Rach's Round the World Adventure

Japan

2007-07-01T10:28:00.000Z

Hi Guys

Well im finally in Japan which means im heading home. This is definately the way to finish off i trip... have 2 fantastic mates come meet you in an amazing country!

So i arrived in Japan last sunday very tired at about 6.30am local time but had to wait until 10 when Vickis flight landed. Wasnt too suprised Ness wasnt there to meet me so headed over the t1 when Vickis flight was due to land. At about 8.30 ish Ness turned up all stressed out. She`d gone to t2 and i wasnt there and had been looking for me as she had no way of contacting either of us as her phone isnt work. Anyway she found me singing to Mcfly and we waited ages for Vicki to arrive. It was all hugs and kisses and why have to taken so long when Vicki finally came though to arrivals. Then Ness took charge and showed us how shed survived in Japan 2 days without us. Ness had mastered the trains and we were heading to our hostel...we still cant believe Ness found it!

That afternoon we went exploring, jumped on the train and headed the palace...bit of a shame we couldnt see it, the garden were gorgeous though. Then we headed in Ginza and checked out the heart of the city. It was safe to say we all slept every well thats night in our traditional japanese room... ie beds on the floors and all that.

....

Queenstown to Auckland

2007-06-18T05:51:00.000Z

After updating my blog I had a rather weird afternoon. One of the girls I went to school with added me to facebook. She told me she was living in Queenstown and as soon as I found out I emailed Karyn back to tell her I would be in town later that day. Well while I was on the net Karyn text me to let me know she was in town and as it happened in the internet place over the road to where I was sat. 5 minutes later a 5 months pregnant Karyn walked though the door! Not seen her in about 2 years and here we were on the other side of the world and 19,000 miles from home and in the same small town. Anyway she took me to the best hot chocolate place in town and we sat chilling out and catching up until I had to leave to go pony trekking.

Dare I say after I got over the fear on actually being on a horse me and Sully got along (when he wasn’t biting the horse in fronts bum that is!) There were just 4 well 5 including the guide on the trip which took just to Paradise…literately! Which is where Peter Jackson set a lot of the scenes from Lord of the Rings and where The Lion the witch and the wardrobe was set. (cant say ive seen that though, the tv programme always creped me out) the horse weren’t just any horse though…oh no…Vicki you would be prove I promised id go horse riding in this absolutely stunning scenery and well I did it in style. All the horse had appeared in the fight scenes in Lord of the Rings and my horse is also the horse that advertises the company! Sully was pretty well behaved for me part from the biting and the running, but I got used to him and took the upper hand… it was just a shame I could see the start when I was just getting used to it. Anyway gorgeous scenery and a really good laugh.

Tuesday was a very early morning… the day started with Tyler and Andy having to run round the coach in their boxers, they’d lose to pool the night before and that was there challenge… you think they’d learn as the week when on but we all got quite used to the boys and mainly Andy taking his kit off! Mandy had to stay behind to make sure we had a hot meal waiting for us on our return and that all our activities etc were sorted for Wednesday and Shane led our very sleepy bus down to our first stop at Te Anau. We made a couple more stops through the showers and the sleet at the Mirror Lakes and at the Homer tunnel. The rain was still pretty heavy as we boarded the boat for the cruise round Milford sound. It was safe to say part from Shane who got excited over every tree he saw the majority of us were pretty happy to sit inside the boat looking out the windows at the thousands of waterfalls than brave the deck and get soaked by the rain and the waterfalls. To most of us this place was a bit of a let down. So many people had built it up to be this truly magical place and a must see but maybe that was the problem…we could see a great deal. The waterfalls to be fair were amazing, I just don’t feel I saw Milford at its most beautiful.

Wednesday was meant to be a really exciting day, I was meant to be Hang gliding over Queenstown but it was cancelled due to strong winds. So instead me and Emma headed to be Skyline Gondola and headed up to see Queenstown’s views. We meant up with some over very disappoint hand gliders and checked out the high speeds of the luge before experiencing the burgers at Fergburger for lunch. A very unproductive day really but ended on a high when we went bowling then into town.

Thursday was yet again another early start… but we had signed up for adventure not to lie in bed all day! Next stop Fox Glacier. It was safe to say the weather once again was against us. We’d signed up to do the Helihike on Fox Glacier and we were all kitted out and sat waiting in the bus when it started spitting…yes not raining spitting! They cancelled on us and we ended up just doing the normal hike on the Glacier. A really good experience, very weird but I really enjoyed it and surprising it wasn’t cold. They had us crawling through ice caves and everything.

Friday was spent mainly on the road…we headed north along the west coast the inland to Arthur’s Pass. This was a good stop, there was thick snow going over the pass so we all jumped out and had a snowball fight and Natalia even got to make her very first snowman! We lost a lot of our team that night, think it was 13 out of 36.

Saturday we headed up to Kaikoura, some of the team we going whale watching and judging by how green and pale most of them were when we picked them up im glad I decided to take the free walk over the coast to spot some seal, which we did. Then headed into town to have the best Hoki and Chips! This was a really long day and we didn’t arrive in Nelson until about 8ish when dominos delivered our dinner!

This was one of my favourite days, after having to say bye to Shane (who had to go over to Brisbane to run a coach for travel agents!) we headed up to the Happy Valley to try our hand at quad biking. After a shaky start I got the hang of what I was doing and gave my right thumb a really good work out. When we got to do the race track at the end it was a chance to really get some speed up without thinking I was going to fall of the side of the cliffs! I was very chuffed with the speed I got and I didn’t kill one sheep or anything! So much fun. Alex covered himself in sheep poo which was so funny! And Morton managed to turn his bike over and have to pay for the damages but other than that we had so much fun…highly recommended and id definitely do it again.

Monday was another long day, we made a stop at 10.30 at the village winery to take in some tasting of their local wine and schnapps before heading on to the local chocolate factory…I was in heaven! We caught the 1.15 ferry over to Wellington and had a very quick tour of the Te Papa Museum. We lost anyone 5 of our team, Lizzy presented up all with awards… I think I must drink a lot of tea or always be asking whos making a brew as that what my award was… my award was (rubbing my hands together) and saying “ooo you making a brew” (sponsored by Yorkshire Tea!) I very good night and one I could blame Kerri for the following day when my head was banging from telling me one more bottle of wine wouldn’t hurt.

Taupo on Tuesday was so relaxing… we watching Alex do his 4th bungy jump then heading further down the river to the nature hot springs. Very relaxing and chilled out day…unlike Wednesday!

After arriving in Rotorua we headed into the Te Whakarewarewa, a Maori cultural area situated on the thermal reserves. We were taken on a tour of their village and there we their local school children running round on an educational trip learning about the communities culture. We were then invited to sample there traditional Hangi meal followed by a Maori concert which I caught on film. The cutest bit was all the kids joining in with the moves! But im sure I can bore you all with the video when im home and ive worked out how to get the things working! That afternoon me, Nat, Kerri, Lorraine and Sunelle went Zorbing. Basically you can have up to 3 people in this big almost inflatable ball which has got a big puddle of water in the bottom. Its quite a skill to get inside as you have to dive like you diving down a slide or something into this ball. Obviously you land straight into the water, I was the first in followed by the screams of Nat and then Kerri. We were told when signalled to stand up and push the ball, well the girls stood up and as I went to stand I slid between their legs and sat them back down again as the ball rolled down the hill. Oh and you cant see where your going…all you know is your rolling pretty face down this hill but it basically forces you to remain on you back. It was so funny and I have laughed like that in so long. Sunelle kicked up such a fuss about having to do it wet and then was the most excited when she got out. Ill show you the pictures as soon as I can but I cant upload them off this computer. Such a giggle.

Thursday was one of my favourite days of the whole trip and something id been looking forward to doing as soon as I found out I could! Me, Sham and Mike were off to Waitomo (meaning water hole) to spend the day caving. We’d signed up to do Haggas Honking Holes which was 4 hours of abseiling, climbing, crawling through rivers and through waterfalls and doing some much with would normally freak me out. I was more scared when the guide asked me to give him a hand with safety lines etc which I guess distracted me from what I was actually doing. Ive got a great photo of my on my tummy crawling…not even that lying down in this little cave that I was coming through. So much fun but I was so knackered at the end when we were climbing out. And this was some serious climbing at times which was a lot of hard work when your tired and only had half a glass of lemon juice to keep you going. If I ever come back to New Zealand im so doing it again! That night I went out dressed as…batman, sort of. I had the mask and cape but had a butterfly round my neck, couldn’t find a bat with only an hour to get a costume together before dinner. Another real good laugh, just a shame Mandy wasn’t able to come out and join us on our last night.

Our last day basically took us into Auckland via, hobbiton?! I think that’s what they call it, it was where that shire was filmed and after the film they re named or co named the town after the hobbits. There was nothing left which was anything like the shire but they do have something outside the visitors centre we all had our photos taken in. When we got to Auckland, it was a bit sad. We all knew we’d reached the end and after going up the Sky Tower we knew we had to say goodbye. After spending 2 weeks with the same people day in day out you become like a family, like we all did when we were in Peru! (miss you guys) but the English crowd are going to meet up again and Nat coming over from Melbourne in December and has already told me shes coming to stay! But shes given me her cold so I might not have forgiven her!

Anyway that was the tour and I highly recommend it to anyone under 35 (connections rules) but I’d highly recommend any of the connections tours to anyone. The Safari tours in Oz, the one me and Gaz did are open to anyone and it was fantastic. I had so much fun and have so many fantastic memories from both tours.

Im back in Stillwater now and today Gina and Pete took me to the west coast. We went to Muriwai beach, Piha beach and Karekare beach, they even took me to a point where we could see both oceans which was pretty cool. Not sure what the plan is for the rest of the week, not sure when Ian’s working etc. Hazel (Ian’s girlfriend Clare, sister) has very kindly offered to take me into the city before I leave on Saturday which will be nice but other than that who knows where ill be!

Love you xxx

Christchurch to Queenstown

2007-06-03T22:40:00.000Z

Wow....im soooooo cold! Let me catch you all up on what ive been doing since leaving Auckland. I arrived in Dunedin about 10am Wednesday morning and it was stunning. As we flew over we could see the summit of Mt Cook and it was just so clear and shall we say crisp! Such a climate change from the last few days in Auckland and even more so from my last 4 months! Dunedin is a gorgeous little town...city i think actually, i explored the town etc in the morning and booked my bus to christchurch for Saturday and i trip up to see the penguins and birds. (This is where i wish i brought my lonely planet out with me this morning, coz i havent a clue where i went really) I spent Wednesday afternoon doing the Cadburys factory tour, and i did really well. Like in UK you get freebies all the time and can eat as much as you like when theyre handing out the freebies. Well our tour guide was finishing the job on Friday and wasnt to bothered about what we took etc and told us to fill our pockets which we did! So i had my jacket full of chocolate, my goodie bag and i obviously made a good impression on this guy as he came over to chat to me in the shop after the tour. Gave me an extra goodie bag and asked me to pick any big bar of chocolate i wanted and then he went to brought it out of his own pocket! Which was really sweet of him. So its far to say ive got loads of chocolate... and i actually still have nearly all of it! I finished the night off in this gorgeous like bar, Craft i think it was called. The brewed their own ales which i obviously had to sample and the meal was fantastic and not bad for about 14 pounds all in! I sat infront of the fire eating my dinner while i band played! Perfect...
Thrusday i did the tour up to see the birds, and the penguins and sealions. It was the last tour of the season and the tour guy was having to move on to other things as the season was closing for winter. We had a really great day but im so glad i bought a coat! It was like a wet and windy day in Wales or something. Really bitterly cold gale force winds on the coast. Really good thought.
Friday was some what less productive, I pottered around until 11.30 when i headed up to...spreights brewery?! That doesnt look right...it was something like that anyway. Its an New Zealand beer which was set up by 3 blokes all i think our tour guide Graham said were Scottish. And the beer is refered to as the "pride of the south". Really nice ale actually...ok there is a pattern forming here. Tour was really good as well, only 5 of us and it was a really good laugh and i was getting loads of stick for being from just outside Manchester from Graham. I ended up having a snack lunch at the Alehouse next door with a Scottish couple who moved out to New Plymouth for a year working as doctors. They'd got married a month before moving to New Zealand and heading off travelling on their way to New Zealand.
Satutrday was an early start so much so it was still dark! Waiting at the train station for the coach wasnt too nice but i survived. It took 5 hours to get up to Christchurch and the views were pretty amazing the closer we got (it was raining in Dunedin and it died off the closer we got to Christchurch and turned into a gorgeous day). Id really decided i was going to drop all my gear off and head straight to the weekend craft markets at the art centre as they were meant to be really great. Didnt buy anything part from some local ale at the bar at the back of the market. It was so nice just chilling out and people watching.
Sunday morning was an early start. Id met a guy the night before who was on the bunk below me. He'd just finished the 15 day tour with connections and was heading over to Oz to do the red centre tour me anc Gaz did. It was great to be able to exchange stories and i was really excited by the time i went to sleep. It sounded fantastic. So we got picked up sunday morning and Shane and Mandy introduced themselves etc and we got on our way. Beautiful clear day and there was snow on the peaks. Shane was very excited which got us all excited. Apprently theyd been on snow at all on Friday when he'd come up with the other tour. Once again i cant tell you where we stopped but it was so amazing and stunning. I love this county! The temperature dropped a lot yesterday and there was definately a "snowing chill" in the air according to Shane. He was right and we had a light dusting this morning. But last night just to warm us up we all went to Minus 5, a bar made completely out of ice! It was apprently -8 in the bar and everything including the glasses were made out of ice. Perfect way to drink Vodka thats for sure, and the cocktails were gorgeous. (Al you would have loved it) Your only allowed in the bar 30 minutes and they give you coats and gloves etc. Really cool.
So today what have i done... well this morning ive been out on the Shotover Jet which is a jet boat which skims the water of the Shotover cannyon at speeds of 80km and just for fun spins you 360 degrees ever so often! What i buzz... but soooooo cold! I think its safe to say if that river didnt flow as fast as it does it would be frozen for sure in places. Still trying to warm up after it. This afternoon im going Horse riding (as promised Vicki) on a Lord of the Rings tour. Sounds alright, just the horse bit that im not too sure about in this weather. Its now up to about 4c which is better than the 2c which is was at 9am.

