Townsville - Day 9

I arrived safely in Townsville this afternoon, I couldn't keep my eyes open on the bus again, I don't know what's the matter with me! The guest house where I'm staying is really nice, it's very clean and the facilities are very good. I had a lovely afternoon, I walked up Castle Hill which is a fair way up, I think it's 2km long, I was out of breath before I'd even reached the start! It took me about 30-45 mins, at first when I saw the signs I was a bit worried as they had pictures of a man with a hiking stick, but I thought I'd try it out anyway.....it was well worth the hike, the views were fantastic, I actually felt really overwhelmed by it, I get these moments every now and then where I can't believe that I'm actually here. To make it even better the day has been gorgeous. I stayed up the top for a while, there were lots of different lookouts to go to. The descent was a bit precarious, my legs were wobbling like anything, it wasn't a very easy walk down I tell you, I even had to run a bit at the bottom cos my legs were shaking so much, I must have looked a bit weird!

After that I took a walk down to the esplanade by the beach, they'd refurbished it (if that's the right word) recently, they spent something like $8 million. It was only a short beach, so that didn't take long, I then walked past all the restaurants by the river and to the shops, I had to buy myself some decent food to eat, I haven't eaten a vegetable in ages, I've been living on crumpets. So I bought myself some fruit and and a salad. I had the best meal I've cooked for ages, baked potato and salad...yummy!!

I've got a busy week coming up, I've booked to go on a cattle muster on an Outback farm for the day tomorrow...yee haa! then the next day it's a trip to the Billabong Sanctuary where I can cuddle a koala, then on Friday I'm going to Magnetic Island for a couple of nights. I've decided I really like Townsville!!

Me at the top of Castle Hill

More views

View from below

And before I forget, I saw this statue of a cassowary this morning, obviously they are not quite this big in real life

Yesterday it was still raining, I just went into town in the day to make sure I knew where the bus stop was. I also did a bit of shopping....I bought some sunscreen and another bikini...yes, I'm being positive about the weather! I bumped into James on my way back to the hostel, he'd just arrived from Cape Tribulation. Last night I went out with Rachel and her friend Barbara from her diving trip. They had lots of vouchers for free food and drinks, so we had a bit of a pub crawl. Halfway through the night, I had a phone call from my brother, which was a lovely suprise. We had a really good night, we met lots of people and had a boogie. I met a German guy so I was practising my German, I tell you, it's so much better when I've had a few drinks (well it's probably not better, but I'm more confident!) I actually had quite a good time speaking it!! Our free backpacker meal from earlier hadn't really filled us up, so we ended up getting a kebab at 3 in the morning! I felt sorry for Rachel, she had to be out the door at 5am to get to the airport for her flight to Thailand...I felt bad enough after having only 3 hours sleep!

The sun has been shining today, yaay! I arrived at Mission Beach at 11am, was only a 2 hour bus ride, I couldn't keep my eyes open for most of it! The bus was actually ok, I'd heard a lot of bad stories about them, like they smelt of sick and alcohol, but it turned out to be quite pleasant, I bet going at night might be a different matter though. I am staying at the Mission Beach Resort tonight, it's very nice, it's a big 4 star complex with budget rooms, ours has a TV and a stereo....what luxury! Tonight they are having a Christmas celebration, they do this in lots of places in Australia on the 25th July when it's not as hot. It's an all you can eat buffet, I'm not sure whether I will go, it's a little pricey and I should be saving, so I'll see.

There is not so much to do here, I've been sat on the beach this afternoon, it was lovely. I saw lots of people with parachutes landing on the beach. I didn't really fancy venturing out too much today, I'm scared that I'm going to bump into a Cassowary. They are huge flightless birds (I think as big as an emu) they live in this area. Apparently they are really dangerous and can cause lots of damage by kicking you with their powerful legs. I heard a story that 2 guys hired a car and had just parked in a supermarket car park, the cassowary came along and saw it's reflection in the car window, thought it was a predator and kicked in the car door....scary stuff! I was a bit wary sat on the beach earlier, I'm so paranoid about seeing these dangerous animals, every noise in the trees makes me jump, I kept expecting a croc to come out of the sea and gobble me up, why are there so many scary animals here??!! I'm a nervous wreck! Oh well, I'm leaving tomorrow....next stop Townsville. This is so cool being able to hop on and off the bus when I like, and I'm not even nervous about it anymore!

See below for some pics.......

I've finally managed to get some photos online......

The Esplanade in Cairns


The Scenic Railway to Kuranda


View of the rainforest from the Skyrail on the way back


After my dip in Millaa Millaa Falls


Dancing and singing on the bus back from the Atherton Tablelands


Croc on the Daintree River Cruise


The beach at Cape Tribulation


Some of the fruits we tried at the Tropical fruit tasting


Port Douglas


Last night out in Cairns


Mission Beach

The bus finally arrived on Friday afternoon to pick us up from Cape Tribulation....I must admit I was quite relieved, we'd just been sat in the bar playing cards for ages! On the way back we stopped off at the Alexandra Range lookout and at Mossman Gorge, the scenery was stunning. I arrived in Port Douglas about 5ish, I was really pleased with the hostel I chose, it was like being back in civilisation again. So far the YHA hostels have been very good....but I have found out that not all hostel rooms are same sex which has taken a bit of getting used to! I got chatting with James, from Sheffield, we were talking about where we've been on our travels, turns out he's doing roughly the same route as me. Once I'd settled into my room I had a quick look at the beach and the marina before it got dark and then went back to the hostel. I bumped into a couple of German girls who I'd met in the hostel in Cairns...everyone was saying that you always meet up with the same people along the way. I met James and a couple of others in the Bistro (yes, a youth hostel with a bistro!) The food looked fantastic and were very large portions, I went for the Barramundi (fish) and chips. It only cost me $8 as I had 30% off too....it tasted absolutely gorgeous, but I couldn't manage all of it, there must have been at least 10 potatoes worth of chips there! I had got in touch with Al earlier and she said they would be going out later on so I could meet them out, but I was so tired and the hostel was a fair walk away from town, I had to say I'd meet up with them the next day. It turned out to be a really relaxing, chilled evening, I met a couple of Americans too, so we were all sharing our travelling stories. The bar shut pretty early, so we went to the TV room for a bit, I couldn't keep my eyes open much longer, so had to go to bed....my week has been so tiring!

I checked out yesterday morning and took a walk into town to meet Al and Hayley, it's been funny seeing them in Sydney, Cairns and Port Douglas. I really loved Port Douglas, it's a very exclusive place to live, the houses are gorgeous and the town is really pretty. We took a walk to the beach....yes, the sun finally came out ;o) We even sunbathed for a while, well until the clouds came back and it started to get a bit chilly. We walked back into town again and had some lunch. I felt quite sorry for them, they'd come here for a holiday in the sun and it hasn't really stopped raining (I feel sorry for me too!!). After lunch we said goodbye...again...they were to fly down to Brisbane to see Al's brother and I had to get the bus back to Cairns. I may meet them in Brisbane, it just depends how my itinerary is working out....so many places to see!! I've been trying to decide how much longer to stay in Cairns as I really want to see the reef up here, it's supposed to be the best place to go from, but I spoke to the tourist places yesterday and they say the weather won't really have fully calmed down until Weds or Thurs and I haven't enough time to stay here until then, so I decided to book my bus to go down to Mission Beach tomorrow....I really hope it's sunny there, but I don't think it will be, apparently this is not normal weather for this time of year :-( Anyway, I'm still going to go snorkelling at the Barrier reef, but it will just be further down the coast, I'm sure it'll still be amazing.

I arrived back in Cairns and got settled into my new hostel, I'm sharing with a guy that looks like the lead singer from the Prodigy....a bit scary!! actually, he's not really, he's only a young (smelly) lad, yes the room stinks.. yuk! But I've only got one more night here, it's not so bad....actually there is an adjoining room where Rachel, who I met in Cape Tribulation is staying. I was supposed to be going out last night with the girls from Cape Trib, but I was still really tired so just stuck around here, I made myself the worst meal ever, my jacket potato didn't cook properly so I ended up having half cooked crumpets....I gave up after that and got myself a carafe of wine (I got given lots of vouchers when I checked in) and sat in the bar for a bit, and lo and behold it started throwing it down with rain again!!! and it's still raining now....is this really Australia?...I don't think I'm in the right country, I want my money back!! just kidding!

