There are tours to Imlil but the best way to get there on your own is by grand taxi, which should cost around 500 Dirham or 50 euros to get there and back with a stop of a few hours. The taxi will take you up the windy roads into the mountains and to this tiny village with its little cafes and Moroccans selling typical handycrafts.

I thought about going to Essouira, but having been based at the beach for the last year or I was totally ‘beached out’ and couldn’t face the torture of baking in the sun for the day.

I thought it would be nice to escape the 56 degree heat and go into the cooler mountains and take-in the breathtaking scenery. The main ‘attraction’ in Imlil is the Kasbah du Toubkal, a palatial hotel perched in the mountains which was used by Martin Scorcese in one of his movies.

Now you would imagine with it being a ‘hotel’ that you would be able to take a taxi up to a nice little car park with maybe some valet parking upon arrival before having a spot of lunch. Oh no. If you ask at the reception for the Kasbah du Toubkal how you get up there they tell you it is a 15 minute walk. “Turn first right, first left and you’ll find it”. Easy.

What they and the guide books don’t tell you is that it is an exhausting trek up the mountainside, through woods and trees and up stone paths. Some hiking boots and a litre of water may just have been what I needed.

How the hell did Martin Scorcese get up there? You can’t really picture him hiking up a hill with all the film cameras can you? Turns out there’s a mule. No not a cable car, but a good old fashioned mule for 50 Dirham. I think I was  actually quite relieved I walked, as the mule looked a little unstable for my liking.

No matter how out of breath you are, the view from the Kasbah makes it all worth it. Guests can dine for lunch at low red tables with Moroccan tableware and red parasols looking right out onto the high Atlas Mountains.

Sat having a drink and looking out onto the mountain range from up high on the terrace I couldn’t help but feel a sense of clarity and freedom.  No wonder this hotel is a popular retreat for weary celebrities.

To be quite frank with you, when I got in a taxi from the airport to the Riad Sindibad where I was staying, the first thing that went through my mind was “What the hell kind of city is this?” When you think of Marrakesh you might conjure up images of fantastic vibrant fabrics, tajines, souks and mint tea, which it does really have. But Marrakech as a city, especially when driving in, looks rather dismal. Run-down streets, garbage, dust, dirt terracota buildings all built at the same level, beggars, emptiness…there was nothing characteristic or attractive about it.

But Marrakech, as I learnt, isn’t about the city itself but more about the jewels that it contains inside.

My taxi drove through Bab Yacout entrance and down another narrow run-down street, which reminded me of the back street to my university house in  a dodgy area of Leeds.  He pulled up at a non-descript doorway. “I think I’m at the wrong place”, I thought. However the sign read, Riad Sindibad and he knocked on the door.

Sure enough a little Moroccan lady dressed head-to-toe in white opened the heavy black door and it was as if I had found the Secret Garden. What I stepped into was a little luxury haven in the middle of the medina. Riads were important houses embellished with central gardens and shrubs and were inhabited by the privileged upper classes. Today many riads have been refurbished and made into guest houses, and the Riad Sindibad is definitely a peaceful hideaway from the crazy world outside. With rooms organised around a courtyard garden, a plunge pool, spa, rooftop jacuzzi, suite and cook, this was my luxury getaway after months of backpacking. It was pointed out to me that the Riad is the real Marrakesh; the opulence and the private haven behind closed doors.

But there were plenty more jewels to be found as I explored Marrakech.

I asked Fatia, the housekeeper, how I could get to the main square so I could go and play with the snake-charmers in the souk. She took me out into the street and in French told me I could get a taxi from the end of the street. I, being a dumb tourist, was walking around with my bag still open so she quickly shut it before anyone could see and told me to be careful. I asked her if I could walk to the Jemma el Fna but she insisted I took a taxi.

I ignored her and walked, I figured there was no need to be wary of the Marrakechis. I did a little internet research about what to wear as a female in Morocco before I got on the plane, and there were mixed opinions. At the airport I eyed up girls in dresses and heels versus girls in capris and long sleeves. I’ve seen tourists walking around the souk in shorts and a T-shirt, and I’ve seen them more covered up.

