The Australian Government wants to filter what you can access online… Sounds reasonable at a high level given what they want to filter! However not all information online is black and white, and once the filter is in place there’s little stopping the scope of what is blocked… SIGN THE PETITION NOW…

We’re in Edinburgh, Scotland at the moment as some of you may know if you got my email (if not let me know your email address).. We caught the train from London on Wednesday. That afternoon we saw Edinburgh Castle and some giant hill with heaps of monuments…

Yesterday we hired a car its a some euro Vectra looking thing, a turbo charged diesel which has been pretty fun to drive! Surprised I remember how its been so long! Windscreen wipers and Indicators on the opposite sides still gets me sometimes.. haha

We drove out to Stirling yesterday which has a very impressive castle a top a massive old volcano which they’ve slowly been restoring. Some of the original parts date back to the 1200′s from memory. Stirling Castle was retaken by William Wallace at one point which was when he given the title of the Guardian of Scotland.

There is also a 150 year old monument to Wallace on a mountain on the other side of the valley. We climbed to its top via the 246 stairs on a narrow spiral stair case just wide enough for 1 person..

But the worst part of yesterday was I had a contact lens tear while in my eye… pretty sureit had me in tears until I decided to pull it out on the road.. spent half the day and driving around blurry through one eye and clear through the other! Haha..

Today we drove to Loch Ness, about 4 hours from here, and didn’t get back until 9 tonight.. Saw some awesome ruins of Urquhart Castle right on the Loch. No sign of the Loch Ness Monster though… I presume she’s on holidays in warmer waters? It was a bit cold up north! We got to drive through the Scottish highlands where there was snow everywhere around us and covering all of the mountains… through that corridor it got down to 2 degrees.. but as you got further up north the snow disappeared!

Haven’t upload any photos from Scotland yet still need to finish uploading all of the others! But here are a couple of stupid videos of Ryan trying to get in the way of a photo of was taking…

Well yesterday was interesting, up at 6:00am for a flight out of tokyo… Got to the airport with about 1.5 hours before our flight left.. check in was a breeze so we went down and did some duty free shopping… then decided to line up at McDonalds for some breakfast.. mistake number 1…

The line took forever and by the time we’d finished eating our plane would have started boarding 10mins prior… but wasn’t suppose to leave for 30mins so we figured we were alright… so on our way to the flight quickly popped in to a news agent to try get ride of my last few yen… Ryan walked ahead and by the time I followed I saw him running back with the most panic’d look on his face, closely followed by a short Japanese woman…

Apparently he’d noticed on the board the flight was closing, and at the same time saw this woman holding up a sign running around with our flight number on it.. hahah! So we piss bolted from one corner of the airport to the other and the japanese woman played tag with another woman along the way who ran the rest of the distance yelling in to a walkie talkie..

So we made that flight but were the last two on board I think… then 12 hours 50 mins on that flight! Wasn’t as bad as it could have been we had a front row with room to stretch the legs…

By the time we landed in Zurich (Switzerland) though our connecting flight had been cancelled due to poor weather in London… we lined up thinking we’d end up spending a night or something and the guy before us at the counter was in the same situation and was bitching about it and didn’t want to end up on a waiting list cause he didn’t have any confidence in them…. We however went straight on a waiting list and while we were at the counter got some seats assigned!!

My little brother came and collected us at the airport and gave us a run down of the tube… although after being awake for 24 hours at the time I don’t know that much sunk in.. hehe

Anyways time to go do some washing… really don’t want to have to start turning dirty jocks inside out.. hahahaha

On Wednesday we went for a walk to a temple near our hostel which one of the backpackers recommended.. It’s known as the Sensoji Temple or Asakusa Temple and is suppose to be Tokyo’s oldest one… it was really strange to find this tucked away down some side streets… but it was really easy to stumble across it given we we’re really given very good directions… It’s easy to stumble across because all of the little alleys and streets around it are just littered with store or street vendors…

Ryan went all traditionally and rubbed himself with the smoke from the inscense which your suppose to rub on areas your sick as a kind of pray to give yourself better help I think… He also washed his hands in this fountain along with all of the locals – but we weren’t sure what this was for… I’d be interested to know if anyone does?!

