Australia

Another one of those places that i had heard of before i got to Oz but still had no idea what to expect. Cairns is a lovely city. So it doesn't have a lovely beach but the lagoon makes up for that. The city centre is a mangable size with some lovely cafes and one off shops. It has an ace english seaside holiday town vibe to it that i like. You would walk along the esplanade after dark and there would be the hum of people dining and the glare from souviner shops...could have been in Great Yarmouth! I visited yet another botanical garden, this one offered many pretty flowers and an Aboriginal plant area. Another thing that made cairns great was that i met some awesome people and reunited with i think 14 on my last count of people i had met along the east coast.

During my time in Cairns i took a trip to Cape Tribulation. The drive there was stunning as we drove along the ocean and saw beach after beach. We were taken to the rainforest and taught about the plants and trees. I even licked an ants butt as it tastes of citrus and also gives you an electric shock. The aborigines used them dried in cooking or would crush and snort them as a decongestant!

Stayed in Cape Trib for a couple of nights. Did some more rainforest and beach walks. Her you can admire the rare sight of two ecosystems coming together, the great barrier reef and the daintree rainforest. I also went on a sailing trip out to the barrier reef for the 2nd time to do some snorkling. It was absolutely wonderful...no wonder it is the 2nd on the list of things to do before you die. I'll do the first in New Zealand...a skydive! I saw a huge cod fish and turtle, both as big as my torso, if not bigger! The turtle let me stroke its shell and i got right up close and poped my head out of the water when it did, such a fantastic experience. There were so many types of colourful fish and coral, it was a huge underwater wonderland. I can't describe it so go on the net, write in great barrier reef and look at the fantastic sights i have seen....magical!

After 2 nights in Cape trib staying in a hut in the middle of a rainforest (yes it did rain!) I was picked up and did the rest of my tour. Went to mossman gorge, a fresh water lake and waterfalls. Did take a bit of a fall on the rocks and my camera suffered a dip but all was well. Had fun crossing the rope bridge and shaking it freaked out a few people.

I then spent a couple of nights on the way back in Port Douglas, a sleepy little holiday town with a great atomosphere to relax in. Not much to do here apart from stroll along the long parade of shops and soak up the rays on the beautiful beach and swim in the calm sea. Claire (a girl i met on the trip) and I got asked to take out Body boards to see if we could entice others to hire them...with no waves it was like trying to sell snow to the eskimos (is that a saying??)! For a town that seemed dead at 9.30pm we managed to have a good night out and stay out till gone 3am!

Returned by bus to Cairns, I remained there for 3 more nights. I stayed on the esplanade so it was great for my last place in Oz to be staying by the sea. I spent several days relaxing by the Lagoon and making the most of the few more days i had left in the sunshine.

Sad to be leaving Oz but onto another exciting country...New Zealand.

Only spent a couple of days here. This is one of the places that i had heard of the most before i started my travelling. I hate to say it but found it slightly disappointing. The beaches are nice but they are everywhere along the east coast. This place is full of skyrises and to be honest is no more than an 18-30's haven! This is the place to party. We decided we wanted some of the action so we paid $25 to go on the organised pub crawl with our hostel- surfers paradise backpacker resort. It really was like being back on your first holiday without your parents...hilarious fun watching all the kids get trashed on alcho pops!

Not much else to say about sufers paradise, just spent my time being a beach bum and soaking up the rays and took some pics of surf rescue huts and vehicles...what, it needed to be done! Have only seen one life guard in action with his red speedos...and that was to rescue two guys i was travelling with who had been taken away by a dangerous rip around the headland whilse surfing!!!

I have now been here nearly 3 weeks. I had penciled this long in but feel bad for settling somewhere for so long. Everyone raves about Sydney and although i have enjoyed my time here it is not somewhere that i don't want to leave. I think this may be because it is too similar to London. After living out of a backpack for so long, the culture of having to dress to impress and the suits crowd out after work on a friday night is all foreign to me.