Speak to you guys later...and ill bring my lonely planet next time! xxx

For those who are interested - 13 Day Kiwi Discovery ex Christchurch Quad

2007-05-29T08:31:00.000Z

Sunday, June 03
Your tour will depart from the Cathedral Camelot Square Hotel, 66 Cathedral Square, Christchurch at 8.00am. Please ensure you are at the hotel at least 15 minutes prior to departure. If you cannot locate
the crew within 15 minutes of the designated departure time, please call APT Auckland - 0064 (0)9 2796077. Our journey commences in Christchurch where you'll find grand architecture, historic homesteads and immaculate parks intermingle with the technology and style of modern life. We make tracks across the Canterbury Plains to the town of Geraldine. Today we follow the southern lakes hydroelectricity scheme around impressive blue water lakes with the ever-present Southern Alps as a backdrop. Stop for a photo opportunity at the "Church of the Good Shepard" on Lake Tekapo. There is an opportunity to take a breathtaking 40 minute fixed wing flight* over the lakes, southern alps and glaciers. After lunch its onwards to Lake Pukaki and a chance for some amazing photos as we gaze across the clear blue waters to Mt Cook - known to the Maori people as Aoraki or "cloud piercer" - hopefully no clouds in sight to obscure our view! Our afternoon drive takes us over the Lindis Pass and through the Cromwell district where we have a chance to stop and stretch and sample the famous fresh and dried fruits grown in the
region. Our journey continues along the Kawarau River, with its familiar Lord of the Rings scenery, and home to AJ Hackett's original Bridge Bungy site - the first commercial bungy in the world. Onwards to our destination, the adrenalin mecca of the southern hemisphere!! [D]

Monday, June 04
Today we journey to the magnificent Milford Sound. Wake up with a caffeine break at the township of Te Anau on the shores of one of New Zealand's many large glacial carved lakes. We'll stop and admire the reflection in Mirror Lake, the views down the Hollyford valley before we literally drive through the mountain as we enter the Homer Tunnel and emerge back into a landscape of spectacular mountains and waterfalls. We'll enjoy a cruise on the waters of Milford Sound, really a Fiord carved by glaciers many moons ago. If the weather is favourable you can opt to take the short way "home" on a scenic flight to Queenstown.* A short walk at the Chasm before we make our return journey through Te Anau to Queenstown. A well-earned meal before we head out and perhaps check out the nightlife - there's always a party in this adrenalin charged town! [BD]

Tuesday, June 05
Today its time to play! And adventure awaits us everywhere. Perhaps take a giant swing as you leap over the waters high above the Shotover Canyon*. Want something more sedate? Take a walk along Lake Wakatipu through the botanic gardens or sample the culinary delights of the many cafes in this remarkable town. Try your hand on the snowy slopes at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables or Cadrona Ski resorts*. First timer? No worries, there are great beginner packages to help you get started on the gentler slopes! You name it - its all here and awaiting you in Queenstown!! We'll regroup at dinner and share our day's experiences. [BD]

Wednesday, June 06
Today its time to play and an adventure awaits us at every turn! Try a bungy jump* (or three!) at the home of commercial bungy jumping, raft on the Shotover River* or surf the waters of the Kawarau whilst river boarding*. A shot of adrenalin in the Shotover Jet* as you skim past the canyon walls, or the breathtaking scenery of the Dart River on a jetboat safari* or by horseback*. Enjoy the mountains and views from a bike* or hike to Ben Lomond for 360 degree views. Take a hang glide down*, or drop out of the skies during a tandem skydive*. Or perhaps you'd prefer a Lord of the Rings Tour*, a giant leap and swing out over Shotover Canyon* or admire the view from the skyline gondola*. You name it - its all here and awaiting you in Queenstown!! We'll regroup at dinner and share our day's experiences. [BD]

Thursday, June 07
An early start today as we journey past Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea and break at Makarora for morning tea. We negotiate Haast Pass and stop at Thunder Creek Falls, which flows into the Haast River amidst rainforest, highlighting the beauty of this World Heritage area. Westland National Park abounds with high mountain peaks and glaciers and this afternoon we'll have a chance to walk on a flowing river of ice! A half day guided hike* is an excellent way to take a closer look at Fox Glacier as your guides take you alongside the glacier through rejuvenating temperate rainforest and onto the lower icefall. Don't forget to look up and admire the forested peaks that rise dramatically to create the glacial valley. If you prefer to search higher on the glacier for stunning ice caves and formations take a heli-hike* onto the upper icefall and enjoy a more sedate walking pace as you explore with your guides and await the return of your helicopter. [BD]

Friday, June 08
Let's hope Lake Matheson's waters are still and the skies clear so we can get that famous reflection of New Zealand's two tallest mountain peaks in it's waters, as we start our day with a morning walk before heading off into the mountains. We stop briefly at the visitor's centre in Franz Josef, then on to the wild West Coast as we head into the town of Hokitika for our lunch break. We'll stop at the Jade factory and see the carvers skilfully creating works of art from the greenstone, known as jade, and grab the chance to purchase a souvenir pendant. The scenery will continue to amaze you today as we head once again across the Alps. Our path is only one of three that cut across these impressive mountains that form the backbone of the South Island. Through the Otira Gorge with waterfalls cascading overhead, a quick break at Arthur's Pass, then back down onto the Canterbury Plains. Our home tonight is back in Christchurch and time, if you wish, for a meal out at a local hotspot as we unwind. [B]

Saturday, June 09
Our morning's drive takes us to the small town of Kaikoura, nestled at the foothills of the Kaikoura ranges with the pale blue waters of the Pacific lapping its grey pebbly shore. Marine life abounds in the rich waters and the resident sperm whales are there for the viewing* 12 months of the year. Very popular is the opportunity to swim with the many Dusky Dolphins or seals* that abound in the area, or go out on the boat* for some great dolphin viewing opportunities. Don't worry, those amongst us who prefer terra-firma can go on a coastal hike and enjoy the waters from a distance, hire a bike* for a ride out to the peninsula, or kick-back in a café and enjoy the local delicacies. Continuing north we stop at Ohau Point to spy out some NZ fur seals before entering the vineyards of the Marlborough region, famous for its wines. Onward across the ranges to Nelson, and a late arrival into our "home-away-from-home" for the next two nights by Tahunanui Beach. [BD]

Sunday, June 10
Awake to Nelson with the highest recorded days of sunshine in New Zealand, and the day is yours to explore this amazing area. The nearby Abel Tasman National Park offers a journey into a world of native bush greeting golden sands, hidden bays and blue-green clear waters. Explore the park by water taxi*, the ever-popular walking tracks or from the water as you paddle in your ocean kayaks along the incredible shoreline*. For a different look at the park try jumping out of a perfectly good plane and take in the incredible views as you skydive back to base on a tandem skydive*. There's always horse riding* and quad biking* with ocean views for those who prefer to remain grounded! Tonight we'll gather for a scrumptious meal and reflect on the day. [BD]

Monday, June 11
Our journey today takes us to the little town of Picton situated on the north coast of the South Island, as we make our way to the Interisland ferry for our trip across Cook Strait. Enjoy the beauty of the serene blue waters of the Marlborough Sounds from the outer viewing decks as we cruise through and on towards the North Island. We take a drive along the harbour and up Mt Victoria this afternoon for a 360-degree view of Wellington and surrounds. A definite Kodak moment! After some free time in the city we hang up our travellin' shoes. You'll also have the chance to check-out Te Papa, the National Museum of NZ. This is not your ordinary museum but very "hands-on" and full of interesting displays. Maybe you'd prefer to look in the nearby city centre, take a stroll along the harbour, catch up on your e-mails or perhaps take the scenic cable car* up into the Botanic Gardens and check out the view from there. The choice is yours. [B]

Tuesday, June 12
On the road again this afternoon, we depart Wellington and head north through farming country. We head past the very active Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe - the classical conical volcano most commonly recognised as Mt Doom from the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy - and around New Zealand's largest lake to Lake Taupo. You'll have some leisure time to enjoy this area. Take a plunge toward the clear waters of the Waikato River at the Taupo bungy site*, jetboat to the Huka Falls*, or try a tandem skydive* - the choice is yours! [BD]

Wednesday, June 13
This morning we head toward the smelting pot of Rotorua. It's here that geothermal steam, volcanic mountains and huge crater lakes remind you that this region rests immediately above the Pacific Ring of Fire. We'll make a stop at the raging waters of Huka Falls, and past Wairakei Geo-thermal area. You'll see that Rotorua is truly alive with our afternoon visit to Whakarewarewa Maori Village and Thermal Reserve. Following our traditional Maori "hangi" meal we learn of the Maori lifestyle, history and customs on our tour in this unique village. See displays about traditional weapons, instruments and learn the intricate details of woodcarving. You'll have time also to enjoy a Maori concert before we depart for a tour of the town and our nearby motel. Tonight we'll enjoy a "kiwi-style" barbeque dinner and some recreational time out at the Blue & Green Lakes (weather permitting - summer only). [BLD]

Thursday, June 14
The day is yours to explore the region. Time for an optional day trip* to the small township of Waitomo. Here, hidden below the rolling hills and grazing sheep, a labyrinth of caves awaits exploration. Wonder at the beauty of St Benedict's Cave*, try "Tumu Tumu Toobing"*, or take in the action of "Haggis Honking Holes"* as you abseil, climb and grovel through this underground system. Want to turn up the heat? How about a day trip to nearby White Island and walk on an active marine Volcano?* Perhaps take a raft or kayak on the local Kaituna River*, home of the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall!, check out the local area in a 4wd tour or relax with a soothing massage or mud bath*! After dinner there's time to relax under the stars as you soak in the natural thermally heated waters of the motel spas and pool. [BD]

Friday, June 15
This morning we travel north along the Waikato River to Auckland, otherwise known as the "city of sails" and New Zealand's largest city. We make our way to the heart of the city centre to take a look from the impressive icon that is the Sky City viewing tower. At 328 metres Sky Tower is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, offering breath-taking views for more than 80 kilometres in every direction before we farewell our travelling companions. [B]

Auckland

2007-05-26T05:32:00.000Z

At the moment I am sat watching the sunset and its so gorgeous here. I’m basically in the middle of no where, 35 minutes north of Auckland in what’s classed as Northland, in a little village called Stillwater. The views are amazing and have the ultimate Wow factor. It’s just so stunning and I just can’t help myself but to say wow! The closest place you’ll find on the map to where I am is Silverdale and I’m near the Hauraki Gulf coast line.

For those who don’t know why I’m in the middle of no where, I’m staying with Ian Wilson and his family, who moved out here about 3 years ago. The house is gorgeous and it’s sat on the top of the hill at the end of the road, I’m sat in his Dads music room and the views are so beautiful. They have a balcony on the front of the house and I swear you can see for miles! Down to the river where the boats are and over looking the forests. Gina and Pete have been great since I got here and have given me loads of help etc for my trip.

The plan as it stands is to stay here until Wednesday and then I’m flying down to Dunedin, I’ll spend a few days there before heading north to Christchurch to start my 13 Kiwi Discovery tour on Sunday. The tour takes me down to Queenstown, Milford Sound, Lake Ohau then up the West Coast to Fox Glacier then on to Nelson, over to Wellington and then back up to Auckland stopping in Taupo and Rotorua. Its going to be a full trip with loads to see and I’m so excited. Then I have a week left in New Zealand before I head to Japan. Ian’s taking some time off from his busy life as snow boarder! And planning on taking me to hit the slopes… this will be interesting! Think hes going to have to take me to work with him and give me some lessons at the Snow Planet otherwise ill spend my last week in New Zealand on my bum!

So what have i been up to since i arrived on Wednesday night?! Well it was safe to say Wednesday night was a late one but that was to be execped. Dont think i meant it to bed before 2am, just chatting about the old days with Ian and catching up on each others lifes etc. It was really nice. The next day Gina took me into Browns Bay via their old house to sort out some money and a New Zealand phone card. I learnt something at least from being in Oz that it was essential to have a local number as its so much cheaper! After we'd sorted things out in Browns Bay we headed up to Wenderholme Regional Park to meet Pete and Ians Grandmops, Gladis. Pete was playing around in his kayak while Gladis was relaxing in the sun. But by the time we arrived Pete had already finished and was getting changed. The beach was gorgeous, it looked out over the Gulf and was just so stunning. Gladis over the last 3 years has been collecting shells from the beach so we picked out some unique ones and brought them back from her. Apprently shes filled part of her garden with a shells! Gladis has come out from 3 months between March and May since Gina and Ian moved out here. Anyway, it was a lovely day out and i got to meet their lodger John when we got home and had dinner. John arrived about 3 weeks ago and is in the process of moving out here with his family. He had to come out and start working for the local council and left his wife and 2 little boys back in Essex's area while the house sale goes through. Really nice guy which i think grew up where Pete did and theyre old family friends.

Friday, Pete took me and Gladis up the coast again. We were going to get the boat from Sandpit and go see the bays before heading to Kawau Island but the rain put us off. Pete decided it would be better to go on the boat while it was sunny so we left. 5 minutes later when we were stood on Brick Bay beach the sun came out and it was gorgeous, same we'd aready missed the only boat! But nevermind. We continued to head up the coast stopping at Ti Bay, which was a gorgeous little spot perfect from kayaking and there was a lovely little walk you could do around the bay. We went so far before deciding to turn back. Then we tried to visit another regional park but it was closed for pest control so Pete took us to Leigh! It definately was nothing like our Leigh... it was a lovely little village with loads of character. It was too early to stop from lunch at the Sawmill Cafe so we headed down to Pakiri and wandered on to the beach from a little paddle and look at the views. I know I keep saying it but it was so lovely. Lunch was fantastic and the local brew went down a treat. I tried their dark ale and a pale larger which i think was called crystal. It went perfectly with my Mexican Prawns and thats all that mattered. I didnt see much of the "exciting" route home as i fell alseep after another later night with Ian but apprently we went down some really untame roads! But i didnt notice.

Saturday afternoon the girls had a little run up the bays to Devonport and went up to what i think was called North Head Regional park which is at the top of a really steep hill. The 360 views were lovely, just a shame the sun wasnt shining down on the city. You could see all the way back up the bays to where the house is, to the heart of the city to further round the gulf. Devonport itself is very similar to Manly really but without the surfers! Same feel to it which loads of lovely place to eat and people watch and apprently the houses are really expensive and is a really trendy area. Its a popular area from city slicker who commute everyday on the ferry just like Manly.

Todays been a really chilled out day, me and Ian have had a run out and ive set him a challenge to find me a really Mr Whippy 99 ice cream after he gave me some chocolate which just tasted like the raspberry sauce on a flake. Yum!

Anyway, Ill keep you updated as much as possible and for anyone who needs to get in touch with me I now have another phone number! A New Zealand number… 0064 211602225.

Love you xxx

On the move again...bye Australia!

2007-05-23T01:11:00.001Z

Wow! I can’t believe I’m leaving Australia today! It feels like just yesterday, Jim and Amy were picking me up from the airport etc, definitely not 4 months ago. I have to say thought, it didn’t seem to be going that fast at the time, but looking back about everything I’ve done and achieved over the last 4 months… I’m impressed.

I’m so excited about moving on to New Zealand and seeing something completely new but at the same time I’m really nervous and I guess a little gutted to be leaving. I’m so ready to leave Australia etc but I will miss it and everyone over here. The Bromley’s residence as been like home for me over the last few months and I’ve got the same butterflies I had before I left England. Its like going completely solo again, which I guess I’m not as I’m going to see and stay with Ian and his family for a few days. But it’s not the same as family.

I’m so very grateful for everything Kath and Jim have done for me… but especially Kath. Not only has she done the obvious for me and giving me a place to stay and feed me etc no questions asked, but she’s bend over backwards to make sure I have a fantastic trip. Whether it be being able to use a car, helping me out when things have gone wrong such as my rail pass and being able to use the phone and internet to stay in contact with home. She’s followed me very step of the way and helped me out whenever she can. And especially a big thank you for letting me and Gaz have Avoca for those few days. We had a fantastic few days, so thank you from both of us.

Well all my bags are packed and I’m ready to go…so I’ll talk to you again on the next stage of my trip with only 7 weeks to go. I also can’t believe that in 4 weeks on Sunday I arrive in Japan and Nessa will be there…(or coming to meet me as I understand that 6.45am is very early especially as Vicki isn’t due until around 10ish). I definitely think this trip is going to end on such a high, so thanks girls for agreeing to the madness which is coming all the way to Japan to meet me for a girlie trip!

Love you xxx

Whitsundays

2007-05-15T01:41:00.000Z

What a stressful day Saturday was... and i have to say it was rather expensive too! I managed to find a boat and i managed to get a refund it just didnt cover the costs of the other boat. I know if maybe i kicked off more or whatever the company would have had to pay for their mistake but all i cared about was being able to do the trip before i left Oz and now i have. So 2 hours after booking the trip i was packed and at the briefing meeting. Id meet a girl from Halifax on the bus to Airlie 2 days before and Judy was on my boat which was nice and the 2 girls who was in my room at the YHA the night before was on the larger boat. Lauren and Sarah were definately shocked to see me thats for sure!

