I Come From A Land Downunder

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So, we arrived safely in Sydney after a 15 hour flight (and the loss of one day of our lives due to time difference) unlike our baggage which decided to stay in New Zealand. Happy days. Our first day in Sydney was spent, being very smelly (well, we thought we smelt - I'm sure strangers would not have been able to smell us), wandering around and taking in the sights. We had $5 steaks at Scruffy Murphys (just for you, boys) and then headed out on a harbour cruise which was fantastic - great views, nice weather, and a discount for being a pikey backpacker. We saw where Nicole Kidman lives and the Prime Minister's house as well as taking hundreds of pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Our luggage finally arrived about 12 hours after we did and we couldn't wait to have a shower and go to bed - our first sleep in 48 hours!

Next day, we headed out to stay with some family at the edge of the Blue Mountains - we got collected in a fire truck which was very cool although he didn't use sirens. Booooo. We spent a lovely weekend meeting family, having a Aussie BBQ with lots of wine and trying to understand the rugby for the Grand Final. We also went to a rainforest and did a hike (very steep!) to a waterfall at Minnamurra - we nearly died on the uphill climb, especially when we saw a snake, but it was worth it in the end. On the way home, we drove up the coast and stopped at Kiama (lovely beach) and Wollongong (nice harbour) and got some great ocean views. Thanks Richard and Bronwyn!

Our next stop was Sue and Bob's - friends of the family who live just outside of Sydney centre. Their house is lovely and they keep it fully stocked with wine and cocktails so we had a great time! Our days were spent exploring Sydney and the beaches - we walked from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach along the coast which was over 7km and then headed out to Manly to check that out for Lisa. We also went up the Sydney Tower and did the OzTrek ride which is highly recommended - very cool virtual reality tour across Australia. We checked out the Botanic Gardens and the view of Sydney from Mrs Macquarie's Point and had a nice lunch at Darling Harbour. Then it was time to say goodbye to Sydney (nice and warm!) and hello to Melbourne (freezing!)

Our hostel in Melbourne was very nice, with its own restaurant, pool table and cable TV. We spent some time wandering around the city and along the river, checking out the casino and other sights. We met up with Cryssie, a Melburnian who we met in Arizona, and had a good night in a couple of bars around the city centre. Next day, we headed out to Phillip Island. On the way there we stopped at an animal park where we got the feed wallabies and kangaroos. The wallabies are so cute but the kangaroos were a bit scary and we saw two of the mating which was not a pretty sight! It was freezing on Phillip Island but the scenery was amazing and the main reason we went was watch the little penguins come back to the beach at sunset. They are too cute and we had lots of fun watching them trying to be brave, stare out seagulls and run across the beach and up the dunes to their burrows. We wanted to bring them home.

Our trip along the Great Ocean Road came next, complete with a comedy bus driver named Todd who looked like Steve Irwin (but a lot shorter). We formed a gang with him and this Irish dude on our bus and it was us against all the posher middle-aged people on our trip. We went walking in the rainforest and to Tower Hill where we spotted kangaroos, koalas, wallabies and emus in the wild. Along the coastal road, we stopped at the 12 Apostles and London Bridge which are huge sandstone rocks out to sea - they are amazing. We went the Blue Lake which is in a extinct volcano crater and went on an Aboriginal bushwalk to learn about their plants and medicine. We arrived in Adelaide after 3 days on a little bus and we'd had the best time - beautiful scenery and good laughs with our new buddies.

After a chilled day in Adelaide (not a whole lot to do) we flew up to awful Alice Springs ready for our trip to Ayers Rock & The Olgas - and, for one night only, our camping experience. We had to be up for 6am and our tour guide was a miserable sod named Karl so we spent much of our time abusing him. We hiked for 2.5 hours in The Olgas up the sides of some very steep (and loose!) rocks - how brave are we?! The view from the top was worth the climb though - it was beautiful. Luckily some nice English folk gave us hats to wear (looked stunning!) otherwise we probably would have fried in the sun. Then we headed to Ayers Rock for sunset - complete with wine and nibbles - good to see but the colours don't change as much as the postcards would lead you to believe! Finally got back our camp and found out that we were ill-prepared for our night of camping - we had no torch or pillow which meant lots of fumbling around in the dark. The light from our phones just was not good enough! After dinner, happy Karl told us he was going to wake us up at 4.20am and there was a mass exodus to the tents - all that was left was us, a Scottish guy and two bottles wine! So, we stayed up until midnight and annoyed some German girl with our 'loud' conversation. Needless, 4.20am came way too soon! By 6am, we were at Ayers Rock to watch the sunrise and then to do the 8km walk around the base. Happy days. Covered in red sand, we made it back to Alice Springs, ate some pizza and went to bed stupidly early - too much exercise in the last two days!

Our last stop was Perth where everything is free - lots of free wine on the flight here, free buses, free museums, free walking tours - it's great! We did the free walking tour and saw the main sights in the city. We also headed out to Fremantle but it rained so hard on us that we had to come back to Perth. We met up with a friend of Katie's for dinner and after-show party in a karaoke booth - lots of classics got murdered and we discovered our talent for singing 'Stop' by the Spice Girls. Next day, we headed out to the Swan Valley wineries for lots of wine tasting - yum! We tasted about 40 wines - red, white, rose and sparkling - ate lovely cheeses and the most wonderful chocolate from a chocolate factory. We also had snags by the river for lunch. We finished off the day in a bar with the people from our bus swapping travel stories and laughing at the one member of the group who was absolutely wasted and fell asleep at the table in the bar. Bless. On our last day in Perth, we headed up to Kings Park to enjoy the view over the city, do a treetop walk and enjoy our last Australian pie - those things taste good!

So, only a week left now and our flight leaves for Thailand at midnight tonight. See you all soon!

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