The Outback!

From Cairns I flew to Alice Springs and what a different world! The two places are possibly as opposite as you can get. Cairns is tropical, Alice Springs is desert. Cairns is an impersonal city, Alice Springs is very small-town.


I was staying in a hostel called Annie's Place - chosen of course because it shared its name with me. As I came through security at the airport there was a desk for the hostels, and when I told the staff from Annie's Place that my name was Annie, they were incredibly excited. I have to talk a little bit about this hostel before I go on to my outback trip, as apart from the Arts Factory in Byron Bay, this was the best place I have stayed so far. The rooms were spacious, the people were super friendly - everyone says hello or chats to you if you are in the same place for more than a few seconds! There is a nice pool, and every night by the pool, a film is projected onto a large screen so everyone from the hostel sits round the pool and watches a movie under the stars. The bar is good, the food is cheap, the reception is extremely helpful.


When I first arrived at Annie's place, I was told they had to cancel the outback tour that I was booked on, as there wasn't enough people. So I was upgraded to another tour. To begin with I was a bit disappointed. The tour I had booked was real rough bush living, whereas the new one was "luxury camping". I have no objection to luxury, just for the record, but I thought that the other tour would be more of an experience. Also, I knew that the new tour would have more old people and less partying - and I was right, but it also had less drama and more interesting things to learn about the outback. After finishing the trip, I don't think that I lost out on any experience - we still cooked our dinner on a bonfire, drove off road, ran away from scary bugs, and all that jazz! Only this way I slept well at night and had a decent shower in the mornings!


The tour guide was excellent, he was like a walking encyclopedia on the area. We learnt about the Aboriginal traditions of the area, the explorers who *tried* to conquer the area, all the local nature and wildlife, the current social situation, the geology....everything! Funny thing about the guide though, is that I soon found out he was a Hong Kong Permanent Resident! Now if this wasn't funny enough (no one you meet travelling is from Hong Kong!), when I asked about what he was doing in HK, I soon found out he had been the manager of Club 97! This wasn't one of my most frequented places, but I certainly had been there a good few times! What a small world!


So anyways,as we know the Aboriginal people were here in Australia long before the British, but they were not indigenous to Australia. However, no one is quite sure how they got here. Back a very long time ago (don't ask me when, as I have a terrible tendency not to listen) the channel of sea between the top of Australia and the bottom of Papua New Guinea was so narrow that you could see across it when standing on top of the mountains in P N G - that they came across here is one theory. Another, is that certain peoples from Africa mastered lengthy sea travel, thousands (and thousands) of years before anyone else, then totally abandoned the knowledge.


Well somehow they got there, and then maintained the same ancient lifestyle, until the whiteman came along. A lifestyle consisting of the men hunting and protecting, and the women gathering foods and looking after children. Their laws were based around the will of the spirits and ancient legends of the land. Then we came along and ruined everything. We (and I say "we" unfortunately as a white person) introduced alcohol. Europeans had been getting used to this poison for as far as history remembers, and our bodies contain enzymes specially to digest it. Aborigines hadn't had the chance to adapt in this way and so, lacking this all important enzyme, did not take well to alcohol. It made them violent and incapable. They soon became alcoholics and their old way of life was destroyed.


Nowadays we appear to have two "types" of Aborigine. The bush Aborigine - untouched by alcohol, protected by national parks and still living in a mostly traditional way - though these are few. The city Aborigines are the ones we come into contact with, and sadly the ones who give white Australians their opinions of the race. Every white Australian I have met, as open minded as they have seemed, as soon as the topic of Aborigines comes up - speaks of them like animals. This really surprised me. So the stereotypical city Aborigine that has gained this reputation is the alcoholic, living off dole money, lying around in parks and sending the violent crime statistics soaring. It is a very sad state of affairs, and it is, in fact, all our fault.


The first place we stopped on our trip was a camel farm. Australia now has plague amounts of camels, so many that it even exports them to Saudi Arabia, because apparently the camels in Australia are better than in their original country. In the first place they came over from Afghanistan as labour animals, much better at coping in the arid climate than say horses. When the railways they were building were finished, they were released into the wild.


At this camel farm there was also a pet dingo, as tame and friendly as any household pet dog. So I sat and stroked him for a while.... and fed him a few sneaky crisps.


Next stop was a cattle station/gas station/cafe/art gallery. These places are dotted about all over the outback, with comforting signs outside saying "Last stop for infinite kilometres". So you don't really have a choice but to stop at them. They create a sense of being a very small dot in a boundless wilderness. And wilderness it was indeed. All you could see, as far as the horizon, was yellow sand, or perhaps sometimes red sand, with the odd dried up shrub meagerly poking its head up every so often. Oh and of course the flies. The damn pesky flies. Within 30 seconds of stepping outdoors you have at least 50 swarming round your face, desperately trying to get in your mouth, up your nose, in your ears, on your eyeballs.... to suck at all your juicy moisture. And they are unrelentless, no matter how many times you bat them out the way, they will be back for more instantly. Luckily we had fly nets to prevent them penetrating our many facial holes, but they were still as annoying as hell.


To add to our sense of isolation we were told about all the explorers who tried to conquer this land, failed, wondered round for months lost and after draining their supplies, died, bodies never to be found. Hopefully this would not be us.

In the afternoon we came to a gorge amidst lots of big, giant, red rocks. It really was like nothing I had ever seen before. These rocks resembled giant heads sticking out of the sand, and the story goes that these heads were the spirits of warriors who were captured after a war between two tribes. Once prisoners, they were forced to dig great holes in the sand, then made to stand in the holes, where they were buried, with just their heads left poking out for the likes of dingos and crazy insects to have their way with. On this delightful tale we walked through the gorge, took lots of pictures, then headed to a sunset viewing point of Ayers Rock, where we would scoff our way through numerous packets of crackers and refresh our hard days work with some wine.

Now Ayers Rock, or Uluru, is a bit of a wonder really. It's this enormous red blob of rock in the middle of absolutely nothing. No mountain range or anything, it just stands there, on its own, in the middle of the desert. Pretty bizarre. Apparently it is just the same as the surrounding land, but denser; so where the rest of the land has been eroded by weather, this great blob remains. Also, it was once 90 degrees the other way up, but fell over one day to the position we now know it to be in AND something like 80% of it is underground....like an iceberg....

The following morning we got up at stupid-o-clock in the morning for a sunset walk around the rock. A walk which is possibly, I think, the most beautiful few hours of my life - the many changing colours of the rock as the sun slowly rose, the silhouettes of the scattered trees, the sky of a million colours and clouds glowing in the newly born sun. Then of course the sunrise itself. It was then I realised that I had in fact never seen a sunrise before in my life. It was pretty spectacular. I was amazed how after about an hour of the sky slowly changing colour, the movement of the sun over the horizon happened in seconds. So fast you could see it moving through the sky. Needless to say, I took a lot of photos.

