1 German and 1 Brit in a Car 2: Brisbane to Hervey Bay

We headed up the coast in the direction of Fraser Island from Brisbane.

Along the way we briefly stopped at the Glasshouse Mountains, just off of Steve Irwin Way (yes he has a road named after him). Owing to the immense heat and relentless mossies we simply walked to the lookout, where we saw the two highest mountains and then headed on. The mountains looked stunning, as they simply jut out of the earth upwards, and some have nearly vertical sides. However, they were not nearly as impressive as the Blue Mountains, but still worth the visit.

We then headed to Noosa where we stayed for 2 nights at the Koala Beach Backpackers. The hostel was crap compared to the excellent one we stayed at in Brisbane, and the only selling point was the really good bar it had, where we saw a really god live band on the first night. We went walkabout (Mrs Boss) and tried to find the Noosa NP, but for some reason we couldn't find it, but we did find a row of beautiful houses which backed on to the harbour. It was very tranquil and relaxing there.

Yesterday (28th) we caught the free coach to Australia Zoo; home of the late Steve Irwin. And crikey! There were a lot of BEAUTIFUL animals to see there. Have a look at this! Elephants, tigers, kangaroos etc, and of course, CROCODILES!. WOOHOO! You beauties! (:P) There was a cracking show at the Crocoseum, where pretty much every animal at the zoo made an appearance, the most impressive being the massive crocodile jumping up for food. it was a really well put together place, and every sign was written Steve Irwin style. We also saw interesting information sessions about the zoo's elephants and tigers. Overall it was a good day out, and we could kip n the coach back to Noosa. That evening we met up with Madeleine (spelling) who we met in Brisbane and spent another night in the hostel's bar.

Today (30th) we drove the short drive to Hervey Bay, which is one of the main paces to go to Fraser from. This evening we'll have a meeting about our trip. We'll be going on the world's largest sand island (another Aussie superlative) for 3 days and 2 nights. As all the roads are sand, we'll be on a self drive 4x4 tour with some other people from our hostel. The cars look good, apart from being a violent shade of pink! Things to see include some great beaches, wildlife, inland lakes and ore. The fact that the local Aborigines call the island Paradise suggests that it'll be a great few days.

I'll write more when we get back!

More Brisbane

Here's a summary of the rest of our time spent in Brisbane.

Queensland Culture

Being the capital of Queensland, Brisbane has lots to offer in terms of culture. We visited the Cultural Centre, where all the state museums, galleries and libraries are. The Queensland Musuem had all the usual stuff on Queensland history, etc. The most interesting exhibit was on animals, where there was an emormous height chart where you could compare your size to the size of a vast array of animals.

The most fun was had at the library's 'Game On' exhibition, which charts the history of video games, from the earliest games in the 1960s to the present. Basically Thomas and I played video games for three and a half hours! They had all the classics from Pong to Sonic and Doom to Space Invaders. The exhibition is also running in the UK, so all you video game freaks keep and eye out for this one! We also visited the state galleries, where there was some weird modern art.

Chinatown, The Valley and more churches

Along with some people we met at our hostel, Thomas and I visited Chinatown, in The Valley area of the city, where there was supposed to be a really good market. Turns out that we walked all the way there in the Brisbane heat to find a few stalls selling stuff no one in their right minds would ever want to buy, but we meade up for this by ating some good Asian food.

Looking at churches again, we went to St Johns Cathedral. It's an interesting church in that it was only completed before Christmas last year, so it had a very new feel about it.

We went out for the night to The Valley, which supposedly is the place to go out in Brisbane. However, hundreds of people in tight spaces in the humid Brisbane climate meant none of us found it very comfortable. If I'd have wanted to get soaked, I woud've gone swimming! Also, the bouncers here are weird. They seem to make up their dress codes as they go along, so much that one guy wasn't allowed into a club with his shirt on, so he turned it inside-out, and was then allowed in. But of course no dress code applied to the girls, who could get away with wearing basically nothing.

South Bank and Mount Cootha

Thomas and I explored South Bank, which is next to the Cultural Centre. It's Brisbane's modern and trendy zone, with cafes and such. But also they have some beautiful garden areas, relaxing walks by the river, and the Streets Beach, which is an outdoor free swimming pool and beach area right by the river. Once again I was impressed by what Brisbane had to offer. If I came to live in Australia, it would probably be either in Adelaide or in Brisbane.

Later that day we went to see Valkyrie, a film about one of the assassination attempts on Hitler. It was a very well done film and it has a superb cast, including Tom Cruise, Ken Branagh, Bill Nighy to name a few. Definitely worth seeing.

At about midnight Thomas myself and a two of the guys in our room (Livvy and Catherine) went drove up to Mount Cootha, where we had great views of the city in darkness, that is until the fog blocked the view. If we'd have got there 10 minutes later we would've been able to see nothing.

Australia Day

Yesterday (26th) was Australia Day, the national day for Australians to get out their Aussie flags and party. It's funny how Aussies celebrate the arrival of 700 British convicts to Sydney in 1788, which heralded the destruction of the Aborigines' way of life, as their national day, but like every event in a nation's history, it has been turned into a monumental celebration far removed from what actually happened. Nevertheless we celebrated the day as well by wearing Aussie flags and taking part in the festivities. There was plenty to see at the free events at South Bank. There were performances by local singers, actors and other groups, and the day culminated in a great fireworks display by the river. The best thing we saw were the numerous street performers walking around, such as these comic policeman acrobats, and human flies hovering around bins harrassing everyone who walked past. It was good fun overall. We spent most of the day sitting on the grass with Livvy, Catherine and Madeleine (our new friend from Canada).

Car and Photo Troubles

Poor Thomas has spent most of the time inbetween the above recovering the thousands of phots he accidentally deleted from his computer. Luckily he's been able to salvage most of the pictures he had, and any he's lost he'll be able to get from other people. He's been very lucky considering he thought he'd permanently lost everything. It's made me make sure I backup my photos more regularly!

Today our car was finally fixed by the local mechanic, and luckily there was nothing else wrong with it beyond what the mechanic had noted the other day. Now we have our roadworthy certificate and we'll be able to sell the car in Cairns!

Tomorrow (27th) we'll leave Brisbane and continue north. The next major things on our 'To See List' include Australia Zoo, Fraser and the Whitsunday Islands, and of course, the Great Barrier Reef. Keep checking the blog for future updates and tell everyone to look at it!

Brisbane so far...

After checking into our hostel we had a look around the city. Being comparable to Adelaide sizewise, it doesn't feel as huge and as daunting as Sydney, and it has a more relaxed atmosphere. They even have their own ball statues like they have in Adelaide! We went to see Seven Pounds, which is a really good film, but don't expect to leave the cinema feeling happy...

Yesterday (20th) we explored more of the city, looking at the Botanical Gardens and the Story Bridge; a smaller, yet still impressive version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We also passed by the Queensland Parliament. As the sun set, the sky was became filled with some f'ing huge bats. They were the size of parrots or cockatoos, and would scare plenty of people at home I'm sure, but the locals continued doignwhat they were doing, as they were used to the large and scary looking wildlife!

Car Troubles Again!

We intend to sell our car in Cairns, but the Queensland Government requires every car to have a roadworthy certificate (similar to an MOT), but in SA this isn't necessary. We decided to see a mechanic to obtain the certificate and to get the car fully serviced. Thomas came back today (21st) and said "we're screwed". The horn, right front window and headlights need fixing. This wouldn't be very expensive to fix, but the front suspension is also f**ked. In total it'll probably cost $600 to be fixed, but in order to sell the car, it has to be done, even though it would be nice to avoid the cost. The mechanic was really busy, and the earliest he can fix our car is next Tuesday! So we'll be in Brissie longer than expected, but we'll still have a great time!

