Current Mood: Cool & Tired

We’ve spent the last 5 days in beaten up Toyota Landcruisers which we’ve had to push up hills, being stopped by the Cops, driving without lights in pitch black, in a 15 Bed room with 6 other people who all drink, stay up late and snore heavily, the food has been okay at the best of times, the plates and cutlery were all greasy and dirty, the traveler helpers were stoopid, did I mention pushing landcruisers up hills!!! Yet after all that I have one hell of a good time… 2 words – SURF CAMP!

We boarded the bus in Lennox Head and the other 6 were already aboard – we had a great group that consisted of 2 Belgiums – Pino and Manu, 2 Americans – Mike and Ben, 1 Canadian – Ashley and a crazy Icelandic chick called Caitlyn. We’re then introduced to our instructor, a dude called Moondog aka Michael Lavens and he became the girls eye candy on the trip being an ex-model (coming forth in Series 3 of ‘Search for a Supermodel’ in Australia). Everyone got chatting straight away and the bus journey passed in the blink of an eye.

Our driver, Steve-O began to prepare us lunch while we hit the beach for our first lesson from Moondog. Obviously our first lesson was standing up and we were in the water within 15 minutes – all of us managed to stand up pretty much straight away, but only in the white water. Ben and Mike went out back as they are already surfers looking to touch up on their skills.

We shot back to the bus and had a bite to eat followed by Moony’s customary siesta – a one hour period of sleep to let the food go down in between surf sessions, his philosophy being ‘chillin’. The only period of time he knew was an hour and a half, so when asked how long the journey to the next beach/camp/shop is he would always reply an hour and a half (usually between 5 – 45 mins in real person time!).

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The next lesson Moondog taught us about rips – how to use them to our advantage, The Back – where we need to catch waves, The Impact Zone – where we really don’t want to be and The White Water – the left overs from the waves. We just chilled in the water learning to pop to our feet, how to paddle properly and generally just playing in the white water. Really good fun and we all drove to our accommodation for the night (Wey Wey Lodge) totally and utterly ‘stoked’. I got to share the ‘girls room’ while the blokes all festered in each others farts ;).

The following day we caught the big blue bus to the next beach, which was ideal for beginners like most of us. The waves were only around 3 foot, didn’t close out too soon and the swell was gradual, the whole day I spent trying to catch waves from the back with Pino and Manu – but spending most of the time under the water and being washed around the beach, still a bit of perseverance and I caught my first wave from the back – a super cool feeling. My arms were killing me and by the end of the day when Moondog came out to surf with us I could hardly lift them – time for me to go in and watch Moondog rip it up on a foam Mal, he made it look so easy and even through in a few tricks like ‘Shove Its’ and a few aerials (on a Longboard :)).

We made our way to the Surf Camp accommodation with Jackass 2 playing on the bus DVD player, stopping only to pick up pizza and a few beers for the evening. Our accommodation slept 15, but with only 9 of us it gave everyone a bit more room. A good thing considering the volume at which Mike snored! The evening passed with us in the food hall chatting, having a laugh with a few beers.

The following day we said goodbye to Steveo our bus driver as he had to go back to pick up another group. We didn’t know at the time that he also took with him his culinary skills, he was a good cook and the food we got with him was edible and really tasty. We all jumped in the Toyota Landcruiser and like sardines headed towards the next beach, the TL was making some really funny noises and the oil light came on so Moondog pulled in at the garage and bought some to put in. We made it to the beach and had a wicked day of chilling and a bit of surfing, more lessons and another siesta.

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When we boarded the TL again, the engine took a while to start but eventually kicked into life. Trouble being we didn’t have Caitlyn, so drove to the shower block to pick her up! The vehicle didn’t have a handbrake so when we stopped the car to let her in the back Moondog put it in gear and turned off the ignition. Bad friggin’ move! With Caitlyn now loaded into the back he tried the key, nothing, again, nothing… Shit!

Everyone piled out the car and we tried to give it a push start, Lucy was in the hot seat, but after we had pushed for what seemed like miles it turned out that she didn’t know how to jump it :(. So I jumped in (thank god!) and the boys pushed me down a hill, it coughed, spluttered, the wheels locked on the loose gravel and that was it! No luck… Shit!

There were a couple of helpful Oz guys who brought over their jump leads, but with the corrosion under the bonnet they couldn’t get a decent connection on the terminal. No luck, so we had to resort once again to jumping the thing. Boys to the back and we had to push it right to the top of this hill… Shit!

The guy in the hotseat (one of the Oz helper guys!) got a real good push, waited until he had picked up a lot of speed and tried again. Nothing but locked up wheels! Resigned to the fact that we were either sleeping out under the stars with the native creatures and mosquitos or walking back to Surf camp – an hour and a half by car away (according to Moondog!) we dropped our heads and prepared for the worse. Some other Oz dude in one of the big engined utes came past and offered his assistance, he connected the cable to the front of the Land Cruiser and the other to the back of his truck. Moondog jumped in the drivers seat and without warning the guy in the ute set off at some serious pace, fast enough for the door at the back of the Landcruiser to fly open! :P

About 5 mins later moondog is driving down the road unassisted, the only trouble now being that the lights and electrics are playing up. So loaded back into the truck Moondog drove at snails pace back to the camp, using the car behinds lights to find his way. The only real trouble being when we have to drive down the surf camp track – about 5 normal driving minutes – with no light at all. Pino to the rescue using the flashlight built into his mobile phone we make our way down the track to the safety of our camp and chalet.

That night we celebrated our safe return and Moondogs superb driving with a few beers as you can see from the pictures everyone had good fun.

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The following day we had a little lay in due to the beers that were consumed the night before. Then Moondog came to get us and let us know that he had changed Landcruisers for us, it was still battered to bits, but it start which is always a bonus. We head out for another days surfing, only to be stopped by two coppers on the way because the registration (tax) disc of the car was outta date. What do we do wrong to deserve all this!!!

The day was spent mostly chilling on the beach, chatting, sumo wrestling and listening to Moondogs tales of Surf Camp, modeling and his life in general. We even drew him a catwalk to walk down, he obliged by showing us his impression of a velociraptor, very funny. Siesta stretched on for a while longer and we had lunch down on the beach with a makeshift table (Longboard!).

That evening we partied and partied and partied. Winning our game of ‘Flip Cup’ with ease (like a more sophisticated boat race)!!! It was a hard going, but excellent trip that I would recommend to anyone. As you can tell by the length of this blog and the amount of pictures… A good time was had by all!

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

Darwin, the Northen Territory’s capital – home to some 63,000 people and they even have a couple of high-rise buildings. Yep, we’re back in civilisation, after venturing around towns with 120 people in them for a while it was quite nice to see roads with cars on, people dressed for office work and supermarkets bigger than your local corner shop!

Feeling right as rain we managed to do a bit of exploring, seeing the sights of Darwin and working out where a decent bar was. A month or so of no social interaction, we needed to go out for a couple of drinks one night with the guys we’ve met. What a result, down our stretch of road are a few really nice bars – outside, under terrace with lovely seating and a nice atmosphere! We spent a good couple of nights here chilling out with another stubbie and decent company…

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Our highlight of Darwin is the Litchfield tour though, it was absoloutely amazing. We were picked up at 7am by our tour-guide and taken straight to the Adelaide River where we got to handle a blah blah something Python, he was really cute looking and felt like a rubber toy – I won’t look at snakes being all slimy and horrible again, I actually heard myself telling Em that this snake was cute! I’ve been away from my dog too long! ;)

We boarded a double decker river boat and got to the top deck and a decent spot. Here we got to see crocs jumping from the water using their tails, trying to get to some meat that was being hung over the side by a giant rod. The little ones 3-4 metres in length could propel themselves right out the water, the big boys struggled to get their top halves out but were equally impressive. I would not fancy my chances in the river with these things!

Moving on we got to see some giant Termite Mounds which stretched about 5 metres into the air, then Wangi Falls – where we couldn’t swim because of the crocs in the water. Really nice waterfall though due to the torrential rain and the wet season…

We did get to swim in Florence Falls though where the water is apparently so clean you can drink it straight out the pool. Such a nice treat relaxing in this pool!!! But we moved onto Buley Falls where we relaxed in a series of cascading pools, I’ll put the photos up soon as that’s the only way I can really describe it.

On the way home we went to the Aboriginal Art Gallery where we got to handle a Blue Tongued Lizard and a baby python. Then have a go on the old Didgereedoo, brilliant…

Now we’re flying back to Brisbane where we will pick up our Surf Camp all the way down to Sydney. Wahooo…

Current Mood: Sickly & Tired

So we’ve got to Broome, Lucy with an ear infection and me with some sort of bug which really wasn’t a good start! Also, coming into Broome at the tail end of a cyclone meant that the rain was torrential and made the days really humid. We checked into the Kimberley Klub and got to our room, not a bad size but it looked like a map of the world on the ceiling from all the mould that had formed.

I slept the whole of the first day, not in very good form. The girls went and explored around us, coming back to report that ‘Hot Fuzz’ was on in the local cinema and that there were two small shopping centres near us. About 6pm I managed to get up and even get my ass to the cinema, didn’t feel too great, but the thought of seeing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost lifted my spirits – it really is a bloody good movie and made me laugh loads, not good when I had to get up to go and be sick, but I don’t think I missed a major part of the plot ;).

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We returned back to the room and I jumped straight back into bed, Em sat with me while Lucy went out and saw some of the others we met in Exmouth. With my high temperature I was dreaming quite a lot and then when I woke up didn’t know where I was, even having mild hallucinations which scared me a little – like a good little nurse though, Em looked after me and the next morning I felt a lot better.

We jumped in the Hyundai Tucson and headed to Cable Beach, it was not the nicest weather but if you go to Broome then you’d be stupid not to see it! It really is a spectacular beach and I reckon if the weather had been nice, our whole time in Broome would be here! Still, it wasn’t, so we buggered off back to the shopping mall where we stopped to pick up some medicine from the Pharmacy. Yum yum…

Our hostel is quite central and they don’t check anyone who comes in and goes out, quite good for us as Marco and Lea came and joined us for a couple of evenings – enjoying a nice ‘Cold’ stubbie before going to watch ‘Old Hogs’ at the cinema. Then returning back to have a few more stubbies. Rich, Vic, Simon, Sarah, Mel and John were also at the hostel so we joined them in the pool where we just chilled out and relaxed.

Not that much to do in Broome during the weather we had, but good fun was had and it became a very relaxing place to plonk our bums for the 5 days. It also had the best internet place, I managed to get in an hours gaming during one particularly wet day! What a geek!!!

Wow, we’re missing all the birthdays being over here during this period of the year – but we just want to wish Sarah Harvey a very Happy 28th Birthday. We miss you mate and can’t wait to celebrate (belatedly) when we get back! Enjoy your day and we’ll hopefully speak to you soon… HAPPY BURPDAY :D

Current Mood: Tired & Sickly

Up early and loaded into the trusty Hyundai Tucson we got ready to drive to Karratha, our first nights stop. But before we actually left Exmouth we visited the supermarket to pick up some supplies! I wait in the car to keep the a/c on while the girls went in, all of a sudden Em comes running out telling me to lock the car and go with her. As any man knows, you don’t argue with a woman when she’s like that so I obliged. All of a sudden I see a lady holding a Joey (Baby Kangaroo) in her arms like a baby, his name is ‘Midnight’ as that is the time he was rescued from his dead mums pouch. She had been hit by a car! We all took it in turns to hold him, getting our pictures taken and finding out about what happens to him now – shame he’ll end up as a burger… Only joking, he’ll be released back into the outback when he is 1 year old if he seems able to fend for himself.

After we left the supermarket we said goodbye to Scatt as she was flying back to Perth and then onto Brisbane to see her boyfriend Dougal. Then it was on the road – our first stop was due to be Karratha, which was about 3-4 hours away. We kept ourselves amused playing the ‘Name Game’, ’80s Tunes’, ’80s Cartoons’ and a load of other random rubbish. When we arrived at Karratha we had a quick stop at the Supermarket to get some water, it was still early so the decision was to continue to Port Hedland – about another 3/4 hours up the road. Easing our bellies with a Fillet from Maccy D’s we continued on, more games and more larking about later we arrived at Port Hedland, it was dark (about 8:30pm) and we were going to try and find somewhere to sleep for the night. Our trouble was that there was NO space at all!

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Back on the road again thanks to a late opening petrol station we carried on driving, hoping to get as near to Broome as possible. That night we kipped in the car having driven for around 16 hours! We woke in the morning and sat waiting by the petrol pump for the store to open… Once again caught out by the time difference, we were waiting for about an hour as the clocks had gone back! Wonderful…

Refuelled and back on the road we carried on driving, but after we had driven about 10 mins I had to pull over – I had stomach cramps, headache and a high temperature. Em took over and I tried to get some sleep! I woke up about 90kms from Broome and felt really ill, I kept my gob shut and my head down for about 70kms but then had to get Em to pull over where I was very sick :(. I felt terrible and luckily Em and Luce got us to the YHA and checked us in while I went to Lay down! We were in Broome and I couldn’t move very well, liquid coming out of both ends.

The girls explored, while I just lay there feeling sorry for myself :(

Current Mood: Esctatic & Tired

Thank goodness for a short drive, only an hour and a half from Coral Bay to Exmouth so we were there bright and early at 10am – checked into the hostel side of the Potshot hotel and into our room by 10:30, first thing to do – Sleep! The room is nice and compact and we have a huge a/c unit, so when we woke up we realised that setting it at COLD setting wasn’t too great an idea – you’ve seen the scene in Dumb and Dumber where Harry and Lloyd go all the way to the ski resort on the scooter, well that’s how we felt!

