Andy's Blogspot

Blog for Yvonneschein

2007-11-18T22:51:00.000+09:00

Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

The Whole Trip from an SLR Perspective - The Yucatan

2007-06-21T12:21:00.000+08:00

On the Road to Palenque

Palenque

After getting up at 5am or so, we had to wait for the park to open

Campeche

Out of Merida

Uxmal

Bob the beetle

Cenote Tour

The whole trip from an SLR perspective - Mexico City-Oxaca-Puerto

2007-05-04T12:26:00.000+08:00

Mexico City
Sitting on a coppers bike
The Markets

OxacaMarko -Savo Ferris
Andy
Newspapers

Our 5-star hotel

This is just so Mexico....

Riot Police in Oxaca

Grasshoppers....crunchy
Ruins out of Oxaca

Puerto Escondido Region

A token band playing in the middle of the jungle to the animals we supposed....

The Whole trip from an SLR Perspective - San Cristobal

2007-05-03T12:45:00.000+08:00

San Cristobal de las Casas

The crew (at least part of em')

Crew at night, around the Hostel's bonfire

Kid in a basket

Dog on a roof

Frijoles, so many Frijoles......(beans)

Terrorist figurines.....cute.

Out on the gorge
Central area in town

Mehr Deustchland and Prague

2007-02-02T20:13:00.000+09:00

München

After getting back to Germany we headed down to Munich, where we met a friend Saskia, asking for floor space, we ended up hanging out all weekend, note to others, thatis what 'floor space' involves. We went to the Hofbrauhaus for a few Maß (litres) on Australia day, got a drunken german guy kicked out and then saw all the sights and sounds of the city with a good few snowball fights in between.

And then it is up to Frankfurt, for Mark and I to part ways, he is back in the warmth of Aussie just now and for me to meet my long awaited Yvonne.

I will be hanging out here for the next month, Yvonne and I will head off for a couple of weeks tommorow, to meet Thomas and my family down in Austria for skiing, Can't wait!

Weisse bier ( wheat beer) keeping cool on Aussie day.
In the English garden, some mental dude was surfing.

Prague

We visited Prague for three days of czech language, beer, walking and nightlife,
we must have visited Charles bridge about 15 times, we saw it without snow, with a dash of snow, and with a dumping of snow. And then it is back to good old Germany

The old jewish cemetary (they may have had a wee space problem...)

The city viewWe assumed it meant 'welcome'

A 'suberb' skoda, isnt that quite contrary
Prague by night
Charles Bridge by night

The astronomiocal clock

Charles bridge and the castle

The dungeons

Deutschland

We have been hanging out with Thomas and Danny for a couple of weeks, staying with Thomas parents at "Hotel Mum" where we have been absoluetly spoilt rotten and have gotten out of all the travelling habits.

We visited Leipzig, Dresden, Arras, Geringswalde, Mitteweida, Arras, Arras, and then of course the beutiful city of Freiberg.

Fun at the Leipzig Zoo

Andy riding a centipedeDanny hugging a pole
Piranahs
The animals watching each other

Dresden

a selection of Geringswalde cakes with connie and the boys in the hauptbahnhof
The semperoper in Dresden
Thomas and Danny in Dresden
Anna-marie in Dresden

The Sachsen Region

Another castle ( I am shocking with names)
Inside the castle, sachsen flag on the right.
Road beer

Deutschland

2007-01-16T07:33:00.000+09:00

The divided city was really quite interesting. We got into to the Airport and were met by Thomas, a friend of mine and were swiftly taken back and shown some german hospitality, ie beer, meat and a lot more beer.

We have been hanging out with Thomas and his family and Danny since then and it really has been staying in "Hotel Mum" we are absolutely spoilt rotten, The food is amazing the beer is amazing and we have had a great insight into east germany and the former GDR.

We also managed to experience german party culture, which is utter maddness. We started the day cleaning up the garden, with beers, watching volleyball which of course you have a couple of beers with, then had a winter barbeque with sausage (wurst) and you guessed it beers.

Then it is off to the party with a $6 entry, it was all you could drink which we made full use of, schenanegans galore, germans party hard.

Then it is on to Czech....

Berlin East side Gallery - Berlin Wall
Berlin at night
"Your mum doesn't cook for you anymore? Love going to the canteen"
The place where Danny studies...

London

2007-01-16T07:19:00.000+09:00

Pie and Ale enough said.
Some guys in funny hats, playing instruments, walking in the street...
Red Circle with a blue rectangle that says underground

The great land of the free

2007-01-16T07:09:00.000+09:00

lunch in a car park in LA
Typical Maerican foodage
more food
snow-shoeing in yosemite national park

Mexico

2007-01-16T06:33:00.000+09:00

Monarch butterflies in Morelia
There were thousands... the grey looking clumps are all swarms of butterflies

Volcano and stuff
Active volcano complete with smoke

Mexico city...
Incan dancers
Mexico city, town square around new years
Mexico city cathederal
Incan ruins

............
Andys bed in Tullum
Our house in Tullum
Massive thingy
Some cards and junk

US ayyy

2007-01-08T12:18:00.000+09:00

HeyEveryone!
We have made it up to the United States of America. We left Mexico city after a killer New Years and checking out a butterfly park and some awesome Volcanoes.

