Well, I didn’t win any money on the sweepstakes for the Melbourne Cup yesterday :-( We had a nice do here at work though, they laid on some food and we all watched the race here….I was quite excited at one point, one of my horses was in 2nd place for a while..but that didn’t last long! The horse that won was Makybe Diva, the favourite to win (why didn’t I put a bet on!!) It was actually the 3rd consecutive win of the Melbourne Cup for her and her jockey, and they have made history by doing it. The jockey was so emotional that they’d won again, it was really sweet. The horse has now been retired. On the bus home from work, we just caught all the people coming out of the Randwick race course (where all the Sydneysiders go to watch it) it was absolutely chocka, as always everyone was drunk and sunburnt too, it was very funny to watch! The bus driver didn’t even stop at the bus stops to pick any of them up, he was like, I’m not letting any of them drunks on my bus!!

This weekend flew by, I can’t believe how quickly the weeks are going by. I was talking to my Mum last night and it’s only 6 weeks until she comes out here to visit me!
The birthday celebration for Linn on Friday night was good fun, the bar we went to have a members night once a month, and all you have to do is show a members key ring and you get half price drinks. There was only 2 people in our group who actually had a key ring, so there were about 10 of us using only 2 key rings! They had some really lovely cocktails there, we all made the most of the deal by trying lots of different types. Needless to say it ended up being a pretty late night!!
Saturday was a great day, Jason and I went into the city for the Sydney Food and Wine fair at Hyde Park. There were loads of stalls there from some of the best restaurants in Sydney selling all different types of food and wine. We had a look around at most of them until we found something we fancied, I had a stir fry dish which was yummy, then we sat on the grass in the sunshine, chilling out with a glass of wine, listening to the bands, and watching the world go by, it was great. After a few hours of doing nothing the sky started to cloud over, so we took a walk to Darling Harbour to have a look at the 'Chalk the Walk' exhibition. There were about twenty pavement artists chalking their artwork on the Pyrmont walkway, some of them were really fantastic.
Yesterday was a really bad day, the weather was awful. I didn’t wake up until 1pm (well it would have been 12, but the clocks went forward!) I must have needed that sleep!! I spent the day cleaning and tidying up, not much fun, but it needed doing. I always feel like I’ve achieved something when things are looking really clean and tidy!!

Tomorrow is Melbourne Cup day, it's Australia's equivalent of our Royal Ascot, it's a big thing. They actually have a public holiday in Melbourne for it, and even here in Sydney there are loads of do's on. The racing season has been on for the last month or so, everyone gets dressed up to the nines and gets really drunk, we've seen a few casualties walking out when the races have finished, well I say walking....what I actually mean is stumbling, it's very amusing!! So, I'm going to put a bet on, well a sweep anyway....fingers crossed!!!

While I'm here, I've just added some photos of Cronulla where we went a couple of weeks ago:

Bloody flies!!!
If it’s not moths... it’s flies!! The warm weather here (it was 32degrees and humid yesterday) has brought with it swarms of flies and they’re so bloomin annoying, everyone is walking around wafting them away with their arms, they call it the Sydney salute!!
I am a bit tired still today, we had a really late night on Wednesday. We went to the Basement, which is a really cool club near Circular Quay. The Esbjorn Svensson Trio, a Swedish Jazz band, were playing. The music was great, and it was all their own compositions. Our friends Lin and Martin who are also Swedish have seen them before, so they recommended to go and see them. I must say, I felt very grown up and civilised going to a club and listening to a jazz band, it was very enjoyable!
Got a couple of things planned for the weekend, tonight we are going to the Cushion Bar in Coogee to celebrate Lin's birthday, then tomorrow I might pop down to the Sydney Food & Wine fair at Hyde Park.

Feeling a bit tired today, I met Sue yesterday afternoon for coffee, and the plan was that we were going to the theatre to see a play. Well, we walked there to pick up our tickets, but the theatre looked really dodgy and we decided it was a lot of money to pay for somewhere that didn’t look very nice, so I hate to say it, we carried on walking and decided to go for a drink instead!! Plus it was a beautiful day…too nice to be inside. We ended up going to what I think must be the most expensive bar in Sydney…..$18 for 2 drinks, and surprisingly we stayed there for 4 each…so much for saving money! It was lovely to catch up with Sue again, we don't see each other as much anymore as she has moved to the North Shore and I'm in Coogee, its a fair trek now. Anyway, so that was Sunday. Friday night the lads all came around to the flat to watch the 2nd tri-nations rugby game between New Zealand and Australia….New Zealand lost this time. Saturday, Jason and I went for a drive down the south coast to Cronulla, it was only about half an hour away. It’s a really nice area, first we went for a walk along the seafront by the marina, there are some really beautiful houses right on the front, they must cost a mint. Then we took a walk over the other side along the beach front, it was really busy as there was a surfing competition on and there were loads of people sunbathing as it was a lovely day. After a drink at the Northies hotel we set off back home…by this time it had started to rain a tiny bit, then the next thing we knew it was absolutely throwing it down, so much so we could hardly see out of the windscreen, then it started thundering and lightening. I haven’t seen a storm like that in ages, and it was quite cool watching as the fork lightening struck really close to us. Saturday night we just ended up watching a dvd….exciting stuff!!

The days are going by so quickly, I keep forgetting to update my blog! Well, I'm on a bit of a diet again, well summer is coming up after all! I've been to the gym Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, not today though, I'm feeling like I need a rest! I've given up baked potatoes too, it's been 10 days now and I really miss them (if you know me well, you know how hard that is for me!!) trying to do the low carb thing, so hopefully will get some rapid results!!

Last night we had a bit of a dinner party at the flat, Jason cooked for Rachel, Stu, Todd, Lily and me, we had some yummy food (a bit too much in my case) quiches, salads, garlic bread, cheese and biscuits...not good for my waistline, but I have been exercising loads, so I deserved it!

I was told today at work that I can stay there another 2 weeks, my contract finishes at the end of next week, but they want to keep me on a bit longer which is great news.

Drinks on Friday night turned out to be a big night. We met at a pub in Surry Hills after work, I don’t often get to that area so it was nice to go somewhere different.
Had a really good night, I met lots of different people which was cool. Later on we went to another pub where they sold wine by the bucket (well they were huge glasses, but they might as well have been buckets!) Ended up rolling home about 3am...... slightly merry, I must remember to eat some dinner next time I go out straight from work!
Saturday we went out for lunch with Rachel and Stu, had a big plate of nachos which made me feel better. Then Saturday evening we all met up again to go and watch the Tri-Nations rugby. The game was a good one, the score was New Zealand 38 Australia 28, obviously it was good that New Zealand won as I was with a bunch of kiwis!! I was wearing a New Zealand scarf to support them, but I told them that when they play Great Britain at the end of the month, I definitely won’t be wearing that scarf again!!
Yesterday I had a really quiet day, the weather has been pretty bad over the last week, loads of rain, so I just went to the cinema to watch Pride and Prejudice, which was really good. Todd was taking the mickey as I went on my own….he seemed to think that made me a loser…..I mean if I can travel to all these countries on my own, I’m sure I can go to the cinema on my own...it really doesn't bother me!!

I've also booked mine and Mum's flights to Melbourne in December, we're going to go for a few days as I still haven't been....more money!!

Had a lovely evening yesterday and very cultural! Went for dinner straight from work at the Rocks. The Rocks is where mariners of the First Fleet stepped ashore on 26 January 1788 and British settlement of Australia was first established (bit of internet history for you!) Anyway, so had a nice Italian dinner and a big bucket of ice cream and then headed off to the Opera House. First stop was a couple of glasses of wine at the opera bar, it’s got to be the bar with the greatest backdrop in the world (or definitely one of them) We sat outside with the view of the Opera house and the Harbour bridge, definitely an Australia moment!!
Then it was into the concert hall for a night of 500 years of music (Beethoven to Elvis) from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (I told you it was a cultural night!). I’ve been in the concert hall before when I did the guided tour, but this was totally different. What an amazing evening, the orchestra were fantastic, I must say there was a lot of music that I wasn’t that keen on, it wasn’t very melodious and sounded a bit disjointed, a bit like the music you get on a horror film soundtrack! but on the whole it was very enjoyable. The lady sat next to me really enjoyed it…she was crying practically the whole way through!! We had a dose of opera, string quartets, a bit of dancing and a lot of singing. The singing was mostly in German and I’m embarrassed to say I think I only understood a couple of words out of the whole lot (but it is harder to understand when people are singing it!). I loved the opera, I will definitely go and see one there before I leave, and they do put subtitles up, so you know what’s going on! Towards the end all the lights came up and what looked like a random guy in the audience stood up and started belting out this song, then he went up onto the stage with 3 other randoms, they had the most amazing voices, so they sang for a while, then a whole load of people in the audience in the front balconies stood up and started singing too. It was fantastic, the singing was beautiful, and none of them had microphones on, that’s the beauty of the design of the Opera house, you just don’t need them. The acoustics were fantastic (running out of adjectives here) it actually really moved me listening to this…..I had another big Australia moment…wow, I’m at the Sydney Opera house listening to this…cool!!
So, now I’ll be going all the time, well, money depending…. I’ve really got the bug!!
Now I’ve got a busy weekend lined up, we’re going out for drinks tonight to celebrate a friends new job, then tomorrow night I’m going to the rugby at the Telstra stadium….yes, I’m seeing Australia v New Zealand (league) I’m going to be supporting New Zealand as I’m going with a bunch of kiwis!!