After this we met up with our guide again,who took us to the most sacred spots of Uluru to learn its legends. The main story concerns a certain snake named Kuinya, who journeyed to Uluru to lay her eggs. At the time, a tribe of another type of snake was living in the area, a tribe with whom Kuinya's nephew happened to be in trouble. One day, the nephew was cornered by the warriors of this tribe and killed. Kuinya came as soon as she heard - her path can still be seen today in great black snake trails across the rock. Alas she was too late! Her nephew was dead, and only one enemy warrior remained to mock her. Crying, she asked why had he killed her nephew, but the warrior just laughed at her. So she picked up some sand from the ground and, chanting a curse, threw it at the warriors feet. Now all the trees on the ground where the warrior stood are poisoned, and still now the Aboriginal people will not eat from them. But still the warrior laughed, so she hit him over the head with her stick - this can be seen as a great crack in the rock, with a blood stain trickling out. Still the warrior mocked her, so she it him one more fatal time, revenging her nephew - this strike can be seen by an even larger crack in the rock.

This story I have just told is merely the children's version, to hear the full version of all the legends we must first be initiated into the tribe - a process involving withstanding great amounts of pain, and which frankly just isn't going to happen.

We then went to the area's main waterhole (which was somewhat lacking in water) and to see Aboriginal cave drawings.

By this time we were pretty exhausted and had miserably given in to the flies, so were pretty glad of the four hour coach trip to our next camp. It is amazing what things please you in certain situations.

That night we built a big bonfire and cooked our dinner on it whilst listening to Rolph Harris' greatest hits....which was all very well for the first couple of songs....

I'm sure it's not hard to think that Rolph Harris plus exhaustion made it an early night, and we were up before dawn again the next morning for our big canyon climb. However this would not be before the most terrifying experience of my life ever. I was relatively please with the showers at this place, as they had been totally clean and insect free - that is until some numbskull obviously left the door open over night. So I came in, just before dawn, to find the three most heart-stoppingly horrendous being known to mankind. Giant, mutant, alien crickets. Bigger than me. Well, perhaps not, but without exaggeration, they were at least as long as my foot, and almost as wide, with a hard, black, shiny shell, and crazy pincers....or legs....or antennae....I didn't stay long enough to find out. I didn't care how much I smelt, or how rugged I looked, I was NOT sharing my shower with these things!

So, smelly and unwashed, I arrived at King's Canyon and found myself face to face with the sign: "Trail moderate, with strenuous start. Do not attempt in intense heat." I then glanced at the daily temperature chart: "Today's heat rating falls into the category of: Very Dangerous." "Ah", I thought. At this point hald the group dropped out. When the guide told us about the recent death count of people falling off the edge of the trail, half the remaining group dropped out. For me it wasn't an option, so I began the "strenuous" beginning. Before long, my heart was beating out of my chest, sweat was pouring down my face and I was pretty sure that I knew what having an asthma attack must be like, but I looked around me and saw everyone else suffering just as badly. so I crawled on, content that I wasn't dying alone, if a little jealous that the guys next to me were tall enough to be able to lift themselves from one rock to the other without using their hands. But I scrambled on determind, and next thing I knew I was one of the first at the top, with the rest a few minute behind and in a much worse state! This surprised me somewhat, as I don't claim to ever do any exercise, but I guess I have been spending a lot of time lately walking a great deal, so maybe I'm fitter than I thought!

Once at the top we walked for about four hours, probably a highlight of my Australia trip. We were presented with spectacular views and dizzying heights - for those of us stupid enough to stand on the edge of the cliff and look down. As we walked, our guide showed us plants for making suncream, plants for making glue; plants you can eat, plants you really shouldn't! We met a very friendly lizard who let us pick him up! And we even went to the place where part of Priscilla Queen of the Desert was filmed.

Now I'm generally not particulatly interested in rocks - for some reason I used to collect them as a kid, but don't ask me why now! - but just this once, the rocks actually were interesting. Every so often, we would notice a rippling effect in the rocks. Apparently these are left over indentations from water, a VERY long time ago, when there was no ice on the North Pole, so the water level was much higher, and right in the middle of Australia was a great big sea! This is actually not me making stuff up. We also saw jellyfish fossils!

About half way through this walk, we came to a sunken oasis - deep pools of glistening blue water, surrounded by beautiful green plants. An unexpected respite to the endless rocks and sand. This place was called the Garden of Eden, and it just so happens I had an apple in my bag, which I thought rather appropriate to eat here.

Eventually I made it to te end of the trail, as did the rest of the group, and it was an awesome sense of achievement, as it had been far from easy, but so spectacular that it was well worth it. A funny thing though - in the heat and I guess from exerting myself a lot further than usual, my fingers had swollen up to a ridiculous size, and the tips had gone completely numb! I found this highly entertaining for the hour or so it lasted!

Before I begin I have a complaint. About internet cafes. People really should show some common courtesy in these places. It is so frustratingly hard to write anything, my thoughts and experiences (let alone personal emails!) with people standing over me, potentially reading what I'm writing...drunk people shouting and singing and talking about totally annoying and stupid things....people having loud arguements with their boyfriends/girlfriends back home....and yesterday people sitting on top of each other and making out on the chair next to me. So I apologise if my writing drones on or doesn't make sense, but if these people could be shot my blog would be far better, and would include all the details I'm probably missing out that will be tragically forgotten forever. ARGH.

Rant over.

Have spent the past three days in Cairns had had a totally amazing time (as usual)...though I can't say it's anything to do with the town itself. On my first day here I spent the day walking round the town, only to realise that there's nothing here. A lot of travel agents, but not a lot else. The esplanade is supposed to be the exciting happening place...but there's not really anything there. As for the lagoon....well I'd heard about this loads when I was looking online for a place to stay here, so i kinda expected something reasonably impressive. At the least I expected a real lagoon. It was in fact a pretty bog standard swimming pool.


Something I did notice as well actually was the type of in Cairns is different to everywhere else. I mean still the majority of people you meet, like the rest of Australia, are absolutely awesome. But there seem to be quite a few "scummy" looking people around, for want of a better word.... According to some police I got chatting to, who were on my sailing trip on their day off, there's a lot of violent crime here as well.


Another thing, while I'm on the topic of people in Cairns....so far in Australia I had been quite conscious of the fact that I hadn't seen any Aboriginal people. Seeing as this was originally their country I thought this was quite strange, but up here in Cairns though there are quite a lot. Unfortunately they all seem to be very poor and separate from the rest of the community, which really is quite sad. As I mentioned before the book I'm reading is about a shipwrecked white boy who becomes part of an Aborigine clan. The part I'm on at the moment is talking about how the white people came to take the land and the way the Aboriginal people were treated. It's quite disgusting, and puts a very different light on Australia as a country.


