2 Weeks 1 Blog.. Oops?

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18-03-2017



Hi… Oops? It seems i’m getting a bit sloppy at posting daily, I did warn you that I would not be able to post every day however leaving it for a week was also not my intention. Let’s say I’ve been quite busy the last week, I’ve seen and done a lot. My memory is not the best thus I was going to write down everything on this blog but yeaaaa….

Let me get right into it, Note I won’t be able to post any pictures I don’t think as I’m limited to 100MB internet in this park, next time I get more W-Fi I’ll upload more pictures again. You’re just going to have to deal with my writing. If you do happen to read certain points and want to see pictures of it just send me a message and i’ll see if I have any to send your way.

So I’ll start off where I last ended. 15 Minutes away from Philip Island, for those that don’t know Philip island is well known for its penguin parade which for me was the reason to come over. I left around 11 in the morning and drove towards Philip Island, on the way towards the Nobbys centre I noticed multiple things to do a long the road which I had decided to do on the way back, I drove to the end of the island where the centre is and headed on to the boardwalks which were free.

From these board balks you have an amazing view on to the ocean and land in the background which I assume is Melbourne City. While walking on this boardwalk there were loads of birds flying around and landing near me, quite odd ones to be fair. At some point I noticed a lot of people just standing there pointing so I headed over there and they had found a penguin, poor little guy was under the boardwalk sheltering from the sun while everyone was taking pictures of him. Now I don’t know a lot about penguins but he was quite small and quite furry still so i’m thinking it was a baby one, could be completely off there though. I took a couple of pictures and moved on.

There a re a lot of little wooden shelters next to the board walk where you could see penguins sitting in them also hiding from the heat, these penguins were a bit further away so I did was not able to see them as well as the other little guy. I walked along the board walk more and there was blow hole, It’s where there is so much force of the water it makes a cave and when there is even more force of the water into the cave it makes a hole in the top and the water all spews out. The water was quite calm that day so It did not force massive amounts of water out but was still pretty to look at.

I headed back towards the centre where they had a little shop and some Antarctic walk. Probably some kind of museum it was all set up by WWF and thus all extremely animal friendly. I did not go in to the museum as it seemed quite pricy for the size of it. I grabbed my camper van and headed towards the penguin parade centre. When headed that direction I saw a backroad with the sign “Alternative route to penguin parade” which sounded interesting so I headed onto that. I was right in thinking it would be interesting it was a dirt like road headed through some nature park with a bunch of animals roaming around (Mostly birds). Once I arrived at the penguin parade (for those that want to know, the penguin parade is where hundreds of penguins go from the beach tot there house or the vice versa, they seem to always walk the same route so they made it in to like some arena)I realised the parade is either only with sun rise or sun set I did not want to wait for the sun set as I have chosen not to drive in the dark so the chance of killing animals is a lot smaller. I was happy to see one penguin up close and the others in there house so I headed away from the centre and went towards Cowes.



Once Arrived in Cowes I parked and roamed around the town. It’s a nice town right by the beach with a pier. I walked over the Pier for some great views walked through the small streets and roamed on the beach before headed out again. My next stop was going to the Grand Prix track on Philip Island where it seems they mainly have the motor cycle in this case they were just using carts and racing around it.



After a couple of hours staying on the Island and not wanting to stay until sun set I decided to start looking for a place to stay the night before It did get dark. I also wanted to head closer towards Sydney as I had to make sure I was there before a certain date to celebrate my friends birthday.

I drove from Philip Island to Lakes Entrance where I stayed the night at some holiday park, it must of not been as impressive as I had a hard time remembering it and can’t recall what it looks like or is called.



19-03-2017

The next day I woke up and headed more towards Sydney I was quite close already but wanted to reach it by either 20-03 or 21-03 as there was loads there I wanted to go look at.

I had planned to stay at some place called Moruya as a last stop which would allow me to arrive on the 20th. Before I took of I made sure to check out some stuff to do. The road was mainly through rain forests and over grown areas. I had an amazing time driving up and down the hills and the area there was amazing. On my App I saw some rain forest walk I wanted to do but was unsure exactly where it was as the location it was showing was very unclear.



