Advertisement
Noosa - Brisbane - Surfers - Byron - Surf Camp - Melbourne - Sydney
Ok finally getting a chance to update the blog - we have been on the move so much and have just arrived back in real civilisation with proper internet connection so here it goes....
Noosa was fab, it is such a yummy mummy town though so we did a lot of walking around and looking at places we would go if we were not backpackers !! The weather took a bit of turn for the worse when we arrived in Noosa and it rained for days on end and started to get cold !! Next stop on our trip down the coast was Brisbane and we actually only stayed there for 24 hours !! Its a nice city but not a huge amount of stuff to do !!
The next day it was back on the Oz bus to Surfers Paradise. On route we stopped at Zorb land which basically looks like a big hill out of the Teletubbies! You get a lift up to the top of the hill and three of you crawl in to a big plastic bubble which is within
a larger plastic bubble. The guy then pours freezing cold water in on top of you and tells you to get on your knees before he pushes the bubble down the hill! The whole thing only lasts about 40 seconds but it is brilliant fun - although doing it with two boys was probably not the best idea as I was black and blue after it !! Once we had got the zorbing bug out of our systems it was on to Surfer's, which is like Vegas on an amazing surf beach!
After two days in the Aussie Vegas we were very glad to leave and get to Bryon Bay which was so lovely and definitely one of the nicest places we have been the East Coast. Bryon is quite small and really laid back with no sign of any golden arches or other fast food outlets! We enjoyed Bryon with a few mad nights in the infamous Cheeky Monkey's and days on the beach nearly killing ourselves on bodyboards ! We thought this was time well spent in preparation for Surf Camp .... well lets just say its a good job there are no photos of Surf Camp!!
When we arrived at Surf Camp we were all pretty confident that we would be able to give it a good attempt. This however didn't last long as Rhona and I could barely carry our boards down to the beach (they were very heavy!) After lots of practicing on the sand, pretending that their were waves coming behind us and looking like idiots on our big foam boards we took to the water to put our skills into practice.
All I can say is - IT IS SO HARD!! Luke did really well, standing up on multiple occasions. I on the other hand did manage to stand up twice and got really excited that I had conquered it only to discover that the instructor had basically held the back of my board and body surfed the whole way in holding my board steady until I stood up ! I was later told this therefore did not count as standing up !!
The next day we hopped back on the Oz bus (with lots of sore muscles from the day before) for our last and longest journey into Sydney! When we arrived into Sydney we literally turned a
corner and saw the whole harbour and bridge - it was the most amazing sight, definitely one we will never forget. The Sydney part of the story does however get paused here as the next morning we flew straight out of Sydney to Melbourne !!
Melbourne was lovely, it has a real European feel and is very easy to get around with free tourist trams and buses !! Being backpackers we loved all things free!! Wandered around the city being tourists the first day! On our second day we headed out on a tour of Philip Island and to the Penguin Parade. The tour involved a stop at a Vineyard, an animal sanctuary and of course the Penguin Parade !! This basically is exactly what it sounds like... at 5pm you arrive at the tip of Philip Island and walk down a boardwalk to the beach where there is a grandstand built. Hundreds of people sit there staring at the water and wait until it starts to get dark. Once it does all you can see is hundreds of little penguins (30cm tall) coming out of the water. They come out of the water and wait until there is
a big enough group of them before they start waddling up the beach and past you, into the dunes where they all live. The whole thing is so funny to watch because most of the time they come out of the water and then get scared and run back in at the last minute only to have to wait and do it all again! All of us crazy tourists must have sat there for over an hour watching these little penguins make their way home ! As you then walk up the boardwalk back up to the car park the penguins are still walking up beside you as they get to each of their homes - it was brilliant to see and the penguins were so cute! No sign of Happy Feet though!
The penguin parade was fantastic and there was really only one thing that could beat it - a tour to Ramsey St !! Yep the next morning we were picked up at 830am by the Neighbours tour bus for our 3 tour !! Needless to say Luke was really so excited about this and had been looking forward to it since we first landed in Australia.
First stop on the tour was to Erinsborough High - which is actually an English school now and what they do is take the sign out of the bus and hang it over the gate so you can stand in front of it !! Next it was to the studio to see some of the sets and then on to Ramsey Street itself. It is actually a residential street and the people who live in the houses have been there for 20 years or more, they just cant leave or pull up the their houses when filming is on and also have 24 hour security outside! Its also not actually called Ramsey St so again the sign was pulled out of the bus and we all posed with it ! All of this was very exciting but what was to come was the highlight of the trip !! We pulled in to St. Kilda to meet the one and only - Dr. Karl Kennedy! He was actually really nice and stood for lots of cringe worthy photos will all of us backpackers !! Think we will have to frame ours !
After three great days in Melbourne it was
time to get back to Sydney for our last few days in Australia.
No visit to Sydney would be complete without a trip to the Opera House and it really was amazing !! Unfortunately, our Sydney experience was however all in all very wet!! We were there for what was the most rain they have had consecutively in 15 years !! This made trips to Bondi and Manly pretty miserable !! We made the most of it though and had great fun wandering the city! Also managed to catch up with those missing PR girlies for a bottle of wine or two ! While in Sydney Luke turned the grand age of 26 and we celebrated this with great views of the city from the Sydney Tower - although eating dinner in a revolving restaurant does make you feel slightly ill !!
When our time in Sydney came to an end it was time to pack up the rucksacks and get our eco friendly hats on for our Tribewanted experience!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0536s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb