Day 27
Crocodile pie! It's a little bit like a chickeny fish, quite bland with a flaky texture, but the pie filling sauce was very nice, and I can now say I have eaten croc and roo! All I need to eat now is emu, then I have tried the Aussie Trio.
Anyway, lunch was a croc pie because we stopped off at Fredo's pies on the bus journey to Coffs Harbour, our next stop. Coffs is a nice looking little town, and our accomodation is a small hotel/motel called the Hoey Moey and is literally less than a minute from the beautiful beach! It's evening by the time we check in so we head to the beach with two Canadians; Carly and Sam, to play frisbee and let Shaun try out his new returning boomerang (courtesy of me and B for his xmas/newyear/birthday).
Day 28
Today the four us of move to a 3 bed room (well one double and a single) – the manager seems happy for us to cram as many people in a room as we feel comfortable with which is handy as we're all getting poorer by the day! However, the room move means we have time to kill as we have to wait for cleaning, so we go to the plaza to check out the shops...
Shaun and Mark buy fishing rods...
Lol.
Me and charlie had a nap (the sun wears you out) whilst waiting for the boys to 'catch our dinner'. Luckily we didn't actually believe they'd catch anything, or we would have gone hungry! B did manage to lose to sets of tackle though!
Day 29
Wake up early, ready for an exciting day, and spend the morning trying to scrub the rust stains off Bs new Tshirt because he left it to 'dry' (after getting SOAKED fishing) on the shower curtain rail, which was, unsurprisingly, (considering the general cheapness of our room) rusty! It actually went quite well... and then Shaun leaves his white rash vest on the clothes rail and that gets rusty too! Whoever thought it was a good idea to buy a white rashy though!?
Then, Charlie gets in the shower, and starts screaming! There was a HUGE spider in there! We reckon it was only a huntsman, but it took ages to catch and take away! And it required the modification of the bottom of a juice bottle to catch as it was too big to fit in a mug like a normal spider! Mark and Shaun had fun spider hunting though!
Anyway, once we eventually sort out the boys we head off to try and find the jetty. On the way B stops for fish and chips at a fishery, where three pelicans are being fed scraps by the fishermen. It was very cool, for such big birds they are very agile in the air, and also quite good at catching too! One swooped down at high speed to snatch a big bit of salmon off the floor! They were absolutely massive, and completely dwarved the Gulls they were hanging around with (which, to be fair, are, weirdly, smaller than English Gulls.) It is also surprising to see how malleable their beaks and gullets are, its completely different seeing things in real life to on T.V!
Later the boys go fishing again, and I decide to watch (the beach really is rather nice here!). Just as I get bored and start to think about going in, Shaun runs over with a ray! Watching him attempt to bash it to death with a rock was making me feel a little sick – the poor little ray – so I went to talk to B, and he catches a fish too! B's looks edible (unlike the ray, which is now oozing but apparently still alive – Inbetweeners moment!) but also prooves difficult to kill. Meanwhile Shaun has stabbed his ray three times in the head to try and kill it, and its still flapping its finny bits, and then it gives birth to a tiny baby ray!! Shaun is such a mean murderer! However the ray had completely swallowed his massive hook, so I guess it would have never survived the traumatic incident anyway.
Day 30
River bay! This area is a nice patch of grass and sand (with the usual free bbq and water fountain and toilet facilities which are so useful :D) next to the mouth of a river. It apx 10 mins from the hoey and the water is calm and clear and perfect for snorkeling and swimming, so we have a very chilled out day.
Walking back from dinner me and mark find Shaun and Charlie being harassed by a group of drunken aussie girls who are trying to persuade them to go out. Me and B prove more persuadable when one of them offers to pay for us entirely – who'd turn down a free night out??
Turns out the night out wasn't so much of an event – drunk girl gets refused entry at the first bar, and then gets bored of the second place after apx 10mins, so we go back to drink on the beach... which is undeniable beautiful at night (clear sky means thousands of fantastic stars!) but not all that interesting. That being said, they were all really nice girls (and they paid for a lot of alcohol for us and a married couple they had also persuaded to join them) and it was nice to get out and be sociable!
