Brady's Aimless Travels of Asia Pacific

Welcome to London

2005-09-20T16:43:00.000+07:00

we'll somehow I made to London and I think I am over the jetlag.....although I have been saying that for the last 3 days. Aside from being expensive (as if I had to come here to find that out) London is great. I've seen Buckingham Palace and Big Ben you know a few of the tourist things. Other than that I've been around Camden, which I think is in west london. Right now I am visiting Matt in Herfordshire. should be in brighton in a few days and then off to manchester to congratulate our good friend Dough Jizz on finishing his dissertation. well hope to get some photos posted soon.

Cheers
Brady

Luang Prabang Boat Festival 2005!

2005-09-06T17:17:00.000+07:00

It just so happens that we arrived in Luang Prabang two days before a boat festival in which all the different neighboorhoods (each neighboorhood has it's own temple) compete against each other in long boats with about 40 people in them. needless to say we had a great day, partook in some chickens feet, made some new friends and watched some great boat racing. here is a photo of the boats during the opening ceremony. don't worry there are more to come. I am meeting Tim and Reid in Siem Reap in a few days.

Cheers
Brady

Luang Prabang

2005-09-01T17:18:00.000+07:00

Well I have made it to Luang Prabang, it is a lovely quiet place in the hills. apparently we have arrived at a good time because there is a parade of sorts tomorrow and then boat races on saturday. I will try to get some good photos up on my blog soon. for now it's back to the peaceful town of Luang Prabang.

Cheers
brady

Chang Mai is Wonderful

2005-08-28T17:56:00.000+07:00

Hello Everyone!!

so I actually made it out of patong and up to Chang Mai in the North of Thailand. from here I will go to Luang Prabang to meet Reid and Tim. Chang Mai is a great laid back sort of place so far. I wound up touring some of the local factory's today. they are set up for tourists but they actually produce, Thai Silk, Fine Silver, Teak and Rosewood furniture, Lacquer Woodwork, Leather, and Pottery. The craftsmanship that you find around here is amazing. Here are two photos from one of the Silver factorys.

These are probably two of the best photos of the day. May be a few more to come

A Thai Woman carefully shapes a pattern into a bowl

Annealing a piece to soften the metal

Alright Time for some photos!

2005-08-26T16:53:00.000+07:00

just to start things off I would like to share the photo that we gifted to Scuba Cat. Yes that is David and Yes he is sitting on the can at 30 meters.

Alright enough of that, heres a photo of Me!

And Here's a photo of Reid

Let us not forget Tim! who learned to Scuba Dive last week

Meet Mia Tim's Instructor

and Tim's Dive Buddy Apple

Hey Look! it's a Batfish!

