DAY 25-28 : KO PHANGAN 27TH - 30TH DEC

Haad Rin Beach, Ko Phangan

The days leading up to New Years Eve became more routine with some long nights and late awakenings. Days have been spent chilling on the beach, swimming and doing a bit of jetskiing. There’s been a noticeable increase in the number of travelers on the island leading up to the big Full Moon Party on New Years Eve. Some mates of the boys from Sydney arrived on the 29th to get involved in the festivities.

One thing we've noticed on Ko Phangan over the last few days is the abundance of seemingly wild dogs that wander aimlessly around the beach and town. Our friend Dave Hickey from Sydney has taken a shining to one three-legged dog named 'Tripod'. Funnily enough, the dogs love to wander around at night when the party is in full swing. They are obviously well used to the loud music and flaming poi jugglers and are experts at begging for chicken schnitzels at 5 in the morning. Seasoned locals indeed!

Tripod, the three-legged dog chills out to watch a Poi Juggler

On the 28th we received further bad news about the situation in Pakistan with the killing of Benazir Bhutto, the chair of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Mass riots throughout Pakistan ensued killing approximately 20 people and creating instability in the run up to the elections. We'll be keeping a very close eye on the situation with a Plan B bypass option in mind.

DAY 24 - ST STEPHEN'S DAY ON KO PHANGAN

Sunrise greets the revellers on Haad Rin Beach

St Stephen's Day was spent by the pool in our resort. In the evening we went down to the beach again where Dave, clad in an Irish flag decided to have a crack at the infamous Drop-In Bar flaming skipping rope. This is no normal skipping rope rather a 10 foot long death wish of fire that two thai guys swing for all the idiots that want to have a crack, and there are plenty of takers! After several sterling jumps from Dave, another random guy jumped in the fray at the same time. Things went terribly wrong from there as the video below clearly shows...

Dave escaped with minor burns to the neck, emotional damage and a new found fear of skipping ropes! As per usual on Ko Phangan, another crazy night ensued til the wee small hours.

DAY 23 - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Christmas day started very late for obvious reasons. We all did our own thing, mostly phoning friends and family at home. For Fintan and Dave the feeling of Christmas in 30 degree heat by the beach was bizarre but something that wouldn’t be too hard to get used to! Our Christmas dinner this year was a 50bath (1 euro!) chicken schnitzel meal at chicken corner. Santa was good to Dave who spent the day with a Russian girl he met at the pool.

Happy Christmas from all the boys to everyone and don’t forget, since it’s Christmas, it’s a great time to give a donation on the website!!

DAY 22 - KO PHA NGAN DAY 1 - CHRISTMAS EVE FULL MOON PARTY

The Boys at the Full Moon Party

After a long day by the pool, we all started getting ready for our first full moon party of the trip. The beach had been decked out with fluorescent banners and stages and upon arrival to the beach at around 10pm, there was already thousands of people going crazy! We got involved straight away by getting fluro paint tattoos all over us. Dave got a giant shamrock, Rhys a giant dickie bow, Chuck got the name of his alter-ego ‘Nouris’ on his chest and Finto bought a pair of ridiculous fluorescent sunglasses. Needless to say we were all donning our Santa hats for the night.

Everything on the beach was on fire from Poi Jugglers, to massive skipping ropes, to limbo bars, to random firework displays. Dave gave the skipping rope a crack and was lucky to escape with only a small burn to his foot. Other chancers weren’t so lucky and there were horrific burnings with one guys shorts even catching on fire. We’d seen Poi Jugglers before on Phi Phi so Dave made the act a little more interesting and livened up the watching crowd with his annual Christmas Eve streak. Dave is still keeping the flame alive of his annual streak with Cillian O’Byrne outside the 108 pub in Dublin every Christmas Eve. See glorious video below!!!

As per usual the full moon nights turn into a bit of a haze. We all ended up separated, partying with any random traveler until the sun came up on Christmas morning.

DAY 21 - KO PHI PHI TO KO PHAN NGAN

The boys on the ferry to Ko Phangan

Nothing seems to go according to plan in Thailand and our trip from Phi Phi to Ko Phangan was no exception. Ko Phangan is situated East of the Thai Mainland so we had a long trek ahead of us. We were up early to catch the 9am ferry from Ko Phi Phi to Krabi which took 2 ½ hours. At Krabi we were crammed into a minibus and brought without choice to a local restaurant/ internet café/travel agent/newsagent. We spent 45 minutes here waiting for our main coach to take us to Surat Thani. Obviously these places are in collaboration to control your spending. Finally the coach arrived and the next section of the trip took another 3 hours. We were all glad to see the bus turn off at Surat Thani however to our misery, we were dropped off again at another local restaurant/internet café/travel agent/newsagent and made wait for another 1 ½ hours for yet another bus.

