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    <title>The adventure starts and continues</title>
    <description>The adventure starts and continues</description>
    <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/</link>
    <pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 23:14:37 GMT</pubDate>
    <generator>World Nomads Adventures</generator>
    <item>
      <title>Ao Nang Thailand</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Well that was a pretty full on day the young bloke shaeshana who skimmed me for a few bucks yesterday must of either had a bit of a guilt trip or he was thinking oh well i owe this bloke something either way the few bucks it cost me yesterday were more than payed back in information and language training and tonight he took me to the locals favourite fishing spot and i must admit it was a pretty damn spectactular spot to fish, ill lob down there at some stage tomorrow and get a few photos ot it. We didnt have much luck but it was very nice to be relaxing beach fishing surrounded by such awesome nature, when you see the photos you will understand what I mean. Sheshana is jsut a young bloke he actually speaks as good as english as any one ive come across surprising really i thought there woudl be more that could speak the english language but when you see how many euros are around here I guess its only understandable, Ive only been here two days and im yet to meet another Australian and only came across a few irish and one english guy the rest are scandinavian Russian or whatever the hell they are.&lt;br /&gt;Shaeshana put me onto this waterfall national park was about 50 k’s from here so was a pretty good hike on the step through but was pretty nice but you know how it is you seen one waterfall you’ve seen them all lol took a few pics it was pretty nice but nothing compared to where I was fishign this afternoon and night.&lt;br /&gt;while I was out there I dropped into one of the elehant safari parks they really are awesome creatures got right up close and personal with them i tbink in comparison to African elephants they are pretty small so not overvly threatenign but i wouldnt want to be sat on by one of them.&lt;br /&gt;from there I just crusied home had a look to try and find one of the many cave walks with no luck. at one stage i went down a road to find it ended up in some remote field with a few guys workign ion a plantation funny but they seemed pretty friendly, phet yang nang baang or what ever it is spelt like and I was gettign smiles back its just “hi hows it going” they were orobably thinkign what the fuc k is this bloke on on a step throughmotorcycle in some remote paddock lol Shaeshana has told me about the tiget cave sounds pretty impressive but a hard days climbing whetehr i make it or not will be seen might give somethign liek that a few days to build up to it im actually feelig a little sore tonight.&lt;br /&gt;Anyway wedidnt hav3e any luck fishing but as I said it was really nice and relaxing, as you can imagine the equipment he is using is pretty shit so splurge out and by a fishign rod they had the telescoping ones i was goign to get for my trip anyway and there only like 280 baqht so less thanb 10 bucks then again a really top notch reel is only cheap so might spurge and get somethign decent then leave it as a gift when i go if he doesent rip me again lol&lt;br /&gt;the only other noticable things i did today was ring logan was nice to hear his voice and I poated him a postcard and i was lucky enought o say a quick hello to him when i logged into facebook for the brief moment i was online.&lt;br /&gt;All in all a pretty good day its funny how more friendly the people are when you are lookign like you are stayign more than 24 hours as is the case so often in places like this.&lt;br /&gt;so now im goign to roll over and relax then crash im pretty stuffed arrievaderchi &lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69516/Thailand/Ao-Nang-Thailand</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Thailand</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69516/Thailand/Ao-Nang-Thailand</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 03:03:00 GMT</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Day &amp;gt;</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today got up to leave Patong for Ao Nang so jsut went for a walk on the beach and grabbed some bacon and eggs for brekkie as I wasnt sure when i was going to be eating again. The lift to the port came at 12 and off to the ferry we went very nice russian girl sittign next to me couldnt speak a word of english but her son was jsut sayign massage massage all the time was pretty funny that a little kids first words of english are massage massage lol&lt;br /&gt;The ferry ride was pretty cruisy just sat out on the deck the sky is really hazey over here i dont know if its a heat haze or jsut outright pollution but you cant see more than like a few ks into the distance. The ferry took about 2 hours by the time it stopped at Rawai beach whioch looks pretty spectacular itself maybe on the way back ill stop for a nigfht i think its a little expensive there. Got off the ferry and caught a tuk tuk down the main drag and walked down a lane way and got accomdation at the second place I ask, costing me 550 baht so about 18 bucks its not to bad im sure i could find cheaper if i ventured further afield.&lt;br /&gt;Got a bike and went for a ride and jsut cruised around found a coup,le of little dirt tracks and thought ill head off in that direction towards this pretty impressive rock formation though theose things are everywhere I found this pretty out of the way resort hardly anyone around and stopped in to have a look around 15 hundred baht on special usually 3500 a night that over a 100 bucks aussie so very upper class for here, you would probably classify it as 4 star if not close to 5 very nice but very out of the way and I think they still have some work to do on the beaches etc but its only just opened so when its done im sure it will be very nice.&lt;br /&gt;I travelled further up the dirt road and deteriorated to a goat track and insteaqd of turning back i pushed on. It was up and down and gettign steeper with every bend then came to a really steep part and was trying to video and had to go to two hands as it was really steep and jsut as I did the bike stop going forward and startred sliding backwards down this quite impressive hill lol oh well as Im not that good at sliding backwards down a steep hill in rutted soft gravel and you guessed it i had my first lose nothing to impressive jsut dropped her on its side, fortunalty not to much damage but a few scratches so when i got back and talked to the young guy running the bikes and he said you get money and we know mention it to the boss, so I handed over some money, a few bucks no big deal then in the morning the guy that owned the bike we came out and said you drop the bike so had a chat to him and we came to an agreement of 280 baht about 9 bucks for the damage lol i didnt mention the few bucks Id paid to the young bloke though in reality he ripped me off he only earns 5000 baht a month so not goign to make a big deal of it all i paid 5 times the amount to print my itinary out at Sydney airport so that was a real riff off. anyway the stack cost a few bucks but i guess if im going to take there little shit heaps to spots like that and drop them on their side I have to accept a few bucks so all good.&lt;br /&gt;Went to a restaraunt for dinner and had some noodles and chicken pretty nice about 5 bucks so might have to find myself a nice cheaper place but the chikkibabe was pretty hot that was serving so was worth the exrtra few cents lmao&lt;br /&gt;Here in my room jsut bloggign this place doesent have wifi which sort of sucks but will upload it all when i get to a place that does, the internet cafe next door charges like a wounded bull so ill log in there but only briefly to update facebook. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another day out of the way tommorrow ill jsut get on the bike and go for a ride and see where it takes me&lt;br /&gt;Night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69515/Thailand/Day-andgt</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Thailand</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:58:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 21</title>
