Adelaide is the state capital of South Australia, situated on the south coast, about a 2 hr flight away from Melbourne. Not many travellers will actually visit this city as there isn't a huge number of attractions, thus we just made a short visit. The town itself has, the now familiar, mix of Victorian style buildings and modern architecture, but has a lot fewer high rise buildings than Sydney and Melbourne. We had a walk around the CBD (and shopping centre) and along North Parade, where most of the historical buildings are sited. We also walked to the other side of [View Full Entry]

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After three weeks in the tropics and four weeks travelling along the stunning Queensland coastline I was quite sad when we flew out of Cairns!..... But I knew that more adventures awaited...next stop Ayers Rock! Uluru (Ayers Rock) is about a 5 hr drive from Alice Springs, and with no other settlements in the area a purpose built resort (not so originally named, Ayers Rock Resort) has been created. It was here that we stayed for the last few days. The surrounding countryside is desert plains with bright orange and red soil and, perhaps surprisingly, quite a lot of vegetation. The [View Full Entry]

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Well, from Bungalow Bay we took a bus to a ferry, a ferry to a cab, a cab to the train and a train to Cairns! We didn't actually stay in Cairns for very long as the next day we headed to Port Douglas (a holiday town about an hours drive north of Cairns). Port Douglas is very small...we didn't do a lot there. There is a very good beach, four miles long and fringed with palm trees! Unfortunately though the weather turned overcast so we didn't spend much time on the beach and we didn't go out to the reef [View Full Entry]

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So after the excitement of last week I think we managed to follow up quite well! We've spent the last few days on Magnetic Island, just off the coast from Townsville. The island is of a reasonable size and is constructed from granite rocks which look like lots of big boulders stacked together. There are lots of pretty beaches and coves, and vast Eucalyptus forests abundant with wildlife! We stayed in the Bungalow Bay hostel where the dorms are little wooden chalets and there is an onsite koala sanctuary. There were lots of wild birds including parakeets (one of which landed [View Full Entry]

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So after surviving the mammoth train journey we finally arrived at Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsundays as they say. We arrived really early and the hostel reception was closed so we decided to go to the only place open.... McDonalds (yes there's no escaping it even on the other side of the world!... but at least this one had a McCafe which has decent coffee). After we'd woken up a bit with the hot drinks we headed to the beach to watch the sunrise. Sunrise and sunsets here are gorgeous - the colours are so intense as they change [View Full Entry]

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Well, our last couple of days in Sydney weren't too taxing.... We checked out a couple of bars in the evenings (complete with some Australian lager which actually wasn't too bad!), visited a local market and revisited the Botanical Gardens to see some bits that we missed (and soak up some of the fabulous sunshine). We also went back to the Opera House to get a better look around as the huge crowds of pilgrims prevented us from getting so close the first time around. From what we could see of the inside its far less impressive than the outside, which [View Full Entry]

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Wow! Sydney is great!!! (Though very busy with all the World Youth Day Catholic pilgrims around!) We will have spent longer here than anywhere else so far, so there's quite a lot to talk about...... I think I'll mostly let the pics do the talking and give you a whirlwind description so you don't get too bored reading my ramblings! We've explored most of the central city regions inclluding the CBD, Circular Quay and Darling Harbour. Like Melbourne, there is a mix of old buildings and newer high rise ones, which makes for good viewing :) . There are also lots [View Full Entry]

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Canberra is cold!!! (As in it was sleeting just a little on Friday!) Walking around this capital it also seems really surreal as there are hardly any people! Even the main shopping centre wasn't very busy and on Saturday most of the stores were only open for half the day! The city itself isn't as nice as Melbourne but does have a huge lake in the centre and is surrounded by pretty tree covered hills. On Friday we visited the National Museum of Australia. It was free to get in and Em and I both really enjoyed it. (Yes I know [View Full Entry]

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Wow, so here I am again...everything's going so quickly!...... We've just spent a couple of days in Melbourne staying with Emily's cousin's wife, Kate. She is lovely and has been really looking after us! On Tuesday we decided (perhaps not very wisely considering the weather) to go to the Healseville animal sanctuary. It was raining almost all day and, as we found out afterwards, it was actually the coldest day of the year so far for Melbourne! But it was still a really good day! The sanctuary specialises in Australian wildlife so we saw lots of animals that we probably wouldn't [View Full Entry]

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After arriving in Melbourne Saturday morning we were pretty tired, especially after conquering the marathon that is the Australian customs system! We were met by one of Emily's relatives and by afternoon were on a train from Melbourne to Port Fairy to stay with Emily's cousin and his family. Port Fairy is a small (only about 2000 residents) coastal town about 3 hours west of Melbourne. Emily's cousin and family own a second hand book shop which is at the font of their fantastic house (!) and have 2 children, Finn and Ferris, aged 3 and 1 yrs (they were very [View Full Entry]

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