77. Post an original Photo everyday for a year

12th November 2015

In an effort to spend more time out of the house and doing exciting activities during the week and in between holidays and take more photos to commemorate my exploits i have decided to take and post an original photo of my activities every day for a year.

I decided to start in November with some events already in place and Christmas and summer coming up should make some of the days easier and save the tougher darker days of Winter for the end of the year when i should be more experienced and it should be easier.

I will post a few of the highlights on this blog but for a full daily update see my Instagram feed - https://www.instagram.com/sixjokerscards/

I started on the 12th November 2015 with a work event at Taste of Melbourne and a picture of the de-constructed Wagon Wheel i had for dessert.

Unfortunately after getting to 100 days and making it through to February the enthusiasm and time available to go and see and do new things decreased and therefore decided to halt the item. I will pick up the Bucket list item soon.

75. Visit 100 different countries

With my love of travel i thought i would incorporate a goal to visit as much of this amazing planet we call Earth. I started very early with my travel with my first overseas adventure staring at the age of 2.

The first country off my list was my place of birth and therefore the easiest to complete - England. 

The next and a frequent destination was France with trips to Paris, Bayeux (the amazing bayeux tapestry) and St. Mont Michel whilst living in England and a return visit to Paris and a road trip through the south of France from Perpignon to Nice in 2008 with my brother.

The next overseas holiday was to the US when i was 7 and 9 with a trip to Orlando to visit Disneyland and Busch Gardens. I also returned to the US in 2002 to work at a Ski resort in California and had a month of travel around the West Coast. My brother and I also went to both coasts on our world trip in 2007/8 with stops in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Niagara Falls and Miami.

In 1997 we moved across to Australia stopping in Malaysia for 3 days on the way and added another 2 countries to the list. We also headed back to visit England twice more over the next few years and made stopover on the way back to Singapore and Thailand.

The next place to add to the list was possibly our least favourite family holiday with a trip to Fiji.

Before meeting my brother in Los Angeles for our trip around the world, i spent six weeks on my own in November 2007 in Canada visiting Polar bears and Toronto, before heading for warmer climates of Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Mexico.

After 6 weeks in the US, my brother and I flew to Dublin, Ireland for a stopover before heading to England to visit relatives and planning the rest of our tour around Europe. The tour of Europe ticked off 23 countries off the list - Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Wales and Vatican City.

My two month overland trip through Africa starting in the South West of Africa in Cape Town and finishing in East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya ticked off a further 10 countries - South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

I reached country number 50 with a short 9 day trip in April/May 2016 to Indonesia including Bali, and a trip to Flores to see the fearsome Komodo dragons and beautiful volcanic lakes of Kelimutu and explore the rural countryside, villages and rice fields of Flores

Final List of Countries

1. England

2. France

3. USA

4. Malaysia

5. Australia

6. Singapore

7. Thailand

8. Fiji

9. Canada

10. Jamaica

11. Cayman Islands

12. Mexico

13. Ireland

14. Wales

15. Andorra 

16. Spain

17.Luxembourg

18. Belgium

19. Netherlands

20. Germany 

21. Denmark

22. Sweden

23. Norway

24. Finland

25. Estonia

26. Russia

27. Monaco

28. Switzerland

29. Austria

30. Czech Republic

31. Slovakia

32. Hungary

33. Poland

34. Italy

35. Vatican City

36. China

37. Hong Kong

38. Egypt

39. United Arab Emirates

40. South Africa

41. Namibia

42. Botswana

43. Zambia

44. Zimbabwe

45. Malawi

46. Tanzania

47. Kenya

48. Uganda

49. Rwanda

50. Indonesia

45. Stare down Mountain Gorillas

10th September 2015

The last of my items to tick off in Africa and probably my favourite activity of my whole holiday. After a warm up with a trek into the forest to see Chimpanzees the previous day and then a night spent on the beautiful banks of Lake Bunyonyi, we got up early to trek into the forest to see the mountain gorillas.

After getting dressed in our extremely fetching trekking gear (mine may have been too sexy), we left extremely early to drive for an hour over bumpy roads and with a short stop for sunrise and photos over the valley and of the mountains we would be climbing.