There was a bomb threat to the fire stations in Sydney on Wednesday, and the one in the city is only the next block to my work…scary stuff!! They had all the fire engines lined up on the road all day. It wasn’t really that big a deal here though, it made a brief mention on the radio and on the internet, but that was about it.

Had another nice weekend....the summer is definitely on it's way now!
Friday I met Dave after work for a few drinks, he'd just got back from Japan, he had been on a business trip and he had a fantastic time, it sounded like a great trip, maybe one day I'll get there. It wasn't a late one like it normally turns out to be when we meet up...I was at home at 8.30 and in bed by 10! Saturday daytime, just did a few bits and bobs, then I met Sue for a girls night. We had a really fun night as usual and we had a lot to catch up on, so we were gassing all night. We went to a few different bars for a change, we went to the other side of the city, but we both felt really old, you should have seen what some of the girls were wearing (I sound like my Mum don't I!!). So we ended up in the old faithful Burdekin on Oxford Street...our local which we haven't been to in ages. It was really funny, we got chatted up by the most weirdest guy, well I say got chatted up, he didn't say anything really apart from you're really pretty (in a strange voice) and then he would just stare and grin at us....a bit freaky actually. We called it a night after a while, we couldn't get rid of him!!
Just got back from the gym....I'm really going to make an effort to go now, what with my holidays and being sick I haven't hardly been, and the summer is coming, better get it sorted.

some pics from New Zealand (see below for write-up)

on the drive to Wellington


the weather slowly gets better


on Mount Victoria (excuse the big hair...it was windy!!)


Beach at Wellington


on the drive to Napier


The Mission (oldest winery in New Zealand)


the vinyards

Last week was a bit of a nightmare. I got home on Wednesday night after work to find that the flat was absolutely inhabitable after the painters had been there, they’d said we would be able to sleep there still, but they’d started on every room and the beds were piled high with furniture, so that would have been impossible. This sent me into a bit of a panic as it meant packing clothes to stay at a friends house for the next few days, and also getting my stuff packed for New Zealand, and there was nowhere to put anything as everywhere was covered in dirty sheets. Anyway, I managed to get it done eventually, it meant searching under the sheets on the bed for my suitcase, but I got it sorted. Then Todd gave me a lift to Rachel and Stu’s….by this time it was about 9.30pm. So, I got myself settled there and went to bed. Then Thursday at work, everything was going fine, until lunchtime…. Jeff was showing me how to do something on my PC and all of a sudden my vision went blurry and I couldn’t really see anything. Jeff phoned the first aid guy who came down to see what was the matter, I’d figured it was a migraine…I’d only had a couple before, and the symptoms were the same. Anyway, the first aid guy got it into his head that he should phone an ambulance (apparently they don’t like to take risks when it comes to problems with the head) I was mortified…. I tried to say that I just needed to lie down in a dark room and close my eyes, but he was determined. I guess if they didn’t and there really was something serious wrong then they’d be liable, so they can’t take any chances. So they took me to the sick bay where I could lie down and we waited for the ambulance…and waited, about 40 mins later, they realised that actually everybody thought that somebody else had called the ambulance and it turned out nobody had (which I was really relieved about….fancy calling an ambulance for a migraine!) It was a good job it wasn’t serious though, imagine if someone had had a heart attack or something and noone had called the ambulance! Anyway, by this time my vision had mostly come back, but my head was killing, so they asked what I wanted to do, I just said I’d go next door for a check up at the doctors to keep them happy…so they took me there where I was given some painkillers and written off work for the rest of the day. But to make matters worse, I didn’t have a key for the flat where I was staying, so I couldn’t even go to bed…I had to stay in the sick bay all afternoon. When I knew that someone would be at the flat,I got a taxi back (which work paid for and which I nearly threw up in!) nightmare!! Anyway, I slept for a while when I got back and started to feel better. I was really annoyed tho as I was supposed to go out and meet Aaron and Mike that night, but there was no way I could have gone out. I still felt a bit funny on Friday, my head was hurting so I took some more of the painkillers from the doctors, but a couple of hours later I felt nauseous again, I couldn’t do anything at work, I was useless, so I ended up having to go back to the flat again. Tanya from work was really sweet and drove me home…I had to get her to stop at one point though as I was going to be sick…how embarrassing!! So I just went to bed and slept for a couple of hours, and Rachel gave me some anti-nausea tablets which helped. I was really worried that I would be sick for my holiday, but I woke up early on Saturday morning and felt reasonably ok…. more excited than anything!

So onto nicer things…..
New Zealand was great, I was staying in North Palmerston, which is a city in the south of the north island. Jason had booked to go back and surprise his parents for their 25th wedding anniversary party, so I tagged along with him. We got there Saturday afternoon and were picked up by his friends Reece and Yvette who we were staying with. After a relaxing afternoon and some fish and chips we went to the anniversary party. We had a great night, Jason’s Mum was really shocked to see him there, she just burst out crying when she saw him! The music was quite old fashioned and at one point the whole room ended up doing the hokey cokey which was very amusing!! The drinks were free all night, so we all had quite a few…. the wine wasn’t bottled, but in a box, so I polished off quite a lot of chateau cardboard (as we like to call it!)
Sunday (feeling slightly hungover) we went to a local park with Jason’s family and then took a drive right up into the hills to have a look at the windfarm, there are hundreds of these windmills on the hills that generate power, unfortunately though the weather had taken a turn for the worse so we couldn’t get out of the car without getting soaked, and we couldn’t see the view either. Sunday night we went out for dinner with Yvette and Reece which was nice. Then Monday, Jason borrowed his brothers car and we took a drive to Wellington, which is 2 hours away. The day started off raining, but it cleared by the time we got there. We dropped in at Jason’s brothers house to say hi, they have a gorgeous house up in the hills with a fantastic view. After we’d had a cup of tea and some cake, we drove up to Mount Victoria and saw the view of the whole city (which is surprisingly small) it was absolutely freezing up there, and blowing a gale, I was glad I took my scarf! We then drove along the coastal road and stopped for a walk along the beach. It’s a very rugged coastline, it reminded me of home a bit. I also loved looking at the houses there, each one is so individual, you will never see two looking the same, most of them are built on the hills so they’re really high up, not sure if I would like to live that high! After that we parked the car in the city and had a look around, we walked to the Beehive (where the government offices are) and took a couple of pics, then we went to the cable car and took a trip in that. There are botanical gardens at the top, but we only had a quick look and then headed back down again as we were both starving. After we’d eaten, we drove back to where we were staying.
Tuesday morning it was raining again, the plan today was to go to Napier, which is on the east coast of the island and is supposed to be sunnier than the west. Jason’s parents had taken the day off work as it was their actual anniversary, so they picked us up in the morning to take us out for the day. The drive was quite a long one. As soon as we were out of Palmerston (or Palmy as the locals call it) the skies cleared and the sun came out. I tell you, it made such a difference when the sun was shining, the countryside is beautiful, it’s so green and there are hills everywhere…and the amount of sheep…well! It reminded me a lot of England, it’s such a contrast to all the places I’ve seen in Australia….quite unbelievable. All along the journey you can see the mountains in the distance, that actually reminded me of Germany and Austria a bit, there was even a bit of snow on top of some of them. It took about 2.5 hours to get there, we drove up to a view point called Bluff Hill where you can see a view of Napier and the beautiful green sea. We had some lunch there and took some photos, then drove back down to the town where we had a look around…I could definitely live there, it’s gorgeous…very pricey tho!! After that we fancied a bit of wine tasting (it’s a wine region) so they took me to the Mission, which is the oldest winery in New Zealand. It was established in 1851 by the French Marist religious order. The whole place is absolutely stunning, you drive up the hill, through the vineyards towards the main house, which is beautiful, and the view from up there is amazing. We tried 5 wines….well, I had an extra tasting as I couldn’t decide which wine to buy (honest!!) I decided on the Riesling, which I’m saving for a nice meal.
After that it was time to make a move back to Palmerston, it was also time for another sleep in the car for me…I tell you, every time I got in a car that holiday, I just couldn’t keep my eyes open, it got to be a bit embarrassing, I was that bad.... it was really annoying too as I wanted to see the scenery! Anyway, by the time we got back there we were starting to feel hungry again, so to celebrate their anniversary, Jason’s Mum and Dad took us out for an Indian. I hadn’t had a curry actually since I’d been in India in February, so I really enjoyed it.