Moving on from that bad thought, yesterday I went on a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Most amazing experience ever. Beyond words. As soon as I got back I had to phone England to tell people about it because I was just so excited about the whole experience I had just had.


We went on a 21 foot sailing boat, which in itself was a bit of an achievement for me! I was really nervous about the boat trip. As you may or may not know, I have a problem with boats. A MAJOR problem with boats. I literally just have to look at a boat and I throw up. Well not quite, but I have been known to be horrendously sick on even half hour trips, on very large boats, on a completely calm Mediterranean. It's ridiculous, I know, but until yesterday I had never been able to find a way round it. However, you can't come to Australia and not see the Great Barrier Reef, so I was preparing myself for a lot of throwing up, but ultimately I thought it would be worth it, and I'd get over it once I was in the water, if I let myself float around a bit before actually doing anything....and we were stopping at a tropical island which had the all important factor of solid land!


Things went very differently to how I'd expected. Just before I got on the boat, there was someone selling sea sickness tablets. Normally these either don't work in the slightest or completely knock me out, but these were specially sold for people going on reef trips, so I thought I would give them a try. Absolute miracle pills. Not the slightest whiff of sea sickness whatsoever! I was completely stoked, and able to have a fantastic day.


Anyways, the trip itself. We set off on our sailing boat for the 2ish hour trip to Green Island. There was about 15 people on the trip and we spent this time getting to know one another over complimentary chocolate chip muffins. Perfect. The part of the reef we were going to was the opposite side of Green Island to where all the other boats go, and we were the only boat who had a licence to operate on this part of the reef, so it was really quite a unique experience.


Again I was quite nervous, this time about actually snorkelling in the reef. Firstly I haven't properly been swimming for years so am not at all a strong swimmer, secondly the idea of deep water and the open seas seems very terrifying and then of course there's the things I would be swimming with - I was certain some of the fish would be rather scary looking, and I'm definitely not one for being near scary looking creatures. As soon as I was in the water all my fears went away. Everything was so amazing, and I was so in awe that there was no room for nerves. We swam about 20 metres away from the boat before we reached the reef and then at some points the reef was so close to the surface that we could touch it even when snorkelling. The fish...the thousands of fish...just totally ignored me, like I was just another random fish swimming about the coral. If you just floated completely still for a while they would curiously come right up to your face. They were amazing - all colours imaginable, some as small as my thumbnail, some bigger than me. My favourite fish was (I think) a type of surgeon fish - it had a bright yellow tail and bright yellow fins, then the rest of it was this crazy yellow and sky blue psychedelic pattern! It was like the fish had been designed by some mad artist, who had spent hours carefully drawing this mad design all over the fish's body. It makes you wonder really the purpose of such a look. Nature generally has a purpose in it's designs, but these fish look like nature came into work one day on acid. I was so absorbed by these amazing creatures of the sea that before I knew it, I was begrudgingly being called back to the boat, 2 and a half hours later, for lunch. It had seemed like mere minutes. After lunch I even came back to the boat 2 hours early, preferring to spend my time swimming on the reef than on the tropical island!

So these fish themselves were amazing enough, but just as I was swimming back to the boat to be taken back to the mainland, one of the ships crew called out: "Who hasn't seen a shark yet?" Of course everyone replied that they hadn't. Then he pointed out, about two metres away from where some of us were swimming, a reef shark! It was a bit bigger than me (though I have terrible perception of size), grey, with a fin....the exact picture that would come into your mind if you were trying to imagine a shark! The first thought that came into my head was that I needed to get out of the water immediately, but I couldn't take my eyes off it, and rather than heading as fast as I could to the boat, I found myself swimming after the shark, fear numbed by fascination, in order to get a better look. It was only later I found that these sharks didn't attack people, so I don't know what sort of idiocy had come over me before I knew this.

On the return home, sunbathing on the deck of the boat, I was thinking that I could really get used to this. Maybe in addition to learning to drive I should learn to sail?

The next day I went Cairns' tropical zoo. The travel agent I booked my ticket with told me I needed about two hours to look around the whole place, so I had a nice lie in and got to the zoo at about midday. After spending five and a half hours there, and being the last person ESCORTED OUT of the park, I really felt I could have done with more time. Maybe I'm just a sucker for animals.

The zoo contained all sorts of animals native to Australia and a few not - emus, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, snakes, wombats, birds, red pandas..... I went to see them all, plus every show the zoo offered that afternoon. The shows were a great way to see the animals, as you could get close and interact with them, whilst learning more about the animal and the conservation work done to benefit it. So I cuddled a koala, patted a python on the head, tickled a wombat in it's sleep, hand fed some kangaroos, stroked a baby crocodile, watched a fullsized crocodile be hand fed a chicken.... I had so much fun! Even if I was a supposed adult on a kids day out! The keepers were so enthusiastic about their animals, which was lovely to see. Unfortunately a lot of these animals will probably be extinct soon, the red panda from Nepal only has about 400 of its kind still in the wild. For all the creatures in the zoo that are endangered, the zoo runs breeding and reintroduction to the wild programmes, and the money the people pay to go to the zoo helps to fund this. As for the animals more local to Australia, such as snakes and crocodiles, unfortunately most people misunderstand them. The snakes for example will generally leave you alone, they don't chase people down the street as seems to be an idea circulating among some Ozzies. Crocodiles usually will only attack you if you're swimming in crocodile infested water...which really is your own fault. Now I know that some people are against animals being kept in cages - surely they should be in the wild rather than in a zoo. Of course this is true, but at this zoo, all the animals are rescue animals. For example, the crocodiles have all commited offences that normally would mean the destruction of the animal (for example eating people's livestock or pets or being general menaces to society!) but luckily they have been found by sympathetic people who called the zoo rather than the animal destruction unit.

On a final note, while we are on the topic of animals, I have to recall a story I heard whilst on my reef trip. I'm sure you have probably heard about the terrible bushfires in southern Australia that have killed over a hundred people and destroyed the homes of over 800 more. On top of this it has destroyed a ridiculous amount of wildlife. And shockingly at least one of the fires is known to have been started deliberately. Why anyone would do this is beyond my comprehension. So anyways, amongst the wildlife that has suffered is the koalas, and that is where my story comes along. Whilst fighting the out of control fires, a fireman spotted a poor koala trapped up a tree, and couldn't bear to leave it to die. So he went into the fire to save the koala, as he approached the animal reached out his paw to the fireman, as though begging him to take pity and save him. The fireman reached back to the koala and lifted it from the tree, holding it in his arms as the koala wrapped itself around the fireman - his only hope of survival. The koala was saved! You probably don't know but koalas don't drink water, yet this poor koala was so thirsty from being trapped in the fire that it let the fireman hand feed it from a bottle of water, like a baby. The fireman, touched by this experience, went to visit the koala at a later date, to see how it was getting on. Now the local news reported on this story, making jokes about the fireman going on a date with the koala, and silly things like that, but due to the tragic nature of the bush fires, a great deal of people complained that this was inappropriate and disrespectful. The local news made an official apology to the koala.