After a briefing about safety and tracking and we were told the trekking takes between 2 o 6 hours, our G Adventures tour group was split into 2 as a maximum of 8 are allowed to view each gorilla group. There were 10 different gorilla groups that had been acclimatised to humans with numbers of each family having about 10 - 20 members. Our group had 11 members with 2 silver backs, 1 baby, 1 juvenile, a few black back males and a couple of females.

After a small car ride to our starting point we were introduced to our trackers and guides who would help us cut a path through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to the gorillas and communicate with the other guides who had already left to find the gorillas.

After about 90 minutes of trekking through dense forest, over and under branches and over a stream with a few stumbles and slips on the slippery undergrowth, dirt and holding unstable branches, we arrived to our other trackers. We then proceeded quietly for another 2 minutes through thick branches that had to be cut away with the guides machetes and saw our first mountain gorillas, a black back chewing on some of the branches.

Seemingly unaware and uncaring of our presence it continue to eat and scratch as we watched and snapped away on our cameras. After about 10 minutes we moved away from this gorilla and went in search of the other members of the family. However after going around the black back, he decided he wanted to join us and began walking across our path which caused us to stop and wait.

We also got to see the baby who was approximately 8 weeks old, climbing over and around his mother and father, a medium sized silver back gorilla. We also saw the big silverback gorillas in the distance but he moved away and we didn't see him again.

We also saw a couple of other black gorillas moving through the forest eating and crashing around including one who decided to move from some side of our group causing one of the girls trying to have a photo with him in the background to move very quickly to get out of his way and avoid the gorilla known to kick tourists who get in his way.

After a full hour with the gorillas our trackers and guides informed us we would have to leave and head back much to our disappointment and it required a big effort for us to tear ourselves away from these magnificent animals.

It was a privilege to see our closest animal relatives so close (less than 2m away at some points) in their natural habitat. It was an awe inspiring experience and well worth the sometimes tricky trek and early morning to see this gentle yet powerful animals. Worth every penny of the trip and my favourite experience of the whole tour.

38. Fly in a Hot Air Balloon over the Serengeti

1st September 2015

After an evening game drive and a night camping in the serengeti, 6 of us woke up super early in the dark to take a hot air balloon to view the landscape and animals of the serengeti from a different view. However i had no problem waking up as if the excitement going on a hot air balloon over the serengeti was not enough to wake me up, i was greeted on my trip to the bathroom by a rustle in the bush 1m away from the door and a surprise early morning encounter with a Zebra.

The six of us were taken by jeep to the hot air balloon launch site past a river full of hippos and hippo babies. When we arrived at the launch site, the hot air balloon was partially deflated and the basket on it side.

We got to watch how they inflate the hot air balloon and the sunrise over the serengeti before we had to climb into the sideways basket. As the balloon became fully inflated the basket tipped upright with a jolt and we were ready to fly.

A full view of the sun rising over the Serengeti just after we took off and floated above the serengeti. With blasts of hot air from the burners we changed heights from a maximum of 100 ft to hovering a few feet above the plains.

We saw a full range of animals as we sailed over the plains including a large number of Hippos both in and out of the water, Lions, Gazelles, Zebras, Warthogs and Hyenas.

We also saw the wonderful views and landscapes the serengeti had to offer.

After about an hour, our pilot called in our landing spot and we landed and slid for about 10 m before the balloon basket tipped on its side and we came to a halt. Once we landed we were treated to the traditional Hot air balloon finale of Champagne (although in this case only South African sparkling wine).

After the champagne we got back in the 4x4 to transfer to our champagne breakfast. On the way to the breakfast point we came across a Leopard wandering through the bush and across the road within 1m of our 4x4.

After the leopard had crossed our path and disappeared into the wild, we proceeded on to breakfast. A delicious full english breakfast, juice and more champagne followed and was superb with full service. We also received a certificate to commemorate the experience.

As an added bonus to our trip, on the way back to the rest of our group we also came across a mother Thompson Gazelle with her just born baby who spent the next 15 minutes while we watched trying unsuccessfully to take its first steps. It was awesome to see and sweet until the father came over and try to kick the mother into moving on.

