I cannot believe it has been two whole months since I updated the grand old travel blog, but a significant amount of time was spent without reliable internet not from lack of love for writing about it all. Darwin was hot and sweaty and I enjoyed it immensely. You can smoke in pubs, airports and for all I know... child care centres. *laughs* A very shallow reason to love a place maybe, but as a smoker it is the last bastion of Australia where I can kill myself slowly whilst having a good time! I was touristy and flashy but that [View Full Entry]

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Well, it has been a while hasn't it? The last post was somewhat prophetic in hindsight. The good news is; fate did get back to me. I wasn't expecting him/her/it too but they did. Now this may sound like an psuedo new age thing to say but with all manner of defence I can say that it is true. Mount Magnet really sucked. Sorry for the lack of interesting vocabulary, but 'sucked' is really the only word for it. I did not respond well to being a subservient female. *laughs* Not that I would expect to, but I did think that [View Full Entry]

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Dear Fate, I have often wondered whether you exist. Are you karma, an energy directly relating to human action/reaction or are you more a God-controlled plan? If the former, then I guess the confessional booth is my next destination because my past sins have clearly caught up with me. My apologies. If the latter, God, I am really not amused. I hope there is a reason I am in Mount Magnet. The idea of being here having learnt nothing except how to deal with idiots does not leave me with much hope. I have been dealing with idiots for many years [View Full Entry]

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I would like to begin today's entry with a disclaimer: It is raining, I have a hangover, I have had my phone stolen and I just stayed three painful days in the backpacker equivalent of Auschwitz. I have the worst case of "pissedoff-itis" you can have without a small blood clot forming in your brain and killing you instantly. So be warned, you read on at your own risk. Hmmm...where was I? Oh yes, Kalgoorlie. The only upsides to that town were a giant open-cut mine and a super enthusiastic Japanese girl called Maki. We wandered aimlessly through town discussing Japan [View Full Entry]

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A small piece of advice; cruise ships are not fun. Reading the last entry, I remember hoping that the boat would be really excitingly cheesy but sadly it wasn't. It just moved from side to side for ten hours until I got off. The only exciting person I met was an eighteen year old English backpacker who regaled in great detail how many drugs he had in his posssesion and was attempting to smuggle into Melbourne. I avoided eye contact for the rest of the trip just in case he was being monitored. After a rather scary Tiger Airlines flight to [View Full Entry]

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Tasmania, aye? Now before this blog becomes a haven for state-based sterotypes, let me first assume we have all been to Tasmania and judged it on its merits and positive atributes. If not, you may wish to visit here as I highly recommend it. Just do it in SUMMER. Although travelling in the off peak season has many perks (less crowds; cheaper fares; better deals), some of the logic behind 'peak' seasons is that the weather is tolerable and not inclined to kill you. This is not the case of Tasmania. How do you say COLD with enough emphasis!? So, I [View Full Entry]

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So, it has been three weeks since I last entered the blogosphere... (Oh yeah, got to love those 'buzz' words!) Melbourne...Two hours there and I was in love. Small. Cosy. Arty. A bit dirty - everything you want in a lover really. I never wanted to get into this silly "Melbourne vs. Sydney" debate as both cities have plus and minus points. For you Sydneysiders, a small piece of advice - stop whingeing about public transport. From the 10 or so trains I caught in Melbourne, two were COMPLETELY CANCELLED - resulting in an HOUR of waiting, six were delayed - [View Full Entry]

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It certainly has been an interesting few weeks since I left Candelo, but definately not plain sailing. I have to say in the last week I have been very tempted to pack up and go home but pride and determination has won the day. After arriving in Lakes Entrance from Candelo at 3am, I found myself at the YHA with no duty manager to meet me (as planned). This lead to a morning on the beach in my tent and a rather pissed off conversation to said duty manager the next morning. A free nights accomodation and breakfast was thrown in [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have thirteen minutes and twenty seconds to try and update you all on my trip so here goes. Heading to Bemboka, I stayed with an artist/poet named Robert who was simply fabulous. After 'clicking' instantly, we spent the next week talking, talking, talking and then talking some more. His collection of art books was enough to make drool spill forth from my mouth in regular spurts of art book joy. Although I could have stayed forever (I have set myself a weekly limit at each stop) I headed down the road to Candelo. It could have just been the [View Full Entry]

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Well, the Yurt Farm could not have been a more wonderful place to start my decent down south. Mike, the one eyed owner and Yurt builder/entrepreneur was an amazingly friendly man who had travelled to America in the seventies and had been given the plans to build Yurts as a gift and started building them in Australia. His farm was a camp for young people to learn about the country way of life and in his words "switch the television off", littered with signs like 'work is fun', 'be your best' and other super-optimistic reminders. I was staying with a couple [View Full Entry]

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