Alright I will leave you with a few photos that I find Hilarious

The Triumphant Return of My Blog

2005-08-25T17:54:00.000+07:00

So Hello to everyone, it's been a good 4 months or so since my last post so I will try to catch everyone up with what I have been up to. upon arriving in Bangkok I quickly realized that Thailand is a bit overwhelming at first glance. Two days in Bangkok gives you the opportunity to breath as much smog as you would encounter in a year in the skagit, as well as ride around in little three wheeled motorised ricksaws referred to as "tuk tuk's" with plenty of people eager to sell you suits, jewelry, and take you to temples that they assure you are only open to foriegners today. All this being said I am fully looking forward to meeting my mother in Bangkok in about two weeks time. There is alot to see and experience there. An overnight bus journey/boat ride brought me to koh samui, an island in the gulf of Thailand filled with farangs (the thai word for foreigner), stray dogs, and beutiful beaches and one of my dive buddys Nicola. The supposed diving paradise Koh Tao was just a 2 hour boat journey away. After about a week of decideldy mediokre diving on Koh Tao we woke once morning and said "lets go to phuket" That afternoon we arrived at Scuba Cat and our nomadic lifestyle came to an abrupt halt. Two months and over a hundred dives later I am a PADI divemaster with a bunch of specialty certifications and sunbleached blond hair. Life out on the boat Scuba Cat, is really quite simple, wake up eat toast, go dive. eat breakfast, go diving. greet the new customers for the day, go diving. have a lazy few hours in the afternoon, go for a night dive. eat dinner, go to sleep and repeat the next day. It took some adapting to get used to bright sunny 90 degree days, 86 degree water, and thai food for every meal but somehow we managed. shortly after we arrived both Matt and David appeared at Scuba Cat and enrolled in their divemaster courses as well. I don't know what Scuba Cat will do without the four of us but our memory will live on in a lovely photograph that we gifted to Scuba Cat. As Soon as I get my camera to the internet cafe I will share it with you. From here I plan on traveling to Chang Mai for a day or two before reuniting with Reid and Tim in Laos. Oh yeah did I forget to mention that as a result of a random email, my own genius, and my friends knack for always being sensible, Reid and Tim are out here visiting. we have had a wonderful few days of diving. Reid and Tim are off to Vietnam tomorrow. And then on to Laos. well I hope this helps to get my dusty blog off the ground again so check back for more updates now that I am once again a Nomad and Loving It! Looking forward to seeing everyone at home soon!
Cheers
Brady

I almost forgot!!

2005-05-30T14:39:00.000+07:00

I have a new email address because my old one is getting unreliable so if you want to find me email

bradyhislop@gmail.com

welcome to thailand

2005-05-30T14:34:00.000+07:00

thats right I went to thailand. I have been in bangkok for about 2 days it's crazy!. motorcycles and tuk tuks everywhere the smog is unreal you can see it in the air. I am leaving tonight on a bus to ko samui (an island in the gulf of thailand) and then over to a smaller island ko tao to do some diving and relax out of the city. It should be really good. I will get some photos up soon. thats all for now take care everyone

Cheers
Brady

Congratulations to Michelle and Matthew!!!!

2005-05-06T07:49:00.000+07:00

Hi Everybody. I just want to wish Michelle and Matthew a wonderful time and to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I wish I was there. G'day to all of my wonderful friends . I can't wait to visit you all when I get back to America. drop me a line anytime and let me know what you are up to. I have finally left Cairns and am currently en route back to sydney with a few stops and maybe some diving in between. Cheers Brady

New photo's have Arrived!!!

2005-04-26T11:42:00.000+07:00

Welcome Back. I have been promising new photos for a while now and they are finally here. The Taka dive trip was an ok boat with some really great diving. we did a cod feed at the Cod Hole, not only do I have photos I have video as well! I did a few deep dives on the trip. my new deepest dive is 33 meters! there's not a lot to see down there but it's a kick to go that deep anyway. I have spent the last few days in Cairns waiting to go back out on the Reef Encounter. I leave tomorrow (wednesday) for another five days of slave labour in exchange for a few dives and looking forward to it. enough chit chat lets get to the photos. oh before I forget check out my mates Murf and Nicky's website. we met in Cooktown and did some diving together on the Reef Encounter. They are from holland and drive a vehicle similar in many ways to mine. we can both go about 85km an hour flat out! anyway check out

somewheresouth.net

Here is a photo of Murf, Nicky, Me, and Chrissie looking for a waterfall near Cooktown

Alright lets start things off with a landscape that I shot at Davies Creek about a month ago

Ok here are some links to short Video clips from the Cod Feed. They are quicktime format and will probably take a few minutes to download.

Cod Feed 1
Cod Feed 2

In the meantime here are more scuba photos to look at while you wait.

This is a Leaf Scorpion.

