Australia; Melbourne

23/11/2011

'Neighbours..everybody needs good neighbours!!'
Lol I've got 4 days here..weathers kinda cold tho brrrr

Day 1:
Got into Melbourne from our overnight bus at 8am sunday morning. Walked and found our way to Nomads hostel but couldn't check in til 2pm! Decided last minute to do a Phillip island tour.
Went to: Moonlit sanctuary and saw Emus, Dingoes, Koalas, Owls, Wombats and Wallabees. Unfortunately the Tazmanian devil was sleeping! :(
Went to: Churchill Island, saw sheep sheering and boomerang throwing. Went to a chocolate factory and Woolami beach and a Koala conservation centre.
Then FINALLY to Phillip island to see the little Penguins! It was amazing! They all came out of the water in groups after sunset! Soo cute! :)

Day 2:
SUCH a lazy day! Slept til 12 n didn't get out of bed til like 2! Got up to book our NEIGHBOURS NIGHT! :) left0 at 6:15 and waited around for ages in the pub, then Steph Scully, Dr Karl and another neighbours star came out! They came round to everyone for pics and we did a quiz which we didn't win. :(
We got to write questions to the stars and I wrote to Karl 'can you serenade me tonight? And he did! Both me and Laura!
They had a singing competition and because I sang loudly 'god save our queen' the host was forcing me to get up so I forced Laura to get up! We sang 'Neighbours' and forgot the words a bit so got BOOED! Loool. The embarrassment!
Later we watched Karl's band play, pretty decent actually. Had a chipbab and went home, its quiet on a Monday! Yay aine was in our room :)

Day 3:
Next day another lazy one. Didn't do much until going out that night. Mine, Laura and Aine's last night out 2gether! :( we had a couple drinks in Nomads bar then went onto Fitzroy - the black cat. REALLY chilled out! We met up with a few of Aine's friends and went to another area to find a club. Apparently Melbourne's quiet on a tuesday too lol. We couldn't get into Cheers bar because we only had our driving licences (needed passport) so ended up in Room. Pretty decent music, had a good night :)

Day 4:
Went to Melbourne museum. Had to wake up early coz check outs at 10. :(
The museum was really good! There was a mind and body section, a section with LOADS of stuffed animals, underwater section, bugs section, a 3D cinema film about volcanoes etc.etc. I learnt so much!
Got on our bus back to Sydney at 8pm. Its actually more comfortable than the first one! Can't believe going to Fiji in 2 days!! Bye bye Melbourne!

Australia; Sydney Days 6 - 9

Day 6:
My friend Laura came to visit me from London :) I was still in bed when she arrived in our room at like 9am..
we got ready and went to circular quay acually walked around and into the opera house and across Sydney harbour bridge.
We then went to the botanical gardens and went on a train that took us around the gardens. We saw bats! :s
Came back to wake up and made a pasta dinner then went to a couple of bars nearby - Side bar, Star bar and Scruffy murphys, really good live music.

Day 7:
Today was a miserable day! Raining like London rain!! We used today to laze about a bit and I did my laundry which was such a hassle! We booked our overnight bus to Melbourne! (Yay) and found China town. Probably the worst Chinese food I've ever had! Uurgh! Oh well. A quiet night tonight.

Day 8:
Had to check out of Wake up and checked into YHA hostel. Really nice hostel but we were so busy we didn't take advantage of the pool and cinema room!
Went to the Sydney Tower eye - watched a 4D film about Sydney and got wet and breezed on lol. Had a drink at Darling harbour then came back home made dinner and went out to Kings Cross! A good night, we went to Sugar mill, Empire, Goldfish, World bar. Got chicken wings and went bed at 5am :)

Day 9:
Checked out of YHA and procrastinated for the whole morning, we then went to Manly. Got the ferry over and hung out on th beach for a couple hours. The water was freezing cold though and we saw jellyfish!!
Got our overnight train to Melbourne at 8am, it was sooo uncomfortable and there was a poisionous spider next to my head!! Oh well, we made it to Melbourne alive!!

Australia; Sydney! Days 1-5

15/11/2011

2 weeks in Sydney! But started to consider going to Melbourne in the time as 2 weeks is too much!!

