October 20, 2006
Big news
So I haven't updated in donkeys ears, but its ok as soon enough I'll have all the time in the world to do it. The reason being is that I'm on my way home soon, well in about 3 weeks time, on 12th November. So I think I may just do all the rest of my updates then, as it will cost me far less, and then I'll have thought through what I want to say a little better perhaps. In the meantime, I'll let you know that I'm in Ko Phi Phi in Thailand, which is GORGEOUS, and I'm having a great time here, and tomorrow I shall do some scuba diving and see some fish and stuff.
After here its up to Bangkok, and then on to Hong Kong for a wee while, and then the last stop of my journey, Beijing, and the Great Wall of China.
Dead excited! Well sorry I havent been to forthcoming with exciting stories, but keep watching this space. ;)
Bye for now
Graham x
Posted by grazzle at 11:54 AM | Comments (1)
September 11, 2006
Attracted to magnetic island
I hope you all like the picture, it a bit of advertising for this website on Bondi Beach!
Well, Magnetic Island certainly lives up to the name thats for sure. the island has a habit of attracting people over from the mainland town of townsville and then keeping them there for a very long time. most people i had met there had extended their stay by a few days some a couple of weeks. I adored the place, and had lots of fun with some friends I had made from the Pride of Airlie boat in the Whitsunday Islands. We stayed at the famous Base Backpackers resort there, and we had a fantastic time sunning ourselves (YES we had good weather! hurrah!), and then partying in the evenings thanks to a delightfully cheap and sugar filled drink which was an alcoholic slush puppie. Yum. One of the days we dared to leave the resort and hired a moke, which is a mini Jeep I suppose. Rusty old thing, but it goes quite fast, and with the top down it was great fun. It felt good to drive again, as I hadnt done it for 8 months. I haven't forgotten thank god! Magnetic has some lovely beaches, our one was called Nelly (Smelly) Bay, which in my opinion was by far the best. The pull of the island was so strong that the first time I tried to leave, I got to Townsville, and turned around and came straight back again!
After a fiasco with the Greyhound, I finally arrived into Cairns last night, and this is my last stop of my tour of the East Coast of Australia. It is very sad indeed. I have had a very eye opening experience in my four month stay here. Stepping off the plane in Melbourne seems a lifetime ago. There have been plenty of ups, and a few downs, but its all been such a learning curve in my lesson of independence. I have had such a great time here, that my future plans are to return in January and do my three months agricultural work to gain a second year visa. But you all know me well enough to know I can't decide on anything.
I shall endeavour to write one more journal entry before heading off to Singapore on Thursday to begin my Asian experience!
Bye! Graham xxx
Posted by grazzle at 02:24 AM | Comments (1)
September 02, 2006
sun, sea, sand, sandflies and sodding rain - part 2 whitsundays cruise
So after my exciting adventures in Fraser Island I decided that I needed to relax for a while and have some fun, so instead of getting off at my planned destination Bundaberg (which only has a rum factory and some angry residents) I carried on through to the town of 1770 so named as it was the town where Captain James Cook discovered Australia first. It was a great decision, the place was fantastic. Very relaxed and unspoilt little place, a haven after the backpacker machine that the East Coast is. It was here where I went surfing again and I must admit i'm now a huge fan of the sport now. Agnes Water Beach is a stunner and well worth spending a few days at. In 1770 we (me and the irish lads again) went on a tour round the area on mini harley davidson chopper bikes! they were so cool! So much fun. It was really weird having such power between your legs. hehe. At one point we were going at 60kms p/h which is a little unnerving when the slightest off balance will rip all the skin off your body. But still very exciting. And I couldn't resist singing "Born to be wild" at the top of my voice as well. After our stay in 1770 we reluctantly had to leave, and make our way on the overnight bus to Airlie Beach, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, and after a very long 10hour journey, we arrived into a pretty shabby hostel and had a sleep....