While driving up the main high way I decided I wanted a break from driving and pulled over. And I have no idea how but some how I pulled over on the exact resting point where the rain forest walk is. It was a warm day.. I should say it was bloody hot. I headed over to the walk and put my Go Pro on my head. The walk is about a 1km walk so nice and short but still beautiful, it said there are some bridges and boardwalks so I was excited. I was walking along the path enjoying it very much, loads of birds singing and different plants to see, I headed over my first bridge and board walk and then it happened… probably the scariest thing that I have ever experienced. I was just casually walking there with my GoPro on my head and almost trod on a snake!



Literally 10 CM’s away from foot was a snake I honestly still have no idea what kind of snake it was it was brown or black so it could be the brown snake which is one of the more deadlier ones in Australia. When I almost trod on the snake it decided to suddenly move and make me run for my life. I ran about 10/15 metres before standing on a bridge where I felt safest (I filmed this all so It will end up on Youtube when I have a better connection). I stood on the Bridge for about 20 seconds just calming down.



I quickly finished my walk and think I saw a possum but I’m unsure however I drove away and continued my drive for another 100 Km’s before getting out again for another rest. I was getting lucky that day some how I stopped right where the border going in to New South Wales is. I made a picture of the sign ate an Apple and drove another couple of hours before arriving in Moruya.

Here I picked another Campsite to stay for the night. From here I was about 180 KM’s from Sydney which I knew I could easily achieve the next day and take it slowly.



20-03-2017

I had agreed with my friends to arrive at theirs between 17:00 and 18:00 as they had to work till 15:00 which still gave them time to get ready. I left the park at about 10:00. My first destination was pebbly beach which is known for wild kangaroos. I parked there and it seemed to be paid parking. I looked at the machine and it was 8 Dollars. I looked in my wallet and had 3 Dollars. Thought to myself I was not going to be there extremely long so I walked towards the beach. A man came up and I asked him if you were supposed to pay to park here to which he replied “well I tried putting in money and it did not accept it but the guy buy before me his money was accepted but he never got a ticket to put behind the window” He explained we’re all in the same boat so feeling a bit more confident as I was not the only one that has not paid I went to the beach.



I noticed like 3 people looking at some tree so I headed over there to see what they had found.

There was a HUGE lizard like creature it was like 1 metre long if not longer. I took loads of pictures of the creature and continued on the beach before seeing a group of people looking at kangaroos.

There they were my very first wild kangaroos. They were just chilling on the beach resting in some shade from the trees. I filmed them and my surroundings. I went back towards my camper and drove over amazing roads towards a city called Kiama which is famous for its Blowhole.
I parked here and headed towards to the blowhole stood there for about 10 minutes watching it go, a women came up to me and asked me if it was active because apparently normally it’s not active until the evening. Just after she said that the blowhole spewed quite high up and she was like well guess that answered my question. I walked over the cliffs for a little bit while looking at the fisherman which were crazy close to the water just fishing there. Every time a wave came up I was just looking at them wondering when they would be pulled in to the ocean but it seems they are quite experienced and knew exactly what they were doing.



I took some more pictures of Kiama town it self as the buildings were quite nice and seemed a bit older then most of what i’ve seen. From Kiama itself it was only a short drive to Sydney It seemed I still had some time left before I had to arrive so while driving up towards Sydney I was reading every sign for lookouts or other nice things. When getting close to the city of Wollongong I noticed signs regarding a Temple. I went to the Temple which looked beautiful from outside of the gate but it was closed… It was a Monday yet closed, seems to be with more things here as if the Monday is the new Sunday.



I checked my app and saw there were some botanical gardens in Wollongong as well so I headed there and strolled through there. I saw some really nice plants and a tree I have never heard of before. It reminded me of a mushroom but it was quite big. Basically it was wide at the bottom and then slim at the top. I stayed there for a bit before driving my way towards Sydney.