Sydney is full of beautiful 'showy' people and i am unsure where i fit into this crowd. This is a city where if you appear even slightly inebriated you are thrown out and you can't get into many bars unless your toes are covered...apparently it is a health and safety issue of girls cuttting their feet on broken glass...when really it is that they are trying to ban thongs (sorry, flipflops!).

Ok, that was all a little negative. On the positive, Sydney is a beautiful city and by night, the views of the city are spectacular. I have seen it many times over; from darling harbour, on a ferry from the olympic village, on a ferry from Manly and from the harbour and Anzac bridges. The view of the sydney harbour bridge and the opera house all lit up is postcard perfection! It is also pretty special during the day when the sun is shining and the backdrop of blue skies. Be warned though, on a cloudy day, like when i first saw it, it was a little disappointing.

Sydney has been full of catching up with people i have met during my travels in Thailand. On my first day Kasey came and met me and we strolled in the rocks and had a drink in Cargo bar in Darling Harbour. It was amazing to be sitting in an uber trendy bar, sipping on wine looking out from the terrace seats we had onto one of the most famous harbours in the world. It is times like these that make you take a step back and apprecaite what an amzing thing you are getting to do.

I have also caught up with Luke. Due to a house move and uni law degree exams it has been a stressful time for him which has made meeting difficult. He was kind enough to drive me around some of the great beaches in north sydney around his old home in Bellview hills and new one in Veuclouse. I got to see Watsons Bay, Camp Cove and a few others i can't remeber the name of.

My last traveller to catch up with is Tim who gave me an insightful tour from a landscape architecture point of view of the city, circular quay and the botanic gardens on a beautiful sunny day.

I have also caught up with Lucy, Kelly and Emily, the girls i travelled SE Asia with which has been cool. Several other people i met in Adelaide and Melbourne have also passed through Sydney including Tom, Meriam, Oxford and Alex. The most unusual meeting was with my friend from home...Mr Tom Doyle. I was walking down the street on the phone right by my hostel and this familiar voice said 'Tina'. Was great to catch up but unfortunately both of us had plans that evening and he was flying to NZ the next day.

OK, so back to what i did in Sydney. I checked out the nightlife in the cities red light district of Kings cross on more than one occassion and i also stayed in the area. It is an extremely vibrant part of town that i thoroughly enjoyed staying in. The nightlife was cool and many locals have nights here. In the city i also checekd out a couple of bars which all were reminders of London life.

There is so much i could blab on about Sydney...it is safe to say that i did all of the touristy things, the botanic gardens, harbour bridge, opera house, maritime museum, observatory,Art Gallery of NSW, checked out the beautiful rocks area and went to the blue mountains (unfortunately it was more like the grey mountains when i went and to add to the misery the tour guide dropped my camera and cracked the screen!).

I ensured i kept my tan topped up by visiting Manley, Bondi and Coogee beaches. I did the famous Bondi-Coogee walk on several occassions and saw the guy who lives in a cave. Bondi is quite pretentious with everyone checking each other out and for that very reason i much prefered Coogee even though the waves took me out!

Right at the end of my time in Sydney, Luke and I got to catch up with Dan & Phil, two English guys who were travelling with Luke who i also got to know. Was extremely strange to be reunited in Oz. WE had a hardcore night out of a smoothie in a cafe in Bondi!

So overall, i'd give Sydney a 7 out of 10. I will return one day..with some money to burn, eating in all the amazing restaurants and to sip on decent wine in the many trendy bars.

Now again, if i heard the question...'why go to Canberra?' from both Aussies and other backpackers once, i heard it a million times. Ok so maybe they were right in that there isn't too much to see but none the less I am glad that i went.

I was lucky and extremely greatful that i was put up by a friend that i made whilst in Cambodia. Dan picked me up from the bus station when i arrived at 7am and became my source of knowledge and local history lecturer for the next couple of days.