Next stop Mackay....

The reason I came to Mackay, other than because I needed somewhere to break up the 24 hour drive from Cairns was for Forest Flying - where they strap you to a zip cord and you fly through the canopy of the forest, allowing you to see much more than you would from walking through on the ground. As I found out there really isn't anything else at all in Mackay, except the attraction of the surrounding rainforest. Unfortunately I couldn't do the forest flying in the end, for various reasons out of my control, so I booked myself on "Jungle Johno's Forest Tours", and absolutely didn't regret it at all.

We left at 5am so that we could get to the forest at Eungella for our morning of platypus spotting before it got too hot for the Platypus to come out. Now the platypus are never really out of the water for you to see for more than about 20 seconds, but when they do come out it is definitely a sight worth seeing. They are the cutest, most bizarre looking animals ever - with their giant bills and their big beaver tails! At first we only got a couple of second glimpses here and there - they disappear into the water so fast, and are very sensitive to any sound or movement. But as we learnt to shut up and sit still we saw them more for what they are - very funny things! They seemed to have a fondness for coming to the surface, floating on their backs and having a good scratch of their heads, which was hilarious to watch. We also saw what cheeky and playful little things they are - for about 20 minutes on and off a young male was chasing a female around the river. But the funniest thing by far was when a platypus swam up to a turtle twice his size (of which there were many in the river), bashed him on the nose and then quickly swam off!

After watching the platypus we (only 4 of us plus a guide) walked through the rainforest. We found high up looking points from which we could see for miles and miles over the rainforest, over farmland, over the small surrounding towns and all the way to the sea. The guide showed us as we walked along all the crazy plants in the rainforest and how they all live off each other. Half way along we stopped at a beautiful waterfall, with a pool you could swim in below - 2 of our group did, but I hadn't quite recovered from being wet on Fraser Island for swimming yet! However, the water did look gorgeous. And finally on the way back we stopped off in a famous pie shop. I had chips.

There isn't really words that can describe the rainforest (unless I want to write an entire book on it!) so I took a lot of photos!

I would also like to say something about the place I stayed - Larrikin Lodge. It was quite a small hostel, if you can call it that, run by a couple - Bob and Wonda, who were absolutely lovely. So incredibly helpful and accomodating. They tried to sort out forest flying for me and when they couldn't they sorted out my rainforest tour instead, gave me a lift to the bus stop, let me stay all day in the hostel for free after I'd checked out (when normally there's a day rate of $10) and where just generally lovely, chatty people.

Oh yes, and Mackay was so hot that I did in fact melt. Twice.

Fraser Island

So I just got back from a 3 day camping trip on Fraser Island - the world's largest sand island - and what an experience (in more ways than one!). It was a self drivd trip so, in two groups of about ten people, we hired 4 wheel drive trucks and camping equipment. Despite the fact that everyone was in their 20's or 30's it felt so much like a school trip - but I will come to that bit last!

First I have to talk about the part of the trip that effected me the most, which much to my surprise was the driving! Now apart from a brief period just before I was old enough to start learning, I have never wanted to drive for three reasons: 1) It's far too expensive, 2) Being very much a city girl (at least till now!) I have never felt the need, and 3) Me behind the wheel of a car sounds like an extremely dangerous idea. However, after three days of off road driving, one of the first things I want to sort out when I get back to England is some driving lessons. Once on the island there were two types of driving - once on the sand along the beach - which created such a sense of freedom; and the second in the rainforest, on crazy offroad tracks. Driving on the offroad tracks was so much fun as just a passenger that it must be incredible to actually be behind the wheel. We were flying over massive bumps and being thrown around so much, it was like being on a rollercaoster. One girl's seatbelt came undone and she went flying so high that she hit her head on the ceiling! It is quite dangerous from what we heard in the briefing - broken feet (that get crushed under the seats) and broken backs are far from unheard of!

Just the bouncing around and free spirited driving on the beach made it an awesome experience, but there were a few little problems that made the driving all the more memorable. The first sign that spelt out the nature of the rest of the trip happened as early as pulling out of the car hire shop - think long, loud beeping of horns and cars swerving out the way - if this was happening within seconds on the normal road, was our first driver up to driving on the island?! Well we made it in one piece to the ferry, first in the queue. About ten minutes later we were called forward to reverse on to the boat. So we positioned the car in place, ready to go, but then nothing, except the sound of the gear stick desperately being fumbled about. "Could the first car please reverse on to the ferry" - sounds over the loudspeakers. So now the two guys in front are both pulling the gearstick this way and that, as the ferry loudspeakers keep repeating their orders and the men on the ferry are frantically waving their arms at us. Before long, the person in charge of the loading comes up to the car: "What seems to be the problem?" We couldn't find reverse! It was the most embarrassing thing ever. When we finally found it the whole queue behind us cheered!

This wasn't the only problem we had with the car - the back door got stuck, so the 8 of us in the back seats (two benches along the sides, like an army truck) had to climb in through the back window! Also there were leaks by the drivers feet,at the broken back door and in the side windows, so every time we went through water we all got drenched - but it's all part of the experience I say!

We didn't get into any major disasters - only two near misses: On our second day we all woke up a bit too late and spent a bit too long eating breakfast, so by the time we got to the beach to drive to our destination, the tide was already coming in, and we had twenty mintutes to get off the beach before it was considered a danger zone for driving. Only problem was that we had an hours worth of driving ahead of us! So we put the best driver in the driver's seat and sped as fast as we could along the beach. By the time we were half way we already had the sea biting at our wheels, and were considering the possibility that we would have to somehow get the car up on the grassy bank and wait four hours for the tide to go back out, but we made it all the way in the end!

The second near miss came when we were on our way to catch the ferry back to the mainland. With an hour before the ferry left, we came across a broken down car blocking the narrow track that led to the barge loading point. We sent the boys out the car to investigate and help, but one of the tyres had come completely off, the sand was too soft to jack the car up to put the spare tyre on, and the front wheels were too far down a dip the even attempt to push the car out the way. The only other way to the ferry was to go round the the entire island - a four hour drive! Unless we thought up another plan we would be stuck on the island. So we began to reverse back up to the last junction to see if we could work it out. Before we reached the junction we found a track labelled "No entry, one way only". Frim looking at our map we thought that if only this was two way we could probably just make the ferry, if we drove fast. And so there was only one thing to do - reverse the wrong way down the one way OFFROAD track as fast as we possibly could. A slightly scary experience! But luckily we didn't meet any other cars, and made the ferry.