After a couple wrong turns and trying to figure out the city of Sydney I arrived at my friends. It was amazing to finally meet them. I’ve known Tashlyn since I was about 13/14 we met on Xbox and have got a long great ever since. I also knew her boyfriend (Rob), we met through Tashlyn and had talked in the past. I was happy to arrive in Sydney and have some company around me. We sat down talked a bit and had some food. This was the best food I had had in a while, when your food consists of porridge, noodles and toast having a real meal is amazing. We had some roast chicken with veggies. After we ate I decided to charge my laptop and finally watch the snake attack :P.

Well it seems my GoPro fell towards my face and filmed the fear on my face while I was running for my life. Some pretty good action and it seemed it was quite amusing for others. (Yes I forgot to upload it oops.)



Tashlyn and Rob have a Minecraft server they were playing on as I had not seen a game in like 3 weeks that sounded amazing. We played Minecraft with the 3 of us and 2 other friends of Tashlyn’s and Rob online. I had a shower in a non public shower and headed to bed. Tashlyn and Rob were kind enough to let me stay on there couch which turns in to a bed in there gaming room.



21-03-2017

After a good nights rest both Rob and Tashlyn had gone to work. They had shown me where to get food and how to lock the door. Today I was going to go to Bondi Beach. Tashlyn had borrowed me her Opal Card which is basically the equivalent to the Myki Card in Melbourne or OV Card in the Netherlands. I decided to go Lidcombe station by foot as it seemed not so far. It was about a 30 minute walk which no in theory is not so far but it was really hot that moment of the day and it’s almost continues up hill. Once I finally arrived at the station I hopped in the train towards Central and from there another train to Bondi Junction and from there I hopped in tot he bus towards Bondi Beach the one and only. I had always seen it on pictures and on TV and it really is that good, It’s a huge beach and amazing waves where people were surfing and learning to surf.



I sat there looking at the surfers for a while before walking towards the left side of the beach where supposedly there should be aboriginal drawings, unfortunately I could not find those but still had a nice walk over the cliffs before going back to the beach and making loads of pictures I went to the Bondi Beach skate park which is right next to it. I sat there and enjoyed watching them skate, it had many signs saying that it was an expert park so no way I was attempting to skate any of it. I sat there for like 30 minutes while a Korean man was attempting to communicate with me. It really surprises me how many asian people are in Australia and how many of them cannot speak English yet they are here on a working Holiday. He was friendly said he was 31 and supposed to be working here but is still looking for a job. I enjoyed his company before going to a Skate Store to see how much skateboards are here as i’ve seen some amazing parks I really wanted to skate. They were pricey so I went the beach and walked through the sea, unfortunately it was quite cloudy so the ocean itself was not as blue as usual but it was still hot. There is an hour coastal walk I decided to do which was beautiful it goes across all the beaches in that area with some good views. After completing the walk I took the buss back to Bondi Junction where it stopped in front of an Apple Store. It’s funny how every Apple Store around the world looks the exact same even have the exact same wood for the tables and everything. I headed towards a seven eleven where I got my own opal card so I wouldn’t use all of Tashlyn’s credit I took the train from Bondi Junction back to Central and from there to Lidcombe from there this time I decided to grab the bus back instead of walking another 30 minutes.



Once I arrived back Rob was already home so we watched some TV and just relaxed before Tashlyn came home. Once she was home we ordered Pizza and cheesy balls, we watched some tv together before gaming a little.



22-03-2017

Today was the today I saw loads of famous stuff.

We woke up early Tashlyn and Rob had gotten off from work and we decided to go to Sydney Harbour. We drove to to Lidcombe station and from here we we grabbed a train towards Sydney Harbour. We got off the train and as soon as we did we had a nice view towards Sydney Harbour Bridge and the famous Sydney Opera House. We walked towards the Opera House from there you also have a nice view towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I took loads of pictures of everything after walking around the opera house we walked through the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens. There were some beautiful Plants there from all over the world, I saw my very first Kookaburra which is beautiful famous bird. I saw loads of spiders which seemed deadly and more of those chicken duck creatures which I still don’t know the name off.