Day 31
Snorkel time :D Not that much to see as we were only in the river bay, but fun all the same! Also whilst waiting for Shaun to buy a snorkel, mask and fins (which I have no idea how he managed to fit into his already breaking backpack) me and B saw the friendliest blue tongue. He was eating the remains of a peach the lady sat next to us had given him, and once he'd finished he slithered over to see us, poking his little tongue in and out – we got some fantastic pics! Then some kids scared him away, they were like 'do lizards bite?aaaah!' (which is silly as blue tongues obviously don't bite!).
Another chilled evening, as the sun really does drain your energy – we watched slum dog 'mill-on-air', I'd forgotten how fantastic that film really is!
Day 32
Wake up at 5 to watch the sunrise, and take a lot of pretty pictures :D then I start feeling all funny – I think I got too hot yesterday, so I sleep it off while Shaun and Charlie go to snorkel around a mini island, which is meant to have the best snorkeling in the area. Mark waits with me in the room, and then later we go to the same place (after 3pm the sun is loads more manageable). It very cool, with rays and little brightly coloured fishies, and thousands of tiny jellyfish (they don't sting, although it is annoying when you get your hand stuck in one!). We did have to stop earlier than I would have liked though as B got really cold! He needs to get a wetsuit!
Day 33
Off to surf camp today, so we check out at 10 and decide to walk to see the famous BIG banana (which is big enough to walk through, but B found disappointing because it wasn't as big as his imagination – read his blog for his philosophical thoughts on size expectations lol). It's very very hot (it is midday) so B is the only one who feels like walking the banana trail – and we're all glad we didn't go when he comes back disappointed again as its partially closed. He then persuades us (with good promises of air con) to go to the art gallery which is, oddly, situated in the same building as the banana stuff. The air con is good, but the art is fantastic! We all liked it, although I seemed to prefer different paintings to the others lol. Anyway check out Jeffrey Baker, he's good.
Waiting for the bus is the most tedious thing I have ever done... took 41/2 hrs! Anyway we eventually get to surf camp, and guess who's there – our friendly Canadians from Coffs!
Sam and Carly persuade us to drink (all of) our vodka, so we have a good evening chatting with everyone, playing on the beach and playing games etc. Or rather I did, B got drunk, passed out, had to be rescued from a hosing down by the management by some of the girls in our dorm, and then threw up all over the toilets! And that, boys and girls, is why you should learn your drinking limits!
Day 34
Surfing lesson! Good fun, and I stood up twice! Thirsty work though, and after a while being bashed by the waves wears you out somewhat! We did get an all you can eat lunch though with lots of tasty tasty salad – yum!
Apres luncheon we're back on the bus to byron bay, where you can get a meal for $5! (which was actually rather nice!)
Day 35
Our hostel provides free bike (and board) hire, so we hop on some canary yellow bikes and cycle along the coast to the most easterly point of Oz. Its is beautiful, although has a lot of steps, so we walked quite a lot of the way! The views were stunning, the sea unbelievably clear and a fantastic pale turquoise. Just past Easterly Point we also get to see sea turtles – from afar obviously as we're at the top of a cliff, but I got a fantastic photo of an absolutely massive loggerhead, he rather thoughtfully raised his head and front flippers out of the water at the same time so I could photo him perfectly!
When we get back we head to Byron bay dive centre to book a dive/snorkl trip for Charlies birthday on friday, and on the way back get sidetracked into tribal travel, where we book quite a few activities up the coast – the first being a canoe tour of the tea tree rivers (river of mirrors) in Noosa national park, which sounds amazing!
Day 36
Today we make use of the free board hire (even though me and B are checking out to go camping instead). I get a body board not a surf board because I'm not stupid and realise that these boards will be a world away from the teaching boards we were on in surf camp (and I'm right, no one manages to stand up and they're difficult to manage). Its a fun morning anyway!
Later me and B decide it's probably a good idea to get some cooking implements for our camping expedition, and that pretty much occupies our whole evening!
