FINALLY IN LONDON & FEELIN GOOD

We're here & it feels so great & so right. I've been waiting a long time to get here & I'm so happy.
We have found the most wonderful people on this freeloaders site, helpful, friendly, informative & fun & so our budget is going ok because of it.
we've been checking out all the streets on the monopoly board it's been real fun, been eating lots of that cheese stuff that isn't in malaysia(mmmmmmm cheesy goodness). been down the Thames, been to Greenwich where we stood in today & yesterday at the same time, (so informative & interesting). Saw Big Ben & Westminster, I can't believe how beautiful it is. Been to a few great British pubs & even like the beer, (so far Kyle's had no trouble getting one!). Seen amazing & interesting Markets, sat upstairs at the front of the double decker buses, of course, traveled the underground & had our ears assaulted by the terrible screeched until they hurt, (MIND THE GAP = for those of you who have been here!!!), and we've walked & walked & walked.
The architecture is amazing & beautiful & there's so much to see. My son picks on my enthusiasm & excitement, but I don't care cause it's all fantastic to me.
We have to move out of UK so that the agencies can legally look for work so most of UK will be done later, but that's ok as so far it's rained every day & is so F'n cold, I have so many layers on & still not warm, (winter's going to be fun!!!). But it still doesn't dampen my spirits.
We're not sure which direction to go, Ireland or Europe, we may have to toss a coin as both are going to be fantastic
Mazz & Kyle Signing off.

London at Last

Phi Phi Island which was devistated in the
tsunami, but now all back togehter,
although those who have been here before
say it's completely different now.
Did some fabulous snorkelling here &
there's some fabulous remote islands that
you could enjoy, but we only did a day trip.













Check out that pile of chillies, there's never enough chillies in Thailand!
The fabulous Markets which I just loved & we tried
some great food & drinks, Thai donuts & sweets,
sugar cane juice which was fab & totally different taste
to what I've tried in Melb & I had a local
milkshake which they carry around in little plastic
bags & I didn't even mind that it was strawberry,
which I would normally refuse! trip.
The array of foods available was amazing &
most we had no idea what it was, & the fish &
chicken out in the open with flies all over & a bit
of ice to keep it somewhat cool!!!
We were still game & tried some interesting stuff.

Hello All Readers,
Well we hit London last night & it was a relief to feel the cold air except it's raining now & has been for a few days. We are staying with our first freeloader Habiba Nabatu who is African & absoutely beautiful & helpful & so welcoming & going out of her way to help us, it's amazing & so comforting, so trusting & open it retores your faith in the human race. We are here until 27 May then head to our next freeloader spot. If you know anyone about to travel then pass on the word about this 'Global Freeloader' site, it works & is fantastic!
On our budget we have less than £40 per day, a train ticket costs £5.40 each so the money's not going to stretch far. We went to St Paul's Cathederal but it was £9 to go in for a look, the outside was very pretty!
Anyway I'm very excited to be here, I feel like a kid with their first lollypop. Today we're just looking around & getting our bairings & sussing out how much everything is & what we're going to be able to afford to do!!! The feet are going to get a good work out!
We had to have a pub meal & try a british beer which we enjoyed, but that was the budget for the day.
The train system is almost identical to Melb so it makes it very easy, but the place seems huge & there's so much to see.
I think I would really like to work here as I feel I've been waiting a long time to get here & it feels so right.
I take back the statement about carrying all this stuff in my backpack, I had on the warmest dress, singlet, my jumper, coat, scarf, beanie & gloves; am I glad I packed it all, it was cold & wet. That's London!!!
Thanks for all your comments & don't panick we do read them, a copy of every comment gets automatically sent to my email address, so we see them all. But you need to make sure you sign your name as it's a bit hard to guess who's writing sometimes!
Nik please send your email address as the one we have doesn't work & if that was your comment without a name - keep the chin up fella, we want to see you over here sometime.
Off for another day of sightseeing in the rain, when I get Kyle off the game machine that he has access to, making up for lost time. Will post some photos when we have some as forgot the batteries for the camera yesterday. But have our packed lunch with us to save a bit that way, a bit different from Malyasia & Thailand where you can eat out 3 meals a day!!!
But I can tell you it's good to get a good coffee, I had to give up for a month as it wasn't worth it in M & T the asians don't get it like we do!
Take care all, Love Mazz & Kyle XXX

More random Adventures

Well not much has happened lately went to phuket and didnt realy like that then we went to the east coast of malaysia(after travelling for about 26 hours) to the perhentian islands which we spent the time lounging on the beach getting sunburnt, we also went for a day snorkeling tour which was realy fun(as i saw a shark). now were back in KL doin all our last minute jobs before we get to london. were doin fine well miss the fabulous food though it will be a relief to get out of this heat finally, mazz wonders why she didnt listen to those people who said to pack less and take more money.