Most of the first day was spent catching up on the website, sorting through the millions of photos I have taken and then burning a DJ’s worth of CD’s and DVD’s… When we got back to the hostel we flopped back on the bed and watched some TV, something we have missed from the UK – Lost, Prison Break, Bones, 24 and Crossing Jordan (Em also delved into the realms of Neighbours and Home and Away). Then ‘Knock, Knock’ on the door and we open it to find Lucy standing there, they’re in the room next to us! Freaky…

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The following day Em and I head to the Northern point of Exmouth to see some of the beaches and various sites that there is to offer. The first stop Bendigo Beach where the water is flat, calm, see through and there is a Jetty without a barrier – perfect for some high flying action. We only stay here for 15 mins as there is a wealth of beaches to see…

The next stop on our Whistle stop tour of this part of Oz is the SS Mildura, a Cattle ship that collided with rocks on the 10th March 1907. Every person lived but all 481 cows and bullocks on board were left to drown :(.

While we were here we saw what we initially thought was a lizard, then out of the shrubbery shot a little mouse, we thought we were suffering with a bit of the ol’ Fisherman Syndrome (everything is bigger than in your mind than in reality), but the next minute a long thin brown snake shot out the shrubbery in hot pursuit. It was like Tom and Jerry on the beach, the Mouse would gain a bit of space then the snake would catch up and grab hold of the mouse – who would retaliate with a kick to the head and a bite of its own back until the snake let go, chase resumed and away they went again. I’ll tell you what snakes can seriously move quickly!! After about 30 seconds and about 4 rounds of Mouse vs Snake, the mouse did the unthinkable and ran towards the surf (Crazy fool!), the waves were only 30-50cm’s high but to a mouse that’s like a tidal wave! Even the snake thought he was crazy as he stopped dead in his tracks, coiled up and craned his head to see what was happening.

The mouse was engulfed in a wave and we thought how brave the poor sod had been. Resigned to the fact that the mouse was to join the cows in their watery grave we started taking pictures of the snake again – then as if by miracle a little up the beach we saw a little thing get washed ashore in the next big wave, Mighty mouse! Wet, bedraggled, tired, limping, yet alive, he hopped back up the beach to safety – the snake still looking out to sea… Victory for the mouse – wahoooooo…..

Time for Em and I to run as the Snake slithered back up the beach and past us, thoroughly pissed off I’d imagine!

Quite buzzed from our close encounter with nature we visited every beach down the coast hoping to see something else as cool. Nothing quite the same cropped up, but there were a mixture of washed up Jellyfish, some round, some square, some a mass of tentacles and others just a big mashed up, bird pecked mess! Em collected up some shells while she was beach combing and we both looked for the hatchling turtles that were said to be around.

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The following day was Lucys Birthday (and Clare Coopers back home!), I had sneaked out after she had gone to bed the previous night and stuck a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner up on her door with a couple of balloons, then Em and I went into the Kitchen and bench area in the morning to decorate it for her arrival which Scatt was looking after. With it all prepared we sat and waited, Rich, Vic, Sarah and Simon joined us and we waited some more – next moment, Scatt pops her head around the side of the wall “Oh shit!”, she shouts, realising that they were late – off she runs again to get dressed and more importantly, get Lucy.

“Surprise!”… Luce was a little overwhelmed and quite chuffed which was cool, I began cooking pancakes for everyone but with them taking some time I employed the culinary skills of Rich who joined me at the pans to dish out a mixture of perfect crepes, fluffy pancakes and the odd lump of slosh! We spent the day at Bendigo beach with Marco and Leaz joining us – most of the time here spent throwing ourselves off the jetty! That evening we all got dressed up and went to the hotel restaurant for a lovely meal and then to the disco where a few MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice moves were bust before we called it a night! A cool time has been had in Exmouth!!!

Current Mood: Playful

Just a quick blog to wish Clare Cooper and Lucy Evans both very Happy Birthdays.  Lucy is being spoilt rotten out here in Oz, I hope you guys back home are spoiling Clare!

Current Mood: Cool & Tired

Both Em and I had really wanted to dive the Navy pier in Exmouth, in fact that was one of the only reasons we had come here – trouble was, the pier has been shut down! The reason is not really known, so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably have to resign ourselves to a lesser dive. Em booked us two reef dives and we waited outside the office at 7.30am for them to open up and to get our equipment.

We climbed aboard the bus and were advised that there were only 8 people diving today, bonus considering they usually have 20 dives! When we got to the harbour we saw the boat and it looked massive, climbing aboard we saw how big it really was – you could easily fit 40 people without anyone complaining, a fully equipped kitchen, bath/shower room, large carpeted deck with seating and places for all your equipment, lounge area and the Captains cockpit which contained more computer consoles and screens than my old office.

The skipper came out and advised everyone the rules of the ship and the diving – “Don’t flush the toilet at the dive site, we want you to all log your dives, not dive your logs!” was a typical line and I missed most of the others because of laughing. We got kitted up and ready for our first dive ‘Blizzard Ridge’, the reason it was called this was the current and when you jump in you are being pulled straight away, we were finning hard to stay in the same place so descend down to the ocean floor to escape. The current on the sea bed was virtually non-existent and the life was amazing – loads of big fish like Potato Cods, Lagoon Rays, Bat Fish etc, but zillions of the little ones like nudibranch, anemone fish etc that really made the dive. Everywhere you looked there were fish, making for one of the most interesting dives I have ever had.

The next dive was at a place called ‘Labyrinth’, which was because the reef down on the floor created like a maze which you could swim around and get lost in (coming up a bit if you wanted to see where you were again!). Around every little corner were different fish and then when we turned one corner, we saw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Sea Turtle just sitting on the coral itching his belly. He wasn’t interested in us in the slightest and we hovered near him taking photos and watching him chomp rock for ages. He wasn’t even afraid to be touched and his shell and skin felt really soft? Strange!

Leaving him to his own devices we went a little further around the maze, coming face to face with two white tip reef sharks, neither of which were fazed by us and came right up close – really nice as usually they bomb off as soon as they see you.

On the surface everyone was on a high and chat about what they saw all the way home, it also now becoming common for people to have underwater cameras so we were all looking at what each other took. Great day, great dives…

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

After our slightly disappointing stay in Denham we moved onto Coral Bay, we weren’t holding out much hope as our stay in the more populated Denham was a bit boring – so we prepared ourselves for the worst.  We needn’t have though, the cabin we had booked was nice with a separate bedroom area and lounge/kitchen with a table – wahooo, modern amenities hey, how we miss them!

After checking in, we had a brief exploration.  5 mins later we had visited the whole of Coral Bay and had decided on the best spot.  We went to the office and after handing over a total of $5 we walked away with snorkeling equipment for the day, we walked for 5 mins around the southern peninsula of the bay and swam over the boating lane, into the deeper part of water.  The fish life was great and we spent over an hour swimming around taking snap shots and getting a tan on our backs.  Knackered and needing a bit of shade we hit the beach and had a little nap.  This is the life…

We ran into the girls in the evening, they had been there a few days longer than us and in the tradition of Scatt had spent everyday on the beach topping up their tans.  We said we’d meet them the day after and hit the sack – tired and happy.

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The next morning we met up with Marco and Leaz, the guys we had met at the Sea-Lions tour back in Green Head.  They are a nice couple and good company.  While Em, Lucy and Sarah had a sunbathe, Marco, Leaz and I swam up to the Shark nursery where the Black Tip Reef Sharks leave their pups to get bigger before they go out into the blue.  We only managed to see a few though, one of them a mum as it was a lot bigger than the pups!  With our Sun cream struggling to keep the sun from burning our backs we head back to base.

Marco and Leaz joined us for Sunset and finished up by cooking us the best Spag Carbonarra I think I have ever eaten.  We laughed and chatted into the night, the drive to Exmouth is only an hour and half so we didn’t have to worry.

Current Mood: Bored

So after our trip around Kalbarri and all of our various adventures we had there, we have spent the last few days just chilling around the pool and reading our books. Denham is a nice place, but really small and has one supermarket where they sell everything for living, an internet place in the Telecentre that costs a small fortune for you to even log on and a surf shop that sells t-shirts/shirts that look like they have been made by someone with one arm.

We have been making the most out of the room and the pool, the room itself is quite large but we have a slight problem with mould on the ceiling – not a problem if you don’t look up ;). We have a kitchen inside with all the necessary equipment to cook up a storm – Em’s Mushroom Sauce on chicken breat with Veg… Yum yum… God, I really am scraping the bottom of the barrel on things to put down for Denham. Next I’ll be telling you about the choice of pants I put on each morning or something!

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So after 3 fun-filled and extraordinary days in Denham, we checked out and headed towards Coral Bay – stopping briefly at Monkey Mia to see the Dolphins. Em got picked by some German Girl who must of been helping out there to go and feed the dolphin, she only just put the fish in the water when the girl was already saying “Okay, you can go back now”, some Dolphin encounter that was…

Onto bigger and better things now – Coral Bay with a population of 120 people – uh oh…

Current Mood: Cool & Tired

So we reach Kalbarri and check into the nicest room we have stayed in so far. It’s like something out of a caribbean resort hotel, with a massive amount of room, lovely bathroom, big double bed with a spare just in case one of us kicks the other one out, kitchen area, TV, bedside lamps and the greatest invention ever – air conditioning. We feel a bit pampered so decide to spend the first day just chilling in the room with a bit of ‘Heroes’, ‘LOST’, ‘Bones’, and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ (Em also watched ‘Home and Away’ and ‘Neighbours’, but they don’t count).

The next day we went to ‘Natures Window’ a rock formation that is supposed to look like a window over ‘Mirchison River’, but didn’t resemble one at all apart from you can see through the gap. It was our attempt at keeping fit, with the walk there and back being 1km, we were going to do the full 8km circuit, but with the temp being around 50 degrees because of the heat given off by the rocks, we decided to call it a day and wander back – I would definitely not like to leave this world from heat and lack of water.

Getting back to town we went straight to the cafe where I went online to mail the folks and while on the internet, I got an email from Div telling us about their Snowboarding holiday – I must admit to being hugely jealous, the only thing I think I would enjoy more than this trip is to do a season on snow…

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That evening we booked Abseiling for the following day, we had tried already but the first day we tried it was already full. So 7am in the morning we were up and out the front of our hostel when the big Abseiling bus pulled up and Robbie and Carl got out to say hello. It was just us on the trip which was a surprise as they had been fully booked for the last couple of days. We went to the wall in Mirchson River Gorge and Carl gave us a demonstration of how to get down backwards, Em said she would go first, so after being strapped in and donning the gardening gloves she edged out over the side of the wall. It was only a 30 metre drop, but it had a few overhangs and stuff, so I was a little nervous. Em made it look easy, hopping backwards and jumping out like something out of Mission Impossible. When she got to the bottom Carl unclipped her and sent her back up the wall ready for her next go. I was strapped in and went back over the edge, I was fine until I looked down and then got a bit nervous – but, the moment you start jumping back you forget about everything and see how quick you can get down.

The next stage was to go down forwards, which sounds nerve racking (and it is – at first) but get over the falling forwards over the edge and its all good fun, you literally let the rope slip through the harness and then run like crazy. Em went first and had me in stitches, she couldn’t hold her legs out behind her so ended up coming down hanging from the rope, she got a few foot holds, but otherwise you will have to see the pictures and video. My go and I actually managed to do it, what a rush as you hurtle towards the floor – take a look at these pics and videos if you want to see what I mean.

That night, we sipped some wine and had the best fish’n'chips we have so far encountered in oz. Yum yum yum!! We were joined for the meal by Mambo, a local Staff who was friendly with the backpackers, but that night, it seemed it was just us! Miss my dog…
The day we left we did a bit of Pelican Feeding and then it was time to move onto Denham

Current Mood: Playful

Well, not actually lion lions – but Sea Lions. We arrived to meet Rodney our Skipper not knowing how many people are on his trip, we are introduced to everyone and we climb aboard. It’s about an hours sail out to ‘Fishermans Island’ which is only a small island off the coast, home to a couple of hundred sea-lions. Cruising up to the island it looked to be a little bit of a wasted trip, the sea-lions were all fast a kip on the beach.

Nevertheless we all put on our Mask, Fins and Snorkels and jumped in. Surfacing from the hop off the boat we were all confronted by a playful juvenile whom took us a little out from the boat and to all his mates.

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They are sooooo playful and copy whatever you do, if you do a forward roll, they do one too. If you stand on your head, they too stand on their head (all in the water of course). The only trouble comes when the big bulls come out to round up the pups and take them back in. It’s like my Dad with me, he need just give me ‘the look’ and I know that I’m in the wrong – these Bulls do the same thing. So we had to wait again, but not for long – we were joined by three teenagers (in Sea-Lion terms) and they had a little play with us, look at the photos and you’ll also see that they had a play with each other.

We met a young couple on the trip – Marco and Leaz from Switzerland whom we have stayed in contact with since. They are a really nice pair and are driving the whole way around Australia in a little camper, got everything you need, but I bet it gets hot in there.

After a successful snorkel and a bit of fun we jumped back in the car for the rest of the journey to Kalbarri.

Current Mood: Tired

The drive to Cervantes was short and sweet so we didn’t arrive late, even though we had been on the bikes for a lot of the afternoon. Our hostel was lovely and we had a double en-suite room where the bathroom was roughly the size of our normal bedrooms! So a bit of a lucky break there.

We had a chat with one of the owners who told us what time sunset was for the pinnacles and where we had to go. Really nice people and when we found out that the Sea-Lion Snorkelling trip wasn’t going from Jurien Bay, they suggested one from Green Head which we eagerly booked.

There isn’t much to do at Cervantes, so we chilled for a while having a shower to remove the sand that had become embedded in us from the motorbikes, then head to the Stromalites which are one of the oldest living organisms in the world – dating back tens of millions of years ago. You can imagine how active you would be being that old and they look like big lumps of rock in the shore line. You can’t play chase the ball, or practice your sit, lay down, roll over with them anyway.