I was so glad I went on the self drive trip rather than the guided tour, as it was really half the experience - but now a bit about what we actually did and saw on Fraser Island: We had heard that our first day on the island may be our only day of sunshine, so we headed to probably the most famous part of Fraser - Lake Mackenzie. The water here was so beautiful - completely clear at first, then turquoise, and then a rich shade of blue in the middle. It was lovely and warm, and at the shore line it got deep at just the right angle so that you could lie down in the water. The sun was shining, making the water sparkle and keeping us very hot, but then there was a cloud behind us and a strong breeze blowing light rain drops onto our sunbathing bodies, providing a perfect refreshment. We had our lunch at the picnic area here, and no one could help noticing all the signs warning us about the dingos. Funnily enough on our drive to our next destination, we saw a pack of dingos trotting along the beach. They were really cute - just like small dogs.

Later on at the campsite we found out about the rest of the wildlife. Firstly (and to me most terrifyingly) we heard about the all the deadly spiders on the island and were given the advice to shake out all clothes and shoes before dressing, and worse, to always check under the toilet seat before you go to the toilet - as the deadly spiders like to hide there!

Secondly (and most annoyingly) were the bloody horse flies! These were massive - at first I thought the were moths, as they were as big as any of the biggest moths you will see in England. And even worse, they would follow you and attack you like there was no tomorrow. At any one given time on the trip you were bound to see someone flapping around like a mad person due to these horrible pests.

Another dangerous animal we had to watch out for were the snakes. Every now and then we would come across a notice board listing all the snakes in the area, and though some of them were harmless, at least half were poisonous. Before I went on this trip I heard a story about a guy who got really drunk there one night and forgot to close his tent. The next morning, he woke up to find a python peering curiously into his face, from a grand distance of 3 inches away!

Moving on to the sea - we couldn't go in it basically due to all the dangerous animals in there waiting to eat us!

Now about my favourite animal in Australia so far, and I'm surprised I haven't mentioned these amazing creatures so far, as I have been seeing them since I left Sydney. Bats. At sunrise and sunset they fly around in their swarms, making a complete racket! Although I have only seen them from afar they seem to be the most beautiful and fascinating creatures. Unfortunately they are two fast for my camera to capture them.

And finally the mysterious drop bear....this creature looks a bit like a small koala bear, and lives in the trees. You need to be carefull not to linger under trees, as these bears will drop out onto people's heads to steal food, but they are very agressive, and will tear at your hair and scratch your face....I later found out that this infamous creature was nothing but a myth, created to scare us foreigners!

Anyways, on with our trip - our next stop was the island's shipwreck. This whole wreck was once a Japanese cruise ship - now it is nothing but a rusting metal shell of a ship, washed up on West coast of Fraser Island, and slowly being eaten away by the sea. It was quie interesting to look at the ship, imagining what it once was, imagining the fatal storm throwing it about, then seeing the destruction that is still taking place. I'm not sure how long it will take, but before long, there will be nothing left.

That night after setting up our tents and eating our bbq dinner, we set off to the beach with a few bottles of wine. As soon as we got there we found ourselves in silence gazing up at the breathtaking sky. I have honestly never seen so many stars in my life - not only was this in the complete wilderness, but I think I am right in saying that there is a hole in the ozone layer right above Australia (at least global warming has some advantages!). I seriously felt like I was inside an astronomy book or a planetarium, it was incredible. You could even see the glowing white cloud in a band surrounding hundreds of stars, which is the famous feature of the Milky Way!


The next day we woke up to the sound of torrential rain. Not the best thing to be hearing on a camping trip, yet we wouldn't let this stop us. We piled in the car and headed off to Indian Head - the highest point on Fraser Island. After racing against the tide, we parked our car at the bottom and proceeded (in our flip flops) to climb up some very slippery rocks to the top of the cliff, where we could look out to sea. People often spot sharks, manta rays and turtles gere, but the day was so overcast that we could see nothing. What we could see in the other direction however, was miles of sand dune and rainforest.

As we headed back down ready to make the 5km walk to the Champagne Pools, the rain for heavier, but we put our belongings in the car and decided to brave it. After just a couple of minutes we were so completely soaked through that we may as well have jumped fully clothed into a lake. It was quite ridiculous really, but it was still really warm and we found it hilarious, so I think it was probably more fun that way! We got to the Champagne Pools, which were giant rock pools, shallow enough to sit in, by the sea. Even with the weather how it was, you could see that they were a creamy "champagne" type colour, but I imagine on a clear day, they would be beautiful.

We went back to the camp early that day, as by the time we had walked the second 5km back from the Champagne Pools we were pretty fed up of being soaking wet. The afternoon was spent huddled in a bbq area of the campsite, eating immense amounts of warm food, drinking goon (cheap boxed wine, infamous in Australia) to try and warm up, and feeling generally pretty damp, despite wearing every last piece of dry clothing we owned! That night the majority of our car (except an older couple and a girl we didn't get on with) went into one tent with our torches, continued to drink the remaining goon and told silly stories. It really reminded me of being 15 again and it was great fun!

Thankfully the rain stopped for our last day, as taking the tent down in the rain would have been an absolute nightmare. So joyful at the the idea of no rain, we headed to another lake - Lake Wabby. This lake is slowly being swallowed up by the sand dunes, which are being blown further into it by the wind. So this too, like the shipwreck, will before long be gone. We had to walk 2km over the sand dunes to get to the lake in the first place, and it was such a dramatic (if physically exhausting) walk. It was like being in the desert, but then if you looked to either side you could see the rainforest! Bizarre! Then finally at the top of one of the dunes we saw the beautiful blue-green lake below us. So we ran down the steep bank and straight into the water. Then, if you know me well you will understand, a shocking thing happenend. I - the girl who is terrified of flying objects (i.e. balls) coming at her, who closes her eyes while playing ball sports and who gets nervous when she sees people playing football near her - I played frisbee. This has never happened before.

So that was the awesome trip that was Fraser Island, and I really did have so much fun. However, I said at the beginning that I would write about the ridiculous drama that went on between the two cars, that made things feel like a school trip. It all started when one girl from the other car tripped over one of our tents, and my friend Lucy laughed. This was the beginning of the end. The girl who tripped over went completely mental, calling Lucy all sorts of things. Then that night there was an arguement between these two, shouted from one tent to another, with poor Lucy being told how immature and stupid she was. By the next day the whole campsite had heard a ridiculous and totally fictional rumour, involving Lucy's supposed sexual endevours. It was ridiculous, and quite upset Lucy, but we put it behind us and took no notice of the girls in the other car who were now ignoring us.

