We did it!!!

Got married that is... Finally after more than 10 years together we tied the knot. The day started off with a fair bit of rain and compared to the day and night before it was about 10 or 15 degrees cooler too. This was good for us though as the day before the flies had been horrible and it would have made for a very sweaty day in our suits if the temperature was up in the mid 30's!

With the crowd assembled and the groomsmen and the groom (me!) waiting up the front of the church, Melinda managed to be some 20 mins late! I wasn't worried though and sure enough she arrived. She looked absolutely stunning (no bias at all!!) in her dress as she came in the church. From there the day went on smoothly with photos around the church and then on a bridge in the city and then we made our way down to the reception place in Beaumaris. It all went off smoothly and from all reports everyone had a good time. Some had an kept on partying in one of the groomsmen's rooms at the motel till 3 or 4am!

All too soon it was over and everyone has gone home again and now its only a matter of days till we are off on our next adventure - our honeymoon!!!

Only 5 more sleeps...

...Till our wedding!! Well I (Adam) finished work and managed to refrain from heading out with my rugby team on a 'pub golf' night the night before I flew out. This was especially a good idea as I hadn't packed and we wont be back in England for a couple of months now. I saw Melinda again for the first time in a month and she instantly started laughing at me when she saw my 'Movember' moustache. I grew a 'mo' for charity in 'Movember' and I had chosen Merv Hughes, Australian legend cricketer as my inspiration! I had even managed to raise 60 pounds for charity by not shaving it off for the month!

It has been a fairly hectic time so far with people to see, suits to organise, a million other things to arrange. On top of this we had to pause to have our hen's and buck's (stag for Brits) parties. Who would have thought there was this much effort needed to hang out in a church for half an hour and then have a party?

I probably wont get to update this until after the wedding. But afterwards we have 10 days free time before we jet off on honeymoon on Boxing Day. From Melbourne we go to LA, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and New York and then back to the flat in London. I think we might have a couple of stories to tell after that trip!!!

A sign?

I updated the blog last Sunday but one thing I didn't mention is that I was doing it on the couch with my foot in the air wrapped in ice! I was playing rugby last weekend and while jumping in the lineout (for AFL people that's where someone throws it in from the side and people get lifted in the air to try and get the ball - I get lifted) I came down and someones foot was under my heel when I landed. Someone heard a crack and I felt a lot of pain and the first thought that came in to my head was 'oh shit I'm going to be in plaster at the wedding...'

I spent Sunday and Monday on crutches and after my foot swelled to the size of an ugh boot at work, I thought it might be a good idea to go and get an x-ray. After 3 hours in A&E I had the x-ray and the nurse came back and said 'it's not broken, see ya'. I was quite relieved and went home and rang Melinda. I hadn't told her up until then as I didn't want to ring up and say 'I might have a broken ankle...'

Its getting better now and I can walk on it which is handy. There has been some excellent colours coming out in my foot and the swelling even managed to travel to my toes so now I have bruising in my toes! (Ever seen that before?) I saw the club physio who told me I was very lucky not to break it... Kudos to me eh?

Sister married and not long till ours...

Ben and Marisa

I (Adam) am back in London now after a very brief visit home for about 6 days for my sisters wedding. I managed to spend around 50 hours on planes in 8 days which allowed me to catch up on a few movies as well as get horribly jetlagged after trying to make my second 11 hour time zone adjustment in a week.

My favourite picture

The wedding was great and I must admit my sister looked fantastic and everyone seemed to have a good time. Now I am back in London until the 2nd of December to do a bit of work before I go back. Nothing too much has been happening since the last post as we have been toning down our usual holidaying activities to try and save for our wedding. Although having said that, I am off to Glasgow in 2 weekends for a mates stag weekend (bucks do for Aussies).

Yeah yeah no posts...but I'm back now!

I have just updated the blog with a heap of photos and crapped on a bit about what I have been doing. Since we got back to London, there hasn't been too much activity on the travelling front so unless you want to hear about a few nights out or rugby training/games, theres not much to talk about.

I got elected captain of my rugby team this year and so far we have played one league game (plus 3 friendlies - an oxymoron in rugby) and we won it so we are on 100% success for now. I have been going to training and working and not too much else. We have our wedding coming up in December and my sisters wedding in early November. So we are both heading back to Melbourne on 28th of October. Melinda is staying on and I am coming back after about 6 days.

