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!!