I was on the smaller boat, Kora with 34 others. Not long after setting sail i meet Kelly, Chris and Emma and i spent most of the trip with them. Kellys your typical dizzy blonde (from just outside leeds area i think she said)...proper Barbie girl and has been travelling for a few weeks by herself. Her fella live in Brisbane and she was just seeing the east coast solo. Chris has been living in aderlade for 8 months before realising how dull the place actually is! Hes from Grimsby before he moved out here. It was so funny coz me and Kelly just assumed he was our age coz he doesnt look any older and hes 27! So it was safe to say he got a lot of stick from me from then on. Great guy though and hes travelling down from Cairns solo. Emmas from Southport and has been travelling solo for quite a while. We were exchanging tips to keeping yourself entertained when your on your own. Anyway it helped and after id calmed down and just dealt with the extra expense i just thought sod it...just enjoy it thats what ive paid to do. The resort was gorgeous...we were at the side of the resort out of the way from the other residences which our own bar etc. But we could use the facilities etc which was great. While everyone else was playing drinking games etc in the bar...me, Kelly and Chris headed for the Hot tub and spent most of the evening there listening to a lady perform to the guests in the resort bar. It was so nice and so chilled out and so not backpacking...the only things which would have made it was a real towel. That something i really miss! (Sad i know)

The weather wasnt the best on the trip, Sunday wasnt bad. Well i didnt think so but before we reached our first stop, at least 6 people on our boat werent well due to the waves, weather and mainly i think the hangovers! Glad i only had my free drink with me dinner...no way youd get me on a boat hungover! I did catch the sun thought but Monday was so gorgeous... and just lying out on the deck was perfect! Every good trip well worth the stress!

Just chilling out in the sun for the next few days before heading to Sydney on Thursday night. and guess who i walked into today....Felicity! Bet she didnt expect to see me again when she left the hostel in Broome without saying bye! Its a small world i guess. Lauren and Sarah are here and flying to Sydney with me on Thursday night which will be good, and Chris and Emma are around until tomorrow. Im meeting them at cold rock (awesome ice cream!) after Chris's sky dive later.

Big kiss! xxx

Its safe to say im not Clapping!

2007-05-12T00:52:00.000Z

I have never wanted to leave this country anymore than i do today! I was meant to be doing the Whitsundays 3 day boat trip tomorrow. Sorted out my booking etc in Perth and rung up this morning to ask where i have to check in, only to be told the boat had been cancelled and they couldnt get hold of me to tell me! So its far to say im not happy, not happy at all. I rung the company i booked it with and basically the best they can do is a boat on tuesday-thursday for an additional $110. I asked about my refund and it would be $120 which seems an absolute joke. So im just sitting in Peter Pan travel and hopefully they'll have something for me for $120 otherwise im stuck in Airlie Beach until Thursday...in the rain and i wont get to do the Whitsundays! Not Happy at all.... xxx

Katherine

2007-05-06T10:11:00.000Z

What a gorgeous town...just perfect and really lovely. I had a great trip up to Katherine all things considered. I basically couldnt walk! The bites on my feet especially my left one made my feet all swallen. And believe me my left foot just ballooned... never seen anything like it and i was so painfull. Id gone up to woolies and forced my feet into my trainers so i could itch my feet and when i got back and took my trainers off theres was no way my left foot was going back in there to get the bus, i only just managed to put my thongs on! But i made friends with one of our drivers Jamie, he was hitting on him bless him and i thought id take advantage of the situation, the bus was packed and there was no way i could share 2 seats, i didnt have to! Jamie sorted it out for me, he was such a lovely guy and he kept me entertained Friday morning until his shift finished and another lot of drivers took over at 11am. He couldnt believe the state of my feet and bought me brews! Which was great considering we werent allowed hot drinks on the bus, he also let me sneak an apple into NT!
We arrived in Katherine at about 6pm and i didnt do much but bump my stuff and potter down to woolies, my feets had gone down abit by then and the pain was being tamed by tablets! Id decided if my feet were up to the challenge id head up to Katherine Gorge in the morning and have a look around. Basically theres not much in Katherine which doesnt relate to water, only problem is the wet season has just ended so things are even more limited and even more limited when you dont have transport! Anyway my feet were up for the challenge and i could fit into my trainers so i booked the bus up to the National park, there was no way i was walking 29km! Long story short the bus didnt turn up but a ranger was passing which gave me and the german girl from my room a lift... thank god! id booked to do the 11am cruise up the river so as it was just gone 8.30 i thought id try one of the gorge walks... by 9am is was already around 34c and the notice boards had warning about tempertures hitting 40c... at home we complain about walking in 20c and make excused to eat ice cream and potter along. I got back from my 16km route in just enough time to jump on the boat but boy was i knackered! Was good though and dare i say i actually really enjoyed myself. The boat tour was really good as well and the views...wow! I had issues again with the bus back to town but i wasnt taking no as an answer for the bus not meeting me from my tour... the tour was late back and i wasnt happy if the bus had gone without me. The ranger who brought us up took us back again...bless him! I had a very productive afternoon, it was too hot to find the hot springs so i just relaxed by the pool.
Early this morning i thought id see if i could find these hot springs, it was only meant to be a 10min drive from town so figured it wouldnt take me too long to walk it. Once again in the 34c heat i walked the 40 mins it took me to get to the hot springs. These springs were meant to be 32c...not convinced they were but they were so lovely just to lie in and relax. It started to get busy so i headed back to town and the hostel to make sure i didnt miss my bus to Darwin...which is where i am now. But just for the night...up at 4am for my flight to Cairns. Cant believe i live oz in just a few weeks. Got hold of Ian and hes ringing me tomorrow to sort out New Zealand, so excited!

Ill let you know how gorgeous the weather is in Carins tomorrow!

Love you xxx

Broome

2007-05-03T09:26:00.000Z

Getting to Broome was another long bus ride, i got chatting to a girl waiting at the bus stop with me and since then me and Felicity have done everything together...but we both agreed today when we were on the canoe trip that we were better travelling alone....

Tuesday night when we got to Broome we did nothing but hit Eagle Boys for the Tuesday night special...yes Ad the offer is everywhere and taste so good! Felicity told me about the tour she was doing on Wednesday afternoon round Broome followed by a camel ride at sunset on Cable Beach and i thought why not. Might as well see as much as possible while im here. The tour was really good...another APT tour but still not a scratch on Stueys! In the evening we asked the bus driver to drop us off at the oldest open air cinema in the world. We went to watch Mr Bean, under the stars and the Broome fight path! Its so wierd watching a film as flights come into land and theyre just above you. Only problem with this cinema was we got eaten alive... i thought i got bitten bad but this morning Felicitys feet and legs were worst than mine... ive only got about 20 bites on my left foot! and then loads every where else on my legs and other foot but nothing compared to hers! Im in so much pain though with them...hate getting biten and the idea of sitting on a bus with them doesnt get me all excited thats for sure. Anyway we had a really good day and we had a lovely camel called Evra who lead us into the sunset.

Today we went turtle watching just off Cable Beach in canoes...a good laugh but everyone assumed me and Felicity were together... i soon put a stop to that! She did make me smile when she got on both buses and announced who she was and said hello are we all excited which is exactly what Gaz did when we started our tour in Alice. None of this sitting quietly and minding your own busy...lets say hello to all these folks! Bless. Another really good trip and a nice way to part company. Not long as we got back to the hostel i went to put some washing on and Felicity left while i was gone to catch her flight... not even a goodbye! How rude!

Anyway sorry its only a short log but im very hot and itchy and have a long bus trip ahead of me again, another 23 hours on a bus to Katherine in NT this time thought. Im there until Sunday when i spend a night in Darwin before flying to Cairns. Cant believe ive leave Oz in 20 days! Insane.

Love you xxx

Exmouth

2007-04-30T06:34:00.000Z

Well its back to the life of a backpacker... On Thursday night i said goodbye to Kath, Mike and Kate and headed back to Perth for my bus Friday morning. I actually thought i was going to cry when Kath gave me a hug goodbye. They have been so fantastic the whole time i was there and i felt so welcome and almost part of the family. I will always remember the kindness they showed me, and will always be so grateful for that. They were just what i needed as i got to the home stretch of my trip. And even though i didnt want to leave, i also know that i only have 11 weeks left and i need to make the most of it because who knows if ill ever get this opportunity again.
Ok enough of me talking about ending my trip when ive got week left and so much left to experecne. My last night in Perth was really great. I went down to my old room and spent the evening with the 2 crazy isish girls, Kath and Chris. We watch the very exciting final to the biggest loser...(i know im a big geek...lets just hope i dont get hooked on the new series of big brother...its quite a talking point over here!) if anyone cares an outsider won, who wasnt really part of the house. But they all looked amazing, 2 of them lost over 70kg thats like a whole person! I got eaten alive that night though and i dont think it was bed bugs coz the bites were too big, And ive had a really bad reaction to them for some strange reason.
On the bus all of Friday i felt really rough, and they was a really wierd guy on the bus who just turned up with his blanket! Very wierd and boy did he smell! That didnt help matter and he totally freaked me out. I was sat reading my book and he asked if he could use me cd player while i was reading...there wasnt a chance i was giving him anything id never get it back and well dont think he'd really want to learn japanese..he seemed to have enough trouble with english! He had little rants with himself...very wierd! Anyway when i arrived in Exmouth at 4.30 Saturday morning i wasnt clapping. It was still dark and the driver just pointed in the direction of the YHA. So i walked down this scary dark road, totally freaking myself out as i had no signal and that guy was also somewhere in the area! Nothing in Exmouth opens before 7am...the bus which is the only bus to come into Exmouth 3 days a week always arrives at 4.30am and your just expected to wait around for the place to open, which people do because its so beautiful when it is open. I camped myself on the bench outside the hostel and was the first through the door at 7am. I begged the lady for a room with a shower so i could shower before getting picked up at 7.30am for my Whale Shark snorkel trip. I got my shower and it was gorgeous, i just though my stuff in and grabbed my carrier bag which id sorted at 5am...and hit the shower.
The snorkelling was so much fun, we went out a couple of times and swam round the reefs waiting for the Whale Shark call. By 2pm we still hadnt had the call and a 2nd plane had gone up trying to find them, then all panic broke lose...theyd spotted a shark and i dont think anyone moved so fast ever, especially not that boat! We got all our gear on and when we got to the point and the boat had stopped, we were told to jump and jump quickly! In our group of 10 we all threw ourselves off the back of the boat and followed the guy with his arm in the air. I hadnt got a clue where this whale shark was all i could see was the guy in fronts flippers, next thing i know i put my head back under the water and look whats coming towards me! Never moved so fast in all my life, the shark changed direction and i was no more than a metre away when it turned an started swimming towards me! All i could hear was the guy yelling at us to move out of the way and trust me i was trying! Then the shark swam down and we lost him for a while. The guy said we must have scared him...i think he scared me more! When back on the boat we had some champers to celebrate and all the staff asked if we realised how insane we all were, we're just jumped off the back of a boat into 80+ metres of water and didnt even question it! Cant please some people!
I was in bed and fast asleep by 7.30 that night, the guys in my room invited me out on a road trip with them the following day and i so wanted to go. But i took some tablets to stop me itching which i got at the local supermarket and i dont know what was in them but i couldnt move when the alarm went off at 5am. I was so dizzy and light headed, i just couldnt wake myself up. I could here the guys talking and asking if i was coming and after 15 minutes they decided to leave me sleeping coz i must have been knackered from the bus etc yesterday. I didnt get up until about lunchtime and i still didnt last long. I went to get some lunch and some more water and had to go straight back to bed! I felt some what better around 5ish so got up and got myself a pizza and sat in the bar with a beer. Was still in bed and fast asleep by 9pm! Think the beer totally knocked me out.
Today i havent really dont much, there isnt much to Exmouth espically if you dont have a car to get yourself to the beach etc. I finished my book and im totally gutted! I know all about Tony and Maureen Wheeler and theyre adventures with being the founder members of Loney Planet but all ill have to do on the bus all tomorrow is learn japanese, which doesnt really excite me. My bus tonight is at 9.30 and i arrive in Broome tomorrow night at 6.30 i think it is for a whistle stop tour to Broome before leaving Wednesday night.
Speak to you all soon
Love you xxxx

Ps, Gaz is doing the 4 peaks challenge again for the 3 year running, raising money for "The Wooden Spoon Society" www.woodenspoon.com which supports children who are disabled ordisadvantaged. In June, they are joining 40 other teams who will scale to four highest peaks in the UK including Carrantuohill in Ireland. They need to raise a minimum of £4400 to takepart, and the majority of this money will hopefully come from the fundraisingevening they are hosting on 2nd June. Tickets are £8 each, and all proceeds go to"The Wooden Spoon Society", Children are more than welcome and tickets are halfprice for under 12's. If your free he'd love your support. Cheers xx

The Pinnicales and ANZAC Day

2007-04-26T06:29:00.000Z

Hi,
Tuesday was a very busy day...a lot of fun though. I was up at 5am to get my bus into the city for my tour to the Pinnacles. I was very excited as I was using the same company me and Gaz used in Alice Spring and was hoping the tour guide would be as much fun as Stuey was. Grant was a good sport. I arrived with uniform in hand (yes i know im a scout geek you don’t need to remind me!) asking where i can hang it up so it doesn’t get creased i got a funny look, which is quite normal let me fair and he said if you sit up front with me it can lie on the shelf between the cabin and the back. It was great so i got to ride up front all day which so much fun especially as I didn’t get to do it when we were on Stueys tour.
It was a very long day but we had a great laugh, well me and Grant did I don’t know about everyone else, and we managed to avoid the rain and still have a great day. The Pinnacles were as beautiful as they seemed in Billy Connolly’s tour of Oz back in 1994 when he runs naked through them. I behaved myself and kept my clothes on as i ran through them but they’re truly amazing.
I had to be back in Perth for 7.30 for the St George Day service the Rover Scouts were putting on especially and PJ (the Western Australia Rover Scouts commissioner) was stressing by the time i got back into the city! I was only 5 minutes late and the guys waited for me to get there as promised, PJ made sure everyone knew it was my fault he was late. The service was really lovely and made up for the fact on Sunday i was meant to be at Windsor at the Queen Scouts Parade and meeting the Queen. Have to say this was so much more fun and they'd lit 100 candles to symbols the 100 years of scouting and i got to blew them out with the help of some cubs! Apparently they don’t normally celebrate St Georges day as "it’s an English thing" but I pointed out to PJ St George was also a scouting thing and this service came from that!
What we were all really at Kings Park for was the ANZAC Day celebrations. What is ANZAC Day? ANZAC Day - 25 April - is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day. (Yes I stole that from http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm if you want to read more about it…coz I know Vicki is dying to learn about that like she did about the Queen Mary!) So I guess it’s like how we celebrate Remembrance Day without the public holiday. Since 1934 the WA Rovers have guarded the War Memorial in Kings Park. The story goes that the memorial got covered graffiti the night before ANZAC Day due to angry over the Second World War. Ever since, the Rovers have guarded the memorial for 12 hours prior to the celebration. I got to do my bit and took part in being a guard which involves matching around the memorial with 3 other people holding a thumb stick (I think it was called) for 30 minutes at a time! Hard work but seeing the city lit up at night was gorgeous and I quite enjoyed it…got to wear the official Australian Scout 2007 necker…had to give it back though! Might ask PJ if I can have one to keep. At 1am I needed sleep, PJ had got one of girls to bring her swag for me. Swags are awesome to sleep in best sleep ever! So at 5am I was woken up to be part of Guard of Honour. We all lined up and then when it was time matched down to where we were to stand though the dawn service. I didn’t last long…we all lined but at 5.30 for the 6am service and by 6am my partner had to sit me down as I had collapsed! Id gone all light headed and the last thing I remember was him talking to me and all I could see was his white necker. I spend the whole of the service sat on the floor, so embarrassed! The service was so moving and I managed to hold my head up high and match out of the line up when the service had finished. A really good morning and part from collapsing I really enjoyed the whole night/morning. Ill try and get some official pictures, Paul took some photos from me when I was guarding the memorial before my camera battery died. I meant a couple of people who are coming over for the Jamboree and PJ’s best friend was actually at the Windsor service I was meant to be at so it was a big thing I was there and Terry was where I was meant to be. I had so much fun and im so glad I got into contact with PJ. He’s amazing…he’s my age and runs the whole of WA Rover scouts! That’s like running Network throughout Europe but … also not as he’s only got about 150 members but they’re all really active members. Definitely going to have to get some tips on how it all worked in Perth.
Leaving Perth tomorrow, so ill let you all know what Exmouth is like and what swimming with Whale Sharks feels like.
Love you xxx

Perth

2007-04-19T08:24:00.000Z

Hey guys
Ive been told i have to update my blog! As im obviously not keeping up with fantastic adventures like Lucy is in South America! And its not been that long since i updated it..a week!