Day 37
DIVING! Tres tres coooool! We saw wobbegong sharks, a HUGE turtle, loads of little fishies of all colours everywhere, some angelfish which were nearly a foot long, whole families of rats, scary black spiky sea urchin things, coral.... it was amazing! We also saw a blue grouper called Monty who has lived near Julians rock for over ten years and lets the dive guide tickle his lips! The only part I am sad about is that I spent quite a lot of time trying to take pictures as opposed to concentrating on the environment! I will definitely be diving as much as I can!
It is also Charlies Bday (Happy Birthday Charlie!) so the dive centre give her a free Tshirt – how nice of them!
Anyway the evening is spent having a BBQ in Charlies honour and getting slightly 'googled' (which is what they call it when you drink too much goon!) Lucy and Em, you would love it here, it's goon central! Then on the way back to camp me and B have a chat with the supermarket man about biscuits – they don't know what digestives or penguins are here!
Day 38
Today!! Most of today has been spent writing this for you lovely guys, so you better appreciate it! Obviously we went to the beach for a bit – but it's cloudy and muggy today so not as fun as it could have been! May go again later when it cools down a bit; there's a nice picnic bench overlooking the beach at the top of the camp site so B and I might go to chill out there for a while (the kitchen is the coldest place though, so we may stay here... time will tell)
Love you all! xxxx
Ps Goon is really cheap aussie 'wine'. It's so un-wine-like the boxes don't even label themselves as wine (although they obviously don't label themselves goon either lol). Anyway its lethal and cheap!
Saturday 16 January 2010
Friday 15 January 2010
Update!
Soooo...
Sorry again for taking so long! I will pick up from where I left off (even though that's a long time ago)! My last blog ended just as I arrived in Sydney, so I will begin on Day 20, our first full day there....
Day 20
Shaun and Charlie were only able to book into Wake Up for one night, so we were up early to book all our buses before they had to leave, then it was on to the bag lock-up where S&C spent a while re-packing so they only had to carry one bag around with them all day! The rest of the morning was spent finding a tent so B and I can sleep rough too, and a rucksack so we can carry things sensibly – 'fun'.
Afternoon saw us visiting the botanic gardens next to the Sydney opera house, and a FREE meal at 'The Gaff'. The botanic gardens were lovely, especially as the day was cooling off! There are water fountains everywhere in Oz, which is a lifesaver, as even I am drinking more water than I can carry each day (and B is drinking more than a camel could carry!)
Day 21
Carrying our own bags is EFFORT! Sooooo heavy! Luckily today was predominantly spent on the famous Sydney harbour ferries... We visited Darling harbour, and then decided we'd rather go to the Zoo (so back to Circular Quay), and then found out there was an hour queue for the zoo, so went back to Darling harbour, and later it was another trip to Circular Quay, to get the ferry to Manly!
Anyway... Darling harbour is very touristy, with an aquarium etc. It also has the Maritime museum, which has a free cloak room for our bags and free entry :D It was also pretty cool inside, although most of our time was spent in the mythical creatures exhibition, which had nothing to do with the sea! Did you know the original unicorn was a goat, with a red black and white stripy horn??? No? Neither did I!
Manly is beautiful once we get there, we head to Shelly beach (which has free BBQ's – which are everywhere, but fantastic all the same!) I marinated some (cheeeap, and massive) prawns in a bag with some lemon juice, and felt very pleased with myself about it too! We also had a lot of bacon, and I cut my finger (but nowhere near as badly as the superglue incident, so I didn't feel too stupid :D).
Sleep time was on the beach, which was perfect white sand, and lovely and soft – I barely felt homeless at all!
Day 22
5.30 am: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sand tractor! Plus it is misty and cloudy and chilly – I have a hoody on!
Time to go to the Zoo, which is brilliant by the way; sun bears and tigers and lizzzards and all kinds of other animals (obviously). The clear highlight was seeing a baby elephant, even though we saw lots of eles in Thailand, baby ones are absolutely adorable!