[zp]cervantes[/zp]

For something a little more interesting we drove to the Pinnacles desert arriving an hour or so before sunset. We drove round twice so we could find a nice spot to watch the sun leave us for the day and then set up the cameras. We met a swiss dude there who had the same idea as us so got talking. We must of been there for about an hour after the sun had gone down – it’s an eerie place in the day time, a moonscape of rocks and shrubs. At night it’s a pretty haunting place to be and I could imagine a few horror movies being set there. The pictures have come out okay – but nothing special! I’ll put them up when I get to a decent internet cafe…

A pleasant evenings sleep and then a short drive to Green Head!

Current Mood: Cool & Esctatic

After a chilled and relaxed break in Perth, Em and I head to Lancelin which is about an hour and a half north. Em really wanted to go to Rottnest so after driving all the way upto Lancelin, we drove back to Perth the day after to go check out what Rottnest Island has to offer. In our eyes, not really a great deal – yes the beaches are quite impressive, but we have seen a lot better on our journeys – the island itself is just sand and grass, nothing else really there to give you the wow factor. But still, we spent a nice chilled and relaxed day sunbathing at Little Parakeet Bay which is at the North of the Island. I even got a little bit of snorkeling done.

So we drove back to Lancelin to explore the following day. The town itself is mainly windsurfing as they have a steady wind all year round, making the conditions a lot easier for the Windsurfers to predict. We were planning on having a lesson, but the wind really picked up and even some of the intermediate Windsurfers were coming back into the bay, the advanced ones though loved it and we were really impressed with the speed and power that these guys commanded on their boards!

Our hostel was really nice and we had a lovely room with veranda, we had a little nap and wrote our diaries, Em on the patio and me on a hammock really comfortable, but it’s not great for writing in.

[zp]lancelin[/zp]

The following day we were due to go to Cervantes Backpackers, but thought that we wouldn’t go too early as the only thing to do there is the Pinnacles. So instead we head towards Lancelin Off-Road Motorcycle Hire where we had ourselves a little fun – Em hired a 250cc Yamaha Quad and I got a 250cc Yamaha Motorcross bike, a quick introduction to the controls, basically how to kickstart it we were off on the dunes. These machines are seriously good fun and took me back to my childhood (motorbiking around a field with my pap’s!). We were all over the place and the way that these machines through up the sand made you feel like you were going a million miles per hour! After about half an hour I had a quick pop on Em’s Quad, it was quite a nimble little thing and was easy to throw into nifty powerslides and donuts. I showed Em how to do them and she jumped on – a few minutes later and she was holding the slides for ages and really carving up the sand with her donuts. I left her to it and went to the top of the dune, sitting up there watching her it looked so cool and I got a few pictures of her before I saw her catch one of the ruts she had made and roll the quad.

It didn’t look very fast as she had scrubbed off the speed, but I got there quicker than I thought I could – but she was already up, onto the quad again and still blasting around in the power-slides, just this time, away from the tracks she had already laid down! Impressive stuff… One of the guys who runs it came over to me to tell me I had a cool woman?! And then challenged me to a race down to the dune and back again – so I obliged, he beat me (because he could ride it better) but I wasn’t too far away and where as he tail whipped the bike on the dune, I turned slowly so I didn’t fly off. HE was quite impressed though (so was I actually) and he taught me how to tail whip the bike on the dune so that our next race would be closer. Trouble was, our time ran out :(. Next time maybe!

So we left the extreme Lancelin and headed to the slightly quieter Cervantes!

Current Mood: Tired

Well we got to Perth, safe and sound and in relatively good time.  We left at 4am in the morning and arrived at Wave Rock at 8:45am, just as the sun was poking its head over the ridge – 45 mins later and we were on the road again, arriving into Perth at 1pm.  Tired but unscathed!!!

[zp]hyden[/zp]

What was important to do in Perth, well the website, emails and photos of course.  So Em and I have sat here tonight and done it all – phew!  So below the post congratulating Dale, Liz and James you’ll find the blog for the last fortnight continuing onto the second page.  Nice to hear from you all, send us some pics so we can see what it is like back home!

Current Mood: Happy

Just thought I’d take the chance (while I’m actually at a computer!) to wish Mr James Stringer a very happy 30th Birthday!  Hope you make it a good one and we’ll be thinking of you over here! :D

Also – Congratulations to Mr Dale Millar and Mrs Liz Millar on their marriage last Saturday.  We wish you all the love and happiness for your futures!  :D

Current Mood: Cool & Happy

So we drive for 3 and a half hours and straight to our hostel, god we’re good!  The first thing we notice is how many beaches there are within reach of our hostel – loads!  Which is a good thing as we are here for the beaches…

As we arrived fairly late in the day we decide to just grab ourselves something to eat and familiarise ourselves with the surrounding, the board at the hostel tells us of loads of things to do but we only see beach, beach, Beach!  Off we go and within 5 minutes we are down on the beach next to Esperance Jetty where there is a crowd gathering by the fishermen so we too thought we would rubberneck.  Turns out that everyday the jetty is frequented with Sea Lions who are eager to get the scraps of fish that are being thrown over the side, there are 3 big ones and a ‘toddler’, they duck and dive over each other all competing for the guts and bones from the days catch.  After about 10 mins they disperse and later on we find them on the beach sparko, all knackered from having to swim to the jetty – cute, but the couch potatos of the Sea Lion world ;)

[zp]esperance[/zp]

Next day we head to Lucky Bay which is officially the whitest beach in Australia, it is bloody white and the sand is soooo fine.  We have a little stay here and then decide to move onto the 2nd whitest which is Hellfire Bay – again really spectacular and we come to the conclusion that each beach through Esperance is going to be gorgeous so spend the day trying a beach and moving on, trying a beach and moving on.  When we get to Twilight Bay we set up camp and stay for the rest of the afternoon, the water is clear, the sand is soft and the scenary is spectacular.

The next day we do the same thing but this time skipping the first set of beaches and ending up on Twilight.  Gonna miss this beach!

Long drive tomorrow, all the way back to Perth (via Wave Rock), so its into bed early – alarm set for 3.30am! :(

Current Mood: Tired & Happy

Pleasantly refreshed after our little stop at Kerry and Jeffs hostel we moved along to our next base of operations, Albany.  Driving in we were relieved to see that there were a few more people here than Walpole, the town actually had a town with shops in and everything!  First stop was obviously the hostel and we checked in no problems, Peter the owner did a now customary introduction to the town drawing with bright pink marker all over a map he gave us.  With enough information and places to visit for a year in Albany we put our stuff in the rooms and made a start.

Sounds really dull but our first stop was Albany Wind farm, a feat of mechanical brilliance that we actually quite enjoyed looking at.  They are massive, like super humongous fans…  I thought it would make an excellent fairground ride – you strap one child to the tips of each fan and then let it rotate, we went on a particularly windy day (click here!) and I reckon even the most inexorable child would of hurled on the day we went!

Next stop was the ‘Natural Bridge’ and the ‘Gap’, two more rock formations for us to gawp at.  Quite impressive, especially the Gap which sucks in and throws sea water high into the air, coating my camera lens with a layer of salt and leaving your face feeling nice, dry and flakey ;).  We didn’t stay here too long, especially with the wind like it was.

Next stop the Whaling Museum, imaginatively titled – “Whale World” which I thought was a kind of theme park.  Nope, it was an old Whaling Station where they used to pull the dead whales up onto shore and process them.  We learnt how they used to cut them up, burn them down and make oil out of all the blubber – something that those of you who know me will know, I really like to know about ;).  Still it was quite interesting and they are now all about saving the whales and making people aware of their beauty.  They are such graceful creatures and I so hope that I get to dive with one (not too big mind!) this holiday!

[zp]albany[/zp]

With diving in mind Em and I went and booked up at a dive shop that we were recommended when we were in Freemantle (by a photographer guy called Glen Cowan).  So booked up for 2 days of diving we went to a bay called Little Beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening chilling out on the sand.

The next day we were up early, down to Supa IGA and onto the Jetty for 8am in the morning.  Here we met our Dive Guide Pete, our Skipper Carl and the rest of the divers for the day.  First thing we had to do was change into our wetsuits, now I normally dive in a rash vest and board shorts and am not really used to having to stick a suit on - now I find out that we need to wear a 7mm wetsuit and a full suit vest and hood, its like wearing a duvet!  But this is because the next stop south would be the Antarctic and the water is a little on the nippy side when you go down to 30 metres :)

Jumping in the water on the first day of diving it really took both Em and I by surprise, it was equivalent to sitting in a cold bath and both of us looked at each other to say - are you sure you want to do this.  We cut the crap and went under.  The visibility was good and all we were actually down to find was a fish called the ‘Leafy Sea Dragon’ that disguised itself like a piece of kelp – Em went through her air quite quick and I got buddied with a guy who loved looking in every nook and cranny.  We didn’t find one though and resigned ourselves to the fact that we may see something super interesting on the next dive…. :D

We did, the next dive we were prepared for the water, but not for what would accompany us throughout the dive.  A lovely large female fur seal, who thought that we were under the water for her own amusement – she stayed with us throughout the whole dive, taunting us with her ability under the water and playing with us.  She ventured to within only a couple of feet of each of us, checking us out and studying us, it really did make us smile and the dive was amazing.  We surfaced, both like big kids.  Em had conserved her air better and we had really enjoyed our ‘play time’.  That evening we went to Little Beach with a Eagle Boys Pizza where we chilled and took everything in, another early rise in the morning because of the wreck dive!

[zp]diving[/zp]

Again we were up early and went to the Jetty where we met up with Pete (guide), Carl (Skipper), Mick (Photographer) and Ron (Photographer) from yesterday and a few newbies to the boat, all of whom were good fun to talk to and a good crowd to dive with.  The trip to the HMAS Perth took only about 15 mins and we were in the water really early, the mast breaks the surface of the water so we all swam over to it, ready to make the descent.  The wreck was really eerie and loomed into view as we went down – its like Pete’s second home as he dives it so often and he knows his way around every single room and cabin that there is.  He showed us some really cool things like the captains room, cabins, bathrooms (complete with mirrors!) and the computer rooms.  Em and I both loved it and were so relaxed – for those of you in the know, both Em and I went down with 210Bar in our tanks, we dove to 29.4 metres, our dive time was 47 mins and I came up with 95 Bar left while Em came up with 60 Bar – Pete had got hold of some of the fins that he uses (the most expensive in the shop) and they are supposed to reduce your air consumption by 30-40 percent!  They definately work!!!

Click on each of these for some dive movies of us (big files!) Em and Seal, Playful Seal, Em Waving.

Dives done for this part of the trip we return to our hostel and get changed, ready for the cinema.  Rocky Balboa is out and we really wanted to see it (Rocky is a legend and I love the movies!), so we head off.  It’s a bloody good movie and although he is showing his age now (part of the film actually!) he is still a beefcake and would kick Vin Diesals Ass!

Long drive tomorrow – Esperance!  Time for bed, night…  :D

We said good bye to Augusta and travelled up the South West shoulder of Oz to a little town called Walpole, little in the way that the population is only 400 people and even a lot of them are just holiday home owners!

Checking in we met one of the owners of the hostel – Jeff who showed us around and introduced us to Walpole on a map.  Not a great deal to do in the actual town and as we arrived after 6pm, everywhere was shut apart from the Comfort Inn so we ended up grabbing Dinner there – bloody nice it was too.

The next morning we were up early to go exploring, Walpole is the town to stay in if you want to see some big trees – first stop of the day was the Giant Tingle Tree, measuring 27 metres in girth you can fit a small car within the hollow trunk.  Em and I got caught up in a little bit of rain here so made ourselves at home within the trunk.  When the rain passed and the sun popped his head out again we jumped insde the Tingle for a few pictures.  Stupid ones, but fun nonetheless.

[zp]walpole[/zp]

Next stop was the ‘Valley of the Giants’, named as such because you are walking through a forest of Tingle trees all reaching 40-50 metres into the sky.  We had a stroll around the aerial platform that takes you up to 40metres with the tips of the Tingles and gives you a nice view out over the valley.  You can only really walk one way and the platforms sway gently in the wind so it gives you a weird feeling.  Once we had completed this we had a stroll around the ‘Valley of the Ancients’, which – as the intelligent of you will realise, is a walk around some ancient trees, some of the trees are hollow and you can have your picture taken inside them which is pretty cool, but we’d already done that at the Giant Tingle so moved on pretty quickly.

That evening we met up with Kerry (the other Owner, Jeffs’ Partner) who showed us how to play Rummy…  So there we were, till gone midnight when we were supposed to be moving on in the morning, listening to Kerry tell us stories of her life as a hostel owner, some hilarious, some frightning, but the rummy was fun and the skip-bo was also a good game (which we’ve since picked up!).  Next Stop Albany…

Current Mood: Playful & Tired

Before we even reached Walpole we stopped at the Bicentennial Tree just before Pemberton so that Emma and I could have a try at climbing one of the four firespotting trees.  In days gone by, blokes would scramble up these wearing studded boots and a rope to try and pinpoint where a bushfire has started, now the trees have become a tourist attraction, the local councils placing giant steel pins around the trunk in an upward spiral to the pinnacle at 67 metres.  Brave hearted souls (like me ;)) have the oppurtunity to climb up them – now in England they would be instantly shut down for health and safety, there is no safety net, no cushioned floor, if you slip from the top you will come a cropper and that scared the crap out of me!  We put our shoes on and started to climb….  It’s high, but feels higher!  After we got to the first lookout platform, we both bricked ourselves.  We stopped here and had a look around, instantly in awe at the scenary, but both scared witless – we climbed down… 

After a while I thought I had plucked up enough courage to make the top and tried again…  This time I made it 3 quarters of the way up, bricked it and came back down again!