There were loads of people running in the park which I cannot understand why you would put yourself through that. It was hot and you could hear them all struggle. We walked over towards some McDonalds where we got some Ice Cold drink which by the way was amazing, it was like purple Fanta but some how it was ice but still had the sparkling ness to it.



After we finished the ice thing we headed towards ferries which you can get on just by using your opal card so its like a train or buss but now its boat that has multiple stops. We saw the next one to our destination was about 30/40 minutes away so we decided to head somewhere to get something to eat. We ate something and headed towards the ferry. We got on the ferry and made sure we sat on the correct side to see the opera house from the water. We passed the opera house from the water which gave a completely different perspective. We went underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge and saw Sydney Luna Park. After riding the ferry for about 20 minutes we got off.



From here we walked a little bit towards the Chinese Gardens of friendship. These Gardens were a symbol for the friendship between New South Wales and Some Chinese State. We were standing there before some women came up behind us saying the X:X Time tour was about to start. We had no idea that was about to start but we decided to go along with it as it gives u more information about the gardens then you could guess yourself. We got a 30ish minute guide from a women that explained why certain rocks were placed like they were and why certain plants were on one side while others were placed on the other side. It’s quite amazing to think how much work, effort and thought gets put into the placing of every plant or stone.



There was a bunch of wild life as well in the park, as it was a warm day there were loads of dragons just roaming around. It’s so crazy to think you are in the middle of Sydney and there are lizards, turtles and other animals just roaming around. After we roamed the gardens we headed towards China town in Sydney which is quite good. We walked towards the central station and from there grabbed the train to Lidcombe where we grabbed the car and drove back home.

Once we got home we gamed a little and relaxed.



23-03-2017

Today we decided to go to The Blue Mountains. An Iconic image just above Sydney which they call the blue mountains because there a blue glow over them caused by the trees. We headed off in the nice sun and once we arrived up in the mountains it seemed to become quite foggy.



Rob and myself were quite dressed for occasion wearing only shorts and a t-shirt while Tashlyn was smart enough to bring a hoodie. There we were in the cold and miserable weather. We walked over towards the 3 sisters the highlight of the Blue mountains and could hardly see them as it was quite misty. We had paid for an hour parking and decided to go for a walk along the cliffs of the mountain. Now this was not the most amazing view i’ve ever seen but it was a nice walk. Everything was quite wet so it was basically a game of find the dry spot to stand while walking down the path. There were some questionable people on the path as well singing away as if they had summoned the rain and were happy they succeeded.



We had a good laugh while strolling a long the path it quickly showed we were either going to need longer than an hour or we needed to go back. Because of the weather there was no way we could go as fast as normally. We kept on going hoping at some point the walk would lead us back towards the car park. We came to some cable car which goes over the blue mountains and at that point we decided to go look for a short cut. We successfully managed to get back to the car with about 5 minutes to spare, we went in to the centre where they had a little shop and aboriginals walking around in their original clothing and face paint.



After a short look around we went to the car and looked for another place to go for some good look outs. We went towards Mini HA HA Falls. And let’s be honest that is an amazing name for a waterfall. We drove over there, well after a few wrong turns we did. Once we arrived on the parking area we some guy sitting on a bench without shoes or socks and were just wondering what was up with that. We ate some bread we had made in the morning before headed towards the falls which was “only 900 Metres”. The walk there alone was an obstacle, first we had to cross some water which was not supposed to be there, it even had a sign saying that if that water was there not to go further. Yeah try saying that to some stubborn people, we crossed the water and complained our feet got wet (This is all recorded by the way will make some nice video of it and post it on youtube whenever I find the time and W-Fi). It was basically an even worse obstacle course than by the Blue Mountains, this was jumping and balancing on little logs across the water. About half way there we found other people, they sounded European but unsure where from exactly i’m thinking Germany or Italy however we asked them how much further to which they replied oh not far. Almost there. HAH, so we continued in our soggy shoes and socks through this path which was basically a river by itself.



After a steep climb down we arrived at some vantage point, from here we could see the waterfall which was quite spectacular. We decided to not go further down, we enjoyed the view and headed back to the car. It took us 40 minutes to get to the falls and about 15 to get back. We became Pro’s and just gave up a little we walked a lot faster as we knew what was to come.



