were dropped every 8 minutes for 9 years as the US bombed the Ho Chi Minh trail. An enormous amount of Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) remains here and continues to have a devastating impact on people’s lives. There is a very good UXO museum in Luang Prabang which I visited to learn more about this and the efforts being made to clear the land of the ordinance.

I then wandered around the old town and into Wat Xieng Thong, where despite the bus load of tourists which had just arrived, it was surprisingly peaceful. That evening a few of us went to Manda de Laos where we had a tasting menu of Lao food, and some imported wine. It was all delicious.

After an early start the next morning to see the daily Tak Bat ceremony where the monks proceed along the streets and townsfolk (or, increasingly, large tour groups) offer sticky rice and other foods, we set off to Vang Vieng, on a high speed train. By bus, this journey would take around 7 hours, but once we’d driven the 20 or so minutes to Luang Prabang train station, the train only takes just over an hour (thank you China…)

Vang Vieng used to be the party town in Laos, and to a certain extent it still is, but nowadays it is reinventing itself as an adventure destination with activities such as kayaking, rafting, climbing and hiking on the menu in the beautiful surrounding countryside . I took the opportunity to have a very chilled day and beyond a wander around town and finding a lunch spot overlooking the river, I did very little else. It was actually very nice to have a day almost to myself especially when on a long trip.

In the mornings and evenings, there are hot air balloon rides to capture sunrise and sunset, which were great to watch from the rooftop bar in the hotel.

After a relaxing time in Vang Vieng, it was off to Vientiane for the last stop in Laos. Again I need to give thanks to the Chinese for building a smooth highway and we were in Vientiane in a little over 2 hours. Vientiane is the capital of Laos, and there’s a lot of construction work going on, but it’s perhaps one of the quieter capitals I’ve been to. In the afternoon we went to Patuxai, the Victory Gate, modelled on the Arc de Triomphe, and were able to climb for views of the city. I also went into another temple where all the interior walls had little insets which housed 2 small Buddhas, there must have been thousands in total in the temple.

After a final evening of Beerlaos, we left the next day to fly to Hanoi, Vietnam.

I found Laos to be a beautiful and fascinating country. A much slower pace of life than its surrounding countries. Wonderful scenery, fantastic food and definitely an up-and-coming tourist destination. The slow boat down the Mekong was, I think, my favourite part. Go before the tourists take over!

Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai

January 7, 2026 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

I arrived into Bangkok after a 6 and a half hour flight from Perth around mid afternoon, and after a small queue for immigration, I was granted a 60 day visa. Locating my transfer was a little chaotic, the drive from Suvarnabhumi airport to my hotel in Chinatown took around an hour and a quarter, and as we approached Chinatown, the traffic almost came to a standstill.

After checking in, I went in search of some food. This wasn’t difficult to find as I was staying on Yaowarat Road in the heart of Chinatown and as it was now the early evening, the street food markets were in full force. Being a little careful on my first day in Asia, I opted for some dumplings which were cooked in front of me with some flames thrown in for good measure. I spent a while wandering up and down the markets and absorbing the chaotic atmosphere which was in fairly sharp contrast to what I’d come from in Australia.

The next day I’d booked myself on a half day street food tour of Chinatown (which I’d literally booked in the taxi from the airport), which started in the late morning. We had 15 different dishes, and there was only 1 I wasn’t a fan of (a sort of unripe mango with spicy dipping sauce)!! Also we walked through the back streets of Chinatown which I don’t think I’d have had the courage to do on my own

Delicious street food in Chinatown, Bangkok

After the tour, I went to the Golden Buddha, and also to Wat Mangkon Kamalawat (a Chinese Buddhist temple). Despite it being very busy for the holidays in Bangkok, it was very peaceful in both temples.

Golden Buddha and temples in Chinatown, Bangkok

More food in Chinatown in the evening, Singapore Chicken and Rice, with delicious chicken broth, for 90 baht (about £2.20).

