Australia's East Coast

It has been a while but I'm having just so much fun!! Feels like Australia flew past as we've just arrived in New Zealand!

My first stop was Sydney, where I sent the last email, and I had planned to spend 6 days there. I ended up staying 2 weeks! I was staying at the much talked about Wake-Up! hostel and at 7am was faced with walking into a dorm full of 9 sleeping people to which I chickened out! First of all I couldn't work out which bed was mine amid the mass of duvets and too scared to make a sound (bearing in mind this was my 2nd hostel encounter) I crept back out to the lounge and watched Australia's answer to GMTV! At 9am I finally couldn't keep my eyes open a moment longer and resist crawling into a bed... clean or not! Met a couple of people in my dorm (room 103 - became legendary!): Susie (a nurse from Perth) and Aidan (a slimy Brit who was leaving that day... phew!) After a couple of hours kip I woke up to find two guys that James and I had met in Singapore in room 103; Ferg and Matt!

That afternoon I walked down to the Harbour and strolled around the Opera House and Circular Quays. Having picked up some info I realised I was in time to watch a ballet demonstration the next day. Having overslept, I was legging it down Pitt St to the Harbour, ran up to the box office and managed to get myself a free ticket!! I walked into the main theatre to see the end of the barre work. The first 30 minutes was effectively a ballet class with a ex-professional dancer talking through the basics. The second stage was an introduction to the orchestra; the conductor talked about the instruments with some of the musicians giving demos. The piece they played at the end was actually the same piece of music I had danced my solo to in Janie's ballet show a couple of years ago! The last section was a performance of Jerome Robbin's 'The Concert'.

I also spent a day exploring Darling Harbour and a weekend lazing around the hostel in the TV lounge watching Harry Potter a million times over whilst curing a hangover. My excuse for laziness was that I was waiting to do all the special stuff when James arrived!! (Short story, James flew to Melbourne and I flew to Sydney, we hated being apart so we met up!)

Something very special about Wake Up! is the bar it has located in the basement; Side bar! Now I must let you into a drinking custom for all backpackers in Australia... Considering we had come from Thailand where you could buy a bucket of Vodka & Redbull for a couple of quid we couldn't adjust to London prices again, enter Goon! The ultimate backpackers drink; sort of like wine (although contains no grapes but fish eggs in the ingredients list) at the bargain price of $10 for 4 litres!! That, therefore, explains why many photos from this week were taken at (a) sunset or (b) in Side Bar.

On our first day together we walked down to the Harbour and took the 'Essential Tour' of the Opera House which showed us many of the theatres and gave us an insight into the history of the build. Having got a taste for what the Opera House had to offer we bought two tickets to a new show coming to the stage; Headlock, a three-person cast of brothers of which one of them was spending his first 24 hours in prison. After we strolled around the Botanic Gardens and watched the sunset over the bridge and Opera House. The following day we took the ferry across to Manly and walked down to Shelley bay to watch the sunset. In the evening, James met up with his Dad's friend Si in town before introducing him to the Side Bar later in the evening!

Another 'must-do' whilst in Sydney was of course the Sydney Harbour bridge climb which James and I did at sunset. Great timing on our behalf as we started the ascent in daylight and reached the top in time for a night shot of the city in lights! It was so much fun getting dressed up in jump suits - had a great group too! The other excursion we did was visiting Coogee and Bondi beach. On my first Friday in the city I went on the guided tour put on by Wake Up! with my new best friend Sarah! Luckily for James and the Essex boys, I became a fully-knowledgeable tour guide for everyone a week later!!

Up very early on a Monday morning after a rather alcohol-fueled last night in Sydney, we joined our Oz Experience. For me, this was a first but James had already journeyed up from Melbourne with them on a rather cramped minibus. I couldn't understand what we was complaining about when we boarded a lovely 52-leather seated coach with a lovely driver called Bernie! It was quite a long drive to our first stop, Surf Camp, and we became familiarised with the Oz Experience brekkies; stopping at a petrol station with only one overpriced cafe! Beef pies at 7am has become quite an Ozzie custom for us! En route to Surf Camp we stopped at a surf museum which has been set up by Scott Dillon, an ex-international surfer, but to Bernie's dismay we quizzed him on his shark encounters rather than surfing!! He considered himself to be reassuring in telling us we would be fine (despite his experience of a shark swimming past him and leaving a tooth engulfed in his neck!! N.B. He wears the tooth on a necklace and finds he sometimes wakes up with the tooth digging into him again!) as long as we were wise and didn't surf in the early morning or dusk when they would be hungry (like humans!)... great, we were all looking forward to our 7am surf lesson the next day!! Most of the girls left here absolutely certain they would not do the surf lesson! Surf camp itself was a great spot on the coast. We arrived in time for a feast of a dinner and drinking beers around a camp fire!