It is New Years Eve, so we are in competition with the entire population of Sydney for a good spot to watch the fireworks! The harbour was packed at 10am, when we ferried past it to Taronga, so we were a little worried, however walking back to the quay, I happened to notice the view was, well, stunning! So we decided to stay on Taronga beach to watch the fireworks, which was cool as we could camp there (inside a real tent – woop), but had far less facilities than Manly (no toilets :-s).
The fireworks themselves were beyond description, the kids display at 9pm was the best fireworks display I had ever seen, and the ones at midnight were truly fantastic! Twelve minutes of amazement! (You'll see the photos!)
Day 23
Pity some redneck ***** were our neighbours last night... the only mar on an otherwise perfect New Years I'd say!
Shaun however made up for any disappointment with the night by providing some brilliant comedy during the day... Sleeping on Bondi beach for 3hrs with your arms crossed and no t-shirt on is the perfect advert for why suncream is an absolute necessity! Hahaha! Looked pretty painful though, in the worst affected areas his skin was bruising – OUCH!
Another night on Manly, and then on to the Blue mountains tomorrow we hope :D
Day 24
We decide the best way to see the Blue mountains was in a rented car (provides rain protection, bag storage, accommodation, and transport – bargain!). So Mark and Shaun pull up to collect me and Charlie in......
A tiny, white, automatic, Toyota Yaris hahaha!
Mark however does a fantastic job getting adjusted to the foreign roads and car, and were soon finding a beautiful waterfall to stop at and explore. Leura cascades is truly beautiful, but again I learn my lesson about wearing flipflops anywhere but the beach! Always, always, always, wear the boots if you have the chance Freyr!
Day 25
So - 4 people in a mini car equals stiff necks in the morning! But it did rain beyond whats reasonable during the night, so we are all glad of the car!
Today's adventure involves following Shaun's directions on a walk through the rainforest. In all fairness they were actually very good (apart from when he lead us 1k in the wrong direction!). The forest was stunning, massive trees towering above us as we climbed down thousands (and I'm not really exaggerating) of steps, and lovely waterfalls following us on our descent. However the rainfall of last night created the mother of all mists, which has reduced visibility somewhat!
We get to the halfway point of our circular walk, and it happens to be an awful looking railway (at a 45degree angle) or a cable car. Grr. I suck it up and get on the cable car. At the top it is all worth it... me and charlie have the most fantastic, $25, all you can eat buffet you can imagine – Salmon, roast potatoes, salad, pasta, kangaroo noodles, veggies, tiramasu, pavlova and strawberry cream cake!!! The boys didn't eat it because they are scrooges, which back fired on shaun quite considerably as he ended up eating deep fried noodles for dinner (which taste just as bad as they sound!)
Day 26
Still misty so no chance of seeing the 'Three Sisters', which is sad, and means were straight off to Sydney in the morning.
After washing ourselves and our clothes and feeling human again we try to see the opera house at night one last time – to take some photos. It's a nice evening but any photo opportunities are lost because a huge, and I mean huge, ocean liner is docked at circular quay, right where we'd need to stand to take photos!
Anyway, i must be going now - internet is about to run out! Love you all, and hope you're having fun in the snow! xxxx
Sorry again for taking so long! I will pick up from where I left off (even though that's a long time ago)! My last blog ended just as I arrived in Sydney, so I will begin on Day 20, our first full day there....
Day 20
Shaun and Charlie were only able to book into Wake Up for one night, so we were up early to book all our buses before they had to leave, then it was on to the bag lock-up where S&C spent a while re-packing so they only had to carry one bag around with them all day! The rest of the morning was spent finding a tent so B and I can sleep rough too, and a rucksack so we can carry things sensibly – 'fun'.
Afternoon saw us visiting the botanic gardens next to the Sydney opera house, and a FREE meal at 'The Gaff'. The botanic gardens were lovely, especially as the day was cooling off! There are water fountains everywhere in Oz, which is a lifesaver, as even I am drinking more water than I can carry each day (and B is drinking more than a camel could carry!)