We had breakfast by the Lake Burley Griffen, so named after the guy that designed the city. After a quick shower and dropping my stuff off, Dan took me to Belconnen Interchange where i jumped on a bus to the National War memorial museum. This certainly, as i had been told, a must see. When i arrived i was asked to join a tour group which was great as the guide took us around both the memorial sights and the museum educating us along the way. After a few hours here i then got another bus to the city, then another to the National museum of Australia. Canberra is made up of satelitte cities so it doesn't make it the easiest of places to get around, hindered by the fact there are only buses as means of public transport! Hard to believe that a place developed so recently did not incorporate a tram, tube or train system!

The Australian Musuem was one of the best I have seen yet. First off i got to sit in a rotating theatre with moving screen in each of the 4 sections. I watched films on Australian culture and what it means to be Australian. Not to be missed in this museum is Phar Laps heart...for those of you that don't know he is a famous Australian racehorse that had an extraordinarily large heart. Also there was a whole wall of australian lingo and the meanings of the words - some quite amusing.

Due to staying with a local, over the course of the two days, Dan drove me around civic (the city) so i managed to see both old and new Parliment buildings, the memorials lit up at night along Anzac parade, the clock tower given to Canberra as a present from the UK (aren't we nice!). If you want a place to party the locals will be the first to tell you that the nightlife in Canberra is not all that, this gave me the perfect excuse while i had a proper kitchen, to make the biggest amount of sausgae and mash for two people that you have ever seen. Dan should have never let me loose in the kitchen while he went to football training! Whilst on the subject of football, this covers two types...aussie rules and the NFL which is like our rugby league. Dan is a massive enthusiast and plays both.

As well as Dan, myself and the girls met his friend Ozzie. Dan and I went over to his bachlor pad one evening where we had a few beers on the balcony. I was surprised to see a picture of us all including me up on the wall...strange now to be in people you meet travelling, homes. They took me to their local watering hole, The lighthouse for a few schooners.

Dan kindly drove me to Botanay bay, Sydney where I stayed with his parents for a night as his sister was expecting her 2nd child on St Patricks day so he wanted to be around if she went into labour. The baby was a little overdue and finally arrived on the following tuesday, mum and baby both doing well. Going back to the football note...i didn't realise how much some Australian Families love their football but it is taken really seriously and a big part of their lives, it was on TV the entire time i was there. Their home was right on the sea front and the area had a lovely quaint English feel to it. That may have just been due to the fact that it was spitting with rain and due to the mist the sea frount could have been Blackpool!

A massive thank you has to go to both Dan and his parents who took care of me so well in both Canberra and Sydney. I had a lovely time and the meals were all awsome...no fear of me starving just yet! I had a really enjoyable time playing with Bella, Dan's niece and it was great just to be in a family surrounding for a day! Dan and his father drove me to mates place in Kings cross on Sunday morning... my home in Sydney for however long.

After spending the last 5 days in a camper van and 3 nights sleeping in it, it is great to have a place to stay. My hostel of choice is The Nunnery. As it suggests by the name it used to be a Nunnery and so is an old style building with great character. The stairway is grand with huge mirrors and paintings in the stairwells. The hallway is quarry tiles and antique furniture, the doors are heavy, the only thing modern about the place is a key card entry system..not to mention the cool nun motif splashed about everywhere including our key cards!

This place certainly had its fair share of characters and crazy people. To name but a few I met some of the long stayers, Eva (NZ), Dave (Ireland), Sarah (Perth), Dane (NZ), Josh (UK), jared (Canada) and Sean (UK). I also met so many other people who like me were only sticking around for a few days. Straight away, Laura and I met a Dutch girl names Meriam who was so much fun to hang around with. On one of our first days we also met two guys from England called Dom and Tom, we checked out Victoria Market which is well known for its cheap fresh food produce and a huge array of clothing. We found a funky hat stall which was loads of fun, the hilariaty being greatly improved by the fact Tom sports a very large beard and has long hair...thus resulting in him often being mistaken as either Jesus or John Lennon!

