Life in Oz

Monday - Perth

Arrived early in the morning after a good flight where I had nobody next to me so I was able to grab about 4 hours sleep.  Missed dinner but they brought it to me when I woke up around 3am - seemed strange eating whilst everyone else was sleeping. Went back to sleep and then missed breakfast!

Rain and a cold wind greeted me in Perth.  I booked a hostel from a freefone number at the airport (the only one who agreed to come and collect me from the airport).  Huge Samoan guy turned up about an hour and a half later in a bright orange van. He tried to chat me up but I kept going on about my boyfriend till finally he gave up. I had booked a private room for myself and handed over my $50.  When he took me up to the room I nearly freaked out.  It wasn't very nice to say the least.  Then I went to look at the bathroom - disgusting!  I locked my stuff in the room then went straight into town to find a travel place who could recommend something better.  I also booked a 3 day trip to the South East corner so that I could visit places I had missed on my last trip to Perth, 4 years ago.  Went back to the first hostel and said I would be moving out rather than staying and he shrugged his shoulders - I didn't even bother to ask for my money back, just wanted to get out asap. Next time I will ask to see the room before I hand over any dosh!

New hostel was lovely - clean, friendly and a nicer bunch of inmates. Went for a walk in the evening to get some food (great felafel!) and then on the way back, almost walked into a police fracas with an inebriated indigenous bloke - they were literally 5 foot away from me coming straight at me.  I moved quickly away  but it shook me up a bit!

Tuesday - Perth to Albany

After a great night's sleep in a huge double bed, I left my luggage in storage and set off for my 3 day trip.

I know I said that I wouldn't do anymore organised tours after my 3 Intrepid back to backs, but its really the best way to get around as a single traveller with no wheels of their own.

10 other people from Germany/Hong Kong/USA/Canada/Korea and I set off for our first day.  Drove towards the Sterling range via small towns and stopped at various places and then for a picnic lunch in a one horse town called Mt Barker.  After lunch we drove on to a winery called Jingalla and sampled 8 interesting wines.  Feeling mellowed, we then went off to climb the Porongurup Range at Castle Rock.  Unfortunately, I was beaten by the steep track and the fact that my  calves were knackered from climbing the Great Wall of China on Friday!

Next stop was Middleton Beach and there was a biting wind as we walked along the beach but it was very pleasant as we looked out at the King George Sound.

We ended the day in Albany at a backpacker's hostel which was very pleasant.

Feeling a bit of culture shock at the moment due to time spent in Asia - here in Oz everything is in English, no spelling or grammar howlers, normal toilets (no squatties) with toilet paper and hand basins, food is normal - can have cornflakes for breakfast rather than rice.  Only downside is that the cost of living is similar to back home.

Wednesday - Albany to Pemberton

Today was tree hugging day!  We spent a lot of time, between showers, visiting forests, including the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk (40 meters high bridge through the forest).  Also went to the beach to see amazing natural rock formations (Natural bridge, The gap, and blow holes).  Spent some time at Whale World, a museum based in the old waling station - quite interesting there.

Evening spent at our log cabin in the middle of a forest, having bbq in the rain, but generally having fun.

Thursday - Pemberton back to Perth

Wine, chocolate and cheese tasting featured heavily today.  Margaret River is famous for its wine so we drank as much as we could, including Mead. Some of the group went on a whalewatching expedition, but rest of us visited caves (Nigili) and wineries.  Afternoon drive through Bussleton on way back to Perth.

Arrived back at the hostel (the good one I stayed in on arrival in Perth) exhausted, and fell asleep by 9.30pm

Friday - Perth

Pampered myself by getting my hair done (so much grey to cover!) and nails sorted.  Felt feminine again.

Tom is on his way to Melbourne - he stopped off to change plans in Hong Kong and is due in at 8pm - I'm so excited to be seeing him again.  What he doesn't know is that I have changed my flight from Saturday to Friday to surprise him in Melbourne!

Saturday - Melbourne

Touched down at 1am to freezing cold winds. Hotel shuttle bus collected me from the airport and deposited me outside our room at the hotel/motel.  Tom had booked the 'Honeymoon Spa Suite' so it was quite interesting to see what was behind the door of room 225.  As expected, Tom was asleep, having arrived a few hours before me, direct from the UK.  I tried to creep into the room but finding the light switch was a problem and then stumbling over my bags didn't help.  Sure enough, I woke him up but he wasn't scared or worried about a burglar, he just thought it was somebody else in the wrong room!  He seemed pleased though when he realised it was me!  Lets just say that the hotel looked a bit like Crossroads Motel and not quite the romantic Honeymoon Spa Suite we both imagined :-)

Spent the day in the centre of town and took the circular tram round the city centre.  Went to the Immigration Museum and then an Irish bar on the way back to the train station.  Today was also the day of the AFL footy cup final (tho we didn't know that when we originally booked) and the city was awash with supporters of both sides.  The local team won (Go Cats!!) and in the bar, we chatted to a few of their supporters.  One of them was an older (thats being polite) lady who told us she was a celebrant and could marry us if we wanted!  After a short discussion, we kindly turned down her offer :-)

Journey home was interesting with the supporters on the train.  Arrived back at the railway station at around 9.30pm only to find we had missed our last bus back to the hotel area so we ended up getting a cab.  Decided that from tomorrow we were going to hire a car to get around.

Sunday - Melbourne

Our choice of car rental places was narrowed down by location and we chose Rent-A-Bomb just for the name of the place!  Felt good driving again after 3 months of using public transport.  Spent the afternoon driving to St Kilda's beach but freezing our socks off cos of the chilly wind.  Managed to find our way back to the hotel safely.

