Hi everyone - after a long period away from the blog I am back in action! I had a fantastic Christmas and New Year with Mum and Dad visiting Sydney, Melbourne and hot hot Ayers Rock, and was sad to part ways as they left for home in January while I continued my adventures to New Zealand. Fresh from the airport, I met Kate and Laura - friends I met back in Malaysia in September. They had done all the hard work in finding an apartment for us to stay in the centre of Auckland, so all I had to do [View Full Entry]

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After breakfast on Saturday morning we walked to the Joffre lookout point to see the view from the top of where we walked yesterday. Straight into bus (no packing away needed) to drive to Knox Gorge - a fairly long way away but I put my mp3 player on for some good tunes! The gorge wasn't too difficult a walk but fairly long and winding over stepping stones across the river - we got to the end where a big fallen tree had landed in between the rocks. Carol noticed that with a bit of decoration (the 'Danger No Entry' tape) [View Full Entry]

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Photos are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13481&l=37127&id=510918332 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13483&l=aa4e5&id=510918332 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13484&l=c0bf9&id=510918332 Perth Zoo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13485&l=932b2&id=510918332 Barrier Reef! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13594&l=9169c&id=510918332 Up not-so-bright and early for the start of the next part of the tour! Couldn't believe how many people were joining us - 21 in total felt like a lot after our little group of 13. Paddy was our next tour guide taking over from Ian - seemed like the most laidback guy after Ian the taskmaster! The bus felt like a downgrade compared to Ian as it was smaller, but I was lucky as I got to stretch out on the back seat for the morning. Spent [View Full Entry]

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I was so tempted to sleep in the hammock outside the room on Sunday night like Carol - would have been a good idea because the room was SO HOT! Had actually broken into a sweat by the time I clambered up into the top bunk whilst trying not to wake Dirk up who was underneath (a ladder would have helped!). Didn't sleep so well and we were up chatting until late so I had a bit of a lie-in (i.e. not getting up at dawn!) and Carol, Chell and I walked down to Cable Beach mid morning. The beach was [View Full Entry]

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The next morning I sat up in the front of the truck with Ian and made sure we had some good tunes! We went to Windjana Gorge first thing which was just next to our camp. Couldn't believe that we were standing over what was once a big reef, thousands of years ago. We spotted a few fossils in the rocks and walked down to the riverbank where there was a handful of crocs (what's the name for a group of crocodiles? A snapper of crocs?!) and went round the corner to pose for pictures with a freshie just a metre [View Full Entry]

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After our unexpected bog experience it was lovely to have a bit of a lie-in. In complete contrast to the mud-splattered states we were in the day before, we relaxed round the pool in the morning while Ian went to rescue the bus which had been stood in the mud overnight. We all cheered when he finally came back avec bus! Set off again in the afternoon after thanking the Parry Creek people for their help, stopping at the Five River Lookout at Wyndham. It was quite interesting to see where the rivers join (with help from the map) but wasn't [View Full Entry]

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Tossed and turned in my sleeping bag in the early hours then woke up properly around 4.30am to realise why I was restless - we could hear what sounded like rain but was in fact a huge wind storm directly overhead - really strange. It felt and sounded like it was just about to pour it down with rain, like the storms in Malaysia - but no rain came! I unzipped our tent just as Elizabeth's tent cover whipped off her tent and flew into ours! Maaike came past looking for her clothes which she'd hung out her tent to dry [View Full Entry]

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Up even earlier today (5.50am) to be in time for a slightly more hectic breakfast than what we'd been used to with Jim. Makes sense to be up quickly to make the most of the day but we were almost treading on eggshells with Ian to make sure we packed everything away properly! My tentmate Chelley had lent me her earplugs for her slight snoring problem(!) - I woke up only being able to find one of the earplugs so was joking that it had got lodged in my brain somehow... until I found it under the pillow. After a thorough [View Full Entry]

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More photos here... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12463&l=a5708&id=510918332 Here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12463&l=a5708&id=510918332 And here! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12466&l=2b568&id=510918332 -E After our disturbed night's sleep, we struggled awake at half 6 when the sun came up (I'll get used to these early mornings eventually) and set off for Hidden Valley - named for its great viewpoint from the top where you could see the mountains for miles around. Nice early morning walk, although quite hot again at 8am. Jane the daredevil was the first to climb up the highest rock; I found the easier route round the other side which was almost a proper path! Took some good pictures and [View Full Entry]

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Very comfortable night's sleep in our swag bags - although we kept close together in case there were any wandering snakes or spiders! Was woken by squawking cockatoos around 6am! What a wakeup call! Was weird waking up and looking left and right to see the surrounding trees! Cornflakes and vegemite on toast for brekkie before packing up our things and heading to Joe Creek in Gregory National Park. Had a 1.7km walk up and around the rocky red mountains to see Aboriginal drawings on the rocks. It was already hot by 8am! Really gorgeous scenery - not like anything I'd [View Full Entry]

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