Continue reading "sun, sea, sand, sandflies and sodding rain - part 2 whitsundays cruise"Posted by grazzle at 06:15 AM | Comments (1)
September 01, 2006
sun, sea, sand, sand flies and sodding rain - part 1 fraser island
Its a bit of a sad title, but i'm just a bit of a fan of alliteration thats all. My trip up the east coast has been extraordinary, and I'd like to think a little different from the norm. Everything that could have gone wrong pretty much did yet I have still come through the other side laughing and having some amazing stories some of which I will tell you now. The silly happenings first began when I was placed in my Fraser Island group with no less than 6 Irish people 4 of which were a large group of guys, and whom I have ended up staying with for a week and a half, much to the utter disgust of my liver and forehead, who make their protests known regularly. We sorted out all our food (this being the women of the group of course) whilst the men sorted out the drink. We spent $30 or so on food for the next few days and each person ended up spending about $100 each on booze. Oh dear. So off we jolly well went with the worlds most fragile 4x4 van, it was honestly like a game of jenga, one false move and we were done for....
Continue reading "sun, sea, sand, sand flies and sodding rain - part 1 fraser island"Posted by grazzle at 09:19 AM | Comments (1)
August 26, 2006
so much to say so little time
aaaah cant write now but i really want to! since byron bay i have visited the gold coast with all the cool theme parks, and brisbane (yawn) and then noosa where i went surfing and now im in hervey bay where i have just come back from fraser island which was very exciting with plenty of drama! can't write it now but i anticipate i will shortly. i am going to some small towns now for a couple of days before i go sailing on the great barrier reef!
miss and love you all
Graham x
Posted by grazzle at 12:24 PM | Comments (1)
August 11, 2006
Toby, 1 month old
Isn't he cute????
Bless him x
Posted by grazzle at 01:51 AM
August 08, 2006
public information announcement
hello everyone, just a quick word to say I have now left Sydney which is fantastic, as I am now starting to see more sunshine and beautiful beaches. Currently I am in Byron Bay, after spending a couple of days in Port Macquarie, where I went for a ride on a camel named Sandy (clever that), and then Coffs Harbour where I went for a day at the races, drinking at 11am and losing $4 in bets. We were even interviewed for the Coffs Harbour Advocate, which was a little bizarre as we had no idea why we were there. Byron is lots of fun, and I am officially on the backpacker trail again, finding parties and corpses at every turn. I am staying at the Arts Factory www.artsfactory.com.au which is a very funky, alternative type of place that reminds me heavily of Glastonbury Festival hence I am staying here for 8 days. I need my Glasto Fix alright!
The other news is that a lot of people still don't know where my photos are, so I'm hoping that Paul or Cheryl could post up a link for me so people can clicketyclick on it. Much appreciated. (EDIT: here are Graham's photos!)
See ya later kids
Graham x
Posted by grazzle at 07:14 AM | Comments (1)
July 17, 2006
im writing in a museum - tres cool
just because it was here i thought i would write something in this journal from the most random place i've ever accessed the internet. a museum. It's because the exhibition is about the joys of the internet, so they give you free internet access which is rather nice of them. The place is called the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney Harbour. Hooray for them.
Other news is that I shall be leaving Sydney in about 2 weeks time, so my travelling adventures will begin again then, so hopefully there will be more interesting updates.
In the meantime, a very happy birthday to my sister Cheryl, and my cousin Leanne. Have a great time!
Graham xxx
Posted by grazzle at 07:27 AM | Comments (1)
July 14, 2006
22nd Birthday Party
So it was my birthday on Wednesday so I had a mad hatters tea party which was lots of fun. We had party hats, and food, and balloons, and party poppers, and cake! It was all fantastic and marvellous. There were many people there too which was great, so I felt very happy, and I even got some presents, which sounds strange, but its not like backpackers to give presents as we're all so skint its an unwritten rule just not to bother, or buy them a beer or something. I certainly wasn't expecting anything, so I was elated to be presented with a mug, a sprout, a pack of crayons, some chocolates, a cake, some naughty playing cards and a pack of pants. Truly fantastic. Thanks to everyone at Billabong, love you all!
