http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ehayward1981/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ehayward1981 en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:36:45 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:36:45 +0000 We were delayed a bit flying into Melbourne but got a taxi ok headed to Sophie's Aunty's house in Toorak a suburb of Melbourne where she was house sitting whilst they were on holiday. We went for a walk did a bit of food shopping then got ready went to meet Sophie some of her friends in Federation Square. We spent the night in a bar called Transport had some dinner there before goin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-213242.html When I got to the airport at 8.15pm Andy's flight had landed early I thought he would still be going through Customs as it took Claire I forever when we arrived. I could not believe it when I walked into the Arrivals Hall he was already sat there waiting I felt really bad he had even brought me some perfume It was really nice but also strange to see him. We went back to our apartment had http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Bondi-Beach/blog-213237.html When we got our stuff off the bus we had some breakfast in a cafe waited for a bit as we couldn't check into Claire Michael's apartment in Bondi until 1pm it was cold raining a world away from the clear blue skies of Byron We got the train the bus to the apartment complex checked in their apartment we walked into Bondi did some food shopping and had a walk to the beach in the afte http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-195845.html We arrived in Byron Bay late Tuesday morning headed to the Arts Factory where Rich told us to go stay it must have been ok for him to spend eight weeks there We got the shuttle bus there checked in we got the bus back into Byron as the Arts Factory was a little walk away from town. Claire had to get a few things sorted for Michael's arrival so I had a walk around the shops then went http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-192246.html We arrived in Brisbane just before lunchtime on Sunday got collect from the bus station by a mini bus to take us to Palace Backpackers where we were staying. We couldn't check in so we put our stuff in storage headed into the City for some shopping a look around. We had planned to go to Air New Zealand to change our flights but it wasn't open so we thought we could did it on Monday. Claire h http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-191207.html We arrived in Noosa on Thursday at 3.30pm checked into the YHA there. James Claire I headed to an internet cafe for an hour or so before going to a meet greet in the hostel where you got a free glass of wine travellers will do anything for free booze We then went to the supermarket cooked tea which was it for Thursday we weren't supposed to drink in the YHA but we sneaked our case o http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-191204.html We got the bus from 1770 to Hervey Bay at 6.30am on Sunday arrived just before midday. We checked in the hostel went for about but there wasn't a lot to do the weather was rubbish so we caught up on some sleep wrote in our journals had some food.On Monday we got up really early had our briefing about Fraser Island got put into three groups for each 4x4 van there was 23 of us in total http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-182523.html We got collected by Uncle Tan's at 12.45pm taken to the base in Gum Gum about a ten minutes drive from Sepilok. We had lunch there filled in our registration forms read up about our stay in the jungle got the chance to go to the supermarket to get some snacks much needed insect repellant. We recognised a guy there who also came said he recognised us it turns out we were room mates wit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/blog-146742.html The overnight bus to Town 1770 wasn't too bad I think because it had been such a long day hanging around that we were shattered managed to get some sleep. It was quite a relaxed atmosphere at 1770 named after the year Captain James Cook discovered it not as commercial as Airlie or Cairns which was a refreshing change. On Friday we had a lazy day we did a tour that the hostel provided fr http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/1770/blog-182521.html The bus rolled into Airlie Beach at 3.30pm we found our hostel which we had got two nights at free as part of our package with the Whitsunday's Fraser Island trip. We were in the smallest of rooms with three bunk beds James Claire I had to go on the top of each bunk. We went for a drink in a Mexican bar during happy that was goodbye to the detox. On the way home we got a Subway a box http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Airlie-Beach/blog-182520.html We got the first ferry to Magnetic Island at 6.10am on Wednesday morning when we got there we had to sit wait until 8.30am to sort out accommodation for the buses to start running. We got the bus up to the north of the island to Horseshoe Bay stayed in a place called Bungalow Bay with lots of little wooden huts attached to a Koala Sanctuary. When we arrived we had to wait for the hut to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Magnetic-Island/blog-182183.html In the evening Claire I sat on the balcony of the hostel made friends with a lovely Irish couple. We went into our room made friends with our six other room mates 2 Korean guys Veronica a snorer from Ireland Ross from Bury he went to the same school as Claire Odid from Israel James from London. We all had such a laugh Claire I managed to get drunk entertain everyone I thi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-179931.html Monday 14th May 1036kms a record number of kilometres in one day from Daly Waters to Mount Isla crossing the Queensland border making the time difference between us the UK 9 hours. As you can imagine when we got to Mount Isla we were exhausted so went got some cheese Biscuits wine for a nice treat. We may have overdone it a bit on the wine in the evening but I think it was needed a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-179450.html Thursday 10th May 803.3kms We lost 1.5 hours by driving over a line in the road I don't think I had ever done that until entering the Northern Territory where speed limits increase along with bush fires. We drove through the remaining part of Western Australia stopping the night at Victoria River we'd stopped for various photo opportunities during the day when we stopped for the nigh http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/blog-170134.html Sunday 29th April 414kms We set off North it wasn't long before it started raining we had planned to drive to Geraldton but noticed that The Pinnacles were in the area so took a detour to see them a National Park which is made up of thousands of limestone pillars resembling termite mounds some as tall as five metres some only centimetres tall. It had been raining on off all day wh http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/blog-157611.html When the plane landed in Perth it seemed to take forever to get through Immigrations customs when we walked through the doors I thought I'd cry but I didn't but was really happy to see Mom Dad Uncle John Nikki. It was about 1am I think by the time we got through it may have even been about 2am we headed back to John Nikki's in two cars had some wine to celebrate. Mom Claire I stay http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-152509.html Sunday we got up walked to the bus station to get the bus to the airport got our flight to Miri we got a bus into Miri checked into a place listed in the Lonely Planet it wasn't very nice but still we had air con a TV We went out for dinner everywhere was closed we managed to find a shopping mall where we grabbed some food in the supermarket headed home to watch TV. On Monday a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Miri/blog-152507.html We landed in Kuching about 10.30am by the time we had got our bags got the bus into town walked to the hostel it was just before midday. We had a shower then had a sleep as spending the night in the airport never gets you a good night sleep but works out more cost efficient. We ended up sleeping till about 3.30pm a combination of the heat tiredness had made us sleep for a good three ho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Kuching/blog-148489.html The dive shop we had arranged our dives with had booked us into the Dragon Inn which the Lonely Planet said was a cheap basic place that was a floating village we thought this sounded good were fine with it. When we checked in we got chatting to an Irish guy in our dorm called Tom who warned us about the rats that patrol the premises. We removed the food from our bags locked them with our p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Semporna/blog-148488.html We got a public bus from the bus stop a couple of streets away from the hostel in KK to the north bus terminal got a bigger bus from there at 9.30am to Sepilok arriving at Sepilok Junction at 3.30pm. We got a minibus down the road to where we were staying Sepilok Jungle Resort. It was set in the middle of the jungle in a beautiful location surrounded by endless amounts of trees some lakes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sepilok-Orang-Utan-Sanctuary/blog-146722.html