A wonderful and tranquil experience to see the beautiful scenery and animals of the serengeti and well worth the high cost of the experience. The extravagant breakfast and animal sightings before and after the balloon ride was a cherry on the top of an amazing experience.

59. Ride in Helicopter

15 August 2015

Whilst at Victoria Falls and having already seen how beautiful it was from the ground i though i would tick off another item off the list and also get a broader and more complete view of the falls from inside of a Helicopter.

Frankie, Yen and I all booked in an afternoon helicopter flight over the falls. We were joined by 2 other randoms and the pilot  The flight would take approximately 20 minutes and do 2 laps of the falls for either side of the plane. After a initial jolting start that had me facing the ground and caused me to panic slightly, we took off and were cruising over the terrain with various wild animals below. Within 2 minutes we were at the falls.

The helicopter provided excellent views of the river and the full 1.7km of the falls and you could see the torrent of water and spray from hitting the bottom with excellent detail. The pilot tilted to copter to provide a better view of the falls so we were looking directly down on the falls.

The helicopter ride itself, whilst short, was an amazing experience and worth the cost and the added bonus of taking the flight over Victoria Falls and seeing a different view of this awesome display of nature made it even better.

46. Visit Victoria Falls

14 August 2015

When booking my tour of Africa, i had 4 main places / activities i wanted to cross off my list from Africa. Given the location of these places my tour ended up being a full 2 months. One of the items to be ticked off was a visit to Victoria falls. Situated on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, we entered and stayed in Livingstone on the Zambia side.

During our border crossing from Botswana to Zambia, our tour guide was able to acquire the UniVisa which allowed unlimited travel between Zambia and Zimbabwe and this allowed us to explore the falls from both sides of the river.

After spending the morning at the bridge separating the 2 countries watching some of our tour group doing the Big Air combo of Bungee Jump, Bridge Swing and Bridge slide, we walked across the rest of the bridge and crossed into Zimbabwe to explore this side of the 1.7 km long Victoria Falls first.

After the border crossing and another stamp in the passport, we headed through the gates to the national park and got a view of the spectacular Victoria falls. The Zimbabwe side features the Main Falls, Devil's Cataract and Horseshoe falls. The main falls were impressive for the sheer volume and speed of the water.

The main lookout point had an excellent view down a portion of the falls with an excellent rainbow to add to the view.

We explored the Zimbabwe side until about the halfway point and then headed back across the border to explore the Zambia side. The Zambia side didn't have as much water and volume but was prettier with the water falling over exposed rocks.

The falls were impressive both due to the size, gorgeous view and water falling over rocks and also the force of the water falling over 100m at some points with the spray rebounding and ruining some photos with the mist and spray reaching the viewing points on the paths. Spectacular and a powerful display of nature it was well worth the visit and inclusion on the list and a unforgettable experience.

I also splurged on a helicopter ride over the falls but is covered by item 59.

58. Go Cage Diving with Great White Sharks

26 July 2015

The first item to tick off my list on my African trip got off to a rough start with the weather in Cape Town. The first attempt on Thursday was called off due to poor weather and high wind and the high wind continued until Saturday. However on the last day in Cape Town before heading off on my tour through Africa, the weather cleared up and i was able to do the cage dive.

So on my last day in Cape Town, Sunday, i received an amazingly early wake up call at 330 and left cold and tired for Ganbaai, 160kms east of Cape Town, and into the Kleinbaai harbour commonly called Shark Alley.

After the mandatory safety briefing we jumped on the boat and headed out into the still slightly choppy bay for our 30 min trip out to see the sharks. After coming to anchor and dropping the cage off the side we only had to wait 2 minutes before the first shark appear and began to circle our boat.

We were split into 3 groups and i was part of the first group, so we quickly put on our wet suits and got into the cage and surprisingly warm water. Within 30 seconds the first great white shark went for the bait and came right up to the cage, swerved at the last minute and hit the cage with its body and tail.

After the initial shark a further 7 different sharks proceeded to circle and breach next to the boat. We spent 20 minutes in the cage the first time, then i had a further turn of 10 minutes in the cage.

It was amazing to be so close to such amazing powerful and quick animals.