This didn't improve poor Thomas's mood, as the day before he somehow managed to lose most of his pictures on his laptop!

Keep checking the blog for future updates now I'm finally up to date!

1 German and 1 Brit in a Car 1: Sydney to Brisbane (12th to 19th Jan)

Day 1: Sydney to Port Macquarie

By the time we'd left Sydney, we thought that we had ample time to get to Port Macquarie, however we didn't count how much time it would take to sort out two issues: paying for the use of Sydney's toll roads and changing mobile phone providers.

Many of Sydney's roads, including the bridge, are not free to use; you have to pay a toll to use them. However, it was not a simple case of paying a person at the toll gate, oh no. Apparently, 90% of NSW residents prefer to pay their tolls electronically. Most drivers have a device in their vehicle which is scanned whenever they drive on a toll road, and their account is automatically charged. This is OK for residents, but for tourists? We used the toll roads a few times, and we had to ring a number within 48 hours to pay and avoid them sending a bil to a registered address. We tried calling them on Saturday and Sunday, but the call centre was shut. Was this part of the 48 hours we had to pay in? Oh yes it was! Poor Thomas was on hold for at least 20 mins trying to get this bloody tolls paid for! I can't see how 90% of NSW people prefer this system. Surely it's easier just to pay the toll there and then in cash?

Hiiiii, you've reached Virgin Mobile! To top up your credit only to lose it in 2 days because of our extortionate rates, press 1. Well sorry Virgin Man, we couldn't handle your extortionate rates any longer, so we switched to Vodafone. Somehow their automated voice, Lara, doesn't have the same subtle tones as the Virgin Man, but at least the system is better and the rates are cheaper! It took us ages to register our new sims and transfer our numbers over!

So, after about 2 hours of sitting in a Hungry Jack's carpark talking to robotic voices, we could finally keep going. We stopped at Port Stephens just north of Newcastle, and walked up to the headland, which was part of the Tomaree National Park. The walk to the top was pretty exhausting, especially in the soaring heat, but it was worth it for the fantastic views we had: hills, beaches and blue sea as far as the eye could see. For some reason my Bible (Lonely Planet) didn't mention this place. Maybe it was because of the giant spiders which we there (they were the size of my palm!).

We then continued north, looking for the Lakes Way; a scenic drive through parts of the Myall Lakes NP. We turned into the park far too early, and could only drive a certain way until we came to a river where you needed to cross in a ferry, which had stopped running for the day. This meant we had a massive detour back to the Pacific Highway. We did however see the most breathtaking sunset over the lake.

We were now hard pushed to make it to our hostel before reception closed at 11pm. We certainly had underestimated how long it would it take to get to Port M. The roadworks we had for the last part of the trek did not help. We did make it to the Ozzie Pozzie Backpackers at about 11, so there was no problem there. Tired and hungry from the journey (we really shouldn't have travelled that far that day) we attempted to find somewhere serving food that was still open. Luckily a bakery opened its doors for us when we went past! The hostel f'ed up our beds, so we ended up sharing a double bed, which meant I didn't have a very comfortable night!

Day 2: Port Macquarie to Coffs Harbour

Once again administrative stuff set us back this day. It took ages to get our laundry done, and we spent a long time trying to get a hostel for Byron Bay for the day after, but we had no luck, so we decided to go to Nimbin instead.

Port Macquarie had a good vibe about it. It was another stereotypical Aussie seaside town. Everyone was wearing flip-flops and most people had a surfboard with them. The breakwall was very interesting, as each rock had been painted. There was a mix of road trippers who'd left their marks, poems, artwork, birthday messages and the like. The beaches were also pristine. We drove down to the lighthouse were we had yet another incredible beach view.

Along the way to Coffs, we went on a slight detour to have a drink at the interestingly named Pub With No Beer. The story goes that at one point this rural pub screwed up an order, which meant it didn't have any beer for a short while. Local country singer Slim Dusty wrote a song about it called 'The Pub With No Beer', and the pub became so famous that it changed its name to the song's name. They did sell beer, and even had their own brewery on site! We also stopped for food at Fredo's Pies, where they had 50 different types of pie, and two random lifesize Marilyn Monroe statues.

We arrived at Coffs mid evening, and at midnight I turned 21! We celebrated with a cake (well a custard tart with a candle in it) and beer! Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes!

Day 3 and 4: Coffs Harbour, Ballina and Nimbin

In the morning we explored Coffs Harbour. Like Port M, Newcastle, Apollo Bay, etc it was another Aussie surfer town, however for some reason it wasn't as good as Port M. It was lacking something; despite being a bigger town it didn't seem to be as lively. We walked to Muttonbird Island; a nesting ground for these rare birds, but like the platypussies in Tassie, we were there at the wrong time of year/day to see any!

On the way out of Coffs, we went to the Big Banana. This giant banana is a random tourist attraction. The shop accompanying sold a horde of banana related items, such as banana shaped water bottles, banana earrings, and anything else you could imagine.

It wasn't long before we came across another random giant thing. This time it was a giant prawn, situated on the main road into Ballina. It made complete sense for it to be there: the shop "underneath the prawn" (:P) sold nothing prawn related, and as far as we could tell Ballina wasn't noted for its prawns. At least Coffs is a major area for banana growing! Australia seems to have an obsession with random giant things (giant lobster, banana, prawn, rocking horse, etc). It's almost as if the Aussies feel that their country's outstanding natural beauty is not attractive enough to make people visit, so they have to erect giant structures everywhere.

We then went to Nimbin. In the middle of f'ing nowhere, Nimbin is a small town with a very unique culture and attitude. The town looks like it's in a time warp; stuck in the 60s and 70s. Every inch of wall has been treated like an artist's canvas, therefore weird and wonderful art covers every shop face. The locals are in their own world most of the time and glady invite you to join it! It is a mecca for hippies and open minded people yearning to expand their minds and look at things from a different perspective.

The next day was spent in the town and at our great hostel in the locals' world. Situated about a 30 min walk from the main street, up a dirt track and across a river, Nimbin Rox YHA felt like an oasis. You could truly relax in the shade surrounded by palm trees and the beautiful countryside. It was a really good hostel, and deserved it's title as NSW's best YHA!

Day 5, 6 and 7: Byron Bay

We finally managed to get a hostel for Byron Bay and headed back to modern civilisation on 16th. Byron really lived up to all the hype. It was a surfer's/backpacker's hotspot. It really was a town where everything was done in the sea. Everyone was walking around in beach gear, and there were dozens of surf style shops and cafes. Byron had the classic laid back, friendly Aussie atmosphere we'd grown to love.

Our hostel, Belongil Beachouse, was situated across the road from one of the great beaches. Yet again we were surrounded by lucious palm trees, and the place had a great feel to it. After checking in we hit the beach and chilled.

The next day was the first rainy day we'd had since...well, since before Melbourne at least! So we did little and just relaxed at the hostel. The following day we visited Cape Byron: the most easterly point on the Australian mainland. Past the lighthouse, we sat on the rocky outcrop for what seemed like ages and just watched the sea hitting the shore.

The following we day we left Byron and went north towards Brisbane. It was good to have a few days off from the sometimes hectic travelling in Nimbin and Byron.

Day 8: Byron Bay to Brisbane

It wasn't a long trip to Brisbane. On the way we of course went across the NSW-Queensland border, and it was the most unimpressive border we'd seen so far in Australia. We stopped along the Gold Coast, which is worshipped (like everywhere else north of Sydney) for its great beaches and surf.