Spirits were dampened even further by the arrival of a ‘chicken bus’. This bus was probably 30 years old, was kitted out with wooden floorboards with holes and non-operating electric fans pinned to the ceiling and a maximum speed of 50kph. We were all looking forward to escaping from this wreck and on to our promised ‘fast-ferry’ to Ko Phangan. Upon arrival at the ferry port we weren’t even surprised to be greeted by a rusty old car ferry that was anything but fast. The only positive thing to come out of this trip was the sunset at the end of the day (see photo below). The whole journey had taken us over 13 hours when we were promised by a travel operator/ restaurant/internet café /newsagent that it would only take 7. We’re all pining for the Hummer and are really missing him at this stage. Hopefully he’s safe and sound on the boat somewhere between Darwin and Singapore.

Sunset on Boat to Ko Phangan

Ko Phangan is really a party island and hedonist paradise. The main town, Haad Rin and it’s beach is the location for the infamous Full Moon Parties. We will be lucky enough to have 2 during our stay here, one on Christmas Eve and another on New Years Eve. These parties have anywhere between 6 and 15 thousand partiers. Every night in between these parties is also crazy on Haad Rin and needless to say, upon arrival and check-in to our beach hut, we headed straight out to polish off a few buckets and party with people from all over the world. Finto was the second victim of the runs on the trip and was bed-ridden for the night which was probably for the best since tomorrow is Christmas Eve and nobody wants to miss the full moon party.

DAY 20 - KO PHI PHI DAY 5

After a heavy night we took it easy for our last day on the island. most of the day was spent at the beach and back in the hut watching movies and reading. One of the DVDs was a documentary about the Tsunami and it really brought home the extent of what occurred here.
We were pleasantly surprised to hear that due to elections, no alcohol could be bought on the island. This cancelled out any possibility of a long hungover day of travelling which suited us all perfectly.

To say the least we’ve been thoroughly impressed during our stay on Ko Phi Phi with the predominantly female Scandinavian population on the island which is adding to our excitement about our Scandinavian leg of the drive!

DAY 19 - KO PHI PHI DAY 4 - MAYA BAY

The Boys on 'The Beach'

We woke up in late morning and decided to take a day trip to Ko Phi Phi Leh, made famous as the setting for the movie ‘The Beach’. After bartering with a local long boat driver, we organised a package deal including cliff diving that would take us over to the island for a few hours.
First we scooted over to the other side of the main island to do the cliff diving. Dave obviously didn’t partake due to the double whammy of his two worst fears, deep water and heights. Getting to the 30ft cliff top was an ordeal in itself with sharp coral and rock. The jump was an instant hangover killer and we all felt great after it, except Dave!

Then it was off to The Beach. After a short stop at a random cave which we no idea why we were brought to, we entered the breathtaking Maya Bay. The bay is an enclave shrouded by massive cliff faces with a small outlet to the sea. See video below.

On landing, we were all hoping to spot Leonardo Di Caprio himself chilling out but were instead greeted by a Park Ranger who demanded 200 Bat each for coming to the beach. We’re still not sure if he was officially working for anybody! We messed around in the crystal clear water for a few hours and met a bunch of Aussies from Melbourne who we would later go out on the jar with at Hippies Bar till the wee hours.

DAY 18 - KO PHI PHI DAY 3

Another chilled out day on the beach for the Crazy Journey boys. This time Chuck, Rhys and Fintan went to Long Beach on the Southwest end of the island for the day whilst Dave stayed in bed trying to get rid of his food poisoning.

In the evening, the lads went for a fish dinner in a restaurant by the beach. The food was good but the pong from the drains underneath us put us off our it completely. Fintan's lobster which was prepared from tank to plate in a matter of minutes.

Funny the things you find on the streets of Phi Phi. Everyone's needs are catered for. The Irish have certainly left their mark on this tiny island in the middle of the Andamen Sea. We saw Thai locals wearing Irish football jerseys and a sign in a local bar saying Ceaud Mile Failte, bad spelling but not a bad effort!

After dinner we all went for a few drinks in Carlito's Beach Bar. This bar is chilled out with loads of chairs and tables by the beach.

DAY 17 - KO PHI PHI DAY 2

We all got up and chilled on the beach for most of the day. The skies were cloudy which meant that the effect of the sun was deceiving and some of us ended up with sunburn. Later we saw the spectacular sunset over Maya Beach.

Sunset over Maya Beach

In the evening, we wandered around town checking out all the useless stuff for sale in the stalls. We saw plenty of people getting tattooed using the traditional bamboo method. The sight of this caused Dave and Rhys to bog themselves as they intend to get one in our next stop, Ko Phangan.

The Infamous Thai Buckets

At night, we all went to party in Carlito's Beach Bar. It was a great atmosphere and we met people from all over the world. Fintan experienced his first Thai 'bucket'. These are a concoction of your own choosing mixed into a small bucket which you drink out of. Anyone who has been to Thailand knows all to well about these drinks! Dave made an early escape as he is the first one to fall ill on the trip with the runs. We were taking bets for how long this would take to happen and have no doubts that this will be the first of many times considering the water and food quality in some of the countries we are visiting.

