After publishing the last blog, we spoke with the lady at the hostel reception to find out how long it would take to get to the airport and discovered that it's about an hour by bus (our map reading/scale skills really aren't very good...) so we decided to stay where we were for another night and have a day of exploring Phuket Town. 

We walked up to the viewpoint on Thursday morning - a lovely 45 minute walk up a winding hill through lots of trees which was great, and the view from the top was good although not as picturesque as from the Viewpoint on Phi Phi.  Down a few steps was a great little terrace restaurant where we had a club sandwich and chips, both of which were really tasty, and were joined by Pickle's cousin Almost Pickle (see photos).  A lovely stroll down the hill again afterwards and then we wandered through the town to find the Serene temple - mentioned in the Lonely Planet and a little underwhelming actually.  Incredibly hot still so we went back to our room to catch our breath and cool down before heading back out and ended up dozing for four hours instead...

The Lonely Planet assured us that a place to go was Mai Khao beach up to the north and handily quite close to the airport so we decided that after checking out yesterday morning, we'd find our way up there and spend a few hours at the beach before getting to the airport.  Apparently the beach is "beautiful and unspoilt - not crowded like the many other beaches in Phuket".  We caught a bus (a bit like a landrover, with people hanging off the back, mostly because it got quite busy and we had managed to take up most of the cramped space with our backpacks) which was great - open sided so lots of fresh air but we had to bend down to get a look at the scenery going past.  The bus dropped us off at the side of the main road and the driver told us that we could walk - the signpost said 3.2 km but we were armed with suncream, hats and water so we decided to go for it.  The LP had also told us that there was a small cafe, a visitors' centre and a camping site there.

When we got to the beach it was indeed beautiful and not crowded.  In fact, the only things we found there were a nice Czech backpacker and a few crabs.  No other people, no cafe, no visitors' centre... Needless to say we didn't stay for very long, not having packed a lunch, several gallons of water to stave off heat exhaustion or even an ice cream - about half an hour or so to walk along for a while, paddle in the clear blue sea and watch crabs appear from nowhere and scuttle into the tide.  We then walked back to the road (there was no way we were going to walk back another 3.2km to get to the bus route) and flagged down a passing car who kindly dropped us off at a cafe (someone's front yard where she made noodles and offered free iced water) and from there her friend drove us to the airport.  The people here are unbelievably friendly and helpful.

We had a few hours to kill at Phuket airport as we were there earlier than anticipated (thank heavens for paperbacks and iPod touches), then a nine hour flight onboard JetStar (the Australian equivalent of Ryan Air or Easy Jet and just as luxurious).  The flight wasn't too bad although they kept waking us up after we'd finally managed to catch some shut-eye and offering us food and inapppropriate times (dinner at midnight and breakfast at four in the morning is not a particularly pleasant experience unless you're out partying...)

Still, even after over an hour's delay in taking off, we landed safe and sound this morning (7am Thai time, 11am Aus time) at Sydney airport and were met by Murf and Vix.  A very relaxed few hours back at their apartment where we are staying; talked non-stop for a few hours as we had loads to catch up on despite the several webcam chats we've all had since they emigrated back in May, then sat out on the roof terrace catching some more sun and reading - beautiful weather and not quite as stifling as Thailand.  A nice evening spent at Darling Harbour and a lovely meal; we are exhausted and ready for bed - looking forward to a lazy breakfast and then out to Manly Market tomorrow, then who knows?

We're enjoying reading your comments so please keep them coming, and we hope that you are enjoying reading our blogs - next installment coming soon :)

Hope you are all well,

Simon and Jane xx