I had the most fantastic day on Wednesday, I haven't laughed so much in ages! It was another early start, the bus picked me up at 7.30, unfortunately it was tipping it down with rain, typical! As soon as everyone got on the bus, Nathan (our guide) introduced everyone and then we were on our way. Basically this trip was like going back to your childhood, it was sooo funny. The tour is called Uncle Brian's Forest, falls and fun, all the people that work there are members of the family, even Gus the minibus is treated like a human, Nathan was telling us stories about how Gus fancies Vanessa the ambulance, but he already had a girlfriend, the milkfloat...like I said it was really silly!
We went through a town called Babinda which is really sleepy, we had to wave at everyone on the streets and the builders on the side of the road, not that there was hardly anyone, and Nathan would beep the horn..... they do it every day, so the people that live there must be used to it. On the drive there we drove past loads of sugar cane fields, banana and mango trees. Babinda has a sugar mill which provides 80% of the sugar to Tate and Lyle in England. We stopped off and had a walk through the rainforest..in the rain of course, we were all absolutely drenched, we were supposed to be going bum rafting down the rock slides, but the water was too deep and the current really strong, so we couldn't do that. We went back to the bus and had morning tea, it was good to get out of the rain. Our next stop was Josephine Falls, it was really beautiful there, we were supposed to swim there too, but again the water was too high. We did have a bit of fun trying to get the leeches off our feet, they were everywhere....I was suprisingly calm when I had one on me!
On the drive to 'Mr and Mrs Lunch' Nathan decided he wanted us to get to know each other better, so we all had to put a matchstick in our mouths and pass a ring to the matchstick of the person sitting next to you. When it came to my turn I couldn't stop laughing, the concentration on the guys face was hilarious.....I was literally crying with laughter, I did get there in the end tho!
We had a great lunch there and got to know each other a bit more, most of the group were really good fun, apart from one lady who just wouldn't join in, I don't know what possessed her to come on a tour like that!
After lunch we drove to Millaa Millaa Falls, Nathan was telling us that this is one of the most beautiful places he'd ever been to. Apparently if you go there in the morning and the sun is shining, the water looks like lots of diamonds falling out of the sky, he told us that he took his girlfriend there and proposed, which made all of us girls got all gooey! Then we had to get out of the bus, and without looking at the waterfall, he lined us up to face it, then when everyone was ready he told us to stare at the same spot for 30 seconds, then he said we were to look at the top of the fall....this was so cool cos the greenery around it all moved up and down like we were all hallucinating...you should have heard us all gasp when we saw it.
There is another story to this waterfall....about 10 or more years ago there was an advert for Timotei shampoo where a girl with gorgeous blonde hair washes her hair in the water and then flicks her wet hair back...it turns out that this is the waterfall where they filmed it. Nathan showed us photos of girls on previous trips that had had their picture taken whilst flicking their hair back, so of course all us girls were dying to get our photos done, even if it did mean going swimming in the rain....there was only one condition, Nathan would only take our photo if we all jumped in and swam right over to the waterfall and behind it, and then swim back under it. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life, I literally couldn't breathe when I was swimming, but I got there in the end....we all had to rest behind the fall on the rocks to recover. It was an amazing experience going behind the water and swimming under it, you couldn't see hardly anything, it was such a buzz. When we got back to the shallows, then Nathan took our pics, I was absolutely freezing and had to do 2 takes, but we got it in the end....really cool, not quite like the Timotei girl tho!!
After that we drove to Eacham lake and had another dip and some afternoon tea....I tell you, they really fed us well. We were supposed to go and spot a platypus, but Nathan reckoned the weather would make it too hard to spot them, so we decided to look at the turtles and then go and do a bit of wine tasting, which was fun.
On the drive back, we had a sing song and we had to do hand movements too....at one point there was a school bus behind us, they must have thought we were lunatics!
We got back to the city and arranged to meet up for a drink later, so I got all my stuff packed and went out to join them later at PJs, then onto the Woolshed, it was just like going to a bar in Spain, it was full of Brits, and there was all these tacky promotional shows, like Wet T-shirt comps and pole dancing....I've still got a massive stamp on my hand "WOOLSHED WET-T-SHIRT" I can't get the thing of, very embarrassing, it looks like I've been doing competitions!! I managed to get back to the hostel at a reasonableish hour, as I knew I had to get up early again.
So yesterday, I was picked up for my trip to Cape Tribulation, which is 2 hours north of Cairns. We stopped at the Daintree river and did a boat trip along there, I saw my first wild crocodile, the guide said it was 4 metres long, we didn't think it looked very real, it didn't do much! We saw a couple of tree snakes and an amethyst python. After that was another rainforest tour (my last I hope, I think I've seen enough now!) then they dropped us off at the hostel. The weather is so bad, it hasn't stopped raining and I haven't seen the sun, I'm starting to get a bit fed up by it now. There is so much to do here if the weather is good, but all the boat trips have been cancelled. This is such a beautiful place, it's a real shame, the rainforest actually meets the beach, it's amazing. It's called Cape Tribulation, because it's where Captain Cook's trials and tribulations started, his boat got stuck on the reef for weeks. It's really cool listening to all the stories of how and why he named these places. In the end yesterday afternoon I went to a tropical fruit tasting, it was really interesting, we had 10 different fruits to try, Rollinia, Breadfruit (which was served warm, and funnily enough tasted of bread!), Soursop was another one....I only actually liked 2 of them, but it was worth going.
Last night there was a DJ here, I met a few Irish and Scottish girls, so we had a laugh and a few drinks. I slept pretty well, but the rain woke me a few times, it was so bad. I'm really tired though, I haven't had a lie in for ages, all this touring is knackering me out! I'm waiting to go to Port Douglas now, there is nothing to do while we wait for our bus cos of the rain. I'm hoping Al and Hayley will still be there...I haven't been able to contact them as I have no mobile reception. It's really funny here, there is no electric, I think the hostel is run on a generator, there are no doctors, hostitals, phones for the people that live here, and the water is pumped out of the ground!

I'm in Cape Tribulation now....I'm working on my blog, but I've got a lot to write, so will have to post it when I can. Having a brilliant time ;o)

I slept pretty well last night..considering, there was quite a lot of noise about and I was on the top bunk so was a bit worried that I'd fall out, luckily this morning one of the girls left, so I took her bed! Was up at 7am as I had to be at the train station to meet Al and Hayley. We had a really lovely day, we caught the scenic railway to Kuranda (I've put another link on the right), it was a really leisurely ride through the rain forest with some spectacular scenery, it took about 1.5 hours to get there, it was well worth the ride. When we got to Kuranda we had a look around the village, there are lots of lovely shops there selling all sorts of things. We learnt quite a lot in our time there, we learnt that playing the didgeridoo can help asthma as it expands your lung capacity, and also it's really good for stress...and for your stomach muscles! I even had a go playing one.... it sounded more like a foghorn when I played it!! We learnt about emu's, apparently when they kill them for meat, they take all the oil off their feathers on their backs, it's omega oil like you get from fish, but it's supposed to be a lot better for you.

After we'd had a look round the shops and eaten some lunch, we had a stop at the 'German Tucker' cafe for old times sake and a Radler (that's Shandy to the English!) and then a walk along the river. Then it was time to get the Skyrail (gondola) back again. That was a pretty amazing experience, all together it's a 45 minute ride above the rainforest canopy with 2 stops on the way where you can get out and have a walk and take some pictures. I must admit I was a bit scared on some of the way as it was so high up and it stopped a few times, but on the whole it was definitely worth it. We were pretty disapointed with the weather today, it was really overcast and rained a few times, it's not supposed to be like that here!! After that it was a short bus ride back into Cairns where Alison and Hayley went to pick up their hire car, I didn't realise they weren't staying in Cairns tonight, but they were going to Port Douglas. It was great having the day with them and I must admit I was a bit sad to see them go as I'm back on my own again, but I'll be in Port Douglas on Friday night, so we're hopefully going to be able to meet up then.

That's about it for today, have another early start tomorrow to go to the Atherton Tablelands.

Well, I'm finally here!! After a hectic day yesterday, I managed to get my rucksack packed, which wasn't very easy with a fuzzy head. I was in bed by 10pm as I was so tired. Grant kindly offered to take me to the airport this morning, which meant I could get up at 5am instead of 4. The flight was pretty uneventful, I must admit I was a bit scared this time, I think my last flight shook me up a bit and also I guess it was because I was tired, so I didn't enjoy it very much. Luckily it was only 2.5 hours, so it wasn't too bad.

I arrived in Cairns at 11 this morning and got the shuttle bus straight to my hostel. I really noticed the difference in climate from Sydney, even out of the sun you can feel how humid it might get in the summer months. The hostel is actually ok, it's right on the waterfront, I'm sharing with 5 other girls who I met briefly earlier. It's very clean....a bit noisy, but you can't have everything! I took a walk to have a look around, I've been everywhere today. It's so different here to Sydney, it seems a lot more laid back, a totally different atmosphere. The people are really friendly too, I guess they're used to having lots of tourists.....I must say there are loads of English here, and quite a few Germans too!

So I had a nice walk down the Esplanade by the water front, there isn't really a beach, they've just built a swimming pool on the front which was pretty busy. Anyway, I was walking along minding my own business when out of nowhere I got attacked by a bird! It frightened the life out of me, I thought somebody had punched me, it's beak stabbed me just above my eye, I was so lucky it wasn't any lower, I was so shocked I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I was a bit paranoid after that, cos there was some blood and I wasn't sure how bad it looked and I thought everyone was staring, anyway, I found a mirror and it didn't look too bad. It was really weird because we were talking about birds the other day with Al, and I said to her I hate them cos I always think they're gonna fly right into me and stab me in the eye....spooky!