Day 1 11th:
Got to Sydney at about 6pm, booked into my hostel at Nomads. Liked it a lot! You get free pasta and rice all the time, they randomly give away free alcohol and do free walks. My room was cozy too :) 6 bed room with bathroom for $31.
Went for a drink at the Sydney Opera house bar to say farewell to my group :( Circular quay was beautiful, the opera house at full moon :)

Day 2 12th:
Didn't get up til 12pm lol. Met with Aine and went for a walk, went to Market city, walked around the markets and the shops and had chinese - got so bloated!
Went back to our hostels to get ready to go out. Met up with Kyle and his gf (contiki buddies) to go drinking! We drank some wine in Nomad's kitchen then went to the Hilton for free drinks! (Courtesy of Kyle!) Then walked to Darling Harbour and went to Cargo bar for more drinks. Saw fireworks :) still ill with my chest infection so left quite early!! Was a good night!

Day 3 13th:
Went to A&E at Sydney Hospital to sort my chest infection out. Got seen really quickly and got given meds. Didn't even have to pay! :) Had a chicken wrap from McDonalds again lol. Walked back to Circular Quay and looked at the markets at the Rocks. Had a quick drink and chips at Wake up and walked back to my hostel for another recovery sleep!!

Day 4 14th:
Went on a Sightseeing bus around Sydney! Did a Sydney tour and saw great views of the skyline, the quay (again!) And got off at Kings cross to have a look, saw the big cocacola sign! Did another tour to Bondi beach - not too impressed! Doesn't compare to Thailand beaches! Went back to Aine's friend's house for dinner, she made us burgers and potatoes! Yum! So nice having a cooked meal!!

Day 5 15th:
Checked out of Nomads today and came over to Wake up! Just for a change of scenery. Made our own breakfast of beans on toast and ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch :)
Got the 2 hour train ride to Katoomba and then did a bus tour of the blue mountains. Saw Katoomba cascades and did a walk from Honeymoon lookout to Echo point to see the 3 sisters. Also stopped at Leura village (its like my name!!) Came back to wake up and had cup a soup for dinner, did my nails in the TV room and sat in bed catching up on my journal and this blog lol.. Its nearly midnight now!! Phew!

Australia; Crescent Head

10/11/2011

Drove to crescent head for surfing :)

Stopped at a big banana for lunch lol and I got a banana!

Surfing was loads of fun! We went to a Tea tree lake which looked like Coke! Wanted to drink it! We practised for a while in the lake and I stood up for a second!! Yay!

We then went to the beach which was ridiculously freezing! My legs were numb! Not good for my illness! We couldn't surf at the beach though as conditions were too rough.

Went back to the lake and tried and tried - I fell in sooo much!! Was soo much fun but really tiring though.

We had Mexican for dinner mmm vegetarian burritos :) its our last night on the tour :(

Sat around a camp fire for a bit and went home to rest again - STILL SICK!! Arararararrrrrgghhhhhh!!

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Australia; Byron Bay

9/11/2011

Crossed over to New South Wales on the 8th :) the clocks went forward another hour for me! 11 hours ahead of London now!

We had a rainforest walk on the way and saw a natural arch and a waterfall.

Got to our accomodation which was really nice! Like a little flat that couldve easily slept 6! There was 3 of us and I had my own double (granny) room lol

Had a walk around Byron Bay and spent ages trying to find food! Eventually had a falafel wrap! We were trying to find something healthy and cheap!

Byron bays a hippie town with quaint little shops, nice and peaceful! We went to the beach and made sandcastles and made someone a mermaid lol.

In the eveing we went to 'the Rails' for dinner, yummy chicken burger. I had 1 whiskey but still sick so went home reasonably early after 1 more drink from Woodys bar :)

Next day 9th we had a cooked breakfast from Sarah and Woody :) had to buy another camera as mine stopped working!!

We walked to the Lighthouse without knowing what we were in for! Had to walk through the rainforest loads of stairs and up hills omg but we made it!! Was great views!

Went back to the beach and played a bit in the rough waves! Had a BBQ dinner cooked by Woody and Sarah again tried Kangaroo, was nice!

Went to Cheeky Monkeys bar later, got pretty drunk, danced on tables tried to send video emails that didn't work and went home pretty early 12/1 :)

Australia; the GOLD COAST!

