Goodbye Australia!

Hey everyone!

So, this will be my final Oz entry, as we leave for Bali tomorrow then on through South East Asia and China.....very excited! Currently in the top end of Australia in Darwin. We've had a jam packed month since leaving Brisbane so I'll fill you in briefly....

We first stopped in Noosa for a few days of relaxing by the beach. Beautiful little town on the sunshine coast to recover from a hard few months work in brisbane (ha!). Lots of sunbathing/attempting some more surfing/exploring was done. We also went to the infamous Steve Irwin Australia Zoo whilst we were nearby - amazing day, saw lots of cute otters, feed some elephants, had a look at the crocs, had a cuddle and photo shoot with the kangaroos etc. Louis was in his element!

Next stop was Fraser Island, the biggest sand island in the world. We did the self drive option - 5 of us in a jacked up 4WD toyota land crusier roaming around the island and down the 75 mile highway (the beach) for 2nights/3 days. Great fun! I even did a bit off road driving - slightly different from driving the mini! The weather was great on the first day, so we saw the beautiful lake mckenzie at its best (check out the facebook photos) but unfortunately the weather faded on the last two days. Still had a great time, saw all the sights - Indian head point, the champagne pools, the shipwreck, lake wabby, eli creek etc. We camped out the first night but had the luxury of staying in a Rotunda on the second night in an aboriginal campground - lucky as it was pissing with rain.

After Fraser we headed to the town of 1770, a little place in the middle of nowhere on the coast. You come here for one reason - to ride the scooteroos! Like mini harleys, we went cruising around 1770 in a big group like the Hells Angels (well, almost). We rode out to see the sunset and spot some kangaroos. Definitely worth the $50! Also stayed in one of the best hostels ever here - 1770 backpackers - they gave me pink mermaid quilt cover - a quilt, not a sheet! - and had toilet paper with puppies on it! Was also nice and clean which is always a bonus!

From 1770 we took the overnight bus upto Airlie Beach, party town and gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. Spent a night in Airlie before leaving on our Whitsundays sailing trip for 2nights - boat was Pegasus, highly recommend it. Again, our weather on this trip wasn't the best - I thought the sun always shone in Australia, apparently not - but it stayed dry. We had a great group of about 20 on our boat, and we even got our own little room - the advantages of being a couple means that w've had quite a few free upgrades! We didn't make it the beautiful Whitehaven Beach cos of the weather, but we saw some other beautiful spots, especially when the sun peaked out on the second day. Did some good snorkelling, got a free 'dive experience' (but saved our proper dives for the Great Barrier Reef up in Cairns), and partyed the nights away under the stars on board the boat. Luckily didnt get sea sick, wouldn't have been fun the next morning!

Continued up the coast, stopped in Townsville for a few days to get our final jag - now all protected for Asia hopefully, and to catch up with a couple we met in Fiji who live there. Then onto Mission Beach, another small "town" on the coast, where days are spent sunbathing (weather permitting) and nights spents playing cards and drinking goon. Its the skydiving capital of Australia, so we were tempted to have another go, but couldn't quite justify the money - think one in NZ is enough for the moment! Final stop on the east coast was Cairns. We spent 5 days here, mainly relaxing and attempting not to spend much money, other than doing our dive on the Great Barrier Reef! We had wanted to do our PADI but to save money decided just to do introductory dive day trip - might consider getting certified in Asia where its cheaper. It was amazing, and less scary than I thought. The two of us went down alone with one instructor to about 12 metres, played with a Giant Maori Wrasse fish for a while, then swam about seeing all sorts of beautiful coral and fish - and a reef shark on the sea bed! Loved it so much that we did another one in the afternoon.

We arrived in Darwin last week from Cairns. Hired a 4WD camper for 3 nights to go and explore Kakadu National Park for a few days. Just got back yesterday and possibly our fav place in Australia so far. Its the biggest NP in Australia and owned by the Aborigines. Did lots of hikes to amazing lookouts and water falls, went swimming in clear rock pools and plunge pools on the cliff edges, and at the bottom of huge falls. Managed to dodge all of the crocodiles which inhabit the area, but did spot a wild one when crossing a bridge over a creek. Also saw lots of aboriginal rock art, which dates back thousands of years ago. The whole place was really spectacular, highlights were Ubirr, Jim Jim Falls and Gunlom.

So we're back in Darwin now for our final days in Australia - can't believe its time to leave already, but think we're both ready for some new adventures (and cheaper living!). Not sure how up to date I'll keep this thing in Asia, but will still be keeping touch through email and facebook. Back in the homeland on the 29th of September so looking forward to catching up with everyone!

