Backpacking

It's been such an amazing month full of incredible sights and experiences as well as a LOT of driving. It'd be impossible to write down everything I've seen and done so I'll keep it kinda short and sweet. A few of the highlights......

The Howard-Bush van - We rented a van from a company called Wicked who are cheap but also graffiti all their vans. One side had a picture of Bush, the other John Howard (bet most of you don't know who he is!!) and they all have a message on the back - we got of fairly lightly. It said "the world is being run by guys that have been wankers since they were 12" it meant we got a lot of comments!! We managed to find one more travel companion, a Dutch guy called Joe.

Litchfield and Katherine - 2 national parks fairly near Darwin - more amazing waterfalls, swimming holes (where Jen made the mistake of wearing goggles "to see the pretty fish", instead she saw a freshwater croc!) and gorges (or Georges according to Joe!) We canoed down 2 of the gorges at Katherine and when we got fed up all you had to do was jump in for a swim. The campsite at Katherine was full of wallabies who were incredibly tame and also extremely cheeky, we lost a whole bag of rice to one!

Karijina National Park - Had one of the most amazing views I have ever seen, over several gorges. You could also venture down into several of them and get through them by a mixture of swimming and scrambling over rocks, tons of fun!

Meeting a prince - or to be more precise HRH Prince Leonard of Hutt River Province. To cut a long story short this mad crazy farmer found a loophole in Aussie law where he could separate from Oz to become his own province. It has its own postal service, army, flag, national anthem and even immigration (I've got the stamps in my passport to prove it!!) He even declared war on Oz! He also has a thing for crystals, pyramids and quantum physics!

Becoming a real aussie sheila - I received an email when I was in Nannup (very close to Albany) from Aussie Pete who I knew from Dohaarrrrrrrrrr. He said he was back in Oz and if I was ever near Albany to stay for a few days with him and his parents, it's a mad crazy world!! So we did and had a fantastic 3 days 4 wheel driving to deserted beaches, learning to cast a rod, caught my first fish and filleted it, learned to shoot, went cockling, tried to catch a squid and ended up with a tentacle, had yummy BBQ, shot a lemon bazooka, learnt how to skin a kangaroo, saw half a cow delivered in a wheel barrow... the list goes on!! Off course all accompanied by a lot of Tooheys!!

Ningaloo Reef - I reckon this place is miles better than the Great Barrier Reef and completely deserted. You can snorkel straight of the beach and see turtles, stingray, big fish, small fish, colourful fish, scary fish and lots of coral!!

Monkey Mia - friendly dolphins that come in for a few fish and a gape at the tourists a couple of times a day. We also went on a sailing trip and saw my first hammerhead shark (it's called shark bay for a reason!), loads of dugongs, dolphins and turtles.

Freemantle - our first traffic lights in 3 weeks aarrggghhhhhh!!! This must have been what shocked our van into breaking down. Thankfully it waited to do this when we were in a city and not in the middle of nowhere. I immediately knew it must be the brushes on the alternator and we needed to secure them back into place until we could replace it. Once I did this with my handy car repairer kit that I carry with me at all times we were on our way, hmmmmmmmmmm.... nothing at all to do with the friendly RAC man and his big yellow van. We swapped it with another van the next day. A bigger, better van with posh chairs, a TV and even a steering wheel cover oooohhhhhhhhh.
Freemantle is gorgeous and has lovely bars (that don't shut at 10pm) and less odd people per square metre than elsewhere in Western Oz. It has nice buildings and stuff too.
Joe decided to leave us here and get a job in Perth - I reckon he did well putting up with us as long as he did!!

Margaret River - yummy wine tasting, chocolate and cheese and more yummy wine. The area round here is pretty nice and fairly posh with a lot of old people (you'd love it Mum and Dad!!)

