After waking up at 2pm (whoopsies) and watching a bit of telly, we finally leave our room at 5pm - well we did write today off! We take wander down to Darling Harbour and after a good Macdonalds breakfast we continue our wandering. In theharbour we stumble across Diane's cousin, we were going to meet up with him later anyway (him and his girlfriend are here for a wedding) but we end up having a drink (or 2!) in the bar with them here (hair of the dog of course). For our last night we have arranged to meet both Kim [View Full Entry]

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Woo hoo it's new year and I'm in Sydney!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a bit of a lie in (we leave our plush hotel room at 1pm - whoopsies) we head out into town topick up our supplies. After speaking to numerous people and getting some advice from the Tourist information Centre, we discover that the best view points are controlled sites where you cannot take your own alcohol. As we will be camping out all day from as early as possible, this is not an option so we have decided to get a ferry over to the other side of the bridge where [View Full Entry]

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Today we are off to see the great Blue Mountains - basically a rainforest approx 2 hours just outside of Sydney. We hop on our tour bus at 7.40am - back to the early starts again - and our first stop is at a zoo called Featherdale wildlife park. Was good fun, just like any other park but this time we got to stroke a Koala Bear called Buttons, how cute! Back on the coach and then after approx 1 hour drive we arrived at the site of the famous Three Sisters - basically 3 massive rock formations coming out of [View Full Entry]

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Well after another rather interesting overnight journey on the good ole Greyhound we arrived in Sydney at 10.30am. Our first stop is to check out our - wait for it - 4* HOTEL!! - that we got for the bargain price of 65 pounds each for 4 nights - thanks Cheapbeds.com! The outside looks a bit dodgy (similar to the Swan and Railway hotel in Wigan, across from the train station) but we are relieved to find that inside it's all the posh and swankiness that we had hoped for! As we can't check into our room until 12.30pm we go [View Full Entry]

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Well, I did have a suprisingly great sleep until we were woken by people trying to get into the TV room (how rude, it's still our bedroom) but after packing our bags we headed out to see Byron in the day. We had a well deserved fry up at a funky cafe called 'Why not' (it came with spinach!) and then did the walk upto the Lighthouse - a good hour away but worth it as it's all along the beach. After a rest and a bit of a snooze of the beach we headed back to the hostel ready for [View Full Entry]

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Well, it just shows how big this country is when you cross time zones whilst driving on a coach! We set off from Rainbow after saying our goodbyes (so sad) and at 8.20pm we arrived at Byron Bay. When Diane rang and booked the hostel they told us they would collect us and take us to the hostel. However when we checked with the girl driving the hostel shuttle, they didn't seem to have our reservation! With it being Xmas everywhere was cramped so we ended up paying 25 dollars each to sleep on a matress on the TV room floor [View Full Entry]

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Well after a much comfy nights sleep and a breakie of toast and cereal (not as much sand this time) we packed up and headed for lake Mckenzie. We've been told we have to be back at the ferry docking for 1.45pm in the afternoon and apparently safe driving today because of the high tide is after 12.00 midday - not good when they estimate 1 1/2 driving time from Lake Mckenzie to the ferry! However we are ready for 10.00am and on first looks it seems we will not be able to drive on the beach yet as the tide [View Full Entry]

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Happy Christmas everybody! Well, after not the most comfy sleep I've ever had (the ground was a bit hard!) we all woke up and had scrambled eggs on fried bread for breakie - it was great! After washing our pots, pans and teeth (yep told ya, there's no toilet facilities unless you go inland to a little village and you can't camp there anyway) we packed up and headed to Indian Head at the very top of the island. Thankfully the weather was on our side and although it was a bit cloudy, it was warm and the rain had stopped [View Full Entry]

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Well, it was another early start of 7am for breakie then we all went to see our new home for the next 3 days - our 4 wheel drive jeeps! The guide gave us a talk on how to work the vehicles, what to do if you got bogged in the sand, how far you could push them (they are pretty tough machines!) and how to look out for a thing called a 'Wash Out' - where the fresh water from the island drains into the sea - have to be careful as they can seem like just a trickle of [View Full Entry]

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Well we actually got to have a lie in this morning - we were only being collected at 12.00 midday for our kayacking in the sea - we didn't know what to do with ourselves! The instructor picked us up and took us to the sea, was a bit cooler today but we we're all thankful that there was no rain. The instructor for the day was not the most enthusiastic to say the least and after about 20 minutes on the water (must say I think Kayacking is not mine and Di's strong point) and no dolphins in sight he [View Full Entry]

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