Surfers Paradise, the main town on the Gold Coast, felt out of place in Australia. I felt like I was in somewhere like Miami. Ugly high-rise hotel blocks ran along the coastline and backed on to the beach, which was heavily crowded with tanners, swimmers, surfers and bossy lifeguards. I don't think it lived up to its name, as there were so many people surfing, you were more likely to crash into another surfer than actually do some decent surfing. It was a little dissappointing, and our friend Ben told us it was like this. He only spent 40 mins there, but we were determined to beat this, and actually ended up staying for about 2 hours!

At a cafe in Surfers, we had to ask the waiter for the time. Queensland, like Britain with the Euro, likes to be different from its fellow Aussie states. For example, they don't follow daylight savings time, so it's an hour behind NSW which is in the same timezone as Queensland. Also, if travelling via train, at the border the train needs to be altered to fit on the tracks, which are a different width in Queensland than in all the other states!

We then travelled the short distance to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. Our hostel is friendly and comfy, with free parking, which was a welcome change to the terribly expensive parking fees in Sydney (we once paid $51 for one night in a car park!), and there were no sodding toll roads!

2 Germans, 1 Brit and 1 Wombat in a Car 3: Sydney to Newcastle and back

We left Sydney on 9th Jan and headed to Newcastle. We made a slight detour and headed to some of the many beaches North of Sydney, such as Whale Beach and Palm Beach. This was a taster for the majority of our journey north: beaches, beaches and more beaches!

We then went to the Kurungai-Chase National Park, just north of Sydney. Here the Kurungai Aborigines had left many cave paintings and engravings before being wiped out by smallpox a year or so after Europeans arrived. The park was probably the least impressive one I'd been to so far. The Red Hands Cave, where there were many hand paintings, was not as impressive as it was made out to be. Most of the hand paintings had faded, and you could only just make them out. We spent a while searching for the so called Echidna engraving site, but for one reason or another we just couldn't find it, however we did find another engraving site. Here there were several drawings cut into the rock, the most interesting one being a group of wallabees arching around two people.

Leaving the park we headed up to Newcastle and checked into the Newcastle YHA. Newcastle felt to me like a typical British seaside town, and I quite liked the relaxed atmosphere of the place. That evening we went out to a pub were there was some very good live music.

The next day we went on a tour of the Hunter Valley; one of Australia's premier wine regions. Our tour guide Graham with HADES (Hunter And District ExcursionS) took us through the valley explaining, with surprising detail, the history of the region. Our group was really small (there were only 5 of us), which meant the tour was hassle free, and we could explore the wineries at our own pace. In total we visited 5wineries, 2 cheese shops, an olive/jam/chutney place, a chocolatier and a liquor shop. In most we tried 5 or 6 wines, but in one we tried everything on their list! Luckily the tour included a massive lunch, otherwise we would've been wasted by the early afternoon. The liquor store had some unusual drinks for us to try, the best one being a chilli schnapps, which was so damn good I had to buy a bottle! It was a good day out and totally worth it.

Back in Newcastle after checking into our new hostel (we sort of forgot that we'd be spending the whole day drinking, and it wouldn't have been a good idea to drive anywhere, so we thought it would be best to stay another night, but the YHA was full), we went to the beach and went into town in the evening.

The next day we headed back to Sydney for our last night there. We made a quick trip to Bondi Beach. For all the hype of Bondi (internationally known and recognised as a great surf spot), it was a little disappointing. To me it just looked like a typical crowded beach, and there was little else to it than that.

The following day started on a sad note, as Ines was flying back to Germany. We dropped her at the airport and then Thomas and myself left Sydney and headed north on the next leg of our journey.

See my Facebook photo album which goes with this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Trib 5: Mountains, Wine, Beaches and Cities

6 More Days in Sydney (and Blue Mountains)

By 3rd Jan I had sufficiently recovered from my NYE ordeal to actually explore this great city. Even though Sydney is an incredible place, it seemed too big. Melbourne was big, but had the relaxed feel of a smaller city, like Adelaide. Here's a summary of what we got up to.

The Quest for Shoes

Ines still desperately needed to get new shoes, and we spent most of the 3rd looking around for a suitable replacement pair. It was a struggle, but just when we thought all the shops were closed, we found a shop still open, where Ines got some new shoes! The day wasn't just spent on this quest. We also had a look at Darling Harbour; a recently redeveloped part of the city, with pedestrian boulevards, restaurants and cafes. We also pretty much covered the entire city centre. It was the same as any big city really, and there's little more to say about that...

The Beach and Kings Cross

The following day we went to the beach, but not Bondi. As it was a Sunday Simon recommended we avoid it, as Bondi would've been full to the brim with people Costa del Sol style. Instead we headed to Watson's Bay, near Gaps Bluff: the southern part of the entrance to Sydney Harbour. According to Simon, the place was a suicide spot!The beach itself was small and less crowded than it could've been. In the evening we met up with Steve, Claire and others from Adelaide and headed to Kings Cross; the principal going out area of Sydney. Sadly Ines wasn't well, so she and Thomas headed back to the house early on.

The House, The Garden and The Bridge

Ines wasn't any better the next morning, so I headed into the city on my own and met up with Claire at the opera house, where we went on a tour of the complex. It was interesting to hear about the building's history and secrets. I didn't realise that it is one of the most recognised buildings in the world, with around 2/3 of all people being able to identify it! Sadly we weren't allowed to take any pics of the theatres, but I can tell you they were magnificent!

After the tour I headed to the Botanic Gardens. It seemed to be a great place to sit down and read a book or relax with friends, and there were plenty of people doing just that. It was really interesting walking through the greenery with the skyscrapers of the CBD (and yes geographers they actually refer to city centres as the CBD) towering above you. The best part was at Mrs Macquarie's point, where there were the best views of the harbour. Above all I liked the attitude of the garden managers. This was clearly shown on one of the signs at the entrance, which instructs vistors to "Please walk on the grass, hug the trees, talk to the animals" etc, which was a welcome change to the usual "don't do this" information you're normally bombarded with.

I then walked to The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, and therefore the oldest area of European settlement in Australia. It had a very "olde worlde" feel about it, as the council had tried to make it attractive to tourists whilst playing down the more gruesome aspects of the area's history (drunken lawlessness). From here I headed up on to the magnificent Sydney Harbour Bridge. Everyone says you should climb the bridge, but to be honest there's not really much more you could see from the top than you could by walking along the walkway. The views were yet again spectacular, with the opera house sitting on the water and the skyscrapers adding the perfect background to a perfect photograph.

The Blue Mountains

On the 7th we headed west to the Blue Mountains. After dropping Simon off at the airport (he was heading to Uluru!) we drove out to the national park. The mountains really were blue, well green, but owing to a mix of eucalyptus and water vapours, the mountains were tinged with a blueish haze. The Wentworth Falls would have been spectacular, had the drought not reduced it to a stream. It was just too damn hot to do any hikes despite us wanting to. We went to Echo Point, a fantastic lookout, where the main attraction was The Three Sisters, which are 3 columns of rock standing next to the cliff face. It was an impressive sight. We could walk down to the first of the three along the Giant's Stairway; an appropriate name considering how steep the stairway was! As we went down there the weather changed and a storm was on the way. This meant that it was incredibly windy, and we were nearly blown off our feet!

We moved on this day out of the house and into a hostel in the heart of the city. It was a good place to stay, apart from the fact that I was the only one in the dorm who wasn't German! I was used to this, however the girls refused to even try to speak English. This was OK for Thomas and Ines, but I couldn't participate in any of the conversations! Those girls even talked about me in German, as if I wasn't there. They were really, really rude!

Museums, Diners and Churches

After two nights at Base we moved to a better backpackers in Chinatown for a night before heading up to Newcastle (yet another town name stolen from the UK!).