The roofs of these temples were massive though and the surrounding gardens were pretty amazing! There was a Geisha there as well but very disappointing because it clearly was not a real one… quite pathetic to see them doing this actually… there were big blotches on the back of her neck which weren’t white, and the make-up and general behaviour of her was more of a clown in an amusement park…

Sorry I haven’t given you all an update since we arrived, I’ve been struggling the past few days to upload photos… There are some up there but only from our first couple of days! So there will be lots more to come when I have more success…

On Tuesday we went to Akihabara which is known as the electronic city where there are hundreds of alleys with street side vendors selling all sorts of gadgets like mostly memory sticks, and computer part or weird electronic toys… Its also the anime hub of Japan…

We saw heaps of strange shit but those that took the cake were:

• a large array of electronic toilet seats which you can adjust the strength of the spray from the bidet, built in heating and can make flushing sounds to hide any other sounds you might be making on the toilet.. Haha!
• an exercise device which can only be described as a ride on bull but with the way they were advertising it you’d compare it to the abdominal products they try to sell back home.. I have photos wait for them!!
• rotating car spaces – basically you drive in and the car is on a large round plate which will spin the car back around so you can drive it back out, no reserving or 3 point turns!
• figurines by the millions! no joke there is a figurine for everything and any thing… most movies you can think of you can probably find one for, then there are all the anime characters and kids shows.. there are even some very provocative adult ones which we bought from a vending machine which were hilarious!

We also stumbled across a few strange little shops that appeared to sell just random junk outside then you get inside and it looks more like a hardware store.. take a few steps further towards the back and they’re selling weapons like ninja stars, nun-chucks, samurai swords and knives.. take a few more steps and they’re selling adult DVD’s and sex toys!?

Speaking of which on our way back to the station we stopped in to a big book store trying to find an English book about Tokyo. The store was about 7 levels and you’d compare it to borders back in brisbane first few floors were normal books like computers, novels, magazines, non-fictions… but you get to the upper few levels and they were ALL manga/anime porn?! Some of which was very graphic… and the weird thing is some of the business men here on the trains will just read this in public with no shame even sitting next to elderly women!

So we arrive in Tokyo tonight.. after a LONG flight.. got up at 5am this morning just to get here at the hostel at like 9pm… Was an interesting journey! Ryan got padded down and swabbed before we even left Australia! Haha.. Then on our flight he walks in to the toilet on an 70 year japanese lady who didn’t realise there was a latch to show it wasn’t vacant.. LOL

Our room is about as big as my boot.. very comfy! Haha..  But the hostel is pretty cool, few well setup common areas with couches, pool table, free internet (where we are now)… But this keyboard is INSANE… its half in japanese and most of the characters you have to use shift for are all on the wrong keys.. trying to type from memory… took me 5 attempts to type a smilely face before ;) that one took me three.. getting better.. haha

All we’ve really done so far is have McDonalds.. You have to try it in every try it in every country.. had a fillet of fish which had prawns, and a terriyaki chicken burger.. Ohh and vending machine… Oh My God.. this country has been invaded, there is a couple every 50 meters.. Even had a hot coffee in a can out of one before! Most just have a WIDE selection of smokes though!

Train ride from the airport was an adventure… I’ve started learning to memorise the Japanese characters which has come in quiet handy… some signs have english so you can do the translation, but not all do… Except it nearly cause a problem cause I memories the wrong station.. hahaha! All good though Ryan spotted another English sign before we got out of the sardine can…

Anyways it’s only day one of this 3 month adventure… I’ll try keep this blog and photos updated as I go! Keep in touch…

1.. Our water taxi doesn’t show up… we waited like 30mins after when he was suppose to arrive, then went back to the hotel to try get a limo… there was over an hour wait for them, so we lined up for a bus… none showed for ages so we decided to walk… jokingly I stuck out my thumb to hitchhike.. and this random dude pulls up and gives 4 of us a lift all the way from surfer to the spit… Hahahaah!

2.. Some idiots we no idea about crowd control decided this year people should ONLY be able to catch buses to Summer Field Dayze… there was 1000′s upon 1000′s of people trying to get there all stuck at a fence they weren’t allowed to walk past!

This cop was at the back of the bus trying to control the flow of people in… and yells out

“BACK THE FUCK UP”

Then some hero in crowd yells out…”YOU BACK THE FUCK UP, THERE’S ONLY ONE OF YOU”

It was a golden moment of the day!!

Check out the rest of the Summer Field Dayze weekend photos!

Here are some party photos from December… Sophie’s boxing day party, Carolines birthday and NYE… Sorry Jackie I forgot to take my camera to yours!

DAFT PUNK was the most amazing concert I have ever been too, and probably ever will go to… Big call I know, but those who were there would agree.. and for those who weren’t you just wouldn’t understand! Hahaha.. Check out the photos!

It’s taken long enough to organise the date but I now have 3 months off work locked in.. And as of today also have the flights booked – Maybe 3 months won’t be long enough to see everything, but I’m sure I’ll see a bit.. Hehe

• Australia to Japan (leaving Brisbane 3rd March @ 8:55)
• Japan to Switzerland
• Switzerland to England (arriving 10th March @ 17:50)

• England to Bangkok (leaving London 14th May)
• Bangkok to  Australia (arriving 26th May @ 22:45)

For those back home hope to see you at the air port… and for those of you in London come pick me the funk up!!