At the moment we are hanging out in San Francisco, after spending a couple of days in LA, which were absolutely brilliant. The people we met were fantastic, it has flipped our perceptions of americans completely away from the stereotypes, they were all so freindly and helpful.

We ended up meeting a crew of them in the bar, then going back for drinks at there house, sitting around with a 2m boa (snake) wrapped around us for a couple of hours, then introducing circle of death to the americans.

We head to Yosemite national park tomorow, for some snow shoeing and trekking, Some photos will be up soon ( internet access is shocking here at the states, the last place wanted to charge us $60 US an hour)
Take it easy.

San Cristobal - Palenque - Campeche - Merida - Tulum

2006-12-23T04:38:00.000+09:00

Hello!

We have been busy travelling the east of Mexico and are now lapping it up in the Caribbean at Tulum, where is is absolutely stunning! Killer diving snorkelling and beaching. We will be hanging around here until just after Christmas, and then head back to the Mexico city here. Tommorow the plan is to celebrate my birthday in style, Coconuts, rum and pinepple, snorkelling with a dash of Mexican driving : a winning combo.

Mark is doing his open water diving course at the moment and afterwards we will be off to dive some Cenotes, underwater freshwater caverns which have about 50m visibility, absolutely incredible.

A very merry Christmas to everyone ( Feliz Navidad) and Happy new Year!

San Cristobal

We loved San Cristobal, and ended up staying about a week around the town, We stayed for the Dia de San Gaudalupe, meant to be a highly celebrated day, there was people who run around with an olympic style torch, lots of music, and street food.

Limon (limes)
Frijoles (Beans and other market goodies)
Part of the Oi Oi Oi Crew around the Campfire: Kris, Andy, some guy, Bram Outer town in San Cristobal
Dog in an aquarium

Dia de San Guadalupe

Dia de San Guadalupe in the night
tambien

Palenque

We managed to organise 12 backpackers to charter ourselves a bus, see a couple of waterfalls and get to the Jungle where the ruins of Palenque were. The jungle was good fun with our crew and the temples were stunning, located in the hot, steamy jungle.

Campeche

Bram and Marko

From Palenque, We have been travelling as the Oi Oi Oi Possi, Bram ( Dutch), Kris (Dutch), Mark and I.

An interesting yet boring Colonial town, with what compared to a dutch beach at the coast, according to our dutch travel companians (nb. dutch beaches must really suck and I have no idea why germans would want to dig holes in them....)

Love at first sight...
The malls of Campeche
Cerveza y Kris

Merida

Merida was a very nice town, we based out of there for a couple of days, bought some hammocks, visited Flamingoes, the ruins of Uxmal, and drove for the first time in Mexico.

We got Bob, the beetle, which was an incredible speciman of a beetle, 2004, and started driving on the roads, it is pretty mental driving in Mexico, not many rules, or indications, it was a lot of fun and interesting.

When we arrived at the Uxmal ruins, we had a photoshot, with many poses with our beetle before realising the park was going to close in 45 min. So we rushed around the ruins, shooting madly before being directed out of the park by a security guard with a whistle.

Then the fun began....night driving in Mexico, Mark decided to take on this role, but it wasnt too bad: Hitting a truck with our wing mirror at speed , running a red light and being stopped by the cops, who then said (in spansish), no there isnt a fine, only 4 days in jail. I confimed this to Mark, saying " no dude, you are going to jail" and there was a prompt reply: " No no no no, señor, I cant go to Jail" With a little help from Kris, flirting like mad with the cop, I then proceeded to pull out a bribe, which we tried to hand over, but he wouldnt take it, and he let us on our way. We met the one straight cop in Mexico...Bob the beetle

Flamingo´s of Celestun

Kris at the Uxmal ruins
Uxmal
Me drinking a suprising delicious, fermented maize drink (kinda like drinking tortillas)

The meat market
Cenotes - freshwater sinkholes
Cenotes and shaft of light.

Puerto Escondido - San Cristobal

2006-12-10T06:11:00.000+09:00

San Cristobal Region

We have been hanging out in San Cristobval de las Casas for sometime now, at least 4 days, Very beautiful city and a lot to see in the surrounding area. Including a village where they drink coke and moonshine in the church, which is full of pine needles and candles galore, a bit of an HSE isssue, really...

We have a pretty big crew here at the hostel and have been doing a lot of chilling around the campfire, and I really mean chilling, it is damn cold here, using all the ski stuff for europe at the moment.

We even managed to muster up 12 people from the hostel, to charter our own bus to the next town, Pelanque where there are ruins and to stay at the hostel as a group, so it all should be a lot of fun. Mixed nationalities galore.

El Cañon del Sumideros Freshie
the natural x-mas tree
The fountain of the most intersting town in Mexico...... ( you gotta go here to get the joke)
The streets of San Cristobal

Mark y el mercados in San Cristobal

Puerto Escondido Region

Geckos everywhere.......