So we spent the last day before Newcastle at the Australian Museum. Like the War Memorial there was a huge amount to look at and not enough time to do it in. We focused on an exhibition of photographs by the winners and runners up of the Australian Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award, an exhibit on the Aborigines and one on Australian wildlife. Yet again our minds were filled with too much info and by the time we left our heads hurt.

We had lunch at Harry's Cafe de Wheels, a streetside American style diner. It was a bit of a tourist attraction, as they had pics on the walls of famous people who'd stopped by for a bite to eat, like Elton John and Kevin Cosner, amongst others.

We also had a look at one of the city's cathedrals. Sadly the crypt, which every tourist book raved about, was closed, but we could still see a lot of the building. However, I somehow preferred the cathedral we visited in Melbourne. It had a much warmer and inviting atmosphere than this one. In the evening we went to the IMAX Theatre to see U2 in excellent picture and sound quality, and in 3D too.

The next day we travelled to Newcastle!

See my Facebook photo albums which go with this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Trib 4: New Year in Sydney
Adelaide to Cape Trib 5: Mountains, Wine, Beaches and Cities.

New Year in Sydney

An estimated 1.5 million extra people were in Sydney for New Year's Eve, so getting a decent place to view the fireworks meant that the four of us got up at about 7.30 that morning. We stocked up on essential supplies before making our way to the ferry terminal. The ferry ride took us across the harbour to Bradley's Head, a well placed peninsula for seeing the city. When we found our spot it was about 11, and the place was already filling up with people. The day was spent catching up with the many people from Adelaide who joined us for the occasion, and my friend Doug from Leeds!

As the sun set, the tension mounted. By now every available inch of space was taken up by people. The harbour was full of boats anchored in the best spots in order to see the show. There was a great atmosphere. Everyone was excited and content, and there were no negative feelings. At about 9, the first set of fireworks started. They gave us a taste of what was to come at midnight. The apprehension heigtened when, as it got nearer to midnight, a few fireworks were let off at every half hour, kind of like a clock tower.

Then, several million people counted down the seconds and the show began. The harbour erupted with colour, as thousands of fireworks illuminated the sky all around us. The bridge and opera house looked like they were ablaze. I was deafened not only by the noise of the fireworks, but by the shouts and cheers of the hundreds of people around me. Just when you thought it was all over, another wave of fireworks would fly across the night sky. In the last 30 seconds, 511 fireworks were fired, ending with a spectacular climax and thunderous applause. It had to be one of the best New Year's Eve celebrations I've ever, and probably ever will, have been to.

I ended the night by going walkabout in Sydney (Mrs Boss!). It was pandemonium after the fireworks, as the police began closing the area. Thousands of drunken people all heading to the same place meant it was incredibly easy to lose people. I was rather wasted myself, and completely lost everybody I was with on the way to the ferry terminal, not knowing that there were now no ferries back to the city. I did find Malte, Maja and some other Adelaide buddies near the terminal, but lost them as well and passed out.

I woke up at about 3 feeling dazed and confused, and realised I'd lost my mobile. Hardly anyone was left at the ferry terminal, and there were just a few people who'd decided to sleep there for the night. I borrowed a guy's phone to ring mine and see if it ws hidden in the bushes. However, Thomas answered the phone. Apparently I'd given it to Malte, who put a taxi number into it. The he lost me and passed it on to Claire who eventually gave it to Thomas. This conversation didn't really help me at all, as there was a complete communication breakdown - apparently I was incomprehensible.

I wasn't going to spend the night on a park bench, so I decided to walk in the direction of the harbour bridge until I found a taxi. I ended up walking for about 2 hours, and my feet were absolutely killing me. Luckily, just before I reached the bridge I found a cab. As the sun rose, I finally ended up at the house, by about 6! So not excatly the best end to a great NYE, but at least it wasn't a boring one!

The next couple of days were taken up by recovery. We all woke up the next day by about 3, and Thomas, Ines and Simon were glad that I'd made it back alive (as well as my Mum!).

Thomas and Ines also went on a tandem skydive. They showed me pics and videos, which made me decide to do a skydive myself at some point in the near future!

See my Facebook photo album which corresponds to this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Trib 4: New Year in Sydney

2 Germans, 1 Brit and 1 Wombat in a Car 2: Melbourne to Sydney 27th-30th December

Well after saying goodbye to Alexis, the three of us headed in the general direction of Sydney in time for New Year's Eve.

On 27th we headed south from Melbourne and ended up at the Wilson's Promontary National Park; the most southerly point on the AUstralian mainland. After scaring myself to death driving past a very well concealed police car, we headed down to one of the many beautiful beaches on the peninsula. The interestingly named Whisky Bay was simply stunning, and we had fun in the sea. Although we did not see a huge amount more, we could thell that this national park was one of the best we'd been to.

We then headed east along the coast, and ended up at a campsite on the Ninety Mile Beach, which (you guessed it) was a really long beach. The downside to camping here was that we were at the mercy of the relentless mosquitoes!

The following day we continued along the coast, and stopped at Lakes Entrance. We had a fantastic view of the harbour, and there were dozens of boats crusing up and down in the turquoise waters. After Thomas got in touch with his German heritage (:P) we headed on to the Buchan Caves. These caves were beautiful, however most of them were was too small for someone of my stature! I kept bumping my head on the ceiling, whilst Thomas and Ines (both midgets!) comfortably walked through with no problems.

We then left the coastal route and went inland in the direction of Canberra. At the Victoria-New South Wales border, a drunken middle aged man took our picture, before telling us that he and his friends not only had a dead fox in the back of their car, but that they had put it on roller blades, dressed it in pink sunglasses and pulled it around Canberra! We stopped for the night at a campsite just outside of the Australian Capital Territory.

On 29th we headed to Canberra, the capital of Australia. Canberra was interesting and worth the visit, but compared to most of what I'd already seen of Australia, it wasn't great. Being a purpose built city, the layout was planned to the finest detail. Whereas Melbourne and Adelaide lacked roundabouts, Canberra had way too many, which made for some confusing driving. Everything was made from concrete, mainly 1940s-70s style, and most of the buildings were boring and unimpressive. However, the Australian Parliament was very interesting. The free tour took us around the impressive building (only 20 years old), and our guide explained the architect's "vision" and let us into some of the building's secrets. For the first time ever, my Lonely Planet let us down. Its walking tour of the city led us on roads which didn't have any pavements! We got a photo of ourselves at the Canadian embassy for Alexis and Tina, and passed by the National Concrete Centre, the Museum of Concrete, and Lake Burley Griffin, which had liquid concrete, not water, flowing
through it.

The following day we headed north towards Sydney. We decided to quickly have a look at the Australian War Memorial before leaving Canberra. We ended up staying there for about four hours! The memorial museum had to be one of the best war museums I'd ever seen. You could've easily spent a couple of days immersing yourself in the excellent exhibits. After a look at the boring city centre, we drove straight to Sydney, Australia's largest city.

After the usual getting lost, we found Thomas and Ines's uni friend Simon who led us to his house west of the city centre. It was huge, with a swimming pool (!) amongst other things. That evening the four of us headed to the city, stopping first at Circular Quay.

Simon led us round the quay, and there stood the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House in all their glory. Words can't really describe the awesomeness of these two structures. Like Uluru, I'd seen plenty of pictures of them before, but none of them came close to seeing the bridge and opera house with the naked eye!

See my Facebook photo album which corresponds to this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Trib 3: Melbourne to Sydney

Christmas in Melbourne

Well it was an unusual, but good Christmas for the four of us in Melbourne. The obvious differences for me were being away from family and the weather! Over the whole time we were in Melbourne, it was hot and sunny! It was the ultimate paradox: summery weather and wintery Christmas imagery.

