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!!