As we left the national park I was cursing to myself, I should of been able to make the top – so we took a detour to Pemberton, where we stopped off at the Gloucester Tree.  Another lookout of the same height that I could try my luck at climbing again.  This time I made it!  Wahooo  :D  Standing at the top with my heart pounding and my hands shaking, chatting to a fellow backpackers, we discovered that the climb up was the easy part – we stood at the top for about 15 minutes chatting about what we had been upto before deciding to climb back down.  “See you at the bottom” I said, “Not too fast I hope!” Was the reply…

Completely chuffed with myself, legs aching like crazy we headed for Albany!

Current Mood: Cool & Esctatic

Into Augusta and one of the nicest hostels we have yet to stay in.  The rooms are like your grandmas house, without the smell ;).  The owners are really friendly and we even have a tv in the room – wahooo…

Augusta is the final town (well, village really) before the most southwest point of Australia, where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean – next stop if you carried on down would be Antarctica.  We dropped our stuff off and went exploring, the first place we found was the local bakery where we sampled one of their famous (in Augusta anyway) paninis – was delicious.  With full bellys and upbeat music flying from the car speakers we set off to see the many wonders that Augusta had to offer.

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We first drove down to the Jetty to see about one of the river cruises, not as posh as it sounds mind you, but we might get to see dolphins.  Next stop on our whirlwind adventure was the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse that stands 63 metres above sea level – this is where you can lookout over both oceans, one either side of the cape.  Doesn’t look any different as it’s just water, but it’s nice to feel you are looking at something totally cool. 

We got here down a long ’Scenic’ Dirt track, where we saw some lovely trees, and more trees and erm, more trees.  In fact, in half an hour of driving we saw two places where you could see something other than trees – the first is Skippys Rock, a small cove where there are some interesting rock formations.  The second of which is the Waterwheel, this is a wooden wheel that was used to pump water up to the lighthouse when it was being built.  Over time limescale has built up around the wheel encrusting it – making it actually look like stone.

We set off to Hamelin bay to explore and watch the sun go down.  When we got there we saw the local attraction, about 8 Giant Stingrays and a few Eagle Rays all in the shallows waiting for the fisherman to feed them.  We ended up here a couple of hours, chatting to a friendly local fisherman who came over to give us some fish heads and guts that we could hand feed the rays with.  Wow!  This blew our minds, the Rays were huge, especially ‘Big Fella’ that the kids had affectionatly named, along with ‘Stumpy’ who had unfortunately lost his tail from a boat propeller :(.  Em couldn’t get enough of these guys and after being a little apprehensive at the beginning because of the size of the tail and barb, was eventually stroking, patting, feeding and near enough swimming with them like they were her new best friends.  We decided that we would come here everyday to see and feed them – they are truly awesome!

[zp]hamelin-bay[/zp]

The next day we had a little stroll in the Bunarup Forest, which is filled with Yirra Trees.  These stretch high into the sky, which is pretty amazing considering the width of their trunks aren’t even that of a large english oak!  While we were here, we decided to do a bit of caving – so after a bit of research into which was the nicest cave to try out, we went for Lake Cave.  A fairly small (compared to Jewel) cave, but with a permenant water supply at the bottom, the lights ensure that the reflections of the stalagtites is pretty amazing.  The tour lasted about 50 mins and we were told all about how the cave formed – we loved every minute of this, bar the 300 steps to get down into the cave!  Oh, and the pitch blackness when our guide turned all the lights out!  Oh err…

To cool down after our climb out the cave we returned to our buds at Hamelin Bay, this time armed with our swimmies and a towel so that we could join them in the water!  The Bay is lovely, calm and the sun was beating down.  A few kids were making the most of it out on their little speedboats, towing their friends on their knee boards – we could just imagine Russ, A and Dunc out there when they were that age flying around.  Again we fed the gentle giants and had a chat to a few more of the locals (and a few non-locals) before heading back to the hostel.

The final day in Augusta and we hit the pub, where they served pints of Guiness (don’t tell Phyll, but Em and I both had a couple of pints!).  We played a few games of pool and sat out on the terrace looking out over the Blackwood River until the food place opened up.  Jimmys Grill was great, you basically pay $17 each to cook yourself your own food – you get a plate with a lump of steak on, a plate to put it on after it is cooked and then you just place it on a giant grill until you think it is ready.  I ended up with a rare steak, that was actually really nice whereas Em’s came out pretty much perfect Medium.  Then you add yourself some chips from the counter and a bit of salad – we were a little cheeky as we took some of the salad (onion and mushrooms) and went back to the grill to cook these – all in all it was pretty yum yum yum…

After dinner we watched Aussie Rules, loads of kicking, jumping, punching, but no real structure or order to the game – I think I’ll stick to rugby thanks.

Before moving onto our next destination we did one final little tour, the Annie Flinders Eco Cruise.  Os was really cool and we met a guy called Bill Ipsen on one of the stops, a 5 generation Aussie and a real bushman, he showed us how to catch Marron (a large Crayfish), how they would round up cattle in the olden days and what their life entailed.  It was bloody interesting and the guy reminded Em of her grandad Vic, we bought a copy of his book and got him to sign it for us before heading back down the Blackwood River.

Next Stop, the Valley of the Giants, the Gloucester Tree and Walpole! 

Current Mood: Mischievous & Tired

Margeret River our first stop from Perth and our base of operations for the next few days.  The drive down was excellent as Eurocar upgraded us to a ‘mini’ 4wd (Hyundai Tucson), so although we didn’t have the boot space of the other car it was far more comfortable.

We set off along the highway, kicking back and relaxing to the MP3 player – our first stop was a few hours at Bunbury, possibly the largest town south of Perth before you hit the water. We had a nosey around and ended up walking along the boardwalk of the mangroves, which is something like the only one this low down in Oz (or similar?! ;)).  Here we found a Big W and got ourselves a set of Poker Chips so that Em can learn a bit of Texas Hold ‘Em.  There are apparently dolphins that frequent these waters, in the mornin, however we arrived in the afternoon so missed them – obviously!

Lovely town, but not somewhere that leads itself to the scenic idea that we are aiming for – so we moved onto Margaret River.. 

[zp]margaret-river[/zp]

Our hostel was nice, but basic, luckily we were in the quieter block and only shared our kitchen with about 8 others – we had to venture over into Chinatown to get a kettle though and it was chaos.  It was quite late when we arrived, so we shot down to the local where I managed to order a pint, yep, you read it right, a PINT of Stella Artois, which slid down my throat like melted chocolate!  The food wasn’t bad either and it reminded us of a summers day in a classic british pub garden.  That night we went to watch the sun come down at Prevelly Beach before moving onto Surfers Point to watch the diehard boys in action.

The following day we drove back to Bussellton, it was somewhere I wanted to go to and Em was more than willing.  This was everything we were after, the water here is as clear as Thailand – if not clearer and was not as freezing as most places around Australia.  Stretching out for 2km into the Ocean is the Bussellton Jetty, the largest wooden Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere!  Really picturesque, especially when combined with the deep blue sky that we were welcomed with.  Em and I decided to walk to the end and visit the underwater observatory (the UWO), this goes 9metres underwater and is surrounded by various corals and fish that you can watch from the giant reverse (dry!) fishtank.  We stayed in Busselton for ages, mucking around in the sea and taking a few snaps, but as the sun began to dip we returned to Margaret River and went back to Surfers Point to watch the sunset, this time as the wind was up – the surfers were joined by some windsurfers. :)  (Nothing on Little Sarah and Steve though ;))

We were up early the next day (10am!) as our pickup was arriving for our wine tour.  Our guide for the day was Kim and he advised that we were the only two on the all day tour until the afternoon session joins us – one German guy!!!  So off we went, with Kim explaining the many processes of making wine, changing its colour, taste and type – while also letting us know that we were going to consume in excess of 2.5 bottles – EACH!

In the morning we visited 3 wineries, 2 of which we loved and 1 of which tasted horrible (apart from the Port).  We were shown the correct way to smell and taste the wine so we appreciated the whole flavour.  We could choose to spit out each wine if we wanted, but we got our moneys worth and swallowed every tasting (approx 60ish!).  For lunch we went to the Voyagers Estate, one of the richest estates in Margeret River – both Emma and I had the Salmon which they accompanied with a Merlot to wash it down, a whole glass this time though. 

The afternoon we met the German Guy and went to my favourite winery of the day Watershed, where Em and I bought a lovely bottle of Chardonnay – apparently the Red Wine drinkers white?  :?  – the Final winery of the day was one called Moss Bros (not related to the suit hire company!) where we got to taste wine straight from a barrel – Hungarian Oak Barrel to be precise.  The day was rounded off with by a visit to the Margaret River chocolate factory, where we at last found some decent Australian Chocs, our palate was then in for a shock when we chomped down a few bits of Australian Cheese – Yuk!  My god Australians cannot do cheese!!!!!!  We didn’t stay at this one long as you can imagine.

One more nights worth of sleep and then we move on, this time – Augusta!

Current Mood: Esctatic & Flirtatious

So we have arrived into Perth having survived our little brush with the outback.  The flight over was lovely and all four of us managed to get into Emergancy Exit Seats – not a hard feat considering the amount of people that were on the flight,  and that we were the first people in the check-in queue – but hey, it still felt nice being able to stretch out.

The Perth hostel is lovely and we’ve got a lovely double room.  Em and I are doing our own thing from now until the 23rd March, making sure that we meet up again for Luce’s birthday (no way we’re missing that!).  This way we all get a little rest bite from each other ready for the full on camper van in New Zealand and its also easier when you want to do something.

Perth was nice as we got to meet up with our friend Bien who was staying for the first few nights down at Cossteloe beach, it was really nice as we explored Freemantle together, a coffee/fish lovers dream (well fish eaters).  It was nice to spend the day with her, listening to how her travels have been going and getting her advise on bits and bobs – she recommended a Surf Camp down the East coast, which we have now booked with Lucy and are travelling down to meet Scatt a bit later in the trip – (Scatt is meeting a friend in Sydney a bit earlier). 

For a treat we got to watch the cinema a few times – seeing ‘Music and Lyrics’ on valentines day after a lovely meal at a nice restaurant (beats beans on bread).  We visited Swan River and had a few nice walks around the various suburbs before exploring the actual city centre and the shops.

[zp]perth[/zp]

Em has now got a nice camera and an underwater case to go with it, so we have promised ourselves a few dives to see what the West Coast has to offer – one of these may be the Rottnest Island wreck dive, but I’ll let you know more about that once we do it (if we do it!).

We’re picking up a car on the 21st March and are then heading down the South Coast, so we’ll see what adventures we have down there.  The girls are doing the same, so it will be really nice to meet up in Exmouth and talk about each others trip.  Looking forward to it…  Sorry about the length of time it has taken to update this, the internet cafes are few and far between, but I’ll try my best.  Feel free to leave comments or drop me a mail to let me know how you all are!

Lucy and Sarah are now having 4 weeks doing their own thing, while Emma and I do the same.  This will mean that when we meet up next time we will all have had a relaxing break – taking in the sights we individually want to see. (we have done really well so far taking everyones interests are quite varied).

So…  Lucy, Emma and I have all signed upto a website called FACEBOOK, to keep in touch and allow us to see the girls (Lucys and Sarahs) photos.  In order to see these photo’s you too must register and add us as friends – if you know Lucy, then you will know her surname and be able to search her out, same as with Emma and I. 

So, do it and share the joy ;;)

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

So we arrived into Alice Springs and despite the warm weather, were surprised with how busy it actually was.  This wasn’t the way out west town any of us were picturing so came as a nice surprise.

The YHA hostel that we booked was comfortable and had a pool in which we could throw ourselves to cool down.  Which we did hastily…

In the morning the ‘Rock Tours’ representative Kate came and picked us up (6am!) and we were taken around the various hostels picking up all manner of nationality – Swedish, Dutch, Danish, German, Irish and of course us English.  The journey to our first stop was a long drive and I had my head back counting Z’s for most of the trip, most of the bus was silent as other like-minded people prepared for what was coming.

[zp]outback[/zp]

First stop was King’s Canyon and when we exit the mini-bus we felt the heat.  My face began to melt, my body began to throw sweat out in a way that the bloke in the Lynx advert would seem like he has only a mild problem, then I find out that we only have to go and do a 7km trek!  The temperature was 42 in the shade and we had to first navigate a sheer slope to the rim of the canyon.  It was a struggle – definately…  Poor ol’ Lucy hates having to walk up hills, yet she grit her teeth and made it to the top – feeling half dead, but had still managed.

The rest of the walk was a piece of cake compared to the first bit and we were treated to a swim in a natural waterhole halfway round.  Yippeeeee…

Back in the bus, all of us drenched from head to foot we all began chatting.  A guy called Tobi from Germany got everyones spirits up as he larked and joked around in the front.  The stories around the coach had everyone laughing and joining in, singing songs and swapping stories.
We drove for a while taking in sights and talking about the day before reaching our first camp ground – well, not so much a camp ground as a desolate place in the middle of nowhere.  When Kate turned the lights out on the bus however, the sky lit up and the stars were everywhere – looking so close you could almost touch them.  We cooked around torch light (too dry for a campfire, don’t want to be responsible for a huge bushfire!) and had noodles with chicken, vegetables and moth’s.  yum yum…

Next day we were up really early to walk around the Olgas Paul from England and Marc from Holland kept me company and the trek went really quick.  This was another 8km walk and when we got back to the start we noticed that the Rangers had put up a sign saying the walk was shut due to extreme temperatures -thanks for telling us.

[zp]outback[/zp]

After this short trek we went to Uluru to do a short walk called the Male walk, this was really interesting and we leart a lot about the Aboriginal people and ‘Chooc or paa’ (I can;t spell it, but it is the term used for everything, life, law, the land, history, present and past).

Time to see Uluru at Sunset and it lived upto it’s reputation, it was truly beautiful and something I will remember forever.