      <description>&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a title="Permalink to Day 21" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day/"&gt;Day 21&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;Posted on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a title="3:36 am" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;February 14, 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;&lt;a title="View all posts by Sheldon Thomson - Ride for Smiles" class="url fn n" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/author/ridefors/"&gt;Sheldon Thomson - Ride for Smiles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had a really quiet day had a bit of a bender last night with Gary the South African who is staying at the My Thai as well.  Sat here at the My Thai for a few local beers Singa, actually a really nice beer too only 50 baht or a 1.60. Had four or five beers with Gary, Jeff an English guy who teaches in China and a crew of expats from Australia Col, Tony and Lorraine and a girl name Jen who was actually from Lennox Head wow small world she knows Wilso, Tony Duncombe, Rhonda and the crew from Byron, small world. Me and Gary then we walked up to the main drag of Patong Beach and hit the aussie bar and we got stuck into it and were having quite a few laughs. Ended up talking to another Aussie guy who took us down to this bar, what a classic funny as lets just say that probably needs to be blogged on a rated R site and not in here lol. I only stayed there for one beer after having an absolute laugh at what was going on and left Gary there with some Thai chick basically sitting on his lap, hope you didnt get beaten up Gary lmao&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_10561.jpg"&gt;&lt;img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-229" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_10561-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From there started walking back over to the aussie bar and saw a bloke sitting by himself and thought id say gday and he was from the Sutherland Shire in Sydney so we got jibbering and hung out in some bar dont know what it was theres like 200 hundred of them along the main drag. A little later on this American guy strolled in and we all got chatting and he was over from Irag having a break, classic guy we had lots of laughs and lots of drinks. The three of us ened up down in some bar that was open till late and just kept drinking it was getting pretty messy by 3ish so decided to call it a day and head home. We parted ways and I walked the k or two home and crashed out. Was relaxing all day basically not good drinking like that for me these days, I know harden the f(*k up Thommo.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had to come and get some dinner had a nice Thai dish 6 spring rolls and 2 cokes cost me 280 baht which equates to about 9 aussie dollars cheaps as, if I bought the same thing at the chinese at Brunswick Heads it would of cost me 25 or more dollars.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2474.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Food Court set up right out front of the My Thai" class="size-medium wp-image-224" alt="Food Court set up right out front of the My Thai" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2474-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Food Court set up right out front of the My Thai&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Went and booked to go to Ao Nang island tomorrow cost me 650 baht 20 dollars for a taxi pick up and and hour and half ferry ride over to the island again really cheap, ill work out accomadation when i get there but apparently its alot cheaper than here in Patong Beach. looking forward to getting there looks magnificent as all this place is. Its apparently alot qieter with only a few night clubs and basically all ill be doing there is relaxing and getting massages, and no not those type lol&lt;br /&gt;I had a nice Thai massage yesterday Col who owns the the My Thai Guest House told me to go to either A across the road or go up the road to B and get and old lady to give me one and not be harrassed for more so I went with the B option, was so good a one hour massage Karen and not one bloody phone interruption lmao&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2470.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Me at the My Thai Guesthouse" class="size-medium wp-image-223" alt="Me at the My Thai Guesthouse" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2470-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Me at the My Thai Guesthouse&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway quiet night just sitting here on the verandah of the My Thai, Shane the Thai local who works here just came out for a chat, he works two jobs from early morning till 4 then over to here and till late long days the average wage for the Thais for this line of work is 7000 baht a month 224 bucks&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2475.jpg"&gt;&lt;img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-226" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2475-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Starting to think I might island hope my way through Asia and get a boat from here to South Africa I did the research before and there is only a few from Perth to South Africa but there is heaps from Singapore and other ports up here to Durban so there might be a bit of a change in plan after this little excursion, it would be a nice way to get his leg of the trip done to ride across into Indonesia then island hop it all the way through Asia, that is a decision for another day but its one im defiantly considering at this stage.&lt;br /&gt;Anyway enough of this tomorrow is another day ciao&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69514/Thailand/Day-21</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Thailand</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
      <comments>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69514/Thailand/Day-21#comments</comments>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:54:00 GMT</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Day 20</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I knew I was supposed to blog every day but ive just been caught up. Well where to start ended up just staying at Lenny and Juzzy’s for an extra few days was good just chillin was really nice. Just did a few walks around Bronte and Clovelly and just basically hung out with Juzzy and Lily while Lenny worked on Monday and Tuesday so was very relaxing. Was all set to leave on the wednesday Day 17 of my trip and thought i’d ring about my motorbike and see what had happened with the rear shock and see if it was ready or how it was progressing. Well the boys at Image hadnt heard anything so i thought id ring the crew at IKon in Albury who are rebuilding my custom shock for me, my first phone call to the lady there was cut off but before it was I asked her how it was going she wasnt sure then when she went to look I heard in the background her saying “I cant even find the invoice for it” ahahahah not a good sign for me hoping it might be nearly ready to go after week, but thats cool im not in any rush on this trip and im sure there will be more occassions this will happen, I rang them back and the guy answered and I asked him about the shock he just told me it will take 10 working days to do then if TNT are on time it will be back on the coast a few days later for the guys to put back together. I must admit I was a bit disapointed as much as I love my friends on the central coast I wasnt expecting to spend 3 or so weeks there when I left Byron Bay the other week.&lt;br /&gt;I sat there with Juzzy and was thinking about where I could go and chill while I waited and I thought the Sunshine Coast to a party with Kim or go and get my tent and gear and go camping in The Blue Mountains, I was sitting there undecided and Juzzy was just in the other room and when she walked out I jokingly said I should go to Thailand and she just straight away said thats a great idea you should. That was how impulsive it was we immediately got online and started checking out flights and prices etc and realised it was going to cost about a 1000 dollars and looked at the hotels and that and thought it was feasible but would take all the money I had in reserve for the ferry to Tassie and tyres I was looking at buying. Juzzy dropped me at Bondi Junction to get the train back up the coast and at that stage I still hadnt booked anything but got on the net at the Bondi Macca’s and saw there was a flight the next day cheaps and rang Juzzy and she did all the booking for me and that was it, I was going to Thailand on Thursday the 10th. i have been known to some impulsive things before but this one was pretty extreme especially how I am these days. It did cross my mind what have I just done am I going to be able to do this ahahah i know silly question when Im a motorbike ride through Africa but I have planned that for 2 years and done alot of research and was going to do more before I left and wasnt going to just up and leave in a day.&lt;br /&gt;i only doubted myself briefly but thought if it f*&amp;amp;ks up the worst that can happen is I dont go, I got back to Sandra’s on the Central Coast where my passport and gear was and started packing, well that didnt take long all i packed was a pair of shorts, a shirt, 2 pairs of undies, a tooth brush, tooth paste, my netbook and its charger, camera and its cable my phone and its cable, my flash drives, passport and papers and that was it done and done. Oh of course I was wearing thongs and shorts and a shirt so was fully equipped, it all fit into one of Jacks old school bags to funny going overseas for a month with basically one change of clothes and a tooth brush, ok I over packed I could of left the toothbrush and paste at home.&lt;br /&gt;I left Sandy’s at 9 am to get my flight at 3:15 I just didnt want to be rushed at all so left myself heaps of time to travel back down to Sydney Airport by train.Got to Woy Woy station around 9:30 and thought id drop into the bank to see how I went about gettign any money or Thai Baht travellers cheques or whatever they do. The first bank I walked to wasnt even there any more so I thought thats a good start lol but the St George was just down the road so walked down there. I got served only to be told they need 48 hours notice to give me anything and werent able to give me any advice on what to do, oh well I thought ill try at the airport. Got down to the airport at 11:45 so still had plenty of time to get all my itinary printed out and sort the money situation out before checking in, I kept telling myself as long as I’m not in a rush i’ll be sweet, still didnt take away from the what have I done feeling I had. Anyway walked through the airport and was just going oh im not going to find anywhere I might as well ask someone so I did that and the guy pointed me to a service desk right opposite where I was to use a printer, that was handy Met a nice bloke and had a chat from Scotland sorting out something to do with his Visa his flight was pretty much the same time as mine so we had a fair bit of time up out sleeves. Got my itinary printed out great, slugged me 36 bucks for the privelegde, they certainly dont miss you at the aiport do they.