Puerto Escondido sunset
The beach, skydivers landing at sunset

More Photos Oxaca

2006-11-30T08:31:00.000+08:00

Sweet treats
Cerveza con limon (lime)
mmm tasty grasshoppers

Oxaca City

2006-11-29T06:02:00.000+08:00

Cerveza keeping cool

Cactus on the Bus ride from Mexico City
The streets which show the recent turmoil, This is the mark left from a burnt car.
The view at Desayuno (Breakfast)

Buenos Dias,

The trip has advanced and we are down in Oxaca city in the state of Oxaca, about 6.5 hours South east of Mexico city, It is a beautiful little city, apparently the highest indigenous population and the poorest too.

When we came into the center of the city last night, it was the most mental scence ever, there must be 500-1000 armed federal police here, with barricades all around the centre of the city,

they are all camped here and have all the riot kit, assault rifles, tear gas, al the trucks and crowd pushing trucks......just crazy,

I then thought I would look up the dfat ( Australias department of foreign affairs)reccomendation, which is:

"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to the city of Oaxaca at this time because of civil unrest associated with on-going and increasingly violent protests and demonstrations. The protests and demonstrations are related to local labour issues and are primarily centred on the city's main square (Zocalo) but have also occurred throughout the city and surrounding areas. Serious violence resulting in numerous deaths and injuries has occurred. Road blocks and the closure or occupation of government offices, including the State tourism office and police stations have also occurred. The safety and security situation in Oaxaca remains tense and unpredictable with the possibility of further violence. "

So a little concerning, but yeah we walked around a bit, today and even though the first guy said no photos I figured a few discreet ones couldnt hurt, so yeah I havent got em on my digital camera though, so it will be when I get home they go up.

But the prices here are crazy, cerveza (beer) for $1.5

Food (like a 3 course meal) $4

Accomodataion in a 5 star hotel with pool $35

so yeah its all pretty cool, but yeah I better get back to the outside and relax,

Hasta luego

Hola Desde Mexico City

2006-11-27T06:07:00.000+08:00

Well Mark and I have begun our trip, and finally got into Mexico city after 35 very very long hours,
we are camped out in a very flash hostel with high walls and all the trimmings for at least another day, before we head south to Oxaca,

So far we have had a crazy latre and last minute (literally) changed flight, a ripped passport of mine, no luggage, then a high speed drive through the streets of Mexico city at 1 in the morning past girls sniffing petrol, prostitutes huddled around a fire, cops with the lights going every 500m or so.....so you know pretty stock standard northbridge type stuff.....

The day has been brilliant though, there seems to be some form of grounds for a revolution starting in the main square, so lots of people, singing and police, in riot gear and then more cops, and more, tis crazy.
Then it has been walking through markets, which stretch as far as the eye can see packed with muy muchas personas,

My Window

2006-10-11T16:44:00.000+08:00

Around and about with Yvonne

2006-09-22T14:44:00.000+08:00

we went down to the Ol' Farm in Denmark for a weekend or mucking around and checking out the area. Yvonne and I on a very ant laden log
The Hallowell Springs viewof lights Beach
Yvonee Strecthing up, up, up and away....
The friendly bull (up close and personal)
El Mercado de Freo con bonita chica

Fishin' with Mark

2006-09-09T18:31:00.000+08:00

We went off for a spot of fishin' down at the freo harbour, well maybe a spot of ale sipping and sticking rods in the water...

Hinchinbrook Island

2006-09-09T15:56:00.000+08:00

Hinchinbook island is a small island located about 10km from the Queensland coast. It is just off the city of Mackay. It is a very exclusive island. At the resort only 50 guests are accomodated and to walk the trail, you need to book about 9-12 months in advance because only 40 or so people are allowed on the trail at any one time.

Since I jumped in on the trip late, no walking was possible, I had to suffer and hang out at the Hinchinbrook lodge for 3 days with my mum.....
The Jetty at the Resort
Some Speciality Queensland Passionfruit wine with a dash of sunset.

Turtle bay, You could see loads of the little bastards swimming around.

Diesel vs Unleaded Fuel

2006-09-09T15:41:00.000+08:00

Recently I have been wondering how it is possible that Diesel, a less refined product than unleaded fuel ( ie cheaper to refine), which contains more energy per litre, is less harmful to the environment could possibly be priced higher than unleaded at the fuel pump.

I thought it must be some backwards government tax, but not this time, Diesel and Unleaded are both taxed at 38c per litre, so its not this.

But, the answer has been found, supply and demand, there is an extremely high demand in WA and Australia for diesel at the moment due to increased mining operations and from the growth in Asia ( as our diesel is priced from the Singapore market), very interesting

More info is at http://www.aip.com.au/pricing/diesel.htm

Ayer's Rock

2006-09-06T17:23:00.000+08:00

The Rock in the distance (Uluru)
Myself and Mikie
The Olgas

We had a short stopover on the way back from QLD at Ayers rock.

2006-06-13T09:37:00.000+08:00

Hello! My name is Andrew Sinclair, Welcome to my blog. I am a student from Perth, in Western Australia. I am studying Oil and Gas Engineering and Finance.