Posted by grazzle at 12:53 PM | Comments (1)
July 04, 2006
Toby Oscar Ford Annett-Baker
was born on 27th June 2006, at 2:10am at Eastbourne General Hospital. He is now a week old, and both mother and baby are doing well. This photo is beautiful, and shows Toby on his first day in the world. I am so happy for Paul and Cheryl, and proud to be the little munchkin's uncle. If anyone wants to pass on any messages to them send a message on this site and I will forward them on.
My news is pretty dull, I quit my job yesterday as it turned out to be rather awful, but thats ok, as I now have three interviews today and they all sound pretty reasonable jobs, certainly no telesales hurrah!
But yay for Toby :)
Posted by grazzle at 01:49 AM | Comments (1)
June 13, 2006
Graham Baker - Sydney resident
Yep I have started my working life here in Newtown, and the hostel I am staying is very odd. Almost like Butlins really. You see the same people day in day out, and everyone has almost become like a little family. Then again maybe its more like my time at Pangbourne to be honest, an example being that the kitchen is dirty, and if it stays that way we'll lose our TV privileges. Its very funny really. The job I'm doing does of course suck horribly. I left early today cos I had a humongous headache and a sore throat, which has stemmed from the air conditioning in the office (its winter FFS!). I just paid my rent up until the 9th July, so I am going to do my upmost to stay here for that long, and then see how it goes. There is happier news though, I went to see Belle and Sebastian this evening, and they were bloomin marvellous!
Continue reading "Graham Baker - Sydney resident"Posted by grazzle at 03:05 PM | Comments (3)
June 05, 2006
My sister's Bump at 38 weeks
look at this! oh my god!
love you sis!
xxx
Posted by grazzle at 12:01 PM
June 04, 2006
Stressing out in Sydney
I know the title and the picture don't match very well. The pic is of me holding a wombat called Lloyd in Tasmania. The kangaroos behind me started to attack us just after the photo was taken. Very amusing...
So why have I been stressing out? Because trying to find a job and somewhere to live in the same week in a huge city is a complete and utter nightmare thats why! It also didn't help that I decided to stay in one of the nastiest and dirtiest parts of central Sydney either. Kings Cross is covered in filth, there are sex shops everywhere as well as brothels and prostitutes as well as lots of homeless people and whatnot. It hasn't been fun. So I made the most of each day and pounded the pavement from 9am to 10pm most days looking for work, and calling everyone who had a room spare. I photocopied my CV countless times and I did in fact gain a lot of positive feedback from employers but nothing definite. It got to near the end of the first week, and I was about to call it quits and leave Sydney for Brisbane, when I thought it was worth a try calling a number I was given in Melbourne for some telesales work. I was very reluctant but I had no choice, I was running out of cash fast... Continue reading "Stressing out in Sydney"
Posted by grazzle at 03:55 AM
May 26, 2006
Off to Sydney!
Quick notice guys - hopefully I'll be starting work very shortly - so I don't know how long it will be until the next entry. But I do now own an Australian Mobile phone - so if you would like the number then give me an email and I'll decide if you're worthy... hehe
Also for some reason my MSN wouldn't let me sign out last night, so if you tried to get in touch with me and I didn't respond, its because I wasn't even there!
Finally, the next set of pictures is currently winging its way back to my sister so they should be up on flickr and here maybe next week! That set has all the neighbours photos on it - so get excited!
Take care y'all
Graham xx
Posted by grazzle at 12:05 AM
May 25, 2006
Scary stuff in Tasmania
Thought my pre bungy jump photo would be good for this blog, as some scary and fun things happened in my Adventure Tour around Tasmania. First off I arrived in Hobart, the capital and that was all very nice, and I met some nice people that night in the hostel. The next day at stupid o'clock (6.30am), I was on my way up the West coast of the island with some very fun people, one of which had put a shuttle on Mars! We went to see some amazing animals, and some fantastic nature, like Waterfalls in thick forest, and sunny open spaces, like some beautiful lakes. That night was spent in a chalet in a small town called Tullah, and my first scary incident took place on the way to the phone box. Picture it, I'm walking on my own in the dark without a torch, and I hear screaming. I ran the rest of the way. And then on the way I got very lost and the walk took a lot longer.