Getting our van stuck - ooopppsssssss, we got it kinda wedged in sand between 2 trees while looking for canoes. Luckily we only had to walk 4 miles to find some council workers who were painting sign posts white (no idea why!!) He first tried digging us out then gave up and towed us with his van. We ended up very hot and very very dusty but at least we got our van back.

Driving driving and more driving - it's quite a long way from Darwin to Perth, we covered about 9000km in the end when we include south of Perth as well. One game to keep us amused was spotting the pretty impressive roadkill! Massive roadtrains thundered by and there were times we only saw 2 cars a day.

Valley of the Giants - near Walpole in South Western Oz. Massive trees that have a 40m tree top walk around them. Up to 600 years old, bags of character. Jen managed to climb a 60m tree near here with no safety ropes maaadddd!

Now we’re in Perth staying with my Mum’s cousin. We’re being very well looked after and David even has his own observatory on the outskirts of Perth where we spent an evening looking at Nebulas, the moon and the international space station. The only other thing left to do is the famous ‘Sunday sesh’ on well… Sunday!!

I’m in Perth until Dec 5th when I fly to Sydney and spend a week with Bec’s (a lovely aussie girrrl I know from Dohaaarrrrr) parents 2 hours north. Then it’s back to Doharrrr for 2 weeks for Christmas. After that I fly back to Sydney for New Years and then probably back to Perth where I’ve applied for teaching jobs to get enough money for the NZ trip, probably around Easter time. My wee brother, Gordon may even join me! Got all that..!??!!!

Oh and I've finally got around to putting my piccies online, only the west coast ones mind. If you haven't received the email with the address on let me know..... xxxxx

I managed a couple of day trips in the hire car before I had to return it. The first was to Philip Island, about 2 hours from Melbourne. Loads of lovely cliff walks, koalas and when the sun set there was a penguin parade. The penguins are indigenous to Oz, the smallest in the world which the aussies have very imaginatively called Little Penguins! They return from hunting at sunset and 'parade' up the beach back to their homes. A very bizarre sight! The second day trip was to the Dandenong ranges, about 35km outside Melbourne where I walked 15km through rainforest.

I am now in Darwin which is a tiny town right in the north. Jen arrived the day after me and we have spent 3 days in Kakadu national park. There were only 6 of us on the tour with a 4WD and a guide. The tour started with a 'cruise' on the Adelaide river which has about 2000 saltwater crocs living in it. They get the crocs to jump by dangling lumps of buffalo above them, amazingly powerful animals. Very glad I was in a boat!

We then headed into the park and saw old old Aboriginal rock paintings and a looong walk to the top of a massive rock to get a view over the whole park. Absolutely stunning. We finished the first day of with a quick visit to a caravan park for a swim in their pool. Our camp site for both nights was in the middle of the park next to a billabong. We camped only 30 metres away from the edge that had very prominent warning signs about the crocs!

The aboriginal manager of the park turned up for dinner, Johnny, and took a couple of people for a ride on his quad bike. He also told us that 3 years previously a guide had taken his group night swimming in the same billabong and a german girl was killed by the crocs - a lovely thought to go to sleep with!!

The second day started with a walk through the wetlands, saw my first wild snake, a yellow tree snake. Then a clamber over boulders to get to a beautiful water hole tucked right away at the bottom of a gorge. We spent a couple of hours chilling out here, saw another snake, a brown snake, that was basking on the rocks. After leaving the water our guide, Steve, informed us that a few freshwater crocs live in the same water but they are much more placid than the salties hmmmmmm!!! Just glad I didn't see one!!

Another night camping and eating buffalo and kangaroo! We also had a couple of didgaridoos to play with.

The third day was definately the best. First stop was a series of pools at the top of another gorge. Full of underwater tunnels and natural spa pools. I took a Dad-style panic attack at the underwater tunnel and had to be lifted out the pool!! Then another swim in yet another stunning gorge full of freshwater crocs to a waterfall. The perfect end to an amazing tour.