On Christmas Eve we shopped for our multicultural Christmas meal, which we had later that evening, and I mean later. The hostel kitchen was packed with people cooking, so by the time we actually sat down to eat it was already Christmas Day! Alexis made perogies (no idea if that's how you spell it), which is mashed potato, onion and cheese wrapped in dough and boiled (they looked like ravioli), and is a Ukrainian dish (Alexis has Ukrainian heritage). Thomas and Ines made Käsespätzle, a dish with pasta, bacon, herbs and onion, etc. I made mulled wine and we had Christmas pudding the next day. We were all really stuffed, as you should be after a Christmas meal!

On Christmas Day itself we started the day with Buck's Fizz and xmas pud, then we headed to the aquarium, which was surprisingly open. Amongst the usual countless numbers of fish, they also had penguins and a shark tunnel. After a traditional Christmas lunch of pizza (:P) we spent the day exploring the city, looking at the river and Federation Square amongst other things. In the evening we went to see Australia (the cinema was also open), which was mcuh better than I thought it would be.

On Boxing Day we did something I thought I'd never do: we went to the sales! I didn't buy anything, I kind of refused to, but Ines desperately needed some new shoes (which she didn't get) and souvenirs for family. In the afternoon we had a BBQ at one of the many free ones found by the river. (This is the amazing thing about Australia. BBQs are such a strong part of the culture that you find free public ones everywhere. You just push a button and in a few minutes it's ready to use!) We ate the common Aussie BBQ food: sausages and onions wrapped in bread! In the evening we went to the top of the Eureka Tower, where we had a fantastic view of the whole city as the lights turned on.

On 27th we sadly said goodbye to Alexis at the airport (after a scenic tour of Melbourne's northern suburbs while trying to get there), as she was headign back home to Canada. We then left our hostel (the cheapest hostel so far on our travels) and travelled in the general direction of Sydney in time for New Year's.


See my Facebook photo album which corresponds to this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Trib 2: Roadtripping and Christmas in Melbourne

2 Germans, 1 Brit, 1 Wombat in a Car 1: Adelaide to Melbourne

Two Germans, One Brit and One Wombat in a Car 1: Adelaide to Melbourne (18th – 23rd Dec)

So myself, Thomas, Ines and Big Russ headed back to Melbourne in time for Christmas. We would be repeating the Grampians and GOR, but we also saw a lot more stuff on the way.

Day 1: Adelaide to Mount Gambier

Well as always our plans didn’t materialise exactly. I was supposed to be at Thomas’s house with the car by about 8.30am. I actually arrived about an hour late, and had to park the car round the corner. Whilst opening up the boot Thomas and Ines came round the corner. Whilst washing up, Ines cut (well actually gouged) her hand with a broken glass, so they went to a nearby doctor. It turned out that the cut was so deep and wide, that it could not be stitched, so instead it was bandaged and Ines would have to wear it for at least 3 weeks, and take medication. This meant she couldn’t swim whilst bandaged or drink whist on the medication.

So we left Adelaide 4.5 hours after we intended to! We headed first for some delicious chocolate at a café in Hahndorf and then hit the road to the Coorong National Park. The Coorong is a wetlands area on a spit of land next to the sea. At one of the stops, we thought we had to walk to the beach from the first car park, only to realise about 30mins later that there was another car park a lot closer! The beach was beautiful and unspoilt, and we stayed there for a while just watching the waves. We were running late in order to get to Mount Gambier before our hostel closed, so Thomas ran to get the car. While Ines and I were walking down the road, I froze, and there were two enormous kangaroos less than 100m from where we were, which was an amazing sight!

We stopped again at the giant lobster, before heading to Beachport, where they have the LONGEST JETTY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA! (See previous post for significance!) Then we headed to Mount Gambier, where we stayed again at The Jail!

Day 2: Mount Gambier to Halls Gap

The doctor told Ines to change her bandage every day, however it was all sticky, etc o we decided it was best to go to the hospital to check it out. Little did we know we’d be waiting there for about 4 hours or so! During that time I headed to Bunnings (B&Q equivalent) to get some screws to fix a part dangling off our front bumper. Eventually Ines was seen by a doctor, and it took about 10 mins to sort out!

With much les time than we intended to have, we headed north to the Naracoorte Caves National Park. Here there were some World Heritage listed caves, noted for their fantastic fossil collections. We saw the fossil centre, with animatronic life size constructions of the extinct animals. We then explored one of the caves, which was eerie and silent, as we were the only people down there.

Then we drove across the border into Victoria and headed to Halls Gap, where we stayed again at the same hostel we did last time!

Day 3: Halls Gap to Warnambool

Today we explored the Grampians, and I’m glad I came back. The weather was so much better this time around, so we could actually see from the lookouts and do some walks. We walked up to the Pinnacle, where there was a fantastic view of Halls Gap and the surrounding area. Like everything else in Australia, words cannot accurately describe how amazing it was!

We then again drove quickly to reach Warnambool before our hostel closed, and got there by about 11pm, dodging kangaroos along the way.

Day 4: Warnambool to Apollo Bay

We made a detour to Tower Hill, a 32,000 year old collection of extinct volcanoes, where there was an abundant amount of wildlife, though we didn’t see a huge amount of animals!

Then we headed on to the Great Ocean Road, where we saw the same amazing sights. When we reached the Twelve Apostles, we were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to see them, a there was a large amount of fog. However, the fog gave them a very different character and made for some excellent photo taking!

We then headed to Apollo Bay where (guess what!) we stayed in the same hostel as last time!

Day 5: Apollo Bay to Ballarat

We took a detour off the GOR to the Otway Treetop Walk, where we walked along suspended walkways amongst some really tall trees! There was a walkway which jutted out from the observation tower without any supports on the ground, and Thomas terrified some other walkers by making it sway!

We also saw Triplet Falls, with was obviously three waterfalls over one ridge. I don’t know how we missed this last time, but we stopped at Kennet River, where the trees were full of wild koalas, doing what they do best; sleeping and eating!

After stopping briefly in Geelong, we headed up to Ballarat, the Coober Pedy of gold, where we stayed at a campsite for the night.

Day 6: Ballarat to Melbourne

Well today was special in that it was Ines’s Birthday!

We headed to the Eureka Centre. In the 1850s this area saw an armed protest by gold miners against the government’s harsh treatment towards them. It’s a classic small scale event that’s been bigged up as a great Australian event, and the beginnings of the labour movement and Australian democracy. However it was still interesting.

We then headed straight to Melbourne, where at our hostel we met up with Alexis, who’d got in earlier that day from Queensland, where she’d been doing a volunteering project. After finding a place to park which you didn’t need to be a millionaire to pay for, we headed out into the city for Chinese food and party tunes to celebrate Ines’s birthday.

So a good trip down to Melbourne!

See my Facebook photo albums which go with this entry:

Adelaide to Cape Tribulation 1: Adelaide to Melbourne
Adelaide to Cape Trib 2: Roadtripping and Christmas in Melbourne

In Between Travels (2nd to 18th Dec 08)

Well it’s always good to be back in Adelaide, and we did get up to a lot of stuff, especially if you count doing nothing as doing stuff!

Sleeping Around

Well on the 2nd night back in Adelaide, I was ridiculously bored, so I headed over to Thomas’s house where he and his housemate Richard were chilling. I was there for so long that I missed the last bus back to my house, so I crashed on the couch. Little did we know that this would start a trend of people staying at Thomas’s house. One night after being there watching a movie Myself, Alexis, Christina, Kalina and Tiago crashed there, with 4 of us on a double mattress (kind of continuing the Tassie tradition)! We also stayed at Kalina’s flat, where 5 of us stayed, and 4 additional people crowded into Alexis and Catherine’s flat. In total I actually think I slept at other people’s houses more than in my own!

