Monday 30 March 2009

The odd bits and pieces

Three weeks to go and some slight monetary panic - will I have enough to last me the whole three months? I should do if I am careful and don't go blowing the money on camera gear in Singapore! The travelling round will cost me the most money, buses around Australia aren't as cheap as they were (some journeys cost more than flying the same distance).

Last day at work tomorrow, while part of me is not sorry to see the back of it, I am starting to have a few concerns about what I'll do when I get home, but I'll cross that particular bridge when I reach it. Hopefully (some hope!) the recession might be starting to end by then, who knows.

Just realised I have to buy more travel insurance - I though the one that comes with my bank account would cover it, but it only covers 45 days, which is a complete pain, considering that I'll be away for 90. I'm not stupid enough to go away without adequate travel insurance, as an accident, delayed flights, lost/stolen baggage, etc, can happen to anyone, so I spent the evening on Moneysupermarket.com and found some good deals, so I won't be paying Austravel £104!

Sunday 22 March 2009

Travels

Just what I need, a new blog, but this one is only here as somewhere to put my posts from my travels. I had intended to use webs.com for this but it's a complete pain in the backside, being slow and only working approximately half the time (when you're lucky).


So, I have added this to my Wordpress account and hopefully it'll be useful. If I put all the stuff on my usual blog, it'll just get lost in among everything else.


With four weeks to go the trip planning is finally coming together. I have booked my accommodation in Singapore having decided that, owing to the early evening arrival, I don't fancy traipsing around the city looking for somewhere to doss. It's not exactly luxurious accommodation, being a 12 bed dorm in a backpackers hostel but it's cheap and as I am doing things (as usual) on a tight budget that's the main thing. Besides, I'm not going to be spending all my time there, it's just a place to crash.
I have also booked a place on a Wollongong pelagic on the 23rd May, that should be excellent. Even if there isn't much around, I will be happy with even a solitary albatross! I want to add an albatross, any albatross, to my life list; I have never seen one before and albatrosses are birds I have always wanted to see. Wollongong is a town south of Sydney famous for its pelagics.
I have also booked a bus ticket from Melbourne to Sydney. I am aiming to get up to Cairns for some tropical Australian birding, but am trying to do it the cheap way and it looks as if the cheap way is in segments as even $60 here and $80 there (been taking advantage of Greyhound Australia's cheap deals) works out cheaper than lashing out $700 to do the journey in one big hit.
One more week of office purgatory to go, then just under three weeks after that before I'm off.