Once arrived back at the car we took off our shoes and socks and looked where to get next. We were quite soaked so did not want to do anything to crazy. We headed towards another lookout point where we spent about 5 minutes. We walked on bear feet around the car park and to the lookout as we did not want to put our shoes back on as they were soaked. After we drove back home and enjoyed a nice thunder storm.

24-03-2017

Today was Tashlyn’s Birthday. We had quite a lazy day, we went to some shopping centre where we found a skate shop me complaining about wanting to skate the parks in Australia I got myself a cheap skateboard so I could enjoy the parks. After we roamed the shopping centre a bit we got something to eat and went towards a skatepark. Here I tested my skateboard for a little bit, I will say this: It seems every skatepark here is not catered for beginners or intermediate skaters but only for expert skaters, all the ramps are huge i’m yet to find one where they are a bit smaller so I can learn to drop in again after that went wrong a couple years ago haha.



We headed back home to relax and get ready for our evening out as we were going to some German restaurant to celebrate Tashlyn’s Birthday. We drove over towards two of their Rob’s and Tashlyn’s friends and picked them up before going to the station towards the centre of the city to the restaurant where we would meet up with three more of their friends. We had some lovely food and had a good laugh. I will say one thing, It did not seem that the restaurant workers had very good communication and or they were quite forgetful. We would order lemonade to which they thought we said lemon, well the lemon never came and it took like 2 more tries to get 2 lemonades with different staff members. We were able to laugh about it, after we ate our meals we headed in to the city as went towards oxford street which they wanted to show me so badly. Basically it’s a huge street of bars and clubs which seem to be catered for “weird people” haha. Crazy make up and clothes and a lot of gay clubs.



After going through the street we decided we wanted desert so we walked through Hyde Park towards some kind of Chocolate place which was open till late. They had anything to do with chocolate. I was still quite full from my meal so I got some banana bread with a cup of chocolate. Man that is delicious would recommend.

Afterwards we headed back home again.



25-03-2017

Saturday, the night before we had discussed I could stay till Monday and man did I not want to leave anytime soon yet. Was having a great time so we made the most of it. We Headed towards the Sydney markets where you can basically get cheap souvenirs. We strolled around they bought them selves some nuts. I can remember Tashlyn having to work in the evening so Rob and myself had decided to have a game night and drink a bit. We got a bottle of some drink no idea what it’s called but it was green and not Pisang but mixing it with lemonade was quite nice. Once we got home we had a nice BBQ, we had some struggles getting it on at first but we succeeded.



Afterwards once Tashlyn had gone to work we started up Overwatch and basically grinded Overwatch. I played on Tashlyn’s PC. We had a good time we lost more than we won but still had a good laugh and pretty much every death meant drinking so both of us were going through our glasses at a good rate. We gamed for good couple of hours till about 1 till Tashlyn got home. We chilled a bit, Tashlyn went to bed and we gamed some more I can’t remember exactly but it ended up being like 3:30 in the night.



26-03-2017

Sunday we another quite lazy day. We went to some shopping centre again where we looked around and afterwards got some take away food and sat by a lake to eat. Afterwards we headed home and played some call of duty, battlefront and overwatch. It was nice, being able to game with people you have always spoken to and gamed with online it’s quite funny to game with them in real life but man did I have a great time. This was also the last day Tashlyn and myself would see each other as she had to leave for work the next morning early. She Made me a Banana Cake though!





27-03-2017

Monday - Today was my leaving day and to be fair I was/am quite upset about that. We had a great time and they took care of me so well. Before I left I gamed a little bit with Rob and after he gave me everything Tashlyn and himself had prepared for me to take. They made sure I had enough food and drink to go on for a couple of days. I am so thankful and grateful to call them my friends and hope I can return the favour one day when they come to Europe. After being a little sad to go I drove out of Sydney towards Central Coast where I stopped for the night having great lookout towards the ocean just on some free parking area.