DAY 16 - PHUKET TO KO PHI PHI

Dave and Fintan on Ko Phi Phi Don

We all had an early start at Patong Beach in order to get ourselves onto a boat for Ko Phi Phi Island. This was an absolute struggle after our night at Aussie and Puma bar. Dave and Finto as usual led the charge, while Rhys was at his morning finest. It is truly a scary creature to behold and we are all becoming experts at the fine art of coaxing it from bed against its will!

Dave at Patong Beach

Patong Beach is quite a hectic place with non-stop offers for the infamous ‘ping-pong’ shows, massages, go-go dancers, taxis and anything else the locals can sell to you. These guys don’t seem to understand the word no which got to us all a bit. As well as this, the taxi, tuk-tuk and scooter drivers just seem to continuously beep their horns for no apparent reason adding to the madness. As far as we know, this is quite the norm throughout Asia so we better start getting used to it! While the place is interesting we were all really excited about getting on the ship to Ko Phi Phi.

The Phi Phi Islands are located between the large island of Phuket and the western Andaman coast of the mainland. There are two islands, Ko Phi Phi Don which is the larger and Ko Phi Phi Leh which is smaller and uninhabited. Ko Phi Phi Leh was the backdrop for the movie The Beach. We are planning a day trip there during our stay.

The boat journey was an hour and a half from Phuket and this time wasn’t wasted one bit with plenty of bronzing being achieved and Dave putting in a lot of early spade work with some girls from Liverpool that are also staying on the island, it just never stops!

Chuck organized us some great accommodation when we arrived and we wasted no time getting down to the beautiful Long beach for a swim. It was really bizarre swimming there and picturing that exact spot as one of the worst affected areas from the Tsunami disaster in 2004. It was really hard to comprehend this calm beach as being completely wiped out by an 18ft wave and imagining that all the buildings such as restaurants and hotels around us have all been rebuilt since the disaster. By the end of July 2005, an estimated 850 bodies had been recovered from the island and an estimated 1,200 people are still missing. The total number of fatalities is unlikely to be known however local tour guides cite the figure of 4,000. By the end of July 2005, 23,000 tonnes of debris had been removed from the island, of which 7,000 tonnes had been cleared by hand. Today, nearly 1,500 hotel rooms were open, and a tsunami early warning alarm system had been installed by the Thai government. We all find the whole place to be really peaceful with no cars or scooters present at all on the island and a much less aggressive attitude from local sellers.

Dave Freaking out at the possibility of another Tsunami!

DAY 15 - SINGAPORE AND PATONG BEACH

Rhys in front of the Singapore skyline

We arrived in Singapore today at 4am after a 4 hour flight from Darwin. With sleepy heads we left the airport in a cab en route for Orchard Gardens Suites. Thanks to Alex Garling and the Garling family for kindly offering us their suite for the day in Singapore. Upon arrival we all hit the sack for a few hours with a long day of tying up loose ends upon the conclusion of the Australian leg of the trip.

Rhys' uncle was in town for the week on business and took us for breakfast and a coffee. Afterwards he kindly showed us around a city we all found quite impressive and high-rise at first glances. It's exciting for us now that the Australian leg of the trip is over as now, out of our comfort zone the real adventure seems to be starting. Most of the day was spent exploring downtown Singapore and glancing through shops before returning home and starting to work out some last minute logistical issues in regards to packages and parcels we need sent from Australia to be waiting upon our return from the next two weeks in Thailand. While Dave and Finto went searching for computer hardware that would make posting and uploading videos and pics easier, Rhys and Chuck caught up on sleep and went for a late lunch before heading off to the airport for our 7.30pm departure for Phuket.

Initial fears of missing the flight due to peak hour traffic passed thanks to some 'aggressive' driving on behalf of our taxi driver and upon arrival at Changi airport we passed time exploring what can only be described as one of the most amazing airports in the world. A gymnasium, full size swimming pool and on site cinema are just a few of the luxuries that are at the disposal of the in transit passenger within this complex and it wasn't difficult to wait out the 2.5 hours till boarding time.

I wish I could say the flight was smooth but in truth during the course of takeoff, air time and especially the landing Rhys and Dave especially shared a genuine concern that the apparent inexperience of the pilot may in fact lead to us not making it to Thailand in one piece. Nonetheless after a shaky landing we arrived in Phuket for what will no doubt be a relaxing 2 weeks.

Upon arrival in Phuket, Chuck ran into a very serious complication at the airport. having had to pre-arrange visas for the entry to Thailand over land which we expect to be a few weeks from now it was essential for all of us to not have this visa stamped on entry (most nations can gain a visa on arrival to Thailand if entering by plane, however overland one MUST have their visa pre-bought and organised otherwise entry is denied). Lost in translation, the customs official managed to stamp this visa on Chuck's passport, an enormous problem that wasn't received too warmly. After a half hour conversation the issue was seemingly resolved by the officer simply crossing out the 'used' stamp and essentially telling us we will be fine. It will be interesting to see how this pans out, having all been to Thailand before and all been in direct contact with the bureaucracy it could prove quite an issue when reentering later this month.