Day 21
Carrying our own bags is EFFORT! Sooooo heavy! Luckily today was predominantly spent on the famous Sydney harbour ferries... We visited Darling harbour, and then decided we'd rather go to the Zoo (so back to Circular Quay), and then found out there was an hour queue for the zoo, so went back to Darling harbour, and later it was another trip to Circular Quay, to get the ferry to Manly!
Anyway... Darling harbour is very touristy, with an aquarium etc. It also has the Maritime museum, which has a free cloak room for our bags and free entry :D It was also pretty cool inside, although most of our time was spent in the mythical creatures exhibition, which had nothing to do with the sea! Did you know the original unicorn was a goat, with a red black and white stripy horn??? No? Neither did I!
Manly is beautiful once we get there, we head to Shelly beach (which has free BBQ's – which are everywhere, but fantastic all the same!) I marinated some (cheeeap, and massive) prawns in a bag with some lemon juice, and felt very pleased with myself about it too! We also had a lot of bacon, and I cut my finger (but nowhere near as badly as the superglue incident, so I didn't feel too stupid :D).
Sleep time was on the beach, which was perfect white sand, and lovely and soft – I barely felt homeless at all!
Day 22
5.30 am: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sand tractor! Plus it is misty and cloudy and chilly – I have a hoody on!
Time to go to the Zoo, which is brilliant by the way; sun bears and tigers and lizzzards and all kinds of other animals (obviously). The clear highlight was seeing a baby elephant, even though we saw lots of eles in Thailand, baby ones are absolutely adorable!
It is New Years Eve, so we are in competition with the entire population of Sydney for a good spot to watch the fireworks! The harbour was packed at 10am, when we ferried past it to Taronga, so we were a little worried, however walking back to the quay, I happened to notice the view was, well, stunning! So we decided to stay on Taronga beach to watch the fireworks, which was cool as we could camp there (inside a real tent – woop), but had far less facilities than Manly (no toilets :-s).
The fireworks themselves were beyond description, the kids display at 9pm was the best fireworks display I had ever seen, and the ones at midnight were truly fantastic! Twelve minutes of amazement! (You'll see the photos!)
Day 23
Pity some redneck ***** were our neighbours last night... the only mar on an otherwise perfect New Years I'd say!
Shaun however made up for any disappointment with the night by providing some brilliant comedy during the day... Sleeping on Bondi beach for 3hrs with your arms crossed and no t-shirt on is the perfect advert for why suncream is an absolute necessity! Hahaha! Looked pretty painful though, in the worst affected areas his skin was bruising – OUCH!
Another night on Manly, and then on to the Blue mountains tomorrow we hope :D
Day 24
We decide the best way to see the Blue mountains was in a rented car (provides rain protection, bag storage, accommodation, and transport – bargain!). So Mark and Shaun pull up to collect me and Charlie in......
A tiny, white, automatic, Toyota Yaris hahaha!
Mark however does a fantastic job getting adjusted to the foreign roads and car, and were soon finding a beautiful waterfall to stop at and explore. Leura cascades is truly beautiful, but again I learn my lesson about wearing flipflops anywhere but the beach! Always, always, always, wear the boots if you have the chance Freyr!
Day 25
So - 4 people in a mini car equals stiff necks in the morning! But it did rain beyond whats reasonable during the night, so we are all glad of the car!
Today's adventure involves following Shaun's directions on a walk through the rainforest. In all fairness they were actually very good (apart from when he lead us 1k in the wrong direction!). The forest was stunning, massive trees towering above us as we climbed down thousands (and I'm not really exaggerating) of steps, and lovely waterfalls following us on our descent. However the rainfall of last night created the mother of all mists, which has reduced visibility somewhat!
We get to the halfway point of our circular walk, and it happens to be an awful looking railway (at a 45degree angle) or a cable car. Grr. I suck it up and get on the cable car. At the top it is all worth it... me and charlie have the most fantastic, $25, all you can eat buffet you can imagine – Salmon, roast potatoes, salad, pasta, kangaroo noodles, veggies, tiramasu, pavlova and strawberry cream cake!!! The boys didn't eat it because they are scrooges, which back fired on shaun quite considerably as he ended up eating deep fried noodles for dinner (which taste just as bad as they sound!)