I wanted to be on the safe side wandering around by myself and since I didn’t own anything below the knees, I opted for leggings underneath my shorts along with a long sleeved top and scarf. It’s not the most comfortable thing in 56 degree heat during the middle of August, but I thought it would be respectful.

Before I left Portugal my friends joked about my blonde hair and to make sure I don’t get kidnapped, but their worries were completely unfounded. In fact the Marrakechis never said a thing to me, less people stared at me than back home and souk sellers barely hassled me or asked me to buy anything. A simple “Non, merci” and they wished me a nice day and I carried on walking. Another lovely thing about the people of Marrakech is that they were very helpful and if I looked like I was going the wrong way, they pointed me in the right direction. I had to dust off my French a little bit but since it’s the only language I learnt in school, I quite enjoyed being able to actually understand the locals for the first time in Europe.

I walked past the unmissable Koutoubia Mosque towards the main square, the Jemaa el Fna, where there’s an abundance of entertainers; everything from water sellers, teeth pullers and storytellers, to snake charmers, potion makers and Berber dancers. They will come up to you and offer to take a photo of you, but be aware they are asking for money in return.

At night the square is packed with people and food stalls selling everything from tagines to snail soup. It was especially busy as I was there during Ramadan, when the Muslims fast as soon as the sun comes up and then party and feast all night after the sun goes down.

If you manage to make it past the snake charmers this is where you enter the crazy, disorinetating world that is the souk. You’ll never feel so distracted, confused, amazed, baffled and lost at the same time in the labrynthe of streets but that’s half the fun.

My advice is to let yourself get completely lost in the labryinth and don’t fight it, just go with the flow and absorb everything it has to offer. You’ll lose all sense of direction in the souk but that doesn’t matter, just keep going and sometime you will come out the other side.

As I went further and further down into the souk and the streets got smaller there were things coming at me from every direction; out-of-control donkey carts trying to manouvre, people shoving fake snakes in my face, sheeps heads hanging from a stall… it was an assault on my senses, the delicious smells of spices, figs and olives, the bright colours of the scarves and tea sets that caught my eye and the sounds of Moroccans haggling with tourists in my ears…

Then comes this great sense of urge to buy something, you become drunk on the power of the souk. Whether you need it or not you feel this sudden instinct to engage in the game of haggling and claim your prize for making it this far.  For me it was handbags. I bought one handbag playing the game of walking away and pretending I didn’t want  it, before the man ran after me and took the price I offered. But then I walked further and I saw better handbags and then,you guessed it even better handbags. After two days in the souk I became a handbag fiend and bought two more.

After all those mind-boggling distractions, the craziness starts to subside and then…calm. The stalls start to get fewer and far between, the  crowds subside and then suddenly you realise what you’ve bought, probably a pile of rubbish you’ll never use, but at least you had fun doing it.

That’s when I found my second Jewel, the Bouganvillia  Cafe. This, like the Riad was a little oasis in the sprawling madness of the souk, a cafe built around a courtyard with little pink parasols and ivy growing up the walls. There were only a couple of people in there despite the food menu looking absolutely delicious. I had a coffee and let myself unwind whilst I perused my purchases and pulled myself together.

Which brings me to my third jewel which I went to the following day, the stylish but expensive Kosybar. I previously mentioned I was there during Ramadan, and as a result alcohol is very scarce. But to prove I was drinking alcohol in the Kosybar at Ramadan, here’s a photo of my Heineken bottle.

The final jewel in the city of Marrakech was the Majorelle Garden desgined by 20th century painter Jacques Majorelle. The garden has the most beautiful bright blue Art Deco pavilion along with cacti, bamboo groves, shrubs and lily ponds along with a memorial to the great fashion desginer Yves Saint Lauren. Yves Saint Lauren had a second home in Morocco and often went to the garden, where his ashes are now scattered. This was a truly relaxing way to spend the afternoon out of the sun under the shade of palm trees.

I made several visits to the main square and the souk, and each time I saw something completely bizarre. Forget your western supermarkets, in the souk you can buy bags, belts, scarves, daggers, old camera lenses, tea sets, wooden boxes, carpets, lanterns, mosque alarm clocks,  food, trotters, sheeps heads, bunny rabbits, kaftans and even kitchen sinks!!!