Out and About in Adelaide

Lots of us went bowling one day. I shared a lane with Catherine and Jenneke, and they were impressed by how good my bowling was, but they actually ended up doing better than I did!

When Alexis got back from Tassie we went to pick her up from the airport, and we asked her "Do you want to go home, or to see the longest jetty in the world?" She agreed to the latter and we headed to the jetty. I don't know where Thomas got his facts from, but it definitely wasn't the world's longest jetty, but still a random trip to the beach!

The weather was really bad for a week or so, with near constant rain on a couple of days (which I’ve never seen here). We were all going to go and see an open air film at the Botanic Gardens, but it was chucking it down, so we decided to go to Kalina’s to watch the movie we were supposed to have seen (Breakfast at Tiffany’s). It was really funny actually: 6 of us crammed into Tiago’s really old car. I was sitting by the back right window (which didn’t close) and got soaked from the rain. Kalina, Jay and Alexis were squeezed in next to me balancing a box of tools, etc on their laps. And through all of this, Christina was cosy in the front passenger seat with a coat on, which I could really have used!

On the days where the weather was good, more often than not we ended up at the beach!

The 14 Hour Wait for Pizza

One night, 11 of us ere at Thomas's watching a movie, and we decided to get pizza from
Domino's. We ordered everything online at about 9.30pm, and it said the order would arrive
by 11.45. This seemed to be a little late, but we thought nothing more of it. By 12.15, we
checked the order again, only to find it was actually going to arrive at 11.45 the next
morning! Seven of us stayed there that night, and the pizza actually arrived. We were
wondering whether they thought it ws a joke to order pizza 14 hours in advance. The
delivery man was actually 15 mins late as well!

Camping

We decided to go camping for one night on the beautiful Yorke Peninsula (where I first learnt to surf). The journey was uneventful, until Thomas’s car completely died (see next section). After we left the car with Jeff the mechanic we crammed into Richard’s car and continued to drive south on the peninsula, searching for the perfect camping spot.

We eventually found this amazing beach, where there were no people. The sea was really far out, and you had to walk at least 500m before you reached the water! It was classic Australia: untamed natural beauty. After finally managing to erect the tents in the sand and wind, we lit the fire and started boozing. The 7 of us (Me, Thomas, Alexis, Catherine, Richard, Davinia and Big Russ) managed to get through a bottle of vodka, half a bottle of gin, a bottle of red wine and most of a goon (Aussie word for shitty box wine), and Alexis rolled the best cigarette (apparently), even though she was drunk! Whilst this was happening the sun set (as it normally does) making the clouds turn into brilliant shades of purple, orange, red and pink. The disadvantages of getting drunk on the beach are that things get broken: I ruined my favourite hoodie and destroyed my camera. So, if you add Thomas’s car dying. It was quite a destructive trip! But it was still really good fun nonetheless.

Cars

Well as I said above, Thomas’s car died on the way to the YP. His car was reliable, and we were going to travel in the summer break with it. However, the second travel time came near, the car started to play up. Taking it to the YP was a test, and it failed, despite being OK’d by a mechanic a couple of days before. After passing road works, Thomas accelerated, and by the time the car reached 100/110 kph the car died and smoke was billowing from the engine. Alexis, who was asleep on the back seat was awoken by “Shit, get out of the car!” Jeff the mechanic could do nothing, but towed the car to his garage anyway. Thomas then sold the car to a wrecker for $60 scrap! Considering he bought it for about $1000, it was a real loss.

So, our main means of travel was gone, yet a car is the best method of transport up the east coast. There was either going in planes and coaches, which limits your options, or renting, which would’ve been way too expensive. Therefore we bought another car from a dealer. Thomas wanted to completely avoid buying a car for the same price as the old one, and rightly so. Of course all dealers are dodgy bastards, but the car we bought had an excellent service history, was all in working order and seemed to have no real problems, so we bought it for $3500.

During this time Thomas’s girlfriend Ines arrived, and the travelling quartet was complete. On 18th December we left Adelaide, and I would not be returning ‘til February.

See my Facebook photo album which goes with this entry:

Inbetween Travels...

1500 (and 50!) kms around Tasmania 25th Nov – 2nd Dec 08

Thomas, Tiago, Alexis, Sophie, Marco, Lina and I then headed to the beautiful island of Tasmania.

Day 1

My flight from Melbourne was earlier than the others, so I left our crappy hostel at about 6ish and headed to the airport, with plenty of time to get my flight. However, for one reason or another I ended up in the international part of the airport. Alarm bells should’ve started ringing when a security guard looked at my ticket and said “Hmm, that’s new, we’ve never had flights to Hobart through here before!” But for some reason this didn’t seem weird to me. By the time I’d worked it out I was too late fore my flight. I waited in Melbourne airport until the next available flight left several hours later, during which time I met everyone else who did manage to get on to their flights.

So hours later than expected I ended up in Hobart, the capital of Tassie. Not much else happened, except joining the other guys at our hostel.

Day 2

We headed to our rental company (Britz!) to grab our campervans. It was exciting stuff getting hold of them. We had one that slept 4 (but in practice we fitted 5 in there!) and one which slept 3. It was the best way to go around Tassie in my opinion, though renting them was not cheap! Generally Alexis, Tiago, Sophie and Me were in the larger one, with Thomas driving, and Lina and Marco were in the smaller one.

After leaving the hostel we headed West from Hobart. This day was one of the best we had weatherwise; it was actually sunny for most of it! We headed for the Big Tree Reserve, which had (you guessed it!) really big trees. We also saw some beautiful waterfalls in Mount Field National Park. It didn’t take long to realise just how beautiful Tasmania is. You drive round a bend and there’s a breathtaking view awaiting you. We ended up sleeping by a beautiful lake that night.

Day 3

We were woken by heavy rain, but we wouldn’t let the weather dampen (haha!) our spirits. After coffee near a hydroelectric plant, we headed to Lake St Clair, part of the World Heritage Tasmanian Wilderness. There really were no people apart from tourists. 21% of the island is national park! Here we saw the lake, looked out for, but didn’t see any platypussies (:P) and sang Silent Night and other songs in our different languages.

Driving west, we headed into the Franklin-Gordon NP where there were some spectacular views of endless untouched nature, including the aptly named Surprise Valley, Thomas then drove hurtling round tight bends, sending stuff in the back (including people) flying (this was how it usually worked out!) in order to get to Queenstown and get groceries before it was too late. Queenstown was like an old American western town and it felt like we’d stepped into the past. We stayed at a campsite just a bit further north that evening.

Day 4

Today we actually woke up early enough (as in only about an hour, not 2.5 after the alarm went off), but it still took us ages to leave, so there was no point in setting the alarm for an earlier time than usual. There was something great about the 5 of us in the big van, just lying there talking about random shit, and listening to Thomas’s excellent music collection. The upstairs bed had hardly any space, I once complained that there was only a few inches to move around up there, to which Thomas replied “you and your fucking inches!” (of course imperial is foreign to my European friends).

We headed today to Cradle Mountain (Cradle Mountain Charlie!), which was simply beautiful, and cold! We walked around Dove Lake, taking in the spectacular scenery and the fresh, crisp air. Near the visitor centre we saw an echidna rummaging through the dirt, and it was completely unconcerned about all the people around it trying to take a photo! Thomas also bought the best stuffed wombat ever: Big Russ!

We drove from Cradle Mountain down more windy mountain roads with yet more fantastic scenery, got lost in Launceston for a couple of hours, and then got some advice about where to stay from some locals. Seriously, don’t ask a Tasmanian anything like this. He pointed us down a road in the direction of Wineglass Bay, where he said threw were heaps of rivers we could camp at. This was a lie. There was one ridiculously creepy lake, with dead trees protruding from the surface. It was like a scene from the X Files. On the way as it got dark, there were tons of kangaroos, it was a miracle we didn’t hit one!