Camping that night was at a pre-defined campsite and we got to grab a swim and stuff earlier in the evening.  That made do as my bath and shower at the same time.

In the morning we were up at 4.30 to see Sunrise – this too was an awesome experience and sharing it with so many friends made it that extra special.

Next was the Base walk and while Emma walked with Bien and Lucy, Sarah walked with Marc and I walked with Tobi, all of us chatting and passing the time.  A 9km walk later and we are back at the minibus ready to go home…  It was an amazing tour, with some amazing people whom I hope to stay in contact with.  There are too many people to list and talk about here, but if you read this – thanks for making the trip special.  Look after yourselfs – Paul x

Current Mood: Bored & Tired

Running around trying to decide what to take for food on a train journey is quite difficult when you are doing it at the last minute – packing for 15 hours in the same carriage and the same seat.

The taxi picked us up on time, we had to get two taxis because of the sheer amount of stuff that is being lugged around at the moment.  I swear to god that Scatt’s bag is like a mobile home at the moment, she too has bought a trolley for it, but it screams out in pain everytime the bag is loaded onto it, then there is the seperate toiletries bag, the food bag and finally the day rucksack.  So there was no way we were going to get  1 taxi between us.  Emma and I got the first one and await the girls at the Gahn train – a little worried as we had noticed a sign saying max 20kg on the way in!  Uh oh…

Luckily this meant that each ‘individual’ bag had to weigh no more than 20kg, so luckily Scatt didn’t have to throw away any of her belongings this time (phew!).

Checked in we went and listened to the crew saying hello and introducing themselves out on the platform and then climbed onboard.

It was more spacious than I had pictures and a lot more comfortable, the seats swivelling round so that we could share Cheese and Wine with the others.  The rest of the carriage looking on with envious eyes ;).

We sat, we read, we sat, we read, we read some more and we sat…  There would be a moment of stupendous excitement when one of us would go and get a cuppa tea, but apart from that we sat, we read, we chat, we read, we sat…

The evening drew on and the sunsetting was beautiful, I tried to take a few pictures, but the trundling along of the carriage made it a little difficult to do so.  Then came the night and even though the seats were uber comfortable to sit on during the afternoon and early evening, they were a killer to lay on.

[zp]the-ghan[/zp]

Emma couldn’t get comfortable, so I said I would go and read some more of my book in the lounge car so she could have a nap.  So at 11pm I went into the lounge car and read some more of my book (Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz!) and only got up at 2.30am when I thought I would fall asleep where I was!  Em was fast a kip and very reluctant to move, even though she was going to rest her head against my arm – completely destroying my chances of catching flies.

It was pretty surreal just rumbling along in the dark, no cabin lights and only a few on the exterior of the train, made it feel like we were on the surface of the moon as it lit the outback floor and showed up all the pits and scrapes.

As the sun lifted its head over the horizon, I felt like an insomniac jacked up on Redbull – dreary eyes with bags you could take your shopping home in.  The sunrise made up for a lot of it though.

Em surprised me with a Scrambled Egg, Bacon, Sausage and Tomato brekkie which was delicious (oh and a cuppa!) and we chat until we arrived at the station in Alice Springs.  Stepping out of the train was like stepping into a dry oven.  What HAVE we let ourselves in for!!!

Current Mood: Playful

Didn’t hold out much hope for Adelaide, we had been told that is was a little quiet farming city with no real character.  4 nights seemed too long and quite like the littlest hobo, we were looking to move on quickly.

As Emma and I slept in the back, the girls chatted and navigated their way into the city – Lucy behind the wheel.  Em and I woke to see that the farming town wasn’t full of Cows and Bulls, that the population weren’t getting around on horse and cart but the place was actually quite a buzzing and things stayed open all hours of the day.  We pulled up next to a clapped out old Ford Falcon in the YHA Car Park, grabbed our Backpacks and shot into the Hostel to get out of the 39 Degree Heat!

The first thing that we noticed was that the place was actually quite nice and large, loads of computers and a travel shop attached to the side of the building!  Excellent start, let down by a staff member serving us with a face like a slapped arse – he hadn’t just got out of bed the wrong side, he’d fallen out…  Nevermind, you do come across them and the best way to respond is usually with a nice dose of sarcasm to make them feel even better. Walking away feeling good we get to our room and find that it is what we need after such a long drive.  The room is large, tidy and has it’s own bathroom attached.  What a treat.

Exploring the hostel we find little gems of things hidden around in various rooms and cubbie holes.  Imagine our joy when we spot pool tables, arcade machines, a computer jukebox, pictionary, twister, a huge kitchen, a library, 2 reading rooms, 2 tv rooms, well I damn near passed out and came out with my favourite line “I think this is my favourite hostel so far” – apparently I say it at everyone we get to.

We all head out to see what Adelaide has to offer and while Lucy and Scatt head off to get something to eat, Emma and I go and check out the shopping district and Rundle Street Mall.  The centre is quite vast and in the heat we don’t last long, maybe only a couple of hours – I only get chance to go and check out another Camera wholesalers where I find what I am looking for, 2 neutral density filters!  Wahooooooo…

[zp]adelaide[/zp]

Eventually we end up back at the hostel where we meet the girls.  Lucy is a bit of a wiz on the pool table so we enjoy a few games, where I actually get put under a fair amount of pressure!  The kitchen is vast and quite clean so throughout our time in Adelaide we had quite a few nice meals.

The girls loved Adelaide as it they managed to book an appointment to get their hair cut, both Em and Lucy having highlights to cover up their roots (they looked like reverse skunks with the dark stripe down the middle of their heads!).  While they were there I caught ‘Smokin’ Aces’ at the cinema – not the best film ever but I did have the whole cinema to myself as it was midday.

Adelaide turned out to be a city of rest and relaxation for us and definately a decent place to go ad chill.

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

Wassup people…  Massive update of pictures today and with the help of the girls I have gone a bit overkill (167 Photos of the Great Ocean Road – which is rocks ;) ).  Still, it gives you guys and gals something else to look at…  Also uploaded a few videos which I will put into a future blog.  But for the moment, take a look at Luce and Scatt giving it large in the back of our Subaru Outback by clicking here.

Current Mood: Tired

:huh: 6.5 hours it took to drive from the Grampians to Kangaroo Island, but was easy and picturesque to do. The girls kept their headphones in the majority of the way so I just cruised along listening to the ‘Complete Nineties’ CD that I had bought for the car – 5 CD’s of cheese! I think that I can now give you every word to Tasmin Archers ‘Sleeping Satellite’ or the dance version of ‘Summer Rain’ that Scatt took a liking to.

On the drive we went through the rural city of Horsham, my hometown. Bit more spread out than home and we were driving for about 90kms before we reached the next place! Crazy huge, but must of only contained about 20 houses as they were all hooked onto farms and stuff.

As you can probably see from all the pictures, the Grampians was good for everything as long as it was walking. We did a few little walks, the main one being to the base of Mackenzie Falls which we all did but struggled on the return. The falls were pretty amazing and I took soooo many photos that even I got bored choosing which ones to put on the t’internet. So please don’t get too bored of them!

Next stop was Kangaroo Island and just before we reached the port we stopped for petrol. Damn lucky we did as well as we picked up a leaflet saying ‘it is imperative that the ferry is booked a couple of monthes in advance as it can get very busy over peak times.’ And, costs a fortune! So, we phone up on the way – “Can we have a ferry ticket please?”. The answer is not what we wanted to hear, they only had 1 ticket left for the 6pm ferry and a few for the 7pm ferry. Foot to the floor we get there about 5:15 and queue in the Standby lane for the 6pm (the ticket had gone!). 6:30pm and they are still loading… Had our chance gone…….. Nope, the guy comes strolling over and with a quick flick of his hand we’re manouvering onto the ferry – backwards.

Kangaroo Island itself is massive and even though we have 2 nights here, the ferry times that we can get on the return dictate that we only get one full day here. Off we go and sort our food out for the evening and drive to a place called Sunset Wineries to get the sunset – we get told it was at 8:15, so we arrive in plenty of time and the sun is still up high in the air! Hmmm, something not quite right here… When it gets to about 8:40, the sun is low, but vanishes behind a cloud – just our luck! So we head off home to get a good nights kip.

[zp]kangaroo-island[/zp]

In the morning we were up at 8am, getting brekkie and wondering why there is noone else really up and about??? Setting off we found out how big the island is – 155km from one side to the other and 55km top to bottom. Not good when we are on the North-East point and need to get all the way to the South-West point, especially considering the island has 1 main road that snakes from top to bottom all the way along :(. A long drive later and we are at Admirals Arch, a place where the rocks form an Arch – funnily enough! We stay here for ages, not looking at the rocks, but because of the seals. They are so cute! One of the little fellas was trying so hard to get from the top of the rocks to the bottom to get into a rock pool, but couldn’t quite manage it and returned to the top again to lay in a puddle – defeated.

Next stop Remarkable Rocks (they are truly called that!) and we posed for loads of pictures by these ‘remarkable’ rocks, getting loads of snapshots and clambering around like kids. I loved these rocks, could play around on them for ages but we had to make a break for it to get to Seal Bay before it closed (good with naming places aren’t they!).

We arrived at Seal Bay at 4:30pm, when the last tour was supposed to be at 4:15pm – we run in and ask if by chance we haven’t missed the last tour! Nope… And why? Because there is a time difference between the Grampians and South Australia of 30 minutes!!! So all this time, the sunset, the supermarket, the ferry all were running on time, we were just 30mins early every time! Oops… The tour was excellent and I’m not sure if you have seen in my pictures the little seal pup – well he was lovely and made the trip for me.

Day over we head back to Kangaroo Island YHA for a night in before the trip to Adelaide in the morning… Phew!

Current Mood: Cool & Tired

So we’re now up at the Grampians National Park, near a place called Horsham funnily enough, but prior to reaching here we had to travel the length of the Great Ocean Road.  A lovely scenic drive along the twisty turny car advertesque roads that goes from a town called Lorne to a place called Port Fairy.

We decided on staying the first night at Lorne so we could enjoy the whole next day on the road taking in some of the many scenic lookouts and sights.  Trouble is, we got to Lorne and loved it as it offered us a lot of cool things such as nice accommodation, rally nice beaches and some neat activities that we had yet to do. 

Our accommodation was in the Lorne YHA (we seem to be sticking to the YHA’s because of how clean and tidy they are!), it was like a little holiday village and we got our own little cabin which was set out in the wooded area of the site.  Really landscaped and pretty it would be a horticulturalists dream place, with so many different colour flowers right outside the doorstep.

The day was spent out in the town looking at the various shops, stopping at the internet cafe to check emails and then down to the beach where we checked out some of the surfers that were making the most of the non-touristy beach.

My personal favourite was the trampolines that were situated right on the beach front.  We hired three of them so that one of us could take photos while the others were up in the air, and then made the most of them.  I used to trampoline back in the day, but found that I was more like a little kid who had lost control of his arms – they were going everywhere and I had to lift my leg up to keep balance, maybe a little bit more practice is required! :)  The girls loved it as well and it proved a hearty work out, it even called for a portion of Fish’n'Chips afterwards – nowhere near as nice as England though.

[zp]trampolining[/zp]

Moving on from Lorne was a messy affair as firstly we couldn’t get a signal to book the next night, then the weather turned shitty and finally we stuck the car in a parking spot only to get a fine for parking into the traffic rather than with it.  There are NO cars on the roads anyway, what difference does it make!  Oh well, a $64 fine and we’re on our way again.

We gave the 12 Apostles a glimpse that day, but decided to cut our losses and head to the hostel in Port Campbell.  Okay, but nowhere near as nice as the YHA’s we have stayed in.  The day came to an end and we all hit the sack – only to be woken up again at 3am by a chorus of Scatt and a German dude snoring with the volume of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, I even had to climb out of bed, dig out my ear plugs and stuff em in my lobes in order to get to sleep.

Still we were up bright and late to hit the road and visit the millions of rock formations that stand alongside the coastal road.  The first of these being the Twelve Apostles – these were quite amazing, but hard to describe – if I say they are just big rocks jutting up from just off shore it really won’t do it justice, so just click here for a picture.  While we were here we run into the Horsham Girls again, Laurie and the Gang.  They were heading to New Zealand the next day so it was strange to run into them.  Quick chat and we were on our way again.

London Bridge/Arch was next and this too was pretty cool.  We took loads of pictures of the waves crashing into it (wouldn’t like to swim around here!) and then jumped back into the car to make our way to Port Fairy.  Once here we chucked our bags into the room, set up camp, played a few games of pool and then went to sleep….  Knackered!

[zp]great-ocean-road[/zp]

This morning we have driven from Port Fairy and have now arrived in the Grampians, another famous Aussie National Park.  In a moment we are going to drive to MacKenzie falls and have a walk around there, trim a few pounds and keep us in shape.  The weather has turned back to being a nice temperature and our slacks are in the wash ready for our return.  Ahhh, what a lovely day…  Just need the folks, friends and Squidge here now and all would be right with the world!

Current Mood: Tired & Cool

… my baby beside me at the wheel.  Well sometimes anyway!  We’re heading down the Great Ocean Road at the moment in our hired Subaru Outback (Blue, 4WD, Steering Wheel and a big boot!).  Having some really great times on a shoe string budget as we are trying to save as much money as possible before we head over to Perth and the west coast. 