Can you imagine a 40 kilo can of tuna moving at 70km/hr with razor sharp teeth? The tuna move with lightning speed and when you hold a little sardine above the water they pretty much bite your fingers if you’re not careful. It’s just a little scratch but if you’re a bit of a wuss maybe use the tongs.

Trent wasn’t too overjoyed to be in the water with them initially; it’s like being in a massive goldfish tank at dinner time except you’re floating around with fish that have a cutlery set in their mouths.

Whilst Trent was being a chicken I got straight in there and snorkelled with them, when you’re swimming with tuna they don’t really touch you, they move really quickly and come within centimetres of you but you don’t feel them. It’s a bit freaky though as the tuna are MASSIVE and people were having fun and games throwing the sardines next to me in the water.

It’s an interesting process that goes into farming tuna; they’re wild tuna caught then brought into a bay where they can be fattened up to be exported mainly to Japan. Over there they’re fetching at the prime market price around $250,000 a tonne.

After swimming and reboarding the boat to head back they had a taster on the boat of tsashimi. I love tsashimi but it’s not to everyone’s taste, and Trent’s face was a picture! This pricey Japanese delicacy wasn’t up there for Trent, but some raw tuna dipped in Wasabi was delicious!

It seems that there’s only two places to swim with the scariest thing in the ocean without dying, one of them being South Africa, and the other being Port Lincoln in Australia.  I had the opportunity to go swimming with the ultimate predator of the ocean, the Great White Shark on my road trip around South Australia.

It seems that not everyone is so keen to swim with this creature but I certainly wanted to see Jaws up close for myself. duh duh, duh duh….

We arrived into the Harbour at 6am to board the Calypso Star boat with a couple of Kilkennys and a few tablets to prevent sleeping sickness. One of our friends who did it the day before said there was a beautiful buffet but that unfortunately he has been vomiting the entire time… I was not going to follow suit. An incident on a boat in Portugal for my friend’s 21st birthday means I will now always carry travel sickness tablets with me despite the fact that they knock me out like a horse tranquilizer. Better that than being sick on the high-seas!

We were joined on board by Australian boxing champion Danny Green- I had no idea who he was but the reporter from the local news with the big TV camera sort of gave it away! Danny was the first person to turn Green (like my pun?) and was vomiting over the side of the boat. Not long after a few other people started throwing up but I sat there smugly on TravelCalm! The ocean seriously was rough, at one point I thought the boat would actually turn on its side but that’s me being a little over dramatic. The crew played a video about the Great White and it was quite fascinating to learn that people don’t really know very much about this creature. One thing I did know is that the crew had seen many of them out at the Neptune Islands, which is where we were heading.

When we finally anchored up the crew threw the tuna bait in the water, lowered the shark cage and it was game on! The crew demonstrated how we should get in the cage, you put a wetsuit on because the waters pretty chilly, attach some weights and then put a regulator in your mouth which is attached to the top of the cage so there’s no heavy tank on your back. The cage itself has a viewing gap but there is no way the shark can open its mouth if it stuck its head in.

Everyone relaxed a bit, stopped hurling off the side of the boat, got the fishing rods out and did a spot of fishing. We caught plenty of fish but there were no white pointers to be seen!

We waited…and waited.

Trent got into the shark cage for a swim with no wetsuit on so many times that he was starting to look blue! It was rather disappointing but as the crew pointed out, they are wild animals and it is not 100% guaranteed that you will see them. At the hefty price tag I think it depends how desperate you are to see them. One couple had gone on three seperate occasions at different times of the year and hadn’t seen a thing. But of course other people have, it’s just luck of the draw.

There weren’t any sharks but there was a proposal of marriage! Now to me that’s a rather bizarre choice to conduct a proposal, amongst scary Great Whites, but he held up a sign whilst they were underwater saying “Will you marry me” and she said yes.

We all took turns to swim in the cage- the cage itself is creepy without the sharks being in the water as you look out at the bait with all the fish swimming around it. I’m not sure how I would feel about a man-eating shark swimming towards me!

The crew prepared us an amazing lunch of oysters, mussels, prawns, chicken, salad…we were fed really well on the boat and on the way back there was free beers!!! The engagement was an excuse for a little party on the top deck with everyone drinking a few West End Draughts and having a good time.