Oz....5 months on

So, I think we have established I am rather rubbish at updating this thing... better than Louis mind you - last time I checked I'm pretty sure he was still in NZ! Hope I've been managing to keep in touch with most of you through scattered emails and facebook etc, but I'll give brief run through of whats been happening in the last few months....



Currently sitting in our homely(?) share house in the lovely Brisbane, complete with our own small furry companions - our landlord is currently discussing more tactics to get rid of them. We've been in Brisbane for about 10 weeks and are leaving on Tuesday to complete our Australia Chapter. Again, my high calibre CV helped me pick up a job straight away (or maybe just good timing) working in Tinbillys backpacker bar. Pretty sweet job, work with really good people and the work is pretty basic and always a good laugh so I landed on my feet with this one! Louis wasn't quite so lucky.... its seems Australia is getting hit with the credit crunch too, not much work around for backpackers unless you're female and have worked in a bar, and there is a lot of backpackers looking for work - I'm pretty sure over half of the Irish population is over here at the moment. He's been jumping about the place with jobs, some warehouse work, teaching soccer during the school holidays and mainly hitting the streets for some door to door sales - I'm sure you'll hear how unsuccessful and demoralising that whole experience has been for him!! Anyway, time is up for Brisbane as we have to do the rest of the east coast before heading to Asia in June.



Think the last time I updated this we were in Sydney which was great fun - apart from the last couple of days when I got the worst case of bed bugs EVER from our hostel there. Seriously thought I had some disease, and I think people who saw me in the street would have had the same thoughts. Nasty little buggers, but they soon calmed down with some antihistamines. Had a great week with Mum and Auntie Rosie living the life of luxury - think they enjoyed seeing Oz!



From Sydney we did a 5 day surf trip with the mighty Waves Surf School up to Byron Bay. Unfortunately we had crap weather for the first 3 days - lots of rain and wind do not make for fun beginners surfing! Sun came out the last two days though so got some good waves in - yes I actually caught some - wasn't quite the surfer I wanted to be but hey, I managed to stand up! Also got to see some of the beautiful beaches along New South Wales coast line, and checked out some pro surfers catching some 'sick' waves too. Had some messy nights with the Waves crew and made a good group of friends through it. Its true, theres nothing like getting up at 7am after a heavy night and straight into the surf to cure a hangover!



We spent a week in Byron Bay after the trip with some of the surf gang. Officially one of my fav places in Australia, its so chilled out and our hostel had its own private walkway right onto the beach. Would've been an awesome place to work, so we had a look about for jobs or flats on our first few days before realising it was apparently impossible to find work there - end of season and no one was hiring. So we just made the most of the beach and chilled out for a week and celebrated my birthday there.



After Byron we headed up to Surfers Paradise for a couple of nights. Great beach and nightlife, but definitely felt like I was in America - or Blackpool. Lots of tack, but thats what makes it Surfers. We stayed with some friends we made in Sydney in their fab apartment complete with pool which was a nice treat! Then it was on to Brisbane and here we are!



Been a good couple of months, but time to hit the road again and get back to the backpackers lifestyle! Hitting the usual spots up the coast in the next few weeks - Fraser Island, Whitsundays, Great Barrier Reef etc. Flying over to Darwin in June to roam around the Northern Territory for a week before flying to Bali baby!! Our plans for Asia are pretty non existent - after Bali and Lombok we fly to Singapore. Fly home from Beijing on the 29th of September (mark it in your diaries!). Whatever we do inbetween is a bit of mystery but planning on crossing through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before hitting China. Can't wait for it, and looking forward to meeting up with the Sarahs and Al!! And Jenna - got any more plans in place?



Anyway, keep me up to date with the gossip, love hearing from everyone. More pics up on Facebook soon, have given up uploading them to this as it takes too long. Got to keep you jealous eh?!

Australia: Leg 1!

Well, I decided its probably time to update this! Not much has been happening since we arrived in Oz, but we're back on the road now so I'll fill everyone in on the last two months....

We arrived in Melbourne at the beginning in December and ended up staying for 7 weeks. I love this city, but unfortunately didn't get to see much of it till nearer the end as our first priority was getting jobs! Luckily it was easier for us to get work than we expected - there were loads of people in our hostel having trouble looking for jobs. I managed to get a job in a restaurant in St Kilda (by the beach) almost straight away - due to my fantastic CV obviously ;-) - and Louis got a christmas job at French Connection (some would call him jammy) a few days later. Got to admit, working was a bit of a reality check, but managed to get some good hours in and earn some pennies to further our travels!