I must admit I got excited today about the blog when I read the blog of a mate of a mate who is most of the way through riding a DR 650 motorbike from Japan to Denmark to visit his girlfriend. For the geographically challenged, this involves getting a ferry from Japan to Vladivostok in Russia and then all the way across Russia (with a detour through Mongolia) in to eastern Europe.

I am very jealous as I have been thinking for a couple of years of how to ride a motorbike from London to Melbourne overland. Not to mention wanting to travel overland from Cape Town to Cairo, or Finland through the Baltic states and the Balkans to Albania. I guess this is the result of watching too much Alby Mangles with my Dad as a kid!!

Souvlaki and partying till 6.30am

The locals know how to relax...

After Malta we flew to Athens in Greece. From there we got a boat out to Mykonos, one of the most famous Greek Islands.

We started off with a day at Paradise Beach. At around 4.30pm, the music starts getting louder and louder and by 6pm its pumping. By 7 we decided to walk up the beach for a look. I (Adam) was quite excited to see a couple of girls in bikinis dancing on a stage, but I was soon confused when dancing next to them was a well tanned bloke with absolutely no hair (anywhere) wearing nothing but a couple of bits of string and a few beads!

Paradise Beach, Mykonos
On our Hotel balcony in Mykonos


Mykonos harbour

Melinda decided we should stop in for a drink at the bar, but there were way too many excited Italians with no concept of waiting their turn pushing in at the bar! With my patience getting less and less we decided it would be a good idea to head back in to town.

Professional complete with Greek Island Motorcross Boots

We met up with some friends Marco (Italian) and Tina (Greek) who I know from work in London. In true Mykonos style, we met for dinner at 10.15pm. Dinner finished around 1am so we went for a couple of cocktails, followed by coffee, followed by Zambuca and clubbing! Time flies when you are having fun and after a while it was 6.30am when we stumbled back in to our hotel room. Tina and Marco reckoned that this is what they did everyday and that sleep has no place on Mykonos!

Sofia, Christo, Marco, Tina and Melinda

Melinda, Tina and Marco clubbing

Marco, Adam and Melinda sometime in the AM!!

We spent about 4 days on Mykonos cruising around on a quad bike out to different beaches, eating souvlaki and having some Mythos (Greek beer). On our last night there we met up with a French couple staying at our hotel who were also about to head to Santorini. We got the ferry the next day and went to a town called Oia which is famous for its sunset views.

Oia, Santorini

Santorini sunset

Oia

The next few days were a bit more relaxed with plenty of eating, drinking, swimming and as our new French friend Laure put it - 'contemplation'. We did have one good night out with Iaco and Laure to a little Greek tavern just out of town where they had some local friends. A couple of Greek blokes playing guitars, food, wine and dancing made for a top night out.

Santorini, Santorini, San-to-rini mu I love you!!

Iaco and Laure

A week in London and then a week in Malta

After I got back from India, a few days later Melinda finally arrived back in London. It was good to have her back after 4 months away. A couple of days later we set off for Malta for 7 days!

Gun salute in Valletta

View of Valletta from our hotel roof pool

Valletta by night

Adam and Melinda doing a bit of tasting at the wine festival

Our mate Bryce met us at the airport and took us to our hotel. We had a full week with tours of the island of Gozo, wine festivals, swimming, snorkeling, festas, a day out on a boat and even a charter flight (4 seater Cessna) to Taormina in Sicily! Ever had an international charter flight? Well we have!!

In the words of our tour guide 'On the right, there is a church'

Our friend Emma has family in Malta and as it turns out, her cousin is a pilot! So we met at the airport nice and early, walked past the que in security and pushed in at the front and then took a bus that could normally carry about 100 people (with only 4 of us in it!!) out to a tiny little plane. We flew over to Catania in Sicily and then caught a bus to Toarmina for the day. When we landed back in Malta that evening, we rolled over to a small fuel tanker and stopped then engine. Then we got out and filled up the plane!! Finally we got picked up by a massive empty bus and taken back to the terminal!

Bryce, Charlie, Emma and Melinda at a family owned bar

Adam, Bryce and Emma at a Festa for Santa Maria

It was a top week and I think we might go back to Malta again soon...

Lunchtime again!

One long last wistfull look at Malta...