So after that bit of drama I took a walk to the train station just to check where I have to meet Al and Hayley tomorrow, there was a really nice shopping mall, I bought myself a pair of sunglasses, which I really did need! I've just got back from booking some tours, I'm a bit disappointed because they are advising against going on the Barrier Reef tours for the next 4 days as the sea is forecast to be really rough, so I'm going to have to hang fire there, but I did book a trip to the Atherton Tablelands (the highlands of Cairns, I've put a link on the right if you want to see) on Wednesday, and a trip to Cape Tribulation on Thursday, stopping there for 1 night, then going to Port Douglas for a night, then back to Cairns on Saturday, I'll see whether I can do the reef tour on Sunday or something, I'm planning on staying here till next Tuesday at least as there is so much to see.

I've just got back to the hostel now, I'm really doing the budget thing and making my own dinner to save money, which is a shame as there are some really nice restaurants here, but I'm sure I"ll go out with Alison and Hayley tomorrow night. I think I'm just going to have an early night tonight, although I may pop down to one of the pubs for a quick drink.....I am on holiday after all!!

Finished work now.....yaay! My last day was quite good, I had lots of compliments, everyone was saying that I'd done a great job and they didn't want me to leave, so I was quite chuffed! They are all really nice there.

On Friday night, I met up with Al, Hayley and Sue, we went to a couple of bars in Darling Harbour, it was a pretty quiet night, but it was good cos we had a chance to talk.

Yesterday was busy, I had to move all my stuff downstairs and sort everything out. Went into the city last night, I had such a good night, there were loads of us out. I'd invited Aaron and Tanya, who arrived here a couple of weeks ago. Aaron used to work with my Mum, I'd never met him before, but we've been in contact by email as we've both been doing the travelling thing. They are really nice, we all got on really well, it was their first night out here, I think they had a good time. I bet Aaron thinks I'm so different from my Mum! The other Aaron (the one I met on the bus) came out too with his friend, and Jason, Todd, Sue and lots of their friends. Later on we went to meet Al and Hayley who were with some other friends of theirs, then we all went clubbing in Kings Cross.

All the girls together (Hayley, Al, Tanya, me and Sue)

I didn't get home until 5am, I'm absolutely knackered and I had to do my packing as well.....I really didn't need to be doing that, but it's almost done now!

Flights at 7.45 tomorrow morning...why on earth did I book it so early......I'm getting really excited now ;o) I'm meeting Al and Hayley the following day so I won't be all on my own!

This week is sooo busy, I'm trying to get ready for my travels on Monday. I've booked one of my tours now, it involves 3 days sailing around the Whitsundays, snorkelling and touring the islands, a 3 day 4WD tour of Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world) I still have a couple more tours to book including Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas and Magnetic Island, I can't wait, it's going to be so cool! Also Grant, Sue and Sue's Mum Kath will be coming back from their holidays at the weekend, so I have to put all my stuff I'm not taking to Cairns up in the attic, and move out of Kath's to downstairs. I'm really going to miss my bed here, it's got an electric sheet on the mattress and it's so lovely to get into it at night when it's all nice and warm! There is no heating in the house, so it gets pretty cold at night.

I'm still enjoying my job...the time is going really quickly as I'm very busy....only 2 days left to go though! Mostly the job involves answering the phone and getting the mail ready. I've also had to use an electric typewriter to type up labels for the mail, which is a nightmare, I keep banging down the keys with force thinking I'm using my Mum's old typewriter, I'm suprised I haven't broken it....and the amount of mistakes I've made!! I've come across some really weird names of places here in Australia, yesterday there was a Punchbowl and a Tumbi Umbi!!

My friend Al finally arrived here yesterday, so I met up with her and her friend Hayley last night. It was lovely seeing Al again, but a bit weird seeing her here. We had a good catch up with lots of gossip and a couple of drinks. They thought it was funny that I turned up wearing my scarf...I was freezing, must have acclimatised too well...at least I'm not wearing a big puffa coat like some of the people here! Al said her brother Michael may be coming down from Brisbane for the weekend to see her, so I think there'll be a fair few of us out on Saturday night as some of my friends will be out too.

Al and Hayley are flying to Cairns on the Monday too, so I'm going to Kakuda with them the following day for a day out, Al has been there before, so it comes recommended.

I've had quite a busy week after all, what with preparing my intinerary for my trip and starting my new job. I'm really enjoying my job, it's so much busier than my last one (which isn't hard!) and there are lots of people my age there too, and they're all really friendly. The first day I was panicking a bit, it was hard remembering everyone's names and getting all the calls put through...needless to say I hung up on a few people! but over the last 2 days, I got the hang of it, and they think I'm doing a really good job....apparently the temp before only lasted a day, then they got rid of her, so I count myself lucky!!
My homelife has been pretty quiet, Misty is behaving herself....although she was sick on my second day here.....I knew she was saving it up for me!! Luckily it was outside so I just had to hose it down....yuk! She's just sat here next to me now, I think she's feeling a bit lonely as noone is living downstairs, I am trying to pay her attention...but I'm still scared she's gonna bite and scratch me!
I went to the city last night to meet Dave and the lads, on the way there I saw a new bar just opened 'The Bavarian Bier Cafe' so I really want to go there and have a look, it might help with my missing Munich! They've actually brought in a new law here this week, you now cannot smoke in the bars or clubs (or only in a nominated separate room) so I saw loads of people outside shivering smoking their cigs....it's great for me though, I love not stinking of smoke when I leave a pub! Anyway, the plan last night was to go to Bondi for a colleague of Simons' leaving party, but by the time everyone had sorted themselves out and dropped cars off etc, it was 10pm and I had to get the last bus home at midnight, so Dave and I just stayed in the city. We had a really funny night as usual, I was trying to teach him a bit of German, it was very amusing!!
I've just got back from town now, I went to get my haircut in the new Toni and Guy salon...yes I know I'm supposed to be saving, but there are some things a girl doesn't want to scrimp on! anyway, I'm really impressed with it, which is a lot coming from me...have I finally found the perfect hairdresser??!?!
Not sure what is on tonight, Sue was going to come round for a girls night in, but she's caught some sort of bug, so we've had to take a rain check...I quite feel like going out now to show off my new haircut! I probably won't though, too much hassle getting back here.
My friend Al, from Munich phoned me in the week, was great to speak to her again....she's coming out here on Monday, so we were chatting about what her plans are...I can't wait to see her, it's going to be great! She said that I've got a bit of a twang when I talk....you know how Ozzie's always higher their voice at the end of their sentences as if asking a question, well apparently I was doing that...I'll have to put a stop to that one ;o)
Rugby update: New South Wales and Queensland played the final of the State of Origin on Wednesday, NSW won 32 - 10.

After I'd settled into my new home on Friday night, Sue and Grant took me out for dinner to the local Thai restaurant. It was really nice catching up with them again. After that we went back to the house. I wanted to book my flight to Ayers Rock, I'd found a reasonable flight already, but they knew of a really good website, so we had a look to check and sure enough the flight was $100 cheaper than the one I'd found, so I booked that straight away, very chuffed with that. So with the money I'd saved I ended up buying an Oasis ticket for their concert here in November! Chris phoned me up too, it's so nice to have access to a phone now. I was quite relieved too that they have been feeding Misty outside, so it means if she is sick, then it'll be outside and I'll only have to hose it down!

Saturday I went into the city and bought my coach ticket for the bus trip back down to Sydney from Cairns, so I think I've more or less sorted out all my tickets for my future trips. In the evening I just stayed in and watched a film, I started to watch Live 8, but it didn't start till 11pm, so I only managed an hour or so...long enough to see my name come up on the TV cos I'd texted to be put on the petition. Sunday we took a drive to Balmain, one of the suburbs near the city, it was actually very nice there and it was a beautiful day to just sit in the sunshine and chill out and eat a big slice of homemade cheesecake!

I've managed to get a job today, actually 2 came up at the same time, the first one was in the same building I've just finished at, but the second one is closer, so I start there tomorrow. It's at an insurance brokers and I'll be working on reception. It's worked out really well as I'll be able to save that last bit of money for my trip.

First of all, I would like to thank you all for your birthday wishes, it's really made my day, I've just got through 28 emails, thanks so much ;o)

Well, last night was an absolute scream, I haven't laughed so much in ages! There was only 4 of us in the end, a far cry from my birthday parties in Munich....but the guys that did come out and brave the weather really made up for it! We had dinner first at a lovely Italian restaurant, Sue, Dave and Simon have never met before, but they all got on like a house on fire. After we'd eaten I got out the balloons that Chris had sent, everyone in the restaurant must have thought we were very strange, the balloons came with a little pump, it wasn't actually physically possible to blow them up..but the pump took forever to get any air into them. That was Simons job to pump them up, and Sue, well Sue was a natural at making things with them, (a lot of them rude I must say!) we were in hysterics, I've got about 50 hilarious photos, I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a few! lol ;o)

After that we went to a bar in Kings Cross, had a boogie and a dance, and a couple more drinks, then as it was a school night, everyone had to go home to bed. What a funny night tho!