Monday - Melbourne

Got up early for our day trip to the Great Ocean Road.  Armed with maps and guide books, we set off for a full day of exploration.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the wind seemed to be less.

We decided to take the motorway to the end point of the GOR and take our time driving back to Melbourne.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  Some of the sights were pretty spectacular, like the different rock formations at the sea.  We also discovered some of our own favourite places which weren't marked in the guide book including the Grotto where every few minutes a huge wave would come up to a gigantic hole in a rock and cover it completely - you have to be there to see it for yourselves.

Not too many tourists taking this direction so we managed to see quite a lot.  The most famous sight - The Twelve Apostles - wasn't really that impressive and it was the busiest of the sights.

Gradually the weather started to change for the worse and the winds started to howl and the sky turned grey.  We didn't really enjoy the last part of the journey especially as the rain was quite heavy too.  Had a bit of trouble finding the correct exit from the motorway near our hotel, but after the dude in KFC put us right, we arrived home exhausted.

Tuesday - Melbourne/Sydney

Took the car back early and then headed for the airport for our flight to Sydney.  Booked a hotel when we arrived at Sydney airport as they get some good rates.  As it happens, the hotel was in a really good location and apart from the room being tiny it was good. Wandered down to Darling Harbour and had dinner at Wagamamas.

Wednesday - Sydney

Early start to get the most out of the day. Took the hop on/hop off bus around the Sydney sights.  Stopped at Bondi beach for a few hours to watch the beautiful people and have a very pleasant fish and chip lunch on the beach.  Weather was gorgeous and we slapped on our factor 30 sunscreen.

In the evening we met up with my friends Ingrid and Ste and had a lovely evening drinking, eating and catching up with each other.  Ste is also in the rail industry in Oz and gave Tom some useful information.

Sydney is currently being invaded by Bogun Moths - they are so big and everywhere!  We couldn't even open the hotel windows (well we did, but received a snotty letter the following day telling us not to because of the moths!)

Thursday - Sydney

Planned early start didn't really happen as laundry took longer than expected.  Eventually made it down to Circular Quay and took the ferry across to Manly.  Spent a few pleasant hours there on the beach and having lunch before catching the ferry back.  Wandered round the Opera House and took the usually touristy pix.  Wanted to have an alcoholic drink but we were't allowed to because we were going for the Harbour Bridge Climb and they do a breath test prior to the climb.

The climb was fantastic and not too difficult.  We spent about an hour having safety briefing/putting on the jumpsuit and paraphinallia and then doing a practice climb up some steps before actually getting out there onto the bridge.  We had chosen the twighlight climb so went up in daylight and arrived at the summit to see the sun setting and the lights coming on in the city - really beautiful.

Went back to the hotel via a restuarant that served gourmet pizzas including kangaroo, emu and alligator.  I chickened out (literally :-)

Friday - Sydney/Grafton

Found a great car hire deal on the Internet and went early to collect it.  Luckily they gave us a map to get out of the city and with the sun shining, we were on our way 'oop north'.

Driving along the Pacific Highway was interesting but fairly uneventful (if you don't count the fact that I'm a rubbish map reader and we had to turn round just outside of Sydney when I lost the highway!)  We shared the driving and it was a pleasure to drive such a big, powerful car.  Stopped at nightfall in a 1 horse town called Grafton.  Well it looked tiny in the dark and we couldn't even find a pub on our walk out to explore the area but it turned out that we were in Sth Grafton and not the main town.

Saturday - Byron Bay

Arrived at our destination late morning and booked into a beautiful guest house just off the main drag.  With only 5 rooms in this 1902 built villa, we were given the choice of the spa room or the fireplace room.  Being summer, we chose the spa room with its open plan bathroom leading off the bedroom.

Dumped our bags and went off to explore.  First stop was the Byron Bay Skydiving centre which we eventually found, only to be told that nobody was going up due to the wind conditons.  Tom had a good look round and chatted to the instructor and we came back to town for lunch.  After lunch we headed to the beach but could only cope with an hour of sunbathing due to the high winds covering us in sand - tastes horrible!  I did venture into the sea but not for too long as the waves were quite fierce.

Went back to the guest house to get cleaned up and we fell asleep, shattered after the last few days of driving.  Had a nice evening meal and walk into town.

Sunday - Byron Bay

Leisurely breakfast watching the world go by.  Byron is soooo chilled and appeals to all ages and tastes especially the laid back, hippy types. Borrowed bikes from the guest house and rode to the lighthouse (famous for being on the most easterly point of Australia).  After a hard ride mostly uphill, we parked the bikes and contined the walk via the nature trail.  Met Derick the lizard (prize to anyone who can tell us what type of lizard he is), and Kevin the Kangaroo (too fast to get a pic).  The lighthouse was great and the views spectacular.

In the afternoon I did what I have wanted to do since I did it for the first time in Byron 4 years ago - a flotation tank session.  I couldn't persuade Tom to do a float (he was muttering something about new age mumbo jumbo) but I went for it and had a very relaxing hour in a coffin of warm salty water!  Following on from that was a deep tissue massage.  I thought it would be with the lady who had my booking but imagine my surprise when a very fit young German bloke told me to lay down on the bed!

Spent the rest of the evening in a very relaxed state.

Monday - BB to NZ via Brisbane

Packed up early and set off for Brissy after breakfast.  I did all the driving (I like the power of this car!) and we made it to the airport in good time.

Afternoon flight very uneventful but exciting cos of destination NZ :-)