Now the girl I mentioned earlier who we didn't get on with had suddenly begun hanging round with the other group, which fair enough if she got on with them better, but then, every meal time, as soon as food was cooked she would reappear, take a plate of food and disappear with it back to the others. Then she would return, dumping the dirty plate with us, and disappear again. Whenever we were loading the car, cleaning up, or doing anything that involved work, she was no where to be found. Now this annoyed everyone, and led her to exclude herself from our group, but it was no major deal. What really pushed it too far and brought the awkwardness between the two groups further on, happened on the last day, when we cooked her breakfast and she as usual came to dump the dirty plate, smugly put it down and return to the other group laughing. Unfortunately for the peace, the two groups were close enough together for us to hear her comment about us basically being her slaves and doing all her work for her.

By this point we refused to have her in our car, so we swapped her for two Swedish girls that were being left out in the all-English other car. This new group clicked much better than the previous one, and we ended up having a much more pleasant last day. By the time we returned to the hostel, the two groups were not only completely blanking each other but were loudly making very bitchy comments in each others direction. It was absolutely ridiculous, but still the drama had yet to escalate! I hadn't been directly involved up until now, but I soon would....

That night our group went to the bar in the hostel, and got quite friendly with two members of staff - one French, one Welsh, and their local friend. After the bar closed and everyone else had got out the way, the staff invited us to the pool, where we all jumped in (goon in tow) and had a pool party. Before long we noticed girls from the other group peering round the corner at us. When they realised that we had spotted them, one stepped forward and gave us a lecture about how much trouble we would be in, but we ignored her. Then, every now and then we would see one run past and take a photo! Very bizarre - but I assume as some sort of evidence?! Well whatever, we didn't care, until in the end they came and crashed the pool party, so we left and carried on partying in the staff quarters.

Now Lucy and I left for five minutes with the staffs' local friend (Brett) to buy some sweets from the nearby petrol garage, and when we returned all hell had broken loose! The girls were crying, the boys were violently pacing, everyone was shouting (all from the other group I should point out - our group sat watching from the sidelines) and the security guard was on the phone to the police! Apparently, the French member of staff had hidden their clothes from the pool as a joke, but the joke backfired when they all got upset. Before long, the poor guy had been turned into a crazed lunatic who was trying to rob them of all their passports money and phones. The story kept getting worse and worse by the second with more stories about this guy being invented. Now apparently he was groping all the girls in the pool, was on ecstacy, and had always set out to steal their belongings, rape the girls and fight the boys. At this point I stepped in, seeing as the police had been called, to try and calm them down and set things straight. I had talked to this guy a lot in the bar earlier and could see that he was a perfectly decent bloke, not a crazed psychopath like they were claiming. He hadn't been groping girls in the pool because for the entire time the other group was in the pool I had been sat on a sun lounger talking to him, and I told them I was willing to tell the police this. And thirdly we was not on drugs, that was quite clear, he was just very drunk, as shown by him telling me his life story and falling over numerous times. He didn't mean anything maliciously, it was just a drunken prank gone wrong.

After explaining this to them, the girls went ballistic. All of a sudden I was the one on drugs (which I wasn't, and wasn't even particularly drunk) and was "gurning my face off". This shocked me a little, and just added to them showing how stupid they were. Luckily when the police arrived and talked to everyone, they saw the whole thing for what it was, could tell quite obviously that no one was on drugs, and knew immediately that the other group was drunk, being ridiculous and making things up. This led to an arguement between them and the police, until the policeman in charge came along and put them in their place....something that ended in everyone watching loudly applauding the police!

What ridiculous going ons! Well after this, Lucy and I actually couldn't bear to stay in the hostel with those idiots pacing up and down fuming about what had happened, so we went with the local dude, Brett, and stayed up all night watching stupid films and playing remote control cars.

So there we have the eventful story of the Fraser Island drama! But one good thing came out of it all....I made friends with the guy Brett, who let me come round his house the next day to watch an Australian episode of Neighbours!!!! For me this was about a year in the future, and very exciting. Yes I am incredibly sad!

Ahh yes...so Surfers Paradise. Don't think I will be going there again. I feel very lucky though, as the hostel I was staying in was completely chav central, but the apartment that I was sharing and 7 other really nice people. They didn't fit in with the rest of the hostel, but they were so friendly. I asked one of the girls in my dorm what there was to do, and apparently the only thing was theme parks or go to the beach. Even the beach I have heard isn't that great, just has good waves, and the people are pretty much the same as in the hostel. We spent the day in our communal lounge playing cards and watching daytime tv due to torrential rain. At least I was only there for a day, and at least the people I was sharing with were really nice. We went out to a club later which might as well have been a club in England, you wouldn't have been able to tell.
Had a bit of a panic about the whereabouts of my credit card for the duration of my next coach journey. I found it in my passport 6 hours later.

So now I'm in Hervey Bay. There is not a lot here but the beach is absolutely gorgeous. I've just spent a really nice day sunbathing and swimming in the turquoise waters, surrounded by rainforest. Really, really gorgeous place. Super friendly people.

I thought I should read something set in Australia, whilst lying around in the sun, so I bought a book about a guy in the 1800's who was shipwrecked on the coast of Australia and adopted by an aboriginal clan. Can't remember what it's called or who it's by but so far it's really good.

I'm off to Fraser Island tomorrow - the worlds largest sand island - for a 3 day 4wd camping adventure. Really looking forward to it! Everyone I've met who have already done it says it's amazing!

Before I go, I suppose I should mention Valentines Day. I spoke to a lot of my friends who were complaining about being single and depressed yesterday. Well....I spent it on my own in a caravan with a takeaway and some girly magazines and couldn't have been happier. Even though I'm travelling alone, I'm as far from lonely as I could be. I'm discovering the most amazing independence that comes with backpacking on your own, and it really is the greatest lifestyle ever. It really gives you the opportunity to reflect on how beautiful the world is and how amazing life is. I've always been sociable, but travelling alone takes that to new levels - everyone you meet becomes your new friend. Throughout this trip when I've been sitting alone - be it in my caravan, on the edge of a cliff looking out to the endless sea, on a breathtaking beach, in my teepee, or in the middle of the rainforest surrounded by giant lizards - I've had a real chance to think about the way I want my life to be....and I think....just maybe...I'm turning into a total hippy. We don't really need our big mansions, designer clothes and flashy cars. We don't even need to find a one true love to keep us safe and loved for the rest of our lives. The world is so incredible that we just need to learn to appreciate it. And I know that I'm so lucky to be able to travel the world and see all the things I'm seeing, that rather than getting some flashy job and becoming rich, maybe I should be spending my life helping the worlds less fortunate people....because surely that would be making more of my life.....

I shall be ignoring all comments on the last paragraph and me becoming a hippy after going to Byron Bay.

So now I want to move to Byron Bay!!

