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Is it Kiwi? Or is it Aussie?

Above: Our accommodation at Paradise Palms. This turned out to be a lazy day.   We didn’t feel obliged to be sucked into any of the other tourist traps around Cairns.  The warm weather was enough reason for coming over!  As it turned out, it rained …  but the temperature was still nice. Throughout our stay, […]

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Up the coast

Today we went for a long drive to explore some of the recommended sights out of Cairns. We stopped briefly at some of the suburban beaches.  They are nice but not great.  The sand wasn’t golden and the sea wasn’t quite blue or green; but somehow the pictures look better than the reality.  Having said […]

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Moore Reef

Our Air New Zealand hotel purchase came with an optional NZD$1 add-on (normally worth AUD$180) for an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef, specifically Moore Reef.  Naturally we took up this offer. Our Sunlover catamaran departed Cairns at 1000 bound for Moore Reef.  The 90 minute journey proved bumpy and I felt a bit sick but […]

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On the Great Barrier Reef

Our Air New Zealand hotel purchase came with an optional NZD$1 add-on (normally worth AUD$180) for an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef, specifically Moore Reef.  Naturally we took up this offer. Our Sunlover Cruises catamaran departed Cairns at 1000 bound for Moore Reef.  The 90 minute journey proved bumpy and I felt a bit sick […]

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Not such a bad place after all

Upon arrival we headed to our accommodation at Paradise Palms Resort, in our small Hyundai vehicle from Avis. After some rest, we hit town and went into Cairns.  Our impressions were really positive!  We couldn’t figure out why we’ve been given the thumbs down by most of our friends who always recommend Port Douglas instead. […]

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Like Canberra, Washington DC or Islamabad

Visiting Putra Jaya Today we visited the city of Putrajaya, conceived as the administrative centre for the government.  It is packed with many buildings housing various government departments, mostly in very stylish Islamic and modern style. The city is reachable by rail from both KL Sentral and the airport where were putting up. Having worked […]

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Shop till we drop

We ate a curry breakfast at the low-cost terminal of the airport (near our hotel) before heading to the city (KL Sentral) on the bus.  Shopping is great in KL; good choice at reasonable prices.  It is a legal requirement to display prices unlike in Thailand or Singapore where the opening price will differ depending […]

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The Big Smoke & Obituaries

Above:  Do you think this newspaper has had a few Obituary pranks? We left Semporna for KL this evening via Tawau airport.  It is sad this marks the end of our adventure and the reality of work awaits. We’ll miss Semporna somewhat but it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  We like: the fact that it […]

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2009 Day 3: Kapalai & Mabul

Kim and I didn’t want to get going today.  After witnessing the best yesterday, it was hard to get motivated. Today we were bound for Kapalai and Mabul Islands.  We didn’t know much about these sites. We soon realised on our first dive at Sunken City (Kapalai) that the cloudy skies didn’t illuminate the water […]

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2009 Day 2: Sipadan

We boated out to Sipadan Island around 0800.  It was sunny and calm as we took the journey to the Sipadan area, about an hour away. Text continues after this gallery.     The Dive Master surprised me when he said that we were at Barracuda Point … where I had specially come to, but […]

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