More Greek Islands

Well another Contiki tour under the belt and its time to chill out for a while!! I'm in Athens at the moment for 1 last night before we head off to Rio!!! Very exciting cos it means there's a surf coming! Man am I hanging to get in the water.. The rest of our contiki round the greek islands was very cool, we had a wicked tour group and some great times..

I'm gonna post some pics on the last 2 posts so you can all see how much of a great time I've been having!

From my last post, we chilled out at Mykanos for 2 more nights and had beach parties. The pic here is the beach at where we stayed, right near aphrodites boobies, 2 hills that look like boobs and are said to be aphrodite's in greek mythology.

We also went to a place called paradise beach which was a pretty wild party. Pretty cool when you're ordering drinks at a bar and the floor is sand! They served drinks there called devils tongues, which were extremely strong cocktails that mad your tonguego bright green. After a few of them, everyone wants to dance so they all get up on a massive wooden table that they have right next to the bar. The aim is to try to break the table by getting as many people as you can to dance/jump on the table. They give out free shots to anyone up there and it's pretty wild! No one has ever broken it cos its so strong but we sure tried :)

From Mykanos, we headed to Santorini, another greek island and thankfully it wasn't as windy! We caught a ferry called the flying cat 4 which was a small high speed ferry that was very very rocky! It felt like it was going to tip over a few times and was so bad we had to slow down to a crawl for a while cos it was so windy and choppy leaving Mykanos. Not the best for the sea sick ones but I was sweet :)

We got there in one piece and headed out for dinner at a wicked place in town with great views of the Island. The great thing about Santorini is that because it is so hilly, you are always hundreds of meters above the coast, giving you great view day and night, just about everywhere you go.

We hired quad bikes the next day and had them for the entire time we were in Santorini, which made it so easy to get around and see the whole island. They were only 50cc but man did we get the most out of them!! Haha, if you can imagine a convoy of 7 guys heading round the Island, tearing up gravel and sand, where ever we could :)

We went to the red sand beach, 2 different black sand beaches and a couple of white sand beaches. The island was great and had a great night life as well.

On the last day we caught a cable car down to the port and rode a donkey back up! It was pretty cool cos as soon as you hopped on , the donkey knew what to do and started clibing the hill without a giude or anything. Hotels there also use them to get bags up to the top of the cliff from the port, as it is so steep that you cannot get a car down there.

We had dinner at yet another amazing restaraunt whit a great view and then headed out to another 4 clubs for drinks with the crew. I had a few quiet nights on santorini to recover from the trip before this tour, which I def needed! I'm feeling fully charged again now though and ready for the rest of my trip..

Almost forgot to mention, Santorini boasts to have the worlds best sunset at the north of the Island, at a place called Oia. Oia is the third most expensive area to buy land in the world, behind Monacco and Venice, with a square meter of land costing about 5000 euro. We had to check this out and it was pretty nice. It was a little hazey the day we were there but still great. There's a pic here so see what you think. We had a jam on top of the castle thats there and enjoyed some local santorini wine with dinner.

From Santorini, we went to the island of Ios which was easily my favourite :)

The place we stayed at had a pool with the best view I've ever seen, It was on a balcony on the side of a cliff and looked out over far out beach. There was a bar at the pool and the guy working there was a legend. We got on great with Matty from Sweden and before long we were behind the bar pouring our own drinks and making all sorts of crazy cocktails. Needless to say we had some massive pool parties and some great times there. Matty had 2 more days of work to go and he had always wanted to do a backflip from the roof above the bar into the pool. I told him I could do it and I'd give him a few pointers so after a few drinks one night he decided tonight was the night and he went for it. He was so stoked that he'd done it that he opened a 200 euro bottle of champagne and after spraying about half of it over everyone, started pouring drinks for all and it was another great night!

Def a party island and a lot of fun, as well as great beaches and warm weather and water.

From Ios, we headed back to Athens for the end of the tour and here I am now. We met some great crew on this tour and had a lot of fun. As well as partying, we had a chance to relax in great hotels and on great beaches, before heading to south america for the next chapter of our trip. This trip has got a long way to go but already we've seen so much of the world, been to so many places that are world famous to visit in your lifetime, and met so many cool people. I miss all the crew back home but it's def worth doing this trip and we're having a great time.

I hope everyone is well back home and I'll write again soon from the next leg of my journey :)

Munich to the Greek Islands

Well no photos yet again as the USB doesn't work but you know the old saying, a word tells a thousand pictures so I'll just tell you all about the recent days of my trip (and try to post some pics later..) (JUST PUT SOME PICS IN :))
I'm in the greek islands at the moment, on the island of Mykanos and man is it windy!! They don't really tell you about the wind in the tourist info but apparently there's only about 65 days per year where the wind isn't howling across the island and blowing sand everywhere!