What I saw of New Zealand, I really loved it, I had a really great time there. There are hardly any people (more sheep than anything) and they are so laid back (the people, not the sheep). Another thing I"ve got used to is they always add 'eh' on to the end of most sentences, even when they're not asking a question, very funny. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see a kiwi (only the human kind!) maybe when I go back next year I will.
So yesterday it was time to come back to Sydney. Our flight was at 6am, so we were up at 4am, it was a long long day! The flight was not the best, I think the more tired I am, the more nervous I get, it was quite bumpy. It was a 3.5 hour flight too which didn’t help! So got back to the flat and it was a right state from when the painters had been there, apparently they didn’t finish until Monday night, so Todd and Lily hadn’t had a chance to clean anything…so yesterday morning was spent cleaning and washing, it took 5 hours...I was knackered…that’s all you need when you get back from your holidays, I just wanted to go to bed!! Anyway, it looks lovely now, a vast improvement….but today I feel like I’ve done a major workout at the gym…..I’m aching all over from scrubbing and hoovering!
I returned to work today to find we have an infestation of moths…they are flying around the whole office, in the toilets and kitchen too….there were a load of them lurking behind me on the blinds all day!! Apparently this happens at this time every year, luckily I haven’t been dive bombed at work, but I've just been to a shop and I tried on a t-shirt and about 6 moths flew out of it into my face...that scared me I tell you! Won't be trying on anymore clothes that are hanging outside a shop!

The opshop party last Saturday night was really good, it was at this guys house….he’d set up a stage in the lounge and they had a few live bands playing…it was quite unreal! Not that many people bothered to dress up tho...typical, I'm quite glad my nice pink top wasn't so bad...it actually just looked quite retro (I still did throw it away after tho!!) The music was great, the first band we heard were called Panda, they played really original music and really funky, everyone was quite happy dancing away! Needless to say, I didn’t get much done on Sunday, mind you I’ve had a stinking cold all weekend, so I needed time to recover!

We’re having the decorators in this week to paint the whole apartment, so last night we were running around tidying everything away and moving the furniture to the middle of the rooms. They arrived early this morning…. hopefully they’ll be finished on Saturday! Mind you will be in New Zealand then, so I won’t care….yaay, only 3 days to go!!

Talking of New Zealand, yesterday I booked mine and Mum's South Island bus passes for January, we've got 2 weeks of travelling around the island which I'm really looking forward to, then I've got a few days in Christchurch after Mum goes home where I'll stay with Mum's aunty. I'm also booking our flights to Melbourne where we'll go for a few days before Christmas, and then I've been frantically looking around for accommodation in Sydney for us for over Christmas, all the prices have obviously been put up for the holidays....nightmare!! So I'm all travelled up at the moment...so much to organise!

I finally managed to speak to my brother at the weekend, him and Martina have finally moved into their new place in Slovakia, sounds like it was all really stressful, but hopefully they'll settle in soon. I can't wait to see the pics of their new flat, it sounds lovely. Actually Mum is flying out there tonight....she's a bit of a jetsetter too!
I’m meeting up with Mike and Aaron tomorrow night, Mike works with my Mum, he’s here on holiday at the moment. He’d brought some clothes over for me which he dropped round last night, bless him…. unfortunately I missed him as I wasn’t back from work, but we’ll still catch up tomorrow, I think we’re going to Bondi.

I've been out quite a bit this week, on Wednesday night I met Sue after work for a few drinks...we hadn't seen each other for a while so we had a lot to catch up on. After that we went to meet up with some friends at a graduation dinner in the Spanish Quarter of the city, we were absolutely starving when we got there, but they'd already ordered and it was really late, so we didn't bother getting anything.

Yesterday I went out for lunch with 2 of my work colleagues, the boss had gone out for a run and the manager had a day off, we went to a club and had fish and chips...lovely. It's so funny, the guy I work with is probably mid 40s, he's been working there for 28 years, but he's not a big worker, you can get away with loads when he's there! He was telling me, he's actually accumulated 299 days holiday, I don't know how he does it. They get 28 days holiday a year, but then on top of that they get an extra day off a fortnight....I tell you, I wouldn't mind getting a permanent job there, it's well cushy!

Last night I'd tried to organise a trip to Oktoberfest at the Loewenbraeu bier keller at the Rocks, I say tried...on the website it's advertised that it was on for the next 2 weeks, I was really looking forward to going, but it turned out that it was only on last weekend. It was only Sue and I in the end, but we decided to stay, it was great in there, I'd never been before, it took me back to being in Munich, all the wait staff were wearing lederhosen and dirndls....the place was just the same as the bier kellers in Munich. We had a few beers in there, then a friend of Sue's came to meet us, I didn't stay much longer after this, it was about midnight and I was shattered, so I paid a trip to Mcdonalds (which is unheard of for me, but I was starving) then got the bus back home.

Today we've just been shopping, we're going to an Op Shop party tonight, so we've been out opshopping (charity shops) we've got to wear bad taste clothes unfortunately...I've just bought a pink t-shirt with a big sparkly flower on it...nice!!

Getting excited about next weekend...I'm off to New Zealand on Saturday until Wednesday, I had the opportunity to go to the north island which I jumped at as I won't get the chance to visit there when I go in January (just going to the south island) so it should be great!!

So, what have I been up to?....I'm getting a bit lazy about updating my blog lately, I guess things don't seem as interesting now after all I've done over the past couple of months!

Most importantly, I don't have to look for a place to stay anymore, I've been invited to continue living where I am in Coogee, so I'm really relieved about that and I'm feeling a lot more settled.

The weekend was pretty quiet again, we went down to the Coogee Bay hotel on Saturday night, well, that was actually quite a late night, then Sunday, we went back down there again (it seems to be my new local) and met some friends for a couple of drinks, then went to see Wallace and Grommit at the cinema.

Feeling a bit sick again this week, I can't believe how many sore throats I've had since I've been here...it must be the air-con spreading all those germs around!

Work is going ok, I'm struggling a bit to get my work-head on, it is hard after 2 months off....but I'm getting there!

I can't believe it's Wednesday already...when you're working, the time flies by! Talking of work, I'm getting on ok, it does get a little frustrating at times as I keep having to ask one of my colleagues questions about things, I can't just get on and do my jobs which is annoying, but hopefully that will come in time. The people are really nice, there are only 3 others and 2 of them are real gossips, they just keep coming around and chatting to me....I'm suprised they get any work done. It's a real laid back atmosphere there, and I'm loving the hours, I start early and finish at 4pm, it's really great, it gives me time to get other stuff done. Talking of which I've just come back from the gym....it's the first time I've been in about 3 months and I really enjoyed it, it feels good to be doing something a bit strenuous, mind you, I'm shaking a bit now!!

I'm feeling a bit tired today too, Jason and I went down to the Coogee Bay hotel last night for the comedy club evening, it was really good, and a bargain at $8, well worth the money, we were laughing the whole night..... it beats staying in and watching rubbish TV!

So, finally here's my Ayers Rock blog......