Continue reading "Scary stuff in Tasmania"
Posted by grazzle at 10:36 AM
May 13, 2006
Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!
Hellooooooo! I'm in Australia! Hooray! And it's winter. Erm...yay :( Yes this is your chance to start laughing at me getting nicely cold down in the South of Australia, while you are all beginning to enjoy your summers! This picture by the way is from the Franz Josef glacier in New Zealand, and if you look carefully enough you can see theres an ice axe in my hand, I'm a proper adventurer don't you know! Worming around in ice caves is so wicked.
Anyway... Continue reading "Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!"
Posted by grazzle at 08:39 AM | Comments (1)
May 05, 2006
Rotorua to Queensland, with added adrenaline junkieship
Posted by Relly at 04:38 PM
April 28, 2006
Jumping, Drinking and being Bill Oddie
The jumps were fantastic. The Kawarau Bridge Jump was 43m high and the first professional bungy jump site in the world. They have had millions of jumpers through there so I felt quite safe. Well I was safe I don't know if I really felt that way. But it was great. I bloody well went for it and it was amazing. I enjoyed myself so much I immediately booked the Nevis Highwire the next day, and I loved that too! That one was the second highest in the World at 134m. Bloody scary but again fantastic. The rush and the high afterwards are amazing. I am so glad I did them, and now I can get on with my life! Apart from I'm doing the worlds highest swing tomorrow, but anyway...
After all this excitement it was time for me to head on with my travels, and next stop was Dunedin, which is the most Scottish City outside of Scotland, the name means Edinburgh in Gaelic. And it is a fantastic place to be...
Posted by grazzle at 09:00 AM | Comments (2)
April 16, 2006
South Island Shenanigans
Hellooo from Queenstown, adventure capital of New Zealand. And bloody hell I've been adventurous. But more on that later. First of all I need to tell you about the great time I had journeying down the West Coast of the South Island. The first leg was crossing the Cook Strait, which was done using a hairdryer with wings. I'm not kidding that plane was TINY. But it was fantastic. The views out the window were stunning, and it was totally worth the extra $15, which is only 5pounds. Once I arrived into Picton we went straight onto Nelson, a lovely friendly little town on the North Coast where I ended up staying nearly a week.
Continue reading "South Island Shenanigans"Posted by grazzle at 11:30 PM | Comments (3)
April 07, 2006
sexy!
look at that - see those abs!
ahem, anyway just a wee post to say i'm now in Nelson on the South Island which is a fantastic place - and supposedly the sunniest place in New Zealand, so I'm gonna stay here for a little while and relax! Well kinda, I'm doing some walking and Kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park and also some Quadbiking and SkySwinging! I know action man. No wonder I'm so buff.
Love you all
Graham xx
Posted by grazzle at 01:19 AM | Comments (2)
April 04, 2006
Mammoth Update!
Hello!!!!
Yes finally I have the time and the funding to update my journal! hurrah!
Hope you like the picture - its of me trying to upstage the natural beauty of the Bay of Islands. I think it wins, but just barely, I'm beautiful too.
So what's happened? I have been to Whitianga on the Coromandel Coast and discovered that I cannot follow a simple walking trail, but instead get myself hopelessly lost in the woods on my own in the rain. That was fun. In Rotorua I went to a Maori Hangi evening which was fantastic, they know how to put on a good show that's for sure. And you could definitely see where the tables of backpackers were, those dinner plates were empty very quickly! Continue reading "Mammoth Update!"
Posted by grazzle at 11:42 AM | Comments (3)
March 27, 2006
A honkin' great collection of photos
From Graham's own camera, I present San Francisco, Fiji and some of New Zealand. See Graham in a sarong! See Graham disrupt an entire school! See Graham catch some fish! HERE!