2 more weeks in Gujarat

The highlight of my last two weeks in India was a trip to Ahmadabad, a city about 6 hours bus ride away from where I have been working. I went with 3 Indian friends from work - Krupa, Gaurav and Nirav. We went in to town after work on a Saturday night and got on a bus to Ahmedabad. Once we arrived, Nirav's sister appeared out of the darkness on a scooter with a big bag of food for us! Nirav had decided that we would be hungry when we arrived and as such his sister had prepared enough food to feed about 8 people!! The next morning we hired a car and driver and went touring. We went to Gandhi's ashram (his residences/offices during his independence struggle) and a massive temple (Akshardham temple) which was very impressive however no cameras are allowed inside since a terrorist attack there in 2002.

Family transport on the bike!

We spent the afternoon doing a bit of shopping and then went out to a water fountain and light show to music which was surprisingly good. It was back to Krupa's place for some dinner before we got on a sleeper bus back to Jamnagar. My friends presented me with a beautiful gift that they had sneakily bought while we were out shopping and it was a great end to a fantastic weekend. We arrived back at 6am to the place where we live and about an hour later I was at work, bleary eyed but soon fixed that up with some sweet Indian coffee!

Good mates on tour in Ahmedabad

A quick look at Malaysia on the way back to India

Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur

On my way back from Australia to India, I had about 12 hours to wait in Malaysia. So I left the airport and had a bit of a look around town. I managed to get up to the skybridge on the Petronas Twin Towers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Twin_Towers) which was cool and to the National Mosque which is quite large.

View of K.L. from the skybridge between the twin towers

I did a bit of genuine fake shopping in China Town where I was assured that I needed more watches than just one on my wrist and that their genuine fake North Face back packs where indeed better than the pack I have and that I should get one. It was good to know that they were all trying to help me out!!

Malaysia National Mosque

Success at last with a visa

The trip back to Australia was for one reason - to complete the process of getting our new visa for the UK. And despite filling out the wrong form and starting to decend in to a panic when I realised this on the day before I was due to fly out again - it arrived that day!!

A Bollywood movie and a few puddles blocking the path...

Dance Baby Dance!!!

On my last day off before heading back to Australia, I went off to the local movie cinema with a couple of my Indian friends (Nirav and Krupa) to go an experience a Bollywood movie. When I suggested this, they said 'you know its not in English?' 'yep', 'You know there aren't any sub-titles?' 'yep, no worries - there's plenty of singing and dancing isn't there?'.

So to make it easier, I read a summary of the movie on the internet so I could figure out what is going on. When we turned up to the cinema, people were coming up to Nirav and Krupa and asking 'does he speak Hindi?' and all laughing when they replied no! Long story short (and it was long - 3 hours, plus intermission), it was pretty funny and I figured out most of what was going on.

The next day I was due to fly out but unfortunately my flight was cancelled and then I spent 7 hours on the road with 2 other guys, at one stage walking around in calf deep flood water! I'll let the pictures tell the story...

First point in the road that stopped us

These guys aren't waiting for their bus to take them home!

Nice and dry up on the back of the truck

Waist deep water? No worries!!

I watched this car for 4 hours waiting for the road to give way, but it didn't

Second stopping point - this bridge is normally about 10m above the water

Third stopping point. After it cleared we made it back to town.

A trip to Gandhi's birthplace

The next weekend after going to Dwarka, I went for a day trip to a town called Porbander, where Gandhi was born. The original house is there which you can walk through and there is an adjoining memorial/shrine and museum.

They even mark the spot where he was born with a swastika (a lucky symbol in Hindu culture) and some flowers. He only lived there for a few years before moving away but it gives you an idea of how much people loved him!

Sorry for the lack of posts...

As I have finally logged in to the blog again I realise its been over a month since my last post. I have some good excuses though. Since my last entry I have been to Ghandi's birthplace, got fairly sick for a week, got stuck in monsoon floods for 7 hours on a road (standing calf deep in water at one stage), had 2 flights cancelled due to the 'mini cyclone' associated with the floods, travelled back to Australia, got a new visa for the UK, spent 12 hours in Kuala Lumpur, back to India and the most painful of all - just been in a 4 day meeting.

Anyhow, I will now try and update the blog. I only have a few days left in India and then its back to the UK for a week. Then Melinda and I are off to Malta for a week and then the Greek Islands for 9 days.

Its a tough life.