On Monday I reluctantly left Sydney (my new favourite city!) to embark on a thirteen hour coach journey that I most certainly wasn't looking forward to. I always get restless enough on the four and a half hours from London to Leeds - how on earth was I going to cope with thirteen hours? Much to my surprise I wasn't bored for a second! Not only did we have a really entertaining driver who showed us 4 films and gave us frequent food stops, but the scenery we passed was just so beautiful that I spent the entire ride in awe. We drove up the Pacific Highway, first through beautiful mountains, then green farmland that became more and more tropical the further north we got. It was incredible how much the landscape could change in a thirteen hour drive. While at first I was getting excited about seeing cows and horses in the fields, by the end of the journey I was seeing families of kangaroos hopping around and banana trees! Neither of which I've ever seen before.

When I arrived at Byron Bay I was picked up and taken to my hostel - the Arts Factory Lodge - which honestly has to be the greatest hostel of all time...ever. I don't know if there's anything like it anywhere else in the world, and I'm not sure anyone could imagine it without seeing the reat thing, but it is a whole new universe in itself. For starters I've been staying in a giant 10 man teepee. The Arts Factory is situated about 10 minute walk from town, in the forest. As it's all pretty much outdoor open plan, walking around the hostel are turkeys and giant lizards. The common room area is basically hammocks hung from trees around a small lake - it's all just so chilled out and beautiful. On the walls that we do have are paintings of Buddha and other such things. However, like everywhere, this place is also made special by the people here. There are two main interesting characters of the Arts Factory - Che and Paul. Che sits by the volley ball pit with his digeridoos. He doesn't say anything much, just sits there playing digeridoo all day, and offers free lessons to anyone who wants to give it a go! Paul is the opposite of Che, loud and insane. You can always hear when he is nearby. Last night I walked into the bar and there he was, on stage, singing a song consisting of only the repeated words: "Cows go moo, cos there's nothing else to do". The night before I found him following a turkey round making turkey noises. Despite this seeming insanity, Paul offers a bushwalk three times a week which sounds really really good, unfortunately I didn't manage to go on one. He takes you around the surrounding forest and shows you how to make things out of plants - rope, soap, toilet paper, which ones you can eat, which ones have medicinal purposes, etc etc. Apparently the night I arrived they watched a snake eat a possum for about an hour.

So anyways on to Byron Bay itself. It's a lovely town, really friendly people (if total hippies), some great quircky shops, a great beach, and beautiful countryside all around. It's the kind of place that makes you want to drop everything and spend your life there, living in the forest, growing your own food and making a living off of selling slef-made bracelets on the beach.

As soon as I got to my teepee, I met a girl whose birthday it was. She invited me straight out to an infamous Byron Bay club - "Cheeky Monkeys". Of course I accepted. My friend Andrew had told me that I had to go here whilst in Byron Bay, and it seems to be the place everyone goes, but hates to admit they enjoyed. I bought a flashing cup that gets refilled with any spirit at a discounted price, then within minutes I was dancing on tables again. This seems to be an ongoing theme of Australian clubbing. The music was absolutely cringeworthy, but of course we all knew all the words and all acted like they were the greatest songs ever written. It was the type of night where you just have to let go, otherwise you will never enjoy it.

However as much as I was enjoying it, it soon started to eat up my money, so I left with a guy that I met (Mike) to go and find a bottle shop that might still be open. On our mission we met an old man with a long grey beard, a scottish accent and a cape. He told us that it was an eclipse of the moon that night, so we decided to give up our alcohol hunt and go to the beach to watch the eclipse. On arrival at the beach, someone else told us it was Bob Marley's birthday. So of course there were loads of people about with fires and guitars, singing Red Hot Chilli Peppers and other typical surfer music. It was a lovely atmosphere and well worth getting covered in sand for.

The following day all of us who had gone out the night before had horrendous hangovers, so we decided to visit this tea tree lake. It was a reasonably sized lake (for English standards but certainly not Canadian), surrounded by tea trees. The roots of the trees go into the lake, so all the water contains tea tree oil. We spent about two hours floating around in this lake. The water was so warm and soft, it was the most relaxing day ever. Afterwards my skin and hair felt incredible, softer than I could imagine skin and hair could get! Definitely a place to visit if in the Byron Bay area - it was only twenty minutes on the bus.

That night, to match the rest of our relaxing day we decided to go to the cinema in the Arts Factory. Best cinema in the world. Each person has a giant half-bed half-sofa to lie back in and a big comfy thing in front of you to put your feet up on. Don't think I have ever been so comfortable in my life.

On my second full day in the Byron Bay area, I had booked my self on "Jim's Alternative Tours" to Nimbin.... Another experience that is totally in a universe of it's own. We were all picked up in a big van, apparently the oldest public vehicle still on the road(!), by a hippy called Douggy. Throughout the journey, Douggy told us all about the uses of Marijuana, that it should be legalised, how the police and government are the real criminals, about the evil pharmaceutical companies, the evil "multi-national corporations"who are "rape pillage and plunder"ing the world. When he wasn't sharing his philosophical views with us, we had Pink Floyd or similar blasting out at full volume.

The first stop on our tour was the local pub, where we stocked up on alcohol for the rest of the trip, then we went on to the town of Nimbin. Now Nimbin is a bizarre place, it's almost like a museum town. It's just one small street really of cafes and tribal shops but the whole theme is of the cannabis culture. The entire population is hippies, or cannabis-culture tourists. People sit in the cafes smoking joints, and the workers of the cafes are all so stoned that you have to expect your food to take a long, long while...and don't be surprised if you get a completely different thing to what you ordered! The street is lined with people selling cannabis cookies and cannabis itself. You would think it is legal there, but the residents have a well working system of lookouts who shout "taxi" if the police are coming. We went to visit the Nimbin museum, for an optional donation of $2, but it was more of an art gallery in my opinion. It reminded me a bit of my bedroom when I was sixteen! - with anti-system protest art everywhere and hippy culture paraphanelia, mixed with lots of psychedelic art and random objects!

After the Nimbin stop the bus was a lot quieter.... We then drove to a beautiful rainforest. Douggy was telling us that the original people who lived in the area were "country-music-listening rednecks" and that the rainforest was due to be part of a major logging project. Thanks to him and his hippy friends tying themselves to trees and blockading the roads, the rainforest was saved and is now a national heretidge site. We went to a lookout point over the top of a 100m waterfall. It was absolutely stunning. You could see across the whole rainforest and beyond for miles and miles and miles. A real experience that makes everyone just stand silently in awe.

Following some much appreciated watermelon, we were on our way again to Douggy's friend's house! Now this guy was an even bigger hippy than Douggy. When we arrived he came to greet us with is waist length grey hair, beard and moustache, wearing only a baggy shirt and underpants! He showed us his "art collection" consisting of old fridges and stolen road signs, then took us to his house - a fairy light covered shed by a pond - where he fed us his home brewed beer and nuts.

