The Hunter Valley had finally taken its toll and at the discovery of yet more rain we decided to stay in bed and slept most of the day (until approx. 4pm!!) before waking to discover we had missed the free sizzling sausages and so had to settle for tuna jackets! (Becky has dropped a bombshell in saying that they have gone down in her estimations!) An early night was definately required as the sun is meant to be shining tomorrow so we'll be heading to Manly beach before enduring the overnight bus to Byron Bay............. read more

Day 33 was the one we had been looking forward to for a while...chocolate, cheese and wine tasting in the Hunter Valley!!! We joined the minibus at 7.45am and headed to our first stop....the Walkabout Wildlife Park! We had our first experiences of Australian wildlife and were walking around with kangaroos, stroking Koalas and holding yet more snakes which was very exciting!! Next stop was the chocolate factory where we sampled chilli chocolate (NOT nice) and then it was winery number 1! We were aiming for sophistication and succeeded until we decided to make our first purchase. Always looking for a bargain we didn't miss the clearance case of 12 bottles of wine for $45! Unfortunately however the wine did come at the expense of taste which was very definately not exquisite and so spritzers were ... read more

The sun was shining so we decided to head out to Sydney's famous Bondi Beach. The views did not disappoint, both natural and human (surfers and the famous lifeguards!!) And 3 hours were spent admiring them before Becky and Elin decided to venture into the sea. Unfortunately the waves were a little too exciting for them (Elin was struggling to keep her bikini on) and they drifted across to the surfing section and were told over the tannoy to move! oozing sophistication they moved along and continued to be bashed by the waves! Having enjoyed a whole afternoon of actual sunshine on a a beach (we thought this would never happen!) we returned to King's Cross and to our new hostel Great Aussie Backpackers to prepare for our first night out in Sydney! Having packed only ... read more

The overnight flight to Sydney was relatively painless, and after no sleep and a lot of film and TV watching we landed to yet MORE rain!! Passport control gave us our first taste of Australian men which didn't disapoint and after Camilla and Becky were stopped for carrying elephant diseases (their trainers had to be washed and scrubbed!) we made it through to the shuttle bus and arrived at our first hostel. Having decided that walking around Sydney in the rain having had no sleep was not appealing we had a nap and awoke to sunshine!! The rest of the day was largely spent finding our way around but we liked what we saw!! ... read more

Amazingly the ferry to Phi Phi was running and feeling that we had already experienced the heaviest rain we had ever seen oh how we were to be proved wrong. Exiting the ferry in Phi Phi was the equivalent of jumping into the ocean, especially for Becky wo had since misplaced both her poncho and rucksack cover, and so binliners were adapted haphazardly to little effect!! The rain did stop and the sun immediately started shining, however the streets of Phi Phi were like mini rivers as we were lead to Bamboo Mountain View....after trundling through sewage, up steep slopes and through 'danger landslide signs' we arrived at the stunning hotel. We stayed at Bamboo Mountain for approx. 15 minutes before deciding that even this was almightily below our already low backpacking standards. The Bamboo hut ... read more