So from Munich in my last post, we headed to Athens to start our 2nd Contiki tour, the Greek Islands. We arrived at Athens airport at about 11.30pm and had the bright idea to stay at the airport as we had no accommodation that night! We found a quiet corner and settled in for the night amoungst about 100 other backpackers who had the same idea, and tried to get some sleep. as we'd been going out so late the last couple of night, it was too early for me to sleep so I went for a walk around the airport. By the time I was tired at about 3am, all the sleeping backpackers were getting moved on by airport security so it was no sleep at all!!
We got a bus and a cab to our hotel that we were staying at the next night and couldn't chek in til 12 so we checked out the beaches of Athens.

We met the crew that night and partied with them for the next 2 nights so not much sleep was had at all! On the second night of partying, we headed to a massive beach party that started at 3am. We saw the sun come up before jumping on a ferry to sleep our way to the island of Mykanos. We also checked out the town of Athens and saw the Acropolis and a heap of old Olympic Icons, including the original olympic stadium.

Apart from the wind, Mykanos isn't really what I expected. The beaches are quite nice but nothing really like what we have back in Oz. The sand is very coarse and the land is barron as can be. It hasn't rained here scine April and the only place they have any kind of green plants is in the resorts as they import them and water them like crazy. I even saw the gardener watering a cactus this morning!

The place we're staying at is nice, with a pool and cruisy chill out areas. Last night we headed into the main town for dinner with the group, and man do the greeks know how to eat!! I was full after the greek salad, fried cheeses, meatballs and beer for entree! Then came the lamb, more beer, cake for dessert and a shot of something that tasted like jagermeister!! Was a massive feed and very tasty. After dinner we hit 3 different bars and clubs and started to get more of an appreciation of why people love the greek islands so much. They love to party til all hours of the night, with most place open til the sun comes up.
On the way home we passed a club called the Ramrod club and the people coming out of it made us realise why Mykanos is called the 'Gay Isalnd' of Greece..

The next 2 nights are beach parties (just for a change) and then we head to the island of Santorini, the one in all the postcards with the white houses and blues roofs. It'll be a couple of quiet nights for me coming up I think cos after 6 weeks of solid partying, I'm finally starting to get over it a little bit. Just keen to enjoy the beaches and chill out a little bit. haha, I must be getting old or something!!

Hope everyone is doing well back home :) Will add pics when I get a chance..

London, Ireland and Germany

Well I'm back in good old Munich, Germany. Last time we were here it was a bit of a whirlwind trip and we didn't get to enjoy all this town had to offer so wee decided to come back here. We're staying at a pretty sweet hostel which is pretty close to everything. When i say everything, i mean beergardens there are so many beer gardens here and different beers, we've been working hard to try them all but its hard work!

We've been walking everywhere around here so we've seen a lot of the city. We've been meeting a heap of locals who are all very friendly and we've even sung some karaoke in a little bar.

It is a very cool town with one of my favourite parts being the standing waves in the rivers round here that people surf all day long. Looks like a lot of fun but we have no surfboards so haven't had a go yet.. Will work on getting one but for now its only been swimming for us. The water is freezing as it comes off the mountains but you can jump in the river and float for miles through the park :) Great times..

No pics for this section yet but I'll post some ASAP. (ALL DONE NOW) My last post left off from London. We were there for about 5 nights and we didn't really do too much there. We checked out a few pubs and clubs near Piccadilly Circus which has a good night life. Apart from that we just chilled out and rested up after our Contiki tour.
From London we headed to Dublin in Ireland. I stayed with the boys the first night and then met up with Shelly for a few nights. We went to a heap of places over there, including the Guinness factory. It was massive and a pretty cool place with a massive bar up the top where you could see the entire city of Dublin. I had a few pints of Guinness and I can say that it does taste better in Ireland compared to Australia but I'm still not the biggest fan.. Was cool to try it over there though and even Shelly had a pint!
The hostel that we stayed at was only a week old and was the best hostel i've ever stayed at. It had plasma TVs and DVD players, along with a couple of kitchens and private bathrooms in every room. Was a big change from what I'd been used to in London so it was a welcome change. We checked out a few castles and St Patricks cathedral and even went to a pub called the Brazen Head, which was built in 1198!
We had a big Irish breakfast one morning which consisted of sausages, bacon, black pudding, white pudding, eggs, pancakes and mushroom! It was a mean feed, the Irish sure know how to put on a good spread :)

After Shelly left, I caught up with the lads again for the last night and found out that they'd lined up a gig for us at the hostel. We played for about 3 hours in the lounge area and had a massive crowd. Was great fun and they paid us by giving us a free nights accommodation, pretty sweet :)

From Dublin we flew back to London for one night and then headed to Munich, which is where we are now. The weather has been a bit crappy which is disappointing but what can you do.. Still having a great time over here, seeing a lot of new places and meeting heaps of cool people.