7/11/2011

Sooooo exciting!! The Gold coast!! :) we got to our beautiful luxury 4* hotel in the evening and got ready for dinner. Dinner was amazing (again) I had Chicken Parmesan (or however its spelt!) And we had dessrt too! Was meant to have cheesecake but ended up with apple pie :( oh well

We then went to a club called Vanity, which was really pretentious and snooty! The waitresses were wearing underwear.. Gorgeous but bitchy! The music was good though, actual music! Not crazy trance or cheesy pop for once! There was even some hip hop in there! :)

They do free drinks for girls 9-11.. Sounds good but its the worst in the WORLD! They give u glasses filled with ice, half a shot and u have to have a mixer!! Impossible to keep downing! After about 4 I wasn't even tipsy, just full of coke and cranberry juice! Boo.

So..the night started out slow, but then we got started on the wine :) omg it got messy! Snuck into VIP, kicked outta VIP, dancing with loadsa guys, kicked outta club n drunken walk back 2 our hotel! Lol loadsa fun!

Anyway, I probably don't need 2 say that the next day I was hungover again..had the option to go to theme parks or water parks but just couldn't! Really wanted to go to a water park though..next time! I'm glad I had a chilled out day.

We walked around the main street, looked in some shops and relaxed on the beach! Had the most amazing view from our hotel.. What a lucky girl I am! :)

Australia; Brisbane

6/11/2011

Quick one for Brisbane.. Only got to walk around for a couple of hours but I LOVED IT!! We went to Red Rooster for lunch, which I'm assuming is Australian and then went on a walking tour.

It was sooo much like London! We walked across a bridge over a river like the Thames, you look across and see a wheel just like the London Eye, and it looks just like South Bank.. and its actually called South bank too! Copycats!!

There was a beautiful man made beach and we went to a beautiful garden and saw ugly birds and lizards! Unfortunately we had to leave :( but were going to the GOLD COAST!!!

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Australia; Fraser Island

5/11/2011

Got the ferry to Fraser island, only took about 45mins. We got there pretty late so just got ready for dinner which was amazing again..MEXICAN :) had a bit of a party and of course I drank too much again!

Next day we went on a 4x4 bus into the rainforest. Had a walk through and saw creeks with freshwater you could actually drink. We then went to Lake Mckenzie which was sooo beautiful! Silica sand and clear water.

That night we went down to the pier to watch the sunset and had an early night to try and get rid of my STUPID COLD! Got the ferry back the next morning, didn't see any Dingoes though :(

Australia; Emu Park, Kroombit Farm

03/11/2011

Went to Emu Park on the 2nd, it was basically a stop to break up our driving. Had an amazing dinner in nice accommodation then we had a TOGA PARTY! :)

Got realllly drunken again, we all wore togas and everyone had their own spin on it. There was a shot wheel and we could dance on the bar. It was BOILING in the bar though..there was a noise curfew after a certain time and we all got sent home at like midnight!

Next day 3rd nov, long drive to the outback. Stopped off in Rockhampton, the 'beef capital of Australia', saw statues of bulls, some with balls, some without lol.

Got to Kroombit Park and had a steak lunch straight away YUM.. Got ready and got on horses to do some goat mustering! It was really fun, but I was a bit nervous! Didn't wanna fall off my horse! Mine was called Rusty I loved him! :) we all wore cowboy hats and bandannas..looked like proper cowboys :) we had to all chant 'hey bub bub bub' to the goats to get them herded!

Then we did goat rodeo..in the goat pen we were in groups of 3, one was a lassooist, one caught the goat and one branded. I branded and we were on the winning team! I am officially the worst lassoist ever lol.

We had a mystery meat later, but I knew it was goat lol.. I am from the West Indies. I was ill so I missed out on whip cracking and the mechanical bull but its all good. I was sooo tired!

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Australia; Sailing on the Whitsundays

2/11/2011

Very very VERY hungover lol and had to leave to get our boat REALLY early.. Got to our boat in the afternoon and the boat hardly looked big enough to fit us all in never mind beds for us to sleep on!

We did some sailing which was mad coz the yacht would tilt so far to one side and we would all have to sit on the other so we wouldn't fall off!

We all bought wine in bags or GOON for the boat so got all that in the evening. Got pretty drunk n did some halloween face painting.

Next day 1st Nov we went to Luncheon bay to do snorkelling. Saw a couple of fishies, mainly a blue one with yellow tails.. Looked a bit like Dory lol. Later we went to Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday island.. It was BEAUTIFUL! Had a play in the water besides being a bit scared of jellyfish and stuff on the water.

Back on the boat ready for sleeping on the boat again. Had a go at putting the sail up, was pretty hard work!! Drank some more Goon and had a pretty early night!

Next morning we had breakfast and got off the boat, felt good to be on dry land!

Woo hoo Whitsundays!