(Again, there are over 500 photos - I haven't had a chance to divide them into location albums yet)
Posted by Relly at 04:37 PM
March 15, 2006
email acceptance speech
Just a quick message to say thank you thank you thank you for all your nice messages you've been leaving for me. It's nice to know that despite you all working and studying back home (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!), you've made the time and effort to leave me nice messages which is lovely of you all. I'm only sorry I can't reply to all of you individually all the time. Unfortunately if I did that I wouldn't have any money left to eat! Or drink heavily!
So I leave you all this message of thanks now, so I can spend more money in the bar later. Cheers guys xxx
Posted by grazzle at 03:37 AM | Comments (1)
March 11, 2006
New guy in New Zealand
I'm now in Paihia in the north of the North Island, which is very tropical in temperature, and the sun is shining. I have just been on an overnight cruise around the Bay of Islands, which has been fantastic. I have been Sea Kayaking, both day and night, fishing, rifle shooting, eaten freshest of fish, and had a blast meeting lots of lovely people. So glad I did it. And the best thing was seeing the dolphins! They swam right up to the boat and played with us! I have loads of pictures which I shall put on to Flickr soon. Make sure you look at it! its right here!
Continue reading "New guy in New Zealand"Posted by grazzle at 03:00 AM | Comments (2)
March 04, 2006
Mud, Manta Rays and Madness!
Hi everyone! I'm now in Auckland, New Zealand, but I only arrived today so I am here to talk about my fantastic time in Fiji. There's so much to talk about that I will have to make it a two parter in order to fit it all in! When I arrived into Fiji I met a lovely girl called Gemma from Plymouth who I attached myself to in customs, and I found that she was going pretty much the same places as me at the same time, so we had a good time in Nadi for the day. Then we began the Feejee experience which was a fantastic five day journey around the main island of Viti Levu...
Continue reading "Mud, Manta Rays and Madness!"Posted by grazzle at 07:57 AM
February 21, 2006
Graham's American Adventure pics!
Okay, well if you can excuse my armchair geography (it might be a bit wrong!) I've uploaded Graham's pictures from America ...
You can find them on his flickr photo album. I've divided them into smaller albums, roughly by place , or you can see the full lot under 'Graham's American Adventure' (best viewed as a slideshow).
Relly x
Posted by paul at 07:30 PM
February 18, 2006
im moving on
just a quick entry to say that I am moving on to Fiji today so I shall tell you whats been happening recently. Since arriving in San Francisco I have seen the sights as i mentioned previously and also had some fun in different areas of the city. Castro is great fun as its the gay village and therefore an amazing place to sit and people watch for hours. Also Haight St is fantastic as its the hippieground of the city and is famed in history for being a major stop on the hippie trail and you can buy allsorts of cool stuff there. It reminded me a lot of Glastonbury actually, which was a very nice feeling, especially when it decided to piss it down with rain!
Continue reading "im moving on"Posted by grazzle at 08:23 PM | Comments (2)
February 15, 2006
West Coast craziness
Hey everybody! Wassup? I know its been ages, but due to the fast pace of the Trek America tour, Ive had no chance really to sit down and update, and even now I won't be able to bring you up to speed as fully as I would like.
Memphis was pretty damn good, went to Elvis's home, Graceland, and then on the sunday just chilled out as nothing was open! Atlanta is scary. Texas is mad. This is where we started camping, and that was pretty fun really, apart from the skunks...
Posted by grazzle at 06:38 AM | Comments (5)
February 12, 2006
update on graham
Just to let you all know Graham has been very busy with his Trek America tour but phoned today to say he will update this blog soon, to tell you about his drunken betting in Las Vegas, flight over the Grand Canyon and going all Brokeback Mountain in Texas. Currently he is in LA, en route to San Francisco.