The surf lesson was a tad tedious if I'm honest; up at 6am, breakfast and then putting on WET wet suits and trying to manage an 8ft polystyrene surf board down to the beach. We had a quick lesson on the beach where they taught us the best ways to stand, jump up and, most importantly, recover after a washout. I shocked myself when I was the first to catch a wave (regardless of whether the instructor pushed me into the wave and told me when to jump up, I remained to be the first to stand up - photos to prove!). Unfortunately it seemed it was just a stroke of beginners luck. My first washout involved me diving head first into the sea bed; just a tad scary and vomiticous when I swallowed down a pint of sea water on my way up! My second (and last) washout involved tumbling head first, again, and spinning around to the point where I knew not which way was up and saw my life flash before my eyes! I sat out for the rest of the lesson... (photos to prove that too!)

Next stop on the Oz Experience bus was Byron Bay, the notorious hippy town. Great beach, beautiful sunshine and it was even better when we bumped into our mates from Sydney; Sarah and the Essex boys. I really felt like I was on holiday here as our days consisted of lay-ins, sunbathing, BBQs on the beach and dancing on the tables in our local, 'Cheeky Monkeys'!

Bit of a change on pace following Byron Bay. We took the bus to Surfers' Paradise where we were greeted by Madeline & Tom who were currently doing a house-swap with a couple that lived in the suburbs of Brisbane. I can't tell you how much of a luxury it was to sit in a car and eat vegetables (not at the same time though, that would be weird!) We were treated like absolute Kings! On our first full day, after a lovely nights sleep(!), we drove to Tamborine Mountain and perused the quirky shops and took a walk to a waterfall. Unfortunately at the same time one of the worst cyclones Australia has had in years decided to hit the east coast. If anything, this made me even more grateful for the home comforts! In the evening, Madeline and Tom (and Gypsy - the sat nav) had the arduous task of locating my great aunt, uncle and second cousins' house. To cut a long story short:

(i) We drove to the address of Paula and Brian, only to find an empty house (silver lining was I got to meet one of my second cousins here, Andrew)
(ii) Having got Jane's address we drove to a second house. I had to knock on the door whilst James, Madeline & Tom HID behind a concrete pillar only to have a lady answer whilst on the phone, look at me quizzically, I meekily said 'Jane?' but it was soon clear she wasn't Jane and a Jane didn't live there, at which point my three musketeers came out of hiding. The poor woman! And what must the person on the end of the phone have thought was happening?
(iii) Third time lucky... we arrived at the right street and the right number to be greeted by the family.

It was so lovely meeting everyone and seeing Paula and Brian again. It is scary how similar Gran and Paula are!! Great hearing some old stories, and a little scary too! But we had a lovely evening. Got a group family photo at the end of the night after a yummy Aussie barbie!

The next day was a day for us to explore Brisbane city centre. We took the bus early in the morning so we had the full day, took the RiverCat up and down the river, did a spot of shopping and spent a while in the casino! James resisted the poker table although we did have some fun on the roulette table and slot machines! We had to leave Brisbane ridiculously early the next day. Madeline & Tom were amazing and drove us all the way into town at 5am so we could catch our bus to Noosa. I was all set for a little snooze on the bus, as you do, only to be woken up and told we're going for a walk up a mountain! Hmmm... Anyway, I did it and at the viewpoint, Wild Horse Mt Lookout, the sight was pretty incredible.

Noosa itself was suffering from the cyclone so the weather wasn't great, hostel was fantastic though! We did get down to the beach to see some amazing surfing. However, the main reason for our stay in Noosa was to visit Steve Irwin's Austrlia Zoo. We took the shuttle bus and were entertained by episodes from his 'Crocodile Hunter' series along the way. The zoo itself was brilliant; lots of talks about the conservations projects. There was a great show in the 'Crocoseum' where they brought out crocodiles and snakes! The highlight for me was being able to stroke a koala and kangeroo! Totally Aussie!

Rainbow beach was the next stop up the east coast, aka Sleepyville. Not sure I met any locals, infact saw any people during my stay here at all! It was a bit of a faux pas staying here as it is more a gateway for people to get to Fraser Island, however we did meet quite a few cool people who we spent the rest of the way up north bumping into!

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. James, our friends Mark & Alison, and four other guys crammed into a 4WD and headed over there for a big adventure. After some hair-raising driving (no criticism to Mark's driving but the roads and top-heavy vehicle were terrifying) we stopped at Eli Creek. It is a freshwater stream from the centre of the island leading out to the sea which has such a strong current that you can float down at ease, pretty cool! We also stopped at an amazing shipwreck which we walked around. Alison, the only other person old enough to drive, took to the wheel. Only five minutes in her confidence was sky high and she decided to go 80km over a washout. The girl got quite some air under the vehicle, just enough to burst our two back tyres... this really helped us bond with the four other guys (not! - they were plonkers, to put it nicely!). Poor Ali was mortified. We were in quite a dilemma though as we only had one spare tyre with us and a jack that didn't work! We managed to gather quite a lot of attention though and had a couple of lovely Aussie guys change our wheel for us. Another stroke of luck when another group from our hostel drove past so we were able to get our second tyre changed!

