Australia for now; and a year into my trip!

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big huge croc

A friend of mine emailed me after my last blog saying it was nice to get a shorter one, and good to be able to read it all in one go for once - well, I'm afraid I'm back to normal! - and as it's been so long even since that one, (so long in fact, I just noticed they've changed the layout and font for uploading entries) this one will probably be longer than ever (sorry Nikki!) and sorry to everyone else too. Also I have to apologise for the possible lack of paragraphs and gaps after full stops in this - I keep putting the paragraphs in and then when I save it, it just comes out as one long text which makes it harder to read - very annoying -I'll keep trying but can't promise... also don't forget to click the icon on the top left of this blog, it's a short video of a croc, not really moving or doing anything exciting but the guide is talking about him anyway. I did suggest to Kath that maybe she stick her arm out of the boat so I could shoot more of an 'action' video of the croc, but for some reason she didn't want to do this - I know, I don't understand it either!

Ok, get your cups of tea, here it is: I'm currently sitting on the little balcony at the YHA hostel here in Paihia, which is in the Bay of Islands, in the north-east of the north island of New Zealand. It's ten to eight in the evening and just getting dark; on the way from Auckland, where I've been since arriving in NZ last week, I saw for the first time what people say about here, and how the countryside looks English - it's really strange! Though in a way it's a bit like being in a dream - where it's almost the same but not quite. Houses don't look English, and there are trees here that you don't get in England, mainly these sort of feathery palms (only way I can think to describe them) which I saw in the rainforest when I was on the Great Ocean Road trip last week back in Australia.
Which gets me back on track: Australia! Trouble with leaving it so long between blogs, there's even more than usual to remember and write. So I arrived in Sydney on 1 August, and sat outside the airport for a while drinking tea, it was about 6.30 in the morning, and just thinking, wow, I can't believe I'm on the other side of the world. Obviously in one way it's really easy, you just get on a plane, leave it to the pilot, and arrive 10,000plus miles away (ok I know I only came from Bangkok but have to add drama). But in another way, it's unbelievable that that's possible.I was in Sydney for 9 days, getting used to being in another country, also getting used to being back in the western world which was nice but strange; I was sitting outside the hostel on the first Sunday there, and realised I could hear church bells. Not that I haven't heard bells, but for nearly 10 months it was tinkly temple bells.

It was also strange going into shops and being understood, and hearing English being spoken around me; I'd got so used to not understanding people's talk and conversations, and in some ways, life is less distracting that way, and I'd got used to it. Sydney being a city, it didn't really feel that Australian and I often found myself walking down the street, hearing people talk and thinking, 'god there's a lot of Australians round here,' then remembering that was probably because I was in Australia...It was a bit of a strange time; apart from the last 3 days I'd had in Bangkok, it was the first days of being apart from Baz - which was and still is heart wrenching; and also the first time of travelling solo again after almost 3 months.I walked the streets of Sydney a lot; did the main sightseeing things ie Sydney Tower, the harbours, the opera house, couple of galleries. I didn't do the harbour bridge climb, it's 3 and a half hours from start to finish with what looks like (and I think is) steps (v narrow and small) right on the edge of the bridge, and I've been traumatised enough by steps, and these looked like the worst I've seen yet (Eimear I know you'll understand); and actually someone I met in Melbourne who's from Sydney said it gets even scarier when you're right at the top of the crest and just about to go down and a train goes across, shaking the whole thing violently. I made the right decision...
The best thing about being in Sydney was meeting up with Cindy, who lives there, and who I met in Kyoto, Japan, back in April. It was really nice seeing her again and catching up, also spending some time with someone who actually lives there; after going to an art gallery with her and another friend, they took me down to Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, and after we all went back to Cindy's flat which was nearby - this was REALLY strange, the first time I'd been in someone's home for 10 months, and to be able to sit down on a sofa in her living room and have a cup of tea - sounds hugely boring I know but to me it was a real novelty!We decided to go and get something to eat, and Cindy and Loch, her friend, really wanted to go to this Vietnamese place - I was thinking, no, please, no more Asian food! bad for them and good for me the place was shut so we ended up in this Thai place and I ended up eating Pad Thai - in Sydney, less than a week after leaving Thailand. Never mind, it was nice food and more importantly great company. Cindy and I met up again later in the week too so that was good.
What else about Sydney, trying to remember. Oh yeah - the cold. I got there just at the end of winter, with everyone there saying how mild it was, and how nice the days were. Huh?????????????????? My blood's thinned I reckon after being in 30+ degrees heat for so long, I was freezing cold, had no shoes and no warm clothes, so had to go and get stuff to wear, and was still shivering the whole time.Before I left the city, I bought a laptop (which I'm writing from now) in anticipation of starting to write a book (more later); and then, the second weekend, I headed up to a place called Woy Woy, to stay with some friends of my sister Beth's for a couple of days - I'd never met them but they knew I was coming to Sydney and invited me to stay - that was really nice, Woy Woy's about an hour north of Sydney on the train, and is a little, quiet town, surrounded by bush and beautiful views of the sea, being on the Central coast. Zainem and Mark have got two small children and it was a great weekend, they were really good to me, taking me to the local reptile park, for bush walks, walks to lookouts (Australians love lookouts - and boardwalks leading to them), and home cooked food - it was bliss!

From there I headed up to stay with Helen, who if you check back was the lovely woman we met in Vietnam and ended up travelling with through Cambodia and back to Bangkok. Helen lives out in the bush near a tiny place called Repton, which is about 20k south of Coffs Harbour, (further up the east coast - all the places I'm going to mention follow on from each other up the east coast) but we'd arranged to meet in Newcastle, which is a few hours south of there, and about an hour and a half up from Woy Woy. It was lovely to see her again; she drove us all around Newcastle and the surrounds to show me everything, then we went out to eat that night with her son and his girlfriend, who we also stayed with that night, v nice of them; and the next night I stayed with another friend of Helen's, called Gisa (spelling Helen?) who was lovely and took real pity on me that I was shivering and blue, and my toes practically falling off, and supplied me with a duvet, 3 blankets and a hot water bottle for the night (plus her lovely dog, also pretty warm). The day after that, Helen drove us on up to her cabin near Repton, which was a few hours drive. Helen's place is lovely, a gorgeous wooden cabin right in the bush and looking out over fields one side, and a forest of gum trees on the other. Again, having the experience of being in a proper home after so long was great; I suddenly got hugely tired when I was there, being able to relax, do simple things like make a cup of tea when I wanted one, or just have a day indoors was so nice. Helen was great, took me all around to see the local area, various ocean views, a Saturday market in a town beginning with B that I've forgotten the name of, and I have to say - Helen did not buy much!!! This was very strange behaviour, in fact I think I bought more than she did, which I didn't think was possible (you know I say this affectionately Helen!). We also went into Coffs Harbour, and also to a community area nearby called - ok I'll try and spell this one - Bundajon (is that it Helen?) where a lot of Helen's friends live in various homes like old buses etc! and live without electricity, so a back to basics communal lifestyle. Helen unfortunately was a bit laid up - or would have been if she let herself stop for even a second, as she'd tripped over and cracked her elbow the previous week; fortunately once we got it checked out, it turned out she didn't need to be in plaster but still not nice for her.

After Helen's, I headed up to Byron Bay, which most people have heard of; it's pretty far up the New South Wales coastline, but still only about a third of the way up the east coast; Byron's a tourist town, and a surfing place; and probably very different in high season, but the time I went was great; chilled out, relaxed, not too many people around. Can't really say much more about Byron itself as I spent most of my time there making a start on the book I'm now writing, Byron was a great place for that, lots of space. But also especially nice was meeting and hanging out with Tomoko, a lovely girl who was travelling from Osaka in Japan, and had come to Oz to do a massage course. That really made my time in Byron; she's still around that area, doing a residential Ayurvedic training, and we're still in touch.
I probably could have hung out for several more weeks easily in Byron, just writing and enjoying the sea front and cafes, but was getting aware that I was well more than a month into my time in Oz; which didn't really bother me, as I'd planned to go a bit slower in Australia and have time to write; but I did also want to see something of the east coast, so I eventually moved on to Brisbane, the gateway to Queensland.Not the best of cities but a good couple of art galleries to see, and then from there I went on up to a place called Noosa, which someone I met in Byron had recommended, and was also toying with the idea of booking a couple of trips, which I knew you could book from there. I ended up in Koalas hostel (more about them later too) and met a good few people who I then ended up on trips with later on; have to say I also didn't see anything of Noosa as I was still obsessed with my writing. To anyone who might go, I know there were some people surfing there, and going on bush walks; apart from that, I can give detailed info about the outdoor benches of the hostel that I was sitting on for most of the 3 days that I was there.

At Noosa, I ended up booking two trips: one to Fraser Island, a 3 day group self-drive camping trip, and one, sailing round the Whitsunday islands. Fraser was first, and the trip left from Hervey Bay, another few hours up the coast. I went up there with some people I'd been in Noosa with and we stayed at the Koalas hostel there (the trips were also organised by Koalas). It was also here I met Kath, who I'd bumped into briefly in Noosa, and who was then in my group for Fraser Island. Both of us walked out of our group meeting less than five minutes after it had started - we'd had a safety introduction by the Koalas organisers which had already annoyed me, delivered in a really patronising way, and I was beginning to regret the whole thing. We were put into groups where we then had to discuss what food etc we were going to buy to take with us, then go and get it. Within about 10 seconds, everyone's egos were smashing together, everyone was arguing over what we should buy, hence mine and Kath's exit to the balcony to have a moan; so nice to find a like-minded person and partner in crime.

Basically the Fraser Island trip worked like this: Koala's, amongst other tour companies, organises the 3 day camping safaris, but there are no guides. They provide you with 4WD minibus things, camping equipment, maps with suggested routes, and off you go. Sounds simple? ha ha. The safety meeting is about how to drive the 4WD's safely while on Fraser, how to avoid dingoes (wolf-like wild dogs which roam the island and can be aggressive), and warnings not to swim anywhere in the sea as they're really shark-infested there. Also a whole list of ways in which we could lose the large deposit we'd all paid for the car and equipment. (as well as the actual cost of the trip itself). When our group had finally stopped fighting over the shopping list and contents, some people went off to get it, and I ordered in the alchohol list (the main job).We were up at 6 the next day to have another meeting with the camp shed guys, who managed to be even more patronising than the person the day before; and who also made us take out every single piece of camping equipment, and camping utensil, check it, count it and then put it back; even though it is all checked and counted when it comes back in... for the second time I almost changed my mind and didn't go.

Finally we loaded up the stuff and were off. Two groups of us went, there were 11 in each. Within minutes most of us had gone white with terror over the driving of one of the guys who'd nominated himself to be one of the drivers - and this was on the modern sealed roads leading up to the ferry terminal. Great start.To say a little bit about Fraser. It's unique in that it's the largest sand island in the world. It has some amazing fresh water lakes, beautiful forest areas and walks, and the whole place is protected, and therefore retains its wildness and beauty.The reason you need 4WD's is that the roads are entirely sand, and deep sand. It almost feels like driving through deep snow and almost looks like it, the sand's nearly white, and walking on it also gives the snow sensation. Driving along these sand roads at killer speed with a madman behind the wheel is NOT a fun experience. We sort of got used to the terror over time.

On the first day we went to Lake Birrabeen, one of the many beautiful lakes on the island, we were practically the only ones there, and swimming in the water was great. Just sitting here trying to remember what else we did that day... nope, I've forgotten. In any case we then took a long and equally terrifying drive along the main beach 'road' also sand, though flat and firmer but full of ridges and logs which were all only narrowly avoided by the person driving the minibus. I'm keeping them all nameless to protect their identities but they know who they are!More fighting broke out over where we were going to set up camp, as three of the girls with us had not apparently realised it was a camping trip, and were freaking out over the fact that we weren't going to be getting showers and would have to go to the loo in the sand, and wanted to go to one of the designated camping sites, which we (being on a self drive safari trip) weren't allowed into. We tried to compromise by thinking we could set up camp close to one and still use the facilities (which was allowed) but couldn't in the end. The other group came to the same place as us to set up camp, behind some dunes. We only just managed to get set up and dinner cooked before it got dark, and had just one torch provided and my pig torch which saved the day.We had to be up and off by 6.30 the next day as the tide comes in by 8 and obviously you can't use the beach road then.
We drove to the 'Champagne pools', which look nothing like how they sound, it's the only place in the sea where it's safe to swim as the rocks have made a barrier against the main bit of the sea and the waves froth over the top of them, making the water bubbly hence why they're called the champagne pools - no champagne in sight unfortunately. A couple of us walked up to India head, a lookout on top of the rocks, where you can sometimes see whales and stingrays; I might have seen a whale but it was too far away to know for sure.My memory's really gone here, this second afternoon I can't think of what we did either, except we did go to one of the few resorts they have there and got chocolate and coffee; oh yeah, now I've remembered, we went to see the Maheno shipwreck along the coast, that's been there since the 1930's; then we thought we'd set up camp earlier that day so that we had time to cook and eat before it got dark. We found a nicer spot this time, a bit more protected from the wind, and it was a better evening except for the appearance of dingoes, who were then hanging around the tents all night, but luckily they didn't do anything. One of the rangers had come to see us the evening before just to give us a warning about the dingoes, and not to leave any remains of food anywhere etc, and that if there were any 'incidents' ie attacks, to report them the next day. Not very comforting: not, if there are any incidents, we'll come and rescue you, just if anyone gets mauled to death in the night, let us know...

We were up early again the next day, and went to Lake Wabby, in my opinion the most beautiful of the lakes, surrounded on one side by a massive sand hill and dunes, it almost looks unreal. It's a long walk down there, and even more excruciating on the way back, especially actually getting back on to the walking track as you have to walk back up the sand hill which is not only steep but deep, so your legs are just sinking into the sand. But the lake and the beauty made it all worth it.Just as we were on our way to Lake Mackenzie, the last place we'd visit before going back, and just as we were all getting quite relaxed with the driving/drivers, we were going along one of the sand tracks which is high up in the forest areas so has sheer drops off to one side, and another 4WD came towards us. Our driver swerved to the side, and then suddenly Sarah, who was sitting in the front, was screaming 'stop!' just before the van was about to dive off the edge. We all had to climb out (really carefully) where we then saw just how close to the edge we were and how lucky we'd been not to have tippped over while we were still in it or in the middle of climbing out. Now the van was wedged into the sand; any movement to release it would send it tipping over the side, and it was too wedged to be moved the other way. the guys went and got logs to jam under the van to stop it tipping, and eventually we all lifted it, several times, till it was far enough away from the edge to drive it. Very close call. We did get to Lake Mackenzie, which was really worth it; it's not only beautiful to look at but the water has a really high ph so it's great to swim in and makes your hair and skin feel really good after (didn't last long unfortunately).After that it was time to drive back and catch the ferry back to Hervey Bay. On the whole, a really good time. Same stupid shenanigans after we got back, counting every bloody plate, spoon etc before we were set free.

We stayed one more night in Hervey after we got back, had a nice meal in the Irish pub up the road, then the next night got an overnight bus up to Airlie Beach, from where you go to the Whitsundays. Most people I knew had booked on a different trip to me; theirs was on a boat during the day but staying at a Koala resort place at nights (Koalas actually owns the whole of one of the islands on the Whitsundays and has built this resort on it - Koala's seems to be becoming a bit of a monopoly along the east coast, hostels in every town, their own tour company, now a whole island - watch out for world domination); whereas mine was on a yacht and staying on the boat.

The Whitsundays was fantastic. Our yacht took up to thirty people but there were only seven of us booked on it, which meant you got berths to yourself, otherwise it would have been really cramped. We spent the three days doing loads of snorkelling,-the Whitsundays are in part of the Great Barrier Reef - which was amazing, only wished I had an underwater camera to show some of what I saw, the coral and the fish were really beautiful and it was almost like being in a magical world. I was pretty nervous about seeing sharks, which are apparently spotted often round there, but then Ben, one of the crew, said there'd never been a shark attack around the Whitsundays. Still, on one occasion when we'd gone in the motor dingy a little way from the yacht to snorkel, he'd dropped a couple of us off and then called out that he was going back to the yacht ot get another mask, I said, yeah, fine! then as soon he'd gone, panicked, thinking, 'but what if a shark comes now? come back, I wanna get out!' (nothing happened - well obviously or I guess I wouldn't be writing this). It's one of those things where half of you really wants to see a shark because it would be so spectacular but the other half of you (that hasn't been eaten by it) is terrified of the prospect. The crew were great, we had really nice food cooked for us, and did lots of sailing - frightening at first, with the yacht sharply tilted to one side for hours on end, but you get used to it and the skipper was really experienced and relaxed. On the second day we made a short stop on to Whitehaven beach (pic below).The only thing which tainted it slightly was that I got sick on the last morning, which I think was probably sunstroke, but recovered pretty quickly and at least it was on the last day.

Getting back to Airlie beach was hell; I'd been getting really sick of more and more awful dorm rooms in hostels in Australia - they really vary - and Kath and I (though we were going to be there on different days) had booked a different hostel for the return night in Airlie, thinking it was an improvement on the one we'd stayed in. When we booked it, we were shown a spotless room with loads of space. When I got there after the sailing trip, I was sent upstairs to a dorm which looked nothing like the one we'd been shown, which was full of seven really loud 18 year old girls from Cheshire, who had every plug point in the room covered by hair straighteners, hair dryers and ipods, and I really needed to charge my phone. There was one bathroom between us - this is the other thing - a lot of Oz dorm rooms advertise themselves as being en-suite, which sounds great in theory - but if you're in an 8 or 10 bed dorm with one bathroom between you, it's not so good. And if you're in an 8 bed dorm with seven 18 year old girls who are needing to use the bathroom mirror for 3 hours each (oh god I KNOW, I'm sounding so old - well, I can't help it, in this case you had to be there - it was bloody annoying, in fact more than annoying) then it's even worse. As if that wasn't enough, I was in a top bunk (the bottom ones always get bagged first, it's the luck of the draw) which wouldn't have been so bad except that where the bunk bed was placed, there was a lower bit of ceiling jutting out above it which made it physically impossible to climb up there without smacking your head against it every time. Suffice to say I was not in a good mood and couldn't wait to leave the next day.

I went on up to Townsville - a few people I knew were going on to a place called Magnetic Island, but after the last couple of weeks I just wanted to stay put for a while, so I just stayed in Townsville, which doesn't really have much, except an aquarium where I did get to see sharks from a safe distance; but was a good place to do some more writing. And then from there, I went on up to Cairns, finally, my destination at the top of the east coast. Kath was also going to be there the same time as me, so that was good, and I was almost delirious with happiness when I arrived at the hostel I'd booked to discover that they had 3 bed dorms and no bunk beds - yippppppppppppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It was like heaven. The hostel was also a converted old cinema so a pretty nice and interesting building.

I was a week in Cairns and didn't do all that much, two main things, quite a bit of writing, and spent a lot of time hanging out with Kath which was really nice.One day we went white water rafting, a couple of hours away, on the River Tully, which I was in two minds about, and three minds about just after we got there. Kath, me, and two guys from our Fraser island trip were all in the same group, there were seven of us in the dingy plus Sam the guide, who thought it was really funny to fill us with terror about how dangerous the whole thing was, that the rapids were full of crocs and the drops were really steep. Kath and me had both already been nervous on the way there and Kath had said to me, "Well, there are some older people here too, so it can't be that dangerous." Ha ha. Just after we started off, we'd gone a little way and Sam pulled in to talk about the drop we were about to get to (which we couldn't see from where we were). He launched into this big thing about how there was a 90% chance the boat would flip when we went down it, and we'd all be carried off in the rapids (having to avoid crocs) and be rescued by ropes. We'd already had to practise getting into the water and being carried by the rapids (which, baz rod and eimear by the way, were about a million km/hr faster than the ones on the tubing in Laos - no I'm not exaggerating!!!) At which point I freaked out and started saying, 'I don't want to do it anymore, let me out,'. There was NO way I was going to stay. But..... Sam then spent ten minutes trying to convince me to stay, that I'd enjoy it in the end etc; I was determined I was not going to be persuaded, but somehow I was, I can't remember how, coz I did stay in. Of course in the end the boat didn't flip and as we watched all the ten others come down the drop and also not flip, it was then clear that the 90% chance thing was just bullshit, which meant I could (almost) ignore the rest of the bullshit given to us about how we were about to flip here and here and here. It did end up being really good fun, if just a tiny bit stressful; trying to remember to paddle, hold on and lean in when instructed, keeping your paddle under your elbow so it didn't fly in someone's face, get down in the boat (instead of sitting up on the sides which we were doing for most of it) during drops, jump 'over left' or 'over right' when we were heading towards a rock..... But it's not without its dangers at all, the rapids and drops are full of rocks (and crocs - convenient rhyme), one girl in the boat behind us fell out in the middle of a rocky rapid and only just managed to be pulled back in a millisecond before the boat rammed into a big rock. A girl in our boat also fell out and hit her head on a rock, and one of the other boats landed on my head (literally!) after a drop; and Kath found out later, and told me days later, that someone had actually died somehow while doing it just the week before, and with the same tour company we did it with. Up in Cairns there are only two companies to choose from; if you're looking for the names to be a reflection of how scary it's going to be, you'd never do it - one is Xtreme, and the other (the one we did) is Raging Thunder. Anyway, enjoy the pics... oh yeah, and also I missed out on lunch which I'd paid for; we were the last boat in for the lunch stop because Sam our guide was also the safety person which meant after we'd gone over a drop we had to wait for everyone else to come through safely before we headed off again. We moored up, I went to the loo and by the time I came back there was NO food left, nothing at all, and that was supposed to have been my reward for having been scared to death for the whole morning.

Kath and I also took a day trip up to Cape Tribulation from Cairns, the cape being the place (or one place as Shane the tour guide told us) where the rainforest meets the sea. The cape itself is just a beach and a lookout, but the day trip there was good; we went for a rainforest walk and for a trip along a river where we saw 6 crocodiles.We had one day left in Cairns after that, and then I was going down to Melbourne and Kath was going to Ayres Rock; she's now just about to leave Oz and go back home, but it was great to meet her, we had a lot of fun and good chats together, and we're still in touch too.

Then I flew down to Melbourne for my last five days for this time round in Australia. Melbourne was great, I really loved it. I also arrived in the middle of the fringe festival so there was loads happening. It's probably the busiest five days straight I've had for ages and I wore myself out; saw some amazing art, loads in fact, watched lots of fringe street performers, wandered round the city, went to a fringe comedy gig; and spent a great day trip along the Great Ocean road, we started off about 7 in the morning and didn't get back till after ten that night. It was especially good in that we went to an Aboriginal cultural centre in a place called Geelong, and had a talk from an Aboriginal guy about the culture, who was also an amazing didgeridoo player. It was one of my first real introductions to Aboriginal culture, which it seems you do really have to seek out in Oz - one of the things I haven't liked about being there is that there is a lot of racism around, and the Aboriginal community are not integrated at all. So that was really good; talking of which I also saw a really good exhibition by an Aboriginal artist in Melbourne. From the cultural centre we drove up to where some eucalyptus trees were to see if we could koalas, which we did. Then in the afternoon we continued to what's called the 'Twelve Apostles' (though there are only 8 left), huge limestone stacks rising up out of the sea. There was an option of taking a helicopter ride over them, which I did, and it was amazing, not just the view but the experience of being in a helicopter, though scary at times, when you notice that you're at a 60 degree angle to the sea or ground as you're turning and the pilot's got his hands off the steering wheel and is pointing out sights to you - but weirdly, it feels really stable - I'd definitely recommend it.

Don't think that's the end, the blog's not nearly long enough yet!!!Melbourne was my last stop in Oz for now - like I said at the beginning, from there I flew to Auckland. I'll be in New Zealand till mid November before flying back to Adelaide, when it won't be so long from there till Baz comes out, finally, can't wait for that!!!
My impressions of Australia so far; pretty mixed, I have to say. I think it's an incredible place in terms of wildlife, landscape and, simply, space - the space is kind of indescribable, apart from cities, it's just reflected everywhere, not just in the huge expanses of land, sea and sky, but noticing that most houses are each set in probably at least half an acre if not more of land. You can feel it too; coming from a hugely over-populated city, it's such a lovely new experience to have all this space everywhere. What I've seen so far of the bush and the rainforests are also incredible; and although I still haven't yet seen any whales or dolphins or stingrays, I still hope to!! and seeing koalas has been amazing, as has seeing the amazing colourful birds there are around. The Great Barrier Reef is just magical, and like nowhere I've ever been.As I said before I do find the white Australian/Aboriginal divide quite disturbing; although I know things have come a long way, there's a long way to go, and this does taint my view of the place, I have to say. Travelling up the east coast was also a mixed experience. Staying with Helen and getting an authentic aussie experience with her was great; and I really enjoyed Byron and Fraser and the Whitsundays. But the east coast is also really really touristy and this spoils it a bit. It's something I've never managed to see a way out of during my travels, it's like a real double-edged sword: touristy places have become like that mainly because there's great things to see at them so everyone wants to go there; but the touristy aspects and the overload of tour companies and travel agents and tourist oriented things just get too much and end up spoiling places. I don't know what the answer is.

So as I'm writing this last bit, it's now a year today since I started travelling - I can't believe that! It feels like it's gone really quickly but then when I think back to this time last year, how terrified I was about coming away (!), that feels a really long time ago now. It feels really strange to be a year on; when I first came away I didn't think I'd last long at all if I'm honest, and I'm sure that other people thought I'd probably be back within about a month, though no-one said...!

Anyway, that's it for now - I'll do the next one in about a month, will try not to leave it so long next time; and anyway, this one hasn't been that long after all - no it hasn't!!! :-) xxx

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Photos

brisbane art gallery installation
the room is actually the size of the platform I'm standing on - yes that's me in the middle, if you look closely there are multiple me's

Comments

[rachel]

Hurrah!
Hurrah! Bon Anniversaire! Go girlfriend! We knew you could do it! Happy 1st travel anniversary...x