Today I have packed and moved to North Ryde, don't know how I managed to get it all done! Jason helped me as he's got a car, I wouldn't have managed otherwise. I can't believe how much stuff I've got, considering I arrived here with just a rucksack, I've now filled a whole large suitcase just with clothes, how on earth I'm going to get these home I don't know! I haven't unpacked yet, I keep putting it off. I have just phoned a couple of recruitment agencies, I'm now hoping that some work will come up for the next 2 weeks.

Today started off really nicely, I woke up early and opened my Birthday cards, my brother, Chris went to an extra special effort as usual, he sent me some balloons (the ones you can make animals out of) but the best thing was the photo of all my friends back in Munich (who I really miss). He always does something really nice for me ;o) That made me feel pretty emotional (I am a bit of a blubberer at the best of times!) then I had the loveliest surprise, Chris and Martina phoned my mobile singing Happy birthday, well that set me off even more, not cos I was sad, but because I really miss them and I’ve spent my last 4 birthdays with my brother so this is the first on my own for a while. Anyway, so I came into work and Mum had stayed up especially to phone me this morning which was lovely, we had a nice chat, then it was back to work. My last day today, it hasn’t been so bad, just getting some loose ends tied up. The people in my team signed a card for me, I was really surprised Danuta (dragon) wrote a lovely message saying she’d miss me being around…ahhh! We were talking about my travels in a couple of weeks…they’ve all been winding me up about the dangerous animals in Queensland, brown snakes, cane toads, leeches, ticks, crocodiles etc…do I really want to go there??!!
It does feel a bit weird that this is my first Birthday in wintertime, I’m used to having lovely sunny weather…..but it’s the worst day that I’ve seen since I’ve been here, really, really windy and the rain hasn’t stopped chucking it down, I can’t actually see out of the windows it’s so bad! You can’t even put an umbrella up as it just gets blown inside out, I've seen so many broken ones on my walk here!

There are a few of us going out tonight for a meal and some drinks, I hope the weather calms down a bit before, otherwise we're all gonna get soaked!!

Only 1 and a half more days of working here to go….yaay!! The woman who asked me to stay on an extra week is on leave now, and noone else has said anything, so I’m not going to mention it now, this file archiving is getting to be a nightmare…would rather leave it behind! We have just been out for lunch as Kate and myself are both leaving tomorrow, I’m feeling a bit sleepy now though as we all had a glass of wine!

I had quite a mad weekend, making up for not going out last weekend. Friday night, Sue had a spare ticket to a ball hosted by Seek, which is a big Australian recruitment consultants, so she asked me if I wanted to go along with her. I was a bit worried about what I was going to wear as I didn’t bring my ballgown on my travels ;o) but I needn’t have worried, it was more like a nightclub. We got drenched on the way there, the heavens opened, it was awful, Sue looked quite funny with her posh dress, sandals and a waterproof jacket and golfing cap on!! We ended up having a great night, the whole thing was free, the waiters were walking around filling up our wine glasses all night. Actually the waiters were lovely, they were only young, maybe 20 or so… Sue and I sounded like the 2 old women from Harry Enfield.... ‘oohh young man’ we found that most amusing! So we ended up getting pretty drunk and then going onto the after party, which again was great. I met lots of English people there, they all seem to come out here and get jobs as consultants. Anyway, I don’t know what time I got home, but it was pretty late. When I walked through the front door, it sounded like the washing machine was on in the cellar, so I went down to check and it wasn't, I couldn’t figure it out, I was turning taps, switching switches, taking out plugs (I was desperate!) didn’t know what it was, I must have woken Satomi up, so I dragged her downstairs to have a look, then I made her go into my room to show her how loud it was and told her that 'I couldn’t possibly sleep with that racket going on!!' Anyway, I had to give up in the end, and to be honest, I don’t know whether it did stop as I crashed out as soon as my head hit the pillow! I had to apologise to Satomi the next day, I told her I’d had a few drinks, she said, yes I thought so!! Oops!
The next day I couldn’t actually move from my bed all day (it was the B52 shots from the night before, they killed me!) I managed to get moving to the shop at about 5 to get some dinner …. thought it might make me feel better. I would have loved to have stayed in, but it was my last weekend living in the city for a while so I’d arranged to meet some people out, which left me no choice. I think Sue was feeling pretty much the same as me. Actually it was quite funny….she was telling me that she'd spoken to her sister in the morning when she was suffering, she told Sue to tell me I was a bad influence on her…haha, I can’t believe that, she thinks Sue’s not a party animal for some reason!! We went to the Slip Inn, which is kind of a club/bar with lots of different rooms. We were in the outside bar at first, but it started throwing it down again, so we had to move inside. The downstairs club part was called the Chinese Laundry, there were washing machines everywhere. We had a laugh and a dance and another late night.
Yesterday I went to Sue’s, she was getting her stuff ready as she’s moving to Manly. She treated me to lunch, we went to one of the cafés on the harbour at Wooloomooloo and sat outside watching the world go by, actually, I was keeping my eye out for Russell Crowe, I’ve been informed he lives there!
Apparently this is where he lives

We liked to think this is his boat moored outside!

Me on the jetty

After lunch I left Sue to it, and met Dave for an hour or so for a catch up, then it was off to give Mum a quick ring and then home.
It’s still raining today, it hasn’t really stopped, but there’s not been enough to lift the dam levels. I was rudely awoken this morning by a drunken man f*ing and blinding, he must have been in the street behind the house…and he sounded like he had a very bad case of turrets syndrome, hopefully he got a good soaking!!

Thanks for your comment about the dragon Chris... ;o)
Actually I’m becoming quite fond of Danuta (formally known as ‘the Dragon’) once you get to know her and you don’t rub her up the wrong way, she is very pleasant. I do feel a bit sorry for her, the last 7 weeks have been very stressful for her, what with all the moving around and everything, she was just telling me that she hasn’t been sleeping well, so if she’s irritable, that is the reason…bless! Oh, and I may not be leaving next week, they’ve asked me if I can stay on until the end of July, which I can’t do because of my visa, but I did say I could do the extra week, but I’ll only do it if they’ll pay for my transport… we’re just waiting to see if the request is approved.

Sue came round for a visit last night, we hadn't seen each other for a week, so we had lots to catch up on, we always have a laugh ;o)

I can't wait to finish work next Thursday, it's getting so bad, the acting Associate Director who came in about 7 weeks ago has totally transformed the office, I don't know what Alison (who she is standing in for) is going to say when she gets back next week. She's moved us all up the other end of the offices, had all the walls painted, totally moved everything about, Alison is going to have a heart attack! And her thing now is signs, she got me to make nameplates for everyone in the department (the colours matching the wall colour scheme of course, which by the way I think she's colour blind!) so I got those done, and now she's gone mad, she keeps taking me around the office showing me what signs to make...toilet signs, signs for the microwave, in and out tray signs etc etc...I tell you, she's totally obsessed!!

Anyway, enough of work, I am going to have to sort out all my stuff at home soon for my move next Friday, I’m amazed at how much I’ve accumulated already, but because of my spending spree when I first arrived here at least I won’t need to buy any more summer clothes (well I’ll try not to anyway!)
I’m quite looking forward to moving out and back to Sue and Grant’s for a couple of weeks, it’s going to be a lot more peaceful, no washing machines, hoovering, stamping on the floor and slamming doors at all hours, I can’t wait!! Actually, I have grown used to it now, it still gets me every now and then, but not as bad as before. I’ve even said to my landlord that I’d be interested in moving back in if there is still a spare room when I get back from my hols, the noise is worth overlooking cos it’s clean, right in the city and a good price, I think it would be hard to find something similar again.
Satomi and I seem to be having a competition at the moment on who has the most chocolate in our cupboard, actually she is winning by quite a lot now, I opened the fridge the other day and there was a massive chocolate swiss roll in there, I was very jealous, I wish she wouldn’t do that to me!! When she first moved in, her cupboards were full of healthy, Asian foods, I don’t know what happened, it can’t be my influence, I’m not that bad really….well apart from the chunky caramel Kit Kats and Tim tams which I’ve become addicted to! Actually I think it’s living here, there’s a big American influence with regards to food here, I’ve probably mentioned it before, there are food courts everywhere and apparently 1 in 3 of Australians are obese (something I haven’t noticed, but that’s what they say) I can definitely understand it.

June 21st – It’s the shortest day of the year here today, very strange, I just can't get used to all this back to front business…..enjoy your longest day, we have to wait until December 21st for ours!!

I actually managed to have a quiet weekend....the first one since I've been here! I haven't been able to shake off this cold, so I thought it would be a good idea to take it easy, and I've managed to save some money too. Well actually, what I've saved from my weekly budget I'm just about to go and spend, I need a suitcase to be able to move all my stuff to Grants in a couple of weeks!

