OZ update

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Hi!

It's been a while since I updated this, so here's a quick-ish update of all that I've been doing with myself in Australia.

After leaving the beautiful west coast I flew to Alice Springs and went on a 3 day tour to Uluru (Ayers Rock). The 1st day of this we went around the Kata Tjuta rocks which were amazing (huge rocks on an amazingly flat desert - from the plane uluru and these looked spectacular). That evening we went to watch the sunset over uluru. This sounded lovely and the postcard views of it are stunning, but when we were there we could hardly see the rock for fog. The rain then started, and didn't stop. Instead of camping in swags in the outback we had to huddle under a shelter in a campsite, was stil lots of fun though! The next morning we got up in time for sunrise. Again we didn't see the rock at all, but were assured it was there and in sunlight it does look amazing. Most of the group didn't bother with the base walk around the rock, but those of that did (and I did!) saw a very different side to uluru and desert life. Normally people are warned of severe heat and dehydration on this walk. We had the problem of major puddles, having to wade through pools of water, find our way through boggy paths and getting absolutley soaked! the rock was aamzing. there were waterfalls cascading off it, and it just made a huge rock look so impressive!! From here we were meant to go to Kings Canyon, except they had been shut off and were being evacuated due to the huge rainfall. Instead we went back to Alice springs, stayed the night there and then spent the 3rd day exploring the Western Macdonald mountain range. On my final day there I visited a flying doctors base which was loads of fun - was just like on TV!

From there I flew to Cairns to meet up with Jenny - it was lovely seeing a friendly face again! We went snorkelling and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef (a total highlight of our trip), lay by the lagoona, and shopped. We started our OZ Experience buses from here, meeting some great people along the way (3 guys and a girl that we stayed with for 2 weeks). From Cairns we bused it down to Magnetic Island. This was a really nice drive, stopping at a crodile farm along the ay (saw some massive crocs), and was only slightly spoiled by the fear of a tsunami warning for the area (this was the 1st warning the E.coast has ever had). In magnetic Island we mainly lay at the pool/beach, and hired a barbie car for the day (once i put photo's up you'll see that it really is a barbie car!). With the car we drove out to a koala sanctuary wehre we saw koalas in the wild, snakes, and even held one (so much heavier than they look, and not nearly as cuddley - apperntly they can be quite viscious!).

Our next stop was Airlie. From here we went on a Whitsundays sail (3days on a racing boat) which was just amazing. Having never been on a boat like it, it was a slightly unnevring experience when the boat is tipped at a huge angle, and with the feeling that if you let go you'd be straght in the sea! Once we were used to it though, it was loads of fun. there was loads of good snorkelling, the most amazing white beaches and some good sunbthing on top of the boat!

Our next main stop was Rainbow Beach. From here we went across to Fraser Island. The island is the world's largest sand island. a group of 11 of us took a 4x4 and drove around the island for 3 days - so much fun!! I had a quick turn at driving along the beach, it was extremely fun, but i think i'm suited to smaller cars more! Unfortunately I didn't see any dingoes whilst camping (we just camped along the beach), but we did visit 2 amazing lakes (both fresh water). Lake Mckenzie was amazingly clear and Lake Waddy had tea tree oil benefits in it, very good for our hair and skin.

From here we went onto Noosa - by far the classiest place we've visited! We didn't do a lot here, mainly lay on the beach and relaxed (hit the shops) and just had a lovely time. Next was Brisbane. People had told us not to bother with Brisbane as it's just another big city (Australia's 3rd largest) but we had a good time there - only had 24 hours there, but managed to take a boat ride, wander the streets and shop! (Jenny is an incredibly bad influence on my shopping!).

We are currently in Surfers Paradise which is a nice beachy town. Probably more suited to tourists than us backpackers, but has still ben nice. We spent yesterday on the beach (Jenny's tan is now far better than mine) and today we went on a Duck Tour (similar to the ones you can do in London). That was fun, except that we looked slightly out of place as we didn't have a small child with us!

Today we are getting the bus down to Byron Bay where we'll meet up with people we've met along the way (we've had about 3 days on our own) and then it's off to surf camp and onto Sydney!

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