Wednesday 31st Aug
Was up early on Wednesday morning to meet Sue at the airport, I was really tired as I hadn’t had much sleep, but we were both really excited about our trip ahead.
The view from the plane was really amazing, the flight was 3.5 hrs and all we could see for just over 3 hours of that was desert. I knew that Australia was a big country and that the outback was vast, but seeing if for yourself it's quite unbelievable. The desert changed colour constantly, sometimes it’s red, then orange, then white, yellows and browns, but there is nothing else to see apart from desert. When we started the descent to Ayers rock I started getting really impatient to see the rock from the air….as soon as I saw what I thought was Ayers rock I shouted to Sue ‘there it is’ (a bit enthusiastically) then we weren’t sure if it was Ayers rock as it didn’t look like it…anyway I then realised it was Kata Tjuta (the Olgas, another large rock formation) it was a bit embarrassing, cos I think everyone heard me say it! Anyway, shortly after, just before we landed we did get to see Ayers rock from the sky.
We picked up our bags and got the shuttle to our hostel, there is only a population of 1000 at Uluru, so the resort was really small. On first impressions the hostel looked nice, unfortunately the dorms were 20 beds, I didn’t realise how bad this would be until later on in our trip! So we dumped our stuff and headed to the supermarket to pick up some food, then we went to the travel office to book our tours for the next few days. The rest of the afternoon we laid by the pool, it was so nice to just chill out in the warm sunshine….it stayed nice until about 6pm when the sun started disappearing. After that we walked to the Ayers rock lookout point at the hostel to watch the sunset, it was quite far away from the rock, but we got the idea of the rock changing colour, even from there. After dinner we went on a tour to the Ayers rock Observatory, I’ve been meaning to go to the one in Sydney, so I was really looking forward to this. When we arrived, we were all taken to a clearing out the back, the sky was perfectly clear so we were able to see millions of stars, the view of the Milky Way was fantastic too. After explaining to us a bit about the skies and the differences between what stars and planets you can see in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the astrologer pointed out different stars and planets including the Southern Cross with his laser pointer, which was fascinating. Then he pointed out some of the signs of the zodiac (mine wasn’t visible) I have never seen these pointed out before, so this was very interesting. He then showed us a binary star, which are 2 stars that orbit each other, and some clusters through the telescope. I really must go to the observatory in Sydney at some point.

Thursday 1st Sept
Today we were up at 5am for the sunrise tour to Ayers rock (Uluru). We went to make our breakfast and found somebody had taken most of our bread from the kitchen, which we weren’t best pleased about as we’d only just bought it! Anyway, after the tour driver faffed around picking everyone up, we finally got to the viewing point, there were already loads of people there. This was the closest we’d been to the rock so we were quite excited. After a lot of hanging around, the sun eventually came up. It was really great to watch the rock change colour, it was brown when we’d first arrived, then gradually turned bright orange, then to a terracotta colour.

After seeing this, we’d decided to do the base walk (9.4km around the whole rock). The driver dropped us off on the deserted road and pointed us in the right direction. We weren’t really sure how long it would take us to walk around it, the Lonely Planet said 5 hours, but we were going with the driver who’d said 2.5 hours. Just before we got out of the bus, the driver muttered something to us about being on this side of the rock, but neither of us could make out what he was saying.... until we got out and we realised what he'd said, the wind was really strong and pretty cold which we weren’t expecting. It was really hard work to walk against it and it didn’t really die down until after the first hour or so. It was good to do the walk, I’m glad I did it, but I must admit, I did get a little bored at some points as a lot of it is the same to look at, and there was never an end in sight!

So after about 2 hours (we walked pretty quickly) we got to the main car park which is where the area of rock is that you are allowed to climb. The climb was actually closed at this point because of the strong wind, but we didn’t mind as we weren’t going to do it anyway as we were told the rock is sacred to the Aborigines and they don’t like people climbing it. Looking at how high and steep it was, I don’t think I would want to anyway and there is only a small handrail to help you up. So we waited until 10am, then the ranger came to take us on the Mala guided tour (this was a small part which we hadn’t walked yet) The Mala are a tribe of Aboriginals, we learnt their story on the tour, which was really interesting.

After the tour, we got dropped off at the supermarket, we needed to replace our stolen bread….only to find when we got back to the hostel that someone had taken most of our milk from the fridge...how annoying!

After another couple of hours sunning ourselves (it was really baking) we went back to the rock for the sunset tour. On the way, we stopped off at the Cultural Centre for a while to learn a bit more about the Aboriginal heritage. The sunset wasn’t really the best that night as it was really cloudy, but we did see the changes to the colour of the rock…it was still good to watch, very gradual though, it was very similar to the sunrise colours, except it turned a really bright yellow at one point….considering it started off brown, it was quite something. When we got back to the hostel we were shattered, we had dinner (surprisingly there was some food left!), then to bed about 9pm.

Friday 2nd Sept

Another early start today....remind me never to stay in a dorm room with 20 beds…..I got woken up countless times, the girl next door to me was snoring so loudly it was unbelievable, then everyone got up to do their tours at about 5am, so that woke us up. After we got up, I went to the kitchen to make breakfast, wondering if we’d have any food left, this time they’d taken our pasta….I couldn’t believe it, this was the last straw, I know it’s only food, but it’s the principal….I’ve stayed in about 17 hostels over those 5 weeks I was away, and I never had anything taken…..we were both really annoyed….that was our dinner gone! Sorry, went off on a tangent then!

We were supposed to be picked up at 6.30am for our tour to the Olgas and we waited and waited but noone turned up, so 20 mins later, we went to the receptionist (after complaining to her about our stolen food!) and asked her to phone the company up for us, after us arguing that we were there on time and them saying we weren’t, they said they would come back and pick us up at 8.30, so we went back to bed again! The bus driver was very apologetic when he picked us up, they must have realised that they had left too early before, he gave us a load of postcards as an apology. On the bus drive there I spotted a camel in the wild, at first I thought I was seeing things, I didn’t expect to see a camel in Australia, then I thought maybe it had escaped from one of the camel tours….but apparently there are loads of wild camels in Australia, even more than in the Middle East!

After stopping briefly at the lookout...(below)

....we arrived at the Olgas at 9am for our first walk, the Olga Gorge walk. This one was only an hours walk and was very enjoyable, when you get to the end of the gorge and you look back, you see the amazing view of the desert. After this we were taken to the next walk, the Valley of the Winds, this was the hard walk I was dreading a bit. I must say it was far more spectacular than the Ayers rock base walk, it was really hard work, (the sign we read before listed the walk as difficult) and it was about 30 degrees, so the heat didn’t help. But we both really enjoyed it. We went off the track at one point, we were busy yakking away and not concentrating, we started getting ripped to shreds walking through dried up bushes and trees before we realised we weren't on the track anymore, luckily we hadn’t gone too far out of the way!! The views we saw were amazing, the Olgas consists of 36 large domes of rocks, it’s 546km high and has a circumference of 36km, the walk we did was 8km long, most of it uphill! We saw quite a bit of wildlife on the way too, it really was amazing to do this walk.

The Olgas

On the way back to the car park we were both shattered, our hands and our fingers had really swollen up too, I think that was the heat, very strange! We went back to the supermarket….again..to replace our stolen dinner, then we got showered, then it was pickup time for another sunset at the rock. The sunset was a lot better than the previous day, there were less clouds, I’m glad we went back and did it again.

Sunset at the rock

Sue and I

When we got back from that we had dinner, then a couple of drinks at the bar listening to some dodgy Australian singer singing Rolf Harris songs, then it was another early night….we were knackered!

Saturday 3rd Sept

After another really bad sleep ....there were a group of Asian girls who kept coming in and out of the dorm all through the night, they must have woken me up about 10 times…at one point I looked up and they were wrapping up a present…it must have been about 2am…nightmare!! So I was a bit grumpy after that through lack of sleep! We got up pretty early anyway to check out of the hostel, we had a couple of hours to spare so we had a bit of a sunbathe, it was really hot again, then it was time to go the airport for our flight back.

I had a really good time at Ayers rock, we saw lots, walked loads, and learnt heaps about the Aboriginals, I was a bit disappointed with the hostel, but the rest of the trip was a great experience.

Ariel view of Ayers rock

Had a pretty quiet weekend, well apart from Friday night.... I finally caught up with Dave!! We met up straight from work and had a couple of drinks, then we thought it would be sensible to get something to eat before we drank anymore, so Dave bought us some dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant, I ordered some noodles, Dave tried to teach me how to use chopsticks properly, he even tied an elastic band around the top to help (that's how he taught his kids!) but I was so hungry I didn't have enough patience, so I just ate with a fork in the end!
After that we ended up going in a few different bars, we had a really good laugh, it was great to catch up with him again, and we met lots of people on the way too, it was very amusing. I didn't end up getting home until about 4am, I know, that's a whole lot of drinking, so Saturday I wasn't feeling too sparky! It was quite funny in the morning....Lily knocked on my door and brought me in pancakes for breakfast which was really sweet....she then commented on how the room smelt of alcohol and opened all the windows.....it was just like being being back at home with Mum ;o)
We both cleaned the lounge and the kitchen which took my mind off how bad I felt, then I watched a dvd, then took a walk to the shops to buy a paper to see what flats were available. Only trouble was, I left it so late that when I phoned, most of the places had already gone, well there was one still available which I'm going to see tonight so fingers crossed!
Saturday night I just stayed in and watched some TV, then Sunday I cleaned and tidied the bedroom, did loads of washing and then sat on the beach for an hour to get some fresh air....it was really packed...you can tell that summer is coming!