Anyway ive been staying in Settlers Hill, aka the Smiths Residence for a week now and ive had so much fun and theyre so lovely and its so nice to be around a family environment and all the day to day trumas every family has. It makes it feel like im at home!

So last Thursday i told you about going up to Penguin Island and Rockingham. Well on Friday i did much the same but went up to another place along the coast call Mandurah. A lovely little fishermans town is the only was i can describe it. I had a little wander around and walked over the bridge round to the fairground, Kings Carnival. Had a ride on the wheel and saw for miles it was gorgeous!

Saturday was by far my favourite day so far! Kath and Mike took me on a winery tour...we did 4 winerys and the chocolate place! The first place we went to (coz i know Dad will what to know) was Jane Brook who did a gorgeous rose and some rather special bottles of champers! The second stop...Sandalford i think, had a nice mix of wines that me and Mike happliy tasted. Then we moved on to Houghton Winery where we also had a fantastic lunch platter...Dad you would have loved it! Beautiful wines and fantastic food! We then continued to our last winery, with a quick stop at the Magaret River Chocolate Company which are really good...we watched a lady making chocolates and she didnt make a mess once! Wheres the fun in that! Didnt spill a drop it was very disappointing! The last winery, Lancaster was such a different set up to all the others it was shed in the vines! Wine was ok, we had a lovely rose and there was a really sweet wine i liked but no info i could bring home. (im such a geek!) It was a lovely day, we came back along the coast stopping at a little town along the way for a nice cold beer before heading to Cottesloe for firsh and chips!

We got home around 8ish and i headed out to the Casino with Kath (Vickys little sister) and Ricky (Kates fella). I was very good and it was 1.30 before i made my first bet. We were sat waiting for Ricky to Finish his poker game and i said to Kate let see if we can master these slot machines...i put my $1 in and hit start..didnt seem to do much until i won 3 free games and the machine started gambling for me...then the credit started going up...i won $30! I just hit collect..it was good night and i came home $15 richer than i was going in! Luck or what!

Sunday we afternoon, after the heavy rain had stopped, all went up to Fremantle (Freo) and looked around their markets and E-shed. This was also where Vicky had told me and Kate we had to come to on a Tuesday night to see the amazing guy in the Orient, so we tracked down the place for when we came out on Tuesday. Kath told me i wasnt seeing Freo at its best so i headed back to Freo on Monday, and just sat down the Cappuchino Strip watching the world go by! Im going back there today to get a couple of things from the Market and do the candle light tour of the Freo Prision. Theres a couple of other stops i could do so ill let you know, im just hoping i dont get freaked out like i did on that spooky boat...St Mary??? in LA. I did not want to be on that boat when so many people got trapped and died!...but thats a different story.

Ive had shall we say a relaxing week this week, ive been waiting for the Western Austraila scouts guy to get back from Bali and contact me and he hasnt so ive been at a loose end really. I cooked mums orange chicken for everyone on Wednesday night and ive sorted out a lot of things to do with Japan and my Explorer Belt. And the stress for my Japan Rail pass not being valid has been sorted, STA had to beg by the time i was finished with them for messing up another part of my trip and wasting me time and money trying to sort out the mess they got me in. Theyre re-issuing me a pass which Vicki is going to bring out to me. Greg at STA Deansgate made a mistake answering the phone to me thats for sure, he meantion that it was him who booked my Thailand trip, which i knew it was, and asked me if i enjoyed it. I just made a comment about it but wasnt in the mood to fight with him about that as well as my Pass! Anyway i better get a move on its a gorgeous day out there.

Big Kiss! xxx

From Melbourn to Perth

2007-04-12T08:35:00.000Z

After Gaz left on the 31st March i was straight back on the road and on the over night bus from Sydney to Melbourne. That was a very long and difficult bus ride and the Sunday was a very long day.
I checked into my hostel at about 8am and spoke to Gaz who was still on his 12 hour stop over in Kula Lumpa to let him know i was ok and arrived in Melbourne etc with no problems. I got adopted by one of the girls in my room, Gemma who said she was going to the markets at St Kilda if i wanted to join her...i knew i had to get straight by into travelling alone so decided to join her and so glad i did we had such a great laugh. The trams around the centre of Melbourne are all free and there was a race for something event happening on the Sunday morning which messed up all the tram services. As a result me and Gemma jumped on a tram going totally the wrong direction and it took us twice as long to get to St Kilda. We had a little look at the markets down the main strip and Gemma wanted to go on "the worlds oldest roller coaster" which she believed was at Luna park. Just before we got to the park thought there was a street entertainer who was performing and was really funny...even more so when he pulled Gemma out of the crowds gave her a bright pink wig and made her and 2 other guys dance like they were in ... is the film called night fever... Saturday night??? You know what i mean anyway...70s style. It was so so funny i was wetting myself, and someone Gemma had meet on another trip down the Great Ocean Road spotted her dancing to and joined us for lunch and recommended the best ice cream and strawberries ever!

Monday nights in Melbourne is Neighbours night and there was no way i was missing that chance as i was only planning on being in town a few days. I spent the day with Sanae the Japanese girl id meet months before in Bryon Bay who lives with her boyfriend near Sorrento right on the Mornington Peninsula. We went to this amazing Chinese that just brought baskets to the table and you would just pick what you wanted... Sanae choice everything for us and it was gorgeous. It was great seeing her and she was saying how i must go and see her in Japan at the ski resort she lives at just north of Tokyo.

The Neighbours night was really good, apprently the cast were on strike so we had the Fletch...Karl Kennedy and his band performing, Kim Valentine who used to play Libby Kennedy so sung for us too, Mark... something who used to play Darcy and the lovely Natalie, whos just come back into the show on the Australian screens for a fews weeks as Izzy with Karls Baby, so it was a real Kennedy affair. The format wasnt what i expected and knew had happend before from people i know who have been but we still had a good laugh, i meet a couple who were doing the Ramsey Street tour with me on Wednesday and Fletchs band were really good. Natalie really suprised me though coz she was really shy, apprently she hadnt done many Neighbours night but you'd expect with the fame shes got from Rouge Traders she'd be used to fans etc. It was a really good night anyway.

Wednesday before my flight to Perth i did the Neighbours tour got to go to Ramsey Street and we meet the gorgeous Dan who plays Ned Parker! We were also told that on Easter Monday the street would be closed to film a bus exploding...how you get a bus on Ramsey Street god only knows but they'd had a Helicopter there a couple of weeks before hand for Janelles wedding and leaving scene.

So ive spend the past week exploring Perth City and arrived at Vickys parents place yesterday. I got on the city tour bus which is the easiest way to see the city and with the lovely assitance of Peter the bus driver i got to see the gorgeous Kings Park, Perth Mint, the Swan Bell Tower, Western Australia Museum, The Burswood Casio, the barracks archway and loads of other lovely places and the bets bit was the gorgeous weather over Easter weekend. Like i said im at Vickys parents, they are so lovely taking me and welcoming me the way they have. They live on this fairly new estate called Settlers Hill which is only 10 minutes from the coast and Rockingham. They took me out to dinner last night at one of Vickys favourite place, Betty Blues and we rang her to let her know where we were. Mike and Kath have been great since ive arrived and Kath says i can stay as long as i like, theyre taking me to the wineries this weekend which should be great and Vickys sister, Kate has given me her car so i can see the area. Ive been up to Penguin Island this morning and saw the penguins obviously and spotted a seal and some dolphins which was gorgeous.

Anyway ill speak to you all soon and im still trying to sort my photos out...will up date them asap.

Love you xxx

Oh my god..... who let Gaz and Rach loose in OZ!

2007-04-02T14:30:00.000Z

Well.... i can honestly say that when I met Rach I never ever thought that we would be doing this...... and what can I say.. apart from WOW! The reason that I can only say wow is that I have that feeling that when someone says to you "did you have a good holiday?" all you can answer with is "yeah, it was amazing thanks!" but when you try and tell them what you did, what the weather was like and stuff you are lost for words! That and I think that Rach will agree that WOW was the most freqently used word of the two weeks... WOW!

I really miss Rach so much, but I also thank her for going to Oz, cos if she hadn't, we would not have just shared the truely amazing two weeks of my life, with our own little mini adventure around the most beautiful parts of the country... so thanks Rach cos ive got some beating to do when i whisk you away on our next holiday (she's already set me a challenge of beating our Oz adventure.... boy have a got a challenge on my hands!)

Anyway, thats enough of me blabbing on... il let you read on and see if I can get a grip of this Blog writing thing!

Arriving in Oz.....
My flight was on the Friday evening from Heathrow, I was working down that way so I got to the airport early... what did I do with my time I hear you ask?! Well... i hit the shops and had a paddy's day Guinness as I knew that I would be in the sky somewhere for the whole of Paddy's day! The first flight wasn't too bad, and I had a lovely 4 hour stop over in Kuala Lumper.... which was interesting!
I killed the time quite easily with a beer and a book, and a long chat with a lovely chap from Sydney who inspired me so much about the next couple of weeks in Oz....I couldnt wait to get there!.... Oh, I forgot I still had a 12 hour flight to go! I had a quick chat to Rach and she was in our apartment in Manly... reality suddenly hit the both of us.... oh my god, im going to Oz to see Rach, Oh my god he's actually coming to Oz to see me!!!

I touched down at about 9am on the Sunday, clearing customs seemed to take forever (didn't it Rach!x), and I eventually came through the gate to see Rach patiently waiting for me (I have to say she looked amazing!), so we dragged my huge bag accross town on the train and onto the ferry. My first taste of Oz was on the ferry across the harbour with a stunning view of the Opera House.... WOW! The apartment was great and all we had to do today was go for a stroll down the main street ( I had to check out the surf shops!) and get some food.. shortly after which the jet lag got the better of me and i died!

Sydney
We spent two very long days checking out the sights of this stunning city, DAY ONE started with a lovely sunny ferry journey over the harbour, and the 1st stop was the opera house, we did the tourist thing and took lots of shots of it and then trotted off to find the bus stop for the trusty city tour bus! We spent a couple of hours on the tour, deciding what to do over a chat and many references to the good old bible that is Lonely Planet (LP as I like to refer to it!) We decided what we wanted to do and ended up seeing and after a lovely lunch and a beer, headed for the Anzac memorial and poole of reflection (a tribute to the soliders who died in the great war), we headed to the huge tower which takes prominence in the city skyline and took a trip to the top to check out the amazing view of the city..... WOW! It had been raining for most of the day, so by the time we had finished this, we decided to head back to the ferry which let me tell you is no mean feat when you are walking with Rach on the wet floor in her well worn flip flops.... she was sliding all over the place... funny! (she wasnt laughing!) We ended the night with a lovely meal on the sea front in Manley... WOW!

DAY TWO started with a trip to Bondi beach where Rach somehow pursuaded me to spend some pennies in the Mambo store before we headed down for a walk on the beach... it was stunning and quite hot, waht a great view! Next stop was back to Sydney where we headed for Darling Harbour to check out the Maritine Museum (yes, we were a little geeky), the aquarium and the wildlife park! After a very long day, we headed back to the apartment for a decent nights kip before our flight in the morning to Alice Springs!

Day Three
We woke early and headed to the airport for our flight, people must have thought that we had left home as we seemed to have a hell of a lot of stuff with us including the famous cool bag..... which we ended up using for everything from food to beer to purses and wallets! After a 3 hour flight, we touched down in Alice Springs, and well, it was quite a culture change from our 2 days in Sydney! We made our way to our caravan at the hostel and then decided to head into the centre for a look around.... which took some time, as LP decided to take us on a complete circle around the centre... not good when it is absolutly roasting hot and you dont have a clue where you are! Anyway, we found our way to the centre and had a well deserved lunch and a drink... Rach.... im still jealous of your pancakesx!

Our Trip!
We woke early, as we were getting picked up at about 6 am, now I have to say that neither myself or Rach are very good morning people, but despite this, we were surprisingly lively for this time of the morning! We waited patiently outside the hostel until our 4 wheel drive truck arrived to pick us up, a lively chap jumped out and greeted us "G'Day, im looking for Gareth And Rachel" he said.... at which point Rach thrust her lady bug bag toward him to put in the bus! I on the other hand offered a firm handshake with "Stuart" our new buddy for the next few days (Or Stuey as he became known!)... Like I said, Rach aint too good with mornings! We picked up the rest of the gang and headed on the 400K Stuart Highway in the direction of Uluru (Ayers Rock). We would travel there today, with a few stops before hand including a Camel Farm for some Breaky and a look at the Camels and Kangaroos! We arrived at the Ayers Rock resort at around lunch time and found our campsite.... we would spend the week in a series of permanent camp sites, we were very impressed with the scout like tents, beds and the well equiped kitchen and toilets.... in fact, me and Rach been scouting geeks, we were quite at home! Stuey said that he had to go and pick up some more people who were joining us, and asked if we could start to prep lunch. "If someone can peel some cucumber, someone wash up some lettuce, open the tins, chop some tomatoes etc" he said, "Don't reck the house while im gone kids, dont let any strangers in and no parties!" We both knew that we were going to get on great with this guy, or I did when Rach told me that I was the only one who was laughing at his jokes! Oh well, hey ho! You must have been able to tell that me and Rach were scouty types, as within 5 minutes, we had unpacked our gear, aired the tent, emptied the truck and sorted lunch whilst the rest of them dilly dallied about (apart from the annoying ozzy mum and daughter duo... but please dont get me started on that!)

In the afternoon we headed out to look at the Olga's, a stunning mountain range near Uluru, the scenery was stunning, and we ventured on a short walk into the foothills to check it out (now Rach tells me that she hates walking, but Stuey described us both as speed walkers when we got back... we left them for dust!). Stuey told us loads of stories about the local people and myths about the area, they were always funny and told with so much feeling, they were great! The day ended with a glass of wine and the sunset over Ayers Rock, not a great one tonight, and spoiled by the huge amount of tourists that were there, but, suppose we were part of them too! We headed back to camp for a mean bbq and an early night.... early start again tomorrow!

Day 2 started with the sunrise over Ayers Rock, we were so stunned by the scenery... but all that was on our mind was would the climb up the rock be open today, they quite often close it due to the heat, weather or religous reasons.... but we were elated when we drove to the bottom and saw that it was open... it was 6.45 am and we were going to climb it.... the first part is a very steep climb with a chain to hold onto.... now the climb is hard enough, but when you get a load of Chinese tourists who decide to just stop dead, slow down or even worse simply collapse in front of you, it kinda winds you up! We both made it up the first part of the climb with several stops to catch our breath and take in the views.... the last leg of the climb followed a white line just like a road! All the way to the summit, where we were so pleased to catch site of the trig point! It was at this point when Rach said quite possibly the best thing of the day..... "Gaz, dont we still have that can of xxxx in the bag?" Oh yes we did! We proceeded to drink said lager and pose for a few pics..... I even managed to pose for a pic with a group of Chinese tourists, Rach was a tad embarrased by this, but they loved it (and so did Rach secretly i think ;-) This had to be the highlight of our trip, it was so magical and special sharing what must be some of the greatest views in the world, we didnt want to leave, but had to start heading down... time for one last WOW and then down we went to meet Stuey and his slices of Orange and Melon..... a lovely reward in that heat! We checked out the culture centre, then it was time to make the long journey to Kings Creek Cattle Station where we would spend the night, we enjoyed a lovely swim.... quite funny, it was only the brits among the group who sniffed out the only swimming pool for miles around! The end of the night was perfect with a camp oven dinner, a few beers and a fire, perfect!