The five of us hung out for a couple of days, cooking meals together and seeing places like the Botanical Gardens, Foundation Square and other city sights such as Flinders station. It is easy to get around the city as there is a free tourist bus and a fantastic tram system. I am amzed at the trust of the public transport system companies or honesty of Australian citizens as in both Adelaide and Melbourne you buy your tickets on the trams and they are never checked...everyone still buys them though!

I hate to admit to this but the sad fact is that my highlight of Melbourne was visiting the neighbours set! A friend of Dom and Tom had made in Mexico was a local guy called Nick. He offered to take us to Vermount, the suburb in which Pin Oak court is located..aka, Ramsey St. Now this was cool enough but when he turns up in a convertable mark 1 golf that is literally falling apart and the smell of petrol is so great that if anyone decide dto light a cigarette near us it would have probably blown up, it made the trip oh so much more enjoyable.

Now i did warn the others how excited i was going to get but nothing could have prepared them for the overactive child that i became when i found myself in the surreal situation of standing in the middle of Ramsey St. I couldn't help but to have a picture taken of me outside every house and a few more to boot! I chatted to the security guard that ensures people don't wander onto the properties as obviously people live in these houses and are paid a tidy sum to allow filming two times a week and let their house number change, have their car removed from the drive and a number of other continuity issues inflicted upon them.

While in Melbourne i did check out some other city attractions, the Melbourne Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Animation and Moving arts museum being the most notable. Also a few scenic spots of Carlton and Fitzroy gardens that are located across the city were great to chill out in.

Dom and I spent an afternoon at the beach resort of Melbourne, St Kilda. Here is the famous Lunar park, an old skool fairground where the entrance is a large clowns mouth...actually quite terrifying! The beach wasn't that amazing and the wind chill factor didn't make it the best to laze on for that long.We kept ourselves entertained by doing gymnastics, break dancing and body popping (well me attempting anyway!). We took a stroll down the popular and swanky Alders Street. This is every tea drinkers and cake eaters heaven...we couldn't help enduldge and blew our daily budget on the lovliest cakes we could lay our hands on. This street is filled with beautiful people, even the joggers were stunning.

While in Melbourne the Moomba festival was on. This is a 4 day event based around the river. Watched the bird man competition which is always good for a laugh wherever in the world you are. Took a carefree stroll along the river, taking in the fairground atmosphere and all the free entertainment that was put on.

Much of my socialising while in Melbourne was spent in the hostel drinking the notorious goon. Now for those of you that don't know what that is and i am unsure whether i ave explained this in my blog before, is a very cheap alternative to wine. Now no one is really sure what is in this stuff but i think it is fair to say that grapes are not high up on the ingredients list. I have drunk from a box of goon that states that it contains, milk, fish, eggs and nuts. Whatever is in it, it is sure to take you from sober to stupid goon drunk in a matter of around 30 minutes and you can be sure you will have the worst hangover for most part of the next day which gives you plenty of time to try and piece together what antics you got up to the night before! When i did make it out of the hostel, Melbourne had a pretty good nightlife. The nunnery was located in the trendy Fitzroy area which is very popular to go out in. Bars to mention are Bimbo delux, a trendy night club and the Night Kat, where I danced to a 12 piece jazz/salsa band one night. There were several other bars and pubs along Brunswick and Smith st that we checked out too. The scene is quite similar to Camden...a place where every fashion and trend has a place. I also had a cheeky red wine in a very English pub called the Elephant & Wheelbarrow in the city after a hard day lazing in the Botanical Gardens, drinking with the suits who had just left work...the poor souls!

The only thing on the backpacker to do list that i didn't manage to tick box was to go to the Neighbours night in St Kilda to hang out with toadie and lynn and listen to Karl Kennedys band! Something tells me that i didn't miss out on too much!