How many people can you fit in a ute? travelling in thailand we counted 22 in one of them it was ludicrous the amount of people squished into all sorts of vehicles 5 person familys on 1 motorbike 6 people squished onto the back seat of a car, and the amount of utes with so many people crammed on there wasn't any sitting room it was crazy. anyway thats the excitement for this adventure mazz & kyle singing off

Island Adventures

OMFG Just came from the best little tropical island ever!!! KoLiPe in Thailand at the end of their season so we had the whole beach to ourselves with white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters just like in the brochures you always see(at last) heaps of really cool places i.e. stayed at the "PORN resort" & drank & played pool at "Pooh's Bar" & had coffee at the "Chill out" bar & met great people at the "Peace & Love" bar & at the 'MONKEY" bar where there was a very friendly baby monkey to play with. Went snorkelling for the first time it was the best,so much to see under the clear blue waters. had proper thai massages on the beach(ouch, but not as good as michele's) now we're in Phuket Staying at a fancy hotel for only $40 AUD a day but really kills the budget.
trying to post photos for all to see hope they turn out
kyle still likes his long pants even in this weather but did get him in a sarrong at the beach like a real local, & wears a ponytail!!!
what else to say: foods great and cheap, as is the grog(yipee), plenty of mozzies though(urgh) & flies for the first time since leaving Melbourne

More adventures in langkawi

Our last chance for an update for at least 5 or 7 days. Off to KohLiPe tomorrow 6/5/06 by boat from Langkawi quite expensive RM100 each but we were told it's worth it, only to find out that it's the end of their season & everything closes on the island by the 10th May and our last chance to get off the island, so we're lucky to fit it in & will only be spending 4 nights there, but that should be ok. It will be interesting to see if there are other tourists still around or we might have the place to ourselves, but lucky we found out about that bit of info before we got stuck on the island!!!
Another day of fun riding around on the scooter! We got to do a bit of touristy stuff today, went on an increadibly high cable car up the side of the mountain to overlook the bay & cluster of islands(there are 99 exotic tropical islands in total). And a beautiful clear day it was, until we got to the top & the clouds came over & wouldn't go away!!! Just our luck, we waited about an hour & finally gave up, so we have photos of fog! We did cross the suspension bridge which was an amazing feat of engineering & architecture & quite scary, so was the cable car ride, so high & a little windy. We did get to climb the 600 steps to the seven wells which was pretty good once you got there sweaty & hot.
These Malay people amaze me with their scooter riding, most without helmets, wearing sandles, thongs & even dreeses & you should see the families, kid on the front, dad driving, kid in the middle, mum on the back holding the baby on the side & the kids often don't wear helmets. There seems to be no laws, young kids drive them with their sister/brother on the back & they carry all sorts of stuff loaded up & hanging over the sides. They seem to have their own road rules, driving on the wrong side, turning anywhere, crossing each others path & you hardly ever see the police. Don't worry we are very slow & safe drivers, but I wonder whether Kyle should be driving without a licence??? he doesn't mind though & is a pretty good driver(of course).
We've swum in healing waters naked & traveled as much of the island as time permitted, but we didn't get to swim in the sea, too busy riding. Keep that for the next spot when that's all there will be to do!
Gotta Go chat when we get back from KohLiPe Chao.

(mumsy with the fantastic view in the background from the top of the cablecar mountain)

(skinny dipping in the sacred healing waters)

Motorbike Adventure in Penang

Hey we're in Penang & finally sitting on the beach drinking beer & swimming (not cooling off as the water is the temp of a bath), in the dirty water (the locals don't swim just leave that to the tourists who don't know how dirty it is) not crystal clear like the brochures?. But I'm wrapped to be here & enjoying the R & R.
We've found our fun, yes we took our lives at risk & hired one of these little scooter/motorbike thingys that they all ride here & went off for the day exploring the island, the best way to look around. For RM 50 = $20 & a few $ for petrol we spent 10 hours checking out & finding the most amazing places & getting all the stares, don't think many white people do this sort of thing!!! Kyle & I fought over who was driving as we both loved it, & don't worry too much we were very slow & careful until we got lost, found ourselves in the middle of the city in peak hour, Oh La La, it was mad, crazy & scary, they drive anywhere, wrong side of the road, no indication, passing you on the left & right side, but we managed & did well in fact. Only one little scrape into a wall (my fault) & grazed my arm, ouch, but don't tell mum.
So we want more, we had the best fun & saw more than we could have any other way, but boy did our arses heart by the end of the day!!
Off to Lankowi another picturesque island for a few days then onto another island off the coast of Thailand (gotta get to Thailand), Co Li Pe told it's great, but not going to the minland of Thai as heard there's unrest there at the moment. No internet there but cheap everything.
After this we come back & go to the East Coast of Malaysia & more island hopping.
Kyle is off fire twirling tonight with the locals & I'll drink more beeeeer.
All is well, will be back on after Co Li Pe in about 7 days
Cheers to all, run out of time XXXXX