A 5000 year old temple on an Island in India

Last Sunday I went off for a little excursion as planned to the island of Bet Dwarka, which is near Dwarka in Gujarat, India. My driver came around at 8am to pick me up and then me and my mate Nirav (a local guy who I know from London) set off to Dwarka. Dwarka is one of the 4 most holy Hindu sites in India and its a place where lots of Hindus come to make a pilgrimage to its massive temple.

Boats lined up at the docks at Okha

First off we went past Dwarka another 30 odd km's to a place called Okha. From there we got a boat for 5 rupees each (about 6 pence or maybe 15 cents Aussie) to the Island of Bet Dwarka. The main attraction is a temple which is over 5,000 years old and was the place where Krishna lived. (you know, like the hare Krishna's - but there was an actual bloke not just a group of people singing in the streets handing out pamphlets). We had to take off our shoes and hand in our camera and mobile phones so that we didn't take any photos.

Loading the boat full of pilgrims

Adam on the boat

They keep the door shut on the little room where the 5,000 year old gold idol is and then open it up for a little bit at a time. When they opened it up, everyone got really excited and was cheering! It was a pretty good vibe actually, everyone seemed really happy to be there and I think its something many people only do once in their life.

Nirav outside the temple on Bet Dwarka

Boat load leaving Bet Dwarka

We hopped back on the boat and met with a couple of work friends who hadn't managed to drag themselves out of bed that early on the 1 day off a week. I went in search of a beach which I had found on Google earth which looked nice. We did find it but the seas were storming due to the monsoon winds and also probably a bit due to cyclone Gonu which recently smashed Oman (on the other side of the Arabian sea).

So then we went in to Dwarka for lunch and a look around. Walking through the streets we were like rock stars, everyone was staring at us (not in a bad way) and I reckon we were the only westerners in town that day. We ended up down at the river mouth were the sea was surging in and out. Its only because of this that I decided to go for a swim, as I normally wouldn't entertain the idea of swimming in most of the waters I have seen around here!

A temple at the river mouth in Dwarka

As the shirt came off and the locals realised this big white bloke (who is about 8 inches taller than everyone else) was going swimming, the people already swimming got a bit excited! So naturally I entertained them with some stylish grabs while jumping in the water. The current swept us down pretty fast so you could jump in and then hop out about 20 seconds and 80m later. "One more! One more!!" was the call until I decided I better get out.

A stylish grab from the biggest kid in Dwarka...

When i got out I was looking around for my work friends (who are 2 girls) and couldn't see them. I could however see a crowd of Indian men taking photos with someone.... There was a que of blokes lining up to have a their picture taken with the girls. I thought this was pretty hilarious, although it did take the attention away from me...

A week in India...

Its now over a week since I arrived in India. I've got a slightly darker tan on my face, eaten a lot of rice and I still cant speak any Hindi (Indian national language) as everyone at work speaks English.

When I arrived I was quite pleased to see about 10 or more people (Indians) that I knew from London. There were quite a few Indian guys who came to the London office for about 12 months working the job I am on and its been good to have some local connections.

Some new houses going up in the background

I haven't really done much other than work so far, so I don't have anything interesting to say yet. I am planning to check out a couple of coastal towns this Sunday on my day off so hopefully I'll have something more to report then.

I'm in Gujarat, in the Western Corner of India

Mental traffic, vegetarian food and my own personal driver

Well I have made it to my final destination in India. I will update later but here is a summary so far:

- Mumbai traffic is nuts, more near misses in one afternoon than I have seen in a year in London
- I nearly burst in to tears when I realised I had gone in to a vegetarian restaurant in Mumbai after spending 10 mins searching for the meat section on the menu
- I have my own personal driver at work who takes me where I want, when I want

Very civilised.

One country for every year of my age...

It's probably not the cool thing to do, to count how many countries you have been to, but being cool has never been a concern before!! I am sitting at Heathrow Airport (London) about to board a flight to India. This is a big day for me as it will mean that I have been to 29 countries, one for every year of my life!

From all reports this might be the most challenging country I have been to so far. I wont rattle on about other peoples stories here, I'll wait till I have some of my own. Also, I am excited to go to India because after I have spent a month there, I'll be zipping back over to Melbourne on the 2nd of July for 2 weeks to collect a new visa and Melinda.

Next report - India!!!!!!!!!

Off to India

With a little more than 24 hours to go, it looks like I'm still going to India. I have a ticket, visa and a large box of Malaria pills (bye bye tan...). A month in India and I'll be heading back to Melbourne to get the new visa for the UK and Melinda.

So next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in India!!