&lt;br /&gt;Walked up to the ATM got some cash out and headed for the cash&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1056.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Patong by Night" class="size-medium wp-image-209" alt="Patong by Night" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1056-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Patong by Night&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;exchange and that was sorted for now wasnt sure how it was going to work over here in Thailand but I had a few thousand Baht to get me started anyway.&lt;br /&gt;Got through Customs and all that relatively unscathed only stuffed up a few times but nothing to serious I missed a few things on a  form but I had forgotten my reading glasses or so I thought so was doing it in the blind almost. Im glad I didnt go and buy some reading glasses at the airport as they were expensive and I actually had mine in the back pack, I dont know maybe when I was looking for them I forgot what I was looking for, generally thats the case with that sort of stuff.&lt;br /&gt;Got into the duty free section and had a look around wasnt interested in anything really but it was nice to look. The grog is cheap but I thought im not interested in getting pissed so I’ll leave that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1048.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Jetstar to Phuket" class="size-medium wp-image-208" alt="Jetstar to Phuket" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1048-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Jetstar to Phuket&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;The flight over was ok got sat next to a pommy girl, the flight wasnt fully booked so we seperated so we could stretch out which was good two seats each so pretty comfortable actually.&lt;br /&gt;Arrived at Phuket airport at 8:30 local time so 12:30 Aus time so was getting a bit tired didnt get much sleep on the plane maybe 30 minutes.&lt;br /&gt;Getting through immigration was a little slow I think I got the trainee as every other line was well and truely going quicker than the one I was in but I thought well no rush I’ll get there eventually. I’d made a point of telling myself before when I had been planning this trip through Africa if I have any issues just to relax and take my time and not getting stressed about it so that was exactly what I did. I Hadn’t booked any transport from the airport but sort of knew how these things worked in Asia from my travels to Bali in the old days so I knew someone would grab me and wisk me off to a taxi or something and thats exactly what happened.&lt;br /&gt;Got into Patong Beach and thought I saw my motel well I did, two of the names where the same but alas it wasnt mine one important missing word. I had got out of the taxi so here I was in the middle of nowhere no idea where I was other than apparently near Patong Beach and I was rooted. I thought oh well I’ll just walk on down the street and see where if I can find my hotel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I walked for about 30 minutes and was getting totally exhausted and as I’d been asked for a massage and a taxi a thousand times I thought im just going to have to ask someone to help me and sure enough to easy a few bucks and and a phone call from the taxi driver and I was at my hotel. I arrived totally exhausted but nothing that im not used to these days withg that lack of sleep i’ve had over such along period of time but it was just so good to walk in and lay down. By the time I rolled over I think it was about 4am aussie time so a massive day but some nights im sitting at home at that hour in pain so i thought well its no different to being at home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had two days accomadation booked so wasnt in any hurry to get up but you guessed it my back and neck were so sore I woke up after a few hours and couldnt get back to sleep so thought i’ll just got for a walk. I walked about 10 minutes down the road as I had some idea where I was as I had looked on the map before I left to see where the hotel was in relation to the beach. I got to the beach and it was pretty quiet but row after row of chairs set up on the beach, sat down and had a rest for awhile then just walked back to my hotel.&lt;br /&gt;I went back and had a rest for awhile in the air conditioninbg as it was already getting hot, the funny thing is i’m really enjoying the hot weather and the feeling of being hot its just so good to be feeling anything I guess who knows but I certainly am enjoying the feeling of all the different weather how can I complain anyway.&lt;br /&gt;Later on I walked down the beach again and thought i’d have a swim I put my gear on one of the chairs and some Thai bloke came running over saying hundred baht hundred baht, I felty like saying f*&amp;amp;k off I just want to go for a quick swim but instead just said no worries and walked on off. The beach at Patong is all chairs from one end to the other so I thought are they going to do that all the way along or not, in the end I thought f&amp;amp;*k it and just chucked my gear on the ground and went for a quick swim and came out. The water was nice and warm not to warm just right about 23 or 24 degrees celsius I’d guess.&lt;br /&gt;Thought I’d go for a bit of a walk through Patong to suss out other accomadation for the next few days and came across a aussie bloke Col sitting on a verandah of a motel having a smoke so thought id mosey on over and say hi. He actually ran the place so I had a chat to him and eneded up booking in for a few days when my accomadation ran out up the road. On my walk I was on the lookout for a charger converter to fit my gear and I asked Col if he knew where I could get one and just by chance he had one sitting on the counter he bought for another guy that hadnt taken it so that was another problem solved, accomodation and charger to easy. Came down here this morning to book in and sat around Col cooked me some bacon and eggs actually my first cooked meal in Thailand, i’d been eating out of the seven eleven for the last two days , some things just never change hey, i miss my Brunswick Heads Caltex servo meat pie and sausage rolls lol Met a guy Gary from Port St Francis in South Africa looking to teach over here, (hey Gary if you drop by again) I hired a bike off Col him and went up dumped my gear and came down and took off on a ride. Rode for a few hours to some really nice spots found a really nice little fishing village down some winding dirt road off the main highway with absolutely no tourist was great to just stop and be the only person there, just the way I like it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2430.jpg"&gt;&lt;img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-211" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2430-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From there I could see this tower up on the hill and I thought I’d try aand get up to it and took a few little detours but found myself winding up this little road through some villages and came out to this amazing place Kao-Khad views Tower i think its called, to be honest I’m to stuffed to log back into my photos to even check up on the spelling .&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1060.jpg"&gt;&lt;img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-215" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1060-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I dont know what the deal is there but there was noone around but it was spectacular to say the least, I’ve posted a video on my facebook page if you want to have a look. Met a Scottish bloke and his mate up there originally from Glasgow (hey John) but living in Spain but here all the time and was here when the tsunami hit and was just by chance not on the beach that morning, lucky.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2438.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2438.jpg"&gt;&lt;img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-210" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2438-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From up there you have a 360 degree view of Phuket it really is fantastic, I could see the giant Buddha on a far away hill and thought i’d go see if I could check that out on my way back. Was getting pretty tired by that stage and somehow had found my way to right underneath it but must of missed the turn off or something and ended up loosing site of it and thought oh well tomorrow. Got to Ru Wai beach I think it was i’ll double check it tomorrow and if it wasnt change it but stopped to get a drink as I just needed a break. Walked into a restaraunt and bought a coke and there was this bloke sitting there and thought i’d say hi and he was actually from Coffs Harbour small world ( hows it going Matt, if i’m wrong if you drop by maybe you could correct me where we were and safe3 travels), sat and talked to Matt for about half and hour then got back on the road to come home to Patong Beach.&lt;br /&gt;Had a little sleep as I was pretty stuffed probably rode for 4 hours today funny stuff I’m on a motorcycle adventure so its fantastic to be riding around in another country even if it isnt the one I thought id been in.