Had a great day yesterday, Dave and I went to the zoo, we had such a good laugh, it was like being a kid again! To get to the zoo, the best way is to get the ferry over from Circular Quay. It's amazing to see the zoo as you approach it as it's set out on a hill by the waterfront. When you get there, you can get on a gondola which takes you to the top of the zoo and then you work your way down again, the view from up there is great, being on a gondola reminded me of going snowboarding in Austria, except of course there was no snow.

View from the gondola (I only remembered to take a pic near the top, so it's not the best)....

The first animals we saw at the top were the koalas, I absolutely love koalas, I get really excited whenever I see one, they're just so cute, there was a chance to get into the pen and touch them, but there was a big queue and as I'd patted one just a couple of weeks ago, we decided to go and see the rest of the animals. It's such a great zoo, it's set in 28 hectares of landscaped gardens and exhibits (so my guide book tells me) and like I said the view is fantastic, I'm sure you don't get many zoos like this across the world! As I said before we had such a laugh, we were just talking in all sorts of stupid accents, I like Dave, he's very intelligent, and he really makes me laugh too, I must say I am a bit of a ditz when I'm with him, not much chance of an intelligent conversation with me!!

Dave is going to kill me for putting this one up...

and me being silly too.....

We saw so many different types of animals, there really are some bizarre ones in Australia. I was quite chuffed cos I finally saw a wombat, quite a big animal, I was a bit disapointed as the elephants weren't there, they'd been taken to Dubbo zoo, but we saw the usual giraffes, tigers, lions, bears, mountain goats (there is a funny story there, but I think you probably had to be there to laugh, so I won't tell it) crocodiles etc. I'm getting better when it comes to going in the reptile house now, some of you may not know but I've got a massive phobia of snakes, it really took a lot for me to go in there, at first it was ok, I was quite calm side shuffling against the far wall so I wasn't so close, but then I saw a python or something very big when I didn't expect it, which just freaked me out, so I had to run out of there, but that's quite a good step forward for me.

Towards the end of the zoo there was a bird show just about to start, so we sat down to watch. It was really impressive, I've never seen a bird show like that, the birds were really well trained, there were owls, eagles, cockatoos and many more in the show, they were flying from keeper to keeper directly above the audience. They even put a glove on a little girl's hand and an eagle came and landed on it, she was really brave, I would have screamed and run a mile probably!! I still find it weird that in Australia they have cockatoos in the wild, and they're the most amazing colours. At the end the guy was giving a small talk about caring for the environment and not dropping litter on the floor, while he was talking, he dropped some paper on the floor, and a little bird came along, picked it up with his beak and then put it in the bin, it was really funny!

We eventually made it down to the bottom and while we were waiting for the ferry, Dave bought me a baby koala which was really sweet ;o)

Me and a very large koala

It was quite a long day actually, we'd been walking around for 4hrs, I was really tired when I got home so I just crashed and watched a couple of films.

I was made an honorary guy last night….Dave invited a few of us over to his place to watch the State of Origin rugby league game between New South Wales (*Cockroaches) and Queensland (Cane toads….nice nicknames eh!?). The State of Origin series is one of Australians biggest sporting events and this year was the 25th year. The game was played here in Sydney at the stadium in the Olympic park, there were 82,000 people there. I had to laugh, there was a whole stand of NSW supporters all looking exactly the same…. blue clothes, painted blue faces, blue curly wigs, they looked like a cross between the Smurfs and one of Harry Enfield's Scousers!! The State of Origin is an annual competition, the 2 states play 3 games against each other, and the winner is the best out of 3. Last nights match was exciting because it was the second game and Queensland had won the first one, so we (I keep saying 'we', that’s how at home I feel here!) had to win last nights game. Even if Queensland would have won the first 2 games, the third game is still played. Anyway, NSW won 32 – 22 with the help of Andrew Johns, who Dave says is a god, he’d been out of action for 7 weeks with a broken jaw, but he was definitely the man of the match by all accounts. It was a good match, the best bit was when the cameras were in the changing rooms at half time ;o) sorry…..anyway, it was so different from watching a soccer match (I have to say soccer now, it’s very confusing here as they call rugby league ‘footy’ and football ‘soccer’, so half the time I don’t know what sport people are talking about!) The cameras get right in on the action, they don't pan out like they do in soccer, they shoot reverse angles and all sorts, and because everything was really close up I couldn’t tell which end of the pitch each team was supposed to be running up to score….but you don’t really need to know, as Dave kindly pointed out, whichever way they are running with the ball is a good indication! Sometimes I really should think before I open my mouth!! They also have a video referee, so sometimes you have to wait for the decision before you know whether they’ve scored a try, they should try that with soccer, I’m sure it’d stop a lot of arguments, and would stop the poor ref getting shouted at!!!
So the boys were happy that NSW won the game, the final match is in July in Brisbane, so fingers crossed. As you know I have not much of a clue about rugby, (this was only my second game!) but I’m learning more now with Dave’s help and I’m determined to know all the rules before I leave here!
* Cockroaches – because they are plentiful in NSW, and Cane toads for the same reason in Queensland. Apparently Queenslanders boil up the skin of the cane toads in a pot and drink the water….the toad poison trips them out...how lovely!!!

After I wrote my blog on Sunday, I got a text from Aaron (I met him on the bus on my way back from Grant’s a couple of months ago…he’s been travelling from Cairns and got back last week) he wanted to know if I was interested in going to Bondi to meet up with him and his friends. I must admit I was in 2 minds as I’d just got used to the idea of staying in, but then I thought why not, I’ve got the day off tomorrow. So I phoned Sue to see if she wanted to come, she was the same as me, she’d just got used to the idea of staying in and finally watching Love Actually…anyway she ended up missing it again….I wonder if she’ll ever get round to seeing it!!I’d never been out at night in Bondi, so I was quite looking forward to it…we hopped on the bus, it’s only about 20 minutes away. I could remember that Aaron had a shaved head, but that was about it…I mean I’d only met him once! So when we got there, typical there were loads of bald men there, so I got a bit confused!! Anyway, I phoned him and he came to get us, I did actually recognise him when I saw him…luckily! The bar we went to was really cool…it seems to be the place where all the beautiful people go. Downstairs it was more like a club, and the music was really good, trouble was it was a bit loud to be able to speak, so we were practically shouting at each other (I’m a bit husky today!) Aaron was telling us about his travels, it was funny listening to his stories….. he’s a real Essex boy, so he’s quite a character! Obviously I was interested in the places he recommended cos I’m going to be doing the same route next month…..it sounds like a great trip. We’re going to meet up soon so he can tell me more about it…somewhere where we can hear each other speak!
Needless to say, yesterday I was feeling pretty tired, so I just took the opportunity to get my washing and ironing done. Jason had lent me his dvd player, so I watched a couple of dvds too, it was actually really nice to just relax.. At about 5pm I really needed to get some fresh air, so I walked to the phone box to phone my brother, was nice to speak to him again, I must say I can’t wait until I move into Grants so that my family can phone me and I don’t have to walk to the phone box everytime…I bet I’ve saved them a fortune on phone calls!!
Back to work today, I really don’t have anything to do again…I’m just sat here waiting for something to do, trouble is it’s a hive of activity everyones moving their stuff, I keep asking if they need any help, but they just say no, don’t worry. Oh well… only 2 weeks and 2 days left to go!!

Friday night was good fun. I met Dave for a 'coffee' (yes, you know my coffees usually end up being something a bit stronger!) after work, we had a couple of drinks and a chat, was nice to see him again as it'd been a couple of weeks since the last time. Then it was onto Sue's for a 'quiet night in'. I hadn't been to her place before, and I must say when I was outside it, I thought wow this is posh, and inside didn't disapoint either, it was absolutely lovely, she's got the biggest window with a fantastic view of the city, I was very jealous! but then again she pays nearly as much in a week as I do in a month! She had got lots of nibbles ready which was really sweet. We were planning on watching Big Brother and then Love Actually, but we never actually got round to any of them, well we caught the end of Big Brother and then put the dvd on to watch the film, but we were gassing too much to watch it...actually I felt a bit bad, I didn't realise she hadn't seen the film before, and she had no idea what was going on when we eventually stopped talking for a minute!!