With no pre-booked accommodation we jumped in a cab for Patong Beach to see what we could organise. Given the popularity of Thailand this time of year this was no easy feat and took longer than we expected. However by 10pm we were finally booked in to some 'simple' accommodation and after a late meal we went for a walk around to take in the sights. Having visited the Australian bar we were keen to get away from a scene where everywhere we went we were hassled by every passer by as to weather we wanted to buy an assortment of completely useless paraphernalia, and have an early night in prep for the next days boat ride to Ko Phi Phi.

The Boys At Puma Bar

On the way back to the hotel, we passed none other than the 'Puma Bar' and had to stop in for a look. Dave has developed the nickname 'the puma' for a variety of reasons along the trip so far (from his seemingly cat-like ability to climb trees and puma-like prowess on nights out) and for us this was a must stop to look in and check out the action. All in all it was an interesting start the the Asian leg of the trip with an action packed day. No doubt the next weeks action will hopefully make for some interesting stories.

AUSTRALIAN ROUNDUP

Australian Routemap Summary. 4,804 Kilometres, 13 days

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Thus concludes the Australian leg of the trip, one which has been characterised by long drives, many media commitments and a vast array of landscapes, some of which totally unique to a country we will now be away from for quite some time. Many interesting people have been met and at this point we are excited to push on into less familiar territory. So far, AUD $5,400 has been raised for AWARE prior to significant donations from AussieBum still to come. While this is a decent start we are hoping to boost this over the coming months leading into Central Asia and Europe. Any interest for further donation visit the website, remember these are not big charities and every dollar helps. 10 000 people donating only $10 would mean $100,000 for a great cause and a charity that has great potential to benefit the lives of many within the community.

DAY 14 - DARWIN TO SINGAPORE

Finto at Darwin Airport

The Australian leg of CrazyJourney ended today. After our eviction from the YHA for being an hour late for checkout, the morning was spent organising phones for roaming and sending last minute emails.

In the afternoon the boys spent a few hours by the pool in the YHA. However, the humidity was so uncomfortable that most time was spent in the bug infested pool cooling off. Chuck suggested the cinema as a 'cooler' place to pass the time. So we all bundled into the cinema to see The Assassination of Jesse James. This choice couldn't have been worse! First of all, the cinema's air conditioner was set to full blast so we were all shivering before the movie even started. To top it off, Jesse James proved to be slow, uneventful and abstract beyond our freezing bodies abilities to comprehend. It got to the extent where Dave was pleading with Fintan to get up in front of the cinema and tell jokes to liven up the place.

After the movie, the goosebumped boys grabbed a cab and bailed to the airport for their midnight flight. Next stop Singapore!

DAY 13 - DARWIN DAY 3

Finto gets ready for his first skydive

Day 13 began with a phonecall to Fintan. It was the TopEnd Tandem Skydive people notifying him that they had one free available slot for a jump today. Fintan accepted without much hesitation and before he knew it, he was about to jump out of a plane, 8,000ft in the air over Darwin. The video of the skydive can be seen below. Notice the terrified look on Finto's face moments before he jumps...classic!

PART 2 of the Video can be seen here

Nothing much else to report from the CrazyJourney boys today. We're all getting a bit sick of Darwin and the inescapable humidity. The rest of the day was spent replying to a huge amount of emails we recieved and chilling out in advance of tomorrow's flight to Singapore.

DAY 12 - DARWIN DAY 2

We were up early for a live interview at the Hot 100 FM studio in Darwin followed by a newspaper interview and photo shoot for a local newspaper at Shenannigan’s Irish pub on Mitchell Street in Darwin. We all then set off on a long day of organisation as it would be the last weekday we are in Australia.

A trip to the bank was needed to pay the balance owed to our Chinese travel agency. China has logistically been the most difficult part of the trip to organize. It is compulsory for a guide to be with us 24 hours a day and we cannot stray off a predetermined route. Also the Hummer must be fitted with Chinese license plates and Dave even needs to be issued a Chinese drivers license! Bureaucracy at its finest! The travel agencies know that only they can provide this service and that travelers like us with a vehicle have no other choice but to go through China as the only other possible route is via Burma which is impossible, this explains their exorbitant prices charged for these services meaning that China is by far the most pricey part of the drive for us to organize.

After this we sadly had to say goodbye to the car as we left it with the shipping company that will be sending it over to Singapore for us. Needless to say paper work was not in order and customs were too busy to stamp the Carnet which needs to be left with them and then posted to us later in Singapore. We were also told the car would be too big to fit in a container with the spot lights and roof rack still attached. Dave and Rhys had to get very blokey (which they are anything but!) and remove them while at the port. This is all presumably just a taste of the logistical nightmares that will no doubt ensue in much less organized ports and borders.

We are currently in the middle of the wet season in Darwin and the humidity is unbearable. Hot humid air combined with rain clouds creates intense storms in this region. In the evening we witnessed the ‘lightning capital of Australia’ live up to its name. See video below.