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So there you go up to date here in Thailand who would of thought I’d be here a week ago but i’m just going to go with the flow of this whole adventure and see where it takes me, I’ve been trying to pick up some Thai phrases its just so hard I get them only to forget them almost immediately just one of the things that makes me realise things arent what they were but the positives certainly outweigh not being able to memorise a few phrases of Thai but ill keep trying. Im sitting here in the foyer of the My Thai Guest house all the restaraunts out the front are starting to pack up and im starting to feel sore as Sh*t from sitting here blogging all what has happened in the last week, I guess I could walk 10 metres and get a massage but nahh im going to walk 10 metres the other way to my room and relax up there.&lt;br /&gt;I’ve written a fair bit tonigt sorry if its jibberish and i’ve lost the plot at times at but im to stuffed to worry about it and will read through it later to see what i’ve written and fix it up and add some pictures.&lt;br /&gt;In the washup what a week its been, full off new experiences a week of pushing myself mentally physically and emotionally and i feel absolutey stuffed but absolutely stoked in myself for what I have acheived this week.&lt;br /&gt;Just had a Russian couple come up and use my PC to copy their photos onto their flash drive we had a little trouble understanding each other but got it sorted in the end, actually talked to another Russian guy earlier today the weather over there is -19 it’s no wonder they are here in their droves. People from all over the world very interesting a melting pot of cultures but I must asdmit there seems to be heaps of euros here more than aussies which I was expecting. anyway adios amigos, esventenure or what ever the hell it is in Russian lol&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2466.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Patong Beach" class="size-medium wp-image-212" alt="Patong Beach" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSCF2466-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Paton g Beach&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69513/Thailand/Day-20</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Thailand</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:49:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 14</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stayed at Lenny’s this weekend was great to catch up with him Juzzy and Lili, spent last night chilling out jibbering and having a few beers then today got up around 9ish. Me and Juzzy did some work on the ride for smiles website which was a great help got a paypal account to accept donations which I had meant to do ages ago but was always struggling with it, thanks for helping me set that up Juzzy fantastic stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1013.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Bronte beach" class="size-medium wp-image-200" alt="Bronte beach" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1013-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Bronte beach&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;This afternoon we all went down to Bronte Beach and had a few beers with a crew of Lenny’s friends which was nice. Went for a swim was funny, felt really strange being on a beach with thousands of people something I haven’t done for years and years.&lt;br /&gt;Stayed down there till 8:30pm then had a really nice walk home up through Bronte valley nice and hot that’s for sure but I’m not whinging I’m sure I’ll come across hotter and much more challenging situations in my journey. Now just relaxing at home with Juzzy and Lili Lenny’s still down the beach with the crew sucking coopers like a champion with Steve and a few of his other mates. Well that’s it there won’t be much more to blog as I’m absolutely rooted, Night.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69512/Australia/Day-14</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:47:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 12</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spent the night at the old mans was nice to see him and Edmund had a nice Chinese meal, didn’t do bugger all today was actually simply exhausted from the last few days running around seeing everyone cricket all day etc so was just really nice to go into dads air conditioned pad and relax. Spent actually alot of the day in bed so my body was telling me something that I’m still struggling to learn “take it easy”&lt;br /&gt;Gave Lenny a call and he came and picked me up after work in Mosman so all I had to do was walk down stairs and wait and to easy I was at his place.&lt;br /&gt;Met Rachel a really nice girl with some brilliant ideas on self empowerment of kids and their relationship with the wider universe all really interesting and really positive stuff aimed at kids which everyone could actually learn from. Ok Rachel if you drop by I got the dots on me and my shoulders back and my special place is every moment of every day. Don’t forget your overnight bag Rach haha&lt;br /&gt;Anyway just relaxing had pizza for dinner so all good, Next lol&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69511/Australia/Day-12</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:45:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 11</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hung out with Jared this morning having a chat about stuff hes a good kid just got to work out what he wants to do with himself over the next few years like we all do at times.&lt;br /&gt;Rang up to see how the rear shock on the motorbike was going Keith from Image Motorcycles told me it was stuffed and they had been in contact with Ikon shocks formerly Ricoh shocks to have a custom one built unfortunatly this is going to take some time possibly up to two weeks, i had always expected that the bike may hold me up at times and this is just one of them if something unattainable fails in Africa I will be waiting for DHL to deliver it from wherever so this is just one of those times I have to be patient and do other stuff. It actually gives me the oppurtunity to catch up with everyone in sydeny and the Central Coast.&lt;br /&gt;I googled Ikon and relaised they were at Albury so rang Keith at Image back up hoping i might be able to keep heading south to if he coudl jsut get me back on the road but he said my shock was finished and was in parts on the bench so I wouldnt be going anywhere to far on that shock now, bit of a bummer but oh well no big deal.&lt;br /&gt;Left Jareds after lunch and headed over to dad’s at Potts Point had a nice trip over on the ferry again met a nice bloke named Tony from Canada heading after Sydney to Byron then up to Papua New Guinea, he wasnt happy to hear that walking the harbour bridge cost 200 bucks now, good luck on your adventures Tony.&lt;br /&gt;Got off the ferry at Circular Quay and then walked up through the Botanic Gardens really nice walk through there then over to Woolloomooloo past Harry De wheels pie shop up to Kings Cross,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1009.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Harry's Cafe de Wheels famous Pie Shop in Woolloomoloo" class="size-medium wp-image-197" alt="Harry's Cafe de Wheels famous Pie Shop in Woolloomoloo" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_1009-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Harry's Cafe de Wheels famous Pie Shop in Woolloomoloo&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Got up into the cross back streets and walked past this house and there wqas this bloke standing on a porch so said G’day to him as I walked past and looked inside and there was all these gorgeous chicks sitting in there, I thought is that a brothel if it is not bad standard lol, asked dad about it as its only across the road from his place and he told me its one of the top model agencies in Sydney ahahahah to funny&lt;br /&gt;Had chinese for dinner and just relaxing with dad and Edmund, thats it for the night going down stairs to have a ciggarette in a little while and this being 100 metres to The Beef and Bourbon at King Cross there might be more to blog about yet this place is mad got to love it lol&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69510/Australia/Day-11</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:43:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 10</title>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_0984.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Jared at the cricket" class="size-medium wp-image-192" alt="Jared at the cricket" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_0984-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Jared at the cricket&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today me and Jared went to the Australia V England game at the Sydeny Cricket Ground left at 11 oclock so plenty of time to relax and enjoy the ride over to the SCG. Another ride over on the Manly ferry. Was a really hot day so very hot inside the SCG, we were in the sun for the first few hours stinking hot but im not going to even go there with complaining about 37 odd degrees celsius cause ill have nothing to whinge about when im riding in a desert at 50 lol&lt;br /&gt;Was a really good game the poms scored 333 and the aussies chased it down a record run chase by Australia in one dayers, so lots of runs and big hits so excellent, apparently I got on tv toward the end, pommy Jonathon Trott missed a catch and it ran to the boundary, as he came to pick it up we let him know how we felt needless to say it wasn’t better luck next time lol&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_0988.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Me at the cricket" class="size-medium wp-image-193" alt="Me at the cricket" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_0988-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Me at the cricket&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Was Jared’s first time at the cricket so was areally nice to take him there, the tickets cost a little more than I had hoped but all good.