The last 3 weeks!!!!

Hey everyone!!! Firstly i've got to apologise for being so rubbish with updating my blog but as you'll see, I've been super busy!!! Secondly I have to apologise for this entry being so long due to the fact that I have to update you on 3 weeks!!!

Ok where did I leave off? I think it was the second to last Wednesday of Zanzibar! Thursday was my last day at the hospital so I said goodbye to everyone there and in the afternoon we went back to Kizmakaze to try to see dolphins again...some of the other guys wanted to go and as I enjoyed the boat trip so much the first time I didn't mind paying another tenner to do it again! This time we were lucky enough to see humpback dolphins and bottlenose dolphins although they were quite far away. It still made the trip worthwhile.

Friday was a lazy day on the beach in preparation for Friday night which might well have been the craziest night out I've ever been on! We went to the local bar for a couple of drinks and Tor and I were feeling pretty tired so we were debating going home. The others persuaded us to go out though and we had a couple of Konyage and Red Bulls which sorted us out! We then went on to the local club that we went to the week before except we went to the downstairs part this time....it was absolutely packed and a great atmosphere and we danced in there til 5am....good times!!!

On Saturday we went on another sunset dhow to celebrate one of the nurses - Cheryl's birthday. It was a nice afternoon and we managed to see some more bottlenosed dolphins!!! We then came back and had a bbq at the house. I wasn't feeling very well so I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 10am Sunday feeling even worse!!!! I spent the rest of Sunday feeling sorry for myself but I did go out with everyone for dinner to the Indian again.

Monday is when the adventures started! We (Tor, Maryia, Sam and myself) got up at 5.30 and got a taxi to the harbour to get a boat over to the mainland at 6am! This took 2 hours and we got to Dar at about 8am. We then took a taxi to the bus station and when we arrived there our car was surrounded by about 25 men banging on the window trying to sell us bus tickets...it was actually quite scary but luckily the taxi driver helped us out. We told him what bus we wanted to take and he got the driver of the bus to sit in the passenger seat of the taxi so we could negotiate a price of tickets with him. The bus set off at 10am to Arusha and we travelled for 4 hours without a stop...eventually we got so desperate for the toilet that we asked the bus driver to stop...luckily the planned stop was a couple of minutes away so we all ran off to squat over the hole in the floor (there was no complaining about the hygiene of the toilets!) We learnt our lesson and didn't drink much for the rest of the journey which took another 5 hours!!!

We were picked up at the bus station in Arusha by the guy who would be doing our safari and he took us to the work the world house in Arusha. We had some dinner and went straight to bed because we were all exhausted.

We were picked up the next day at 8am by our safari guide and after stopping by the office we made our way to Tarangerie national park. Tarangerie isn't one of the most popular parks in Tanzania so it was really nice to drive around and not see many other cars. I'm not going to describe my whole day but we saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, impala, waterbucks, baboons, monkeys and one amazing cheetah (see photo!!!) It was an amazing day and seeing the cheetah just topped it off!

In the evening we went to our campsite and had a shower while the guys put up our tents. We had these massive tents with campbeds and mattresses so it wasn't really like camping lol! Had a really nice dinner and the best night sleep EVER!!!

We got up the next day at 6.30 to leave for 8 for Ngorogoro crater. It was raining all morning and the drive up into the crater was miserable. We were a bit gutted because Ngorogoro is one of the best places to see Lions but they'd seek shelter if it was raining. Anyway when we went down into the crater we went below the clouds and it was beautiful! The crater itself is amazing...the story goes that it was an active volcano but it collapsed inwards on itself creating the crater. We saw all of the same things as the previous day but also Buffalo, Rhino and some awesome lions that were on the side of the road literally close enough to touch!!! It was another brilliant day but we were exhausted by the time we got back to camp and went to bed at about 9pm!!!

The third day was Lake Manyara. We got up at about the same time and drove the 10 mins it took to get to the gate. Lake Manyara was awesome to see hippos and we also saw some tree climbing lions. Tree climbing lions are the same as regular lions but because Lake Manyara is so damp underfoot, they spend most of their time in trees! I really wanted to see a leopard because that was the only one of the big 5 (Lion, Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, and Leopard) we hadn't seen. Unfortunately we weren't luck enough but it gives me a reason to go on safari again!!!

We stayed at the work the world house that night and then flew back to Zanzibar on the Friday (because one horrible bus trip was enough for us!) Friday night we had a bbq and one of Tor's friends, Charlie came over so we picked her up from the airport and went out with her and the rest of the group in the evening. It was a really sad night because Sarah, Mariya and Sam were all leaving the next day so it was like a farewell night out!