The next day, before my G Adventures tour started in the evening, I went to the Grand Palace, which I’d missed the last time I was in Thailand. I took the metro to the closest station and walked the rest of the way – quite proud of myself for navigating Bangkok public transport, (with the help of Google maps and a google search of how to buy MRT tickets – you can tap Visa/Mastercard cards at the gates, I’ve not yet seen Applepay accepted anywhere here).

As it was very close to New Year, it was very busy. Additionally, as the Queen Mother has recently died, there were lots of mourners at the palace. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha was particularly crowded which was a little overwhelming.

After meeting the group in the evening – only 8 in total for the first part of this trip, 2 weeks to Hanoi through northern Thailand and Laos, the smallest G Adventures group I have been on since Peru in 2015 – we went for dinner in a local restaurant and then drinks in the rooftop bar of the hotel we were staying in.

The next morning started with a longboat tour of the klongs (canals) in Bangkok which ended at Wat Po. I went to Wat Po on my previous visit to Thailand in 2019 but found I’d remembered very little of it beyond the Reclining Buddha, and I’d even forgotten how big that was!

We then had a free afternoon before boarding an overnight train north to Chiang Mai. A new train station in Bangkok has been built in between my visits, the new station is very spacious and easy to navigate around. The train departed shortly after 7pm for the 12 hour journey north. The seats were very quickly changed into beds, one upper (which I was on) and one lower. There were also western style toilets which were a definite improvement on my previous overnight train here! I can’t say I got a good nights sleep though, the carriage lights were on all night and despite individual curtains, it didn’t do much to block the light.

We arrived into Chiang Mai just before 8am and went for breakfast before 4 of us opted for a Thai cooking class. A great experience and some delicious food for us to eat for lunch.

In the afternoon we had a trip to Doi Suthep temple, high on the hillside just outside of Chiang Mai. Even once you’ve driven up the windy hillside to get to it, there are still 300 or so steps to walk up to reach the temple. Again it was busy with people enjoying the holidays but there was a lovely peaceful air there

It was New Year’s Eve and so after visiting the night markets and watching a Ladyboys Cabaret show, we headed to the old town to watch the New Year fireworks. Definitely a different way for me to be celebrating new year!!

After a free morning on New Year’s Day, we set off to the border town of Chiang Khong, stopping at the White Temple in Chiang Rai on the way. A very different style of temple to others seen so far, and much more contemporary, but the contrast of the white with the sky and surroundings is spectacular

We reached Chiang Khong in the early evening and after dinner at a local restaurant, including exchanging some baht for Lao kip, it was a relatively early night ready for the border crossing into Laos and my first new country of this trip…

Adelaide

December 28, 2025 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

In my previous Australia travels, I’d spent a grand total of about 15 hours in Adelaide, and that included sleeping. This time I had a week and a half here, with a few days before and after the cricket to see the city and around.

Back to a hostel for the first 3 nights where most of my roommates were here for the cricket, and one of whom works for the same company I do and is also on a sabbatical…very small world

I’d booked a Barossa Valley wine tour on my first full day here and found that it was also full of Brits here for the cricket. A lovely group of people and we were drinking our first glass of wine at 9.40am!! A good way to start a Sunday

In the remaining days before the cricket started, I mostly spent my time wandering around the museums, which are all handily on North Terrace (and free), as well as the Botanical Gardens

The cricket started just in time to coincide with a heatwave. I’d arrived on a Saturday and it was a very pleasant (to this Brit) temperature, in the low 20s. The cricket started on Wednesday, when the temperature was in the mid 30s. On Thursday it got to 40C. Thankfully it was a dry heat rather than a humid heat, but being sat in it, albeit in shade, for 7 hours certainly wilted me. By the time the game ended on Sunday, it had been raining and was only in the high teens. Such a crazy change in temperature in a very short space of time!

England were quite a lot better in this match – it got to day 5 and there was a tiny part of me that thought we were going to chase down the runs at one point in the morning session on the last day. But it wasn’t to be. I’ve now been to 5 test matches in Australia across 2 trips and have yet to see us win. But I’ve had a lot of fun watching the matches. There’s almost a mindfulness quality about watching live cricket. All I have to do for 6 hours is watch what’s going on on the field. I’m not staring at a screen. I’m not constantly looking at my phone. The ebb and flow of test cricket can’t be beaten in my opinion and despite the result I’ve had a great time.

I had a couple of days after the cricket in Adelaide before flying back to Perth on Christmas Day before onwards to Thailand. One of those days was an admin day involving finding a laundrette to do a big load of washing, as well as firming up and booking a couple of parts of my SE Asia itinerary.

On Christmas Eve I went out to Glenelg. Ordinarily you’d get the tram from the centre of Adelaide, but due to engineering works, it was a replacement bus which took about 25 minutes. Sadly the weather in Glenelg was cold and windy, so it wasn’t looking its best. When I returned to the city mid afternoon, I found it in blazing sunshine!!

I really enjoyed my time in Adelaide. It seems to get a bad rep on occasion for perhaps being a bit boring. Certainly I thought it less intense than some of the other big cities here. But there’s plenty to do, it’s really easy to get around, and I squeezed in my third (and fastest) Aussie parkrun.

That’s it for my Australia travels on this trip. I’ve been here for 7 weeks, and covered a lot of places I hadn’t been to before. I think Perth and WA was my favourite part, the scenery and coastline there was just stunning. But I’ve loved it all. The people are friendly, the lifestyle seems great, everywhere is very clean and tidy, public transport is cheap, there are lots of amenities in all the cities and overall just a great place to visit. I’m sure I’ll be back again at some point!

Surfers Paradise

December 26, 2025 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

After my stay in Brisbane, I hopped onto a Greyhound coach for the 90 minute journey to Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast. The coach was actually going all the way through to Sydney, a journey of nearly 1000km. I’m quite glad my trip wasn’t anywhere near that long!

I’d booked 4 nights in Surfers Paradise after the cricket for a bit of R&R, or as much R&R as you can get in a 100 bed dorm room. In fairness, this chain of hostels was pretty good, I also stayed in these in Brisbane and Adelaide outside of the cricket. The pods give pretty decent privacy and the price (around £30 per night) includes breakfast and dinner which is pretty unusual in a hostel.

After a day of doing laundry (cost $12 and all done in an hour, and could pay by card which was a bonus), I spent the first couple of days wandering around and finding shade on the beach, which, due to the massive buildings, was actually quite easy even without my own tent/parasol/shade. I don’t read very much anymore but I’d bought a physical book in Brisbane and so spent my time on the beach reading Michael Palin’s New Europe. I do enjoy reading his travel books, and especially when I’ve been to some of the same places. It’s also useful inspiration for future trips…

On the beach in the shade at Surfers Paradise

Given all the very tall buildings, I thought I’d go up one of them to take in the views. I went to the Skypoint observation deck which is on the 77th floor of the Q1 building. Some spectacular views to be had whilst enjoying a tea and slice of cake

Views from the Skypoint Observation Deck

On my final full day, I’d booked (at fairly late notice through Viator) a half day trip to the Hinterland (the rainforest area inland behind Gold Coast), to Springbrook National Park and Natural Bridge. The weather was a little gloomier on this day and I did at one point have to get my waterproof out for the first time on this trip. The scenery was stunning. so green and lush, and it was a nice change from the coast and cities I’d mostly seen on this trip. Also apparently where UK I’m A Celebrity is filmed.

There were beachside markets in Surfers Paradise on the final night I was there so I ended my trip by wandering up and down all the stalls before calling it a night to reorganise my bags before my flight to Adelaide the next day.

I’m glad I’ve been to Surfers Paradise, I’d seen it from a distance on one of my previous visits to Australia. It’s got a bit of a party vibe about it. Lots of bars and restaurants and fairly fancy hotels, and miles of golden sand and surf. I’m not absolutely sure I’d go back (maybe if I was 20 years younger…), but it was nice to have a few days by the beach…onto Adelaide and some more cricket

Brisbane

December 15, 2025 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

Trundling into Brisbane Roma Street train station nearly 2 and a half hours behind schedule was actually fairly helpful as instead of arriving at 9am, I got to the hostel shortly before midday and was able to check in.

I had a couple of days in Brisbane before the next attempt at cricket started. I have been to Brisbane once before, in January 2016, and saw fit to write barely a paragraph about it here. I honestly don’t remember much beyond the koalas and a few photos I have revisited to attempt to jog my memory. We must have stayed fairly centrally based on the photos I have from then but I’ve no idea where, and honestly from walking around Brisbane this time, I don’t remember any of it really.

That said, it has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years…

I spent most of my first day on the South Bank wandering through the various museums and art galleries in this area – all free. I was also quite glad of the air conditioning, despite it being less humid than in the north, it was still approaching 30C.

The South Bank itself is a lovely area of rainforest, beach, open space, restaurants, cafes and bars and I actually spent some part of most days wandering and eating here.

After getting some tips from a guy in the hostel, I went up the Sky Deck at the Star, which is one of the very tall buildings that wasn’t there in 2016! This viewing platform is around 23 storeys high and is, unbelievably, free to visit. There are a couple of cafes and restaurants ready to take your money though.

Brisbane is a really good city to wander around, and I found myself doing a lot of walking. The test match was a day/night match which didn’t start til 2pm. And the Gabba is a good 40 or so minutes walk from the CBD where I was staying.

Various photos from my wandering: the city botanic gardens, St John’s Cathedral, the Story Bridge, Brisbane by night

The Gabba is not a particularly easy ground to get to. It’s across the river from the CBD and is surrounded by increasingly gridlocked roads in the lead up to the match. Once I was there though, getting in the ground was very efficient, as were all the bars and food outlets (more so than the Optus in Perth which struggled with some bottlenecks at various points which did make me feel slightly anxious).

The atmosphere at the Gabba is incredible. It’s a proper cauldron, literally and metaphorically, and the intensity of the sound, especially when Australia were on top, was unlike anything I’ve heard before in a sporting arena. On the first day I was sat on the first level but essentially at the back, and some of the sound didn’t travel too well (took me an hour or so to locate the Barmy Army and I’m certain they were making a lot of noise), but on the following days when I was slightly further forward, the acoustics were a lot better.

I guess there were 2 positives about this test – it lasted 4 days (and a lot longer on day 4 than I might have imagined); and secondly, Joe Root scored a hundred in Australia and might finally be able to shut up all the naysayers

On my final (bonus) day in Brisbane, and in order to cheer myself up a bit after feeling fairly deflated over the cricket, I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I mentioned earlier that I’d been here on my previous visit, when you were still able to cuddle a koala. Probably for the best that this practice has now ended. But you can still enjoy looking at the koalas, and the other animals there, including walking in amongst kangaroos and wallabies

After my week or so in Brisbane, it was time to hop onto a Greyhound coach and head to Surfers Paradise for some beach time…

Darwin and Townsville

December 9, 2025 ~ Cat ~ 2 Comments

There is slightly over a week between each of the first 3 test matches so I am taking the opportunity to see some other bits of Australia that I’ve not been to before. First up was a 3 hour 40 minute flight from Perth to Darwin. After struggling at the bag drop alongside Mike Atherton and Steven Finn, the flight was uneventful and I even had a spare seat beside me – result!

I arrived in a sticky Darwin in the early evening, and after a brief wait for the Uber pricing to reduce slightly, I arrived at my hotel, which is the biggest bargain accommodation so far. Outside of the cricket and my side trips in Perth, I have been staying in hostels to keep the cost down. I am being a little picky but have generally been paying slightly over £30 per night for shared accommodation. This place (DCH on Mitchell) was £38 per night for my own en suite room. Not too many frills at the hotel but the room was clean and had a fridge and TV, the AC worked, and there were toiletries in the bathroom so all in all, a very good deal.

The sun was setting by the time I’d arrived, so I had a brief walk around Darwin and its waterfront. The city centre is pretty small and easy to walk around. I was expecting humidity here and I was not wrong, but it possibly wasn’t quite as bad as I’d feared. A cyclone had blown through only a few days beforehand which may have tempered the heat and humidity a little bit. There were several trees across the city that had been uprooted by the winds.