&lt;br /&gt;Had a rerally nice ride home on the 11 oclock ferry, was such a beautiful night what a place to be on a warm night, got to love Sydney harbour. Brings back lots of good memories of travelling every day on the ferry to school and lliving at Mosman on the harbour with such brilliant veiws, even as a kid i used to look at those views and think WOW.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_0977.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Me and Jazza" class="size-medium wp-image-194" alt="Me and Jazza" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/IMG_0977-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Me and Jazza&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Got home around midnight and just chilled with Jared watchignn Cyclone Yasi till it bored us then we headed off to bed both pretty much exhausted after a fantastic day together.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69509/Australia/Day-10</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:41:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 9</title>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stayed at Sandy’s last night jsut relaxing. Got up and rode over to put my motorbike in today at Image Motorcycles at Wyoming to get the rear shock done then walked over to Gosford Station to catch the train down to sydney to see Jared. Was a really nice trip always enjoyed the ride down in the train and then down to Circular Quay to get the ferry over to Manly then a bus to Dee Why to Jared’s.&lt;br /&gt;Met a guy from Seattle Dave over here studying who was travelling to Manly with a few mates, had a bit of a chat with him as we were getting off the boat he was asking about my Coopers hat I had on and asked where I had got it from. I told him I had got it from winning a soccer competition the Summer 6′s a few years back. We got off at manly and were still chatting and I thought as he didnt have a hat id give it to him ahahahah he was pretty surprised but happy to have it too. I must admit I when I wear it I feel like a piss head being a hat with a beer logo on it so as much it was part of winning the Summer 6′s competition I wasnt that fussed, i’ll get it back off you Dave when I get to Seattle lol&lt;br /&gt;Got to Dee Why was really nice to catch up with Jared after so long well a few months anyway. We just hung out together for the afternoon and that night watched the bike movie Terra Circa about a group of guys that rode across russia to New back in the 90′s that Nigel had copied for me, thanks Nigel I really enjoyed it.&lt;br /&gt;Anyway off to bed we are thinking of going to the cricket tomorrow to see the Aussies v the Poms at the SCG will see in the morning, Ciao&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69508/Australia/Day-9</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:38:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 8</title>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_09322.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Davistown Wharf" class="size-medium wp-image-174" alt="Davistown Wharf" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_09322-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Davistown Wharf&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 8&lt;br /&gt;Stayed at mum’s last night in Umina, quiet night chillin out by myself. was nice to have a comfy bed and cooked some dinner and watched tv all good. Woke up early and got the bike all packed up and rode up to Image Motorcycles at Wyoming to see about getting my rear shock done. Had a mac attack as it was across the road then headed over to Sandy’s at Davistown. Looked at a few houses for sale just for curiosities sake.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just hung out at Sandy’s then Jack came home and went for a walk down along the waterfront to the local fish and chip shop to get a small bag of chips, its been a pretty warm day today 37c and was hot even walking by the water so im sure its been hot out in the western suburbs. Just been chillin here at Burritos for dinner then jsut been relaxing its still really hot now at 9:30pm. Anyway quiet day off to put my bike in to get the rear shock done then off to Jared’s for a few days which will be nice.&lt;br /&gt;I guess people might be wondering whats going on with my trip over through Africa but I’ve decided to ride down to Tasmania then across to Adelaide then either up to Darwin via Uluru and down to Perth or just shoot across the Nullabor plain to WA but that’s a decision for another day, toss of a coin job again i’d imagine.&lt;br /&gt;The camping at caravan parks has been ok so far 20 bucks a night for an unpowered site and a few of the nights I stayed in the vasn cost me $43.&lt;br /&gt;Its funny the ive found camping so much easier than staying in a house or even the van, last night at mum’s as soon as I was in I was losing stuff walking around the house just going where did I put this and that, where as in the camping grounds if its not on the ground right near where the tent was ive got it on my bike so much simplier and was very noticable last night so I imagine I will be doing alot more camping as the trip unfolds.&lt;br /&gt;I’ll start going through all the gear im carrying as I have done alot of research over the last few years on the different stuff recommended for a trip like what i’m planning so anyone planning such an adventure might get some use of it. i think i’ve set everything really well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_093511.jpg"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;&lt;img title="Sunset at Davistown tonight." class="size-medium wp-image-175" alt="Sunset at Davistown tonight." src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_093511-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Sunset at Davistown tonight.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69507/Australia/Day-8</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:36:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 7</title>
      <description>&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a title="Permalink to Day 7" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day-7/"&gt;Day 7&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;Posted on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a title="9:09 pm" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day-7/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;January 30, 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;&lt;a title="View all posts by Sheldon Thomson - Ride for Smiles" class="url fn n" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/author/ridefors/"&gt;Sheldon Thomson - Ride for Smiles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 7&lt;br /&gt;Had a very lazy day just chilling out at mum’s, boy did i need it, was really sore my neck was giving me hell my back was killing me but that just is just a every day thing just some are worse than others.&lt;br /&gt;I rode down the shop this morning and my head was all over the place. One of the main things that I really dont like that totally vagued out feeling but this morning cause I was feeling so tired and run down it was like to the point of feeling dangerous on the road, certainly dont get to make mistakes on a motorbike so I came straight home without going any further and just relaxed for the rest of the day, just one of those things I have to get used to but is so bloody hard too. Certainly was telling me I need to relax and take a few days off from the riding and pushing myself which is all good im not in any hurry. So basically all ive done today is chill out and lie aroudn at mums by myself so all good.&lt;br /&gt;Monday tomorrow so ill call a few motorbike dealers and try and find out where I can get my rear shock done.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69506/Australia/Day-7</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:34:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 6</title>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08571.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Christmas Cove" class="size-medium wp-image-155" alt="Christmas Cove" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08571-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Christmas Cove&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Had a full on day today, thought about fixing my headlight before I left Chritmas Cove near Lauriton but thought id just get packed up and hit the road as I was so sore. Left and went into Lauriton and grabbed a bite to eat at the local bakery a pie and a Gatorade. Jumped on the bike and left town around 10:30 am and headed south. I wasnt sure how far I was going to get but sort of had in my mind id try and get to the Central Coast if I wasnt to tired.&lt;br /&gt;Had to fuel up so had to take a slight detour off the highway to get ful in the outskirts of Taree I think it was Coopernook then just hit the highway again and started riding.&lt;br /&gt;Rode down the highway to Nabiac, I’ve had always seen the National Motorcycle Museum signs and thought this time since I’m on a motorcycle adventure I’m going to stop and have a look at just what it is all about. And im so glad I did its really a must for any motorcycle enthusiast I was amazed at just how many amazing bikes there are there over 800 and absolutely fantastic collection of memorabillia so do yourself a favour and make the effort it really is amazing. Thanks Margurete from the Museum for the coffee and thanks for showing me the pics and stories on Morrocco looks amazing and ill see if i end up there but from what I’m hearing from people that have been there it’s a must see country. Talked to a bloke Graeme from Geelong who was on his way back from Queensland, invited me to drop in down there if I’m going past, thanks Graeme hope you had a safe rest of the trip.