In the evening, we hit the town with Dave and Rhys‘ Uni mates from Darwin. Unfortunately Darwin nightclubs have a no flip-flop policy for blokes. Flip-flop clad Finto and Dave had packed all their shoes in the Hummer so a bit of shoe smuggling was undertaken by Dave’s mate Bianca in order to get into Discovery Nightclub for a night of partying.

DAY 11 – THREE WAYS TO DARWIN

Hummer Meets Bush Fire

A very early start was necessary for us in order to get to Darwin for a reasonable hour, so we hit the road at 7am on a 960km slog to Darwin. Our first stop was the aboriginal community of Elliot. We met an interesting old Aboriginal man who was in awe of the Hummer and wished us well on our way.

Throughout our inland stretch, we have come across a diverse range of rural landscapes but today was one of the most interesting. On the horizon roughly 100kms outside Elliot, we began to notice huge plumes of smoke on the skyline. As we approached we were met by vast stretches of burnt land some of which was still smoldering by the roadside. It was quite and eerie feeling, especially with the flocks of hawks circling in the sky above. Dave had an interesting firefighting solution (see video below).

After a few more hours driving, our entrance to the tropics became evident by the increasingly tropical green surroundings. Breaks for petrol were kept short because of the sheer heat and humidity outside. Upon arrival in Darwin, the car stank of sweat. We checked into the YHA in Darwin. You know you’re in a hot climate when the cold tap in the shower is hot!

After a Thai dinner…, the boys took it easy, played some poker and the sack for a big day of organisation tomorrow.

Day 11 Routemap - Click for Details

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DAY 10 - MT ISA TO THREEWAYS

The Hummer reaches the Northern Territory

We left slightly later than anticipated allowing Rhys and Chuck to get perhaps more of a feeling for ‘The Isa’ than they would have preferred. We reckon that Mt. Isa must be one of the only cities in the world that has postcards produced of it with large chimnies pumping out smoke on them! Needless to say the guys were keen to push on for the barren red centre of Australia en route to Darwin.

Davo Loves Mt.ISA

Mt. Eyesore! (a common sight throughout the city)

While passing through one of the remote parts of the world we took a brief stop at the border between Australia's Northern Territory and Queensland states, which left us feeling like we were anywhere except on this planet, surrounding us were desolate plains as far as the eye can see with not a single sign of life. We began to argue on where to stop next, originally we had planned to stop at Tenant Creek but started to speculate on the merit of trying to kick right on to Katherine or one of the other stops closer to Darwin.

As time went on and darkness settled (frustrations at rural petrol prices in excess of $1.90 per litre were also mounting) we decided to call it a night at Three Ways after last nights driving and on the advice of some travellers who had been heading south from Darwin and brought to our attention the threat of cattle wandering onto the road in the darkness and the ever present threat of kangaroos especially further north where the rain has been kindling fresh grass patches very close to the highway. Despite the size of the Hummer, any collision with a roo or any form of cattle would have been potentially fatal and the risk seemed to great given we could easily rise early the next day and get to Darwin in one solid 10 hour hit.

The decision to stay in this lonely little 'town', also known as the "Crossroads of Australia" (literally one roadhouse with caravans out the back and a small pub within the building) proved far more interesting and exciting than we could have previously imagined. After a brief rest in the room we wandered back to the roadhouse for a bit of dinner. It was here Rhys bumped into a mate from high school who was similarly passing through albeit in the opposite direction. Truly a small world phenomenon.

Here we enjoyed a chat and a laugh with Tim, his mate Dan and a small crew of locals and another interesting personality; a road train driver by the name of ‘Turbo’. Turbo proved to be a source of great entertainment, his tales of driving 360 tonne road trains, his travels within Australia; his involvement in the American 'Special Forces' during Black Hawk Down in Somalia as well as the first Iraq War even though he had a thick Australian accent; his skills with the 'Gillaroos' and the origins of his nickname seemed to allude to having fitted an awful lot into so few years not to mention, he weighed nearly 20 stone!! Needless to say the night ended with us hitting the sack early having had a good few laughs and a long, early start impending in the morning.

DAY 10 Route: Click on Map For Details

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DAY 9 - TOWNSVILLE TO MT ISA

Middle of Nowhere!!!

We were up early to sadly leave Magnetic Island, but before boarding the ferry we did a photoshoot for Base Backpackers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Base for their hospitality. Its really an awesome location and really well run backpackers. A special shout out to JJ the manager for looking after us.

Go Raibh Míle Base Backpackers

From Townsville, we started a long 900k slog through the outback to Mt Isa. At times we found ourselves literally in the middle of nowhere in the searing heat with nothing to see for miles in any direction except for the odd 50metre road train. One of the small townlands we encountered was Hughenden a small town 300kms west of Townsville. We stopped there for lunch at the Holden Cafe for what are arguably the best burgers in Australia.

In the evening we passed through Cloncurry. Cloncurry is widely regarded as holding the record for the highest temperature recorded in Australia at 53.1 °C on 16th January 1889. We passed through at around 8pm and our thermometer was reading 34°C.