Giant Potato Cod

Brain Coral

A really blurry photo of a Lionfish

Here is a Coral Cod

And another one yawning

Here is a School of Fish

A red sea star

damn had just finished this thing when my computer went crazy and lost everything after this point.........so i will probably forget some of the photos this time around.........damn

check out this site if you want to see them all

Brady's Photos at Flickr.com

sorry people

well here we go again

Here is a Blurry photo of a Nudibranch, or a Sea Slug

Here He is I found Him!! it's an Anemone fish commonly known as a Nemo

If you made it this far I am impressed.....thats about all for the Suba Photos here are few others I have taken over the last couple of weeks

This is one big termite hill

Here is a view of the Atherton Tablelands

This is the illustrious Reef Encounter where I have been working as a host
She doesn't look like much from the outside

nonetheless you still see spectacular sunsets

thats all for now. I think I remembered to add all the photos back in. I will be back on land Sunday. Hopefully with some photos of a Manta Ray. Steve saw one at hastings reef the other day!! we dive hastings almost every day on the reef encounter. Then again luke has done around 3,000 dives and never seen one so who knows. take care all more to come soon

Cheers,
Brady

22 Dives and still going....

2005-04-19T12:49:00.000+07:00

Hello everybody. Diving has become a new hobby (obsession) of mine. I just spent a week slaving away as a host on a dive boat for 2 dives a day plus room and board. its a lot of work but a great time as well. days starts at 5:45am and ends around 9:30pm. anyhow I am leaving to go out on another dive boat this evening. the taka boat goes up towards cooktown and the cod hole so the visibility should be better and the reefs in much better condition. I get back to cairns on friday and leave for the reef encounter on wednesday....back to work. it will be great. I should be leaving cairns around the end of the month. the crew on the reef encounter is a rowdy crazy bunch and a good laugh all around, if I had more time I would stay an extra week or so. I will try and do some photography during this next trip so watch out for underwater pictures in a week or so

greetings from cooktown

2005-04-05T08:14:00.000+07:00

hello everyone, I have been out diving with pro dive about 2 weeks ago and I am absolutely addicted. I'm certified to dive to 30m but 2 more dives and I can be certified to 40! now I am in Cooktown with my mate Chrissie whom I met diving and all of the dive operators are still on vacation. I think we might have to go out to lizard island to do some diving. anyhow here are some photos from diving.

This is a batfish it is about 1 meter in length.

here is a blurry photo of me in my dive kit

this is a boxfish

and finally here is some coral

I don't have any photos of Brian but he is an enormous sea turtle that we saw while diving at night on the full moon. anyhow I have a few more photos from diving but I need to find the cd before I can get them up here. Needless to say the 75km track to cooktown was an adventure. I wish I had a photo of one of our river crossings on the way. Both me and Chrissie where convinced we where floating at one point but somehow we made it across. it really didn't look that deep when we started across it....

I think we will take the much tamer inland road back towards cairns. Cooktown is great but the tourist season doesn't start for another 3 weeks or so so nothing is really open and there isn't much to do. we might stay at the Lions Den Hotel tonight, it's an old famous bush pub, and then head back into the atherton tablelands tomorow. thats all for now folks. talk to everyone soon

Brady

Back on the Coast!!!

2005-03-16T10:46:00.000+07:00

sorry for the long break, we drove west to seek our fortune and I have been busy hiking and digging sapphires instead of posting here. where do I begin.

First off a big Happy Birthday to grandfather. Happy 80th!!!

After Fraser Island we drove north up to Bundaberg, Town of 1770 (where Captain Cook landed), then on to Rockhampton. after a mad dash out of Rockhampton we drove west and stopped at the Blackdown Tablelands National Park stopped in Bluff for the night. Then it was on to Anakie for a nice half a day of sapphire mining. 4 days later we finally left and went to Canarvon Gorge National Park. only to return to Anakie to pick up our freshly cut sapphires. pictures will be coming soon. for now here is a demonstration of sapphire mining.