We planned on looking for flat share for a month or so, but because it was Christmas there was nothing about - unless you count the dive which was advertised as a furnished double room; actually a mattress in the middle of the floor in an empty room with dirty covers, in a dodgy area, with a slightly peculiar flatmate. So we stayed in the mighty Urban Central hostel for 2 weeks, which was lovely but pretty expensive as are most hostels in Melbourne. Lucky for us, Louis' friend Ryan from the Uni football team happened to be living in Melbourne so we met up with him for a drink, checked out his beautiful apartment in the CBD which he shared with 3 others, and in a few days we moved into our new bedroom - their living room floor! Brilliant! Saved us so much cash, and we had an amazing time living with the guys over Christmas and New Year, despite having to work constantly.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years wherever in the world you were. Christmas in the heat was slightly strange - Santa needs snow! But 9 of us still managed to have a traditional Scottish/Irish Christmas dinner in the flat. The plan was to do it the Aussie way and go to the beach after but alcohol seemed to take over......

On New Years eve a group of us got together for some drinks then hightailed it down to St Kilda beach, where the boys participated in some skinny dipping in the freezing cold sea after the bells - a tad cold for me! Luckily I still made it in for my 8.30am shift on New Years day (grrr) - after all, it was double pay!

We both finished up work mid january, and managed to see the Melbourne sights before we left - namely Neighbours night! Sadly none of the 'iconic' Neighbours stars were there (Dr Karl was in Aberdeen at the time - typical!), but we did manage to meet (and pick up/kiss) a few stars!

Next stop was Adelaide, via the Great Ocean Road. We were joined by Laura and rented a classy automatic Camry (free upgrade) to cruise along the coast to Adelaide, camping along the way. Passed through some cute towns and saw some of the sights; waterfalls, 12 apostles, gibsons steps, the round the twist lighthouse(!), the blue lake etc. Got to Adelaide in fours days, where we were met by Louis' friend from camp Anna, who stays 2 and half hours outside Adelaide, who were staying with for a week. Had an awesome time out at Annas - got to see the real Australia! She stays in the middle of nowhere on a huge farm/ranch by the Murray River. Had a relaxing week of luxury at her house, being feed and treated! Spent most of the week chilling out, in the river, waterskiing, eating, playings with the pups, and spotting kangaroos!Great fun! It was hard to do anything that energetic as temperatures averaged in the mid forties the whole time we were there - over 50 degrees celcius in the sun at times!

Way too hot, even for moi, and not very good for the land - the area has been in a severe drought for the last 3/4years. We went to see Stage 3 of the 'Tour Down Under' (same idea as Tour de France) in a nearby town... caught a glimpse of Lance Armstrong as he zoomed by! And, as South Australia is well known for its many wineries we obviously had to visit one - the Jacobs Creek winery! I was in heaven, free tasting of anything...yum! Also went out on the boat with Anna and her Dad and did some fishing - not that we caught much - and stayed in her friends beachhouse for the night, which was lovely.

We spent two nights in Adelaide city before leaving South Australia, and went to stay in a hostel that our friend Gordon worked in (who we met in Hawaii, a fellow Scot). Had a great time catching up with him but have to say it was the most uncomfortable 2 days in my life! The heat in Adelaide was proper unbearable, and the dorms had no aircon or proper fans. I couldn't actually lie down in bed, the sheets were roasting as was everything we touched. Hottest night in Adelaide for 25 years. Spent the first night up and down all nights, had two cold showers in the night, and ended up managing to sleep for a couple of hours wrapped in a cold wet towel with a wet flannel on my head! In my bikini. The second night the hostel put some fans in the room to help, but unfortunately they just circulated the hot air so it blew in your face. I hope at least I managed to sweat off a few of the Christmas pounds! So we spent most our days chilling out at reception with Gordon and the air con :-).

We are now in Sydney! Flew here 4 days ago and were relieved to land in a cool 30 degrees - perfect temperature! Stayed in a pretty crap hostel the first night, then moved the next day to stay on our friend Claire from Melbournes living floor for the next 5 nights - we have made many kind friends :-). Been to see some of the sights - Darling Harbour, Kings Cross, and Bondi Beach - but trying to save the big things for when we get some visitors on Thursday - Mum and my Auntie! They're coming out for about 2 weeks, and will be in Sydney for 5/6 days so can't wait to see them! Even better, they have rented an apartment for a week so we get to stay in that with them - luxury yay! The apartments looks pretty swish so excited for that. Hopefully get more of the touristy stuff done with them - harbour bridge, opera house, Blue Mountains, etc. Also going to drag Louis out to Palm Beach outside Sydney - where Home and Away is filmed!! Can't wait!

We have a few days left to chill in Sydney when Mum heads down the coast to Melbourne, then we head off on a 5 day surf trip to Byron Bay! This is our treat to ourselves which we have been planning to do all along. Hopefully we'll be riding the waves in no time, and can surf our way up the coast! From Byron Bay we plan to make our way up the East Coast to Cairns, and find somewhere to stop and do some work again for a month or so. Will keep you updated! More photos on facebook...