I only had 1 full day in Darwin, which I think is plenty to see the city. But you can easily spend longer in the region with a car, enabling easier access to the national parks.

I took an Uber to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory – probably only a 10 minute drive but humidity. An interesting (and free) museum with a number of thought-provoking exhibits including some Aboriginal Art, an exhibition on the 1974 Christmas Day cyclone which essentially destroyed Darwin, and maritime exhibits with examples of different types of boats used in this part of the world, including Indonesia and SE Asia which are much closer to Darwin than other Australian state capitals.

I was particularly struck by the introduction to the Aboriginal art exhibits which started with the words ‘in so-called Australia…’. The other very noticeable thing almost everywhere I’ve been so far is the acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land and their ancestors. I don’t recall so much of this in my previous visits to Australia, or maybe I wasn’t paying so much attention…

After a very good lunch at the museum cafe, I walked back to the hotel, via the Botanical Gardens which were, unfortunately, closed due to the impacts of the cyclone. I did, however, manage to sneak in to some bits, which helped make the hot and humid walk slightly more direct!

After making it back to the hotel and some AC, I spent the afternoon chilling out before another walk to the waterfront and then a very reasonably priced (and good) sushi dinner.

My very brief visit to Darwin was over the next morning as I headed back to the airport for my flight to Townsville.

I was at the airport way too early, partly as a result of basically only ever taking international flights. You’d be fine rocking up about 90 minutes before a domestic flight here, no one has yet looked at my ID on the 2 internal flights I’ve taken so far, and there are no liquid restrictions in hand luggage.

I arrived in Townsville mid afternoon after a 2 and a half hour flight. As I was staying with a friend in Townsville, she came to pick me up from the airport, and after dropping my bags at her place, we went for a late lunch on the Strand. After lunch (by now late afternoon), we had a lovely walk along the Strand, which is fairly well shaded so the heat and humidity wasn’t too bad for me at this point. In the evening, we drove up Castle Hill for views of the city.

We went to Magnetic Island the next day which is just a 15 minute ferry ride from Townsville. Maggie Island, as the locals call it, is a beautiful little island off the coast with some great beaches and hiking trails. There is a hop on hop off bus (for something ridiculous like $1 each for a day ticket) which runs between the ferry terminal and Horseshoe Bay and allows easy access to the main sights. We did the Forts Walk, along with quite a few other people. This is an approximately 2km hike up to some WW2 fortifications. It was very humid so it was a hot and sticky walk but well worth it for the views.

After lunch we headed back on a mid afternoon ferry to some cool and refreshing air conditioning. The AC is absolutely vital here, I’d dread to have to deal with the heat and humidity without it. Apparently I’ve visited at a less than ideal time for the humidity, next time I shall visit in the winter!

The next morning I met up with an old school friend who lives out here and had been in touch when I’d posted on Facebook that I was in Australia. It must be more than 20 years since we saw each other and it was great to catch up and hear how he’s settled into life over here. Just slightly different to Colne!!

My brief visit to Townsville was over that afternoon, and I boarded the Spirit of Queensland, a long distance train which runs 3 times a week in both directions between Cairns and Brisbane. It was running an hour late by the time it arrived into Townsville, but we eventually boarded and I settled into my Railbed seat and enjoyed watching the scenery pass by. The weather got more moody as we headed south and there were the occasional flashes of lightning. Dinner was served in the early evening (complete with gratis alcoholic beverage) and then the staff came through to change the seats into beds at 8pm (for those wanting an early night) and at 9pm (also for those wanting an early night…). The train makes stops probably every 90 minutes or so through the night before its scheduled arrival into Brisbane at 9am so I wasn’t worried about having to wake up in the middle of the night for my stop. By the time we were awoken at 6am to return the beds to seats for those of us still on board, we were running nearly 3 hours behind schedule. Breakfast was served at around 7.30am and we eventually trundled into Brisbane at 11.20am. Thankfully for me, the delay wasn’t a problem and was actually an advantage as I was able to check in to the hostel when I arrived.