Here I am running an electric jackhammer in Glen Martins Mine. this sure beats swinging a pick and shoveling. You are only allowed to use machinery underground. all surface mining must be done with hand tools.

the "wash" as it is called is then processed using a machine like this

there is a bucket that brings the wash up to the surface and dumps it into the hopper. you can see it in action here

at the end of the day you get all of the heavy rocks like ironstone etc. as well as the sapphires which are rinsed and hand sorted. if you are lucky there are sapphires sitting in this pile of rocks.

Here they are..... thats the days wages.

Here is a photo of Michael washing some dirt while we where fossicking.

And here is Iain searching for a sapphire about this size.

Thats all of the mining pictures for now but here are a few other photos.

this is a Rainbow Lorikeet. they are very common around oz

this is some Aboriginal artwork at the Blackdown Tablelands National Park

If you look closely you can see a shark in the water. this photo was taken from Indian Heads on Fraser Island. I guess thats why you can't swim in the sea here

Here are two photos of Dingos on Fraser Island. Dingos are wild dogs and can be dangerous.

here is a photo of the three of us at the Blackdown Tablelands National Park

Here is a photo of the Moon from down under

Making Toast in the morning.......

One of the Many Many Lizards we have seen

Here are some birds i photographed in Hervey Bay. these are Juveniles but I don't know what they are. If you do please email me

hislobr@earlham.edu

this ones for you Frank

thats about all for now keep in mind you can always look through my photos by using the link below.

Finally here is a picture of me in the red dirt of the outback.

My next move is to try and do some sailing in the Whitsunday Islands. I also have many pictures of Roo's from our time out west but I haven't sorted them yet. Some of you may have noticed that my flight leaves Sydney today, and yes you guessed it I get an extension on my visa because this country if just too bloody big to see in 3 months. take care everybody and I will talk to you all soon.

hello from fraser island

2005-03-02T08:48:00.000+07:00

hello everyone!!

I am sitting at a little town in the bush on fraser island with my mate Iain that I met in Noosa. we drove up the beach to Rainbow Beach and then got the barge across Inskip point over 5to fraser. everything is completely totally covered in sand including me! it's been 5 days of living in the sand, swimming in lakes, having barbies on the beach. but now it's time to head for the mainland and clean ourselves and the car up a bit. anyhow I am running out of time on this internet kiosk thing so thats all for now. all is well

cheers

Brady

new place to look at photos!!!

2005-02-22T12:18:00.000+07:00

hey everybody I don't want to tie up the phone line posting all the photo links over here so if you click on this link it "should" take you to all of my photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89814562@N00/

give it a try and let me know how it goes......

Cheers,
Brady

blokes-who-fixed-jackie

2005-02-22T11:18:00.000+07:00

blokes-who-fixed-jackie
Originally uploaded by hislobr.

finally at long last here is the photo of the blokes who fixed our car......

we are too busy being beach bums to have any other news...

check back soon though more pics are coming soon

hey I just figured something out....

2005-02-17T17:56:00.000+07:00

now everyone can post commemts without being a member of anything cool huh?
any how here is a picture of the 2 blokes that put a new engine into our car.
well my image hosting site isn't really cooperating but I will try and get some pictures up soon

once again I am sitting in a campsite in the lamington national park posting this totally off batteries and there are some possums I need to go and photograph right now

direct from a tent in surfers paradise

2005-02-16T07:17:00.000+07:00

hahaha well we are back on the road and if this works it will be the first successful post through alex's mobile phone via my computer with the slowest internet connection ever. but hey if it works it's pretty cool. anyhow we are back on the road and enjjoying the sunshine of the gold coast. I'll get some pictures and whatnot up here soon but right now I need to go lie on the beach and do nothing :)

Hey mate I think this might be our problem.......

2005-02-04T09:54:00.000+07:00

Waddya reckon I think this might be part of our problem here

Alright everybody time for a contest. and one lucky winner will recive a smorgasbord of spare isuzu trooper parts.......

The challenge is who can tell me the 26 differences between this picture

and this picture......