Day 5

Today was terrible weatherwise. Constant drizzly rain and fog (just like England!), but we still had fun. We headed to Freycinet Peninsula NP. On the way we stopped by a superb blowhole by the beach, and reversed the van straight into a completely obvious tree. We do like to damage vehicles that don’t belong to us (see GOR entry!). Wineglass Bay was beautiful despite the weather, and it actually looks like a wineglass from above. The walk down and up from the bay itself was tough, but we ignored warning signs that we should take water with us! Along the way we had a discussion about cars (:P) before seeing the bay from the bottom.

We once again found ourselves driving in the darkness with nowhere to stay. Luckily at Richmond, near Port Arthur, we found an empty car park, and stayed there for the night.

Day 6

After being awoken by noisy tourists and cars, we continued down to the Tasman peninsula. We saw Pirates Bay and the Devil’s Kitchen, where I started pointing put the oven and fridge before bursting out laughing!

We then got to Port Arthur, where the largest convict prison in Australia existed. Thousands of prisoners sent there from Britain for trivial offences like petty theft lived in cramped conditions and were treated like animals. Despite this depressing story, we were all rather happy and hyper like children. We played in the kids’ playground and rolled down the hill. Maybe it was a reaction to the otherwise depressing place we had visited.

We stayed at another campsite near to Hobart that night, where to deal with water costs, they had installed timed showers!

Day 7

We debated about whether we had enough time to go to a treetop walk and then get the vans back to the airport by 4pm. Luckily we decided to skip the walk an head straight to the hostel. Then came the mammoth task of cleaning out the vans, taking all our crap from "underneath the wood" (:P) and getting petrol. As Britz wanted full tanks, we tried to find a petrol station near to the airport, but despite asking several people, we just couldn’t find the one near there. Thomas was concerned that we wouldn’t reach 1500kms of travel before giving the vans back, but he needn’t have worried. We drove around for 50kms (hence 1550!) unit, we found a petrol station! It was really irritating. When we came to giving the vans back it was hitch free. The funniest thing was when we filled in the report on the crash. Thomas made a point of saying we crashed at night, but I didn’t cotton on! Also, when asked for the address, I simply said “The Blowhole”, at which all this tension erupted into laughter.

We finished the day by going out for a meal.

Day 8

Today was sad for two reasons. The first was that we all had to say goodbye to Sophie, who was travelling to NZ and would not be coming back to Adelaide again. Secondly, we were all leaving Tassie (apart from Alexis who stayed til the 4th). After looking around Hobart we headed to the airport to get our plane back to Adelaide.

Tasmania was amazing, and I’m so glad I went, especially considering that it wasn’t on my list of priorities! Above all it was great to be there with such good company. Thanks guys!

See my Facebook photo albums which go with this entry:

Tasmania
Tasmania 2

In the city...City of Melbourne! 25th Nov 08

Today was a more chilled day after the hectic travelling in order to reach Melbourne on time, but we still did a huge amount of stuff.

After walking around the town in search of coffee (which we initially never found) we all split up and went our own ways around the city. Myself, Thomas, Alexis, Claire and Sophie headed to Chinatown to the Chinese Museum, to learn about the history of the city’s Chinese community. One of the most interesting, and horrifying things were the traditional shoes women wore, which made the feet pointed.

After eventually finding coffee, the five of us sat outside the Victorian Parliament. A security guard took our photo an then said there was a free tour starting in five minutes. Well why not? It was a really good tour, and we sat in the members’ chairs discussing about the need for more forks!

We then tried to find the others near to the Melbourne museum, but it was a case of , are you at this church or that church (:P). We then spread out again; Thomas, Me, Alexis and Sophie striking various poses on the “Roman” ruins near the museum, walking through one of the parks (“Wow, I’m in a really huge tree. That’s WICKED!”) and going to a beautiful cathedral called St Pauls or something like that. Then we hopped on the free tram to Federation Square, a really modern complex by the Yarra River, before heading back to the hostel.

Our hostel turned out to be not that good. Poor Christina was bitten all over by bed bugs, and the hostel only gave her a night’s refund! It’s amazing that no one else got bitten. We met up at the hostel with our old Outback friend Shanti and ate there before heading to s bar which had excellent rooftop views of the city. A fantastic day.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to a few people who weren't joining us in Tasmania, so thanks to Thomas, Kalina, Alexis, Sophie, Tiago, Christina, Maja, Marco, Lina and Clare for making this part of the trip a success!

See my Facebook photo album which goes with this entry:

One glorious day in Melbourne.

Great Ocean Road 20 - 24th November 08

Almost immediately after exams were over eleven of us in three hired cars headed down to Melbourne, along the Great Ocean Road, with a slight detour to the Grampians.

Day 1: Adelaide to Mount Gambier

Well Hertz didn’t have our cars ready, so they gave us three more expensive ones without a change to the cost, which was a bonus! The first day was the longest in terms of driving, and we didn’t really stop for much until we got to Mount Gambier, the last major town in South Australia before Victoria.

Along the way we stopped by the random Giant Lobster in Kingston. This lobster was designed to go on the roof of the restaurant, however the plan was in imperial and they actually built it in metric, so there was no way it would it on the roof! We also nearly ran over some sheep who had somehow got on to the road, and were stopped by a drug test, though none of us looked that suspicious…We went out that night for Chinese food!

The destination for the end of the day was The Jail: a hostel which used to be a prison, and basically still was one. We stayed in rooms (affectionately called cells), thee was barbed wire on the roof, and codes to get inot the dorm areas. It’s funny how you talk about things like horror movies when you’re in a scary place, and we all kind of freaked ourselves out, enough to do a re-enactment of the final scene in Blair Witch!

Day 2: Mount Gambier to Halls Gap (Grampians)

We were all terrible at getting up when we decided to, and getting eleven people to move their arses was difficult, but nevertheless we did get out in the mornings (albeit about 2.5 hours after we intended to leave!).

We headed to the Blue Lake, a (surprisingly) blue crater lake near to Mount Gambier, and they have no idea why it’s so blue. We then headed up to the Grampians National Park; a beautiful mountain range across in Victoria, the state to the south east of SA. After visiting the Aboriginal centre and learning the history of the mountains, we went to have a look at some of the sights. Sadly the weather wasn’t that good, and there wee a few things we simply couldn’t see owing to the clouds, but we still had a good time. We managed to see Broken Falls and MacKenzie Falls, and then the heavens opened and we were all thoroughly soaked. None of us had really packed for the weather, based on how good it had been in Adelaide!

We finished the night with a meal and shooting another Blair Witch scene at our hostel, watched the amazing Garden State and had a multilingual session reading the same passage from a magazine in our respective languages.

Day 3: The Great Ocean Road itself (Halls Gap to Apollo Bay)

We then headed back to the coast and on to the Great Ocean Road, which really was great. After driving from the Grampians, we kind of went crazy when we found the ocean. We parked near the beach and randomly danced, did the conga and other things. Perhaps our craziness was due to the fact that this was one of the best days we had weatherwise; still cold, but at least no rain!

Every 300m or so we had to stop to see another awesome coastal view. The most amazing part was the Twelve Apostles; several stacks of rock standing along the coastline. The road winded round the coastline and made for some fantastic scenery. This was also the first day of good weather. It was really windy and cold, but at least the sun was out. Along the way Christina hit a nail sticking out of a parking bay block (stupid nails!), thereby damaging one of the cars, but luckily the insurance covered it, and it was quite funny looking back on it. You’d think we’d be more careful with rented cars, but that wasn’t the case (see Tasmania).