We headed out of Melbourne serenaded by the horns of irate locals, pissed at the tourists swinging u-turns in the middle of busy city streets, trying desperately hard to negotiate the many one-way streets and other hazards (like trams) in order to get ourselves out of the hustle and bustle to the quieter outskirts.  These aussies haven’t really got the whole moterway thing down yet, the highways are like short dual-carriage ways that are badly signposted and held up by a the numerous traffic lighted crossroads!  Grrrr… 

First stop was Philip Island and after a short detour out to the east when we should of been going south (I swear the girls were holding the map the wrong way) we eventually got to the island.  This was so ‘quaint’ I guess, with loads of little houses dotted down tree strewn roads intersected by the odd shop or cafe.  We stayed at the YHA on Phillip Island which was like your grandmas house, with flower power wallpaper, clashing carpet and beige!  Yum…  A couple of nights here was easily enough, but the island did have its quirky charms and tourist spots – the first of these being the ‘World Famous Penguin Parade’ which is a natural attraction where you pay $17 to sit on the beach and watch these cute little tikes make their way up the beach.  Weird to see Penguins on the sand rather than ice, but these aren’t ordinary penguins, no no no…  These are the Philip Island Little Penguins, stanging a measly 30cm tall, they are small in stature but big in heart.

We were there in chick season so every single day one of the parents wanders out into the ocean before dawn to go fishing all day.  They swim about and catch little tiny fish, swallowing them so they can regurgitate them later for their chicks (nice eh!) and then just before dusk they all meet up in their hundrends (a kinda penguin posse if you like) so they are safe from predators in the water just off the coast.  Around 9pm every night (yes, they must have watches!) the first little brave penguin (the Fonze of the group), ventures up onto the sands to check the coast is clear.  Apart from the 3500 people sitting on stands and a stadium it is, so he signals to the other dudes that they can come on shore.  So in groups of between 10 and 20 they all emerge from the ocean (you do get the occasional loner, who you can’t help but will on – go little fella) and wander up past you to their dens…  So after about an hour and 1500 little tiny waddlers making their way over the sands you get up and follow them with the aid of boardwalks up the dunes to their man made dens.  You got to feel sorry for the ones that have been given the dens at the top – it’s miles in human strides!  But they do it – will power!!! 

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So apart from that I had to do a man thing, spending three months solely in the company of women can drive a man to distraction, so I took them to Philip Island Circuit where they do the Moto GP and World Superbikes - you probably won’t find this very interesting though, so I’ll skip it (the circuit is lovely though with flowing bends and spectacular vistas!) and just say the oil in the museum smelt good.

After Philip Island we headed down the Great Ocean Road to a place called Lorne, a really lovely seaside town, for a couple of nights – the highlight here being the boogy boards and the trampoling!  So much fun…

I’ll put more about the Great Ocean Road when we get to either the Grampians or Adelaide.  But so far it has been excellent fun.  Stay in contact and mail me! 

[zp]great-ocean-road[/zp]

Current Mood: Cool

Emma and I have been to see one of the best shows I have seen in ages, not that I frequently attend the theatre, but I needed to emphasize how much I enjoyed this show.

We arrived at the theatre and took our seats in row ‘R’, so not next to the stage, but not too far away to see either.  The lights lowered and the little dude in the seat next to us adjusted to see over the mammoth head that had just sat down in the chair in front of him.  On stage came a few child monks running around and doing somersaults, backflips and then, most impressively flips using just their heads first forwards and then backwards.

Then it was the turn of the adults and in amongst a lot of “Hai Yaa’s” and other Bruce Lee noises they dazzled us with their flexability, will power, concentration and combinations of kick’s and punches that Van Damme could only dream of.  These guys could make mince meat out of anyone!

Some of the things they did had the audience looking away and letting out little yelps of “don’t do that, you’ll die”.  Firstly a guy chopped mangos and melons using a meat cleaver against his stomach, then another one laid back on some swords with a bed of nails on his stomach while another bloke laid on the reverse side bed of nails and then they had a breeze block broken against their stomachs!  The only mark – a few tiny cuts on the bottom guys back where he was on the swords…  Next up was breaking Iron bars on their heads, these were checked first by any audience members that wanted to – freakin’ crazy.  BUT…  When the guy was supported up on 5 spears (one on each leg, each arm and then one against his stomach) and another one did a handstand on two fingers – that was the highlight – and I so really recommend going to see them.

So after a wee bit of disapointment in St.Kilda, what has the city offered us in terms of places to go and people to see?!

Well in all honesty, not really a great deal – comparatively speaking (didn’t spell that right, did I) Sydney is Australias London, with the Opera House like Parliment and Sydney Harbour Bridge like London Bridge etc. You know that there are plenty of sights for the tourist to gawp at, chat about and snap up… Now if I compare Melbourne to anywhere in England it would have to be Merseyside – they are both home to businesses, both are near the coast, both have large shopping malls and both are home to cheesy soaps. But, unlike Brooky, I used to watch and love Neighbours, until they lost the stas like Beth and Brad – then it all went a little silly.

[zp]neighbours[/zp]

But, dig a little deeper and below the surface you will find little gems that make parts of Melbourne really enjoyable. Em and I spent a day of total wandering yesterday, starting off with an hour and a half webcam chat to the folks – really cool to see them again, moving around and larking about, obviously having enjoyed a few glasses of wine between them. My dog (bless ‘im) is looking well, bigger and full of the joys of winter – no matter what the weather is like there – shame there was no mic at the internet place, else I’d of really confused him.

Then it was onto the gym in St.Kilda which I loved, costing $25 for a months membership – that’s 10 quid!!

Walking out of the gym we were greeted by a glorious day of total deep blue sky, so we stopped off at the botanical gardens where we picked up a real cuppa tea, tea leaves and all, tried to read those left in the bottom – which jus told me not to shake the tea strainer in the future.

After a long walk around the gardens where the stereotype of the chinese constantly taking photosproved strangely true! We made our way along the yarra river to the Olympic Park where we met up with a lovely fence barring our entrance to anywhere decent. Next stop Melbourne Open where we enquired about tickets to see Murray vs Nadal – All sold out and a massive queue of punters who were prepared to kill in order to secure a cancellation ticket.

Moving on we trekked into the city to pick up our tickets for “Shaolin Monks – Legends of Kung-Fu” at one of the theatres and headed back to the hostel where I cooked yet another diamond Barbeque! Yum Yum…

Current Mood: Esctatic & Flirtatious

Ello everybody, Paul and I have today stuck a load more pictures up going all the way back to Sydney – including such fun as the Minus 5 Bar, Pauls Birthday and much much more!!  Enjoy…

Why do Australians wear cork hats?  I’ll tell you, because of the fecking flies!!!  You walk out onto the street hear in Melbourne and you end up covered in the things, always wiping your face or flicking your hat around – Lucy has been likened to someone with Tourrettes, letting out small but loud torrents of unrepeatable obsenities (well we all are, but Luce is the loudest :-) ).

So far I haven’t been overly impressed with Melbourne’s St.Kilda, our quick glimpse at the beach was filled with images of condoms, broken glass, fag butts and washing machines??  Weird place!

Still tomorrow we are heading inland to the CBD of Melbourne, already had a couple of days there and really like it – so much to do and see with the diverse range of cafe’s, bars and restaurants being complimented by the shops, street sellers and beggers.

We had our first real night out the other day when we went to ‘Neighbours Night’ at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow Pub.  Where we got to meet Toadie, Paul Robinson and some woman whom I’d never heard of – Janelle Timmons?  Really good night out and even though my preconception was they were going to be a bunch of assholes they actually turned out alright – Toadie was the joker of the bunch and was constantly getting asked why he was so fat…  He even had t-shirts printed up with his reply on them, autographed and ready to make the organisers even more money when people snatched them up.

We all got our pictures taken with them and then returned to drinking our Magners – how nice it was to drink something truly English…  Although it was quite expensive!!  Still I have another kidney, so I won’t miss the other one.

Right, time to go and pack up the backpack ready for the early move.  Wahoo – we’re outta here!  I’ll post more about Melbourne and stick some pictures on when I get somewhere a little better!

Current Mood: Mischievous & Playful

Canberra…  But it really shouldn’t be, this place is duller than a labour party broadcast!  We arrived here fresh from our adventures in Sydney yesterday, but have already booked our ticket out of here for tomorrow.

So, I’ll say a little bit about Sydney – when I arrived there I was a little bit underwhelmed with the place, it was like a hot London in my eyes with nothing really to do!  But…  Stay a few days in this city and you begin to get your bearings, you start to see the things you missed when you walk around lost – its like a giant onion, you peel back each layer you get something fresh and new.

For my birthday, Emma really went all out with arranging the day for me.  It was definately a surprise as I had lost track of which day it actually was, so when I was woken at 8 in the morning by my Mum calling me to be the first to wish me happy birthday I was a little taken aback!  Em didn’t waste anytime when she saw my eyes were awake and while still half asleep I opened cards that she had been carrying with her ever since we left England.

Then it was time for my presents and I got some clip-on Koalas and a Kangaroo skin bookmark from Scatt, Smellies and a pedometer from Lucy and then a shit load of stuff from Emma.  Firstly I got smellies again (they’re telling me something!), then I had a postcard of my favourite image and a programme from an exhibition we went to, then I got a ticket to see ‘Open Season 3D’ at the IMAX in Darling Harbour which reports to be the biggest cinema screen in the world at 6 storeys high.  Well as you can imagine I was well chuffed, but even more so when she gave me a card with a confirmation that we were going to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb the next day! 

The IMAX was incredible and if anyone gets a chance to pay a visit to the screen in London then do it.  It’s way better than the normal screens, especially if the showing is in 3D.  Open Season the film is only so so, but the trailers for the other things made you jump, dodge out the way and make stupid little noises even though your brain knows its still only 2D and your just wearing a massive set of glasses.  The girls decided that they would never ever watch a horror in one of these screens as you would probably soil yourself.

Now onto the Bridge Climb and something we had chatted about the whole time we were in Sydney, but decided against it because of the cost – well, Em paid for me so I didn’t have to worry at all ;).  We trekked over to the office where we signed in and then waited in a little room with 10 other ‘climbers’ – Em and I discussed how fit the people that take you up and over the bridge must be and decided that their physique would be somewhere between Matthew McConaughey and Harrison Ford (in his Indy Jones days!) – were we surprised when ‘Cliff’ walked in, a dude so round that he had to wear a plane seat belt around his middle to tell himself which of him was his upper body and which was his lower body.  Then he opened his mouth, he would of seriously made Julian Clary sound like he was as butch as Arnie – “Well hello there climbers, and welcome to the wonderful Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb!!!” – Emma and I wet ourselves!

After he came over and gave us all a breathe test (checking for Alcohol, not halitosis) he sized us all up and handed us our Jump Suits – nice Grey and Blue numbers with the zip at the back.  Then we met our ’handler’ Tony - who actually was the size we thought they would be.  A quick run through of how the harness will work and a quick scenario where we climbed a pretend ladder and we were out on the bridge.

Walking out onto the catwalk was all well and good, it was when we went out over George street and up the first few ladders when I started to really enjoy it – the sense of scale is immense and a smile was raised quicker than a Lee Evans sketch.  We procedded along many gangways, walkways and ladders until we reached the base of the actual curve in the Bridge.  One of the ladies was getting a little nervous, so after a brief wait for her to catch her nerve we carried on up.  The skyline of Sydney was amazing and we kept stopping on the way up so that we could really appreciate it.  Tony took a few snaps of us and then we were in the middle of the bridge – here we learned that before they had video cameras up here a bunch of kids had climbed the bridge – with a shopping trolley – and left it smack bang in the middle of the arch (fair play I say!). 

So we made our way down and back into the office where we took off the Tom Jones jump suit and made our way to the photo desk, this was a bit of a mistake as they somehow convince you that all 4 photos are amazing and you should buy them all – which we did.  Oops, bank balance!

Anyway, that was my Birthday and the highlight for me of Sydney – thanks for the emails and comments they are all appreciated.  Keep em coming :) 

Current Mood: Esctatic

Just a thank you really to those people that emailed to wish me ‘Happy Birthday’ or send me cards or texts.  So that is – Mum/Dad, Trick, Charlie, Lizzie, Suzanne and Paul, Mandy and Roger, James, Abbie, Barbara, Tina and Louise & Louise!.  They were all a really nice surprise and I can’t believe you all remembered! 

Thanks a lot and I’ll fill you all in with what I’ve done for it soon…  Cheers all!!! :D

Current Mood: Tired

Well actually it gets down to minus 15 degrees, but that’s where we went last night with a few friends of ours from Horsham who we met up with here in Sydney.

Em and I went out on our own yesterday to have a chilled day doing nothing apart from relaxing and meeting a friend of ours (Laurie) from Horsham.  We met her at one of Sydneys big outdoor screens where the Cricket is being shown and after a catch up drink and a chat we decided that last night we would go to Minus 5 – this is a bar where everything is made of ice, including the bar, glasses, walls, seats, tables etc etc… 

We met them at 8pm and went into Minus 5, really nice place where you get 30 minutes to chill (literally) in this bar.  Any longer and I imagine you would get uncomfortable as even with gloves my hands started to go numb at the end.  It’s part of a bar called Lenin’s which is a vodka bar, so the choice of drinks you get in Minus5 all revolve around vodka – I had something called a Frostbite and then one called a Husky – which after drinking it I can see why, it was made of Absolut Pepper Vodka, Absolut Lychee Vodka, Ginger, Lemon and a load of other bits and bobs – it certainly warmed the pallet!

After leaving the bar we decided that Karioke would be a good idea so hit a place called RedBox – with 14 People we got our own room and for two hours blurted out such songs as “Hotel California”, “All That She Wants” and “Delilah”!.  A good crack indeed…

At 2:30am this morning we said goodbye to Loz, Big Ginge, Nat and Becs to make our way back to the hostel – the girls were visiting the Blue Mountains today so hopefully they aren’t too tired.  We may catch up with them again in Melbourne, but for now it’s just time to chill and conserve pennies.

Current Mood: Esctatic & Tired

We’re here in Sydney and apart from having to sell a major organ everytime that we have something to eat, or partake in an excursion it’s been alright.  The weather has cooled off dramatically since we came down from Cairns and I’m even going to have to buy a jumper and Jeans to keep myself warm in the evenings – shock horror!!!

Our hotel is really nice but a little way out of the hustle and bustle of City Central so we are relying on buses and taxis for us to move around.  Sydney is unlike London in terms of ease of moving around, buses are annoyingly infrequent and then you have no idea where they are heading but jump on anyway.  Taxi drivers are hard to flag down even when they are empty and displaying the ‘catch me’ light, then when you catch them they have no idea whatsoever of where you want to go!  But – hey, who cares!  We’re in Sydney and its cool (weather wise!)

For New Year we were booked onto a boat called the Jerry Bailey, with 9 of us it was going to be a good laugh – then we got told about the dress code, Scatt was not aware that there was one, until she checked the confirmation – then we were told it was cocktail dress!  So my cropped jeans, T-Shirt and trainers weren’t going to cut the mustard.  Blast…  Luckily for Chrimbo I was fortunate enough to get money from several people (you know who you are – thanks loads and loads!) So 30th/31st December was spent in a mad rush/panic to try and find myself some threads – thanks to the boys at Roger David I was properly sorted out by Lunch time on the 31st and although now skint think I did pretty well. 

Lucy was camping on the floor of our hotel that night as Scatt was in with Darren and the Gang, so she joined Emma and I in the hotel room to get changed.  We were all ready, suited and booted ready for our cab to pick us up at 5:15, but like I said earlier, they aren’t very reliable so come 5:25 we flagged on down and headed over to the Quay.  We first jumped into a bar to have a quick pint or two (actually a Schooner which is slightly smaller!) then the others came and met us – everyone actually looked quite good, which is a bit of a shock to the system after you have been backpacking for 2 months!

When the Jerry Bailey pulled up, we all mocked it a bit as it arrived at the quay with 2 giant, brand new Catamarans flagging it.  But once on board it was quite a cool little vessel.  What really did annoy us all was that some people obviously hadn’t read the dress code and turned up in Jeans, Trainers and T-Shirts – and they were let on!  So, all our money had gone a bit to waste – still we were enjoying ourselves.

Looks don’t count for everything you know and our little Jerry Bailey flew us out to a perfect spot in Sydney Harbour – we were at the front of all the other boats and had prime position for the show ahead.  The tit-bits and finger snacks stating making there way round the boat, all of us snapping it up like it was the first meal we have had since arriving in Oz and washing it down with a quick slurp of Tooheys!  The night was young so we were chilling and chatting until 9pm when the family fireworks started – now I’m not great with words so I won’t try and describe these, I was also on a rocking boat, so my pictures are also not that great, but holy sh*t were they good.  They went on for about 10-15 minutes and when they ended the whole boat erupted in clapping, whooping and every other appreciative sound you could imagine – bring on the new year ones!

Between the 9pm fireworks and the midnight ones a lot more drinking, festivities and dancing went on – with Scatt and Alison impressing everyone with their MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice impressions…  Em and I were upstairs and managed to get prime position on the boat for the 12 pm fireworks.

Right, this is even harder to describe considering I can’t even get my tongue round describing the ‘tame’ fireworks!  I guess simply WOW!  If you EVER get the oppurtunity to come to Sydney for the New Year, do it – they demolish everywhere else for sheer Firework enthusiasm and skill!  New York, London, Paris – everywhere could learn a lesson from these Aussies!  They had fireworks making hearts in the sky, fireworks that exploded and left trails all the way to the floor.  They went on for about 20-30 mins and just left everyone awestruck – the finale consisted of lighting the whole Harbour Bridge up and then sending about 100 rockets up into the sky together, everywhere you looked towards the bridge there were fireworks! Click HERE for a Low resolution Movie of them!

This is a New Year I will never, ever forget!

Also, it was a right treat to get to speak to our families and our friends Sarah and Steve at the end of the evening!  We hope you guys and everyone else reading this had a brilliant New Year, here’s to 2007!!!!!!! 

[zp]new-year[/zp]

Current Mood: Cool

“Get off your horse and drink your milk!?” Or whatever they say in all the spagetti westerns!  Emma, Lucy and I had a Back Country and Beach Horse Trekking adventure thing today and loved it…

We’re in Magnetic Island at the moment, a little place just off the North East Peninsula in Oz.  Really quaint little place where you can’t really get lost as there is only 1 main road that stretches from the South to the North of the island along the East coast.  Because of this we decided to hire out a mini-moke, sounds pretty cool doesn’t it!  Well trust me I felt like a camped up Graham Norton as the girls decided on what is called a ‘topless’ car, basically a little Daihatsu thing which has had its doors and roof removed and a little section added in!  Doesn’t sound too bad – how about I add it had some bright pink panels, furry pink steering wheel cover and bright pink furry seats with hearts sewn in!  “Suits you sir!”.  Anyway, as Scatt decided that she was better off on two legs, rather than four so while we were on our horse trek she would pick up the ‘topless’ car and take herself on one of the many treks around the island.

So it was just Lucy, Emma and I who were going on the horses so early this morning we walked up to Blueys Ranch – guess they were trying to be like Dallas as the owners were in their ten Gallon hats, smoking Marlbora and walking around with the whole kit and caboodle on – minus the spurs!

I signed myself into the Novice group, while Emma went into the Pippa Funnell wannabes and Lucy went into the intermediates – a diverse range of levels then.  Em was given a horse called ‘Popeye’, Lucy was given a beaut called ‘Matilda’ and I was given a biggun called ‘Mischief’. 

We were shown how to get the horse to walk and turn left and right which seemed easy enough, so I jumped up into the Advanced section of the group :).  Really nice just walking along in the bush as we saw a whole load of wild Wallabies and stuff.  We stopped to do a girth check ;) (oh err!) and then we started trotting along (a kind of power walk in human terms).  It was really good as I got the hang of what is known in the trade as a ‘rising trot’ really quickly so managed to maintain my cover as advanced.  Next was a ‘Canter’ (Jogging quickly if he were human) – this is far easier than the trot as it leaves your man bits intact.

[zp]magnetic-island[/zp]

So we cantered and trotted, trotted and cantered along through the undergrowth and stuff until we reached the beach – here we had a walk along the waters edge in slightly more crowded numbers than a Mills and Boone novel, but you could still imagine the old slow-motion image of yourself as you trot along the beach.  They pulled us over into this little bit at the top of the beach and we all had to don the lovely ‘stinger’ suits as the waters contain Box Jellyfish and something called a Ikujandi or something like that.  Next we actually took the horses into the water – Bareback!  Don’t think I’ll ever have kids after that, but was really nice for both the horses and us – no matter how big Mischief is, he would still struggle with a lump like me on him! 

We returned to shore, put on our normal clothes and rode back to the ranch again.  What an animal, they are so placid and lovely.  Gonna have to get mi’self one of them when I get home ;)

Click HERE for a short/small video of me on horseback!!

Current Mood: Happy & Sad

“Freedom, Freedom, this is Mollo, Mollo, please respond!”

Well we’re back from our adventure on the Whitsundays, and truly, it was an adventure! We had Lucy join us in Airlie Beach ready for the rest of the trip and it was sooooo nice to see her. She is such a character and had us in stitches with her million voices, my favourites being Donkey (from Shrek) and Scuba Sam (from Big Daddy).

Anyway, we got to the marina to jump on our boat Mollo a catamaran that is about 20 years old. But comfortable and skippered by the Steve Irwin of the boating world – a dude called Jason. The crew basically consisted of Jason (the Skipper) and a girl called Sarah (the cook!) who was on her maiden voyage with Mollo.

We set out into the blue and Jason had us laughing with his sheer enthusiasm on the trip and Christmas. Sarah was already slaving away in a kitchen that must be like working inside the oven! The weather was so hot ans the sun so strong that throughout the journey everyone was cowering in the shade of the sail to stop themselves burning (apart from Scatt of course!). We made it to a place called White Haven Beach at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and spent 2 hours on the island – wait till I put the pictures up to see what it was like. So hard to explain, but it was bluer than blue in the sea and whiter than white on the sand! Loved it.

That night (Christmas Eve) we all set up bed on the from of the boat and slept under a cloudless sky! It was really nice just laying there looking up and watching the stars, everyone saw a few shooting ones which was pretty awesome.

Next day (Christmas Day obviously!), Jason went to start the boat! tick tick tick, natta, nothing… The engine on the portside had decided to pack up for Christmas and was too stubborn to work again. So with less that one engine we limped along the ocean, looking at the various islands as we passed. Awaiting pickup by another boat called Freedom! When it came along and began towing, we lifted our voices and had a little bit of a singing competition, pumping out such great hits as Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer – they sent us a message that read “You all suck!”, we really didn’t! We partied into the night with some ingenious games such as Tally-Ho and a beer shotgun made out of a mask and snorkel – crazy people these Aussies!

My thoughts were with my family the whole of the day though and I was desperate to give my Dad a call and give him my love, his Dad (My Grandad) passed away Chrimbo Day last year and I know how low he must be.  Eventually I got through and got to speak to my Dad, Mum, Cousin Charlie and Brother before I eventually lost signal again!  Shite!!!  Well, I’m  thinking of you all if you read this and love you all loads…

We settled down in our positions at the front of the boat and on a humid Chrimbo Day evening, laid back and fell asleep under the stars.

The next day I woke with the sun already on my back, Em had laid a sarong over my neck to stop me burning, but by rolling around on the net it had come off.  Little bit of a rosy tan on my upper neck but nothing too bad!  Boxing Day was spent cruising back into the Marina, totally relaxed and chilled out, ready for a quick dip in the Inland Beach Lagoon – no Stingers!

[zp]whitsundays[/zp]

Current Mood: Esctatic

What a wicked time we have had at this place, about as crowded as an old wild west town and as friendly as sitting round your family table for Christmas Lunch – its great here. The hostel we’re staying in is tiny with only 1 x 10 bed dorm, 1 x 6 bed dorm with 2 x bed double rooms and 2 x 4 Bed Dorms, none of which have locks, none of which are completely sealed from the outside world but all of which have individual character. Emma and I got one of the doubles for a couple of nights and the side wall has a huge window only covered by an insect net. Means that the room never really gets hot and there is a breeze throughout the night – fine by us as this place rocks!

The people here are super friendly and we’ve made good friends with a number of the travellers, some of which we are meeting in Airlie Beach in the next couple of days. Some dude keeps us all entertained with his juggling skills – 5 balls at once! While we all lounge about in the hammocks and chit-chat about where we have been and where we are all going. Strange thing being that a lot of them have been in the exact places we have been before on the same day – pub quiz in Brisbane on the 5th December for instance!

Yesterday, Emma and I did what’s known as the Scooter-Roos tour – recommended by her friend Claire from work. This dude picked us up (Rod!) who was a take off of Paul Tuttle Senior, just without the bulk, tash-goatie thing and scariness!

We got taken to a little place just outside of the town where we pulled into this big yard, first thing that we all saw was about 35 choppers lined up with different paint-jobs on. The whole van was like – whooop, yeah, wahoo + more exciting words!

We all hopped onto the bikes with our open face helmets and knee pads which offered about as much protection as a piece of crepe paper, so Em and I didn’t worry when (as the only ones with Bike Licences) we gave them up to people who had never ridden anything above a push bike before.  Then it was time to hit the road and it provided the group much amusement watching each other pull away, with the handlebars up by your ears steering was a little different and everyone wobbled like a weeble (wobbling, but not falling down!) all the way out to the highway.

[zp]1770[/zp]

The next 3 hours passed so quick with us all in a mass convoy riding around the streets and outskirts of 1770/Agnes Waters, everyone laughing and having a good time.  Cars and vans would pass, hoot and wave at us as we rode past them and the kids in the caravan and camping ground all came running up the bank to wave at us as we passed.  Everyone in the convoy acknowleded them with a toot toot on the horn.  We ended the tour with a stop at the beach where we all lined the bikes up, got some wedges from the cafe and took a place on some rocks where the sun slowly set!  Amazing and something I will remember for a long time to come.

I love this place and leaving here today is a hard thing, I could quite easily stay here for a lot longer.  So thanks to 1770 Backpackers, Louise, Louise, Carolina and of course Rod from ScooterRoos for making our stay here quite so memorable!

Current Mood: Cool

I’ve put loads more piccies onto the Website, feel free to have a browse and leave comments!  Haven’t had anytime to add titles or descriptions yet as Em and I are now catching the bus to 1770.\

Will add more details later :)  Cheers all!

Thanks to everyone for your emails and comments since my post about missing home.  I was so down in the dumps that nothing seemed ‘fun’, if that’s the right way of describing it?  But when I came to read my emails and find loads of new messages telling me to keep my head up, that you’re thinking of us and of course the English Weather, it really perked me up…  I’m trying to get round to emailing everyone, but inbetween this site, burning piccies onto CD, checking funds, organising future accommodation and booking transfers etc. I don’t have a lot of time (that and the computers are crap!). 

So, basically – just Thanks, it really did help and I will be emailing soon – Promise!

Paul x x x

Current Mood: Happy & Tired

The day came to leave Noosa and head upto Hervey Bay to go on our Fraser Island Adventure.  In the rush to get dressed I stuck my hand up to put on my T-Shirt and got it smashed by the Fan!  Ouch…  Had a nice flap of skin hanging down on my middle finger, still nothing Em and her first aid kit and large bit of plaster couldn’t fix!

We got to Hervey Bay, the most backward place I have so far experienced in Oz.  Resembles a real life Eerie Indiana. Still, all we had to do was pick up our Landie Defender and away we went to Fraser Island.

Driving off the barge, I lowered the tyre pressures to deal with all the sand tracks and stuff and set off to Lake Wabby, the deepest lake on the island.  The driving was so much fun, everything bouncing everywhere and the girls screaming over the smallest of bumps.  We were sliding and slipping all over the place! A little bit of deep sand, no problemo, slip it into Low Range stick it in second and we’re off again! 