Hey why is the bottom of my engine over here??

and the top of my engine over here?

thats right we are taking apart our engine in a caravan park in Bulahdelah (try spelling that one) um everythings going rather well overall we've just gotta get a few things fixed and put it all back together. like I told alex the other day the ball joints are not a problem at all until the wheel falls off!

G'day from the Aussie rainforest

2005-01-30T13:43:00.000+07:00

it's been a while since my last update.....so I'll try and fill you in a little I've been staying at John's up on Mount Warning, so named by Captain Cook because if you could see the mountain you where too close to the reef. we got 4 inches of rain last week and ran out of power (solar powers a bitch sometimes) so we took off for the gold coast and booked into a motel for 2 days. now we are back and the batteries are doing well again. John just finished mixing an album for his friend Dave Cavo which is fantastic. Dave turned 49 yesterday and we all went out to a fabulous bali restaurant. then we went out to a music party up in the hills and listened to the locals jam until the wee hours of the morning. suffice to say life is good. John has been working on a studio for this bloke Billy in Massachusetts which is shaping up to be a really nice space. I have been trying to learn this 3d drawing program to draw studios. it's cool you can draw every single piece of wood to scale in 3d. I've also been trying to learn about acoustic treatment, slot resonators, hangars, bass traps and the like. whenever it's hot we can watch the goanna bush turkey dance. goannas are big lizards about the size of an iguana and they like bush turkey eggs so it's a constant back and forth between them. we feed them on the porch so they come up and chase each other around and wander in the house and look around a bit and then wander back out. there is also a bat that likes to sleep hanging from the bathroom light, especially when the weather gets bad. well thats a bit of an update from me for now. Alex should be here in a day or two and we will head for frasier island. I'll leave you with a few photos from Johns

This is the view from the veranda

There's an Australian saying "flat out like a goanna"

Paddy Melons are a common sight. They are noncturnal but they come out on the cooler dayes

and finally here is the bat that lives in the bathroom when the weathers bad

thats all for now check back in a few days.....

Our New Truck!!

2005-01-14T09:11:00.000+07:00

I just thought I would post a picture of our new rig to drive around Oz

here she is

Taronga Zoo!!

2005-01-14T08:57:00.000+07:00

Alright everyone here are some photos from the zoo. I have about 400 images to sort and edit so here's a few that I have gotten too so far. I am leaving for the gold coast tomorow and I will try to continue updating the blog regularly. anyhow on with the pictures...

well thats all for now check back soon...

Waddya Reckon Mate???

2005-01-07T12:45:00.000+07:00

I reckon 2 weeks isn't long enough for our trip
I reckon Alex should take time off school
I reckon my visa might need an extension
I reckon we could make it to Cairns in a month or so
I reckon we need a truck
I reckon we could spend 2 years & not see half of Oz
I reckon Alex needs to learn to drive a 5 speed
I reckon I need to learn to drive on the other side of the road
I reckon Thousands of pictures must be taken

I reckon we need one of these....

I reckon I'll be doing this....

I reckon we might see some of these...

I reckon this is where alex goes to school

What do you reckon???

Welcome to Manly Beach!

2005-01-01T11:35:00.000+07:00

Hello all and a happy new year!!

here are some photos of Manly, Sydney, and the start of the Sydney to Hobart race.

This is about 5 minutes from Alex's house

This at the start of the Sydney to Hobart race

hey look!! thats me on the beach at 2am

Well thats all for now Happy New Year and check back soon I should be going to the Zoo sometime soon

Welcome to my photos and ramblings from australia!

2004-12-22T05:44:00.000+07:00

Welcome Friends and Family this is my online journal to post photographs, writings, and whatever else while traveling Australia. Check back often to see whats going on and post comments.

Here are some photos of Bald Eagles that I took near Rockport along the skagit river.

check back on christmas or so to see the first pictures of sydney!

Well thats all for now

Brady

skagit_field

2004-12-21T14:30:00.000+07:00

skagit_field
Originally uploaded by hislobr.