It might sound odd but the train was genuinely one of the things I was most looking forward to in Australia. A 20 hour (well 22 hour) train ride, with plenty of legroom, bed, entertainment, dinner and breakfast cost me about £155. I really enjoyed watching the scenery pass, being able to lie flat (even if I didn’t really get that much sleep), and arriving at my destination without the various stresses of air travel. There wasn’t much phone signal outside of the stations so not being able to look at my phone every few minutes was also quite refreshing!! Trains will feature again at various points in my travels and I’m already looking forward to them.

After a couple of hot and humid destinations, I was glad to arrive into a slightly more manageable Brisbane for the next week or so…stay tuned for my next post to hear all about that!

Perth Part 2

December 2, 2025 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

After spending a week exploring south and north of Perth, I arrived back in the city with a couple of spare days before the cricket. And, as it turned out, 3 spare days after the cricket…

Back to hostel life and the first thing on my hit list was to do some laundry. Long time readers of this blog may recall my previous quests for cheap hostel laundry…my first impression of 2025 hostel laundry is that there has been a significant increase in price in the last 10 years. $6 for a wash and $6 for sufficient drying time is a lot more than I remember…anyway, at least I had a bag full of clean clothes.

The next day I was up bright and early to head out to Fremantle to catch a ferry to Rottnest Island. I’d booked ferry tickets the previous week (doing it 7 days before travel gives you a discount), though was obviously a little tired when doing so as I’d booked the outbound ferry from Fremantle rather than Perth City. This meant a slightly earlier start to take the train out to Fremantle and to be there 30 minutes before departure. It all turned out fine, and Perth is a city that gets going early so despite being on a train at 7.45am on a weekday, it was not busy as most people had already got to where they were going.

Rottnest Island is home to a large population of quokkas. There were also more flies so I was glad yet again for the fly net!!

I hadn’t really made any plans for my 6 hours on the island, but spotted there was a Catherine Bay that I thought would be worth visiting… This turned into a 7 mile round hike in some quite sticky weather, but I passed through a number of extraordinarily beautiful beaches along the way.

Beaches on Rottnest Island, the last photo is Catherine Bay

After returning to the main settlement, I had lunch and was joined by a few quokkas who clearly knew where to look for food. There are signs everywhere telling you not to feed them so I was very careful about not spilling any of my Subway!

Quokkas are really quite odd animals, mouse-like, yet hopping along like a rabbit, or a small kangaroo. But very endearing

Caught the ferry back to Perth City (as intended) at 4.30pm. One of the advantages of getting the ferry all the way back to the city is that it cruises up the Swan River so you get some lovely views of the outer suburbs of the city, and then a great view of the CBD as you come into the jetty.

Elizabeth Quay and around from the ferry

The next day was a moving day, from the hostel into a hotel for the next 6 nights. This was part of the package I’d bought for the cricket. I’ve done a hotel and ticket package through Gullivers Sports Travel for the 3 test matches that I’m attending. It was quite nice having my own space, and the room had a decent-sized fridge so as I was on a room only deal, I went to the local IGA to stock up on healthy breakfast food and snacks.

The next day I was up and eager to get to the cricket. The Optus Stadium was about a 30 minute walk from the hotel and I followed the crowds towards the ground. It’s a very impressive stadium and after the usual security, I was in my seat just before the toss. I was sat amongst the Barmy Army and it was great fun with all the singing and clapping, trying (and one might argue failing) to encourage England to bat. The first half of day 1 was less than ideal but the second half, with Archer and Wood steaming in, was incredible to witness.

At the Optus Stadium, day 1 of the 2025/26 Men’s Ashes

The next day was Saturday, which means parkrun. Parkruns in Perth start at 8am so I just about had enough time to walk the 20 or so minutes to Claisebrook Cove parkrun, huff and puff round the 5k in 35 minutes, walk back to the hotel to shower and then walk the 30 mins to the stadium in time for the first ball of day 2 at 10.20am. It was a slightly frantic morning, which included some interesting warning signs along the parkrun course…

Seen at Claisebrook cove parkrun; you don’t get this at Tremorfa!!