The Hummer outside Cloncurry

As darkness fell, bumpy roads and kangaroos were the least of our worries. Huge 2 tonne black and almost Camouflage Bulls were grazing on the sides of the road. We were told later in a radio interview that these were the cause of numerous deaths every year. On top of this we had to deal with some crazy road train drivers. These vehicles are so long that on occasion their rear ends can cut across lanes in the road. We found this out the hard way when we needed to swerve off the road to avoid an oncoming road train that had veered into our lane. The combination of these two dangers made for an intense drive into Mt Isa.

‘You’re not a real Aussie till you’ve been to Mt Isa!' - States the greeting sign for Mt.Isa. We found it hard to understand this statement. Did it mean that all real Aussies need to be miners? Essentially Mt Isa is one giant mining town and can be described as anything but scenic. Coming into the city by night, it looked like one giant factory with smoke bellowing from massive chimneys. Thousands of men come here to work in the Copper and Zinc mines and the city has a 75% male population. Arriving in late, the boys went straight to bed...

Day 9 Route - Click on Map for Details

DAY 8 - MAGNETIC ISLAND DAY 3

Satellite Image of the Great Barrier Reef

It was an early start for Dave and Fintan for their Great Barrier Reef trip. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400sq km. The reef is home to over 1,500 species of fish and six species of turtles so the Irish lads couldn’t miss this opportunity. We travelled with SunSea Cruises to Kelso Reef for the day. In the morning Fintan had his first scuba dive with his Sicilian instructor Enzo, an absolute legend diver and marine biologist who was wooing the other female dive students with his Sicilian charm. In fact all of the crew were great fun and really friendly.

In the afternoon, Dave eventually faced his one of his worst fear (deep water...although he has many) and went on a snorkel of the reef after a lot of persuasion from Fintan as well as the crew. He was bogging himself for the first while but eventually settled in nicely, doggie-paddling around the reef clad in his stinger suit and fluoro life-jacket. Sight for sore eyes! The boys saw their share of fluoro reef fish and eventually found 'Nemo' (the clownfish). In fact, the boys felt like they were right back in a Sydney funboy nightclub with all the fluoro surrounding them!!!

Scene from the Great Barrier Reef / Sydney Funboy Nightclub!!!

In the evening, Dave rested to remedy his 'throat of nails' illness whilst the lads went to the western point of the island for sunset with JJ and Kat from Base Backpackers. After a delicious fresh fish and steak dinner, the boys went back to the backpackers for another chilled night.

Sunset on Magnetic Island

DAY 7 - MAGNETIC ISLAND DAY 2

Red Baron Taking Off

Another cracking day on Magnetic Island. Finto was up early to bask in the sun by the pool. Once the lads were up, we travelled to Horseshoe Bay on the North side of the island for some lunch and a swim in the sea.

Horseshoe Bay has a beautiful beach and is filled with activities such as jetskis, sailing boats and a sea-plane tour called the Red Baron. Fintan went over to enquire about the plane ride and the pilot had seen the CrazyJourney news reports on TV and offered him a free trip over to Townsville. Fintan jumped at the idea and next thing he knew, he was taking off from the water.
In the meantime, Dave and Rhys went for a swim in the netted area, where it’s ‘safe’ from killer jellyfish. Dave reluctantly agreed for a dip despite his irrational fear of water. Rhys took amusement in this by freaking Dave out claiming there was a jellyfish close behind him. Dave looked to the area where Rhys had pointed only to actually find a real killer jellyfish right beside him. Needless to say we’ve never seen Dave run so fast to the shore! Rhys mentioned this to the lifeguard but to our surprise the lifeguard said the nets only stop the big killer jellyfish, not all of them.

The Beautiful Base Backpackers on Magnetic Island

In the evening, Base Backpackers hooked all residents up with a BBQ and the craic was had meeting and talking with travellers from all over the world! Fintan found a group of Irish travelers who were gobsmacked about the journey and encouraged him to email Ray D’Arcy (the popular Irish radio presenter) about it. Dave and Fintan went to bed early as they both needed to get up early for their trip to the Great Barrier Reef in the morning. Good Times!

DAY 6 - TOWNSVILLE AND MAGNETIC ISLAND

Yet another early start for CrazyJourney! We had to leave Airlie Beach at 9.30am to get to Townsville for another round of media interviews. Townsville had been previously described to us a bit of an eyesore but to our surprise, Queensland’s second largest city provided us with some beautiful sea views and delicious seafood at a restaurant on the Strand Road.

Killer Jellyfish are a huge problem for people travelling to this region during summer months. Box and Irukandji Jellyfish can be lethal and since records began, over 100 people have been killed in Queensland from jellyfish stings. Josh, a diver from Magnetic Island gives the boys an idea of the jellyfish problem in the video below. So unfortunately the boys couldn’t swim in the sea but managed to find a lagoon for a quick dip in their AussieBum kit.