Saturday morning I felt just a little bit rough as we'd managed to polish off 2 bottles of wine between us the night before ! I had to drag myself out of bed cos I'd arranged to meet Dave for Yum Cha (which I'll explain in a mo) at 12. His kids were here, so there was a big group of us invited out. It was really sweet to see him with his kids, they don't live in Sydney, and it's obvious he really misses them, Sophie his little girl is defintely the apple of his eye ;o) Anyway, back to Yum Cha, this is a very new concept to me, I've never heard of it before, (it's chinese food, but you probably knew that) it's very very popular out here cos of the big Asian community, apparently the restaurant we went to is one of the best in the city. Basically, the place is heaving, Saturday lunchtime is the time to go, you have to fight to get to your table, it's like an obstacle course with all the trolleys going around getting in your way. Our table was full, I met a few new people who were really nice. There was about 12 of us in the end, the waitresses just walk around with a trolley of food and you basically grab whatever you like the look of, there are all sorts of foods, tofu, octopus, pork dumpling, suckling pig, chicken feet (blurgh)...yes, not the best for a vegetarian. All the food goes in the middle of the table, and everyone just eats what they want..quite a messy business I have to say. I felt a bit of a lightweight though, as I was feeling a bit delicate I didn't actually eat anything there, it all looked really slimy, I did try some coconut dessert though, and it was like eating slime, the taste was nice, but the texture wasn't...but at least I tried it. I had a really nice afternoon, we were there for a couple of hours, that's what it's like, I was told yum cha roughly translates as talk food, and that's just what it is, the more people the better and you can just keep eating and talking for hours. Some of them decided they wanted to take me to a Vegan Yum cha restaurant, so we'll be doing that in a couple of weeks...I'll make sure I'm feeling 100% next time ;o)

Yum Cha

After that I made the mistake of going to the shops, and Iwas a bit naughty and bought myself a top and some trousers...well there was 20% off and I haven't been shopping for over a month....I was getting withdrawl symptoms, feel a bit guilty now....oh well! and it was raining too, typical for our long weekend!! Actually, it's a really good thing, they are having really big problems here due to lack of rain, the main reservoir is dangerously low, there are all sorts of water bans and rules on using water, it's quite scary really, we think that water is always going to be there, it's not until you live somewhere with this climate that you realise how we do take it for granted.

Last night I met with Sue and her friend Deborah, who she met through work. Deborah was on about going to one of these singles parties, so we thought we'd go along for the laugh! It was at a hotel and it looked pretty good when we arrived, they had bars and music outside, it reminded me of a couple of places I used to go to back in Munich. There was such a variety of people there, and all sorts of ages....there were loads of old men there eyeing up all the woman! I actually didn't really feel comfortable all night, the men were blatently obvious when they checking us out, it felt like a cattle market, not really my scene, I guess it was good, because everyone was there for the same thing, but when you're not really looking for someone then it's not the best place to be, and you can't use the 'sorry, I've got a boyfriend excuse' Anyway, we did have fun, it wasn't all that bad, but I probably wouldn't go to one again!

Today I didn't get up til late, I saw the sun shining through my window and thought I'd better get out there and enjoy the day. I took a walk down to Darling Harbour where they were having a Jazz Festival. It was really buzzing down there and the music was really good. I stopped for a while for a sit in the sun and a listen and that's been my day really. It's funny sometimes my phone doesn't stop ringing, but other times it doesn't make a sound at all....today has been one of those days, but it's quite nice to have a bit of time to yourself sometimes. Anyway, I might go back down the harbour again in a bit as they are having fireworks and I think Dave and his kids will be there, but to be honest I could do with going back to bed! I should be out partying cos we've got the day off tomorrow, and everyone will be celebrating the Queens birthday...oh well.

Well, another month has passed me by, it’s now been 4 months since I left UK, where does the time go??!
I gave up my room on Monday, so I'll be moving out beginning of July…and just as I was starting to feel settled! I’m must admit, I’m a bit nervous about heading off travelling on my own again, I’ve just got used to having lots of friends here in Sydney, but I’ve done it before, so I’m sure it’ll be fine, and as I’ll be staying in hostels this time, I’m sure I’ll meet people in no time. I’m definitely not going to fit everything in my rucksack tho, I’ve accumulated so much since I’ve been here, luckily I can leave my spare bits at Sue and Grant’s.
I’ve been busy trying to plan my route back to Sydney from Cairns, I’ve got so many different leaflets and magazines to get my ideas from, I could start up my own backpacking travel agency! I’m sooo excited though, I can’t wait to see more of Oz....that weekend away has really given me the taste for travelling again.

I've been feeling a bit poorly the last couple of days, but I managed to drag myself into work...well, otherwise I won't get paid! I don't think the airconditioning helps, once one person gets ill, then everyone does. It's been quite busy as we've been preparing to move desks, I got my PC etc moved today and it wasn't too painful, the easiest office move I've ever done, and I didn't have to organise it either which is what I've been used to. I'm now sat opposite the Dragon, luckily for me!! actually, she is ok, she still moans all the time, but I just think it's funny now!

I booked my flight to Cairns today, wohooo, another holiday to look forward to, can't wait. I think I'll take 4 or 5 weeks off....sorry, not trying to make you jealous ;o)

We have a long weekend coming up, for the Queen's birthday believe it or not....I can't get over that they have it as a public holiday here and not back in the UK....very strange, so I've got a lot of things planned, hopefully I'll be feeling 100% by then.

Here's a few photos from the weekend.....

First wine tasting at Reg Drayton winery



Me and Vegemite



Randy the kangaroo tucking into the ice cream cone



The gorgeous Gumdrop



Also, my first Sydney photos are now online, if you haven't already seen them, see the link on the right...

After a very busy week, I was really looking forward to getting out of the city, going to Hunter Valley and doing something different, it was definitely worth the wait, I ended up having a fantastic weekend...so this will probably be a long entry today…so much to tell!!
Sue and I met early on Saturday morning and walked to the bus station together. After buying a few bits and pieces for our breakfast the coach was about ready to go. I was a bit surprised as it was a big coach, but there were only about 12 people on it. On the bus we met the owner (Mike) of the place we would be staying at, he’d been in Sydney to watch the rugby, so we got talking to him for a bit, then everyone started falling asleep….apart from Sue and I, who were chatting all the way there! Actually he thought it was really funny, he couldn’t wait to see us when we’d been drinking, he thought it couldn’t get any worse than how we were on the bus….we were obviously talking and laughing a lot!! We kept looking out the windows so we didn't miss anything, it was mostly trees, but in some parts, there was some really lovely scenery, lots and lots of trees and a couple of lakes and rivers. It took us about 2.5 hours to get there. We were staying in Cessnock which has a population of 22,000, it’s a lovely town, the houses were really pretty. It ended up being 8 of us from the coach that were staying at the lodge, we all paid up, then got shown to our rooms, which were very basic, just a bunk bed in there, but it was clean, actually it was absolutely freezing in there so we didn’t hang around long. We had about an hour before our wine tour, so we had a look around, the lodge was nice, there were probably about 12 rooms there and a big communal kitchen and lounge. We introduced ourselves to all the other people that had just arrived, there was a couple from London Toni and Ben, 2 other English lads Ram and Will, a Frenchman, Matthew and a Dutch guy called Tom, they all seemed really nice and we had a laugh, so I thought, this is going to be a good weekend.
So at 12pm, we all jumped on the mini bus and set off for the wine tour. The guide was an Ozzy guy that worked at the lodge, he was a typical Australian, when we first arrived he had a massive sun-hat on, it was a shame it didn’t have the corks hanging down, he would have looked great! So he was giving us a talk about where he was going to take us on the tour, I must admit at one point I stopped listening cos I saw my first real life Kangaroo in the wild, so I was pretty excited about that. Anyway, he told us he was going to take us to the smaller family run wineries as they were a bit more personal and friendlier than the big firms, like Lindemans and Rosemount Estate. Our first stop was Reg Drayton wines, we all sat outside on the terrace around a big table, and our wine tasting began. We drank all sorts, whites, reds, fortified wines, dessert wines, I must admit I started to feel a bit tipsy, and we still had 3 more wineries to go to! The owner gave us a talk about all the different wines and how they make them, it was really very interesting. Now in Australia because of the lack of cork trees and the expense of buying cork, they are all starting to use screw top wine bottles (which I found a bit strange because in England or Germany that is not usual) but apparently the wine can keep with a screw top for even longer than a cork, and obviously there is less risk of corking the wine. In Australia as you probably know you can take bottles of wine to a restaurant, and they charge you corkage to open it, one of the lads asked if they’d start charging screwage instead..which we all found highly amusing…(remember we’d been drinking!) The next stop was the Iron Gate winery, which was beautiful, unfortunately we had to stand inside to taste the wines. We had lots of different wines to taste and the girl taught us a new technique called ‘fluffing’ which again we found hilarious…wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, anyway, it involved putting the palm of your hand on the top of the wine glass and shaking it which releases more of the flavour, Will loved this so he started doing this with every glass, even the reds, but what was really funny was that whenever he did it, he couldn’t’ keep his hips still, so it was like him doing this mad dance, very amusing!
After all this wine Gordy (our guide) decided we’d better get some food inside us, so he took us to the Hunter Valley Gardens for lunch.
By this time I still hadn’t tasted a wine that I really loved, so I was hoping our next stop would be the place to buy some. This place, The Hanging Tree, didn’t disappoint, it was absolutely beautiful there. It’s a really small winery that is only open to the public at weekends, the setting was stunning, there was an old shack on the front which was the building they used to use years ago (very Little House on the Prairie’esque) with a couple of horses roaming around, then out the back there was a pond with loads of ducks, and flowers. The inside was full of old antique furniture, it’s so hard to describe it. The owner was a lovely lady, we sat out on the veranda and she brought us out wine trays and tasting cards and left us to it. All 3 of the white wines I really enjoyed, so I couldn’t decide which one to buy, in the end I bought the limited edition Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, or SSB as they call it in the wine trade (these Ozzies shorten everything!) typical as it wasn’t the cheapest wine, but I thought I would treat myself. After that it was to the Smelly Cheese shop for some cheese tasting. The first couple were really nice, marinated feta cheese and some sort of Lebanese cheese, but the others were not to my liking...gorgonzola, which had the same texture of margarine, yuk…and some blue veined cheese, which I’m not a big fan of. While we were there, Sue and I decided to buy a cheaper bottle of wine for the evening, as we wanted to save our good wine for a nice dinner. Next stop was champagne tasting, can’t remember what that place was called! We had some lovely champagnes there and we all chipped in and bought some Pink blush for later. We were supposed to have a chocolate tasting after, but the owner was a bit funny and decided not to let us, this was really annoying cos I’d looked forward to that all day. The shop smelt gorgeous, they had a big chocolate fountain which they used to dip strawberries and marshmallows in, mmmm, I ended up just buying a small peanut butter praline, even that cost me $2, I could have bought 2 mars bars for that!!
So it was time to go back to the lodge as it was 5pm. Everyone got back and relaxed for a bit, we opened our wine and had a chat, then Gordy and Mike lit up the pizza oven and the fire in the garden. We all wrapped up and went outside to sit by the fire…..bear in mind it was pretty cold at this point. After an hour we were told we could make our pizzas, what a great idea that was, they gave us the base, and we all put on our toppings and in the oven they went, I tell you that was the best pizza I’d had in ages (well apart from Dave’s last week!) So we had a couple of hours outside having a laugh, actually a girl had turned up later on, and she comes from Poole, which is just up the road from where I used to live in UK, small world! Next it was pub time which was only a 5 minute walk up the road, it was a bit misty and very dark, so we all stuck together. I had a bit of a funny moment…I was walking up the road, happily chatting away to Toni, and the next minute I’d gone crashing into one of those waist high posts by the side of the road…luckily for me it bent down and pinged back up again, apparently it nearly caught poor Tom who was walking behind me, so this had us all doubled over with laughter for about 5 minutes, Sue said it looked like a cartoon from the back!! We finally made it to the pub, had a few games of pool, a bit of a dance, it was karaoke night, I tried to persuade the others to sing, but they weren’t having any of it, only the owner Mike sung, he loves it, he was up there every other song! At about 12 most of us decided that we needed to get back as it’d been a really long day, so we walked back and went straight to bed…. strangely the room was actually warmer than it was earlier.
Had a really good sleep, but still woke up pretty early, but we’d booked a horse ride, so we had to be up anyway. We all cooked breakfast together, some of the guys were looking worse for wear, they’d been up drinking and ended up in the sauna till 4am.
After we’d cleared up, Sue and I walked over to the horses, I was actually really nervous as I’d only ever ridden a horse once before, and that was when I was about 10. My horse was quite a small one, I thought I might actually crush her! Her name was Vegemite and she definitely had a mind of her own yesterday, Vanessa (their owner) taught me how to steer and the basics. I was a nervous wreck…. Vegemite kept deciding to just wander off to see the other horses on the way, so Vanessa ended up leading us for the first hour or so. After that I got a bit more confident and asked if I could ride without being led. The weather was perfect for it, we walked through all different pastures, and we saw a mob of kangaroos, behind the trees, there must have been at least 20 of them, that was amazing seeing them, I tried to take pictures, but my camera zoom didn’t get close enough unfortunately. We rode through one pasture and there were 2 random cows that must have jumped over the fence, so Vanessa told Sue and I to go through to the next field while she tried to round them up and back into the next field. Unfortunately the cows went a big mad and one of them started running straight towards me and Vegemite, I was so scared I thought it would run right into us, but she turned at the last minute, Vegemite didn’t even flinch!! So my legs were like jelly after that and I was shaking quite a bit. There were a few hairy moments, mad cows, horses and dogs on the way that kept running up to us, but on the whole I really enjoyed the ride, although I was quite relieved to get off…. mind you that was a feat in itself, I think my legs had moulded to the shape of the horse and I was stuck there for a few minutes, Vanessa’s husband had to push me off. Actually he took a photo of us, and Vegemite and I look like right midget s compared to Sue and Blue!! I was in agony when I got off, I literally couldn’t walk, my knees, my legs and my bum were killing, well, we were on the horses for 2.5 hours! our plan was to jump on the bikes and ride to the zoo after, but I couldn’t have done that, so Mike gave us a lift in the end.
The zoo was a small family run zoo, we had a really enjoyable afternoon there, we fed and touched Randy the kangaroo, he was a friendly chap….we had ice cream cones filled with his food, which he ate out of our hands, but in the end he only wanted to eat the ice cream cone. There were lots of other kangaroos there, but they were all lying down looking very relaxed. We saw albino wallabies, they looked a bit like large rats, there were lots of really unusual birds, again they were only interested in eating the ice cream cones…monkeys, deer, emus, ostriches, and the best bit was Gumdrop the koala. She was soooo gorgeous, the owner took us into her pen so we could touch her and have our photos taken with her, she looked just like a cuddly toy, sitting on her branch looking cute. They have such thick fur, she was 6 yrs old and was actually quite big, apparently they sleep for 20 hours a day, it takes all this time to digest their food, so basically they don’t do much!!
Sue had her picture taken with some sort of python round her neck, I wasn’t going anywhere near that! I did however touch a shingle back lizard, very strange looking thing, the scales were really hard like the nails on your fingers. We helped the owners wife feed the wallabies with bread and lettuce and we learnt quite a lot about all the different animals, then it was time to leave to make sure we got back for the coach back.
We arrived back in Sydney at 7pm, by this time I was feeling exhausted and my throat was feeling a bit sore, so I went home did my washing…my clothes stunk of horses! and had an early night.
The whole weekend was so great, it was so much better than going to a hotel where you never really meet anyone, I’m so glad I found this travel deal…the owners made sure we had the best time and the people we met were great, the weather was fantastic….what more could you ask for. I’m feeling very stiff today though, my back is hurting now too…maybe I'll give the gym a miss tonight!!
I hope you managed to read this through till the end, it’s a bit long eh!!

Had a great evening last night. I met Dave after work and we went down to the TV studios to meet Simon. The Foo Fighters were on at 6.30, so we had a quick drink while we were waiting. They were actually doing a live TV show for one of the cable channels, it was absolutely packed and the atmosphere was really mad. I was actually surprised I knew a lot more of their songs than I realised. They played for about 40 mins, not bad for a free gig! So when that finished we jumped in the car and drove to Dave’s for his home-made pizza, which I must say was really yummy. I tried artichoke hearts for the first time, and they are really nice, actually the guys were really shocked that there were so many foods I have never tried, I’m hoping to get an invite again for their asparagus which is supposed to be great!
After all that pizza I needed some exercise, so this morning I set my alarm to go to cycling, but after last week I really couldn’t face it, so I went back to sleep for a while and then went for a run instead. I had another awe inspiring moment when I was running by the water with the view of the Opera House and Harbour bridge with the sun coming up, (sorry I’ve probably repeated myself from previous times, but it never gets any less spectacular!)
Busy week this week, off out with Sue tonight, then I’m going to Grant and Sue’s on Thursday, then it’s Hunter Valley on Saturday…I’m counting down the days!! It doesn’t get any better than this ;o) (as you’ve probably guessed, I’ve got over my down phase!)

Sue and I went to a couple of different bars in the city on Saturday night, It’d been 5 months since I’ve been in an Irish bar, so I thought I’d better put that straight! One of the bars was called Scruffy Murphys, it was quite good in there, although we did feel a bit old…it was full of youngsters!! Actually I was talking to this lad and he couldn’t believe I was 30, he was like wow, you must have been like Miss Universe when you were 20…haha, that made me laugh, didn’t quite know how to take that ;o) After there we walked to the Burdekin (our local) to meet Todd and his friends. It was absolutely heaving in there, the music was great, they had a dj and drums and trumpets, was really cool, there just wasn’t any room to dance. Anyway, we stayed there till late, then a group of us walked up the road to another bar/club. I think I got home at 7am, so needless to say I was very tired yesterday! I did however, manage to actually do something, I jumped on the bus to Coogee and met up with Jason and Todd. We went for a walk along the coastline, stopped for a snack and a drink, then went back to their flat for Big Brother eviction night…I don’t think they were too happy about having to sit through 1.5 hours of it ;o)

Was a bit hard getting up for work this morning, Satomi must have had the munchies last night, she woke me up in the middle of the night cooking food, no idea why, maybe she couldn’t sleep, then she went back to bed and did it again later on, very strange!

I was just overhearing a couple of my colleagues talking, sounds like they want to extend my contract a bit longer as there is some work coming up, trouble is I will only be able to do an extra 2 weeks anyway as my 3 months will be up then, but the other thing is it doesn’t suit my plans, I’m moving back to Sue and Grant’s on the 1st July for a couple of weeks and I don’t want to have to travel into the city everyday, apart from it being quite expensive, it will take forever to get there in the rush hour, will have to see what happens. I’m hoping to get a job in the pizza shop near their house (Matt works there) so if I don’t get that, then I’ll have to consider staying on for the money…we’ll see.