So there were no great whites but everyone had an awesome experience- great food, great day out on the water, great people, a proposal and a boxer.

Back in the marina everyone including Danny Green and his crew stopped for a few drinks and pizzas and bonded over the events of the day! One of the highlights of our trip despite being let down by those Great Whites.

Lisa shucked some oysters in front of us and we had the opportunity to eat them natural with a bit of lemon. We had a quick tour of the oyster farm where we were shown how they sort through the oysters to get the right size.

It was then onto Elliston and over to Coodlie Park just before Venus Bay and Port Kenny. It’s incredible when you drive along this stretch of South Australia how you can travel for miles and miles of scrub and bush without seeing a single vehicle.

We had a great time at Coodlie Park- as someone rightly said, “It’s like Hotel California, you can check in anytime you like but you can never leave!” There were many nights spent drinking around a camp fire, chatting to other travellers and eating feasts cooked up by the friendly staff who operate the Nullarbor Traveller tour. The facilities there include camping facilities and hostel accommmodation, plus computers with internet access.

If you’re looking to have a bit of an adventure across the Nullarbor, do the Nullarbor Traveller tour to go swimming with sea lions in Baird Bay, as well as shark cage diving and swimming with tuna, something well worth doing!

The sea lions are really playful and will come right up to you. We were all given wetsuits to help keep us warm in the cold water and hopped aboard the boat to go in search of the sea lions. We anchored up in a pool off Baird Bay where the sea lions were chilling out on rocks and playing in the water. Snorkelling with sea lions is amazing- they look you right in the eyes and will copy your movements. If you roll over or dive they’ll mimic you and try to play. Some will even touch you on the nose and cuddle you!

We would recommend swimming with the sea lions in the wild to anyone! After the sea lions we swam with a school of dolphins, a great day! The difference with this is they are wild and you don’t feel like you’re swimming with something in captivity that’s beeing forced to entertain you. These animals are wild but still naturally curious and very approachable.

A friend of mine recently showed me his wicked list, a list of all things that he though were wicked enough to write down.

From now on I’ve decided that I’ll be making a Wicked List of every destination that I travel to. If you don’t have enough time to write a diary but you want to remember the best bits of your trip, just jot down a few words in a list of all things that are wicked!

Here’s my list from my summer in Lagos, Portugal

1. Breakfasts in Odeon
2. Chinese Shops and fancy dress themes
3. Beer bongs in Monkeys topped off with absynthe
4. Afternoon sessions and 1 euro pints in The Jam
5. Steve Oo the dog with the underbite
6. Mojitos on the beach
7. Having Conversations outside Inside Out that I don’t remember
8. Dancing on the bar in Monkeys
9. Honey mustard chicken in The Diner
10. Fishbowls in Inside Out
11. Jagerbombs
12. The man who sells refreshments on the beach- “Balinas, Balinas, Pineapple, Fresh Frutush, Cold drinksh!”
13. Axel Rose, the man who sells roses to unwilling men trying to impress inebriated ladies
14. Swayze cocktails
15. Swimming in the caves
16. Best Pool Party ever
17. Little Lion Man
18. Don’t Stop Believing- Journey
19. 2 Dum Ozzies
20. Grizzly the dog
21. Massive meals in Petiscos
22. Sangria in the Diner
23. 9 deadly sins in Whytes
24. Tosta Mistas
25. Bottom Lines
26. Night swims
27. Power Hour
28. Sangria BBQs
29. Darts Comps

We picked up the keys to the Wilderness YHA in Adelaide and headed on up to stay at the Barossa Valley Farmhouse which we had all to ourselves! I’d never heard of this before, but there are actually YHA hostels that are empty which you can rent out privately for groups or for yourself. They’re more expensive than a normal hostel but there are some beautiful hostels out in the more remote areas of Australia. Just be aware that you might have to pick the keys up and drop them off in the nearest city. The farmhouse itself was beautiful, with acres of land, a lovely kitchen, several dorm rooms and a living room.

We toured Barossa in something a little different- a joy ride in a trike! We put on our bandanas and helmets and hopped aboard the trike with our guide for a 30 minute tour of the area and stopped at a beautiful lookout in Angaston.