We ended up at Apollo Bay in a great hostel for the night. We hadn’t booked a hostel for this night and were concerned that there wouldn’t be space available for 11 people at such late notice, but the first place we looked at had exactly the right number of beds available! A great day had by all.

Day 4: Arrival in Melbourne

The next day we continued along the GOR, along the best bit for driving. Here the road went actually along the coastline. The sea was lashing against the shore only a few metres away from the road. We stopped at Sheoak Falls in the Great Otway National Park, where we shot what was probably our best Blair Witch scene. We then headed to Melbourne, where the usual getting lost, etc happened. Eventually we managed to find our “hotel” (seriously that was an overstatement!) and got the cars back to Hertz.

That evening we headed out to Chinatown for some good food!

See next entries about our day in Melbourne and Tasmania!

See my Facebook photo album which goes with this entry:

The Great Ocean Road

I've finally uploaded photos!

Well firstly Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to all from glorious Sydney. Finally I have decent internet at the place I'm staying at, therefore I can upload a massive backlog of pics on to Facebook, and upload blog entries. Keep checking this blog and Facebook to see more!

The End of Semester 1

Well it’s hard to believe that my first semester at Adelaide finished mid-November. Time certainly does fly by when you’re having fun.

Of course with the end of every period of study, you have tons of work to do. I myself had three essays to write and an exam to revise for. The essays were fine to do, and I actually enjoyred them (only slightly). As always with exams my handwriting is illegible, and I never plan my time well, but nevertheless it all went well. In the end I ended up with two Distinctions (80 and 83%) in my two modules, which is excellent.

During all this time there was still plenty of fun things going on. The Governor of South Australia hosted a farewell party for international students on the Friday before Halloween. Hundreds of us were given a rare opportunity to enter the grounds of the Governor’s mansion, for an afternoon of free food and alcohol. Seriously, it pays to be an international student, as free food and alcohol events such as this one happened quite often. I’ll have to make a point of pretending to be an international student when I get back to Leeds! On the same day we had an early Halloween party at Steve’s house. I surprised everyone with my Joker costume. Everyone thought I looked quite scary! It was a good night all round.

Steve, Jay and Sam’s band The Goon Bags performed for a second time at Grace Emily’s. The three of them were just as good as at their first gig and had a few new somgs to add to their list. And what is the end of a semester without another Jeffcott Street party? Every so often, a massive house in North Adelaide hosts parties which everyone goes to. The theme was ‘F’ for farewell, and I turned up without a costume (as I had doen at the previous two parties) without realising I had my fencing hoodie with me. Again fun to be had all round.

It was quite a shock to suddenly have to say goodbye to so many people, who were either going home, or were travelling for ages. It made me realise how quickly everything had flown by.

And now I’m off from uni until March. I’ve already been on travels to Melbourne and Tasmania, and there will be more to come!

See my Facebook photo album which goes with this entry:

Adelaide 6

The Great Scuba Diving Course Saga

Stereotypical Aussie Activity 2: Scuba diving

After about 2 months of emails, cancelled courses, medical exams, and God knows what else, myself, Anders, Thomas and Laura finally qualified as Open Water scuba divers on 21st October. Considering we all expressed interest in doing a course through the Adelaide Uni club in the first week of lectures (late July!), it took a really long time to get qualified! We had a running joke that it was like a great saga, with multiple chapters of dread and despair, and at the end was the fragile hope that one day we would actually become qualified divers. So I begin this monumental tale.

Chapter 1 Difficult Beginnings

Well I am partly responsible for my slow journey to become a qualified diver. I missed the Adelaide Uni Scuba Club, who had a stall up during the first week of term. However, I felt that this would not be a problem. All I would have had to have done would be to email the club, sign up, and start diving. Well nothing is as easy as you want it to be now is it? I had to wait about 10 days for a reply to my email. In the email I was told I had to take a compulsory medical exam to prove that I was fit to dive. I didn’t take into account that appointments were hardly available, and there was a huge waiting list. I wasn’t able to book until about 12th September! It would be ages until I started my course. Luckily Sarah, a friend of mine, could no longer make her medical on 29th August, and was willing to do a swap with me. Great, so I was finally able to get a diving medical exam five weeks after sending that first email.

Chapter 2 The Medical

It was an irritating two and a half hours of my time! I arrived at the Royal Adelaide Hospital at 9am (never a good time to have to be anywhere). According to the letter I received the exam would only take about an hour or so, but this was not the case. After waiting for a while, I had to find my way through the confusing hallways to have a hearing test. The audiologist placed headphones on me, and played a series of very quiet beeps. Every time I heard one, I had to indicate I had done so my pressing a button. This was easy enough. Turns out my left ear is slightly below what it should be in terms of hearing power, but this was not real problem. Then I had to wait for about 20 minutes in another corridor before having an ECG. A nurse attached several patches to my body and monitored my heartbeat and whatever else an ECG measures. I was surprisingly calm considering I’d never had one of these before. Stupid forms listing endless unknown conditions had to be filled in next. Thomas and Anders (also taking the medical at the same time) had to ask me what certain conditions meant, as they didn’t know the meaning of them in English. I also had to give a urine sample, and another nurse measured my height, weight, and lung pressure. Then I met with the hyberaic doctor himself, who did a routine check, checked my balance and some other things. After all of this, he presented me with a form, with a tick in the “fit to dive” box and his signature. All of that for just a tick in a box! But at least the medical was done.

Chapter 3 Christmas is Cancelled

So now the four of us could finally get a course organised. The uni club don’t personally do courses, but organise them through a local school called Southern Diving. We were booked for a course over two weekends: the weekends of the 13th and 20th September. We were all very excited, but then, tragedy struck. Our diving instructor was Ill, and owing to the fact we were all away during mid-semester break, we had to wait a whole month until we could do it again! It was like Christmas had been cancelled. We were all so excited about starting, only to have to wait even longer.

Chapter 4 The Course

Finally we started our course. Tony, our instructor was a nice guy who showed us the ropes of scuba diving. Coupled with his teaching, we had a pack delivered containing a study book and DVD. The book had 6 chapters, and at the end of each we had to complete some ridiculously easy (and sometimes pointless) questions. The first day was spent in a dive pool 9m in depth. I had already tried scuba diving before, so the initial getting used to breathing underwater wasn’t a problem for me. We also went trhough some basic skillslike clearing your mask of water, finding your regulator (mouthpiece) if it falls out, etc. It was a good day, and we loked forward to diving in the sea the following day.

The next day we did two dives in the sea down at Port Noarlunga. Starting with a shore entry on the first, we headed down to a depth of about 5m, where we practised basic skills again. The second dive was fantastic. We went in by the jetty (after walking from the cars carrying about 15kg extra weight!) We followed Tony for a while, when he turned around and pointed upwards. The sight made me lose my regulator. There were dozens of fish swimming around the stilts of the jetty. Many came up to have a look at the strange sight of us in their waters. When we got out we were all smiling uncontrollably.

The following weekend included 4 more dives at Port Noarlunga. Again, basic skills were covered. One occasion saw Tony ask us to take our masks of underwater as we’d done before, but instead of us putting them back on again, he took them from us and instead pulled us along behind him. Even though I could still breathe underwater, somehow the fact I couldn’t see meant I couldn’t breathe! We saw plenty of fish, including a Port Jackson shark (not very big or dangerous), and simply enjoyed being in the water.

Chapter 5 The End of the Saga

All that was needed after the dives was to pass a simple multiple choice exam. Everyone passed and we receieved our licenses! Finally we were qualified scuba divers ready to explore. Thanks to Tony for instructing us, and to Thomas for driving us to and from Port Noarlunga.