12th August Saturday DAY 22 NGORONGORO CRATER to ARUSHA Another chilly 6am wake up, but driving to the crater with the thick fog and moss hanging off the trees gave it a very eerie feeling, and worth it. As we turned and headed to the rim of the crater I was so excited to be finally about to descent into this amazing ecosystem and there was a beam of sunlight piercing the crater ground. We opened the rooftops and headed in. We drove around for a while before seeing anything but Laurence gave us some great Crater info (some animals are [View Full Entry]

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9th August Wednesday DAY 19 NAIROBI to ARUSHA A great way to start the morning is being forced to have a cold shower when you have to also wash your hair. Brrrrr. Good news was that the radio on the truck was now fixed so the new group jammed along, passing into TANZANIA and had our lunch stop in Arusha where I pigged out on a massive macon, egg, beef, hash brown burger and chips. Tried to get more money again and got a photo in the centre of Africa, between Cape Town and Cairo! The name Tanzania comes from the [View Full Entry]

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6th August Sunday DAY 16 NAIROBI to MAASAI KENYAN BEER: Pilsner lager **½, White Cap **½ We got up early, left the tents and headed to town, meeting some of the new people at Hotel Boulevard and cramming into the matatu’s. There were some new people in the matatu that I shared with Robin and Bron. Heather and Nick (married Aussies), Cat (English) and Helen (English). There were great views as we headed down into the Rift Valley stopping at a huge souveneers shop with masses of wood carvings. Back on the road we started to pass Maasai warriors with their [View Full Entry]

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4th August Friday DAY 14 ELDORET to NAIROBI I didn’t sleep so well as my rash was really itchy and it has gotten worse. I have put on antiseptic cream but it didn’t do anything and now I think my ankle is swollen. We stopped for lunch overlooking the Rift Valley, seeing flamingos in the distance. There was a guy who had a chameleon on his hand and I went to get a photo of it on my hand but he wanted to charge me for it, so I said no and handed it back. It reminded me of the Gibbons [View Full Entry]

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31st July Monday DAY 10 NKURINGO to LAKE BUNYONYI Left Nkuringo around 9am to head back down the winding mountainous bumpy road. We saw the crested crane in some paddocks, the national bird of Uganda. Once back with the truck Chobe I washed all the dishes that we took with us and cleaned out all the food crates. Cat and I then went for a refreshing swim in the lake, which was cold and it was hard not to scream as our feet touched the slimy lake floor. We had a little bitch about the lazy people of the tour, then [View Full Entry]

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28th July Friday DAY 7 LAKE BUNYONYI to NKURINGO Up early again but as we were leaving our tents and the truck it was a quick morning to get ready. As soon as the Matatu mini vans arrived the girls jumped in one and the guys in the other. Some of the group went to Bwindi (2) and Rwanda (3) as that was how the permits worked out. The rest of us were headed to a different area of Bwindi and that was Nkuringo. We went into town first to grab snacks and water. The drive was through some beautiful mountainous [View Full Entry]

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24th July Monday DAY 3 KENYA, ELDORET - UGANDA, JINJA Had to get up for 6am to leave at 7am and it was hard. All I wanted was a quiet lie in for 5 minutes but Robin was making so much noise shuffling around in the tent with her sleeping bag and I ended up snapping at her. Today was our first border crossing day and all we had to do was give Helen our passports and $US30 and we were through. It did take a little time but we were plenty entertained with the locals, swapping magazines for bananas. I [View Full Entry]

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July 20th Thursday LONDON So after spending yesterday with Nicole, having a nice catch up over a few bevvies, and sleeping in her lounge room, we get up at a ridiculous hour and Nicole escorts me to the airport. My first time at Heathrow and it wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. I check my bags in (15.3kg) and I want sure why I wasn’t feeling excited. I mean I was, but it was like it hadn’t really hit me that I was leaving for Africa, a place I have been dreaming about since I was a kid. [View Full Entry]

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Tues 27th June - The bus to London wasn’t the most comfortable as the heater was pumping out next to me. Brett and I hung out at the bus stop while I waited for my bus to Manchester. The bus was only 8 pounds and I when arrived 4 ½ hours later it was so nice to see a familiar face - Jo. Jo’s mum Janet and sister Lyndsey were there also. Back and Jo and Jon’s I had the yummiest chicken sandwich ever and the best shower and went to bed. It took me a while to sleep as I [View Full Entry]

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26th June Monday AUSTRALIA Vs ITALY I slept in this morning and headed straight into town to grab some last minute things like postcards and gifts. I couldn’t find anything that I wanted and was pissed off. It was still a while till the match and people were everywhere. We went to the train station for our free transfer to pick up our actual tickets and waited in line. I was getting so excited!!! Once I got my ticket with my name on it I kissed it, and cheered. I then headed back to camp and got ready super quick. Clackers [View Full Entry]

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