The following day we went to Jacobs Creek for a vineyard tour and some wine tasting- hic! Trent attempted to create a surfing terminology of wine- although we’re not sure our guide was impressed! We also enjoyed a tasty lunch and to wash it down, wine, wine and more wine.

Finally we had the opportunity to blend our own wine at Penfolds. Rather like scientists in a laboratory we had three wines and three goes at blending them together to create our own special wine in our personalised wine bottles! The wine doesn’t last very long after you’ve created it though so it was a perfect excuse to consume it rather quickly.

We enoyed the Barossa so much that we returned with tour operator Groovy Grape, who took us to the Whispering Wall. If one person stands at one end of the wall and one at the other, you can hear each other whisper from each end so clearly you would think you were stood next to each other.

We visited the Giant Rocking Horse, which by the name you can probably tell is the biggest rocking horse in the world. Our tour guide took us for wine tasting at various wineries followed by a delicious BBQ. The advantage of doing a tour to the Barossa from Adelaide was that we didn’t have to worry about drinking and driving so we could drink as much as we wanted. The Groovy Grape tour is aimed at young backpackers who want to experience the wine region but don’t want anything too posh and stuffy.

On our Vantastic Advenures we took the Sealink ferry from Cape Jervis to Penishaw on Kangaroo Island for a weekend of partying in Kingscote. Vehicles are allowed on the island but currently the only way to get to the island is by ferry which means it retains its remote feel without droves and droves of tourists. You can pay to take your car on the ferry or alternatively if you prefer you can go on one of the tours that operate from Adelaide.

It just so happened that the Coopers Kangaroo Island Cup horse races were on so we went to the Twilight Street Party at the Ozone Hotel and drank a bottle of Coopers (or two or three!) and partied away with the locals. A perfect way to begin our stay on Kangaroo Island! I would highly recommend going to Kangaroo Island for the biggest highlight in their calendar so make sure you check to see what dates the races are on here.  We took a shuttle bus from our campsite to the race course and enjoyed a day of betting, drinking and trying out the local farm produce.

After a big day at the Kingscote races we jumped on board a guided tour of Kangaroo Island, (more affectionately known as simply K.I.) with Surf and Sun. We met up at Peneshaw with the crew to start the mission around K.I, greeted by our legend tour guide Brendo. We visited a beautiful surf beach by the name of Pennington Bay for a little team bonding which involved some silly beach shenanigans which only pictures could describe, a bit of a surfing and a sandcastle building competition.

From there we cruised towards the camp for a BBQ at Vivonne bay, which was voted Australia’s best beach in 2002. I could understand why it was voted the best, with its caribbean-like white sand and turqoise blue water.

After a good feed we were back on the bus to Seal Bay which isn’t just a clever name. On the one particular beach there a couple of hundred seals from big fellas to mummas and their pups, I must say being only 10 metres away from them is an experience that will stay for a while to come.

We had our thrills for the day by racing around on QUAD BIKES at dusk around the scrub and fields of Vivonne Bay. We had the opportunity to see kangaroos running through the bush as the sun goes down which was magical.

On day 2  we visited the Remarkable Rocks which are really very remarkable indeed and provided a great photo opportunity as we struck some poses amongst the amazing natural rock formations. At Admirals Arch we observed another seal colony as they basked on the rocks after a hard day of swimming and fishing. We watched as a young pup tried to scramble out of the water and get thrown around by the giant waves. To see the seals in their natural habitat is quite tremendous.

We travelled in the bus through the Flinders Chase National Park that was ravaged by bush fires back in 2007 and the impact is still very visible today. We relaxed and played on Stokes Bay which was probably my favourite-a pristine beach with great water for snorkelling and swimming.

We visited a honey farm where we enjoyed some honeycomb ice cream before watching a pelican feeding show in Kingscote which was fun to see for a gold coin donation. As the tour came to an end, the crew on the bus were just winding up and there was much goon drinking to be done on the way home.

On our last few days on Kangaroo Island we went sandboarding, kayaking and night fishing! Sandboarding is so much fun but believe us when we say you’ll be finding sand in places you never knew sand could get for weeks after you hit the dunes! We went to Little Sahara and nearly passed out in the heat trying to climb up that steep sand dune!