From there it was off to Magnetic Island, a 52km² mountainous Island just 8kms out to sea from Townsville. The name of the island came about because of the apparent "magnetic" effect it had on the ship's compass of Captain Cook as he passed the island when sailing up the east coast of Australia in 1770. FantaSea Cruises hooked us up with a return journey over, thanks guys! Upon arrival we headed to Base Backpackers which can only be described as one of the best located Backpackers in Australia, with stunning sea views and chalet rooms right by the shore.

Base sorted us out with food and drinks to kick off a brilliant night under the stars. We were entertained by Poi Jugglers on the beach (see video below) and enjoyed the company of JJ, the Canadian manager of Base, Magnetic Island for some quality food and a few beers for the sunset. We are happy to have the opportunity to kick it in such a great place with the great company of the staff at Base who have been phenomenal. We are looking forward to a few days relaxing in the sun before setting off for Mt. Isa a few days from now.

Day 6 Route Map: Click on Image for Details

DAY 5 - BRISBANE TO AIRLIE BEACH

Dave finds the source of the smell in Evolution Nightclub, Airlie Beach

The day started with Fintan and Chuck being woken up at 7am by a Channel 10 news crew who managed to get into their rooms and film their groggy bed heads. This rude awakening was followed by a TV interview which will be aired on Monday on Channel 10’s Morning Show. Chuck was delighted after the ordeal with a free Coffee in Coffee2Go on Ann Street.

So far we have met some pretty interesting characters on the journey so far. One of these is a guy called Dave, an absolute legend we chatted to as we were leaving Brisbane. The guy claims to ‘be Viagra’ and had no problems showing us his random calf muscles. Watch this space for his video interview.

We then departed on a Monster 1,000km Drive Brisbane to Airlie Beach. We truly underestimated the length of the trip which had us driving for over 14 hours. Driving was split between Dave, Chuck and Fintan with Dave steering home the last 3 hour hell section in pitch darkness. Keanu Reeves cheesiness in Point Break kept the boys entertained for a few hours on the way.

Sleepy Heads + Stuffy Car = Petty Arguments. This time it was a proposal by Fintan for a ‘song of the day’ which was slated by the rest of the group. ‘Negotiations’ are ongoing for a ‘song of the week’, however Fintan seems to be losing all hope.

We eventually arrived in Airlie beach at 12.30am where the guys at Beaches Backpackers kindly hooked us up with a place to stay for the night. From there it was to the bar for a few beers with Simon from Base Backpackers and Sallie from Beaches. A few pints and some laughs meant that overall a great night was had. Airlie Beach Nightlife is an experience in itself. We decided to go to ‘Evolution’ nightclub for a look but were greeted by a half empty, foul smelling club with cheesy dance music and smoke machines. Maybe it was the random sandal Dave found on the Dancefloor that stunk the place out. Time for bed!

Day 5 Route Map: Click for Details

DAY 4 - BRISBANE

CrazyJourney Boys Outside the Casino in Brisbane

As usual, the Irish boys were up early this morning in preparation for a charity event in Brisbane. However for the Aussies, it was a different story. The 2 groggy messes struggled to emerge from their nests so Finto had to encourage Rhys with a glass of water to the ear. The monster reacted with a flurry of exotic language to the amusement of Finto and Dave!

We said a quick goodbye to Ish who was off to an exam. We’ll see him again in Singapore very soon where he will also be putting us up.

We then drove two hours to Brisbane for a charity event organized by Andrew from the Mental Health Education Board of Australia. Andrew organized with Brisbane council for the car to be positioned in the busiest pedestrian area of Brisbane’s city centre. We were met by representatives from various Mental Illness groups from Queensland and did a short interview for Channel 10. It was really encouraging to get such a positive response from some people who had experienced mental illness. In particular, one man named Anthony had flown down from Townsville to meet us. He had suffered mental illness and an alcohol addiction which left him on the streets living rough and picking through bins to eat. However with support he was able to turn his life around and is now working in construction and writing poetry in his spare time. He has promised to write a poem that we can post on the site. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew for organizing this event and showing support and interest CrazyJourney.

Following the event, we checked into Palace Backpackers on the corner of Ann and Edward Street. This backpackers is also owned by the Base backpackers group who are one of our donors and they kindly arranged free accommodation for the four of us for the night. Having all previously stayed in many backpackers we all agreed that it was top rate, especially the mad bar in the basement!

After a brief meeting with representatives from the ABC we then went on a hunt for camping gear. On the journey, we are going to encounter some of the harshest conditions on the planet, so specialized tents, jackets and sleeping bags are essential. AussieBum provided us with the cash needed for the gear and we were given a great deal by the boys at Globe Trekker Camping on 142 Albert St (http://www.globetrekker.com.au/). Thanks a lot guys!

US and the Guys from Globe Trekker Camping

We received news of yet more media interviews in Townsville from our PR guru Liz Courtney. This meant yet another early rise on Sat morning which Rhys and Chuck were not happy about. This of course developed into a heated debate where the frustrations of a hectic few days driving and meeting deadlines emerged. However after two pints that evening all was resolved between us.

