Last Days In Oz!!!

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1st February 2008 - BACK ON LAND......NOT DRY LAND!!!
Once off the boat we walked back to the hostel in the pouring rain. Nat and Hat were glad to get back on land but for how wet we were still getting I would have rather been at sea....specially knowing what the hostel was like. Once we had retrieved our bags we checked back in at Magnums. the room was slightly better than the one we had before we left and the one good feature was the power shower with the cleanish floor that I dared to put my bare feet on. It was nice to get salt water out my hair and actually smell nice rather than damp. I longed for my hair straightners though.......curse the thief that stole them!!!

Once changed and sorted there wasn't really much we could do. The cyclone warning was still out, boat trips had been cancelled and a lot of the transport up the coast had been cancelled too. Not the best news for Hatty bless her but nothing she could do at that moment in time. We had 2 nights left in Airlie Beach and just had to play it by ear. Nat and I were a little worried too especially as we were flying out of Airlie Beach and back Brisbane on the 3rd so that we could catch our flight to New Zealand. Keeping our fingers crossed that the weather got better and not worse as predicted!!

For the rest of the day we just chilled out. We caught up with some internet blogging and emails, read our books, wrote in our journals and lazed around. As luck would have it the hostel was the worst one we had stayed in which was typical when we were pretty much stranded there. There was no TV room or chill out room. It was a case of brave the rain or sit in a musty damp room that smelt a bit foisty!! Nice!! We were all tired anyhow and so chilling out wasn't the worst thing to do....just not the place that we wanted to do it. Nat went to sleep at around 7.30 and I followed at around 9.30pm. Hatty went out for a while but came back about 9.30 as she'd had enough as well!! What a way to be ending our time in Oz!!!

2nd February 2009 - SNOW AT HOME & FINAL NIGHT WITH CRAZY HATTY!!!
We had a wake up call we didn't want this morning....reception had put us in the wrong room and so decided to tell us at 7am. She then said it didn't matter anyway and she would just leave us there!! Totally pointless!! It was raining again today surprise surprise (and no Cilla isn't here)!! After rousing ourselves we went to phone home and our friend Natalie. So nice to speak to people from home and brightened my day!! Snowing really heavily at home too apparently...better than the rain we had!! I wanted to curl up in front of a log fire with a hoodie on and my jammy bottoms or have a cosy bed day!!

Can't mope though...our last full day in Airlie Beach and our last full day with the Hatster. We spent the day chilling out around the hostel, went on the net for a bit and then sat in the bar area whilst Hat smuggled her own cans of Tooheys New in....travellers can't afford bar prices!! Weird day around the hostel...seemed to bump into everyone we have met over the previous few weeks. Always seemed to be someone around to chat to....nice to catch up with people though before we move on!!

Checked my credit card statement today too and was shocked to see a $50 payment to Travellers Auto Barn where we hired the campervan from. I never put anything on my credit card and wasn't sure why money had been taken out without my notification. I got straight on the blower to find out why and they emailed me the details through. Turned out it was for a traffic infringement where we had not paid the toll fee to go across a toll road in Melbourne. The worst part was that I remember driving onto the road but we turned around as the traffic was at a standstill. Didn't even drive all the way across and still got stung with a fee!! What a joke!!

To get over our traffic fine I had the best Ice cream ever......forget Ben and Jerrys (never thought I would ever say that) but this shop was the real deal!!
Step 1: Choose from the wide variety of tasty flavours which you would like
Step 2: Pick your fillers from a massive selection including chocolate brownies, fudge, smarties, freddos, wham bars, jellys, fizzy sweets, nuts, snickers etc etc etc......the list was endless
Step 3: Watch the ice cream lady smash it all together!!
Step 4: Die and go to heaven!!
Honestly...if there are no jobs when I am back I am opening one of those shops as everyone should get the opportunity to appreciate one during their lifetime!! I may have to wear a muzzle though otherwise I may become a rival for Michelle McManus!!

After a chilled day we got ready and went out for a final farewell meal. We found a nice Mexican Restaurant and Hatty and I ordered fajitas whilst Nat had Chilli and fudge cake....not at the same time of course!! It was a mighty fine meal finished off with another friend from home ringing...once again nice to catch up though bit gutted to learn that she was going sledging in the snow!!!! I miss snow!! Following our meal we went back to the hostel and listened to some live music from a man playing guitar and singing in the bar. Nice to listen to and a good atmosphere for once!! Lovely evening to round off our time together with Hatty...just a shame about the weather which was still chucking it down!! I went off to bed before the others.....so so tired!! Didn't even hear them come in about half hour later....must have been having a good dream!!