Day three was a funny day, we rose early again and set off on a hike around Kings Canyon to check out the stunning scenery... the thing today was that it was chucking it down and freezing cold! Just like been at home... how random! The hike took a good few hours, and despite the weather was great fun, we arrvied back, dried off and headed for some lunch. After a long drive down a dirt road (very, very bumpy!) of about 150K's, we arrived at the Glen Helen Resort where we would spend the night, most of the group left us here as they were only on the 3 day trip, not like the hardcore 8 of us who were doing the 5 day! We were quite glad to be in a smaller group, more relaxed and friendly. We were entertained this evening by enjoying a few beers, a couple of Malibu's and listening to a singer who amazed me with his skill of being able to play several instuments at the same time!

On the morning of day four, we were treated to a specacular sunrise over the campsite, which set me up for the day.... we headed to Ormiston Gorge where we ended up having a bit of an unplanned adventure!... the rain had been so bad that the river had risen too high to cross it, so we had to build a bridge of stepping stones! Myself, Arnie and Stuey carefully placed a bridge accross the river, after which we helped the rest of the group accross... who was the only person who got his feet absolutly soaked? go on, guess.... oh thats it, me!!! We spotted several rock wallabies here, they are cool little fellas who just seem to watch you from up on the rocks! Next we headed to another highlight of the trip... Elerry Creek water hole, an amazingly beautifull natural watering hole set in a small rock formation, only the two of us and Arnie (A wierd German guy) took the plunge and swam to the other side. Rach and I took in the scenery for what must have been 45 minutes, but we didnt want to go, it was so perfect... quiet, tranquil and warm.... time to snap out of it though, as we had to head back, dry off and cook lunch.... cheese toasties on a BBQ.... WOW! Next stop was Stanley Chasm, a natural break between two rocks that was an amazing site, just enough time here for a few snaps and a brew, then time to travel to Wallace Rockhole, our stopover for the night. This is an aboriginal village, and a lovely lady gave us a tour of the surrounding hills, the rockhole and gave us a great insight into the aboriginal way of life. This was a lovely place apart from one small thing that drove us both mad over the five days..... THE FLIES! there were hundreds, and hundereds of flies!!!!!!!!!

The final day of the tour was great, I sat up front with Stuey whilst we off roaded our way to Palm Valley, an amazing patch of the Finke gorge National Park with Palm trees in it! We had a good walk through the valley, and Rach and I took the alternative route back over the ridge, which gave us a slightly different view from above! After our walk, we were treated to our final lunch or hamburgers on the BBQ, WOW! We headed from here slowly back to Alice, where we arrvied at about 2.30. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the hostel.... where it all went wrong! We waited nearly 3 hours for someone to turn up at reception.... neither of us were clapping as it was a bit of a bad end to 5 great days! We treated ourselves to a lovely eveing at a local Indian and then headed back to the hostel for our last night in Alice!

The next day we had a lot of travelling to do, we did breakfast and a bit of souvenier shopping in Alice before heading to the airport for our flight back to Sydney. We then cought a train and a bus, which was easier than we expected at rush hour. After picking the car up at Rach's aunties, we drove to Avoca via ahuge shopping trip......

Avoca was unreal and probably one of by biggest WOW's! The apartment was amazing and the area was stunning, here we spent a few days chilling out and watching the world go by really, it was like a seperate holiday after the tour we had just been on. It was wierd the pair of us living, cooking and eating together for the time we were there, but we got on better than ever and loved every minute of it! We ate out most nights on the balcony and I managed to take on the huge BBQ.... we did a pretty good job of the food I think, a great team! The beach at Avoca is amazing, great views and I could have easily spent all day just watching the waves crash down and the surfers trying their best to take them on. Went for a dip one day, I was like a big kid, I just couldnt believe how warm the water was and how clear it was! The only time we ventured out of Avoca was to go to a local town where we had a little look around the surf shops and treated ourselves to fish and chips and ice cream for lunch... perfect!

Saturday came far too soon for both of us I think, and we didnt really admit that it was ever going to happen until we got to the airport when it hit us both badly, I didnt want to go, and Rach didnt want to be on her own again, but we both knew that it had to happen, so after the whole issue with getting Rach's bag sent home, we headed to passport control and said our goodbyes. When I had gone through I was totally gutted, and couldnt believe that that was it, I was going home! I was more upset at leaving Rach out there than me coming home, I dont know how she does it on her own, shes a real credit to all of us to be doing something so big for so long.... and for that I respect her so, so much.

The journey back took forever, only helped by my 9 hour unplanned stop in a 5 star hotel in the airport at Kuala Lumper....it was only £35! Before I knew it, I was back in my car, driving up the M1 on my way home, more depressed than ever, wandering what Rach was doing, and how she was bearing up... its wierd being back home, and if it wasnt for the pictures, the memories and people asking me how it was, it feels like so long ago.......

And then..... oh, actually, thats the end of the story folks!

Only 14 weeks to go now til she comes home.....WOW! (not that im counting or anything mind you!)

Right, im off to rack my brains as to how the hell I will ever beat that trip..... the pressure is well and truly on!

Gaz
xxxx

Rach's Photos - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5251577
Gaz's Photos - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5253369

Getting to Melbourne

2007-04-01T06:45:00.000Z

That was the longest and hardest coach trip i have ever had...i had to stop myself getting off at the airport and going home...i was...am so so homesick since Gaz left. Its not his fault i was before he arrived, miss my Mum and all that. But thanks to a very very special person she convinced me i was a fighter which i knew really and i had to finish what ive started or regret it. So i arrived in Melbourne at 8am and after finding the Hostel and waking up my room mate on the phone in tears ive had a really great day. Gemma adopted me and took me to St Kilda with her to see the markets and go on the worlds oldest roller coaster (even though were not sure it actually is) at Luna Park. We've ahd such a laugh this afternoon and even convinced me to eat (if you can call strawberries and gorgeous ice cream eating!)... anyway i cant stop as the internet place is closing...just a quick note.

Love you xxx

Ps - for any scout geeks out there...the Peru article is in this Months Network bit, Mums got my copy if any one wants to see it otherwise you can check it out on the scout magazine website...its not exactly what we wanted but at least they published our story.

2007-03-31T05:39:00.000Z

Ok guys i know i havent updated my blog in ages but its been insane since Gaz arrived and well the total honest truth is we just havent stopped long enough to update the blog. Gaz left about 3 hours or so ago and i cant tell you how homesick i feel. It wasnt pretty we were both in tears and he even cried at the customs guy so he tells me when we spoke before he boarded. (sorry to break your little secret but we both know your a big softy) We have had the best couple of weeks and got on better than either of us could have ever imagined and dont worry hes got my pegged down to a tee! He knows my little strops i have and tells me to stop being so moody and get a grip. He wants to update the blog all about our fantastic trip and little adventure so hes going to do that on Monday when hes home. But just thought id drop you all a quick note to say im still breathing...totally gutted hes gone but im moving on to Melbourne tonight to continue my adventures and hopefully things will be a little easier...i do get really lonely travelling alone and cant wait until im in Japan and Ness is with me.
Speak to you all soon...im heading to Ramsey Street even though it wont be the same with Scottie being dead and Izzy back with the baby....
Love you xxx

Noosa Everglades

2007-03-11T01:26:00.000Z

What a trip...we got picked up very early Thursday morning and taken to the middle of no where to pick up our camping gear. It was quite funny watching everyone gather round while i was getting excited that we had trangias and was showing them how they worked. Then the guy took us down to the lake and we all threw out gear into the boat and heading up the lake to the ragers hut. We got off at the jetty and he gave us a quick briefing and put us into our paddling teams and showed us how to paddle etc then say bye..we all looked at each other and then at the little hand drawn map he gave us and went "is that is!"

I had the pleasure of a southen fairy in my canoe and he was so hungover it was just stupid... i made the mistake of letting him be at the back of the boat so not only was i having to follow this stupid map, he was half heartedly paddling with no control and we were all over the place. To say it was hard work was an understatement and i was so glad went 2 hours and 11km later we arrived at camp. I got straight into it and jumped out into the cool water and went and found somewhere for my tent... wasnt quite expecting at the time that id be stuck with Jimmy tent wise as well but well i couldnt fix the broken pole and he was whining enought as it was! The team spent a very shall we say relaxing afternoon next to the river. It was nice to chill out in such a quite and peaceful place with nothing, including showers and signal. And the toilets had some very friendly spiders in there...i think one of the girls said it was a huntsman...which all i knew was big and hairly but wouldnt hurt me. We also had so overly friendly bush turkeys and some big lizard things, Go... something, i dont know they were big and green and scary looking and i wasnt a fan on them watching my cooking later on (if you can call dried pasta in sauces cooking, adding hot waters doesnt really take any thought). To say we got excited when the other team arrived back at just gone 3 from the sandpatch trip would also be an understatement...just someone fresh and new to take to, there was only 11 on our team, 3 german girls who were travelling together, a rather interesting "back to nature" german couple, me, Jimmy, 3 irish people from Kerry and another german girl Sabrina who is actually on my fraser trip with me tomorrow. I got very excited when a canoe came in and the 2 guys in there couldnt be more Yorkshire if they tried, Sabrina asked me what they said as she couldnt understand their accent and i said i didnt here them but i can tell you hes deffinately from Leeds area, it was Shipley as it turned out and they kept us very entertained over dinner. Tj one of the irish guys said it was like an episode of Emmerdale farm but funnier...and Charlies and Sam turned round and said well we are farmers as it happens! It was so funny and betweent the 3 lads they just kept me so entertained...it was like listening to the boys down the wood! It was a really good evening until i went to bed at 9ish and had to listen to a group of german blokes talking european vs candian politics with the canadian guys from the other group...when they started going on about why Arrie could never be president i just couldnt help sticking my head out the tent and rather politely asking them to have some consideration for other and i didnt want to know. They went to bed soon after thank god and i slept quite well until Jimmy got up at 6am and then Alex came and shoke the tent and asked if Jimmy was up. Jimmy got up and packed all his gear and said he was going back with the others and didnt want to spend anymore time on the trip, which was quite good as all he did was moan from when he got picked up from the hostel. So after the other team went back at 7ish me, sabrina and the irish trio jumped into our canoes and heading up the Upper Noosa river to campsite 3 when the trail to the sandpatch started. It took us about an hour and a half to get up theres as we arrived just after 9. It was the start to what was a very very long day. 8kms in the canoe and a 12 km walk up to the sandpatch and back, and it was getting hot. And when its hot and im going up hill im always reminded about how unfit i am and how i should have let Al bully me to the gym more often...but never mind you never know....When we got up to the top TJ was on form and said "look whos decided to join us Pom and Gerry", it made me smile anyway. The sandpatch was so beauitful and the sand was lovely between my toes, it was more white like the sand in Thailand was than the sand in Noosa. We headed back down at 11.30ish and meet the German girls at about 12ish only half way up looking totally knackered because of the heat...i definately didnt want to be going back up there in that heat. At 1ish after a quick stop and lunch with the German couple me and Sabrina jumped back in our canoe and headed back for camp. We could see the clouds closing is and it wasnt looking good and then when we could hear the thunder in the distance neither of us were happy...we just hoped we could make it back to site before the storm hit. The storm hit us full whack 3 jettys away from camp and me and Sabrina fought against the wind and the rain and paddled as hard as we could in and out the the reeds which we kept getting pushed into and after about 15mins finally got ourselves back to site where TJ was watching for us and helped us pull the canoe out of the water. I havent been that scared in such a long time and well went im really scared and frecking out im not the easiest to understand and trying to get Sabrina to help force the canoe in a direction i meant not what i was maybe saying didnt help...left and right has never been a strong point of mine! But we made it and got ourselves dry and paddled barefooted throught the mud to the shelter with trangia, lamp and food in hand, there was no way i was going back before bedtime. So the next 6 hours we spend with a pack of cards chatting to the irish trio and a lovely english couple, Dan and Emma who had gone to Manchester Uni and lived in Fallowfield.
The following morning TJ came to my tent at 5am looking for the trangia to put the brew on...i was awake anyway as it had been raining most of the night so i just got up and put the tent down while it wasnt raining. I was all packed (inc in the canoe) by 6am and had 2 brews and breakfast and we were just chilling in the peacefully still morning. At 6.45ish the 5 of us all pilled into our canoes and headed back to the rangers jetty, we had to be back at 10am for pick up we me and Sabrina arrived at 8.30 unloaded and had the brew on for the time the irish trio arrived which we veyr much needed, we just couldnt believe it had taken us 2 hours on thursday to get to camp and it had only taken us an hour this morning to get back. It was worth it though and we were all overed in bites.
All you guys who were in Peru with me will be please to hear only the bites on my arms blistered and the biggest on was about the size of my little finger nail...Gaz you have all this to look forward to! You havent seen how i react to bites yet, i think John referred to it in Lima as totally minging but nothing i can do about it.. my skin has reacted this way since i was about 16. Its not nice though and my scars from Peru have now left white patches on my legs which im not happy about at all!
All in all i really enjoyed the trip and so glad i did it, got back to Noosa yesterday afternoon and washed everything that came with me coz everything was dirty and covered in sand. I wasnt expecting to be joined by one of the guys we'd met in Bryon. Michael was are rather interesting shall we say dutch guy who i think he said he was 34 and bit weird. I couldnt believe my luck, both me and Ad had tried so so hard to lose him on our last night in Bryon but Michael just hadnt got the hint and when Michael said to me yesterday that he was going to get me very drunk last night i got very worried. He i guess was a a nice enough bloke and always bought loads of drinks etc but he creeped me out and always seemed to be there where ever i went...including next to the bus stop the day i left Bryon.
I was rescued by 2 guys in my room...Shane and Ian and there mate Mickey from Huddersfield, Kirkheaton i think he said it was. Really lovely blokes, we had dinner together and then the boys went out to the bottle shop for some cards and obviously some beers and came back with a proper poker set which had been next to the till and a few packs of beer and a box of goon. (goon - a box of cheap wine) We had a really got laugh, Shane and Ian knew each other from back home, sort of...Shanes from Hull and Ians from Leister but they meet where they live for 6 months every year in Spain, or one of the Spainish islands, and every year they come on holiday from 2 months to some country in the world. Sounded like a pretty awesome life they had going....spend the winter months travelling, go home for a couple months and work and then have the summers in Spain.
So thats my last few days, im just killing time at the moment until my bus to Rainbow Beach at 4.30. Then i have the Fraser Island briefing at 7pm and the whole team goes out and buys the team food for the next few days...it sounds really good i just hope the weather is good to us and then back to Syndey after the tour. Cant believe that its next weekend Gaz gets heres its come round quite fast in the last few weeks.
Speak soon, love you xxx

Noosa

2007-03-07T07:58:00.000Z

Well lunch on Sunday was really great. It was lovely seeing Leilani and catching up, cant believe how much has happend in the 7 weeks since we were in Thailand. Andy and Sarah has been to Brisbane to see the girls which was nice but we worked out they would be home now. I got to meet her parents too who seemed really nice. Her Dads a long distance teacher so all this kids he teaches live out in the sticks, cant get to school, are home schoolled or are travellers kids. Sounded very interesting. And they live in a Queenslander house which are fab!

