Survived the overnight to Airlie Beach. I found out that the boat that I was meant to be going on was cancelled as there wasn't enough people on it. I was a little concerned as I had heard a few stories of some of the boats just being booze cruises full of people that weren't too interested about sailing so I tried to voice these concerns. As it turned out it couldn't have been better. There were 14 of us on an ex Americas cup racing yacht. We had a couple of nights on the boat and pretty much three full [View Full Entry]

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After a temporary seperation, we met up again in Alice Springs, which was a bit bizarre. Loads of chat to catch up with!!! We were collected from our rather shabby hostel at 6 the next morning (we had got up too early because of the strange half hour time differance that exists in the middle of Australia) and we were loaded onto a mini bus with about 20 other people. Including a couple from Edinburgh, Amanda and James and a Candian girl called Brooke. There was a trainee guide going out at the same time as us, so we were actually [View Full Entry]

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As soon as we had checked into our hostel, we went out exploring where we were and as we were only a block away from Queen Victoria Market we had to go shopping. Chrissie got a very good deal on a very nice jacket... In the afternoon we went to the Melbourne Gaol (my second jail in as many weeks) which is quite an eerie place. There is only one wing left and they have filled the cells with loads of information about the former tenants and very creepily with the death masks of the men and women who were hung [View Full Entry]

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Chrissie and I flew to Adelaide and picked up a hire car and started our mini road trip. We drove to Mount Gambier, stopping off In Kingston SE to see the giant lobster and then in Robe to see the lighthouse. We checked into the Jail for the night, which had been a working prison until 1995 and has now been turned into a backpackers - it could use a bit of a lick and polish and it would be really groovy. We were off again early the next day pushing onto Port MacDonnell were the Southern Sea was pounding the [View Full Entry]

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After saying fond farewells to Linda and family and to New Zealand, I flew over to Sydney and checked into an airport hotel - as Chrissie was arriving early the next morning and it wold be a bit easier. I had heard from Ian who was arriving in Sydney on the same day and in return for the use of the Wellington hotel room, he kipped for free in the Holiday Inn. We decided to go into town for the evening and asked for directions to the train station, neither of us listened as each assumed that the other did, so [View Full Entry]

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Had a few stops on the way up to Fraser Island courtesy of my trusty Greyhound Bus Pass. I decided to see if I could catch some waves in Newcastle. However, the dude in the hostel that was going to teach me to surf felt that it was just a little too strong for a first timer and after a good walk along the front I was glad as I don't think I would have made it out of the water alive - leave those waves for the professionals!! Instead I made the most of some beautiful weather and went for [View Full Entry]

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As Gill headed off for the start of her Australian adventures, I caught the bus north. I was going to catch up with some of the guys we had met earlier in our New Zealand travels, Laura and Danny, Rob, Pat and some friends of theirs. The bus journey to Kaitaia took about 6 hours out of Auckland, we were booked into Endless Summer, a fantastic big house which overlooks the beach. The boys had already been in the water in wetsuits, as they are all soft Essex boys. The van that we had hired for the week was akin to [View Full Entry]

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Successfully arrived in Sydney after leaving Sara behind in Auckland. We decided that we both wanted to do and see a few different things so it was better to separate and do our own thing for a few weeks before meeting up again in Alice Springs. My first challenge in Sydney was negotiating getting to the hostel and despite questionning a shuttle bus several times I was still conned!! I had opted to stay at a large hostel in Sydney close to the train bus station. It was a great base as it was so close to everything. Depsite every Ozzie [View Full Entry]

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Had an interesting start to our last day on the South Island - Sara had managed to book the ferry the wrong way round. The girl at the ferry terminal asked us if we realised that we were in Picton and not Wellington - WE ARE NOT THAT BLONDE!! We knew where we were but we just had made a clerical error. Apparently this mistake happens regularly and was easily rectified (of course this is NZ - they fix everything for you here!!). It was a crossing from hell. High winds meant that the ferry was bashing up and down on [View Full Entry]

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The family split into two vehicles and we headed off in convoy to Nugget Point in the Caitlins to the seal colony. There was a lovely lighthouse there, however the seals were more difficult to spot with the naked eye. We borrowed binoculars and we watched them basking in the morning sun. Leaving Uncle Ian behind (he had a date with some deer sperm!!) we moved on to the Otago Peninsula staying in McFarmers Backpackers in Portobello (nto quite the same as the Edinburgh version, Janette and Gareth!!). As there was no-one around when we arrived but there was a key [View Full Entry]

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