3rd February 2009 - WILL WE BE STRANDED IN AIRLIE BEACH?!!!
Woke up this morning at around 6.30am....meant I missed Hatty leaving even though I set my alarm for 5.30 to say goodbye. I would have to rely on facebook!! I laid in bed for an hour or so and then forced myself to get up, have brekkie and get dressed. I also had to wash all my stuff before I could leave as we were worried that the hostel had bedbugs (Hatty been bitten) and I did not want to carry them around with me. I spent a good 90 minutes putting all my clothes through the washer and drier...it wasn't fun but at least I had peace of mind that my stuff was clean and free of roaming creatures!! I then packed my stuff up and checked out at 10am.

Following checkout I finished writing some postcards and then set off to Tribal to do a bit more blogging. Tribal was frantic...loads of buses had been cancelled and no one seemed to be able to move north as the roads were all flooded. Good job Hatty and the others (Ian and Dingo Man) went early morning or else they would have been stuck too. I was a little anxious for Nat and I......the weather did seem to have eased a little but it was still grey and on and off with rain....I just hoped that the plane could take off and just as importantly, that we could get to the airport!!

At 11.45am we set off back to the hostel to gather up our last things and Nat wanted to make some lunch to take with her. As we walked through reception area I thought I saw the Dingo Man and did a double take. I was not wrong and beside him was Hatty. What the hell was going on?!! Turned out they had gone so far on the bus and then the driver had said he couldn't go any further as the roads were all flooded and they would have to go back. They had been told that there were no guarantees it would clear soon either and could even get worse. It was a waiting game now for them!! I felt sorry for them as they tried to plan alternative ways of getting up to Cairns. I also felt a knot in my stomach.....please don't let the same happen to us...we need to catch a flight to New Zealand on the 4th!!

Hat, Ian and Dingo Man came with us to the bus stop to say bye and wave us off. It was now our turn to try and escape Airlie Beach!! The bus ride lasted an hour with all the pick ups. The ride was tense as the driver told us how many planes had been unable to land or take off in the last few days due to bad visibility. The airport relied on sight of they runway as it didn't have air traffic control!! What type of airport doesn't have air traffic control? Surely they could find a man to wave a red lollypop stick in the air from somewhere!!! The driver told us to pray...we did!!!

Just as we arrived at the airport the rain seemed to get heavier...oh no!! We checked in anyway and then waited for what seemed like a lifetime until we were called for boarding!! Woo hoo!! We were flying to Brisbane!! The flight was ok...pretty standard!! I slept! We go into Brisbane at around 4pm and then took the shuttle to the transit centre near our hostel....Cloud Nine Backpackers!! I was so pleased we had made it as it would have caused us so much hassle if it had been cancelled. Maybe someone was looking after us for once!!

I felt like I was on cloud nine until I saw our room...it was like a crack den!! No carpets, black out windows....not good!! Thankfully we only had to stay one night and were off early in the morning. We dumped our stuff and went to the supermarket to treat our fruit cravings. I also bought some special medicated mouthwash as I could feel a gum infection coming on.....give me a break please!!! We then bought tea in the hostel bar and must have ordered kids portions by mistake as the meals which came out wouldn't have filled a 5 year old let alone 2 adults!! Still, it was cheap and we ate them. It was then time to go back to the crack den where we got our stuff prepared for morning, set our alarms and got some shut eye!!

4th February 2009 - GOODBYE OZ......HELLO NEW ZEALAND!!!
The alarm went off at 4.30am. I got dressed and the dragged my bag down to the bathroom where I tried to wake myself up a little and tended to the hygiene side of things. We checked out at 5am and made our way to the transit centre to catch the train to the airport. We arrived at the airport at around 5.45 and was first in the queue for check in. Bit hairy as they couldn't find our ticket numbers at first but a few phone calls sorted it out and we were given our boarding cards!! I was very very excited!!

We milled around in the airport for a few hours writing in our journals, reading and muching on fruit. At around 8am we made our way through to the gate stopping for a quick hot chocolate on the way to use up our last Australian dollars. When we arrived at the gate we were the only ones sat there. I got giddy and thought we may be upgraded if there were only a couple of people on the plane....the hostesses would have to call me maam and bring me an extra pillow if I was too uncomfy. I was then brought back to earth as we learnt that the gate number had been changed.....I would have to settle for a middle seat with one pillow and not being addressed as maam!! Oh well!!

The plane ride was ok although the person in front of me always reclines their seat!! Why?! I pushed through...food was ok, film (4 Christmasses with Vince Vaughan and Reece Witherspoon was easy watching) and I read my book a bit. On 'Silence of the Lambs' now.....try not to read it at night!! Time flew and we arrived in New Zealand at 3.15pm (they were 3 hours in front of Brisbane).

I said a silent goodbye to Oz as I got off the plane. I had really enjoyed myself and tried loads of new things. I had so many highlights especially riding my first unbroken wave without falling off, the sand dunes and New Year firework display. Loads more...I can't mention them all. I was pleased to be moving on even though I would have liked to have seen some of the West Coast and done some work there for a while. Maybe thats another trip......best get saving!!! For now I would have to make do with New Zealand.....the place I have wanted to go to since I can remember.....I hoped it would live up to my expectations!!!

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