Now as entertaining as Douggy's friend was as a person, the real reason we came to see him, was the land surrounding his house - which he had turned into a botanical garden, with over 5000 species of beautiful tropical plants (and the odd broken fridge scattered here and there. The plants were beautiful, but the best part of this walk through his garden was the giant iguanas we saw - about a metre long, darting across our paths to a safe distance up a tree where they could hiss at us!

A very unique trip there with Douggy, but an awesome experience.

On getting back for my last night in Byron Bay, the place I had fallen in love with, I decided it was going to have to be a crazy night. So I got messages to all the great friends I had made in this wonderful place and got a load of people to the common area of our hostel with a good few crates of wine to get the party started. The night ended up being a crazy one. I did go to Cheeky Monkeys at first but then Mike and I left for the beach, then his hostel where a few guys were still partying and I discovered the amazing fun you can have swinging about in a hammock....where I preceded to fall asleep until five minutes before I was due to check out of the Arts Factory!

I was so sad to leave Byron Bay, just as I was with Sydney. I booked the last possible bus to Surfers Paradise so that I could spend as much of the day exploring Byron Bay, the beach and the surrounding forest. Of course this just made me realise how much more there is to do there that I am missing out on. A pretty good excuse to come back! The scenery was beautiful and I took a ridiculous amount of photos (which will be uploaded to the net as soon as I figure out how to do it!) but the most amazing thing I saw unfortunately I couldn't take a photo of. It was standing on the most easterly point of mainland Australia, which happened to be, funnily enough, a cliff overlooking the sea. My friend had told me the night before that she had been hanggliding and seen lots and lots of sharks in the water, so I was looking down into the sea to see if I could spot any, and within a couple of minutes I saw two great white sharks! It was such an exciting experience, the water was so clear that you could really see what they were and they were awesome looking creatures. I'm so happy that I had the opportunity to see them in the wild like that.

Well that's Byron Bay done with, and I'm now using the hostel internet in Surfers Paradise...so far I'm not too sure about this place, after Byron Bay! It really is a bit of a party city and not loads else. There are a lot of nightclubs, theme/water parks and casinos...which does sound like my kind of place, but what one of the lads getting the car back to the hostel with me said...it's just like being in Malia or somewhere. Another person said that the type of people you get are young (i.e. 18) lairy Brit "yobbos" haha. I'm not sure if this is what I want nowadays, I prefer things to have a bit of soul, but I will get out there in the centre of the nightlife as usual and probably have a great time, just I doubt I will be as sorry to leave as I was with Sydney or Byron.

On a more positive side about Surfers, it seems like a totally mad place from what I've experienced so far - and that was only the journey from the coach station to the hostel. I was picked up in a limo that the hostel owns, along with 3 other girls. When the driver opened the trunk to put our luggage in, there were two guys lying in there! The driver had no idea, and this made him really jump...much to the guys in the trunks' amusement! Apparently they were bored waiting for their friend to pick them up some beers so they thought they'd hide in the trunk of the hostels limo....

Well we will soon see what Surfers has to offer.

It has begun!!! Now in Sydney....

Ok, rule number one of travelling: Bus sight-seeing tours are on buses for a reason, do not attempt to walk them.
So of course, the first thing I did when I got to Sydney was get a map for the bus sight-seeing tour and save $25 by walking it. By the end my legs felt completely like jelly, and my feet are now nicely covered in blisters, but at the same time I thought walking the route (and getting lost 3 times in the process) gave me more of a feel for what Sydney's really about.
My tour took me through China town, to Darling Harbour - a little harbour with some trendy looking bars, a submarine and a pirate ship... Sitting down in the shade for a minute, to avoid melting in the heat, I started to reflect on where I was. I had always been excited about coming travelling, but the real excitement had come the second I walked through security at Hong Kong airport. That was when it suddenly it me that I was travelling for 7 months in random countries on my own. Everything suddenly seemed a bit daunting, but after about 20 seconds I told myself to shut up and felt incredibly excited...probably more than I ever have in my life. Now sitting on the bridge in Darling Harbour, I had a massive grin on my face, and thought "Here I am, it's begun! And it's fantastic!"
Next I walked up George Street (the street I'm staying at the far end of) to Sydney Harbour, which I thought was absolutely beautiful. That's when I decided that I could easily live in Sydney - a feeling which has grown so much in the past few days, that I've totally fallen in love with the city. In contrast, the second I saw the Opera House, which is just round the corner, I burst out laughing... I hate to be so negative about it, because I really do love Sydney... but it's tiny!!! I was expecting something far more impressive. Maybe Hong Kong has destroyed my idea of what the size of buildings should be!
So anyways, after my exhausting tour I went back to the hostel, ready to completely crash out and get over my flight, in my nice comfy bed. Not likely. The hostel I'm staying in, Wake Up! Has been voted the best hostel in the world, and it certainly lives up to its reputation. Half an hour later I was downstairs in the hostel's club, with blue and yellow warpaint on my face and a piece of yellow cloth tied round my head (Rambo style, but in the colours of Sweden as it was a Swedish party), playing drinking games with a couple of girls from my dorm and some random Geordie lads.
At this point I feel it's appropriate to mention that Sydney is full of foreigners. It literally seems like 80% of people in the city or on the beach are travellers.
Well whoever the people are, Sydney certainly likes to party. The following night I decided to go out for "just a couple of quiet drinks" with another girl from my dorm and the friends she'd made in Syney. Much against my plans the night resulted in dancing on top of the bar to YMCA and other equally ridiculous songs. So this is Sydney - and it fits me perfectly.
Today, I dragged myself out of bed to go back to sleep on the famous Bondi Beach. It wasn't quite as spectacular as I'd expected it, but was still a good beach. We have a heatwave here in Sydney at the moment, the temperature is supposed to be well in the 40's. Bondi Beach has quite a big breeze though, so it was comfortable enough - just right in my opinion.
When I woke up a few hours later I decided to make the coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee beach - something that would be my first recommendation for Sydney. The walk takes you to all the beaches along that coast - some surf beaches, some sunbathing beaches, some great rock pools, a cemetary looking out to the sea - a really lovely, peaceful contrast to the busy beaches, and some great cliff faces. Finally before I got to Coogee beach, I sat on some rocks on a cliff looking out to the sea. The rocks reminded me of Arizona or somewhere - red, with scrubby looking bushes poking out here and there. I was the only person there, and there was a real sense of solitude - the kind that makes you feel totally one with the world, and really appreciate the beautiful place we live in. It was at this point I was really glad that I was travelling alone. I can still find people to party with, but only alone can you get moments of peace like that.
Anyways 7 minutes left of my internet left, so this is the end of the blog for now! I will hopefully be back online in Byron Bay - where I arrive on Monday night.
Though first quick note to let you know I've added 2 more places to the trip - Singapore and Malaysia!