28-03-2017

Tuesday - I drove towards the Australian Reptile Park in Central Coast which is a park where obviously they have a bunch of reptiles but they also have spiders, kangaroos, dingoes and a bunch more animals. This is where I was able to manage to touch my first kangaroo and take pictures with it. Basically as soon as I walked in I there was a huge tortoise just walking around it was huge. Managed to take loads of pictures in the park of mostly all of the animals. I also saw my first ever platypus and dingoes. It was a nice park the entry was quite pricy but as I managed a selfie with a kangaroo which I came out here to do it was worth it.



Once I left the park after taking so many pictures and videos my phone was full. I managed to delete quite a few I had already put on my laptop and headed over towards a place in Central Coast called the Entrance where basically a lake meets the sea. There were a bunch Pelicans there which apparently you are allowed to feed. I walked around the park and looked at the pelicans which I had not seen up close yet and continued my drive towards New Castle.



It was getting quite late so I decided to stay at Norah head which is famous for its lighthouse. I stayed here at some holiday park. It was a nice park as there a bunch rabbits hopping around and there was hardly anyone there, I watched the TV there as there was a big cyclone that just hit Queensland and as i’m headed that way I wanted to see how safe it is and how fast I can go.



After watching the news and some TV I had a great sleep in my camper.



29-03-2017

Wednesday - I drove up more towards New Castle where I went to the Black Butt Reserve where they have some kind of free park to look at animals. The parking itself was only 3 Dollars for an hour so I roamed there for a little bit looking at the kangaroos there and koala’s in the trees unfortunately these ones are not free to go where they please so to be fair I liked the Australian Reptile Park or just wild animals more. I staid there and looked at everything they had to offer before heading towards the beach in New Castle. It was an amazingly hot day so I went there.



They also have a really nice board walk called the memorial walk where they basically have a lot of information and tributes to the world wars. It seems Australia is quite proud of everything they did in these wars. It was a lovely walk above the cliffs. From there I drove to Elizabeth beach which is quite a bit more up North but I read that it a beautiful beach. Well to be honest the road there was a lot more amazing. It was a road where in the distance you can see beautiful mountains and greenery. It’s just one those roads that if you google Australian road you see it. Unfortunately as I was driving I was unable to make any pictures and there were not a lot of points to stop. But I do know that if there are more roads like that i’ll be putting my GoPro on my dashboard like I did with the Great Ocean Road.



After driving to the beach and staying there for about an hour It was getting quite late so I headed towards Bonny Hills where I got to a Holiday Park.

Right now I’m still at that Holiday park and this is where i just wrote this all from. Today it is 30-03-2017 and its 15:00 I started writing at about 11:00. Today is my lazy day tomorrow i’ll be driving up more north again. Well thats the plan the weather here is terrible right now and cyclone Debbie is supposed to coming south and we will get some after effects from it so possible flooding or hard winds. If thats the case i’ll stay at this park another day as I have an amazing view of the sea where I have already seen some Dolphins and possible sharks swim around. The weather is extremely rainy so i’m just staying in the holiday park lounge with my laptop watching series and films and obviously just wrote this blog. Oh and I also saw some lizards roaming the park which are quite cute.



Anyway I’m all up to date now there is nothing more to write about for this day as I won’t be doing anything. Also i’m sorry some days are more detailed than others my memory is not the best thus I was going to write everything down. If there is a day you want to know more about or see pictures from then please let me know and i’ll try to arrange something. The people in this holiday park have already been extremely friendly to me letting me have a 60 Dollar spot for 31 Dollars.





Thank you all for reading and i’ll try to keep up to date from now on.



31-3-2017



So the Wi-Fi at the previous Park Failed and would not let me post this 😞, However i'm in Coffs Harbour now where it seems i'll be staying for probably 2 days. I drove up here with the fear of flooding and terrible weather as it was raining all day yesterday and some staff from the previous park there told me it would be worse up here but the sun is shining and it all seems pretty dry here. I'll write a more detailed blog about today tonight once i've done a bit more.





Thank you very much for reading!!





Also this means I can add some pictures! yay. Note the Pictures are not in logical order for some reason.

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