I left Brisbane on tuesday and arrived here in Noosa yesterday night...Tuesday night. Just in time for some heavy showers and a PJ Party. Which was cut short when all power in Noosa Junction went out for about 20mins and then came back on and then failed again. It was so weird seeing the place in darkness, nice though as the stars became so clear.

This morning i hit the beach and sorted my things out for tomorrow, its an 7.30am pick up and i dont want to try and sort it tomorrow. It was very weird going shopping for high energy food though and meals which can be cooked on a little stove, it was like being at home but i couldnt find what i wanted, so ive just had to be creative! Talking of creative...ive also made my Mother Day card and Dave's birthday card, but Dave you'll have to wait until Gaz gets home coz hes posting yours. Im really looking forward to this canoe trip tomorrow and getting back out doing exciting thing, its all good this travelling thing but i do find myself getting bored and trying to entertain myself it helps when i know what im doing, like to be organised and all that.

Ill speak to you all soon, Love you xxx

Bed Bugs and Tours

2007-03-01T10:59:00.000Z

Ok so just let me tell you...bed bugs arent nice and well staff at hostels arent to friendly about them either! I wont up on Sunday morning and noticed a few patches of bits on my tummy and back, i figured they had to be bed bugs because of how small the bites were and how close together they were. Anyway i was in a rush that morning to get on the city tour so i didnt get chance to say anything to the guys in the hostel. When i got back i meantioned it to the girls at reception and all she said was thats minging...we'll get someone to sort it. Wasnt the response i really wanted and by this stage id noticed how biten my arms were so basically it had to be bed bugs as my bites came up wherever my pjs didnt cover. About 20mins later i thought this wasnt on that they hadnt done anything and went back to reception to demand a room change, she wasnt happy about doing it as she had to put me into a cheaper room and had to give me $8 back...anyway so im covered in bites and my feet arent happy. My right foot its just covered in bites and trust me finding shoes out of a very limited...3 pairs...to fit my poor feet wasnt easy and the zoo wasnt the nicest experience because of it. But so you know bed bugs arent nice and they itch and itch for days later.. infact im sure my itching got worth and on some strong tablets(from the chemist) which basically knock me out, id been having problems sleeping with my bites and so the lady told me to take one of these 24 hrs tablets before bed, and it just knocked me out and i actually slept in until 7am! I was well happy especially as after youve seen Brisbane once at 5am the novelty goes very very quickly!
So what else have i been up to, on Tuesday i went to the Austalia Zoo, what was Steve Irwins Zoo and it was fantastic, best zoo ive ever been too. And yes i did cry at the memorial for him it was so sad...people had brought croc hunter shirts and signed them with how fantastic he was and how he opened peoples eyes to animals etc, there was even a a scout shirt, looked like an old venture shirt to me(it matched the colour of the croc hunter shirts) which still had a couple of scout badges on there. The zoo was great and i spend hours with the tigers. They had 5, 3 sibrian and 2 begal i think they were and the zoo had had them since they were 2 weeks old. They were 2 brothers and 2 brothers and a sister. Not that i was there talking to the keepers and people or anything. They had such a close relationship with the tigers though and played games etc with them. You could obviously tell theyd been brought up in captivity and seemed almost pet like with the keepers but i guess it also showned how beautiful and amazing these creatures are. Ive even got myself a Wildlife Warrior - Tiger 511 band, which means for $5 one tiger can be feed for one day...its part of a huge campain Steve Irwin started to protect what is left of endangered animals. And i got a gorgeous photo of me holding a gorgeous girl Koala..shes lovely. And i was really really brave and touched a kangaroo...didnt feed it but i touched one, everyone else was touching it so i thought it must be a friendly one and some 5 year old was distracting it with food so i decided i was safe.
Today ive had a very cultural day, i spend the morning at Castlemaine-Perkins XXXX Brewery, had a really good tour actually really enjoyed it and the free beers at the end helped. You got a card with 4 free beers... it was great so you could taste all 4 of their beers. Wasnt impressed with their stout...but XXX was ok. And lunch was fantastic...so yummy...i was sat next to a guy who was from Yorkshire...not England but Yorkshire. He was really funny bless him, in his 70's and our tour guy Bob asked him where he was from and i got very excited when he said Halifax. Later when we were at the winery he was really sweet, the lady asked where everyone was from and he announced Yorkshire and said "aye wheres me young lass, she lives in Yorkshire" i just wanted to give him a big hug. (I know Dad i told live in Yorkshire but i have for the past 3 years which is what i said but he had every sective hearing)
The winery was truely gorgeous, it was on Mt Cotton i think and its a relatively new place only been open since 2000 and was established by a guy called T.E.Morris, which is where Sirromet gets its name. The lady took us round and explained how there make the grapes and give back to the area etc etc and then we got to the tasting! We tried one sparkling Chardonnay Pinot, 3 wines (Classique, Viognier Marsanne and Pinot Gris) as you can imagine this meant nothing to me. I did like the Classique though. Then we had a rose and 3 reds (Shiraz Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon) wasnt really a fan of any of the reds but im not normally anyway and then we had a dessert wine...i got really excited thinking i was getting an ice wine but it wasnts...its was a Finito Rosso, which was red for starters, didnt agree with that and then she warned us it tasted like fruit cake and it really did so i really really wasnt impressed then. Ive got a couple of bottle for you to taste though Dad, but you'll have to wait until i head over to New Zealand and send some things home.
So ive had a really great day, meeting Leilani on Sunday for lunch in the West End. Shes one of the girls from Brisbane i meet on the tour in Thailand so im quite excited about seeing her, its so weird to think that was 7 weeks ago.
Ill update you all after the weekend. Miss you all loads, Big kiss
Love you xxx

Brisbane

2007-02-25T06:42:00.000Z

Hey Guys,
Well im now in Brisbane, got here yesterday and even though it seems quite nice isnt not Bryon, not even close. It doesnt help that im sharing with 2 chinese girls who know absolutely no english. I tried to ask them last night where a plug socket was and they were totally clueless to what i was saying...international sign language was totally wasted on them. You'd think then weve got a plug in your hand and your hitting the wall with it they'd understand i wasnt insane i just wanted a plug socket but no! Oh well nevermind i found it without their help. Like i was saying its not Bryon, Main Beach as so homely and everyone was so laid back, relaxed and friendly. Guess it helps that its only a small place.
Got loads planned for the next 3 weeks to keep me entertained. Spent all day sorting things out and now im basically got everyday sorted until i get to Perth on the 4th April. Thats ive only been stopped there as the Chairman Western Australian Rover Scouts (Network age 17-26)Council, lovely guy called PJ, is trying to sort out doing some things with scouts over there. He was very excited when i emailed him about St Georges day and now im doing alsorts. Even said he'd arrange lifts etc from wherever i end up staying which is great.
Anyway my plans...tomorrow im doing my city tour of Brisbane so at least i'll know my way round this place. On Tuesday im off to the Crocodile Hunter's Australia Zoo, and get to feed crocs and everything which sound very exciting but well lets face it if Kangaroo's scare me an animal that actually can eat me who knows...i have the opportunity to feed a croc anyway. I'll let you know how i get on! On Thursday im having a very cultural day... spending in the morning in Castlemaine Perkins Brewery (they make XXXX, so im told) visiting the "alehouse"...take it its like the Guinness Brewery without the Guinness! Then after lunch im going on a winery tour, wine tasting my way round the Sirromet Winery! And the best bit...i get a free souvenir wine glass! Ok maybe the tasting ill have to do will be the best bit but freebies are always good! Then on Saturday im going up the Sunshine Coast, visiting Eumundi, Noosa and Moolooaba wharf! Sound very exciting and i get to go to underwater world and the ginger factory!
Then the best bit, ive just sorted out my Fraser Island/Whitsunday Trip. I leave on the 6th March heading up to Noosa for a couple of nights then im doing the Noosa Everglades Canoe Safari trip which basically means i get to spend 3 days in a canoe going through the Everglades and camp! Then im heading up to Rainbow Bay and doing the Fraser self drive trip for 3 days which again is camping. Who knows if they'll actually make me drive this 12 seater 4x4, would be rather funny if they did! And that takes me up until the 15th March when i have to get the bus back from Rainbow Bay to catch my overnight bus from Brisbane to Sydney to make sure im back in Sydney to pick up the room keys in Manly Saturday morning.
Well its all very exciting and ill finally have something else to tell you guys. Hopefully ill have enough time to catch up with the world and send some pictures home. Otherwise ill do it when i gte back to Syndey in a few weeks times.
Love you xxx

Pictures!

2007-02-18T01:02:00.000Z

Australia so far - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/4987602
Australian scous - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/4961042
Thailand - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/4961041
Family pictures/Australia day - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/4954863

Bryon Bay

2007-02-15T01:47:00.000Z

Well im starting to understand why Ad loves this place. I arrived after a very very long overnight bus trip on Tuesday morning. Ad was waiting for me at the bus stop and looked like Ad but great. He said he'd lost weight but he looked so so slim and proved it later when he only spare boardies had to be rolled up and held up with his boxers! (dont worry mum ive taken pitty on him and im taking him out to get him some that fit, and dad yes i know im a soft touch but i havent seen him in a year and ive missed him)

When we got to the hostel and with in 20mins of meeting the guys in Ad's room Sarah had convinced me to go sky diving with her the following day. We had a nice day chilling out, Ad just loves the surf and couldnt wait to get out there. Really lovely day and he made us pancakes for tea as it was pancake day, how he remembers things like that i havent a clue. In the evening we all went out to a couple of bars in Bryon and it was so nice catching up. He said he hadnt realised me and Martin had split up etc until Alex had told him which was abit weird as i had told him about Gaz coming over..he said he hadnt put two and two together. The first thing he asked when i told him about Gaz was "oh can he get me a discount i want a new mambo tshirt as mine is falling apart!" Anyway it was so nice catching up and hearing stories (al, he said writting it down wont to the justice you'll have to come round when im home) and things which happend when Dave, Alex and Paul was up. A very very good evening and things dont change hes still very very protective of me and his female mates.

Yesterday was a waiting game. We were meant to dive at 10am but was delayed to 1pm and then 3pm due to bad weather. Me and Sarah ended up being the last dive of the day and finally got up there at 6pm. Yes by that stage i had totally freaked myself out and had a very very nervous smile. My guy Steve was really lovely tho and as it was valentines his last dive of the day his wife stacey was going to film for us. (She actually did Ad's film a couple of years ago) Anyway we got up there and i was the last one out of the plane and i dont think i have ever been so scared in all my life, that first bit when you are basically out of the plane before he lets go...very scary and then he lets go and wow...i smiled the whole time. Got to say the best bit for me though was when we were jus floating/flying above Bryon Bay, so beautiful and we just took our time coming down and chilled out up there. I smiled and giggled for hours later, best valentines ever! (ill try and sort out the pictures for everyone to see)

Anyway having a great time, planning on learning to surf...not sure about that though (the waves scare me) so we'll see what happens.

Love you

Family weekend in Avoca and Pictures

2007-02-11T23:32:00.000Z

Hi Guys
We've just spent a gorgeous weekend up in Avoca with the whole family. It originally was just going to be me, Amy, Kath and Jim and slowly everyone else asked if it was alright for them to come up and im so glad they did. We ended up having a really lovely family weekend. We didnt do too much, just relaxed but it was so nice to just spend time with each other and just chill out. I hadnt seen John since i was over for the wedding in 2001 and it was really good catching up and seeing him and Kirsten as a Mummy and Daddy.
Anyway this is just a short message to say ive spent all morning putting pictures of my trip so far on photobox so if we fancy a look, the link is on the blog. Im heading up to Bryon Bay tonight to spend some time with Ad before he goes back to the UK and then ill be heading up to Surfers Paradise and Brisbane. Ive got 5 weeks until Gaz gets here so im going to see what the east coast has to offer, hopefully work on my tan!
Love you xxx

The real guided tour of Canberra!

2007-02-05T05:43:00.000Z

Well to say my day picked up would be an understatement! Mum dont freak out coz it all worked out perfectly and i ended up having the best couple of days ever.

I was sat at one of the restaurants in the main square next to my hostel. Id just finished my meal and with my best international sign language asked for the bill. There were two girls sat at the table next to me who turned round and asked where i was from. I said just outside Manchester, and they asked me to join them. I declined but was talked around and one of the girls kept asking me questions about my travels and home. So i went over to join them, they introduced themselves, Carly and Suzy both locals. They asked me what i had seen of Canberra and what i thought, so i told them all the really touristy places i had been to. Carly asked if i wanted to see the real Canberra, and then the 2 of them started talking about random places all over Canberra which are a "must see" and asked if i was interested. Of course i was a little unsure of what to do but i thought sod it why not! It was only 8 something and the idea of going back to the hostel at that time seems a bit dull.

So Carly and Suzy finished their meals and i asked Suzy how they knew each other as it was made quite clear Suzy was years younger that Carly. (Suzys actually 22 on Tuesday so im just a couple of days older than her and Carlys 27 i think) Suzy explained how they both attended the same church but hadnt seen each other in a while and just on the off chance Carly had rung Suzy as asked if she'd like to have dinner. She hadnt been into the city in ages. Anyway we went to Carlys car and started our adventure. First stop the Telstra tower, there seems to be a tower like this in very city, the view was truely beautiful but Carly said she knew somewhere even better for a view. We tried to go to some observation place where your able to look at stars etc but it was closed so we ended up going up to Mt Majura, "make out mountain" which is just behind the War Memorial building. She was right the view was so much better and there were so many couples up there. Apprently its the number 1 place in Canberra to propose or something, i can understand why. Seeing the city all lit up just showed it in such a different light. After that as promised we went to their favourite place in the whole city, The Pancake Parlour. Best pancakes and banana splits anywhere so i was told. I stuck to the Hot chocolate fudge sundee and i have never seen an ice cream so big. Didnt think id ever seen the day when i couldnt finish an ice cream. From there we went for a drink in the Irish bar, King O'Malleys. I walked in and the girls both got stopped for ID, it was like being with Marris. They thought it was really weird that i didnt even slow down and i was going through the door, i said come on if your over 18 just smile at the guy on the door and walk in. Your old enough to be in there so where act as if your not. It was a really really good night, there was a fantastic live band playing and as always a fantastic atmosphere. The girls asked if i was up for going to Kingston Markets in the morning. I said i planned to go to the zoo but why not.

So before you guys were all out enjoying yourself Saturday night (yes, Marris thats you going out with next to nothing on! and you boys having a quiet pint in the Barge) I was getting up to hit the markets. The girls picked me up for another adventure at 9am on a Sunday... we drove up to Kingston and got some breakfast as the market didnt start until 10. The market is on every Sunday in the Old Bus Depot, id read about it in LP. The market was full of one off stalls all with really unique things. Carly bought this gorgeous bag off one stall, this lady never made 2 of the same bag. Shes just be creative and see what happend, the collects fabric from all sorts of places and see shes how her mood takes her. Theyre were truely gorgeous but i was very good i didnt get myself one, really should have done though. They were so cheap as she said it cost her next to nothing to make so she didnt want to charge someone a lot of money for other people cast off which was really lovely. They were between 8 and 20 pounds. BARGIN! The food side of the market...wow...free samples everywhere. Oh i had fun...we stopped and spoke to one lady on a Thai Curry paste stall and Carly was talking to her about the "King and I" and the history behind it all. Apprently it was very very interesting but i was distracted by the Thai Green Curry paste. Interesting fact for you...did you know that every state in Oz has a place called Kingston!