Day 26
Still misty so no chance of seeing the 'Three Sisters', which is sad, and means were straight off to Sydney in the morning.
After washing ourselves and our clothes and feeling human again we try to see the opera house at night one last time – to take some photos. It's a nice evening but any photo opportunities are lost because a huge, and I mean huge, ocean liner is docked at circular quay, right where we'd need to stand to take photos!
Anyway, i must be going now - internet is about to run out! Love you all, and hope you're having fun in the snow! xxxx
Friday 1 January 2010
Xmas Adventure Tour
So it has been a very long time again! Sorry about that! The weather here has deteriorated somewhat (around 25 degree standard hehehe) Xmas eve got us all very very soggy in a manic downpour, and Xmas day was 23degrees and cloudy! Since then i has been a mix of cloudy and sunny weather, still shorts and tee-shirt weather though :)
Christmas was very chilled, we had a lovely meal out on Christmas eve (although Shaun had a strop because he couldn't get a roast and made us all get wet walking around in the torrential rain trying to find one!). Christmas day was BBQ in the park, bit of a sunbathe etc, and then back to the hostel to pack for our three day adventure tour to Sydney!
Boxing day began VERY early (although later than planned as my alarm didn't work!). We got on this adorable little bus ( I think its called a mitsubishi rose?) with a trailer on the back for all our bags, and off we went...
First stop was Wilson's promontory, the most southerly point of Australia, where we walked through along a rocky track to squeaky beach - which squeaks when you walk on it! Squeaky beach was absolutely gorgeous, soft white sand, massive rocks which the waves were crashing over etc etc. We then went to an old airstrip abandoned after WWII which has been taken over by roos. Over 1000 kangaroos live on the airstrip, and although they tend to sleep in the bushes during the day we managed to get a good look at a group of them, including a few joeys (unfortunately they weren't in the pouch, but they were still cute!). We also got shown a deadly red-back spider by our guide, Bones, who is a little mad, but knows everything there is to know about these areas! He found a wild blue tongue lizard to show us, and later in the tour he chased after an echidna (shnookyputz) which he spotted on the road while driving, and caught it to show us - he literally had to dig it out its hole, they are unbelievably strong diggers, and this one had dug down about a foot in the minute or so it took to stop the bus and get out! It was very very cute! Anyway, back to our journey...
The second day was another early start, we were climbing around little river falls by 8.30 am! Little River falls is a set of tiny waterfalls and pools created by little river, which is barely a trickle, but has created a whole gorge over time! I could have stayed at the falls the whole day taking pictures, and so I was the last one back to the bus (which seemed to become a habit after this lol) - not helped by the fact that I was wearing flip flops and was attempting to scale the side of a waterfall!
By midday we were travelling through stunning scenery in the mountains. The areas we were going through were those affected in last years bush fires, and there was evidence of regeneration everywhere, as well as lots of blackened tree trunks! The roads were a little mad though, just dirt tracks, twisting and turning with barely enough room for two cars to pass, let alone for our bus to pass a horse lorry!! Our destination was mt Kosciuszko, the highest point in Oz, which later that day shaun hiked to the top of!! We were staying in a ski hotel (out of season obviously, although there were still patches of snow in places) which was very close to the chairlift up the moutain. Me and mark went to the second look out point, which overlooked one of the 5 glacial lakes in australia, which had very impressive views, and shaun went the whole hog and went right to the top (he was rather pleased with himself!). The moutains were stunning, with loads of flowers and the noise of frogs croaking in little pools all over the place, however it was quite cold, and on the way back a cloud descended on top of us and we got soaked (and i mean soaked) through!