It's been a while since I last logged on, things have been so busy, I don't know whether I'm coming or going!! Ayers rock was fab, I'm working on the blog entry at the moment (it's a bit long) so hopefully I'll post that in the next day or 2. Apart from that, I've been busy searching for somewhere to live, I haven't had much luck really, I've seen quite a few places, but most of them seem to be unfurnished...the others are just not good. I'm trying to get in touch with my last landlord to see if he has any room there, but he's away at the moment, so I'll have to see what happens. I found myself a job, only after getting a bit stressed cos I had no work and no home (hear those violins playing!) so I started today. I'm working for Sydney Water, yes another government job, which means that again there is nobody my age working there :-( it's in the city, so the location is great, and the hours and money are ok, so I shouldn't complain. Today was really boring though, it consisted of counting licences for computers (I'm working in the IT Dept) and then filing hardware order forms (I think I'm dyslexic when it comes to numbers with more than 6 figures...it starts getting a bit confusing!) That was about it for today, hopefully it will get a bit more interesting...I'm supposed to be there until the end of October. Keep your fingers crossed for me house hunting!

Things have been pretty busy these last few days, I've been trying to find a flat and a job before I go to Ayers Rock (tomorrow) I've had no luck so far, so I'm having a bit of a panic...I think I'll be able to get work pretty easily, but it's so hard to look for a flat when you're not sure where you're going to be working.

Apart from that things have been pretty quiet, I've been to the cinema and we went to watch the rugby on Saturday, everyone was pleased cos New Zealand won, they're playing Australia next Saturday which will determine who wins the Tri Nations. Went round some friends of Jason's last night...Rachel cooked us a really nice dinner....I ate far too much! That's about it really, I've just packed my bags for Ayers Rock....sorry... Uluru, I keep getting told off for saying Ayers rock!! hopefully will get some good photos.

I'm feeling a bit more settled now, I've moved to Coogee to stay with some friends and I am enjoying being there. It's nice to be living by the sea, even though it's not quite warm enough to be sunbathing. I'm currently looking for my own place, I may even try to get something here, but I'm not sure yet, will just have to see what comes up.

I haven't really done a lot this week, I met up with Sue on Wednesday night, was lovely to see her again, we had a really good gossip about what we'd been up to...then later on we met up with Aaron and Mark (they are both ex-colleagues of my Mum's) so we had a really good laugh and a few beers! Today I'm feeling a bit like everything's caught up with me, I think I've got a cold coming on :-( I'm meeting Dave tonight, he's taking me out for some dinner...I'm really looking forward to catching up with him again. Tomorrow I'm going to the pub with Jason and Todd and their friends, I've got to help them support New Zealand against South Africa in the rugby!

Return to Sydney

I finally arrived back in Sydney at midnight last night after a long bus journey. I was feeling a bit sad as it meant the end of my east coast adventure, but I was also happy to be able to have a bit of familiarity back.

So in the last 5 weeks, I've covered approx 6000 kilometres, I've visited 17 locations (including 3 islands) been to about 20 beaches, slept in god knows how many different bunk beds, and met lots of great people. I've really had the time of my life on this trip, I've seen and done so many things I could only have dreamed of. I've taken steps to conquer my snake phobia by holding all sorts of reptiles (definitely my bravest moment!), I've sailed around the Whitsunday islands and seen the most beautiful beach (Whitehaven) ever, I've seen whales at close range.. dolphins too, I've had a surfing lesson, I've mustered cattle, I've snorkelled on the Great Barrier reef, swam in waterfalls, the list goes on and on!!

So now it's back to reality for a while. I'm staying with Sue and Grant, who are kindly putting me up for a couple of nights, then next week I'm moving to stay with some friends at Coogee beach for a couple of weeks until I get a place of my own sorted out. Then it's time to look for another job :-( but I really do need to as I've spent an absolute fortune over the last 5 weeks, oh well, it's going to be nice to feel a bit settled again and to be with my friends, and I've got my Ayers Rock trip to look forward to, that's in just over a week, can't wait for that.... although it'll mean sleeping in a hostel again! and I won't be travelling on my own this time.... my friend Sue is coming, so it's going to be really good!

It was so nice to sleep in a room of my own last night, it really does take it out of you sleeping in dorms after a while. I read a funny article in a magazine the other day, it said if you find yourself ever missing the travellers life, just ask a member of your family to set an alarm clock to go off at random times in the night and rustle around in plastic bags, ask your brother to steal your wallet from time to time, and get your sister to sleep in the bunk above you with her new boyfriend. The last 2 luckily I didn't experience, but the first one is sooo true....I definitely won't be missing that, I curse whoever invented plastic bags!

Port Macquarie
I had a koala-tastic day today!! I was up at 6.30 and I walked to the koala hospital with a German girl from my hostel. We had to get there so early to catch the feedings. There were about 7 koalas there, they all had a sad story. One of them, Cloud was caught in a bushfire in 1994 and had really bad burns, now she can't climb trees so she's there permanently. We watched her being fed, she was really sweet.

After that the German girl (can't remember her name!) went back to the hostel and I took a walk to the beach....I didn't stay long though because it looked like it was going to rain, so I went back to the hostel. I met up with a few of the others and one of them had a car, so he took us to the Koala sanctuary, so we met more koalas again, and even a baby one. The sanctuary was quite small and it didn't take us long to get around it, there were the usual, kangaroos, wombats, monkeys, birds etc... I'm becoming quite an expert on all these animals now...I've been to that many zoos!!

Anyway, I'm getting the bus back to Sydney tonight, should be there at midnight, it's a 7 hour journey, but it's funny, I don't even think of it as a long time, it doesn't bother me in the slightest!!

From Coffs Harbour to Port Macqurie

I was rudely awoken early this morning by a very noisy lady that was staying in my room, I was very grumpy, she had all the lights on and made about 4 phone calls at 8am, typical me though, I didn't say anything!

I got myself a bit lost this morning, I did the walk around Coffs Creek and to the Botanical gardens, but for some reason I couldn't get all the way around back to the hostel, so I had to turn around and go back the way I came, it was a good 2 hours walk so I was a bit panicky as I didn't have much time before my bus went, anyway, it turned out ok.

I arrived at Port Macquarie a few hours ago, we've just had a bbq and some wine at the hostel, it's nice to have a sociable evening, but it's only 8.30 and I'm really tired already!!

Coffs Harbour

I left Byron Bay this morning and arrived at Coffs Harbour a few hours later. I haven't had a lot of time to see much, but it's pretty small here so I don't think it will take too long. I'm so pleased with the hostel, it's really new and clean, it's almost like a hotel, except you have to share your room with about 6 or 8 other people!!

This afternoon I took a walk through the harbour to Muttonbird Island, which is where all the muttonbirds nest (muttonbirds are small birds with a fan tail...I only saw one) Anyway, it was a short steep walk up there, and the views were amazing again. I was scanning the water for any wildlife activity and lo and behold I saw a few whales swimming past, (I'm an expert whale spotter now!!) they were being really playful and were splashing about loads in the water, it was a great spot to see them. That was about it for today really, I've just eaten my dinner and booked my next coach trip for tomorrow afternoon, which leaves me enough time to take a nice long walk tomorrow morning. I'm going to Port Maquarie next, and then after that it's Sydney....yeah!!! I'm speeding up this last bit now as I'm desperate to get back there, I'm going to miss out Newcastle, it's just another city and I can always go back later in the year as it's only 3 hours from Sydney. I can't believe this part of my trip is nearly at an end!

Dolphin spotting....