The less said about day 2 at the cricket, the better…it did mean I had 3 extra days in Perth though, to see things I’d so far missed.

I started by meeting up with some old travel companions from my Peru trip 10 years ago who live in Perth. It was so lovely to see Janine and Pat after all this time, we had brunch and a scenic drive around the city

That evening I ended up going to see the Kaiser Chiefs, who were in town and playing their debut album (out when I was at university) in full. It was great fun relieving my uni days as they blasted through Employment and some of their other hits.

My remaining 2 days in Perth were full of walking. I went to Kings Park, for wonderful views of the city, and also a lovely walk through the Botanical Gardens. And on my final day, I failed to find any kangaroos during my walk to Heirisson Island Kangaroo Sanctuary.

After 2 and a half weeks, it was time to leave Perth. I’ve really enjoyed my time here, and exploring Perth, Margaret River and the coast up to Monkey Mia. The coastline is absolutely stunning, the people are friendly and laid back, and it seems like a really good lifestyle here. The only bugbear (!) was all the flies!! I highly recommend a trip to this part of the world, and don’t forget you can fly direct from the UK and Western Europe to Perth, if you can stomach 16 hours or so in the air at once!

Kalbarri, Monkey Mia, Geraldton and a lot of flies

November 22, 2025 ~ Cat ~ 3 Comments

My second side trip from Perth, and this time I headed north. This was a 4 day / 3 night trip with Autopia Tours (found through tourradar), and there were 10 of us in total on this trip, including 1 other Brit over here for the Ashes!

A slightly later start (8.15am pickup) compared to the Margaret River trip, I was the last pickup and then we headed north out of Perth. We stopped at Jurian Bay for an early lunch and a very windy (I was soon to learn that wind is very normal in these parts) walk along the front.

Then we carried on to the highlight of the first day, a visit to Hutt Lagoon which is naturally pink because of algae in the water. I’ve not altered the photo, it really is that colour!! It takes your breath away the first time you see it.

I have a vague recollection of perhaps seeing another pink lake in my previous Aussie travels, somewhere in the outback in South Australia. However I can find no photographic evidence of this, and if it is when I was thinking, I was incredibly hungover that day so could well have been seeing things. If anyone else from that G Adventures trip in January 2016 is reading this, did we see a pink lake? After the William Creek stop? Or have I made it up?!

We then continued to our overnight stop in Kalbarri. As it was a Saturday night, we struggled to find anywhere with space to accommodate us for food so after a drink in the local tavern ($15 / £7.50 for a pint of cider!!) we ended up with takeaway pizza.

We started the next day with a visit to nearby Kalbarri National Park, to see Nature’s Window and the Kalbarri Skywalk views. Both of these overlook the Murchison River Gorge and have some amazing views. Unfortunately they also have a lot of flies so we were all very glad to have bought fly nets in the morning!! The flies will be a recurring theme…

The landscape here reminded me a little bit of Zion in the southwest USA. Perhaps not the scale, but certainly the colours.

We continued to head north and had a lunch stop at the Billabong Roadhouse where it was a cool 38C. With the wind, it felt like standing in front of a hairdryer!! And yet more flies…

After lunch we continued north and arrived at Shell Beach. The shells all come from cockles which live in the waters and, as with every other beach I’ve seen in WA, the water is an incredible shade of blue

Shell Beach. On the right, you can see the tiny cockle shells

We then continued towards our overnight destination of Monkey Mia (pronounced my-a) with a stop at Eagle Bluff for another opportunity to be blown away. I had no idea that it would be so windy here, though I suppose the wind has the whole of the Indian Ocean to build up a head of steam, and it certainly does.

The main draw at Monkey Mia is the wildlife, and each morning from around 7.45am, the dolphins that live in these waters come into the bay to see all the tourists (I think that’s the right way round…!). Until very recently I’ve never really been an animal person, but there’s something about seeing them in the wild that really changed my mind. We also saw turtles swimming in the bay too

Some of the group went on a boat cruise in the morning but I opted to stay on dry land and had a relaxed morning in some shade which was welcome after several days on the go (this trip started the day after my Margaret River trip ended). We set off back south after lunch and this was essentially an exercise in getting to Geraldton, some 4 and a half hours away, before sunset. We had another pit stop at a roadhouse where the flies were perhaps the worst they’d been. Just absolutely everywhere. The only positive thing I can say is at least they don’t bite!

