Commenwealth Games, Byron Bay and the East Coast!!!!

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March 28th 2006

Published: April 3rd 2006

Long time no talk for me mainly because there has not been a lot for me to tell you lot that would excite you. Its been well over 2 weeks since my last blog now so ill try to remember what we have done to the best of my knowledge.

As far back as i can remember we went to the rugby 7's at the Commenwealth Games we went to every single session so we were there from 10 in evening 2 hour break in afternoon and then finish at half 10 in the evening. The Rugby was brilliant fun the atmosphere was amazing and it was gd to see all the lesser countries like Uganda, Kenya and Sri Lanka get there chance to shine. The most notable thing from the first days play was the last game which was England vs Australia and it turned out to be a bit of an epic England ending up winning 14 - 12 with Aussies missing a kick in last second to level things!! Shame!! It was extra sweet cheering loud in my England shirt with 40,000 plus aussie fans surrounding me. The next day was quarter finals and we struggled through against Western Samoa and then took out the favourites Fiji in the Semi final only to lose to New Zealand in the finals. A bit gutting but still a silver medal aussies didnt get a thing!!! For the semis and Finals i thought id be committed and get my face painted as an England Flag with my shirt show my passion boys though it was a bit childish so they didnt even though there were loads of adults that had it done. Another wierd thing bout that was that the first 3 sessions we sat next to exactly same people each time 3 english lads first two times were explainable as he said he was behind us in the que when we bought them but quarter finals we bought at completly different times and days and we were next to each other in a 60,000 stadium wierd!!!!

Another highlight of the 7's was Kenya winning as they danced around the edge of the pitch in celebration and New Zealand doing there Haka about 50 times once they had won.

Most of our time in Melbourne was spent relaxing trying to not spend any money really we went into the City quite a few times becasue there were loads of things going on with the Games.

But some of time we just spent infront of the Tv being mmoney concious!!!! There was 12 day Simpsons marathon which was an episode of the simpsons back to back for 24 hours for 12 straight days ridiculous!!!!!!! We also watched a lot of the OC as it was Becky's favourite programme!!! Now Giles Loves it where he doubted it befroehand!!!!!

One of the evenings we headed off down to the MCG to see the Athletics Finals which was really gd. The MCG is by far the most impressive stadium i have ever seen and been in!!! Its amazing!!!! Wish we had one like that in England!!!! It holds so many different sports as well!!! When it gets back to full capacity for the ashes the boxing day test it will hold over 100,000 people. I can not wait hoping i get tickets so badly!!!!!

Then there was a lot of time where we just sat and watch Aussies win Gold after Gold after Gold it was quite depressing really they doubled anyone elses medal tally!!!!

Other days we spent playing tennis just to keep fit really!! Giles managed to redeem some of his UWB status and started winning games where i was on poor form so punished myself with 20 laps of the 2 courts!!!! I was not happy with myself!!!

The day before we left we met some more of Becky's friends which was gd and they were all really nice and friendly!!

We were also very committed in watching Pompey. I stayed up as the cricket was on Oz vs S A and watched that until it finished at about 1.30-2 and the West Ham - Pompey game started at 2am so i went off to the computer room and we took the lead though Lua Lua and instantly went and awoke the boys sleeping and they couldnt believe it and then we managed to find a live feed and watch the rest of a memorable victory!!!!

There wasnt much else to shout in Melbourne really apart from the weather which was just amazing. The second week of the games everyday was 27 or higher with no clouds in the sky every day i could not believe it!!!!

Then we moved onto Byron Bay!!! We flew there getting up very early so we could get a plane from avalon airport to Sydney where we changed again and caught a flight up to ballina airport where we caught a shuttle into the middle of Byron Bay. We arrived there our hostel not being nearly up the same standards of WakeUp but it was going to have to do!!! Then we went for a walk around Byron to familarising ourselfs with the area. Then after that we headed off to the beach which was abuot a 30 second walk from our hostel which was great. The beach was amazing sand was a bit flatter and harder which made a nice change and the sea well i have never seen or been in anaything like it!!! It was crystal clear and so warm it was unreal!!! It was actually like a bath which was why when we did go in the sea we normally spent about 2 hours in it messing around and just relaxing. It did just make a nice change being away from the city's and being right on the beach front. The weather was awesome while we were at byron apart from the morning we left!!!! On the second full day we walked to the lighthouse one of the only things to do apart from the beach in Byron beacause it is the most eastily point in Australia and holds a fantastic view. We thought it would only be a short walk and by the time we had walked there and back to the hostel we had clocked up about 7km of steep incline up and down it was really tough. But we relaxed with an Ice cream at the top to get some energy. Also to mention from Byron Bay is cheeky monkeys a place we went out which is quite a laugh!! Its one of the liveliest bars i have been to in my life with everyone dancing on the tables which was pretty entertaining!!!! I also was feeling guilty in Byron i was not doing enough excercise so i went for a couple of 2km runs along the waters edge along the beach which was really nice untill my calfs were in agony the next day.

Then after byron we moved on to Surfers Paradise in the Gold Coast with the worst day weatherwise of our whole trip it was raining from the morning till the evening not particularly nice!!!! We got to our hostel which was really nice and all the rooms were 4 bed so we had a room to ourselves which was a refreshing change. That day we walked around the area it was quite built up and a bit like a tenerife or somehting like that. You could see why australians take holidays there though. We walked down the beach for a couple of miles to reach the national life saving competition which was ok then it pissed it down so we decided to head back as quick as possible. The next day we got up early and got on the bus to Wet and Wild water park about 20km away. Prob one of the best days of the trip it was a real laugh and we went on every slide at least twice and some more especially the Aqua Racer which was 8 person water slide where you all go down on mats and you wait till the red light goes yellow yellow then green and you dive down the slide!!! They even have a faulse start system which was pretty impressive so you could not cheat then as you got to the bottom you would instantly turn your head to see what your position was. We must have honestly been on it about 30-40 times. It was completly addictive we even started a point system 5 for a win 3 for a second and 1 for 3rd with -3 if u got a faulse start it was pretty intense. Giles and Harry stormed off into a big lead with me falling further behind because of faulse starts before i changed my mat and with that a change of luck came as i got back on the winning streak. The lead changed hands many a time thoughout until it came down to the final race Giles needing to win to overtake me and harry needing us both to faulse start. The green light went and they looked to have got great starts where as i got a shocker and then just as i thought id lost they turned around in disgust as they had false started and victory was mine!!! It was a top day out and a great laugh!!!!

Then yesterday morning was spent walking around surfers before we caught the Greyhound up to Brisbane for our next leg of our trip.

We arrived in Brisbane and to our smart hostel to be find were staying in a 30 bed dorm!!!! So big didnt even realise they made them that big!!!!

Plans for future well today we are going to walk around Brisbane and see whats there and then once we have done that we sleep tonight before catching an early bus up to Hervey Bay which is where we start our Fraser Island adventure which is riding round a 70mile long island with 8 other randoms in a 4x4 churning around over sand dunes ect swimming in crystal clear lakes and generally having an amazing time i can not wait!!!

Anyway i might not be writing again till i arrive in New Zealand so i hope everyone is well and having a great time with what there doing we are certainly having the times of our life out here.

Please keep emailing me all of your views and thoughts and what you are all up to as its great to hear from everyone!!!!

All my love

Chaz x x x

P.s I will add all the pictures when i can access a comuter with a Usb port which is accessible Sorry!!!

Commenwealth Games, Byron Bay and the East Coast!!!!

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