After all the drama we were able to continue up the 125km beach to Indian Head which is a viewpoint at the most north-easterly point. Apparently it is a good spot to see whales which are migrating north but we weren't so lucky. Our accommodation on the island was, ummm basic. I got to practice my tent-assembling skills again though! It has to be said, spending a night under the amazing star-lit sky was incredible. Saw a couple of shooting stars too so I made a few wishes to keep the dingos away! Our second day on the island was spent driving into the centre to Lake Wabby, which is basically a vast sand dune with a steep hill descending into the water. James rolled all the way down into the water!! That night, having been promised to stay at an Aboriginal campsite where everyone dances around a camp fire with paint over them, we returned to the same camp spot having had no luck finding it on the map! The goon was flowing at night and we made an amazing feast of pasta carbonara with sausage!!

I was pretty ready to leave Fraser Island having had two uncomfortable nights sleep, no shower and terrifying toilet experiences with dingos but we couldn't leave without admiring the beautiful Lake Mackenzie. Mountains in the background, powdery sand and turquoise waters, it was a brilliant memory to leave the island with. We had a pretty nail biting driveback to the port; it was a combination of bad signposts, rain and a car full of tension but we managed to get there just in time. Luckily for us we saw some dolphins on the ferry ride returning to Hervey Bay. Not so lucky for Ali though who had to pick up a $490 bill for the damage to the tyres!

Kroombit Cattle Station was our next stop on the Oz experience which meant us heading away from the coast and into the 'outback'. We were greeted by a boot-walking, hay-chewing cowboy!! In the afternoon we were taught how to lasoo and crack a whip and had the chance to participate in a goat rodeo. Everyone was terrified when one of the goats jumped up onto the sides of the wooden enclosure just above our heads! The cowboy got us to try a mysterious meat (Dad, you would be proud) and it turned out to be venison! Had many a laugh when James got on the mechanical bull. In fact I have a video to show you all when I get back!

We had a killer 14 hour journey to Airlie beach but what a wicked place. We were here as it is a gateway to the Whitsundays. James, Ali and I had booked to stay two nights on a catamaran, Powerplay. It was ultimately a diving boat so James and Ali got to see some pretty cool things whilst I sunbathed on the boat and chilled out in the hot tub... why oh why did I take a gap year??! We were very lucky our skipper had us anchored in Tongue Bay for breakfast the next morning where we could spot turtles. Shortly after we took the speedboat to the shore and short walk to Whitehaven beach viewpoint and it was incredible! Our 'Mum' on the boat, Kerry, said Whitehaven beach is the only place which actually looks better in real life than the postcards. So true. James and I were walking in the sand saying 'We are actually in paradise!'.

Back on land we had a couple of days in Airlie to soak up the nightlife before saying farewell to Ali who we had been traveling with for some time. We headed up to Magnetic Island which is just east of Townsville. On our first afternoon we took the Forts Walk at the north of the island to see lookouts they had built during the Second World War. We were so lucky to see two wild koalas in one tree, one of which was a baby too!

We stayed at the only hostel located on the beach so were able to stroll down the next day. Included in our package was an hour cayaking but after 15 minutes my arms were tired and James was bored so that ended that experience pretty quickly. We both hired snorkeling gear and James tried very hard to get me over my snorkeling fear, not with much success though! I was able to get over my fin-related trauma in the bar that night celebrating our Canadian friend's 19th birthday.

We took our last leg of the Oz experience from Magnetic Island to Cairns. On the way we stopped at a crocodile farm which we had heard from others was pretty cool and it lived up to expectations. We arrived in time for feeding so got to see lots of teeth! A highlight for me though was being able to hand-feed kangeroos. James had a parrot on his shoulder while I held a baby crocodile too!

Finally we arrived in Cairns, our final destination in Australia and first stop was without a doubt was the cinema to watch Sex and the City! I had waited so long and it lived up to expectations!! But to experience what Cairns really had to offer we went out on a day trip to the barrier reef. We stopped at Michaelmas Cay, one of the largest populated bird islands in the world, for snorkeling and diving. Whilst James snorkeled with turtles and a stingray, I took the glass bottom boat over the reef and got to see turtles, batfish, catfish and Nemo!! James was determined to get me snorkeling again so at the second dive spot, Coral Paradise, I was kitted out in fins and a body float to get me over my fear of drowning. I'm so glad he persevered at I had the most amazing time and saw some incredible fish (inc. angelfish and a bright red starfish) and coral.

We left Cairns yesterday morning saying a final goodbye to my friend Sarah, who is looking for work in Cairns, and our Canadian friends (although we are hoping to bump into them over here). From 35 degrees to 10 degrees, it is a little bit colder over here in New Zealand but we've got a heap of cool experiences ahead of us including white water rafting, cave-walking and sky diving!!!