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Published: August 17th 2006
I had known for a few months that my parents were going to visit me in Oz but was very excited when a couple of weeks before my sister called to say she was coming out too. The whole Pirie family reunited again! Emma was coming out for 2 weeks and Mum and Dad for just under 3. About 2 days before I was to meet them in Brisbane airport, I got a message from Mum saying Emma had just left Edinburgh. It’s a hell of a journey, I think this is how it went; Emma left Edinburgh and traveled to Glasgow from where she caught a flight to Dubai. Around the same time Mum and Dad left Azerbaijan and flew to Dubai. There ¾ of the Pirie family were together for a 9 hour stop over (glad I missed out on that part sounded hellish!) then they flew to Singapore and finally onto Brisbane. I left about an hour before I was due to meet them and drove from the Sunshine Coast to the airport to pick them up. Easy. After holding up my homemade “Pirie Family” sign (which was slightly trashed due to me sitting on it) for an
hour and a half, my arm began to hurt - my face was also hurting from the grin I had plastered on. Finally my dad appeared through the gate followed by my mum and sister. Woohoo! The first thing they said was - “you look exactly the same” great I thought after all my travels I’d look older and more wordly but apparently not, though they did say I was a bit blonder and browner which I suppose is something .
The Sunshine Coast
After picking them up I drove them back up to the coast which has been my home for the last 5 months trying to fit everything I’d learned thus far about Australia into one car journey. From this journey we established that everyone thought Australia looked a lot like America. We arrived in Mooloolaba and checked into our apartment. After showers and a few hours sleep everyone felt fine, there wasn’t enough time to be jet lagged we had so much to see.
We spent a few days on the coast visiting Maroochydore where I introduced my family to the people I’ve been living with, my boyfriend Scott and our new puppy gypsy. Noosa
Pirie's at the opera house
I was the ONLY person in Sydney wearing flip flops/thongs and it was freezing!- which is gorgeous and Australia Zoo, which emz and I decided would be better off named Steve Irwin World. If you ever want a T-shirt/stubby cooler/ toilet roll holder with Steve or any member of his family on it - you’ll know where to come! After arranging car hire (and discovering Dad had to do all the driving as I’m under 25 so the price double if I drive and mum and Emz had forgotten their licences) we set off for Surfers Paradise. We arrived in Surfers around 6 pm by which time it was dark (apparently this isn’t just a winter thing and even in summer the sun is down by 6.30, weird I miss sitting outside till 9pm drinking) and discovered all the hotel receptions had closed at 5. I was desperate to pee so after a small disagreement (nothing changes!) we checked into a hotel for a night. The next morning we used wotif.com to find another (more reasonably priced) hotel/ apartment. After that we made sure all accommodation was pre booked! (wotif is a great website for this - rooms reduced if booking is for next few nights) Staying in Surfers we took a day
trip to Byron Bay which with it’s old hippy feel my old hippy mum loved (only joking Ma!) she was very excited to stand on the most eastern point of Australian mainland and we decided the next piece of mass land you would come to if you kept going straight was Mexico (I think) It was a very quick visit though as we only had 2 weeks to get from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney so after 3 nights we hit the road again. This time we did a long drive and stopped over for a night in Port Macquarie before getting back on the road early the next day and heading for Sydney.
Sydney
Driving into Sydney I sat in the passenger seat navigating our way into Darling Harbour where we were staying. Despite my usually excellent map reading skills I had mistakenly though we were entering from the opposite side of the city, therefore it came as a huge (but awesome) shock when we found ourselves on the middle of Sydney Harbour Bridge!
Without too much hassle we found our way to our apartment and quickly got changed desperate to get sightseeing in Sydney. Now ever since
I have arrived in Australia people have been telling me Sydney isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, people are rude and it’s just a big city and that Melbourne is far more interesting. Therefore I had the opposite of that thing where you expect too much of a movie or something and are really disappointed by it. When we stepped off the train at Circular Quay and I caught my first glimpse of the Harbour I was amazed, it was beautiful. I love Sydney. My mum even had a wee tear in her eye! We walked around taking pictures before stopping in a Harbourside restaurant for an amazing meal with views of the bridge. We spent a few days in Sydney mostly shopping and looking around and taking a trip across to Manly. One of my favorite things about Sydney was the Monorail which runs straight to Darling Harbour. I’ve never been to a city that has a monorail which cuts through the high rises like this before and it worth the $5 just to do a loop and get a tour of the city. My Dad’s birthday is the 4th July and we spent the day walking over
the bridge (at street level - I’ll save the bridgeclimb for next time I’m in Sydney) before having steaks at a Darling Harbour restaurant. One night Emma and I decided to go “raging” (after confirming with an Australian that they really say raging - just like in neighbours!) We met up with my friend from cotton picking Carina and headed into Kings Cross. The next morning, hungover as hell we were supposed to head to the Blue Mountains but it was cold, wet and foggy so we decided to give it a miss and head to Melbourne a day early. Due to time restrictions we took the inland road from Sydney to Melbourne as opposed to the more scenic coastal route, this meant we passed within an hour or 2 detour to Canberra. We briefly considered going to Canberra for a day but after hearing bad reports and being tired of all day driving we decided to skip it and head straight onto Melbourne so Emma could have a few relaxing days before heading home to the madness of the Edinburgh festival. On route to Melbourne we stopped overnight in Albury, a town on the border of New South Wales
Ma
enjoying the view and Victoria where I forced my dad and sister to watch the final of the State of Origin (Queensland v New South Wales) with me. Even Emma got into it and in the end Queensland won (woohoo!)