I’m off to see the Foo Fighters tonight, just had a mail from Dave, they’re doing a free concert at the Fox Studios down the road, should be cool, although I don’t really know much of their music. Dave’s going to cook a pizza after, yum!!

ooh, crikey, I've been feeling a bit nostalgic, so I thought I'd have a look at my online photo albums (incl. my Munich leaving party photos) trouble is I'm feeling really sad now...that was a bad idea. Was nice to see everyone again, but it brought a tear to my eye....I miss everyone :-(

Remind me not to do a cycling class in the morning again, it's so much harder than going in the evening (if that’s possible), I don’t know where I found the energy from this morning. It was a shame that that class is in the morning, cos the teacher was really good and the music was great, mind you, that’s probably why I managed to keep going! I feel good now, just a bit sleepy.
The house is back to being a mad-house, my landlord got back from his 2 week holiday last night, and now I’ve forgotten what it was ever like to have any peace and quiet. He has his Italian friend staying now, who I think must be deaf cos she’s really shouting all the time. Also, Satomi has started getting up whenever I’m up, this is a bit annoying as she doesn’t need to cos she doesn’t start work till later and she just gets in my way and always wants to chat which makes me late (as you can probably guess I’m not a morning person!)
It’s supposed to be 23degrees today, but I think they were lying, it’s really cold out, especially when I went to the gym at 6.30am, freezing!
I’m really sucked into Big Brother now, I don’t know how it happened! I’m really enjoying it, which I never thought I would…imagine watching 14 people you’ve never heard of living in a house together! Trouble is it always conflicts with another show that I’m into called My Restaurant Rules. 6 couples are given a property which they have to open up as a restaurant, then they have to battle it out for 10 weeks to make it the best restaurant in the competition… and whoever wins at the end wins their restaurant. The final is on Sunday between Sydney and Adelaide (actually we saw the restaurant on Saturday in Manly, big queues outside as you can’t reserve tables) Yes, I have turned into a TV addict, well I haven’t really watched TV for the past 5 years, as living in Germany I didn’t have Sky and I never really bothered with local TV, so I guess I’m just happy I can watch it again ;o) (actually, I’m not that bad really, there are only a couple of shows I watch….too busy for any more)

Friday night was good fun, I met Dave and a few others down the pub, it was nice to catch up again and we always have a laugh. I ended up going home to get my camera so I've got some photos of everyone, hopefully I'll be able to get them online soon. Was up early on Saturday to meet Sue, we got the ferry to Manly, unfortunately I missed most of the scenery cos we were talking so much.... I did manage to get a couple of piccies though. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect. We had a short walk along the beach, then we sat outside of one of the cafes on the beach front and had some lunch, then we sat on the beach for a while just watching the world go by. It was so lovely just to sit there and relax, and it was definitely hot enough to sunbathe, although the beach wasn't that busy, it was just right. Later on we met up with Todd, Matt and their other friend Tim, we had a beer with them in one of the pubs, then we all walked back to Matt's and then drove to Harbord, which is just north of Manly. There was a big rugby game on so the boys wanted to watch it. They took us to the Harbord RSL club (which is our equivalent of the British Legion) although it is nothing like what we have in the UK (not that I've been to many) It was full of gaming machines (I still can't believe how big gambling is here) and giant TV screens everywhere, nothing like I expected. Anyway, it turns out that Matt got the time of the game wrong and we were there 2 hours early, Todd, Sue and I decided we didn't really want to hang around so we went back into Manly and went for dinner. I had the lovliest Thai green curry, I'd been getting cravings for Thai food since I left Thailand, so I really enjoyed that meal. We had some wine, a good chat, then we got the ferry back into the city, by which time I was really tired. Todd went off home and Sue and I walked back too. I was in bed by 10pm, I was going to try and watch the FA Cup final, but I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer!

So today, I was up bright and early again. I went for a walk through Kings Cross and over to Rushcutters Bay and Darling Point, my plan was to walk all around to the different bays, but they're not really connected so well so I ended up having to walk up and down really hilly windy roads to try and get to the next point, I didn't have a map either, so I had no clue where I was going, anyway, I gave up in the end cos it was really tiring work....I ended up back at Rushcutters bay, sitting down in the sun for an hour or so. There is some amazing scenery to be seen around there, I will have to go back at some point, and the houses are gorgeous, very expensive I bet, it reminded me a little bit of back home near the coast, apart from there are palm trees here!

So after that I came back home to get some food (this is part of my trying to save a bit of money scheme) I ended up switching on the TV and I got sucked into the second half of the FA cup match, quite an exciting match, sad that Man U didn't win, anyway it was a bit weird watching the game on my TV, it's really bad reception and it was like watching a match with 3 teams, the blacks, the reds and the little green men (due to the ghosting) it was quite difficult to see what was going on at some points!!

Wow, I've ended up writing an essay again, just so much to tell!!

The training course went ok on Wednesday, we were there to learn how to use this filing/archiving software, not the most exciting of things! There were 10 of us there plus the trainer who was a bit of a flapper….it took him forever to get things set up. Actually it was quite funny, cos we had just gone for the 3rd day of a three day course, and I ended up actually knowing more than the others did and I’ve only read instructions on how to use it previous to the course. I got a bit frustrated actually, cos they were really slow to pick it up. I had to help Dragon a few times, but because of this I kept missing the next steps so the teacher kept jokingly picking on me. Anyway, I learnt a lot that will help me with my next exciting job of archiving 50 boxes of files…can’t wait!
On Wednesday night I just went round to Marie’s house for an hour or so, for a chat. Yesterday was a bit boring, just went to the gym again.
Today we have a clean-up day at work, everyone has to muck in and clean and tidy stuff up. Actually it’s not too bad cos they’ve provided loads of food, so I’ve been eating all day!! And the day is going really quick which is also good ;o) I was just beginning to change my mind about Dragon, when you are on your own with her (like at the course) she can be quite nice, but then today, she’s in a right foul mood, I archived a file that she still needed and she got in a right strop, then she’s just been walking around moaning at everyone, I tell you, I’ve never met someone with such a grumpy disposition, jeez, it wouldn’t kill her to smile once in a while and have some manners!
I’ve got quite a busy weekend ahead, after I clean the house tonight I’ll be meeting up with Dave, I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks, so that’ll be nice. Then tomorrow Sue and I are heading off to Manly, we’re meeting Todd and Matt. As Sue will be moving there soon, I thought it’d be nice to introduce her to Matt as he lives there. I think the boys are going to be surfing and we’ll probably go for a walk and have a look around until they’ve finished.
I’m really excited, I’ve just booked our trip to Hunter Valley (wine region) for the beginning of June. I got a really good deal, it includes return bus, 1 nights accommodation, wine tour, pizza dinner and breakfast. The owner said we go for the wine tour on the Saturday for the afternoon, do the wine and cheese tasting, then buy some wine and go back to the hostel where we open the wine and eat the pizza dinner, then head off to the pub down the road for Karaoke. The next day, we can relax by the pool and have a sauna, they have bikes which we can use and also horse riding…. sounds like it’s going to be a great weekend ;o)

Last night I had my first nights sleep since I’ve been living in the city without getting woken up by anyone in the morning. Satomi wasn’t working (she got fired yesterday bless her, cos her ‘Engrish’ wasn’t very good) and my landlord is away…bliss!
I’ve just been told I have to spend the whole day with the Dragon tomorrow on a training course…I’m really scared! She’s just told me off cos I didn’t tape over a tiny hole in a box I was sending out, and that the writing on the label wasn’t big enough…even though it covered the whole size of the box! Wish me luck!

Just off to the gym now, made the mistake of going home first, I didn't want to leave the house again, it's miserable. I think I got too used to the sunshine, I've acclimatised too well...brrrrr!!

Back again, I was just about to go and I've just read some sad news that Kylie has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, poor woman. She's cancelled the Australian part of her tour, what a shame, I was really looking forward to that on Saturday :-(

Sue and I went to see the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy last night. We both really enjoyed it, it was a bit silly, but I like that kind of thing. Very easy watching. As you know the plan was to have a quiet weekend, but after the cinema we made the fatal mistake of going to the pub 'just for one', yes those famous words, and I don't think I got home until 4am!! Had a really fun night, we met a group of people literally before we'd even ordered our drinks, so we ended up having a laugh and a dance with them.

I've just got back from meeting Gavins work colleague Ellen and her friend, they are only in Sydney for a couple of days, unfortunately they didn't pick the right time weatherwise. We just met and had something to eat, they were both very nice, we had a talk about India and all my travels, Ellen want's to see some more of the world too. They've got tickets for a show at the Opera house, they asked me to go with them, but unfortunately it was fully booked when I tried to get a ticket, last week, oh well, Star Wars is on the TV tonight!