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08621.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Just one of the 800 bikes on display" class="size-medium wp-image-158" alt="Just one of the 800 bikes on display" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08621-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Just one of the 800 bikes on display&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;From there I got straight back on the highway and and just started riding and ended up stopping next at Raymond Terrace for lunch had a chat to a few young blokes that had strolled over to check my bike out seems to be a pretty common thing, its an easy talking point I guess, yesterday afternoon I was just watching my bike from the pub at Lauriton and just about everyone that walked past stopped to have a look, i reckon its the panniers that do it, so all this they will be a target is right but so far they have only brought positive comments and conversations so all good, so many people looking at the bike anyone that thinks they might nick anything off it will want to be quick cause there doesent seem to be one minute that someone doesent stop to check it out&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I hit the road again and this time since I was homing in on Newcastle i thought I would just go on through to the Central Coast. Arrived on the Coast about 4:30pm so had been a pretty long hot day, dropped into see Duggo quickly then headed up to mums. Stopped at the Umina Oval to watch Dan playing cricket on the way through, catches win matches I was there for 45 minutes and you guys dropped 4 simple catches ordianry stuff. Caught up with Dillo down at the ground nice to see you Dillo.&lt;br /&gt;Got here and started unloading the gear off the bike and as I said I would head back to Duggo’s later I had to thought id have a quick look at the headlights as it was going to be dark soon enough, the manual for the bike played its part for the first time showing me exactly where and how to find the fuse which certainly made things a little easier although I knew it would be under the seat it just makes it easier to have the whole wiring diagram of the bike.&lt;br /&gt;Got the bike done in about 20 minutes jsut a lot of fiddling around to get the seat off and on and I know theres only a few screws but was interesting how much of a challenge I found that being a tired and sore, thought to myself it will be interesting on just how tricky it will be if something major goes wrong but I dont like to think of that i’ll just face that when it comes to it.&lt;br /&gt;I was feeling pretty exhausted but thought as it was Saturday night this might be the last night ill be able to have a drink with the crew so made the effort as much as I felt like just chilling out and going to sleep, so go dressed and showered and took off to Duggo’s to hook up with Dan. We headed off to the Bayveiw Hotel as it was Doggo’s girl Sara’s birthday. We hooked up with the girls there and got stuck into it. Was a good night, lots of laughs and good time, caught up with Cowie roobo and a few of the boys down the big club but was a pretty quiet night im glad we went there as it shuts reasonably early.&lt;br /&gt;Had the funniest time when we were leaving the club Sara was arguing with some chick, how some things never change on the coast, to funny. I had met a girl earlier in the club and she was staying upstairs with a girlfriend and she was on the balcony with her friend who was wearing only her undies, so here I am standing in a car park at Ettalong watching a cat fight evolve talking to a girl on the 3rd floor and her friend who is only wearing only undies, does life get any better ahahahahah Thought about ditching my friends and going upstair s but we were off home to watch the Asian Cup Soccer and the clincher was when I asked the girls upstairs if they had foxtel to watch the game when they said “no” it was adios amigos. Im not sure if I have my priorities right or not but certainly had alot of laughs when we got home to Duggo’s and Sara’s.&lt;br /&gt;Was a massively full on day and im so exhausted now but im not in any hurry and im at mums by myself relaxing so all good, ill recharge the batteries then head over to see Sandy at Davistown sometime in the bext few days. Got to get my rear shock done on the bike so will organise that on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_09301.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="View from up at mum's place overlooking Umina Beach." class="size-medium wp-image-159" alt="View from up at mum's place overlooking Umina Beach." src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_09301-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;View from up at mum's place overlooking Umina Beach.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69505/Australia/Day-6</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:31:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 5</title>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08291.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Nambucca Heads" class="size-medium wp-image-145" alt="Nambucca Heads" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08291-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Nambucca Heads&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Day 5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stayed at Bazza’s last night was good to catch up had some very good investment advice, but baz I still like the sound of my idea of strippers a Porsche and black 8 at the casino. Time will tell the good thing about my idea is I could take Logan with me and have him babysat by security in the carpark it just makes total sense to me lol.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Left Bazza at 11ish and rode to Smokey Cape, it really is beautiful up there,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08351.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Smokey Cape" class="size-medium wp-image-146" alt="Smokey Cape" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08351-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Smokey Cape&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;talked to Duncan from Balgowlah in the big dirty city who was staying just below the lighthouse in the guest house there, absolutely stunning views from there, hope you and the family had a good week and a safe trip home if you dropped by the blog Duncan.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From there rode down to Cresent saw the funniest thing in this little village some old bloke on a second story roof leaning over the edge of his roof trying to tippy toe down onto a ladder that was like 2 feet below the roof line I nearly stopped to ask if he needed someone to foot the ladder but by the way it looked and the way he was just about falling I thought I’d just keep cruising rather than hang around till the ambulance arrived, no joke was the awkardest roof to ladder transfer I’d ever seen, then again he may of been up there for a week and was just going for it to get down, was -just to funny should of got a picture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From there went to Cresent Head, man does that place ever get surf. You’ll be happy to know hilly the cake shop has been turned into a shop called Frockaholics right up your alley for our Cresent adventure if it happens this year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; I left Cresent  down the back way right through to Point Plummer not far past there the road disintegrated into nothing more than a goat track deep puddles and alot of soft sand which was pretty ordinary with the road tyres on the bike, nearly came a cropper a few times but was just taking it real easy was pushing myself to get through as this adventure unfolds there might be alot tougher things to deal with than 20 odd k’s of that poop. Was seriously glad to get to the end of it there was more than a few sections I thought mmm maybe not but just went for it and it worked ok. Was nice to have phone reception I stopped and jumped on facebook at one stage and there was my little l\Logie bear online saying hi so we had a chat then talked on the phone while I was battling away with the water and soft sand. When I got to the end I was pretty well stuffed so got off the bike and relaxed for awhile then went and found the car ferry over to Port Macqaurie.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08511.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Port Macqaurie" alt="Port Macqaurie" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08511-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Went up to the top of Port and relaxed for awhile talked to a nice couple relaxing up there that used to live at Pottsville. While I was there a pommy guy had stopped and told me one of my panniers was loose so dragged out the toolkit and did a bit of a repair job on it, was just one nut had come off inside my panniers so just grabbed it and with a bit of jigging got the bolt back through and all back together.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a bit of a bresk yes another one I headed south through Lake Cathie Bonny Hills and down to Laurieton staying at this old caravan park by the lake not to flash but where I’ve put the tent up near the lake is pretty nice.