Lake Wabby was amazing, a massive Sandblow is slowly engulfing the lake and it will be totally gone in 70 years time – but for now it’s lovely, cool and fresh water!  We had a little dip with the catfish and swam around, always wondering whether there were any freshy crocs hanging around.

Next was Eli Creek and our first bit of beach driving, the sea on the Eastern side is manic, the waves crash into each other at stupid angles, the beach is lined with washed up Jellyfish, both Box and regular, sharks are known to live just off coast and the rips are enough to drag cars out to sea, let alone people.  I know Russ rescued someone just off this coast and it really is an eye opener when you see for yourself what he went into!  Shit this coast is crazy!!!  Still, the beach driving wasn’t and we flew up the beach at 80Kph, only slowing for the foot deep washouts. 

Eli creek was super relaxing, you wander up this freshwater washout and then lay back down at the top, a natural lazy river, you get taken slowly all the way back down to the beach again.  Em and I were like little kids, running back to the top and floating all the way back down again – Scatt does what she does best of all and relaxed on the Beach while em and I went again and again to the top!

We didn’t have long until High Tide so we set up camp just off the beach by Eli Creek, two tents (Em and Scatt in one as Scatt was worried about the dingoes, me in the other) and our cooking, eating stuff.  We started to boil some water and then a couple of Sydney Ozzies pulled up next to us as there tent was set up.  The guy came over and introduced himself with a beer, the best way, and we all got chatting – he’s an italian ozzie, built like a steam boat and reminded me of a bleach blonde Don Corleone, with dyed blond hair, his missus Debbie came over and said hello and we got talking – after an hour our stove still hadn’t boiled the water so the couple asked us if we wanted any of their BBQ. 

Then at about 7.30, just before the Dingoes’ were due to show we felt a few drops of rain, so we got up to get some of our stuff in the tents.  Then it was like someone upstairs had turned on a giant fan and walking round the back of the Landie, we saw our tents were now flat against the sand, blown down by the wind.  Then to make matters worse, him upstairs must of unzipped a few clouds and thrown in a bit of electrical stormage to amuse himself.  It was torrential…  BOOM, CRACK, BOOM!  The storm was directly above us and the Landie was shaking in its boots :(.

Come 10pm, the storm was still raging and we were snuggled like rectangles in a square box trying to shut our eyes.  Don’t know how long it took, but I was asleep on and off until I woke with a crook neck at 3am.  I looked over the front seats and saw Em leant against the side door and Scatt spread across the seat so shifted into the boot so Em could spread across the front bench seat.

The weather had all but passed at 3:30am so I took my sleeping bag and tarp out the van, stuck the tarp over the sand, climbed into my sleeping bag and shut my eyes.  From then until sunrise I could of had a dingo come and pee on me and I wouldn’t of known anything about it, I was out for the count…  The sunrise, was pretty amazing and I was rather pleased with myself for sleeping outside.  The girls woke and we packed our rather mullered tents away.

 The next day was spent driving up to Indian Head to see the sharks – we couldn’t  see as the water was too murky – typical.  They we went to Lake Mackenzie, a jaw droppingly stunning place, with sand as white as Micheal Jackson and the lake as blue as, well you get the idea ;).  So we decided to skip some of the other places and just stay here.  So we camped at Central Station, Em and I in a tent that was made up from the non broken parts of the original two and Scatt in the Landie.  Here we had hot showers, decent toilets (I had to poop in a 50cm deep hole I dug with a spade before here!) and a pre-made camp ground with running drinking water.

Then when we woke, we had another whole day at Lake Mackenzie.  What a wicked day – loved every minute of it.  But, now we’re back in Eerie Indiana and awaiting our bus to 1770 /Agnes Waters.  Scatt is staying here while Em and I move up as her fella Darren is arriving here.  We’re meeting up back in Arlie Beach/Whitsundays!

Sorry about the lack of blog, but I was out of civilisation the last 4 days!

I’ll be putting pictures up as soon as I possibly can.  Laters all!  :)

[zp]fraser-island[/zp]

Current Mood: Happy

“Crikey! What a beaut this place is…”  took a trip out to Australia Zoo and have had an amazing time even though the late, great Steve Irwin is no longer around to oversee it.  The place is like a shrine to him with his images all over the place.  The memorabilia of Steve is everywhere and there is now a museum in his honour showing stuff like the largest croc he has come across, pictures of him as a kid and videos of him and his outstanding personality…

Got there a bit late as due to our luck, our bus broke down and we didn’t get there until 10:30.  Still the first thing we did was go to cuddle possibly the cutest species on the planet – the Koalas.  These things are great, they cling on you like your there mum and are reluctant to be taken away from you. 

Then was the croc show at the crocosseum and shit me these things are massive, we got to see Mossman doing his stuff, fresh out the wild this guy hadn’t lost any of his predatory abilities and swam under the water without making even a tiny ripple.  Not bad for a 14 foot croc!  He did a verticle leap to get his food from the Zoo staff member who had to hold it out and must of got a good 7 foot upwards, then with a massive snap his jaws locked around the lump of meet the guy had.  My shorts were brown, so I have no idea what colour the croc keepers were!

We went to the Animal Hospital that was Steves last great achievment, it handles 5000 cases every year and is expanding soon to be upto 6 times the size.  We saw a koala awaiting surgery on the bed under anisthetic, still looking awesomely cute and cuddly.  The majority of them in the hospital have either been hit by cars or mauled by dogs, sad what happens when somewhere becomes built up.

We did get to see the cutest Koala of the day here though, his name was Joseph and he was a baby Joey koala, his mum had died in a car accident so he was being cared for by the zoo.  Soooooooooooo Cute!!!!!!!

[zp]australia-zoo[/zp]

Anyway, the day was full and filled with some really strange creatures and some really cute ones (Wombats!). But we didn’t get to see Harriet as she died in june aged 175 and a half! 

Off to Hervey Bay now and then our 4×4 adventure in Fraser Island!  Felling better in myself now as well.

Current Mood: Sad

This was the worst night and day I have had here…  We travelled from Byron Bay to Noosa on at first Premiere Coaches and then Greyhound, it took eight hours due to a delay at Brisbane on the crossover – we got into Noosa at 5:30pm in the evening and then walked over a big hill to our accommodation for the night “Koalas – Noosa”.  They wouldn’t pick us up as they told us on the phone as we were late (due to the delay!), so knackered we arrived at their doorstep. 

“Sorry, we don’t have your booking and we are fully booked!”…  What the hell!!!!!!!!!!

It turns out that when we didn’t arrive at the time they thought we would be there they cancelled our booking.  After much arguments, they advised they had 3 beds but in two rooms.  I was in a 7bed mixed, while the girls were in Female only 7bed dorm.  It was a shit hole and to get out of there we went to the pub and had a meal followed by the Cinema to see Borat.  Borat was wicked and I recommend you to go and see it.

We got back into our rooms at about 11:30pm and hit the sack…  About half an hour later a girl came into my dorm, straight into the bathroom and was promptly sick in the corner of the room followed by the toilet.  I was trying to ignore it, but when she started crying I thought I should see if she needed some water – I ended up holding her hair and patting her back for about an hour!  Afterwards though she crawled into bed and passed out…  Until her friends came in and poked her until she woke up, which made her spin out and run to the bathroom to be sick again, this time though she slipped and banged her head causing much crying and vomitting.  I was soooooo tired and just wanted to sleep – but the puking lasted about another half hour then those three crawled into bed!  Thank God.

An hour later, I was back to sleep again until 2 teenage piss heads decided to come into the room and sit on my bed which included me!!!  I was not amused, but stayed calm.  Eventually, I shut my eyes about 4.30am!  Tired, pissed off and a bit lonely.

The girls didn’t have the best night either, Scatt was woken at 6:30am by a Cockroach crawling over her – so a few screams and jumps later and Scatt was out the bed and with the help of her whole dorm, shuuing the cockroach out the door! 

We left at the crack of dorm and headed to our new accommodation – a 2 bedroom apartment which is amazing, like a proper house with TV, DVD, full kitchen, lounge, double master bedroom and twin bedroom.  Scatt was quick to dump her stuff and make her way to the beach, so Em and I sort our stuff out and I had a few tears.  The previous day really took it out of me and I felt lower than a snakes underbelly!

Still we have a nice place now!  Bring on Australia Zoo….

Current Mood: Esctatic & Tired

Byron Bay…  As previously stated is bloody lovely!  The beaches go on forever, the town is quite oldy worldy with nice wooden buildings and unshaven women walking around.  I love it, so where better to go for some surf lessons.

Our instructors for the day were Dan and Paulie.  Paulie was a stocky fella with a shaved head and freckles while Dan had his head in the clouds and looked similar to Matt from Lands End – between them they were a tag team who could take on the two ronnies for amusement.  They had us in stitches, which didn’t help when your trying to jog down the beach and back as a warm up – then it was stretches which is hard to do when your belly is wobbling with laughter, trust me, I tried!

1st Lesson was sand bound and we were learning the fundamentals of surfing, board position, weight distribution, using wax, rip tides and all that kind of gumph!  Next was the Big Jump, or pop up as Point Break calls it – but this was just for show, we actually had to get up in a four step approach.

Out in the water with our Red rashies on, we either look like lifeguards or complete surfing amateurs as people started to watch us which was quite intimidating.  I was first up and this time Dan pushed me into the wave – Knee, back leg, back foot, straighten – SURF!!  Wahooo, first wave and I managed to ride it all the way into the sand, loved it as I had such a rush.  Quick, no stoppping, paddle out again!!!

Em was next up and stomped it first time (and every other time come to think of it!), she was a complete natural and had all of us looking at each other in astonishment – she even began walking down the board trying to hang her toes over the front, I mean wtf!!  Well, as you can imagine, the instructors were well impressed and got her to begin doing everything on her own, paddle, pop up, ride.  Quite the surfer chick! 

Then we have Scatt, ol’ crazy herself…  She began by screaming like a small child and coming a cropper at the first ripple, her arms were all over the place and she loved looking back at us lot every time she tried to get to her feet.  But then, halfway through something clicked – and in she rode!!!  All the way in…

What a rush and something we are all going to hopefully continue as we go round Oz…  I love Byron Bay and will really miss it when we move onto Noosa!

[zp]byron-bay[/zp]

Current Mood: Tired

… And his buddies, out in the bay today!  We’ve moved to Byron Bay now for the next 3 nights and I must say I love it.  I’ll apologise now for the lackage of emails and blogs, but this place is amazing.

We’ve spent the last 2 days checking out the town and have so far found nothing at all bad about it.  Our hostel is a place called Byron Bay Holiday Villas and we’re in our own little dorm which we share with 3 others, got our own shower, kitchen, living area! 

Rented out bikes today and rode up to the local lighthouse, nightmare ride there as I am obviously the unfittest out of the three of us – felt like I’d run a marathon when we got up there but was glad that I had done it, from the most Easterly point of Australia we sat for about an hour just watching the Dolphins play off the cape, they were accompanied on the other side of the rocks by about 5 turtles that were lounging about in the shallows.  Felt sorry for the Kayakers who we could see sitting the wrong side of the rocks – they paid money and we were the ones watching the dolphins… 

The ride back down to the beach was a lot more fun, we basically put our heads down and flew down the hill.  Tried to go a bit too fast and managed to run off into the grass, but thought that I better not lean the rental bikes over too far (excuses, excuses!).  Went to Wantego Bay and watched the surfers playing around in the waves, you can tell the tourists from the experienced by the fact they have bright red rental Long Boards and go for every single wave going – however, we are all going to be joining them tomorrow when we have our first Surf Lesson!  :)

Em and I managed to find an outdoor swimming pool (50m!) and while Scatt lay in her spot on the beach (where else ;) !) we went and did some lengths.  Em managed to do 30 in the time I had done 16 and she was just chilling!  Crazy girl, I know who would save who in the sea…  They are advertising for Swimming teachers out here, I wonder….

Right, this was a really quick effort!  Pictures of the end of Thailand and Australia to be posted soon and I will get round to emailing you all.  I’m tired now, so night night!!!

Current Mood: Mischievous

Nice place, but not sure why they call it Paradise – unless you like to surf in the shadow of the highest residential tower in the world with about 200 other like minded people.  Still, it would be wrong of me to say I didn’t like it here – it was a blast. 

We went from Brisbane to Nerang on the train with about 20 school kids camped on the floor of the carriage, its winter break at the moment and they were all heading to surfers to chill out after they finished their equivalant of GCSE’s.  Train wasn’t a problem, but when we all tried to fit on the bus it was like a Thai motorbike in the way that you had to basically sit/stand anywhere you could.  Crazy peeps!

Stayed at a place called Trekkers which is a really small and friendly hostel just off Surfers in a place called Southport, this intimate little place provided much amusement as we were lucky enough to share with some right characters.  Most of the first day was spent down at the beach watching the bright red tourists fighting for the odd wave with the locals while the swimmers crammed in between the flags. 

Night time saw the Trekkers BBQ where everyone was due to go on the weekly pub crawl.  Me without my jeans however cannot get into anywhere so we chilled back at base with some of the others.

Up early the following morning though as we were earning $25 (10 Quid) for sitting on a bus for the oz experience, we basically had to climb on and sit there for an hour as they went and weighed it at the nearby breakers yard.  Money for nothing really!  Need it though as everything is a little on the expensive side out here… 

That night we earnt our keep putting up xmas decs in the hostel, they provided free punch and we provided the decorating skills – still a surreal experiance putting up decs in your boardies and vest, although Em got everyone to stick on a Santa hat and I managed to find a Santa costume, didn’t last long as it was like strapping a sweat suit on!  A few of us then had a real fast paced drinking game where you threw 1 dart in the board and the lowest drinks – remind me to never take part on bullseye as Jim Bowen would be most dissapointed with me!

Only there for two nights, but at the end of the stay it was a sad farewell to some friends and onto the next leg of the journey…  Byron Bay!!!!

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