Monday evening in Geraldton isn’t the most lively place in the world. We ate at The Murchison Tavern and were pretty much the only punters in there.

On our final day we started with a visit to the HMAS Sydney II memorial in Geraldton which remembers the 645 men who lost their lives when the HMAS Sydney II was sunk in 1941, which was the greatest single tragedy in the Australian navy. Actually the anniversary of the sinking was the day after our visit. Not something I was previously aware of but I found the memorial very moving.

We then continued to head south back towards Perth. Our next stop was at the 3 Bays Walk at Green Bay, for some more ridiculously beautiful WA beaches. Fly net still a necessity though.

Beautiful beaches at 3 Bays Walk, Green Bay

Our lunch stop was at the Lobster Shack in Cervantes where we had some Australian Rock Lobster for lunch, absolutely delicious

Our final stop on this trip was at The Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. Possibly one of the weirdest landscapes I’ve ever seen. With yet more flies and a few hailstones for good measure

We then headed back to Perth and arrived around 6pm. This tour was a really good way to see this region. I think it would be pretty difficult to do independently as a solo traveller without my own car. We covered some pretty large distances – around 500km drives on some days – and there isn’t a whole heap of public transport in these parts. I would definitely recommend this trip, and route, to anyone coming to Western Australia!

Margaret River

November 17, 2025 ~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

I’ve mostly come to Perth for the cricket. However, having never been to Western Australia before, I was keen to explore the surroundings which is why I arrived a couple of weeks before the first test starts.

My first side trip was down to Margaret River. Several people had suggested it was worth going to so off I went. I’d booked a 3 day / 2 night trip with McLeod Tours which started with a bright and early 6.50am pickup at a location 15 minutes walk from the hostel I was staying in.

After we’d picked up the other 15 women on this trip, we headed south out of Perth towards Mandurah for a brekkie and coffee (green tea) stop.

After refuelling both ourselves and the van, we continued south towards Busselton for lunch and a post lunch walk along the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere (the equivalent in the north is Southend pier).

Busselton jetty sticks out 1.8km into the ocean and we just about had enough time to walk out and back, though there is a train which runs along the jetty too if you don’t fancy the walk

You can just about see the jetty curving to the right, and the building in the middle of the photo is at the end of the jetty

In the afternoon we stopped at a bean-to-bar chocolatier (where they create the chocolate from the cocoa beans) for some chocolate tasting, before heading to our hotel for the next 2 nights on the coast in Prevelly, a few kilometres outside of Margaret River.

The next day we headed further south. Firstly to Mammoth Cave, one of several cave complexes in the region, and a very accessible one at that. The stalactites were so delicate and there were hundreds if not thousands of them

We headed further south to Cape Leeuwin, which is the south-westerly most point of Australia, and where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. I climbed the 176 steps up the lighthouse for this great view

Indian ocean on the left. Southern ocean on the right

After lunch in Augusta, we headed for our first wine tasting at Red Gate winery. A very comprehensive tasting, I reckon at least a dozen wines from the list below, and unusually for me, my favourites at this stop were a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon.

After this, we had time for a wander around the town of Margaret River before heading back to the hotel.

On the final day, we started with a coffee tasting. Now, coffee definitely isn’t my drink of choice but I gave them all a go and concluded that the iced coffee which was flavoured with caramel was the most drinkable. I shan’t be converting to coffee any time soon!!

We then visited 2 more wineries and had wine tastings at both, along with some lovely cheese at the second one

After another lovely lunch it was time to head back to Perth and we arrived back in the early evening. All in all, we covered a lot in 3 days but it felt a very well-paced trip with almost everything included (just evening meals weren’t but I’d often filled up at breakfast and lunch so only needed something light for dinner). To the various people who suggested I should go to Margaret River – thank you – and to anyone who comes to WA, you should definitely go!!

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