We then took kayaks down to the river and had a leisurely cruise in the afternoon sunshine. We stopped for a couple of breaks along the river bank so that Trent could play with the Kangaroos and admire the trees (Trent really likes the Kangaroo Island tree, the Black Boy). On the way back we were paddling along when we spotted a snake on a tree branch. The Dutch Boys were kayaking by when all of a sudden it launched itself at their kayak! The snake had clearly been trying to hitch a ride for a while and looked a bit pieved that it missed its chance! At least we avoided a couple of snake bites and a trip to hospital.

We visited Hanson Bay Koala Wildlife Sanctuary and stayed the night in their lovely homestead playing some snooker on their billiards table and the boys went on the koala nocturnal tour whilst I caught up on some video making.

On our last night on Kangaroo Island we were fortunate enough to go and stay with Wallaby Bob, a local who says “With a name like Wallaby Bob I can get away with things.” Bob was up for a laugh and pretended to fillet a fish with a chainsaw for our video! We slept the night in his beautiful home at Baudin Beach and we were made to feel so welcome. It wasn’t like a tour but more like relaxing at a friends house and swapping stories. We enjoyed beers and Trent and the dutchies put their war paint on to go spear fishing! Bob cooked us an amazing fish supper on the BBQ- best fish I’ve ever had! I had a fever so unfortunately I couldnt go spear fishing but the boys came back with plenty of fish for a fish breakfast the following day! It was one of the highlights of our trip!

So for anyone visiting Adelaide or South Australia this really is one place not to be missed.

On our trip around South Australia with Vantastic Adventures we stayed at the brand new YHA hostel, Port Elliot Beach House, for a couple of nights in Ikea luxury. The hostel itself is completely brand spanking new and if you have a YHA pass its one of the cheaper ones to stay in. It has a small friendly feel so you can easily meet people but it also comes up there with hotel standards.

You can chill out with a Coopers beer in the deck chairs in the back garden, cook up an amazing feast in the kitchen, chill out in the air conditioned TV room with plasma TV or eat, read and chat to other backpackers in the dining room. There are private couples rooms and dorm rooms and all are clean and well maintained. We’d highly recommend staying there, the man who runs the hostel, Ray, is a legend and helped us plan our forthcoming trip to Kangaroo Island.

We took the iconic horse drawn tram, a symbol of South Australia,to Granite Island where we saw a seal chilling out in the ocean and penguins relaxing on the rocks! Trent went surfing at Waitpinga Beach and quickly jumped out of the water when he saw a black shadow circling beneath him! A man told him he’d seen an 20 foot shark just a couple of weeks previously! Just a little taster for the shark diving in Port Lincoln.

But when you have to lug that bag  through windy cobbled streets, onto boiling hot metros and up stairs because the lift always happens to be broken, you curse that bag. Your friendship soon turns sour when you have to pay £140 in excess baggage to get your bag on a 2 hour Ryanair flight (trust me it happened on the way to Portugal).

Recently my bag died and is now in a rubbish bin somewhere in Lagos. My two year relationship with my TK Max bag for £35 came to an end when the zip broke. The invention that is the zip amazes me, such a simple little thing but if it breaks, you’re a gonner.

I lived without my Antler bag for a couple of months because I couldn’t be bothered dragging it up the hill to my new house on a hangover. So I left it in a friends house and lived out of a teeny tiny backpack. But recently I rescued it, bought some duct tape and finally laid it to rest.

Bring on the beast. The porn of luggage, I bought myself a new Dakine, split level, roller bag. It wasn’t easy to find a bag here in Lagos, it was either a hard suitcase from one of the numerous Chinese shops or a 169 euro all singing all dancing bag.

Now Ive gone split level I’m never going back!

This monster holds 65 litres of shit, and the split level means its so easy to access all my stuff. I had an hour of fun organising all my belongings into the neat little pockets. A section for my toiletries, a section for my electronics, a section for my shoes and a section for my clothes. How organised am I?!!!! I had to get something on wheels, I’m only 5ft tall and rediculously tiny, if I carried a backpack and fell over I’d be a tortoise.

To all you backpackers out there, go split level, it’s so much easier and saves you digging into your bag every time you want to find something.

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