After the Market we headed back into town to Lake Burley Griffin and hired a paddle boat...im sure we always called them peddelo's. My legs havent worked so hard in ages...an hour on one of them things is hard work especially in the heat. Middle of the day was a bad idea especially with tempatures of about 35c! The girls then took me to Manuka to the best restaurant, My Cafe. It was so good, i had a Kangaroo Burger! Not as tasty as Alpaca but it was good. By this state id convinced Carly to drop me and Suzy off at the Zoo while she went to her Wedding Fair (she makes Wedding invites and wanted to see the competition). So in the burning heat me and Suzy went to the Zoo. Can you believe the animals were sleeping or just hiding for the heat! I only got to see the tummy and paws of the Tigon, she was very pretty though and i did get to see the other Tiggers playing. They werent being boring. It was a really nice Zoo actually, only quite small but had all the native animals and yes there were lose Kanagroos... i was not happy! For those who dont know im scared of Kangaroos i am...even little ones! We had a lovely afternoon and even got to feed the otters, we some how joined a tour who had paid to feed all the animals. Suzy has never been aboard so was asking me loads and loads of questions about England. Something that made Carly smile was over lunch Suzy asked me if we had birds! Bless...i knew what she meant though. There Zoo didnt have many monkeys and had no bears or elephants! How can you have a zoo without elephants! Anyway we had a really lovely afternoon and when Carly picked us up to say we were a little pink was an understatement!

The girls had asked me if i wanted to come to church with them for the evening service and once again i thought why not, its part of what Canberra is to them so ok why not and im so glad i did. Never seen anything like it. It was at the Canberra Christian Life Centre, which was like i huge community centre and when we walked into the hall, where the service was held i was even more confused. We got there about 30 mins early and the girls said its ok we can go watch the band warm up. I have to admit i was ready to make an excuse not to go in and then i could hear this guy singing...and at first it wasnt what i class as a church song there was nothing traditional about it, it was just like something you'd see in the charts or something with a twist to it. Anyway we went in and me and Suzy went and got some seats and i just sat there watching these 10 young people singing or playing drums, guitar or whatever, and they were amazing. One of the guys on a normal guitar he started to sing and it was...wow. What a voice. Then the place started to fill with people and they werent old person infact most of the people there were between 15 and 30 and the place was packed. The weirdest things about it these...kids...young people just looked the the kids who hung round on the streets they all still had their boardies on (including me) etc and just looked like normally people. Not that they arent but its not what i expected at all. And when it all started...i just cant descrip it. Ive never been a church goer other than parades etc but this was just something else. The started with the musicians on stage performing 3/4 songs...and everyone joined in like they were some rock band. It was all filmed and played on the two big screens on either side of the stage and then a lady got just and started the evening..service and a couple of people came on and spoke about whats happening with the church in February etc. Then a girl came up and told a story about how she lost God and her faith or something and how she found it again when she just needed it, it did get abit heavy at times but then the guy i meantioned before started to sing this song and then the rest of the band joined it etc and i could have cried. It was so...inspirational, i think thats the only way to descrip it. Wow. Then some bloke who obviously normally leads service came on and started talking about reaching out to individuals and showing kindness to others etc. His words just rang true for what Carly and Suzy had done for me, i had so much fun with them and i only ever paid for my lunch and dinner, Carley refuged to let me pay for anything else and i was their guest and a visitor. They made sure my experience of Canberra was something id never forget and i dont think i will. I had such a fantastic time over the last couple of days and its because they went out of their way to make me feel welcome.

The whole church experience was something like ive never seen before and i can totally understand what draws the community to go to this place. There was so much energy. Carlys planning on coming back over to Europe again soon, her grandparents live in London so ive promised to show her the real side of England...well the North West anyway. She absolutely adored my accent and my little saying and was trying to pick up as many as possible. I told her i'd take her when you live where i do, so close to Lancashire, in Cheshire, spend most of my time in West Yorkshire and between Liverpool and Manchester you have accents all over the place and she'd love it.

Just got back to Sydney and Amys just got home with goodies! Kirsten, John and Jack are going to come up to Avoca with us this weekend which will be great, not seen John since the wedding.

Love you xxx

learning to breathe

2007-02-03T03:19:00.000Z

Hey Guys
Well ive shaped myself and got myself to Canberra. I thought i was doing really really well. On Tuesday i search the internet for the cheapest way around oz, and i thought id got myself a really good deal. How naive! I bought 2 greyhound bus passes, one for western oz to take me between Darwin and Perth and the other for Eastern between Melbourne and Cairns. I rung the helpline to make sure i was booking the right thing over the internet and i was told the passes allowed unlimited travel between the two places. I wasnt told about the catch...theres always a catch! So I booked myself on the 12.30 bus to Canberra for Thursday morning. All great, got here about 4ish, of course i slept most of the way etc. Really nice city and found YHA no worries. Im even one of those people with a YHA card!
Yesterday i did a hop on-hop off tour from the YHA, took me to the Australian War Memorial, Lake Burley Griffen, Parliament house (old & new) and the National Museum of Australia. A really really good took. The war memorial was really good, Uncle Jim said it was worth a visit and he wasnt wrong. It was like some untold story, i know it isnt but we were only ever taught the English side of the story and even though i realised Australia were involved i never realised how much or the war which was happening over in the Far East. There was so much happening leading up to the bombs in Japan which i just was never aware of. From there we werent for a quick stop next to the lake to see Capitin Cooks memorial water jet on Lake Burley Griffen. Truely beautiful. Then it was back on the bus to Parliament house, John our bus driver explained how the old building was only meant to be there 50 years and has stood there since in opened in 1927. And who ever is in parliment now have decided the building holds too much of Australias history to pull it down so will stand as a symbol of where the county came from. the new building was built behind it in the hill side. Anyone symbol and originally the people of Australia were able to walk over the building as a symbol of them having control over parliment not the other way round. (get me learning) The drive way up to the house to truely beautiful too. That the every end just before im not sure if its the old house or the new but theres a present from New Zealand. On each side of the road is a weaved basket handle and its meant to symbolise Australia and New Zealand teaming together to share the load. It relates back to the war and the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps). Anyway we had a lovely tour around the new parliment house by a guy called Jim. Then we headed to the rather...unique National museum of Australia. What a weird building and a weirder museum. Its only been there just over 5 years and the 3 floors all relate to different things, past, present and the future. I got to design my own house of the future... it was pink and purple! Yes it was for kids...there was me and 3 5 year olds designing our future houses or cars!
Today i have had another stressfull morning. Ive decided if i wasnt so stubborn and determined this travelling things would really start to get to me. I went down to the greyhound office to book my bus to Melbourne and then back up to Sydney and lady told me that my pass only allowed me to go one way. And as it wasnt an adult pass i wasnt meant to be allowed to travel backwards on them. I kicked off and told her i id spoken to someone when booking my ticket who told me if was unlimited travel and i was about to get on and off whenever i wanted. Now i dont know whether or not i assumed this or not but i thought that meant i could travel back on myself as much as i liked. Apprently not. Anyway this lady told me i needed to ring the main call centre and ask to speak to someone as she didnt have the power to do anything for me. So i went to calm myself and got a coffee, then rung them. This girl on the phone...i could have poked her in the eye! She was really cocky and unhelpful and wouldnt get me her manager. Not matter how much i tried to explain she just didnt seem to care just told me the ticket was for travel one direction and was unrefundable! To say i wasnt happy was an understatement! I just had to hang up on her in the end and had a rant at Gaz! Anyway i think ive worked out a loop hole in the pass and hopefully it wont back fire on me, and if needs must ill pay the difference for an adult ticket with does allow me to back track. I need the pass to get me to Ad in Bryon, up to Brisbane after Ad goes home and back to Sydney for when Gaz arrives. and the pass allows for 4000km to be travelled. So i got my post-it notes out and a pen when to sit next to Lake Burley Griffen and sat with my map the lady in the greyhound office gave me and worked out what milage i needed to do when and what i was allowed. The Water skiing on the Lake was really nice and relaxing and allowed me to calm down before going back to the office. Cut a long story short, im now going back to Sydney Monday, instead of heading down to Melbourne for a couple of days. Im going to speak to the Syndey office and see whether or not my plan will be possible etc which means i should be able to do Bryon and Brisbane, get me back to Sydney and all going well down to Melbourne after Gaz leaves for a couple of weeks before i do the flight i was always going to do over to Perth. It would just mean me having to sort out how to get back from Cairns. Ill be flying into Cairns anyway from Darwin... i just need to find a cheap way back. Lifes a challenge!
Anyway it'll all work out, im sure it will. Think i might just go and chill out next to the pool before heading out later for some food. Planned to go to the zoo tomorrow to see this Tigon, LP tells me its a cross breed of a Tiger and a Lion which must be worth a look!

Speak to you guys soon

Love You xxx

Australia Day/Birthday weekend

2007-01-29T10:05:00.000Z

What a weekend...so tired. I can honestly say I have experienced the pain of Australia Day celebrations! Cant remember the last time i was so so hungover.

Me and Amy put on our pretty dress and heels and jumped on the train to...The Cabana. Really nice bar on the way into the city next to where Amy used to work. We meet Tate and her boyfriend Tim and his mates and had a couple of beers...and a couple of bottles of champers. They were both really really night, Tim's living just next to Bryon Bay and kindly offered to pick me up from the airport etc if i want to fly up and see Ad. And Tate was really lovely and said i had to go visit them when she moves up to Queensland end of March I think it was. Really nice people. Toby rang Amy at about 8.30 so we'd been over 3hours or so (and no we hadnt eaten, as Kath told us we should have dont before we left the house we just assumed we'd get something at the BBQ The Cabana was putting on, but that closed at 6 so we missed out) we headed to an offy and jumped into a taxi. Apprently we were on top form when we arrived. I apprently got out the car said you must be Nathan im Rachael, Bromers is just paying with paper not real money, which ways the kitchen.

Anyway it was a really good night and we have some great stories (now Toby's filled us in on some missing bits) we walked home at 12ish and just raided the fridge...apprently i was worst that when i was in Prague with the amount i ate! Saturday morning... when i finally got up i just didnt move from the sofa next to Amy. We must have watched 4 or 5 films. And thank you boys...you lot singing happy birthday to be at fully blast from the pub Friday night was...something my head didnt need but the idea was lovely so thank you.

Sunday morning I woke up to at least 8 text messages from people who were clearly out on a Saturday night and realised it was my birthday in Oz time. Thats for my early morning wake up call (sorry ill stop moaning) it really was nice reading all your messages. I had a very entertaining phone call off Mum and Dad. They were in Scotland for the weekend and they'd just got home. Dad wasnt very well so Mum was "forced" to drink a whole bottle of wine very quickly so as you can imagine she was away with the fairies. Very entertaining though. Me and Amy headed up to St Ives shopping centre for Breakfast before hitting the shops in Hornsby i think its called. Really nice place, guess it was like an Ozzie Trafford Centre, got to gorgeous dresses for 10 dollars each with is about 4 pounds! Bargin and so pretty, also got some gorgeous underwear with the money Alex gave me. Really nice day. We went back to St Ives to look at bikinis for me and while i was waiting for Amy, guess who walks past me, clocks me and sits down next to me. He was on the phone so i just smiled but no Nathan came and sat down next to me. I kept looking at him thinking to myself ok so it was your house party and your a twin and your name is... he knew mine which was embrassing. And we chatted about Friday night etc, so funny.

Ozzie people are so so lovely though, i remember last time i was here how much i lovely being greeted with a kiss and its just the same here. When you meet someone or leave you always get a kiss...why doesnt that happen in the UK?!

After me and Amy went for a coffee with Toby, we went to drop his car off and i got to meet his gorgeous parents. Really lovely people and we were chatting about my travels and Toby and Amy coming over to Europe and they were asking for tips for Sam whos hoping to go to Thailand in June i think. Anyway when we got back Dave had arrived and we had a gorgeous family BBQ with no smoke, sunshine and everything, not like most family BBQs! It was really nice catching up etc, Dave was saying how much fun he'd had with Alex and Paul but was so glad they'd gone home and they even went to see Ad! Me and Kath stayed up talking after everyone had gone to bed, telling me stories about Grandad, coz it was 17 years since he'd died, telling me how much of a fantastic people he was and how many peoples lives hes had touched through the church and all the charity work he did. Kath really should write down all the stories she has to make sure we dont loose them Kelly stories. I even found out how Grandad and Grandma met, they were pen pals?! So weird but i love those stories.

Today ive had quite a quiet day. Sorted out with Gaz our plans while hes here, we're going to fly up to Alice Spring and do a 5 day tour up there and see true Australia. Then i sat in the spar and worked out what i was going to do with the rest of my time and when, ill sort out maybe flights or bus passes tomorrow morning, but it was quite nice but very weird at in the spar reading lonely planet! So gorgeous just being able to lie out in the sun, might do it again tomorrow! hehe its a hard life!

Love you xxx

Sydney

2007-01-25T06:56:00.000Z

G'day!

Well i arrived to a beauitful sunny Syndey early Tuesday morning. When we landed the pilot told us it was already 20c and it was just gone 6am! and what a beautiful day it was. Was so excited to see Amy and Jim waiting for me, and Jim made a special trip over Habour Bridge for me. Then i was left for a day of relaxing and chilling while everyone headed out for work. It was hard work...did my washing, when for a swim, laid in the sun reading lonely planet, watched corrie and emmerdale and thats about it! It was a good day. In the evening me and Amy went out for a little drive round to Tobys. It was the first time in months shed been out in her car, that girl is insane. Has her own wheels and still never learnt to drive, just cant understand why people dont just learn at 17 and get it over and done with so youve got the freedom and independance to go wherever you want to. Right, so i got to meet Toby...ive been talking to him since i was about 10 so for a very very long time but Tuesday night was the first time we'd ever meet and it wasnt weird at all. Think over the past few years i spoken to Toby over emails and msn more than i have to Amy! It was really great meeting him though and we're all going somewhere Saturday night so im told! (I did get told off for not answering my phone to both of them on new years tho!)

Yesterday i finally got to meet Baby Jack, and what a gorgeous little boy he is and so good. Apprently he looks like John but im not totally convinced. So me and Kath went up to Manly to meet Kirsten and Jack and we went out for lunch and pottered round the shops. A really nice afternoon and i was so suprised how much i recognised and how familiar everything was. It doesnt feel weird at all being here. We went talking and the last time i was here Kirsten was getting married now she has little Jack!

And today i decided to go on a little adventure for myself and got the train into the city. Pottered round The Rocks and down to the Opera house then jumped on one of them Hop on Hop off buses like they have in Dublin... had a whole city tour, jumping on and off the bus whenever i liked. Then of course i went down George St and did some window shopping before getting my hair done! Very nice relaxing day. Just need to work out what im doing with the next few weeks before Gaz gets here and try and get hold of Ad!

Love you xxx

Last day

2007-01-21T11:36:00.000Z

Hey well this is my last day in Thailand..cant say its been every successful. Didnt get to learn how to cook in Thai, bus never picked me up so i gave up and went to check into my hotel for my last night. Decided i might as well get some culture and walked up the road to the Palace. My bright pink boardies wasnt the greatest of ideas i ever had... and ended up going for a walk instead. I now understand why the hotel is called The Royal Hotel and a little a bit about the weird arches everywhere. The hotel is on the main road up to the palace and theres actually a picture of the King above the doors. Amazing the things you miss when your jetlagged and scared!

Ive been very brave and worked out how to actually use my guide book and made it to the main street, feel a little stupid now as its actually only about 5mins from my hotel and theres so many gorgeous places to eat on route! Oh well nevermind, its a learning curve.

