Got up and had a quick run down through the Royal Botanic Gardens - to try and get rid of some of the chub we have put on lately from the good food! It was hard work as we have not been out for a while - but as allways good to do some exercise. Spent a couple of hours on the campsite, chatting to another couple and trying to get ourselves sorted out. We have booked ourselves onto a riding trek tomorrow morning which will make a good change. Finally got round to heading out around lunchtime. First stop was [View Full Entry]

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Got up fairly early to get packed for a 6:45 shuttle to the airport. Made it in good time as the Sydney traffic was not too bad at that time. Had a good check in and just managed to be at the front of the worst of the queues. Spent a few hours wandering around the airport before boarding the plane. The journey was only 3 1/2 hours and we ended up going through another couple of timezones so did not end up landing until 2:30 pm. No TV on this flight - Air NZ could learn a lot from Singapore [View Full Entry]

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Up, packed and set off back to the City - hurrah we are going to be warm again! Stopped off at the internet cafe just in case Pauls Sunnies had been left in there, but they were nowhere to be seen - so probably were on the train. Will check out with the lost property in Sydney Central when we get back - but are not holding out much hope of being reunited with them. Spent the journey back just doing some planning for the next stage of the journey on the South Island NZ - real exciting to be off [View Full Entry]

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Catching the train from Sydney to Katoomba today, so packed up all our stuff and made our way via the Metro to Sydney Central Station. Passed a couple of late night revelers sleeping it off, propped up against a wall under a "No Stopping" sign - would have made a fab photo, but we were too loaded up to get the camera out! Main line services are great and again all the trains are double deckers so there was plenty of room. The journey out to the mountains was only 2hrs so we arrived about lunchtime and managed to find the [View Full Entry]

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Woke up around lunchtime feeling a bit more human and with it again. Both fancied a bit of a treat so we headed down the road to 'Delectica' - a cafe recommended in the Lonely Planet, which serves breakfast until 3pm. The food was excellent and it was great to be cooked for and not have to worry. After a good feed we headed into town and got the metro to the Town Hall to get a good look around Darling Harbour. Metro is really well done with clear instructions and double decker trains - it's really easy to get around. [View Full Entry]

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Up fairly early again to pack up and get ready to get back to Perth. Caught out a little as we needed to wait for the office to open to get our key deposit back. Finally set off about 8:30 and went back up the coast to Bussleton. The lady in the Bunbury YHA said we should visit the "jetty", there which with her accent took about 1/2 dozen goes to understand! The Jetty is about 2km long and stretches all the way out into the bay. It was really windy when we arrived and was a very refreshing walk out [View Full Entry]

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After a nights sleep we left the caravan site bright and early about 6:45am. We have been told you can see the dolphins on the beach at Bunbury and its best to see then early so planned to arrive at 8am when the "Dolphin Discovery Centre" opens. Arrived about 7:30 and just chilled for a while until the centre opened. Rushed in with the other customers at first doors only to realise that the dolphins are of course wild animals and turn up to their own schedule! We settled down on the beach grabbed a couple of drinks, wrapped up to [View Full Entry]

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Said our goodbyes and headed off on the road over to the coast. Our first stop is Lancelin, a small coastal town famous for the Ocean Classic a windsurfing event which takes place in January. Both really impressed by the town, its only a small seaside town, but its really friendly and chilled out. Unfortunately the storm last night has played hell with the wind direction and the wind is now off shore. Warner, the local surf hire dude was not keen to rent out some kit as he was worried Paul might trash it on the reef (is his reputation [View Full Entry]

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Did not take too long to make it through Perth airport, but we did get a shock when the sniffer dog jumped on us as we were queueing up to get our stuff scanned (they scan the luggage on the way into the country as well as on the way out). Not sure what he smelt on us - probably Bex's dirty socks - but nothing happened in the end so it must have been a false alarm. Met up with Maria and Steve (Maria is living in Oz now and is Beckies friend from school / back home), picked up [View Full Entry]

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Finally managed to get a little sleep, but only with the help of earplugs - and even then it was really noisy! By 6:30am we had decided that enough was enough and had to get up and go. We had the free breakfast, used the fairly dirty shower (note in it saying please clean after you pee in it as it really smells - not a nice place!). We managed to find a new hotel in the Gaylang district which is only 2 GBP more per night (thank heavens for the internet!). The hostel did not seem surprised when we checked [View Full Entry]

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