What an amazing time I had today, we were picked up this morning and taken to the beach to get geared up for the dolphin kayaking. I was a little bit dubious about doing the kayaking again, especially after what happened when I went with Wrigley in Thailand!! but I was put with Ted from Melbourne, he was a bit older, so I was quite confident that we wouldn't end up getting lost from all the others!! So we got into the kayaks and set off, it was quite hard getting out into the ocean, we had to make sure the kayak was directly facing the waves near the shoreline so that we wouldn't tip over, as you can imagine there were a few screams from me, but we got out there without falling in! It was pretty hard work, my arms aren't the strongest at the best of times, but luckily I had Ted behind me...honestly I think he was doing practically all the work...my meager efforts didn't really get us anywhere!! So after we paddled right out and we'd had a few talks from the guides explaining about the area and the wildlife, we saw our first dolphins. It was absolutely amazing, the dolphins were headed right towards us, some of them were surfing the waves and jumping right out of the sea, it was totally awesome (sorry, I hate that word, but can't think of another!!) I have to say it literally brought a tear to my eye seeing this in the wild, absolutely amazing, a really emotional experience. Then even more pods of dolpins swam straight past our kayaks, so close we could have touched them...they are amazing creatures, so graceful, I feel really privileged to have witnessed this, I still can't believe it now! So after that it was time to go to the shore to get some tea and biscuits. It was good fun getting to shore as we had to surf in on the kayaks, again we were lucky and didn't fall in. We went up to one of the lookouts I'd been to yesterday and then it was time to get back to the boats. On the way one of the guides came up to me and said, so I hear you're from Bournemouth, it turns out he'd been there on his round the world trip and stayed in Poole for a little while...he'd even been to Munich!! We didn't see anymore dolphins after that, but the memories of the ones I did see will stay with me forever, it's not until you experience something like this that you truly realise how wonderful life is (sorry if that sounds cheesy, but it's so true!)

It's not one of my pics, but it's nice to look at!!

The guides told us some sad stories about the loggerhead turtles that call Byron Bay their home. They are an endangered species and we will probably be the last generation to see them, apparently the turtles mistake the cigarette butts that get blown into the sea for food, and it eventually kills them, one was found quite recently with over 300 butts in it's belly, that's why the people on the coast are so dedicated to stop people dropping them on the floor...they have butt trays all over the place, but sadly not all people use them, not realising what damage they are doing.... a sad story.

Anyway, it's my last day here today, next time you read this, I'll be in Coffs Harbour.

See below for some more pics....

View from Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane


Surfers Paradise


Standing at the most easterly point of Australia - Cape Byron


Cape Byron Lighthouse


View from the lighthouse

Farewell Queensland!!

After spending a few hours at Surfers Paradise yesterday looking around and sitting on the beach, I arrived back in New South Wales last night...I'm now in Byron Bay. The resort where I'm staying is lovely and everyone really friendly, it's just a bit out of the town which is a pain, I guess it saves me money as I'm not going out at night though!

I had a really energetic morning, I wanted to walk up to the Cape Byron lighthouse, so I started off pretty early. It was a gorgeous morning, so I set off up Belongil beach and up past Main beach to Clarks Beach, there I walked up to the Captain Cook lookout, it was great to see all the surfers in the water and I was really lucky to see a pod of dolphins swimming really close to the shore. After that I took off up the Cape Byron walking track, it was quite hard work, but the scenery made it worthwhile. I was stood on Australias most easterly point today, the scenery from both sides was spectacular.....it was one of those awe inspiring moments again (yes, I know I have a lot of those!) you can't beat being at the most easterly point and then being able to see dolphins swimming past whilst you're there....amazing! So I had my photo taken there and then carried on walking to the lighthouse, again that was pretty amazing to see. I stopped there for a well deserved ice-cream....well it did take me over 2 hours to get there... and then carried on walking back down through the Headland Reserve. What an amazing walk that was.

After that I sat on the beach for a few hours sunning myself, which as you know I really love, then I had a walk through the town and did a bit of shopping. There are all sorts of people here, young, old, families, but most of all hippies, apparently there is a town nearby too where they grow pot, so that's why the hippies are around here!

Tomorrow I've booked onto a dolphin kayaking tour, I just have to do it to get closer to the dolphins as I love them so much...I'm sure it'll be another great experience!

I'm feeling slightly worse for wear today..... as you probably guessed I did go out last night, I met a german girl when I got back to my room, so she came out with me. We had a really good night, we went to a pub that we found just near the hostel, they were showing the big Australia v New Zealand rugby game, Simone had never watched a game before, I think she quite enjoyed it. We met some lads that were on a stag night, we had a good laugh with them. I don't seem to be used to drinking much anymore as I was feeling tipsy after just 2 drinks. Something happened last night which I've never experienced before, I was just about to order a couple more drinks at the bar when the barmaid brought over a beer and a wine for us, I just thought, blimey thats good service and went to pay her and she said that a chap at the bar bought them for us, but he didn't want her to tell us who it was, so we were trying to figure out who it was!! anyway, later on she showed us who it was, a slightly older guy. Then I'd just got some more drinks in and the barmaid came over again with more drinks for us...we found this really hilarious. The poor guy didn't even speak to us until he was leaving (I guess cos we were surrounded by about 10 guys!) he said goodbye and I can't really remember what else he said and then left!! By the time we'd got back to the hostel I was speaking German which was very amusing, as you know I'm fluent when I'm drunk!! So that was quite an entertaining evening, but like I said I'm not feeling too good today, I had a struggle getting out of bed, but I had to make myself as I've not got long here.

So today I took a walk down to the Riverside markets, which sold a load of rubbish really...and then after that I took a bus to Mount Coot-tha. I only stayed there for an hour, the view was really cool and was nice to sit in the sun a bit, I also had a lager and lime (hair of the dog!) which was very refreshing. I think I will leave here tomorrow though, I'm desperate to get back to Sydney now, being in the city has made me realise how much I miss the place and my friends. Even though I've met lots of people in the last 4 weeks, it is still quite a lonely business travelling on your own. I'm a bit disappointed with myself as I didn't really give much to seeing Brisbane, but hopefully I'll come back here another time. So tomorrow I go to Surfers Paradise, but only for the day, then I catch the bus down to Byron Bay, which I'm really looking forward to....may even do another surfing lesson!! Having a quiet night tonight, it's Big Brother eviction night, and then the finale tomorrow night...exciting stuff!!

Another day, another hostel!

I arrived safely in Brisbane this afternoon. I haven't really seen much of it yet, I just dumped my bags at the hostel and made it my mission to find a hairdressers....I was absolutely desperate for some colour! I had some highlights and a treatment and she blow dried it straight and then curled it up, I must say I look very glam, if only I had somewhere to go tonight....I'm desperate for a night out now, I guess it's because I'm in a city again. It hasn't really bothered me before, but now I need to do something more than go to a hostel bar. Trouble is firstly my hostel is not in the centre and I don't fancy going walkabout on my own, and I can't see if anyone in my hostel wants to go out as they are all grannies and grandads there, quite literally, I know the YHA's had a more mature clientelle, but this is ridiculous! I guess at least it means that I'm not the oldest anymore!! So I'm in a dilemma now....what to do tonight!!?

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain....gutted as I'd booked my surf lesson. I went to reception to check they were still on, and sure enough the lessons were to go ahead. I was dreading it a bit as it was freezing outside, but the receptionist assured me that the conditions would be really good today. We got picked up at 9.30 and were taken to the beach, we were all girls which we were pleased about. First thing we had to do was to change into our wetsuits and then do a run and a stretch, it was sooo cold. The instructors told us that we'd picked a really good day for surfing, even though it was cold and raining, the conditions were perfect. Liz went over the first lesson, about the board and what bit is called what and how to get safely through the waves without the board hitting us on the head. Then it was time to get into the sea, and I'm not joking, it was warmer in the water! We lay on our bellies on the boards, caught our first waves, paddled like mad and then the waves carried us to the shore, it was brilliant fun, it was such a rush, I can't believe how fast we were going.....I must say tho we all sounded like a big bunch of girls screaming away!! After 20 mins of doing this we had to get out of the water again and Liz taught us the procedure to stand up on the board, we practised this on the sand a few times, and then it was time to do it in the water. We were all so excited and couldn't wait to try it...I was looking forward to getting back into the water cos my toes were so numb! It was such fun trying to catch a wave and then stand up on the board, it took me a few goes, but I actually managed to stand up a few times, and I even stayed on the board once right till the shore, fantastic, I can see how people get a buzz out of doing this. I did fall in loads too tho and I probably swallowed half of the ocean, but it was well worth it, I really loved it. It was very hard work, I do have friction burns on my arms and my knees and I'm really aching now, and even shaking a bit. It was so nice to get back to the hostel and have a hot shower, can't wait to do it again, I think the next time will be at Byron Bay.

I've just got back from the cinema, the rain hasn't let up all day, so what else is there to do?! I saw Wedding Crashers, was ok, a bit cheesy, but alright for a rainy afternoon.

Off to Brisbane tomorrow, hope the weather cheers up.