I was chatting to Laura yesterday, Ive actually been a bit homesick over the last couple of days but not really for home. Its weird i miss really stupid things, my network (yes i know i really should get a life but part from work, network was basically all i did before coming out here and thats when i wasnt sorting things out at work!), Saturday night in Tokyo with Al, dancing like a dickhead...the stupid buzz i get when i see the bridge and realise im in Huddersfield, the smell of coconut and almond. Really stupid things. Its definately time to move on. I have loved Thailand and its been a real eye opener for me...not sure id come back alone. I think this is one place where its so much easier to be here with someone to enjoy it with you. It definately kicked started my trip and im glad i came here first but so so excited about going to Oz. Spending time with family, meeting Baby Jack, seeing Ad. Cant tell you how excited i am about that and yes Al, i'll get him to tell me a few stories for you, i know how you love them, its definately never a dull moment in Ad's world.

So next stop Sydney... going to go have myself my last Singha to celebrate.

Love you xxx

Bangkok

2007-01-20T12:32:00.000Z

We had another insane day travelling yesterday ending in Bangkok at 5am this morning! Not great especially when i got to the hotel and it was full and couldnt promise me anything. I managed to get hold of Gaz who searched everywhere on the interenet for me this morning and we came up with nothing. Anyway not to worry...i cried and then went to the Weekend Market with the girls to try and distact myself. When me and Leilani got back to the base hotel we wondering into the shopping district and i remembered Tanya taking me somewhere on our first night that had accommodation. So im staying above a part right in the centre of everything. Its not bad...i went for their best which has its own bathroom and air con and it still only cost my less that 8 pounds. But its clean and its only for one night.

So this Weekend Market we went to it was totally insane.. you could buy anything it was like the Markets in Peru again but cleaner. Got some gorgeous stuff and such bargins...i know if i wasnt on holiday i wouldnt have bought the stuff but i am and i did! Even treated myself to a couple of things.

Hopefully...all going well, ive signed myself you to do a thai cooking course tomorrow. I booked it over the internet today and it never asked for payment or anything but its with the same guys who sorted out my first nights accommodation and my transfers to the airport so we'll see at 8am tomorrow whether or not i go on this course. Its more expense than most trips i could do but i thought i might as well learn something and well learning to do thai massages i decided wouldnt benefit me so declined! Its an english speaking course which should teach me 4 different dishes and how to adapt them to what we have available in the UK. Which sounds all good to me and i get a book and everything to keep! And if your really lucky and i get my welcome home drinks i might make something for you all to try if you dare!

And the best bit is tomorrow is my last full day in Thailand which means im heading down under! So cant wait, this is after all what my trip was always really about going to see people i love on the other side of the world.

Love you xxx

ps.
Dave, completed half your mission you set for me... the rolex... its a dream you can forget. I love you but not that much. The cheapest anyone would go was 1500 bats which is just over 20 quid and i dont love you that much. But i have managed to get you your liverpool shirt (sorry Dad) ... its not a bad fake actually and for 3 pounds im very very proud of it!

Al, after speaking to you in your drunken state this morning i also got you something as a promise to you...you'll be able to put it on the keys to our house next year... September. But you'll have to promise to always keep it save. Its not just a present its symbolic!

Jess, as im chatting to you and you have a hot date... good luck and behave yourself young lady otherwise you might end up in Bonnys family!

The cats out the bag...

2007-01-19T04:20:00.000Z

Not that it was any real secret but Gaz is coming over to Oz to see me for a couple of weeks. Didnt meantion it really before i left as the last thing Mum said to me when i started seeing Gaz at the end of November was not to get smitten as im away for nearly 7 months. Him flying to the other side of the world to see me, doesnt really suggest we're not attached! We joked about him coming over before Christmas and the more we talked about it the more sense it seemed to make, so it all got booked the week before i left and he flys out on Friday 16th March for 2 weeks with the lonely planet. By the sounds of things the boys will be glad of the break from him moaning! Got bad news for you boys...they'll be another 12 weeks when he comes back before i do!

Anyway he's finally got his way and has make it on my itinerary! I just need him to work out where he wants go while hes here so i can let you guys know.

Love you xxx

Koh Tao

2007-01-18T04:17:00.000Z

This is by far the most beautiful place i have ever been to! We all even snorkelling yesterday and had so much fun. I'd always thought i couldnt snorkel and was a bit nervous about doing it especially jumping off the boat but i love it. Ive since decided i must have been abused by my brothers growing up and they scared me everytime we went snorkelling!

The trip took a tour all the way round the island and its so beautiful and i would definately recommend this place to everyone and anyone, it is a must see. I dont know exactly where we stopped, ill ask Sam our tour guide, but swimming with the fishes was just amazing! I even saw a shark... wasn't too excited by that but it just swam under me so i just carried on like it was a tiny little fish. I was even feeling really brave and feed bananas to the fishes, that was really weird. We stopped on this gorgeous little island just off the beach where we are staying, we had a 2 hour stop and i dont think i left the sea the whole time. Id forgotten how much i loved the sea and im even loving beaches and sand at the moment! Me and Reuben just sat there throwing corel at each other... i to be fair was trying to find nice interesting pieces, Reuben just kept throwing things at me. And i learnt to just lie there and float...dont laugh its quite a skill!

Ive got a free day today to do whatever we like before going to the beach party at The Caves tonight. Its going to be our last night as a group as some people are staying on the Island until their flights home or in Andy and Sarah's case to Oz. Ive starting to get my tan and losing the redness still have white legs though!

Speak to you all again before i leave for Oz.

Love you xxx

Koh Samui

2007-01-16T08:47:00.000Z

Ok so the 5am wake up wasnt great especially after being out at this fantastic reggae bar the night before. We had a gorgeous BBQ and sat upstairs in this really weird bar. We all sat on the floor and had little tables (Guess a bit like its going to be in Japan) and there was a barrel campfire in the middle, made me feel really at home! It was the owners birthdays so as you can imagine the drink was flowing and then we had guys playing with fire on the end of what looked like a ball and chain. It was amazing to watch especially when i little lad maybe 10 but definately cub age started doing it... he was really really good. It was a really good night.

So as i was saying, Tanya got me up at 4.40... it was nearly as bad as the parrots! and we met the team at 5am, well all climbing into the trunks andi had the pleasure of sharing the same truck as two of the guys who had only got home at 3am! They said they got lost in the bush and followed "big dog" and he went the wrong way! Boys will be boys though, but Sarah wasnt happy when Andy rolled in thats for sure. As we went just about to leave the park we were joking with Reuben about leaving something, he jumped up and yelled stop the car, my passport is under his pillow! So funny, so we had to go back for this sodding passport!

We got back to the train station at 7ish just perfect to have breakfast while waiting for our bus to the ferry port. We got on the ferry to Koh Samui and i think nearly all of us slept all the way. It was the most gorgeous sight to wake up to. Beautiful island, sand sea sun the works! As you can imagine we were very excited when we got to our hotel and Andy couldnt wait anymore so when running into the sea. We all joined him after lunch, so beautiful. But i did fall asleep in my book next to the pool and i became a typical brit and burnt my back! That evening we heading into town for a very cultural meal... pizza hut! haha no matter where in the world they still have the same design on the wall! (Al, im sorry you can yell at me later... i know how much you love that place). We ended the night on the beach in this bar. They turn the sun beds into sitting areas and put a little table on top them, so i was drinking Mojito...drinking cocktails on a beach is definately the way to relax.

Monday me and 4 other girls decided we wanted to do something other than sit on a beach all day so we signed up for a canopy trail. Basically its like "Go Ape" in the UK but to a totally different extreme when you saw how high up we were in the jungle and how far w had to fall! What an experience...running off a platform onto nothing, very scary but oh my god! We had sooooooooo much fun. Got chatting to a lovely couple for Chester area, which was nice to speak to some northeners. After lunch when we got back the sea was calling us so we ran into the gorgeous blue sea and just chilled out before going for a Thai Massage. They are truely amazing!!! And so cheap. Last night most of us walked down the beach and found a place which promised us happy hour all night and cocktails for 80 bats (just over a pound, and they dont use measures) Really lovely night just chilling out again on the beach.

This morning we caught the ferry ove to Koh Tao (Turtle island) and this is even most beautiful than the last place, never seen sand so white and the sea so blue. We all going snorkelling tomorrow which should be good. Apprently Turtle Island is the best place in Thailand to snorkel or dive. So we have time to do both if we want to, not leaving here until Friday afternoon.

Thank you so much for all my messages. Isobel, i do have a teddy, actually i have two...one i roll over and scare the life out of me when i hear Al's voice (his name is Mr Snack and he was made with love and care by Al at the teddy bear factory for me and shes lefted me a message on there) and the other..Jack!

Love you xxx

Getting to Khao Sok!

2007-01-13T06:36:00.000Z

Wednesday night was a bit more successfull. I walked back into my room after updating my blog to find someone...my new room mate as turns out... rucksak! Shes lovely, called Tanya and is from Germany. Shes a film set/prop designer and is actually 30 but to look at her you'd never believe it she looks 24 if that! Anyway i finally gotto meet Tanya at about 5ish and we went out for a gorgeous meal together and she showed me the main tourist street of Bangkok...really busy!

Thursday we met the rest of the team at 9am. Theres 14 of us and our guide Sam (hes got a Thai name but he told use there was no point trying to teach it to use and everyone calls him Sam anyway), 10 of them did the North trip though so knew each other all really well. Theres people from all over, Tanya (obviously shes german), Brit (shes from Norway), Andy and Sarah (Birmingham),Nici (Nottingham), James, Reuben (hes from Bryon Bay, how cool is that!) and 4 ozzie girls...and an irish couple dave and savi (well thats what we all call her shes got a really irish name). So it was great meeting the team and finally meeting someone who speaks english!!! WE had yet more problems with STA and the company doing the tour, interprid i think theyre call... rubbish who ever they are. Got into another fight with them about money. We have to pay a local cost but the costs all went up in novemeber and some of us werent told that we were expected to pay 8500 bats at the start of the trip,our info says 4250. Anyway there was a huge fight with us,interprid and the people we all individual booked with. Some didnt have to pay the extra i did and am having to claim it back later... wasnt a great start! Then i was told that coz i booked late... which is a joke coz i didnt it was a problem their end and they cancelled me...i didnt have a train ticket to wherever it was i got the train...so i was booked on 1st class on the train leaving an hour later. Fantastic... not exactly! 1st class over here isnt that exciting, apprently still better than what the others had but thats not saying a great deal. We had a 12 hr overnight train trip and in my room(yes i had my own room) i had an lovely but totally insane Irish women and her 3 year old son lucas! The pair of them total hippies down to being veggies and their herbal medicine. Lovely people though and they live in Hebden Bridge! So you can imagine how excited i was that Lucas had a yorkshire accent! (Not totally sure why i miss it, you guys drove me insane in Peru!) Anyway it was a good trip, i got sung to when it was bed time and had a lovely bed time story, never thought bob the builder would send me to sleep at 9pm!

Yesterday, Friday we arrived at the train station and i meet the team. After they had breakfast (i had breakfast in bed on the train, awesome!) we caught the 2hr bus to Khao Sok. Going though the mountains im told is truely beautiful, i was sleeping and missed everything, but no real suprise to anyone there! We staying at the Art Riverview lodge which is right on the river and reminds me some much ofour lodge in the Amazon. Truely gorgeous and ive never enjoyed a cold shower as much as i did yesterday. We grabbed some lunch and got back onto the van and they took us tubing down the river. So much fun, hard work at times as the river was really still in places but such a laugh. We almost had a storm too, it all clouded over and the guided told us it was going to rain and be really stormy...it started spitting and then stopped,clearly never been walking in the lakes for 4 days with gale force winds! When we got back to the lodge all the monkeys had come down to the riverside and we were feeding them bannana,well most people were but they looks like they were going to be like them kangaroos so i just threw mind in a totally girlie way! It was so amazing to see, they were jumping out of trees, diving into the water, swimming, fighting the works, it was awesome! Going to go back to the lodge for 4 again today and get them on film!

This morning,was another fantastic experince. Me, Tanya and Reuben got up really early to go Elephant trekking...fantastic! Really really weird but truely fantastic... they are gorgeous animals and have spotty ears! Nothing like i imagined they were, never been that close to an Eleplant before. Great morning... then this afternoon i treated myself to a thai massage. Oh my god! It cost me 300 bats for a back and shoulder, and a facial massage... which was basically all the back of my body and well my face. 300 bats is about 4 pounds! Amazing... never felt so relaxed and refreshed... and they can move your body in directions you never believed possible! Amazing!

Anyway best be heading off...were having a big BBQ at some bar tonight that Sams arranged for us then we have a really early start tomorrow to catch the bus to kao samui...i think its called...to you and me it means to the beach! Beautiful white sandy beaches with clear blue sea! Cant wait!!!!

Love you xxx

Stressed!

2007-01-10T04:26:00.000Z

What a morning! Today i was meant to start my tour... well i still am! Got up nice and early and was all checked out by 8am and was sat waiting in reception. You can safely say im not a big fan of STA Travel at the moment thats for sure. I was getting abit worried about when i was getting picked up so i spoke to the travel people at the hotel and had the weirdest phone call with someone..god knows who, someone from STA in Thailand i think it must have been. Anyway he told me that i had been cancelled off the tour on the 22nd December...to say i wasnt happy was an understatement! Anyway i decided being my normal self wasnt going to get me anywhere and neither was crying or calling home at 2am! So i spoke to the girls on this desk and they gave me an address for the tour guides. They were very helpful and really lovely. So i went to this first hotel... and the guide told me i needed to go to another hotel when the office is. So i got into another taxi who left me on this main road and nearlly stole my bag... its funny now... at i found some nice police offices who gave me a ride on his motorbike... picture this me on the back of this motorbike with my duffle bag which is sooooooooo heavy and my ladybug bag, quite a sight! Anyway i found this hotel and im meeting everyone at 6pm and it all kicks off tomorrow. So any eventful morning and its only 11.30! I told Gaz last night i had a bad feeling about this tour and i was clearly right to.. its all sorted now. I dont know what Tallis did to me but shes carmed me down over the past few years and Vicki's clearly had a positive influence on how i handle challenging situations when you dont speak the language!

Lucy good luck to you with STA... they're a lot fun! Im sure you'll be fine... i handled it without crying!

Anyway still having a great time and cant wait for my next challenge and meeting everyone tonight and i finally get to chat to someone english again!

Love you xxx

Bangkok

2007-01-09T07:51:00.000Z

Hey
Day one and all that...Im so knackered after yesterday and ive never been so bored of sleeping! Should have picked up some sleeping trips off Steve before i left! Flight get were alright. Was sat next to an old couple on my Manchester flight who were 75 and celebrating their 50th wedding, a really lovely couple. I of course was sporting my Peru hoodie and dog tags (a safety thing... it was like Mark and Vicki were still in charge of me and anything which could go wrong) and this couple were heading to Peru. It was quite nice actually knowing something about somewhere. And then on my flight to Bangkok i was sat with a young couple from Manly who had been travelling round Europe and were doing Thailand on the way home! Anyway i made it here and only got checked at Manchester...wasnt happy! Dont think the guy realised how much id got in my hand lugage and how much of a skill it was to fit everything in!

Its really hot and sticky here and im not totally sure what to do with myself today. Ive got to find out what time im getting picked up in the morning for my tour which might be quite a challenging experience! and really should go find some food and get some money, im more interested in the sun and the pool outside though!

Anyway speak to you all soon and thanks for all my comments.

Love you xxx

Pre Trip Nerves

2006-12-29T14:18:00.000Z

Hey Everyone

Welcome to my blog! I’ve been asked to do a blog while I’m away, so people can see what I’m getting up to and it seems less painful that Mum getting me tagged!

I’d lying if I said I was really nervous about this trip especially as I'm going solo, but everyone keeps telling me I’ll be fine and I'm sure I will be. It’s an adventure I've been talking about for years; it’s just a little scary that I'm actually doing it. Think I'm more freaked out about being old enough to do it if I'm honest!

Anyway I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures over the next 7 months, I’ll try and keep you posted as much as possible.

Love you xxx