Our last day of the tour brought us through Canberra (and parliament house) and then to Sydney itself! Parliament house was interesting enough, for instance the seating is not westminster green like in our houses of parliament, but Eucalyptus green, and fades to a paler green as the seats get further away because that is how Eucalyptus forests look! Also I never knew there was more than one Magna Carta, but apparently there are 4! And, not all that long ago our Queen sacked the Australian PM! (as I said, Bones is a fountain of knowledge lol) We arrived in Sydney quite late, and checked in to Wake Up hostel where we met loads and loads of english people! Everyone in our ten bed dorm was from the UK!
Anyway I had better stop writing now, as we have to go and pick up a hire car... but I will update soon hopefully (I'm still days behind!)
Love you all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Christmas was very chilled, we had a lovely meal out on Christmas eve (although Shaun had a strop because he couldn't get a roast and made us all get wet walking around in the torrential rain trying to find one!). Christmas day was BBQ in the park, bit of a sunbathe etc, and then back to the hostel to pack for our three day adventure tour to Sydney!
Boxing day began VERY early (although later than planned as my alarm didn't work!). We got on this adorable little bus ( I think its called a mitsubishi rose?) with a trailer on the back for all our bags, and off we went...
First stop was Wilson's promontory, the most southerly point of Australia, where we walked through along a rocky track to squeaky beach - which squeaks when you walk on it! Squeaky beach was absolutely gorgeous, soft white sand, massive rocks which the waves were crashing over etc etc. We then went to an old airstrip abandoned after WWII which has been taken over by roos. Over 1000 kangaroos live on the airstrip, and although they tend to sleep in the bushes during the day we managed to get a good look at a group of them, including a few joeys (unfortunately they weren't in the pouch, but they were still cute!). We also got shown a deadly red-back spider by our guide, Bones, who is a little mad, but knows everything there is to know about these areas! He found a wild blue tongue lizard to show us, and later in the tour he chased after an echidna (shnookyputz) which he spotted on the road while driving, and caught it to show us - he literally had to dig it out its hole, they are unbelievably strong diggers, and this one had dug down about a foot in the minute or so it took to stop the bus and get out! It was very very cute! Anyway, back to our journey...
The second day was another early start, we were climbing around little river falls by 8.30 am! Little River falls is a set of tiny waterfalls and pools created by little river, which is barely a trickle, but has created a whole gorge over time! I could have stayed at the falls the whole day taking pictures, and so I was the last one back to the bus (which seemed to become a habit after this lol) - not helped by the fact that I was wearing flip flops and was attempting to scale the side of a waterfall!
By midday we were travelling through stunning scenery in the mountains. The areas we were going through were those affected in last years bush fires, and there was evidence of regeneration everywhere, as well as lots of blackened tree trunks! The roads were a little mad though, just dirt tracks, twisting and turning with barely enough room for two cars to pass, let alone for our bus to pass a horse lorry!! Our destination was mt Kosciuszko, the highest point in Oz, which later that day shaun hiked to the top of!! We were staying in a ski hotel (out of season obviously, although there were still patches of snow in places) which was very close to the chairlift up the moutain. Me and mark went to the second look out point, which overlooked one of the 5 glacial lakes in australia, which had very impressive views, and shaun went the whole hog and went right to the top (he was rather pleased with himself!). The moutains were stunning, with loads of flowers and the noise of frogs croaking in little pools all over the place, however it was quite cold, and on the way back a cloud descended on top of us and we got soaked (and i mean soaked) through!
Our last day of the tour brought us through Canberra (and parliament house) and then to Sydney itself! Parliament house was interesting enough, for instance the seating is not westminster green like in our houses of parliament, but Eucalyptus green, and fades to a paler green as the seats get further away because that is how Eucalyptus forests look! Also I never knew there was more than one Magna Carta, but apparently there are 4! And, not all that long ago our Queen sacked the Australian PM! (as I said, Bones is a fountain of knowledge lol) We arrived in Sydney quite late, and checked in to Wake Up hostel where we met loads and loads of english people! Everyone in our ten bed dorm was from the UK!
Anyway I had better stop writing now, as we have to go and pick up a hire car... but I will update soon hopefully (I'm still days behind!)
Love you all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
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