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After I got the tent up and the bike unpacked thought I’d duck into Laureton to get me some grub and some money from the ATM, walked up to find something to eat and ended up in Lauriton Hotel tell you what, don’t know about the food but everything else I saw in there looked pretty nice and eatable lol oh ok I know back in my box. Got talking to Wes been living in Lauriton for quite a few years and has been on a big battle over the last so many years, made being hit by a semi trailer sound like a walk in the park. Good luck with everything if you stop by Wes was nice meeting you. Had a few beers then thought better get out of there only to jump on the bike and no lights, was only camping 5 or so k’s from town so just hooked on to the back of a 4×4 and hooked it up the road being careful not to run into any of those killer lambs that I scared away from my tent earlier lol&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway in the tent just starting to rain on and off so be interesting to see how my gear goes just outside the tent under the front of the door, oh well it is only water as long as those killer sheep don’t come back in the night I’ve run out of rocks to throw at those marauding bandits. Tomorrow I might make the central coast but at the rate I’m going I’ll get to Kew which is 5 k’s up the road. Was all in all a very good day but I know I’m going to be sore after what I rode today, oh well tell someone that cares, caio&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08551.jpg"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;&lt;img title="Home sweet home for the night" class="size-medium wp-image-147" alt="Home sweet home for the night" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08551-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Home sweet home for the night&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69504/Australia/Day-5</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 02:30:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 4</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08091.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Wooli in the morning" class="size-medium wp-image-134 aligncenter" alt="Wooli in the morning" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08091-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08091.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Wooli in the morning&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Met a nice couple from South Brisbane last night Jill and Vaughan, Jill had just been over to Switzerland where her daughter lives, wish I had a remote that let you fast forward then let you rewind, certainly will be an interesting part of my journey in Switzerland if and when I get there.I was having a think about that poor soul whinging yesterday and I understand now, I’d be depressed to if I had a 9, 11 and 13 year old running around me all the time at 57, somebody shoot me if I think of having another bundle of pain oops I mean joy with anyone ever lolLeft Wooli and went over to Diggers camp pretty nice there and pretty out of the way never going to see many people,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08111.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Diggers Camp" class="size-medium wp-image-135" alt="Diggers Camp" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08111-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Diggers Camp&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt; after there rode down to Red Rock grabbed some lunch and chillaxed by the river had a swim etc really nice, probably should of had a sleep I’m absolutely stuffed. I haven’t covered to much distance as the crow flies today but dropped in to Red Rock,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08171.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Red Rock" class="size-medium wp-image-136" alt="Red Rock" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08171-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Red Rock&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Arrawarra Headlands, Sandy Beach and now in Nambucca Heads,. I’ll see if Bazza is home but if not just going to grab a motel tonight I think, looks like there’s a pretty decent storm a brewin lol. Right now sitting in a barber shop to get my hair cut and try and get him to make me look semi human, ok I’m happy with the primate race but just have to get my hair done I simply can’t do a thing with it and it’s in a frightful state. lol If you stopped by my blog Jerry hope your back isn’t giving you to much grief, for everyone else if your ever in need of a haircut and your in Nambucca call in he’s almost made me look respectable so he’s a bloody good barber. Went down the water front at Nambucca so nice down there met an nice older couple, had some fantastic stories of their travels, one that they had given a bloke a Barra to eat when I think his fridge had died then 12 months or so here comes the same guy walking across a caravan park carrying a barra to give back to them, the moral of the story is you will come across the same people at times in the strangest of places and circumstances.Now just chillin up at Bazza’s joint with his son Jeremy watching The Rock in Gridiron Gang. Will see where I end up tomorrow time will tell but next stop for however long will be Smokey Cape it’s one of the most beautiful spots on the east coast so looking forward to getting there.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08241.jpg"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;&lt;img title="Me and Bazza" class="size-medium wp-image-137" alt="Me and Bazza" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08241-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Me and Bazza&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69502/Australia/Day-4</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 01:52:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <title>Day 3</title>
      <description>&lt;h2&gt;&lt;a title="Permalink to Day 3" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day-3/"&gt;Day 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;Posted on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a title="7:44 pm" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day-3/"&gt;&lt;span&gt;January 26, 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;&lt;a title="View all posts by Sheldon Thomson - Ride for Smiles" class="url fn n" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/author/ridefors/"&gt;Sheldon Thomson - Ride for Smiles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_07962.jpg"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;&lt;img title="Angourie" class="size-medium wp-image-123" alt="Angourie" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_07962-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Angourie&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;What a great day soooo hot though with all my motorbike gear on. Funny thing I said I’d follow the gps wherever it took me well after I left Angourie it took me on a wonderful journey 30 k’s of dirt road through Yuraghir national park and Bottle Brush state forest what a frigging classic if I’d stayed on the highway I would of been here in about 40 minutes ended up taking hours across partially flooded creeks which ill upload later and nearly to the point I was thinking WTF but I just kept going forward and eventually came out of it, was alot of fun being lost in the bush and I’m sore as shit for it but now just lieing on my self inflated mattress under a tree by the river at Wooli so could be worse. Met a few nice people at Angourie and throughout the day, just talking to a bloke at the caravan park listening how bad life is, he’s broke, can’t find work, it’s to hot here in this caravan park which by the way is 100 metres to the beach and 50 to the river, the floods were bad, he ran out of his vegiterian food, it cost him him an extra 10 bucks a night to camp here than what he was told, his new mobile phone took 4 days to activate last week, he gets no reception where he lives in the blue mountains, he’s a teacher and has sent out 150 resumes and got no responses, works casually with people with disabilities and when he works he feels like all the permanents just sit around and make him cook, the traffic at Buladelah took him 2 hours to get through on his last trip and he nearly missed work but made it by 15 minutes, he has to walk 20 metros up the road cause he lives in a valley in the blue mountains to get messages on his mobile, his x only lets him have his children in the school holidays which is the most expensive time and hard cause ‘s broke, shit there was more but he stopped when I put some rope around my neck and through it over the bannister lmao. Being the kind hearted soul I am I nearly just said “harden the f$&amp;amp;k up or go kill yourself, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it so just reminded him he was here with his three children who are over playing in the river so just enjoy that. And I thought I had problems I’d take feeling as sore as shit any day. Anyway what a fantastic day Angourie and Yamba are bloody beautiful spots and the riding was pretty hard but so much fun. The journey continues tomorrow to Red Rock but that’s only 50 k’s away so might just drop in there, then again after today’s ride I mightn’t be walking tomorrow let alone riding lol&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08081.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Sunset by the Wooli River" class="size-medium wp-image-120" alt="Sunset by the Wooli River" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_08081-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Sunset by the Wooli River&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69500/Australia/Day-3</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