Posted by paul at 06:01 PM
January 28, 2006
Star Trekking across the universe... oh ok America then
Hey everyone! Thanks for your lovely comments! I think I sounded quite depressing about NYC, but I did have a great time really! In fact the evening I wrote my last post I met some fantastic guys in my hostel room and the rest of my time there was very happy. In fact one of the guys gave me a special surprise! His name was Miles from South Africa and when I told him my travel plans for Fiji (i.e not having any) he put a piece of gold paper in my hand. It was an unused Feejee experience bus pass!!!!!! He had booked and paid for a trip round Fiji but was unable to use the ticket, and was royally screwed when they wouldnt give him a refund. So he gave me the ticket, saying he was happy that someone would be able to use it. I cannot believe my luck!!!
Continue reading "Star Trekking across the universe... oh ok America then"Posted by grazzle at 02:27 AM | Comments (5)
January 23, 2006
Hello from New York!
Hi everyone! Yes this is it. The trip has begun and I am here in New York, the big apple. And I am loving it. New York rocks. All you need to do is look upwards and you're immediately amazed by the sheer size of the buildings. Plus the local city people are great, so friendly, well the ones who love the tourists anyway.
I found it really hard to settle in to my new life at first though, because the hostel I am staying in is a complete dive. I hate it here. The room is filthy and there are many cracks in the window. Also I got placed on the top bunk and the bloke underneath me cannot bloody keep still when he sleeps!
Posted by grazzle at 11:13 PM | Comments (6)
January 20, 2006
wagamamas mon 16th jan
aren't we all having fun???
me, rob, nancy, monique and tom (aka the southerners) all met up in Reading town centre to go to our recently opened japanese restaurant known as wagamamas - (if you ever visit its on the riverside of the oracle shopping centre) we ate some fantastic food at very reasonable prices, and I was even brave enough to try some Sake, which I have to say was really quite nice, and rather strong! Just after this point, Monique very impressively managed to catapult her food on to both hers and nancy's faces. It was VERY funny.
Posted by grazzle at 12:08 AM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2006
pre departure jitters
so its 1.15am and im nowhere near sleeping yet. i have the heebie-jeebies, mostly about packing my bag, absolutely fretting about silly things like if i have enough toothpaste, and if its possible to fit a lonely planet guide in a space the size of a matchbox. but really, im just wanting to make sure i have all the essentials in all the right places, basically tickets and passport etc. went to the bank today to find out that the money im using for this long expedition wont be available until friday afternoon, just as i leave, so im cutting it rather fine! my US dollars that i ordered wont be available until thursday either! its little things like this that make me quite cross...
Continue reading "pre departure jitters"Posted by grazzle at 01:14 AM
January 12, 2006
My Leaving Party
I had an absolutely fantastic time last Saturday (7th). I had wanted just a gathering of people together so I could say goodbye to everyone in one go and get it done and out the way. But soon everything spiralled out of control and there were so many people to invite! So I decided to hire out a hall and do it properly. Cheryl's uni friends, Paul, Pat and Dave kindly provided the disco with brilliance, and my mother and friends provided amazing food. As you can see from the picture, I had a BRILLIANT time. And to everyone there I just want to say a massive thank you to you all for making it a night I will never forget. To see more pictures please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/squage/
Currently now getting everything together and my head together that I am going in 8 days time. I have been devouring rough guides and lonely planets that people have lent me, and organising boring stuff like a Tax file number and bank account for Australia. Tomorrow I will hopefully get myself a digital camera fingers crossed. Then you'll hopefully begin to see some pictures! I'll sign off for now as I'm tired and need sleep but I'll update ASAP. Thanks to those who have signed up for the mailing list. And if you haven't yet, please do!
Graham xx
Posted by grazzle at 01:27 AM | Comments (1)
December 30, 2005
My first post - hurrah!
Hello everybody, this is my first post here and hopefully the first of many. At the moment I am waiting for the new year to arrive so that my trip can begin, today starts the three week countdown. It's all very exciting!
First of all however is the party on January 7th!!! It's going to be great so if you haven't done so already send me a reply telling me you are coming... Thank you!
There's more to read - *CLICK*
Continue reading "My first post - hurrah!"Posted by grazzle at 08:26 PM | Comments (3)