The weather has heated up a LOT. It's about 40 every day and pretty humid. Our hostel has 3 pools though so we're coping! The wet season starts in about a week so apparently we've timed it perfectly for our west coast trip.

We're aiming to leave Darin in a couple of days once we've finalised our travelling buddies and how we're actually going to travel!

Unfortunately Tim, the family dog has gone to the big dog kennel in the sky. He got too old and sick so he had to be put down. Sad but definately for the best.

Unfortunately we didn't have long in Adelaide, about 17 hours and most of them were spent in an Irish bar!!

We hired a car in Adelaide to drive the great ocean road to Melbourne. I have no idea what type of car it is but it's big and red. The first stop was the Maclaren Valley just south of Adelaide as it has LOADS of vinyards. So we had to stop at a few and sample and buy. Gorgeous scenery, rolling hills and off course vinyards!!

We then drove round the peninsula, the scenery round this section reminded me a lot of some parts of the UK. We then pulled up at a backpackers to check in for the night only to find it didn't exist anymore and everywhere else was fully booked as it's the school holidays - ooopsssss!! Donuts was set on sleeping in the car but I managed to find a cabin in a random caravan park 2 hours down the road. So it had a happy ending!!

The next day was mainly driving with a couple of stops to stare at the beautiful scenery and walk around a bit. We spent the night in a strange town called Waranbool with some even stranger locals. Excellent for people watching though!!

The 3rd day definately had the most spectacular scenery, amazing rock formations, gorges and blowholes. Also the biggest road kill, huuuge kangaroos. We only managed a wee bird though.

We spent the night in a very cute hostel in Appollo bay. 3 of the other residents were from Edinburgh, the only scots I've met so far!!

The last day on the road we started with some koala spotting. We saw loads in the wild and even one awake. They're gorgeous cuddly animals. We then extended our wildlife skills to feeding parrots and a few ducks. The drive again was beautiful, right on the coast. The next cultural stop was the lighthouse from Going round the twist!! Didn't see the ghostie that lives in the toilet though! Then to finish the road trip we took a stunt flight in a Tiger moth plane over the coast. The cockpit was open so we got to wear the biggles helmets and jackets!! A fantastic end to the trip and my time with Donuts!! He's buggered of to Canada now!!

I'm in Melbourne now, staying in St Kildas with 2 girls I know from waaaayyyyy back in Juniper Green! Still got the car so planning a couple of day trips in the next few days. On Sat I fly to Darwin to start my west coast adventure!!

The last activity we did in Cairns was white water rafting on the Tully River. It was absolutely amazing, loved every minute of it, well almost. Apart from the rapid swimming which was actually very scary and for some reason, I still don't understand, I did twice!?!?

We then flew to Alice Springs which is pretty much in the middle of the country and extremely isolated. It's actually a lovely wee town, with a fair amount to see and is the home of the flying doctors. We didn't have a huge amount of time as the next morning we set of on our 3.5 day tour round the red centre. The drive is not all that interesting very flat,red, dusty landscapes with a few trees here and there. The first stop was King's Canyon where we did a long walk through gorgeous rock formations and a natural water hole.

The camping was actually fairly civilised, we had showers and electricity! We camped out under the stars in swags every night. They are basically massive, comfy sleeping bags. The sky was soooooo clear and the moon so bright you could read by it. Our group mainly consisted of Japanese and Koreans who took about a trillion billion (no exageration!) photos every day and they did the peace sign in every single one! They also built amazing camp fires.

The first night we watched the sunset over Ayers rock (now called by its aboriginal name, Uluru)which was pretty impressive. The second day we got up stupidly early to watch the sunrise over Uluru which wasn't all that impressive. We were told it changed colour but all that happened was it got lighter!! Then we walked round the Olgas, a group of head shaped rocks right next to Uluru. Some people find them more impressive than the big rock.
That afternoon was spent chilling by the pool, we had it tough!!

