PART TWO: DODGY PARCEL Next day was a visit to the rainforest of Brunei one of the most regulated and controlled in the World. These trips if taken as a single can become quite expensive as most tour groups will charge for two people even if only one is going. Secret package The secret is to go downtown and see if you can arrange a trip through the Brunei tourism. This I was able to do with the help of Asri from the office, at a single rate he even picked me up early a the hotel, delivering me to the riverfront, finding my mortised narrow longboat, and left me with a package to give to a Mr Moksin who would meet me on arrival at Banger.  | | Intrepid trio on their final trip to the Brunei rainforest, near a waterfall |
It began to feel like a good old fashioned Hollywood adventure, even more so after an hour up river with the adjacent rainforest appearing ever denser, the thought too crossed my mind that I had no idea where I was heading, for how long and whether or not Mr Moksin would be there to greet me when I arrived, he was. The boat after just over an hour turned a bend in the river, the curtain could have opened on an Amazonian up river port, there was a bridge connecting both banks, several large concrete building, housing stores and river houses alongside. There were about 800 people living and working here including a teacher from England who I met on the quayside briefly, she'd been living in Banger for about five years. To my relief, Mr Moksin a very fit looking ex services helicopter pilot in his mid sixties was waiting for me, Ulrich with Thomas from Frankfurt arrived on the next boat completed our party. Malaysia visit We left the town which incidentally lies only two miles from the Malaysian border, I could even say I had been to Malaysia as I discovered the boat had crossed through Malaysian river sections several times on its way to Banger. Mr Moksin organises these rainforest trips, the national parks of Brunei also limits these visits on a conservation basis. We arrived at a riverside base where we met up with our two very good guides and in their company were taken by canoe for another half hour along the river before disembarking and heading up 1026 wooden steps to the roof of the rainforest where there was a 100 metre canopy rooftop walk.  | | The River Port, Banger |
After returning to the river we took a branch line stream, walking along a very uneven stream bed and clambering over the sides often with rope support, we arrived after about an hour at a cascading waterfall gushing high up from the dense but massively varied shaped and coloured rainforest. Tropical fruit We arrived back to a packed hot meal with tropical fruit of course, before setting off on our return along some fast flowing rapids and back to Banger and eventually returning to Bandar Seri Begawan, this time on a very packed and claustrophobic peak time, water taxi. It was time to repack for the journey to Australia, and times like that confirm traveling light and washing more on lengthy journeys is definitely the way to go. Brisbane bound The flight to Brisbane was on time though it felt longer maybe because now I finally couldn't wait to get back, "Down Under" again. Just one hitch and panic, on presentation of my passport at Brunei, they could not find my electronically attached visa. That simply confirmed my suspicion and lack of confidence in computer documentation as opposed to a piece of tangible evidence I could refer to and pull out of my passport.  | | Richard on the top of Mount Cootha overlooking Brisbane |
40 tense minutes later I was informed it had been located in some computer in Canberra, I refrained from saying it hadn't made much progress since last February! Out of the plane's window I could see the meandering of the Brisbane River below and the illuminated Storey Bridge. I was back in my second home and need not have worried about the irrelevancies such as visas, there was a state of euphoria on the ground. Australia had just defeated the Kiwis in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. When I arrived at my pal Bill's in Loganville at Bayside the priority was to get the video on as soon as possible, unzip a stubby and relax. Talk to each other  For an open and live debate on this or any subject that matters to you why not visit the BBC Jersey message boards and start a discussion on the subject.
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 | You are inYour Space > Your Travel > Richard Collinson > Australia Visit | |
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