Will put pics up soon.. Bye for now :)

Germany to the Swiss Alps

My two favourite places on this trip so far have been Germany and the Swiss Alps.

We went to 3 different beer gardens in Germany and they were all choccas with people sitting around drinking steins of the local beer. The best thing about the beer over here is that you don't really get hangovers from it!! Germany has very strict purification laws meaning that all the ingredients of beer have to be extremely pure so nothing else goes in the beer. It means the beer tastes great and hangovers are not really a problem!

We also went to a beer hall for dinner where they had a band, German dancing and of course steins of sweet, sweet purified beer! :) After every song the band do a special drinking toast chant and everybody has to drink! Everyone got involved and before long the atmosphere in there was pumping and it was a great night.

We were only in Munich for one night which was a little disappointing because it was such a great place. We decided to come back here in a few weeks before the greek islands.

With this in mind, we left Germany and headed for the Swiss Alps. What a place!! We camped in a town called Lauterbrunnen which was surrounded by hugh mountins with jaggered cliff faces everywhere. There were heaps of little waterfalls that flowed down the cliff, with one particular waterfall right next to our campsite that was lit up by hugh lights at night.

The next day we went for a walk around the tiny town and spotted a shop that sold extreme sport tickets. We went in to have a quick look and walked out all pumped up and nervous about what awaited us in a few hours.. The third biggest bunji jump in the world! 134m from a cable car over a lake in one of the massive Swiss Alp valleys!!!

Was a bit of a last minute decision but before I knew it we were all suited up and in the cable car, climbing to some ridiculous height.. Needless to say I was a little nervous, but the atmosphere of everyone in the cable car cheering me on and the death metal music that was cranking, as soon as I stepped up to the edge and looked out, I was ready!

I launched myself out into air on the count of 5 and I was flying (or falling) for about 5 seconds. The first few seconds was cool and then I realised that I wasn't stopping! Haha.. The rope slowed me down just in time and next thing I know I was launching up into the air for another free fall all over again!!

After bouncing up and down a few times, my head felt like it was going to explode from hanging upside down too long but I didn't care, I was pumped!

They lowered me into the boat and I swam to shore.. Was easily one of the best things I've ever done and I'd do it again in a second! Great times..

There were 7 of us that day who did it and we were all super stoked after it. What a rush!!

The next day we left Switzerland and headed for Amsterdam. I was such a lomg way that we stopped over in a little German town called Heidleburg. It was very small and there wasn't much to do but was great to stop in a quiet little town and experience the real Germany, without the whole tourist vibe.

We left early the next morning and headed to Amsterdam, which I described quickly in my last blog.. Interesting place but a great place to party :)

Here's a little pic from our bike ride through Edam. Very typical picture from Holland of an old windmill but they still actually use this one.

The next day we drove back to London and that was the end of our 32 day Contiki trip! It's flown by so fast and it was a little sad to say goodbye to the crew that we've gotten to know so well. That night we stayed at the contiki hotel, the Royal National for one last night with the crew, and what a night it was!!

We all headed down for a few loud ones at the bar and when that closed, we all went back to one of the rooms to kick on. I don't think the guitar at 3am was thae best idea and when the security came up to tell us to keep it down, he opened the door to find 18 people partying in a 2 person room, all singing along to Mr. Jones!!

Great times and a fitting end to a great trip.

Although a lot of our new found friends are heading home, the trip is only just beginning for us!! I'm kicking back at a hostel in London at the moment and this place is cool! It's got couches and a TV in the chillout area in the lobby and the bedrooms are simple but cheap and just what we need.

We plan to stay here for about 4 or 5 days and then fly to Ireland. I'm even going to try some Guiness over there cos I hear it taastes totally different to Guiness in Australia. I'm not a fan of Aussie Guiness but we'll see how it goes :)

From Ireland we plan to head back to Munich for a week or so and then onto Athens for our Greek Island tour.

Hope all is well back home guys. A big hello to everyone!! Bye for now :)