The next day was Uluru day,again we got up stupidly early to watch the sunrise. We then walked all the way round the base of it.It was too windy to climb and the locals prefer you don't climb it anyway. I was a lot more impressed by the rock than I thought I would be. It's got all sorts of bizarre craters and lines all over it. The aborigines have loads of cool dreaming stories about how they got there.

It's a fascinating place, full of mystery and spectacular scenery.

We then had a loooooong drive back to Alice Sprngs and spent a night gawping at the very strange locals and their 'unique' dancing styles.

Another ridiculously early start the next morning to catch the Groove Grape bus to Adelaide. We saw many cultural sights like Dinky the singing dingo and some camels. The lanscape is impressive, it's been in loads of filllms like the red planet and Mad Max. We stopped for the night in a bizarre opal mining town, Cooper Pedy. It is in the middle of nowhere and is pretty much entirely underground. The locals spend their Sundays making bombs for their mining the following week. I was glad to leave the place it gave me the creeps!!

After a 13 hour drive the next day in a bus with no air conditioning we arrived tired and very sweaty in Adelaide.

Another looooong journey with an absolutley raving bus driver. The scenery on the way up to Cairns is stunning; banana plantations and rainforests.

Cairns is not a particluarly beuatiful town but there is LOADS to do around here. There isn't a beach here but there is a massive lagoon. It was good to spend a couple of days chilling out as the last few weeks have been soooooo stressful!!?? One of the guys from Fraser Island and the Irish guys from the boat have followed us up here too. Everyone pretty much does the same route up the East coast.

I spent a day snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, amazing! Sooooo much to see and I'm pleased to say I found Nemo! We managed to fit in 2 different locations on the reef before having to head back. The colours and variety of fish and coral out there was waaaaaaaayyyyyyy better than I imagined.

Which brings me to the hippes........ I need to set the scene a wee bit: I met a girl in Cairns who went to the same uni and did the same course as me, a very small world. She is up in Cairns and we met up, her name is Jen. Jen has 2 german friends, Liza and Sybil and they are all very nice and a good laugh. They went up to a small village just north of Cairns, Kuranda, last week missed the last bus home so had to hitchike back. They were picked up by a lovely old lady called Eunice. Eunice met them a couple of times in Cairns for a bite to eat or for a coffee. She then invited them to a 'party' up in Kuranda. She has a spare flat with loads of room for them to stay. The 3 girls invited me along too.

We arrived in Kuranda yesterday afternoon, a cute wee, touristy village in the middle of the rainforest with some good markets. Eunice picked us up and took us back to her place which was really lovely. All we knew about the party was that it had an international theme.

Eunice picked us up at 6 and took us to 'Aurora' which is a series of properties in a huuuge area of land. We were based in the main hall which was beautifully set up with food from Indonesia, Japan, India, USA and Holland. Everyone was dressed up in national dress from one of the particular countries. There was a wide age range but mainly families and older people. We now start wondering who these people are and why they all live together. Although we weren't too concerned as there was loads of free, yummy food and off course wine!!

Everyone we chatted to seemed fairly normal until a red book was handed out. Half the people present stood up, round the piano, and proceeded to sing random hymns for half an hour. We start to get worried....!!

Thankfully there was no sermon or mad sacrificial ceremonies but there were, oddly enough, a candle dance, mini ninjas running around the place and a flute recital.

A very bizarre evening, I did manage to find out they're a community originally from Indonesia who then moved to Holland and then Australia for some bizarre reason. We did do quite well though, 1 bottle of wine, 1 bottle of Ouzo and plenty of takeaway food. We also denied their many invitations to stay and join their 'community'

After such an eventful evening what better way to spend the next day than at a fruit bat rescue centre. Very odd looking animals but kinda cute in a strange ugly way.

I'm now back in Cairns, probably going to spend a 'peaceful' evening with the Irish guys and Donuts when he gets back from his diving. Of to Cape Tribulation tomorrow to do some crocodile spotting, kayaking and zip lining through the rainforest.