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      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 01:47:00 GMT</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Day 2</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCF2387.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Cape Byron" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-104" alt="Cape Byron" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCF2387-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You wouldn’t believe it but left my charger for my netbook at home so as I was only an hour or so down the coast I went home and grabbed it. Was good to go back actually just walking into that house I realized it’s no longer my home, just a weird feeling but I know I won’t be going back there to live at any stage. Only just grabbed my charger and left rode into Byron and went up to the Cape, thought about if and when I’ll be back up there, certainly is a beautiful spot. From there dropped down to Lennox Head and stopped off at the point, bumped into Pete who I used to live with at Broken Head between him grabbing another person for his tandem hang gliding. Watched them hang gliding for awhile then headed off down through Ballina. Went across on the South Ballina car ferry instead of just going down the highway, was a nice detour. Got back to the van and had a read through the the Lonely Planet Africa guide (thanks Tash) and a grandpa nap, went down to Evans Head had a look around then over to the back beach it’s really nice over there. Grabbed some dinner in Evans and rode home later in the arvo and just spent the night chillin, off to somewhere south of here tomorrow thinking Red Rock just north of Coffs but also mightn’t go that far and go to Wooli or Brooms Head, I’ll decide when I’m on the road. Had a bit of fun with the cam today it’s crap Internet here so not real successful in uploading anything but will try again tomorrow. Had a nice little chat with Logan tonight he’s a different boy when his mums not around. Anyway time for bed. Day 2 done.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;/&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCF2385.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Tallows Beach, Byron Bay" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-103" alt="Tallows Beach, Byron Bay" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DSCF2385-300x224.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69499/Australia/Day-2</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
      <comments>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69499/Australia/Day-2#comments</comments>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69499/Australia/Day-2</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 01:44:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Day 1</title>
      <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Posted in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a title="View all posts in Uncategorized" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/category/uncategorized/"&gt;Uncategorized&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;|&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;&lt;a title="Comment on Day 2" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/day-2/#respond"&gt;Leave a comment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;|&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span&gt;&lt;a title="Edit Post" class="post-edit-link" href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?post=99&amp;action=edit"&gt;Edit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h2&gt; &lt;/h2&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_07672.jpg"&gt;&lt;img title="Me leaving Logan's" class="size-medium wp-image-127" alt="Me leaving Logan's" src="http://rideforsmiles.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/IMG_07672-300x225.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class="wp-caption-text"&gt;Me leaving Logan's&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.rideforsmiles.com/"&gt;&lt;font color="#743399"&gt;www.rideforsmiles.com&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last night had dinner with Liisa and Tex at Brunswick Heads Chinese honey king prawns chicken and black bean sauce and special fried rice, really nice and was where I first met Liisa 4 years ago, went home and had a really nice relaxing night watching movies, crashing out around midnight.Woke up around 8:30 today and just chilled by the pool with Liisa while Tex had a swim. Grae was off to work and came over to say goodbye, I was quite emotional nearly crying graes helped a hell of alot through my recovery so was pretty tough, was actually harder than to say goodbye to Logan later funny enough. Liisa left around 9:30am which was nice I really like Liisa alot, she’s got her work cut out for her with Tex he’s a funny kid just like his mum in so many ways a really nice streak but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him trouble, is that physic ability or do some people just have stuff written on their forehead in invisible ink at birth.Got on to Logan and organised to come see him wasn’t totally sure if I was going to get to see him but it all worked out so I started packing the bike to leave. Broke the lock off the near side pannier, easy enough to fix and at this stage a hockey strap is doing the job, first break on the bike before I left but I’m sure there will be many more of that and not as easy to fix.So got all packed and then went to leave and yep where’s my wallet lol got to love it had a laugh about it as with my memory like it is I’m sure that will be an all to frequent occurrence on my adventure. So unpack most things looking finally finding it after about 15 minutes. I purposely didn’t leave much room for some of my safety gear so I had to wear it all the time but you guest it protective boxers gone, knee protectors gone but pretty much I knew I’d be walking around the shops at Tweed Heads with Loges and his brother Jack so that was more the reason I’ll be wearing them from tomorrow, had to make a little extra room first thing to go was a book “how to survive a head injury” well I’m sure it would say just relax and get over it somewhere in there so that’s what I’m going to do.Got up to see Logan was so good to see him, we headed over to the shops Jack bought himself a wireless mouse and a DVD and I got Loges the game assassins creed which he wanted. We played a game on the ps3 in the shop all together “need for speed pursuit” the graphics are so good on it.We went and had KFC not a good way to start the McTour but oh well I’m sure Ronnie Mac will forgive me for one slip up, we actually did all buy coke slurpies from maccas so they did get some business off us lolWas nice to see Logan happy and smiling We got back to their place and I just had a little talk to Loges just to tell him if he ever needs me just call me was all pretty cool no one got upset and it was all really positive. Loges took a few pictures of me on the bike, I gave him a kiss and I left. Got down the road and did what I said I was going to do and tossed a coin took a video off it ill post it later, thank f&amp;amp;$k it came up south didn’t really want to go north and have to work in any compacity my neck has been giving me hell lately. So jumped back on the bike and headed south got a phone call from Loges he was stoked we got him a recharge for his phone and he had won an extra 25 bucks credit he thought it was great. Got to Ballina and dropped into see Sara jakey and Ryan. Sara looked tired little Ryan has been working her hard but it was a hot day poor little fella. Didn’t stay long there I was starting to get a bit tired myself by this stage and thought I better get cracking. Drove about another 30 minutes south to Broadwater I had joked I’d start my first night away here only 70 k’s from home so I did and here I am in a caravan 40 bucks a night for my first night on the road. Had a 20 minute chat about different adventures he and his mates had done years ago double decker buses in Russia being pulled over for a drug search and having the whole double decker bus dismantled and put back together in a week like new. Was quite a funny story I wonder what stories I’ll have to tell when I get back. I was having a rest cause I was pretty exhausted and some old bloke living in the caravan park decided he was going to whipper snip next to my window thought about sticking my head out the window and telling him go jam it up his ass, but thanks to suellen the breathing exercises and all that conselling saved him him fro a torrent of abuse, but only just lolI went up the servo to fill up the tank had a chat to guy up there, I wonder it will be same everywhere people just coming up saying hi, I’m sure I’ll meet some interesting people in my travels. Anyway just chillin now so thought id do my first blog see how long it goes. The adventure has begun in the immortal words of the great man ” to infinity and beyond” lol&lt;br /&gt;PS just talked to the couple next door and told them about my near miss witht he whipper snipper man and he said that was me, i told him he had been saved by heaps of conselling ahahaha to funny.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <link>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69498/Australia/Day-1</link>
      <category>Travel</category>
      <category>Australia</category>
      <author>rideforsmiles</author>
      <comments>https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69498/Australia/Day-1#comments</comments>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://journals.worldnomads.com/rideforsmiles/story/69498/Australia/Day-1</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 5 Mar 2011 01:40:00 GMT</pubDate>
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