I arrived at Noosa this afternoon, it's such a lovely place, there is a marina here and a lovely beach. Today I was going to go to the National Park for a walk around, but I got sidetracked by the beach and ended up lying there all afternoon! I did actually manage a walk a bit later on, I even saw my first wild koala, how exciting. I really love it here, I think I could live here, although it's really expensive. There is a road by the beach with lots of restaurants, cafes and bars, very pricey! I was looking at the property prices in the estate agent windows....as you do....I could get a 1 bedroom flat by the sea for only $550k!!! I'm staying here for a couple of days, I've booked a surfing lesson for tomorrow morning, that should be amusing!!

Lazy days at Rainbow Beach

I managed to get a lie in today, well till 8am, but that's as good as it gets at the moment....I feel better for it anyway. I spent another lazy day at the beach, that's about it really. I'm off to Noosa tomorrow for a couple of days.

I've just realised it's been 6 months today since I left the UK, that's half my holiday gone already :-(

I've just managed to get some photos online, so here they are......

Whale watching at Hervey Bay

75 mile beach at Fraser Island

Sunrise at the Maheno shipwreck on Fraser Island

Driving on the beach

Lake McKenzie

Rainbow Beach - Day 22

I arrived at Rainbow beach this morning, it was a real struggle getting out of bed at 6am, but I did have a really good sleep...god knows I needed it!

It's really lovely here, I've just spent the afternoon chilling and sleeping on the beach, it's great, just what I needed. I've even decided to stay an extra night, so I'll be able to get a lie in tomorrow, yaay! I've got to work on my tan now, I'm not sure how hot it's going to be the further south I get, so I'm going to make the most of it. The hostel is really nice, and the people very friendly...there isn't much to do here, just the beach really, I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit.

and for something completely different, I was looking at the internet yesterday and I've seen that they've brought the UK Big Brother 2004 winner Nadia (the transexual) over to the Australian Big Brother house as an intruder for the finale, I'm dying to see it again, I can't believe I've missed the last 3 weeks of it (I know that sounds really sad doesn't it!)

Four Wheel drive on Fraser Island....

Just got back from Fraser Island. I had a really enjoyable 3 days there, we went on a self guided 4 wheel drive safari, it was great fun. The first day we had to meet at 5.45am to get all of our stuff organised and put in the van, then we were off at 8am to catch the ferry. I was quite pleased as another guy joined our group later on the night before, and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, I think if he wouldn't have come it might have been a different story!!! Anyway, we got over to Fraser Island later in the morning. Fraser Island's World Heritage listing ranks it with Australia’s Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. It's the world's largest sand island (123 km long), and a precious part of Australia’s natural and cultural heritage. The lakes there pump appox 120 million litres of fresh water into the sea each day, it really is amazing how Australia has a water shortage! Fraser Island is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres, it really was pretty spectacular. I was one of the first of us to drive on the beach, it was well cool, a bit weird at first, but it didn't take long to build my confidence up. The weather wasn't the best, we were all really disappointed, we took a walk to Lake Wabbi, there was a massive sand dune next to it, so we all ran up it (which wasn't easy) and then had a race back down to the water. After that we walked back to the car, it started raining after that, and didn't stop pretty much all day after. At about 4pm it was time to set up camp, we had to do it before it got dark as we were camping on the beach. We got all our tents up and got the dinner prepared, we were having pasta, which unfortunately took over an hour to cook, and tasted horrible.....we had to all eat in the van in the end cos it was really raining hard. The ranger had come around earlier to explain to us about the dingoes and what we should do if we saw one, and how we should not leave out any garbage or food outside or in the tents as they would get it in a flash, there are so many rules here and lots of fines to be given if you disobey them. We'd all had some beers and most of us were pretty tired, so one by one everyone went to bed, I was one of the last to leave, which just left two 19 year old girls and two 19 year old lads drinking in the van. I had to try and drum it in to them to put the rubbish and food dishes in the van when they'd finished, and to make sure they locked the car doors (yes I had my responsible head on!)....anyway, to cut a long story short, I got up in the morning and sure enough, the windows and doors were open and the dishes were still out, I was a bit annoyed at them as everything inside the car was soaked and I hadn't really been able to sleep that night cos I was so worried if they hadn't put it all away that the dingoes would be outside.

So next morning we all woke up at 6.30, but we'd missed our window to be able to drive on the beach (we had to abide by tide times cos we had a hire car and we couldn't drive through salt water) so this meant we could all go back to bed for a bit until the tide was out again. We actually saw our first dingo that morning, he wasn't so close thank goodness! We got our camping stuff packed away and ate some breakfast then we set off to the north of the beach to Indian Head. Here we climbed up to the lookout and sat up there for a while looking at the amazing view...we saw whales and dolphins swim past. We were getting a bit frustrated by then as it was getting really hot (luckily) and you can't actually swim in the sea, it's full of tiger sharks, and the rips are really bad, so we took a walk to the Champagne pools for a dip. These are small rock pools that you can swim in, and when the waves crash in behind the rocks it looks like champagne bubbles...hence the name. After this it was time to set up camp again, we decided to stay on the beach again as the weather had been ok. We had a nice bbq and some drinks then we all crashed out, this camping business is tiring work!

This morning we got up early again for sunrise, I got some really good photos, and I also got photos of the Maheno shipwreck (from 1939) which we'd camped near. It was my turn to drive again, by the time we were all ready we only had 15 mins to get off the beach, I had to find a turning to the inland tracks so we could drive to Lake McKenzie. So I had my last drive down 75 mile beach and then onto the inland roads. These were really good fun, everyone was bouncing around like anything, brilliant....I could be a rally driver yet!! It actually took us ages to get there, we had camped right up north and we had to get to the south inland. We finally got there about 12ish and jumped into the lake, it's absolutely beautiful there, the water is so clear and fresh, you can actually drink it.

We drove back to the ferry after that and got back to the hostel to clean all our stuff and return the camping gear. I tell you it was so nice to have a shower and wash my hair, the only time in the last 3 days we'd had contact with the water was when swimming in the lakes! The group I was with were all really nice, we had such good fun, we're all actually in the same room in the hostel tonight, so we're going to have a couple of drinks tonight before everyone sets off on their way tomorow. I can't wait to sleep in a bed, I've actually got bruises on my hips and legs from sleeping on the hard ground. Next stop Rainbow Beach...

Hervey Bay - Day 18
I finally arrived at Hervey Bay at 6.30 this morning after 12 hours on the bus. Luckily I managed to sleep for a lot of it as I was so shattered, but I did wake up loads too. So basically I checked into the hostel, dumped my bags, and went outside to wait for my lift to the marina, without even having time for a shower, yuk!
The whale watching was a great experience, but I can't believe I'd got on a boat again straight after my sailing yesterday! We sailed right out by Fraser Island (which is where I'm going tomorrow) and kept our eyes peeled for whales. After not too long a time, we saw 3 humpback whales swimming past, the crew told us we should wave our hands around and make some noise as it attracts them, so we were all waving our arms about like complete lunatics and they did hang around for a bit, but they didn't come so close to the boat. Then we set off again to look for some more, the sea was pretty rough, so a few times the boat got really rocky and I even managed to get absolutely soaked, I was a bit annoyed as I'd only washed all my clothes yesterday (bit grumpy because I'm tired) anyway, after seeing a few more from a distance, later on a whale came right up to the boat, it was so close I was gobsmacked, he was huge! He was playing around and waving his fins and putting on a show for us, it was so cool, I took about 100 photos, it was amazing. The guy on the boat said he was only about 4 years old, so was not fully grown yet, even though he was massive. The whale was so graceful, brilliant to watch one in the wild. We were told that the whales come to Hervey Bay for about a week on their way to migrating to Antartica, they go there as it's the only place on the east coast of Australia that is sheltered (by Fraser Island) so it's perfect water for them to play and 'people watch', apparently everywhere else you see them, they are just in transit and don't stop. Hervey bay is named as the best whale spotting place in the world and I can see why. The whale stayed right next to our boat for at least half an hour, swimming under it side to side and to the front and back, we were all running about the boat to see it again.....such a great thing for me to see, I never expected that they actually come up to the boat...this is definitely another of my highlights! I can't put my photos up yet, but will try soon.
Tomorrow is my 3 day 4 wheel drive safari on Fraser Island, we've just had our induction, there are 10 of us in my group, and yes, you guessed it I'm the oldest again!! I think I'm going to be Mum for the weekend, I don't want to be the responsible one, but I can see that I might have to be, I had to initiate the shopping lists etc etc earlier, and there are only 3 of us that can drive as everyone else is too young!! Actually, I'm really looking forward to it, driving over the largest sand island in the world, cool!! I'll keep you posted when I'm back on Monday.

Paradise found - Whitsunday Islands

I thought I'd found paradise at Magnetic Island, but I was so wrong!!

