I'm Sarah, aged 27 and in October am off travelling with my partner Chantelle. We are heading to Japan, China, Thailand, Singapore, Bali, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Los Angeles. We plan to be back around the beginning of June 2013. Really excited about our trip to take us to all these previously unvisited countries!
3/3 We were up early to check out of our hotel to get our Greyhound bus at 9am to Byron Bay (via Brisbane!) We were woken up very early by someone setting the smoke alarm off at the hotel by burning some toast! We got a taxi to the bus stop, where there were already quite a few people waiting. We got ready to get on the bus as it pulled in, as on the last bus we ended up on the very back seat, which was extremely hot, and next to the toilet! We got on and got good seats this time and headed off. We stopped at the same services as on the way, and got ourselves a drink. We arrived at Brisbane at 2pm, where we had a 2 hour wait until our ... read more
28/2 We woke up just before 8, so that we could ring the Greyhound office and find out if our bus was running, keeping everything crossed. We were given the good news that it was running- phew! We then had to go to the local post office to try and retrieve a birthday parcel from the Woottons that the lazy postman couldn't be bothered to deliver to our hotel. Unfortunately it couldn't be found at the post office, and I was told it was returned to sender, so we had to leave that, and head back to our hotel to check out and get a taxi to the bus station. Luckily the taxi came quickly, and we headed off to Greyhound, with enough time to use the toilet and get a drink and snack before we ... read more
23/2 We got up and out of our room ready for our airport transfer we had booked. We got picked up at 8.50 outside of our hotel and headed to Proserpine airport, with yet another crazy driver- I thought he was trying to fly us there in the van!! We got to the airport and checked in. There was only one little cafe in the airport- it was very small. We didn't have too long to wait before our flight, and it didn't take too long to get to Brisbane. We booked a transfer to our hotel with connexion and had to wait for the bus at 1.30. After a little while we were transferred onto a smaller bus, which was going to the other side of the river that we were staying on. We got ... read more
19/2 Our bus arrived around midnight and we all waited to get checked on and store our luggage. There was a strange lady who was trying to talk to us but she seemed a little dodgy, asking us if we were going to sleep on the bus, so we tried to avoid her. Luckily we were given seat allocations and we were opposite ends of the bus! We left on time (00.25) and started our long journey. The bus driver was pretty crazy, driving very fast and kept going over the bumpy lines on the side of the road. It was very quiet, everyone seemed to be sleeping- except me of course! We stopped around 2.30 to pick up some other passengers, and I hadn't slept at all by this point. I managed to doze on ... read more
16/2 We got up and checked our of our hotel, then walked to the sky bus to get to the airport. We hadn't walked with our rucksacks for a while, it was got work, but luckily it wasn't too far to walk. It took about half an hour to get to the airport, and we checked in for our flight, and had a McDonald's for our lunch. (McDonald's monopoly in Oz, yay!).our flight went fine, but it was quite long. We arrived in Cairns and got a taxi to our hotel, which wasn't too far away. We checked in with the lovely, camp manager at our hotel, and he gave us lots of good information about different tours we could do in our 2 days in Cairns. We dumped our stuff in our room and went ... read more
11/2 We got up early and walked to Flinders Street for the Neighbours tour we had booked for this morning. We bought a snack and drink from a little shop and found our way to Bunyip's office and waited for the tour. We all left on a little Neighbours bus with our crazy Irish guide called Gerry, giving us a lot of facts and figures about the beauty that is Neighbours! Neither of us had watched it for years, so we didn't know a lot of what he was talking about, but there were the old classic characters we knew! We got to the set and saw the backs of the buildings- Erinsborough high and the mechanic's garage. Then we were ready to meet our special Neighbours star, who turned out to be none other than ... read more
5/2 We got up early to have the free breakfast that the hotel offered, feeling rather sleepy after not a great sleep and it feeling like 5.30am to our body clocks! We had cereal and toast for breakfast and then headed out for a wander around Adelaide. We walked to the central markets first and we bought some fresh fruit and some hummus from stalls there. We had a look around the shops and stalls, and bought some food from Coles supermarket as there were communal kitchens in the hotel to use. We took our shopping back to the hotel and then used the computers in the hotel to book 2 day trips- one for the next day. We needed to get a bus for the trip tomorrow, so we headed out to find the bus ... read more
20/1 We had to check out at 10, though our flight wasn't until 4.15pm! The motel offered a free shuttle to the airport, and as there was nowhere to sit around at our motel, we had to head to the airport- the weather wasn't great, so not like we could even go for a walk! We got to the airport around 10.30 and sat back in Darwin airport, in the same cafe we'd spent hours in just a few days before! We got something to eat, and then checked in around 1.30. We headed through to departures into the tiny lounge! We bought a couple of snacks and a puzzle book and finally boarded the plane, which left on time! The flight was about 4 hours long, and we touched down in Perth! Hooray! We collected ... read more
16/1/13 We landed in Darwin at around 3.20am, and went through immigration and customs, hoping to be delayed as long as possible, seeing as we had no hotel to go to until later on. We were through to arrivals by 4am, and found a table near the only cafe in the arrivals area. We got a caffeine based drink to try and keep us going, and a managed to sign on to the wifi at the airport- which kept us occupied for a while! We got something to eat after a while (first taste of how expensive Australia is!), then decided to get a taxi around 7am to our hotel. It cost us $27, exchange rate about $1.5 to £1. To our surprise and joy, the lovely lady on the reception desk at our hotel let ... read more
3/1 We got up and had breakfast at 10- we were phoned the night before to ask what we would like and what time! We ate it on the table outside our room, but were joined by a lot of flies! It was a nice enough breakfast- egg, bacon and toast! The weather was pretty miserable- rain rain rain! The guesthouse offered a free shuttle bus to the beach/ into town. We were taken into the local town- Seminyak, by the friendly guy that works there, and seems to,do everything! We went in at 1.30, and were given umbrellas from the guest house to take with us as it was pouring still. We arranged our pick up back to the guest house and headed out for a look around Seminyak. We went int the Bintang (famous ... read more