For the night we decided to head to the busy Valley District and ended up having a great time in Family Nightclub where Muscles was playing (http://www.myspace.com/musclesmusic). Check out our videos at his gig below. The place was packed with Brisbane’s finest and Dave was struggling to make progress with one girl until she realized she had seen him on the news that night! Z-List celebrities in action! Dave is still disputing that this had anything to do with it and claims that she was interested long before she realized. The night ended with the looming of a 7am wake up interview for channel ten’s morning show….. should be interesting. And the story continues.

Day 4 Route Map - Click on Map for more Details:

Quote of the Day: “We’re by far the best looking guys in here”

(Rhys Baker in the Brisbane Backpackers Bar)

DAY 3 - SURFERS PARADISE???

Surfers Paradise? The Crazy Journey boys beg to differ. The lads woke up to a thunder storm today in surfers. It rained heavily all day, thus preventing any daytime activites. The lads resorted to a day in Palais D'Ish, the 'King of India!', a good mate of the lads from Sydney Uni. The lads worked on their blog, organised further media events, planned some logistics and prepared for a big day in Brisbane tomorrow.

Ish, Dave and Finto

Ish has been a terrific host and we ended the day by him bringing us for a few beers in town. We ended up in Bedroom Nightclub and although noone will believe us, we were completely surprised to find out there was a bikini contest on! Needless to say that we were over the moon!

Dave up to usual antics with the Bedroom Nightclub waitress!

The boys need to be up early to get to Brisbane by 11am in preparation for a Mental Illness awareness event put on for the Crazyjourney arrival in the Brisbane CBD at midday. It is predicted that several hundred people are expected to attend. We have been informed that the event will have live bands and a host of prominent politicians present so it looks set to be a great awareness raising function. In the afternoon, the boys have even more TV interviews before they crash out courtesy of Base Backpackers, a crazy journey donor, in Brisbane tomorrow night.

Next Stop Brisbane!

DUBLIN METRO ARTICLE

Click on Photo for Detailed article:

IRISH ECHO ARTICLE

Click on article to read

Sydney Morning Herald Article

Click on pic for article

Irish Times Article

Click on the pic above...Irish Times article

DAY 2 - BYRON BAY

Our second day started early with a few rough heads, more tv interviews, this time for NBN.

Stress of an early start from a late night showed, tired and hungry we got at each other for a while over dawdling and a general lack of organisation. After a brief trip to the bank and a quick lunch Fintan went for a surf while the other boys lay on main beach and took in the scenery. Dave was up to his usual antics, chasing the best main beach could offer. Needless to say upon reuniting tempers had been tamed and the time was deemed right to head north to the Gold Coast.

Before leaving we met an absolute legend by the name of Johnnie, travelling with his dog Matilda. Jonnie lives in his camper van and travels Australia working in mines from NSW to the NT and everywhere in between. The fog horn on his combi van put ours to shame and he begged us to take him onboard for the drive. Top bloke, video of him to follow.

During the drive to Surfers Paradise we received some great news from Melissa at Base Backpackers who are making a donation towards the cause and are going to look after us in Townsville and Magnetic Island. Prospects are getting brighter by the day.

We have been pleasantly surprised about the response we've been getting from the trip so far. People have sent us some touching emails about their own experiences and how important it is to them to raise awareness about these issues.

Put up in the 'Palais du Ishpal', we have welcomed the opportunity to settle down on a couch with an old mate and relax after the hectic start to the trip. Ish, Dave and Finto plan to head into town for a few beers while Rhys and Chucky are taking it easy, recharging and sleeping off a bit of overexposure to the Byron Bay Sun. Stay tuned, much more to come. So far...... So good.

Map of Day 2 Route - Click on Map for more Details:

CRAZY JOURNEY ON THE NEWS

This is the LiveNews.com.au News Report on the Crazy Journey Departure

DAY 1 - MEDIA HYPE

It Begins!

The CrazyJourney team embarked on their adventure from the Sydney Opera House yesterday after a long morning of media interviews. Reporters from Channel 7, Channel 10, Livenews.com.au and photographers the Australian Associated Press flocked to the Opera House where family and friends of the four lads said their goodbyes. Check out one of the interviews:

Live News Australia here

Channel 7's report here

Yesterday was a marathon drive from Sydney to Byron Bay. Surprisingly it rained for most of the trip so sight-seeing was put on the backburner. Rhys and Chuck took the 9 hour drive as an opportunity to catch up on a bit of sleep, and Fintan spent much of the day fielding interviews for radio and various print media. Arriving late in the evening the lads got a quick kebab (only place open but surprisingly tasty!) and then hit a local bar for a few beers. A few beers turned into a few more and Dave was last seen climbing trees with a fellow Irishman (from county Kerry) and a security guard from a local pub on the main street of Byron.

Map of First Day's Route - Click on Map for Details:

THE CRAZYJOURNEY ROUTE: