Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 4008

We (Simon and Tom) arrived in Sydney on Wednesday 7th in the evening Australia time. Suddenly a day had gone missing in the mysterious abyss of time, and the trip actually got off to a pretty tricky start. There was a misunderstanding... The plan - well, the one Simon and I had, was that there would be a massively emotional greeting at the arrivals gate as the four boys reunited after 6 months of heart wrenching absense... no, not this time. Simon and I found ourselves lost and cold - flung despairingly and insensitively into the cruel sydney night, no sign of George and Stretch, who had organised us a place to sleep. Apparently. The phones were down, the weather was harsh. So we wept. We even tried nearby hostels for a place... no room ... read more

Landed in Cairns at 4pm. We had been use to the dry heat in the desert and had just started to get use to it. I am travelling with Jen and Steve at the moment and we are meeting up with the girls from the intrepid tour later today. Steve and i have a similar sense of humour and have been joking that we want to get a tan for all the pictures for the blog! Therefore, we were bitterly dissapointed when we landed in Cairns and it had been raining and there was a cyclone a few days ago! it is still so hot and humid though, very tropical. We are staying at a hostel called gilligans which had been recommended to me by loads of people. its really nice and clean and brings a ... read more

We headed out to a local cafe for breakfast and what a feast - a full English in glorious sunshine - hard to beat. We then went over to Fremantle where we had a beer and watched a bit of the cricket - i.e. England losing a wicket or two. Darren and I then went to another pub for a few more beers (and wickets) and I became the proud owner of a Carlton Draught straw sun hat! We all then headed towards the marina and had some 'Fish & Chips' - all in over 30 degrees - very different from home! Isobel had woken with a bit of a cold and by the end of the day I was her favourite handkerchief!!! A quiet evening in front of the TV seeing England to victory, before ... read more

The Whitsunday sailing trip is one of the must-do things on the east caost along with going to Fraser Island and Byron Bay. There was a bit of hanging around in Rockhampton to wait for the bus and eventually we were off. Fortunately I had been directed to the correct bus stop by a young English couple. Although I thought the correct bus stop was the one I eventually went to, I would have disregarded this as the ticket stated that the bus would depart from the stop on the other side of the river. I suppose I should trust my instincts more but you would have thought the ticket would have been correct. I was relieved to find Ellie at the correct bus stop as I arrived, she seemed mystified that I would have gone ... read more

I flew from Cairns down to Adelaide to visit my friend Phil Deacon. I hadnt seen him in almost a year as he is studying med school down in Oz at Flinders Uni. It was during my week stay with him that it hit me, that most people actually have daily lives with lots of responsibility. Deacon is definetly no exception. This man accomplishes more by 10am than most do in a full day. He was voted president of his med school program by his peers last year, which is a huge responsibility and also finds time to socialize more than most and maintains grades that are at the top of his class. Most of my evenings in Adelaide, we would stay up late watching TV and talking out on his back porch until about 1 ... read more