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Published: March 18th 2015
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Hello!!! How are we all??
Well, where has the time gone hey? I'm writing this with a day left in the mighty Australia! How that's happened I have no idea! We've done a fair bit since the last blog too which didn't just involve surviving a cyclone. We managed to escape the grips of Agnes Water by being so spontaneous and booking a flight to Brisbane for the next day! With that booked, we were out of there!
Brisbane city!! We loved that place. Plenty of people don't. It's a small city for Australia and it's quickly growing. The weather was nice, the hostel was average and we got our bearings pretty quickly! We ventured to Lone Pine on the bus which is where the ultimate aussi dream came true... We cuddled koalas! I would love to remember the name but it all happened in such a blur neither of us can remember so we will name him Fred after our lovely Cairns friend Fred who wanted a mention! Hey Fred!
From Brisbane we headed for Surfers Paradise aka the Gold Coast. We loved it here too. It's where white sands and blue seas meet the busy city
and tall buildings (literally). It's known for it's tacky 'laddy' atmosphere which we totally understand but it was a cool busy place. A night however was enough. From surfers we went to one of my favourite places so far... BYRON BAY! I just wish we had longer there. It was stunning. We walked the famous lighthouse walk which if anyone goes should do. The scenery was stunning, the wildlife typically Australian and the weather boiling! However one of the highlights for me was the Mars ice cream when we got to the top!
Byron bay lead us to Coffs Harbour which I can honestly say was nothing spectacular. I wouldn't rave about it, I wouldn't recommend it and I also wouldn't go back! We weren't however very well! This may have placed it in a negative light for us. We did get to kiss dolphins and walk along the creek and botanical gardens which was all very nice but next time I would avoid. Beth liked it!
Now the interesting bit! From Coffs we went to Sydney! Oh Sydney! We love Sydney! After visiting the Olympic park, seeing the bridge and opera house, shopping, wandering through the parks
and botanical gardens and visiting the mighty Bondi beach we left Sydney very happy. Bondi beach was an experience in itself. The waves in that sea were unreal, and here is where we lived our second aussi dream and were able to watch proper Australian surfers riding the waves. The view was very nice, yeah the scenery was okay too! We also watched a cabaret performance in the opera house which was amazing! I've never seen a cabaret before so it was definitely different!
We were also fortunate enough to be in Sydney for Mardi Gras. This is a massive homosexual festival where pretty much the whole of Sydney get involved. There were plenty of men wearing dresses, and men wearing not much and men wearing glitter and men in make up... Yes you get the picture. It was definitely an experience and we couldn't fault the atmosphere.
From Sydney, we also visited the Blue Mountains. Now, you do not have to be a hiker in any way to enjoy this. Words and photos do not do it justice. It has won so far by a country mile by the best thing we've seen. I don't really know how
else to explain it. The size and vastness of it will never get old and the view seemed to just get better. So here, guess what... We walked and we walked. Oh yeah and we walked a little bit more. We didn't wanna stop. Every viewpoint and every stop was bigger and better which made us want to carry on. As you can imagine, it was a sad day when we left! Despite all this, I think we still prefer the Lake District haha!
Anyways I really do know how to go on. I can admit that. I just wish I could have wrote this much with Uni essays. As promised in the last blog thou, here is Beth!
Hello, it's Beth! Gems finally let me out to write something! Hehe only joking, I've just been lazy and let her do it while I get an awesome tan. Ok so that's not really true but we have tanned a bit!
Anyway, Melbourne! What can I say about Melbourne...we were greeted by the wonderful Meg and Sarah who met us off our last greyhound bus at midnight with an ice cold cider - legends! Our first day out
we went to Degraves Street which is famous for it's coffee and it was incredible! We explored the city and that evening Gem went to see Dirty Dancing on stage (the show, don't be rude!).
The next day we went to the Yarra Valley and visited a chocolate factory. Gem managed to go back for sevenths of the free chocolate, I swear they were going to make her pay if she went back for anymore - piggy. I managed to find a dairy free dark chocolate sorbet which was the size of my head literally and so amazing but I couldn't finish it which is unheard of with me and food! We also went to a vineyard and tried wine where we established that we still don't like wine!
Whilst in Melbourne we also went to the F1 and it was pretty exciting to see Lewis Hamilton win (spoiler alert)! We also did the Great Ocean Road and spotted koalas in the wild - dream come true! We took in the 12 apostles although there's only 8 of them standing and were only ever 9 of them apparently but whatever! The view was incredible although there's a similar
view in Cornwall so I'd recommend you go there if you're not in the area! On this tour we also went to Phillip Island and saw the Penguin Parade which is where hundreds of penguins do back flips along the beach in glittery outfits. Just joking!! It's where hundreds of penguins come in to the land from sea to feed their children and lay their eggs - it was very cute!
So tomorrow we leave Australia but we couldn't go without going on a Neighbours tour!!! We met Stingray who was in it 6 years ago and saw some filming and the set. Ramsay Street is loads smaller in real life but still very exciting (Gem wet herself with excitement), hehe joking but it was a massive dream come true for her! Anyway I'll hand her back for now.
Hi, did ya miss me? So... On reflection of Australia. We have absolutely had the time of our lives. The country is just insane with the tropical rainforest, beautiful beaches, colourful Great Barrier Reef, diverse wildlife and stunning mountain ranges. You only really understand the size of the country once you travel it (5 time zones later). You also have
to think about everything you do over here because of the wildlife. Thinking before acting is not our area of expertise. Between the snakes, spiders, sharks, jellyfish, crocodiles, ticks and even the trees. Everything can kill if not seriously harm you and are all pretty commonly found. Despite the danger, it really has been two of the best months of our lives and it's going to take some beating. We challenge New Zealand to do so however. So it's a teary goodbye from Australia and a teary (in a good way) hello to New Zealand!!
Gem and Beth
Xx
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Gaskers
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melbourne appendix 1
it was great to share Melbourne with you guys. Some additional highlights the platypus at Healesville, the Mexican watching the sun go down (not), playing cars with Kai, sharing soccer stories with frank, the cheap neighbours tour, toilets at Arthur's seat, swimming in the cold seat, fish and chips with seagulls, the rock, the markets, the drop off, sitting in the wrong car and of course the digs. Thanks for the memories. Travel safe.