Australia

Well, the holiday is over and its back to work. We got back to Bangkok about 11pm Wednesday night.

It was a great time, not only in Adelaide, Halls Gap, and Flinders Ranges, but also spending time with the family on the farm and around Mt Gambier. And of course, eating some of delicious food, especially Mum's home cooking (I put on 4kg!).

Plenty of photos in the Gallery.

Halls Gap is a small tourist town in the middle of the Grampians, a mountain range in western Victoria. We spent 2 nights there at the start of April, staying in the Halls Gap Caravan Park in the middle of the town.

Halls Gap is about 300km from Kongorong. There were 3 car loads that went: Peter and Allison; Brett and the family in their car; and Wan and I in Brett's Jeep with Dad's new camper trailer on the back. Its a nice setup, taking about 20 minutes to put up and includes queen mattress on the trailer, plus floor space for about two more, as well as a large annex.

The caravan park wasn't too busy, with most people staying in cabins and caravans. We had the open camping ground to ourselves. In the early morning and late afternoon there were plenty of kangaroos around the park, coming up to our camper trailer. Peter and Ally slept outside in their swags, and had kangaroos almost walk over them.

On arrival, after setting up we had a walk around the park and town then settled down to some drinks and dinner. The next day we all made the trek to the Pinnacle, a lookout above Halls Gap. Before going home on Sunday, we all drove up to Stawell (home of the famous Stawell Gift) and visited a couple of wineries in Great Western.

Halls Gap, and the Grampians in general, are a great place to visit with many opportunities for bush walks, camping and mountain climbing. Check out the Photo Gallery for more pics.

I've lost a couple of close family members over the past few weeks. In May, after having his leg amputated earlier in the year, Bill Hanel (my uncle) succumbed to health problems due to diabetes. And last week, after having a hip operation during the day, my grandfather, Jack Barnes, passed away. He was 94 years old.

Rest in peace - Grandad and Uncle Bill.

The main reason for going home to Australia was to attend my brother's, Peter, wedding to Allison. I was best man, so couldn't really miss it. The wedding ceremony was held in a local vineyard. It rained most days up to the wedding, and rain was also forecast for the wedding day. But it turned out to be almost perfect weather, with no rain and comfortable temperature.

While the groom (Pete), groomsmen (me and Brett) and guests waited at the vineyard, the bride (Allison) arrived with her father and bridesmaids on horse and cart. After the official ceremony and many photos, we cracked our first beer, and the wedding party travelled in the carts to Pete and Allison's new house (currently under construction) for more photos, drinks and snacks. Then after a few more photo stops, we made our way to the Barn Palais for the reception dinner.

It was a great night, with perhaps the best food I've eaten at an Australian wedding and plenty of beer and wine. Pete and Ally went on their honeymoon to Tasmania the day after the wedding. However, to ensure they started their married life with a smile on their faces, someone went into their hotel room during the reception and made their room a little more 'comfortable'. All of the toilet paper and tissues were removed from the room (well, not removed, just soaked in water then placed in the freezer), and breakfast was prepared (that is, a large container of cornflakes and weetbix were crushed in their bed). Many people assumed that it was me that did such nasty things, but people may be surprised as to who the real culprit(s) were ...

Some of the photos from the wedding and reception are in the gallery. More may come when the official photographer releases her photos.

On 26 March I returned home to Australia for the first time since arriving in Thailand 18 months ago. This was a 2 week holiday, with most time spent catching up with family and friends in Kongorong, working on the farm, and doing a little bit of local sightseeing. Photos of people, places, animals, food and more are in the gallery.

The most questions I get from friends in Australia (and elsewhere) are along the lines: How is the weather in Thailand? And from Thai's here, one of the first questions they ask after meeting you is Do you like the weather in Thailand? Whatever I answer, most people do not fully comprehend, especially those:

• Australians and others that are used to seasons (Summer, Autumn/Fall, Winter, Spring), and haven't spent an extended period in South-east Asia
• Thai's that bring out the jackets, long trousers and scarves during "winter" when the minimum temperature drops to 20°C

So maybe some facts and figures will help explain the difference in weather between Thailand (Bangkok) and Australia (Mt Gambier and Adelaide). Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia, and is where I worked and lived for 12 years. Mt Gambier is where I grew up, and most of my family still live. It is about 500 km south of Adelaide, and known to be much cooler and wetter than Adelaide. The state of South Australia is the driest state in the driest (inhabited) continent on Earth.

The following table summarises the average maximum temperature, average minimum temperature, and yearly rainfall for the three locations. On average, Bangkok is about 10°C hotter than the locations in Australia! However, this is the average over the year - Australia has same extremely hot temperatures during summer. In Adelaide there 5 to 10 days per year with the temperature above 40°C. The most recent hottest day I recall was 46°C! In Bangkok, it seldom (if ever) reaches 40°C.

The difference in rainfall is also significant: Bangkok is twice as wet as Mt Gambier, and three times as wet as Adelaide. In short, when it rains in Thailand, it rains a lot!

The follow graphs show some more detail of the temperature and rainfall on a monthly basis. This is good for illustrating the difference between seasons.

In Bangkok, it is warm to hot all year. And the overnight temperature hardly drops below 20°C. The only respite you get is around December. This year (2007), there was about 2 weeks of "winter" when I actually felt cold when getting out of bed in the morning. One night I walked outside at 10pm in shorts and t-shirt and had a slight feeling of coldness. But this "winter" was brief (mid-December) - I am back sleeping with an air-conditioner on.

In Mt Gambier and Adelaide, the seasons are more pronounced: hot in summer, cold in winter. Even in summer you get cooler temperatures overnight. Another comparison: I guess I have slept without air-conditioning in Bangkok for about 20 days per year. In Adelaide, it was about half that many days when I slept with the air-conditioning on.

Although the temperature does not distinguish seasons in Bangkok, the rainfall does. A wet season (May to November) and a dry season.

In summary, although the weather is a lot different to that which I am used to in Australia, I cope well with it in Thailand. I actually like the warm weather, and am dreading going back to Mt Gambier in March 2008 (which may contain some 40+ days) and having to get out the jeans and jumpers.

Source of weather data: Australian Bureau of Meteorology and BBC.