What a fantastic sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We left Tuesday afternoon, I was worried as the weather was forecast to be bad, but they hadn't cancelled any of the boats, so we had to go ahead. I was pleased when I saw the boat, it's an old sailing boat, but it looked really sturdy and I'd heard lots of good comments about it, so onboard I went with my supply of sea-sickness tablets (I'd heard lots of nightmare stories about people being sick). There were 25 of us altogther, everyone was really nice, but I was a little disappointed as there were 3 large groups who came together, so it was a bit harder to mix as they all kept in their groups, it worked out ok in the end. I was a bit gutted as I was the oldest one on the boat...typical! Anyway, we set sail after going through our safety talk, then we went downstairs to find our beds, I ended up sharing a cabin with a group of 7 English people, it was ok, they were all nice. My bed was on the top and I literally couldn't sit up in bed, the ceiling was a tiny bit above me, a bit claustrophobic actually.

First stop was the Nara Inlet by Hook Island, we all went for a bush walk to the top of the lookout and then went to find a water hole to have a swim, it was really hard work getting there, half of it we had to step over stepping stones in the river, not the best time to be wearing flip-flops! After we'd made our way down we went back to the boat and it was time for afternoon tea and then dinner. We all started to get to know each other a bit better, and then the beers and wine got cracked open. It was a great laugh, but I was very careful and only had 2 glasses (sorry mugs) of wine, there was no way I was going to be seasick over these 3 days. So after a few drinks and a sing song we all went to bed. It was a bit weird being in bed in a boat, but luckily I was asleep after not too long.

Next day our skipper told us he'd be starting the engines between 6 and 6.30am, so I had to wake up at 6 to take my tablet and then went upstairs, it's the worst feeling being down in the cabins when the boat is sailing, so I wasn't taking any chances. We ate our breakfast and then set sail for Whitsunday Island (there are 94 islands altogether in the Whitsundays, this is the main and most famous one). I'd heard so many good things about and seen gorgeous pictures of Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island, I couldn't wait to see it for myself. The crew were telling us that the sand is 98% pure silica which is why it is so white. Apparently you can clean your jewellery with it, and it's perfect for making glass from it. We had a really rough 2.5 hour journey there, it was pretty awful and a couple of people were sick, me not included luckily! When we moored the boat we did another bush walk to the top lookout, amazingly the sun had come out and it was an absolutely perfect day. Everyone was really buzzing with anticipation about seeing this beach, me included, but I didn't want to get too excited as normally these things are an anti climax. So when I got to the top I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was absolutely stunning, I've never and probably never will see anything like it ever again, words can't describe what it felt like to be there and see this gorgeous beach. The sea was all different colours of turquoise blue and the sand was pure white....absolute paradise, amazing. I just kept saying, stunning, gorgeous, I couldn't shut up...anyway I could go on and on about this again, but I won't bore you! When we'd taken our photos we walked down to the beach and sunbathed for a couple of hours...pure bliss. When we'd finished sunning ourselves (I didn't want to leave) we went back to the boat for lunch. The water we were moored in was a bit rocky, so they set sail again to hopefully somewhere I bit calmer, but it turned out to be not such a good idea, the food was flying everywhere, somehow I managed to eat a bit of bread. Another hour or so later we moored at Maureens Cove for some snorkelling, this was the part I've most been looking forward to. So we all put on our sexy stinger suits (just in case) and jumped in. I haven't really snorkelled properly before, so I didn't know what to expect. It was fantastic, I was snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the world, another awe inspiring moment! The reef was amazing and there were loads of tropical fish it was so cool swimming next to them, the water was so clear, I loved it. Once everyone had finished their swimming we went back to the boat and had our 2 minute shower allowance (this trip was all about not worrying what you looked... or smelt like!) and then went to Langford island, which looked very bizarre, there was a tiny island with a long thin strip of beach coming out of it. We were taken there so we could to watch the sunset, so we took our wine and beer over and had about 30 mins there, then Mick (the crew hand) came back to pick us up, there were really big rain clouds above, so one boat load at a time we all went back to the boat, luckily I was in the first lot, cos then the heavens opened and the ones left there all got soaked!! The sunset was amazing (see pics below). We were to moor there for the night, so we settled in and had some dinner and some more drinks. One of the younger lads got a bit carried away and was throwing up all night, poor thing, I could even hear him from my bed when I went down to my cabin, not nice! Everyone was pretty jaded after a long day so we all went to bed pretty early.

6am this morning, the skipper came down and woke us up to see if we wanted to go snorkelling again...as you can imagine, noone was very enthusiastic, but one by one we all headed up to the deck and got ready for it, it was freezing and our stinger suits were still wet from the day before, but we persevered. Once we got to shore, we snorkelled out to the Langford reef, the water was not that cold actually so after a small initial shock, we were well away. What a great way to wake yourself up in the morning!! I think I saw even more fish today, it was great again, they are all really bright and colourful. The highlight though was seeing a turtle, it was a really big one, it was so cool being so close to him. He was asleep at first, but I think we may have woken him....he was looking at us with one eye, he was beautiful, I was gobsmacked to see it, we were all making shocked noises under the water! We were all on a high after that and I think the people that didn't go out were pretty gutted. We also saw 4 huge batfish by the boat, some of the girls were feeding them, they were huge and very colourful. So after breakfast that was it, we were to head back to Airlie beach. To be honest I was really relieved, I never want to do a 3 day sailing trip again, it was fantastic and has been one of my highlights so far, I'm so glad I did it, what an amazing experience, but I just don't have sea legs!! We were so lucky to see Whitehaven beach, a lot of the boats recently haven't been able to go because of the bad weather. Everything was spectacular, the bright blue seas, the islands, the whole thing! And we had an extra treat on the way back, we had a wild dolphin swimming next to our boat, never seen that before......amazing!

So now I am waiting for my bus , I've done all my laundry, I was desperate for clean clothes. I'm quite impressed I've been able to write all this, I still feel like I'm on a boat, my head is spinning and I'm so tired, I am having trouble typing, so I apologise if some of it doesn't make sense. I'm not going to have a good nights sleep for a while, I'll be on the night bus for 12 hours tonight headed for Hervey bay, I'm not really looking forward to it...I get there at 6.40 am and then I've booked a whale watching trip for 8am, I'm gonna be knackered, then the following day I have 3 days camping on safari on Fraser Island!!

Here are some pics from my trip....

Our Boat - SV Whitehaven

View of Whitehaven beach - the pictures just don't do it justice (yes it is even more amazing in real life)

Whitehaven beach

Me on the sand....

....in the sea

Sunset at Langford Island

Day 14 - Raining at Airlie Beach :-(

After a long day yesterday of travelling and hanging around I finally got to Airlie beach last night. I was a little bit hungover as I'd been out the night before with the English lads I met, we had a fun evening, we've swapped email addresses so we can see how each others' trips are going (they are travelling up the coast) I gave them lots of tips on where to go and what to see, including the Billabong Sanctuary! In the morning I saw a girl that I'd briefly met in Townsville a couple of days before, we were catching the same ferry...unfortunatley for me....she absolutely drove me up the wall, she would not stop talking, she couldn't catch her breath she was that bad, and it wasn't very interesting at all, I tried to look like I was interested, but after a while she really did my head in.....luckily she was heading up the coast on the bus, so I wasn't stuck with her all day!! I know that sounds nasty, but really.... some people!!

Anyway, as I was saying, I arrived here last night, I'm staying at Magnums as I have vouchers included in my sailing package, it's a real party hostel with a nightclub next to it, so it's not the quietest place to stay. A few of the 10 people in my room stayed in for the night, and I couldn't really be bothered to go out either, so we all just chilled out. I had the worst sleep ever, it was loud and bright and the people that came in late were drunk and noisy and worst of all snoring really loudly! I woke up loads of times and I couldn't sleep in this morning, so I'm shattered now. I'm also really disappointed cos it's raining here, there's nothing to do apart from the beach, so when the weather is bad, I guess people just spend their money on sitting in the cafes or on the internet. It's forecast to be like this at least until tomorrow, which I'm gutted about as I'm off sailing tomorrow afternoon :-( I really hope it clears up soon, I was really getting used to the sunshine, it's amazing what difference it makes.

Check out the pictures below

Billabong Sanctuary Pictures.....

Starting off slowly - Willomena the Wombat


Henry the Koala


Getting braver - Humphrey the Crocodile


Blue tongue lizard


My bravest moment, holding Amanda the carpet python....see, proof I did do it!!!


And some pics from Magnetic Island...
Horseshoe Bay


Sunset on Horseshoe Bay