Saturday morning was spent recovering on the beach and saying bye to the girls....the house was really quiet without them so I was really glad we'd decided to go down to Jambiani for a couple of nights with Tor's friend Charlie otherwise don't think we would have enjoyed our last few days there.

Jambiani was just like Paje...beautiful white sand, crystal clear water and we had a pool at the hotel so when the tide was out we could cool off in the pool instead! We spent the next couple of days just relaxing and trying to get the best tan we could lol!

We came back to Stone Town on Monday and did some souvenir shopping. We had a nice meal at Mercurys and watched the sun go down then stayed with Charlie in Stone Town because she had to get a flight at 6am the following morning. Tuesday was spent packing. It wasn't that nice of a day so I didn't mind too much then Wednesday I flew over to Dar es Salaam! I went to the airport earlier with Tor as she was flying an hour before me. They let me check into my flight early though then got me on an earlier flight so I ended up leaving before her! I stayed the night in Dar then got a taxi at 4am co I could catch my flight at 6.30am to Joburg! I then had 11 hours to wait in the airport to get my flight to LHR so I decided to pay to go into one of the lounges where I had a bit of a nap and took advantage of the free food and alcohol!!! I was super tired when I got on my flight to London and slept most of the way...I even declined dinner because I was so tired!!! I got into Heathrow the next morning and caught a flight to Manchester from there.

I'm not going to go into details about stuff I did at home so I'll skip a week and go onto last Friday when I flew back down to Joburg! Got a night flight and arrived on Saturday morning. Daniela picked me up from the airport and we went back to her lovely house where I took a shower and changed out of my traveling clothes! We then got some supplies together and drove 3 hours to Pilanesburg National Park. We had to persuade a guy camping next to us to feel sorry for us and help us put the tent up because if we hadn't, we would have been there til midnight!!! We then went on a night drive in the park. It wasn't as good as in Tanzania but we did manage to see a Rhino pretty close...still no leopards though!!!

The following day we spent the morning driving round the park (In Pilanesburg you can take your own car in which is really good) then we drove back to Joburg. There was just enough time for me to take a shower before I had to catch my plane to Sydney. It was really nice to see Daniela and catch up though so it was definitely worth stopping off there!

I slept a lot of the flight to Sydney as well because I had 4 seats to myself so I could lay out in the middle! I didn't even watch any of the movies on offer! I arrived there at about 2pm and was picked up from the airport by Lewis (one of the Oz Intro staff) and Jess who was doing Oz Intro with me too. As we both arrived late, we couldn't go jetboating on Sydney harbour so we made ourselves comfortable in the pub and had a couple of pints! We met up with the rest of the group at dinner then had a bit of a mini party in the evening...because of the time difference we ended up going to bed at about 11pm even though it seemed like 4am. I was then awake from 2-5am...damn jet-lag!!! On Tuesday we went to Sydney so everyone could sort out bank accounts and work stuff because most of the people are staying for 6 months to a year. We then went to the aquarium (which is just like any other aquarium so nothing special!) In the evening we went to a place called The Gaff...We had a pretty mental night and I came home rather intoxicated with a cat face drawn in eye liner on my face! Good times!!! What wasn't good times was getting up at 8am to go surfing the next day!!! Luckily I didn't feel too bad but still everything was an effort! It took about 2 hours to reach the beaches north of Sydney. They weren't really a patch on Zanzibar bue still beautiful in their own right. Surfing was awesome fun even though I absolutely suck at it! I was freezing after though and the cold showers didn't help! We had a bbq at the beach then went back to Sydney. We were all exhausted and asleep by about 9pm!!! Thursday we went to Taranga Zoo...I'm not going to lie, it wasn't a patch on safari AND they didn't have any leopards...so I'm still looking!!! After walking around all day we were all pretty tired again so we just chilled again that evening and had an early night.

I think yesterday (Friday) was my favourite day since we've been in Aus...we went to the Blue Mountains and it was STUNNING! We left early and went in to try to see some kangaroos in the wild (as they're nocturnal you have to go in the morning). We were lucky enough to see a male and a female with a joey in her pouch! We then got some breakfast and drove to a place with amazing views. We did a circular walk for about 3 hours then drove to a different area of the park. We did another walk down 1000 steps to see the 3 sisters rock formation. Luckily they used to do coal mining in the area so we were able to get the train used to transport the coal back up!!!

That brings me on to today! I've spent the last 2 hours writing this thing so I'm going to get off the computer now and go into town...we're going to Paddy's market because we're going out in ravers gear tonight so I have to get some UV paint and leg warmers! I'll post the photos on my next blog!

I'll be really sad to leave Aus because I do love the place...I don't regret making the decision to come home though and I'll be back for good in 4 weeks!!!!

Hope everyone is ok...don't forget to keep me updated with your news!

Miss you all

Lots of love

Jane xxx

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