2026-01-26 (Monday) Back to Perth!

 

Back to Perth - packed up early, and caught our flight. We did make up in the end. We also had a lovely meal at KL airport during the transfer - we had laksa which was so nice. Even after all these years, we still can't believe that we're going back to Perth and not the UK!

It was nice and hot when we got home, and we went straight away to collect Bau! She was so excited in the dark! She looked like she enjoyed herself.

We're back!

2025-01-25 (Sunday) Leaving Paradise to Tawau, Final Day!

 

Well, we left our last amazing accommodation - what a place to stay on our final stop! Paish took a bunch of pictures, and we have drone footage too, so we'll do something with that no doubt.

It was sad to say goodbye to the big fin staff, and the crazy ones were very sad when we left, which was surprising! They were very nice, and one of the called Dad "cool", which was so untrue!

We headed back to the mainland, and we stopped for lunch and cheesecake. We then headed by Gojek to Tawau. When we got there, there was so much litter along the waterfront it was shocking! Our accommodation was nice through, and we walked to the market which was a little disappointing as most of it was dried fish. Paish and Rox found one lady stall owner and bought everything from her, which was very sweet.

We headed out to the infamous "prawns" dinner - swiftly moving on.

2025-01-24 (Saturday) Mountain Hike, The Most Amazing Beach, Awesome Relaxing Snorkelling + Fish Bomb

Boiled Eggs for brekkie, which was a nice change. Set off with Andrea and Savea to hike up the ??? Island Mountain. I started off with Paish and Savea, but my leg felt great, so I motored up the mountain and overtook all the tourists which was fun, as they were pretty unfit. I high-fived the guy I followed at the top, and the took in the most amazing view! It was breathtaking - just a shame there were quite a few annoying disrespectful tourists around climbing on the fences when they were told not to. I talked to one local and agreed with him about how rude they were, and told him to push them next time.

Going down was hard though, and I jarred my knee once, but I think it will be good. Finally, my knee is finally going to settle! About time too! Roxy didn’t do the hike, but went to the museum, had fun with Elaine and Norman, and read her book - sounded nice!

We then did our first snorkel, and even though we didn’t see the most outrageous wildlife like yesterday, it was so beautiful, and so relaxing! We spent around an hour, the to top it off, we went to the most beautiful beach we’ve probably ever been to for lunch! We could have spend a few more hours there, but it was amazing, and walked along the sandbar. I did a bit of a beach cleanup - shame no one else did.

We went for our last ever snorkel in Borneo, and it was super chill, apart from the fish bomb! It completely took us by surprise - we all thought it was a big animal or a rock fall, and it put an end to the diving due to the history of deaths. When we read about fish bombing, it was not great. What a shame it still happens!

2025-01-23 (Friday) Activity Day - Snorkel x 2, Lunch / Karaoke, Losing to more Germans at Pit

 

Awesome day today - out on the boat, but a bit stormy - very different day from yesterday, and it seemed a bit rough. I decided to get a wetsuit, and I am so glad I did as everyone else was so cold! The snorkelling was absolutely breathtaking - the coral was amazing like flying over cities of colour, and on top of that we saw so many things - turtles, trumpet fish, huge star fish, and so much more - we got some great go-pro footage! We had 2 sessions - one in the morning, and one after lunch.

We met 2 English couples (one girl was a dog groomer) who were travelling, and a German family who were scuba diving.

For lunch we stopped at a beach which looked like an army / police barracks, but they were playing music and doing karaoke, which we did not get involved in.

We had a lovely dinner that was made by the big fin staff, and then we challenged the German family we met to Pit, and we LOST! Erik and now them, both German! It was fun though as we played family vs family.

What a wonderful day. Amazing.

2025-01-22 (Thursday) Off to Tun Saharan Marine Park

Up early at 5.45 for our morning boat ride - it was never going to be as good as yesterday, but it was beautiful all the same. We actually saw baby crocs too, which was so different!

Quick brekkie, then set off at 8ish with Didi to Semporna - a 4 hour drive, and after a little snooze, chatted to Didi almost all the way, which was cool - lovely man! Stopped and had some Portuguese Tarts at the petrol station - cool!

We arrived at Big Fin Resort, where our accommodation sat above the water - amazing! The hosts were lovely, albeit a bit crazy some of them! It was sunny and calm the we arrived, and we relaxed, I did submitted my pitch to It’s Me Again, and we went for a walk - not much around at all, but a couple of shops.

Dinner was BBQ chicken wings, rice and veggie, and was very nice. We played a full round of Five Crowns. Paish just took the lead with 3 rounds to go and I managed to pull it back to take the lead. Me and Paish cleared the deck on the second last round, and I managed to only get 5 on the last round to take the game - it was so fun.