Melbourne
The next day we headed to Melbourne, the home of Neighbours and Vegemite, where we stayed in Monee Ponds an area just out of the city but easily accessible by Melbourne’s excellent tram system.
There is no ‘big sight’ to Melbourne it’s just a cool city with a good vibe, good shopping and good food. I’d like to revisit Melbourne in the summer though as it was bitterly cold when we were there. So cold I bought an $80 winter jacket and a scarf which, now I’m back in Queensland I don’t quite know what to do with! In a way it would have been better to do the trip back to front - start in cold Melbourne and head north to Queensland, where though it’s not quite hot enough to sunbathe or swim it’s hot enough to walk around in a t shirt. Although in the end we were all heading back to hotter climates, Emma to Edinburgh’s heatwave, Mum
Sydney's on fire!*
*not really... view from our Darling Harbour appartment one morning. and Dad to sunny Baku and me to Queensland so we can’t really complain. After a few days it was time for Emma to leave. It was very sad to say goodbye to her at the airport as I have decided to forfeit my flights home and stay in Australia as long as possible, therefore I won’t be home in November this year it’ll be sometime next year (when I save up enough for another flight!) so I’m not sure how long it’ll be before I see her again and I’m not used to being far away from my big sister!
The Great Ocean Road
After Emz had left we headed south again to drive the Great Ocean Road which was opened as a memorial to war veterans. The drive between Apollo Bay and Anglesea is stunning as the road clings closely to the coastline. After we had been driving for a while I mentioned to my dad that I’d like to stop at a beach to get out and take some pictures, he took the next signposted beach exit and after driving down a steep hill for a minute or two we turned a corner and stopped inches
car trip boredom
long long drives, drive you crazy.... from a drop straight into the ocean….. Don’t quite know how we’d explain that one to Avis! The Great Ocean Road is amazing and the 12 Apostles are one of those sights you’ve seen 1000 times on postcards but still takes your breath away when you see it in real life (I have high hopes for Uluru!) We stayed in a pretty little town called Lorne and this was undoubtedly the coldest place of the whole trip. There were plenty of jobs available in Lorne but I just don’t think I could handle the isolation and the cold. (coming from a girl from blackie!) After a couple of days we headed back to Melbourne where after another emotional goodbye my parents headed back to Azerbaijan. Then I was alone again. I had a few days in Melbourne before my flight back to the Sunshine Coast but it was so cold I spent one day in bed watching movies. On the last day before I flew up I went on the Neighbours tour and was surprised to find there was 25 other people as sad as me, though unsurprised to find 95% of them were from the UK. It was fun,
Melbourne
Melbourne we got to drive around on a tacky bus whilst Meburnians looked at us like we were loopy, visit Erinsborough High (really Blackburn Language School) and Ramsey Street (really Pin Oak Court) Ramsey St is tiny tiny tiny! There are only really 6 houses there so this number 22 thing is a load of crap. People really live in the houses though I don’t know why - they have to keep the curtains closed all day, can’t make any changes to their house without prior agreement (so it can be written into storyline) and have sad British people like me trapsing around holding a fake Ramsey St sign all day every day! At night they put a security guard at the end of the street, the tour guide told me that this is because one night they found 2 British backpackers having sex in Harold’s garden - what a great story! Why did that never make it into the Sun???
Home again
I flew back to Maroochydore on the Saturday and Scott picked me up at the airport, it was good to be back and see everyone again though I was sad our holiday was over. I’m glad my
St kilda
Saw Mal from neighbours working in a greasy cafe down here! family got to come over and visit especially as I’ve extended my travels and don’t know when I’ll be home again! Since then things have been back to the way they were before I left. I’m still hunting for some full time employment but the exciting news is I have bought a campervan!!! Having been here for 6 months I have realized that it is the best and easiest way to see Australia and my logic is in the end when I sell it on even if I get $500 less than what I paid for it - that’s not a bad deal for a years rental. I searched hard and looked at hundreds of vans right from the gold coast to Brisbane before finding this one which everyone agrees was a good deal. I was pretty nervous as it’s the first car I’ve ever bought and she’s pretty old but so far it’s all running smoothly. At the weekend Scott and I took it to Rainbow Beach which is about 2 hours north of here. It’s an 8 seater van (Toyota Tarago fact fans) but fold the seats back - chuck in an airbed and it’s perfect for camping
Lorne
bloody freezing!!! I even have a portable DVD player that plugs into the lighter so it’s really luxurious!
So that’s all my gossip for now, had an amazing time when the Pirie family visited Oz and they loved Australia as much as I do. Emma reckons the hell journey is more than worth it even for 2 weeks so if any of you fancy a wee holiday come over anytime! Now I have my van I could even put you up for a week or two!!!
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loveoflife87
Colin Lenehan
Fantastic
I just stumbled along your Australia pictures and they are magnificient! I'm Colin and I just got back from Costa Rica if you'd like to see my pictures (http://www.travelblog.org/bloggers/loveoflife87). I would love to travel to Australia someday!